I’m super excited for this - the Season 12 box set was delightful, and Season 18 is one of my two favourite classic seasons (the other is 26, which is rumoured to have its own Bluray release later next year).
Finally watched The Witchfinders. It was pretty damn good! Alan Cummings was wonderful as King James, and they even found something for all the companions to do.
If I had one complaint it would be the sound mixing - the music almost drowned out the dialogue in a few places, and the director seems to be unwilling to make people do a take again when they've clearly talked way too fast.
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Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
Using
Speakers to stop your blind daughter from leaving the area surrounding the cottage/holiday home = Bad Parenting. I have to agree with the Doctor on that one.
Mirror Universes are cool though. Especially sentient ones. I was hoping the Doctor would take the frog with her.
is that there was no thematic through-line between the witch trials and the Morax, and the episode completely failed to say anything about witch trials, why they happened, what they meant, etc.
is that there was no thematic through-line between the witch trials and the Morax, and the episode completely failed to say anything about witch trials, why they happened, what they meant, etc.
Yeah, there is a disappointing tendency in modern Who stories - and a lot of classic ones too - to only be half-original with the monsters. The thing the monster does is always something weird and interesting, and that keeps you entertained for most of the episode, but when we hit the third act and the monster's motivation is revealed it's very often just "they're vaguely snarly and mean and want to conquer Earth". The best episodes, the ones that people remember, are the ones that make some effort to subvert this, like 'Vincent and the Doctor' and 'Smile' from the modern series or 'The Silurians' or 'The Creature from the Pit' from the classic series.
One of the reviews for the latest episode pointed out that it feels like we've had more than one moment this series where we have no clue what's going on and the Doctor suddenly slaps her head and says oh no of course it's the