Dark One
Here's the BBC's second trailer for season 5, showing some new stuff: ~Link~
The Dalek in army colours looks interesting (and if you look closely, there is a Union Flag under the eyestalk). It also looks as if the Cybermen are back (wish they'd just bring back the original Cybermen instead), and it seems the Doctor visits Stonehenge at some point.
If you're interested, here are some pics of the new TARDIS interior: ~Link~
Its interesting how it incorporates elements of almost every previous interior:
- The metallic rings in the ceiling around the time rotor are almost exactly the same as those from the Hartnell/Troughton (1st/2nd Doctors) console room.
- The large roundels set into the walls remind me of the briefly-seen Pertee-era (3rd Doctor) interior.
- The console shape itself seems to be based on the classic shape (Baker/Davidson (4th/5th Doctors)), also the promise of other rooms outside of the console room that are hinted at by the two staircases leading upwards off screen. There are rumours of a laboratory, a library and a swimming pool room apparently. (The swimming pool hasn't been seen since the 5th Doctor era)
- The blown glass Time Rotor and brass-enclosed TV monitor on a drop-down arm are remiscient of the McGann (8th Doctor) steampunk interior.
- Some of the hexagonal 'roundels' seem to have been lifted directly from Eccleston/Tennant's (9th/10th Doctors) interior. Also, the cables hanging from the ceiling, and the organic shape of the console edges along with the controls that appear to be made entirely from junk.
- The overall lighting and architecture for some reason immediately reminds me of the Peter Cushing Dalek movies, specifically the interior of the City of the Daleks from 'Doctor Who and the Daleks'
Only four days to go!!!!
Eilidh
so who's watched it :D
I had to wait till I got home from nights - just finished watching it then...
Matt Smith is definately growing on me - I liked his outift right up until he had the bowtie... :-/ it will grow on me eventually I think!
Initially I couldn't help but feel that he was a touch similar to Ten, but I was impressed that that feeling dissipated by the end of the episode.
I really like Amy - love the mess up with the time twice :P
I like the themesong - it seems a mix of old and new - I still need to get my hands on the old series and watch them all!
and with the teaser of whats to come: OMG that was *blanks on name* the woman from the Library that knows the Doctor in the future!!! and is this the new sonic screwdriver? with dampers? or are we not quite up to that yet :P
so far, I'm liking it! and this is the first season I actually get to watch in real time.....which does mean waiting >.<
Min
Oh, I loved it Eilidh!
Yay, finally some fun!
I said my piece over on facebook :P but basically-
- love the story/writing. Am now looking sideways at the crack in my own wall...
- love Amy, she's a legend. I'm thrilled that her police outfit isn't actually a police outfit XD
- v. excited about the 'whats-to-come' trailer. Yeah, River Song's coming back :D and a bunch of other things. The fact we saw a bit of a WWII gettup makes me hopeful for a Captain Jack return...
- XD @ Fish Custard. What is he, pregnant?
- TARDIS interior is good, sonic screwdriver...why's it green? Don't mind it, just wondering if it was a RTD thing to make it blue?
- The only downer (for me) was Matt Smith. Sorry kiddo, you're not The Doctor, not yet. I want to like you, but...OK. Go watch The Christmas Invasion, and New Earth. Look at how DT immediately OWNS that role. MS hasn't done that yet, in my opinion. Maybe he'll grow into it. But at the moment I just don't believe he's the Doctor.
Sionainn
Okay I now approve of MS -- I think he'll turn into an alright Doctor once I get used to him :)
I still get the impression they are trying to 'phase' out Tennant or something though.
Anyway I'm already feeling the so called 'fairy-tale' vibe that has been said to be prominent in this series, which really makes me happy. :) All the references to childhood and growing up and stuff -- I love that kinda crud. Plus the whole coming from a nowhere place & being the odd one out on Amy's part is very sorta fairy tale and stuff.
Amy as a little girl was so sweet too and I almost half wish she did get to traval with the Doctor at that age. It would have been interesting having a companion so young but the whole totally miscalulating time is so very the Doctor now isn't it XD One would think he would learn to start warning people that when he says 'five minutes' there really is no certainty and that they should all just hope he shows up before they die.
Love the whole fish custard stuff -- just that whole scene was good.
I'm worried there's gonna be a repeat of the 'Rose/Doctor' dynamic though. Amy having a fiance' and all who I guess will be the Micky of the situation. I guess that'll be a just wait and see thing though.
I didn't like the theme song -- it's not upbeat enough for my tastes. Needs a bit more bounce: I couldn't bop to it like I could the previous two but the new credits looked pretty nifty :)
Dark One
I thought it was a good start!
MS was good! I'm impressed so far, and as he settles into the role he will only get better!
Karen Allen as Amy Pond is an excellent choice of companion! Think i've found my new poster-girl!
It was also great to see a cameo from Sir Patrick Moore
There were some nods to the previous Doctors (and it was nice to see all ten previous Doctors at the end): The cricket bat that Amy uses to knock out the Doctor is a reference to the fifth Doctor (Peter Davidson) who was a fan of the game. The scene where he is choosing clothes in the hospital locker room is a direct nod to the eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), where his is choosing something to wear. I suspect there are others, but I haven't spotted them yet.
There were some great lines in this episode:
Doctor: You're Scottish! Fry Something!
and
Roy Williams (to Amy Pond): We were kids! You used to make me dress up like him
Interesting line that prisoner zero mentions: The Pandorica will open. Silence will reign.
So it seems that the Pandorica will be this seasons new story arc, which culminates in episode 12 (see list below). There is nothing on the web about this new arc. All I can assume is that it somehow references Pandora's Box, which when opened unleashed many terrible things on mankind (ills, toils and sickness, which could account for the silence).
Here's the episode title list as discovered so far:
01 The Eleventh Hour.
02 The Beast Below.
03 Title Unknown.
04 Time Of The Angels.
05 Flesh & Stone.
06 Vampires of Venice.
07 Unknown.
08 The Ground Beneath Their Feet.
09 Cold Blood.
10 Vincent & The Doctor.
11 Unknown.
12 The Pandorica Opens.
13 Title Unknown.
14 Christmas Special, title unknown.
Episode 2 is set in the far future, and sees all of Britain in a giant spaceship
Episodes 4 & 5 see the return of the Weeping Angels
Epsiode 6 will feature those attractive women with the pointed teeth as seen in the 'coming soon' trailer.
Episode 10 should feature Vincent van Gogh
Episode 12 &13 should see the conclusion of this seasons story arc
Not sure yet which episode features River Song
Pinkdragon
Nyeee! I've just finished watching it for a second time, noticed some things, then have been frolicking around some doctor who forums seeing what others picked up on :)
a couple of things:
- The brand MYTH... on the laptop, and apparently it's also on hospital equipment as well. Perhaps another ATMOS type plot?
- The screen in the TARDIS at the end- the wibbly liney screeny thing- it looks like it's got a crack? Sort of anyway... and then someone pointed out that it's roughly the same shape as the crack in the wall. Which i don't think is anything particularly significant, just perhaps another nod to the 'cracks in the universe' being a story arc
- Rory's id card. I had actually paused it when they were doing the trip down the Doctors memory lane to get Rory's name (because he is so adorkable lol), and didn't even notice- that the date of issue of his id card was 1990. This seems to be one of the most talked about 'mysteries'.
I was assuming the main part of the episode was set in 2008, with Amy hopping on board the Tardis in 2010... and we know Rory is roughly Amy's age- putting him anywhere from 19-24? So if it's 2008, and he was employed as a nurse in 1990, he became a nurse at the age of what, 2? lol. I think the main arguments out there are that:
a) It's a production error
b) Rory is some kind of time traveler, or
c) That they are actually in the 90's, and the fact that they are all using video phones, iphone type things and laptops has either something to do with 'Myth', or that for some reason either the Earth, or that town has somehow become technologically advanced. Which could tie in perhaps with the End of Time- with the Ood? How the Doctor was concerned that they had advanced far too quickly in 100 years? Or did that get solved? I can't remember :-/
I don't know. My brain hurts, and I think I should stay away from Doctor Who forums :P
All in all, I liked it. I'm not too fond of the new opening credits, and I'm a bit iffy about the new interior. That said, I quite liked Matt Smith, loved Amy, and adored Rory. Giggles at the fish custard, the duck pond, and the uses of 'gimme!' :)
Can't wait for the next episode :D
jossie
Haven't watched the second episode but watched bits of the first episode again and...
I thought it was awesome when MS was doing that thing where he was going back through his memory and he noticed Rory taking a picture of the guy with the dog.
Funniest bit was when MS yells 'Who's da man?' and no one replied. :D
What was even better was when MS was telling the eye thing about how other aliens had come to try to attack earth and then how it (must have) flicked through the doctors in his different forms, and ended with DT (awesome!) and then MS walked out and DT's image dissipated. Accompanied with the music it was pretty awesome.
I think given that we've had a year with limited episodes of DT as the doctor, we've been slowed weaned off him to make way for MS. I don't hate MS, and I think he was actually kinda good as the doctor. Don't really like the bow tie, but I'm not really comparing him much to DT, and hopefully as more episodes come our way, he will distinguish himself from DT.
What's also refreshing is that I'm not hating Amy/Amelia or finding her as annoying as other companions sometimes became (Donna was pretty awesome). I don't know how I'll feel later but for now I'm hoping there's not going to be a repeat of Rose-Doctor love story going on... hopefully they do something a little different?
It was sorta predictable that she was getting married when she had to get back for 'stuff' the next day.
Thanks Eildih! I'm so glad Doctor Who is back regularly now. It was so hard to adjust to just 4 episodes in the year, such an excruciating wait! Yay!!
EDIT: just watched episode 2, a sort of sad episode.
Enjoying it so far! :)
Sionainn
Agreed, 2nd ep was sad. I kinda felt depressed after watching it.
Min
Second Ep reminded me of something...
The episode, Meat, of Torchwood. Similar sort of concept.
I did love that through the sadness, and the seriousness of the topic, that there was still moments of fun. That's what I'd been missing in last year's Who.
Seems the cracks in the wall is the constant too. What did prisoner Zero say was coming after him again? Pandorica? Silence? Hmm. Tis interesting.
Still not 100% convinced that MS is the Doctor. He was too...Tennant...again, this episode. Needs to make the character his own more. Or, perhaps we can explain it away by DT's final words, 'I don't want to go' - meaning that the regeneration made him...similar in a way, to his last.
Ok something that DID confuse me this episode - is that it looked like Amy was using the Doctor's Time-reversal trick. It was probably just a cinematic device. But, when she looked back over what she'd seen on the ship, to discover what was going on (the whole children crying bit). Seemed to be similar to what the Doctor did the week before in the park.
Speaking of Amy, is anyone seeing similarities between her and Donna's initial story? Apart from just the red-headedness. She's also getting married (who wants to put bets on whether that wedding will go horribly wrong, too?), she's got a Donna-ness about her.
Bring on the Daleks next week! :D
On a completely different topic...this thread is so massive, and was looking at the amount of website space we have left last night - am going to have to do some cleaning up, methinks.
I wonder, would anyone mind if we started a regeneration thread, for this new season of Doctor Who? We could move over the posts we've made already about this series, if you wanted, too, and link to this old one. This one wouldn't disappear as such, until we did a prune of the forums (a manual thing).
avialle
I just saw the first ep. of the new season, and I loved it! :D
I now officially love MS. I had a few misgivings about him as The Doctor, but I think he played the role brilliantly. :nod: He had a lot of energy and craziness, but he managed to contain it and focus it in ways that I think DT struggled with towards the end. (Don't get me wrong, DT is my favourite Doctor so far (although MS may very well take that spot later on - I'll have to wait and see ;P ). I just think that towards the end of the season, he got into the habit of going through the motions a bit). I can see elements of DT in MS, but that doesn't really bother me very much. It did feel a bit wrong when MS said 'wibbly wobbly timey-wimey', though. I couldn't help thinking - 'But that's DT's thing! :('. ;P But apart from that, I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. I loved the bit at the start, where he was trying to work out what food he likes. That was funny. XD
It's great to have the show all new, fresh and exciting. And it started off with a great episode. I liked the way that the action and suspense was balanced out with funny moments and quiet moments, rather than the whole show being just action.
What does everyone think about the new companion? I liked her, although there was something that didn't sit quite right about her with me. I think it was the romantic vibes I was getting between her and the Doctor. I really don't want there to be a romance between the two (which is unusual for me, because I'm usually a sucker for that sort of thing. ;P ). But apart from that, she seems like a pretty cool character. :nod: I think she'll go well with MS. :nod: She just needs to loosen up a bit. ;P
She was soooo cute as a little girl. :D I actually really wanted to see The Doctor travel with her as a little girl. It would definitely be original, and I can see it working really well. Still, I suppose they can't have a little girl being threatened by scary aliens all the time, can they...
I loved the idea of turning the cracks in a wall into something scary. :nod: I know I was always a bit suspicious of the cracks in my bedroom wall when I was a kid. ;P
Anyway, overall it was a really good way to start the new season. :nod:
I like the new interior of the Tardis. It has a warmer feeling. :nod: I preferred the old opening credits, though. I don't know, maybe the new ones will grow on me.
I'm also hoping that the bow-tie will grow on me. :P Really, the new Doctor has such a bizarre taste in clothes. ;P Still, I suppose that's all a part of his character. I'll probably get used to it. :)
Anyway, looking forward to the next episode! ;D
Dark One
Min: Might be a good idea to trim this thread a bit. You have my vote
A good dark episode this week!
I liked this episode! Very dark and gloomy. I reckon each episode will get darker until the finale!
One or two of you spotted the crack on the ship at the end, but how many spotted the two Star Wars references:
1: When they were dropped down the garbage shute
2: When Liz 10 (whilst wearing a hooded cloak) said to the Doctor; "Help me Doctor. You're my only hope"
I'm sure i've heard of a star whale before, but I cannot find any other references to it. Am I going mad?
As mentioned above, there are some extra things to notice in Episode 1. Here's the link to the original site: ~Link~
On another note: River Song will be returning in Episodes 4 & 5, which will also feature the Weeping Angels.
Here is the synopsis of episode 5: There's no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped among an army of Weeping Angels, the Doctor and his friends must try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner.
Meanwhile, in the forest vault, the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond, finds herself facing an even more deadly attack.
Apparently The Sarah Jane Adventures has been picked up for two more seasons. The first will be shown later this year.
Min
I just loved Victory of the Daleks!
PML @ the appearance of the Jammie Dodger! Was anyone else looking at that (before he ate it, obviously) going...but, isn't that a biscuit? *facepalm*
Oh, and yet another crack in the wall at the end. This one did feel *slightly* token, though. They need to knit it into the story arc a little better :P
Anyway to the episode - the Daleks! Oh, I love them, they're so wonderful and scary. They're modeled on the old series Daleks (ie, pre-RTD), aren't they?
Matty grew on me a little more this episode. I don't know what it was, there was some silly nervous thing he did at one point, and I giggled, a lot. Then giggling at the patches on his coat. He really looks like a high-school science student who's stolen his teacher's clothing XD
There's something endearing about him, but...he's still just, not quite the Doctor!
Amy felt a leeettle superfluous this episode...but oh well. She's still awesome. Is the reason she can't remember the Daleks attacking the earth because...she's from an earlier time? Or is it something more sinister?
Now - there was a lady working in the war room. She was crying at the end, because of someone she loved being shot down over the Thames. What was this all about? Was it eluding to Jack? Why else mention it?
Definitely enjoying Doctor Who a lot more this year :D it's got it's fun back.
docdav
AHHHHH I love matt smith he owned the role in my opinion he was so random
I mean fish fingers and custard, spitting up over the floor, and picking his costume from bits he found around, I think it’s aimed at the younger generation, and I love how he jumped up at young Amy when he was on the ground he has certainly brought a different kind of energy to the role
DocDaves random unordered thoughts on the episode
MS did a bit of DT persona (not mentioning the cowboys) but DT did a bit of CE persona in Christmas Invasion, I think they are trying to suggest that it’s normal for the doctor to look back to his most recent self, at least until he works out his own self (I just hope he doesn’t try and sound like him again though)
And the TARDIS is so colourful and pretty, it’s weird, it’s now kid friendly rather then this powerful machine that the RTD era had.
I like the depth of the story arc there are so many things we are drawing on at the moment, I wonder if it’s so deep, that the conclusions we are drawing are just the surface of it.
One question when the big eye shot out video images when the doctor asked is this planet protected? why were monsters from the future shown, there not rely relevant to the question and how would big eye beasty know about them yet, or is he in the doctors mind?
I watched "The Eleventh Hour" last night - and my main impression was that it seemed extremely frantic and desperate to impress.
I mean, I kept wishing that things would just slow down and that the writers were trying to cram way too much plot and action into 45 minutes. I feel as though the episode might've been better as a two-parter, then everything wouldn't have felt so rushed.
Am I the only one who found the soundtrack too loud and overpowering? There were times it was louder than the sound effects and spoken word dialogue and I felt like I was being beaten over the head, being told how I should feel... soundtrack music should exist subtlely in the background, quietly underlying the emotions of the scene, not shouting out at the audience "YOU MUST FEEL AWE! NOW!"
The odd thing is, I found the episode quite impressive during it's quieter moments, such as The Doctor and young Amelia sitting down at the kitchen table, or the bits where Matt Smith's brand new 11th Doctor is wearily trying to convince people to take him seriously
(art imitating life? vice versa? who knows?)
I was pleasantly surprised by Matt Smith - during his quieter, dramatic moments.
I felt his comedic moments were undermined by bad writing and the overbearing soundtrack. There were moments in this episode (the food-cravings and custard scene) that seemed like they were put there as "weird for weirdness sake", rather than because they were vitally important to the story or character development, and they weren't helped by the heavy-handedness of the music accompanying these scenes. A joke is always less funny if it's spelt out in giant neon letters.There's something endearing about him, but...he's still just, not quite the Doctor!
Min, I am inclined to blame the writing and the soundtrack for this, rather than the actor.
An actor is only ever as good or as bad as the script they are given - Smith's performance comes across as forced in all these "weird for weirdness sake" scenes because there's no way even the best actor in the world could lend gravitas to such redundant scripting... and again, it doesn't help that a lot of the time Smith seems to be shouting to be heard over the soundtrack. Seriously, the music is mixed way too loud, and makes scenes which are heavy-handed and unsubtle as written come across as even more heavy-handed and unsubtle in the execution.
I found that in his quiet, dramatic moments he was fine... if the writers can supply him with more of those, or else write comedic scenes that are actually relevant and not just gratuitous, then I think he'll hold his own in the role.Then giggling at the patches on his coat. He really looks like a high-school science student who's stolen his teacher's clothing
I find it odd that people are criticising the Doctor for wearing weird clothing and having an odd looking haircut.
Maybe I'm showing my age here - but have people forgotten that previous Doctors
have all worn outfits that are even more ridiculous in a present-day setting than what Matt Smith is wearing now?
Check out this photo of Colin Baker, The Sixth Doctor:
~Link~
He's the most extreme example - but William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann all wore costumes that look a bit odd in the present day (or just odd anywhere) and they all had weird haircuts.
One of my main gripes (initially) with Christopher Ecclestone and David Tennant was that their outfits seemed too "normal" (albeit still not conventionally fashionable) in comparison to their predeccessors.
So, I am really very surprised that people are griping so much about Matt Smith wearing a bow tie and a tweedy looking jacket. As far as the history off "Doctor Who" outfits go, it is really one of the tamest in the show's long history.
But I guess maybe our views differ on this because I was introduced to "Who" through the old series - whereas it seems that most of the people on this forum have been introduced to it through the new series.I think DT struggled with towards the end. (Don't get me wrong, DT is my favourite Doctor so far (although MS may very well take that spot later on - I'll have to wait and see ). I just think that towards the end of the season, he got into the habit of going through the motions a bit).
My thoughts exactly. I liked David Tennant very much in the early days of his run...
...but towards the end he seemed to be throwing in too many quirks to his performance that just seemed to me to be "weird for the sake of being weird", rather than because it served the script and I felt it was a major detraction from the drama.
So far, Matt Smith only ever seems to be flipping out and going over the top when the script demands it of him (and as I said, his quiet moments were so good I kept wishing the script would not demand it of him and give him more thoughtful moments instead).
Only time will tell how things turn out.... but "The Eleventh Hour" has me intrigued enough to invest more time in the series
(I found Season 3 a very disillusioning experience and skipped most of Season 4 altogether, so I'm hoping Season 5 is a bit of an upswing for the show)
Wanderer
I find it odd that people are criticising the Doctor for wearing weird clothing and having an odd looking haircut.
Wanderer
Maybe I'm showing my age here - but have people forgotten that previous Doctors
have all worn outfits that are even more ridiculous in a present-day setting than what Matt Smith is wearing now?
I think you're mistaking my excited delight in the relisation, and taking it entirely as criticism.I think DT struggled with towards the end. (Don't get me wrong, DT is my favourite Doctor so far (although MS may very well take that spot later on - I'll have to wait and see ). I just think that towards the end of the season, he got into the habit of going through the motions a bit).
To quote Wanderer in response to this!Min, I am inclined to blame the writing and the soundtrack for this, rather than the actor.
Wanderer
Also - I had only one "ok" from the suggestion that we clean this thread up a bit (in sympathy to the site's database capacity). Does anyone care if we restart this thread, for the new season, and move over our thoughts of the new season to that one?
Min
Eilidh
gah! I'm sorry Min |:( .....I had a post ready last week - and then googlechrome/my computer crashed and didn't save my post :( (had to start using it after firefox insisted on continuously crashing on me - possibly due to lack of space on my computer in general.)
Anyways - I thought I'd replied with a "sure thats a fantastic idea, and I plan on reopening the 'I'm Reading' thread too.) (and I must check I did reply to the Ashes thread too (as I also had a reply written for that too :P )
So yes - I'll go reopen a new thread if you have the ability to transfer over posts? or I can wait and if you like, let me know when you want me to open the thread if that makes it easier to transfer posts :)
Now onto the past two episodes!!
pretty much I agree with you Min re: MS in The Beast Below - he reminds me a lot of DT - which is what turned me off him so much when I first saw publicity pics ages ago. They all screamed "Tennant Wannabe" it felt like he was trying to be the Doctor - and DT's doctor at that.
But now however, I'm starting to think that is DT's regenerated form - and as you said Min, he didn't want to go so it seems perfectly natural that he's come back in a similar form.
But he's not grabbed me as The Doctor yet..... but he is growing on me. at least now, I'm willing to give him a chance :P
I loved the Jammy Dodger bit XD
re: The Beast Below - I also had a sense of deja vu re: Amy/Donna - both fiesty redheads, both about to get married.... :-/ there does seem to be a lot of parallels.
re: Amy's memory loss with the Darleks - I took this as theres been some sort of cover up maybe? I wonder if other people remember everything that happened? or did she have 'Donna moments' and was conviniently looking the other way/napping while the world was saved from near destruction? though Amy doesn't seem the type to miss out on action like that. I'm intrigued to find out more about this :)
re: girl crying over lost soldier/??Jack - oooo I didn't think of that :D this season needs some Captain Jack! :P
Also - squee for River Song this week :D
/incoherent babbling - its been a long day with lots of stressing and nervous excitement |:|
maz
Sure - Restart away ;)
RE the music - I have certain hearing related issues, such as hearing everything at the same volume, so when a soundtrack is overbearing it can quite upset me because then it is really hard for me to follow things. I feel like I'm missing most of the plot and it spoils the tension or excitement or whatever they are trying to build when you are focussing all your energy on hearing the dialogue. This week it got so so bad I considered putting on the subtitles because I just couldn't understand. If I hadn't been in the room with my family I would have done it but I hate subs taking up the whole screen and distracting me. It just shouldn't be necessary! Gah! Sorry that started me off on a rant... I'm glad to know it isn't just me/our TV though.
So true! A subservient and amiable Dalek? Offering tea? Offering hilarity, more like.Dark One
PMSL! at a Dalek saying "Please excuse me!" and "Would you care for some tea?!"
Yes! That's what it reminded me of!smuppet
'Oh my, Dalek Power Rangers?!'
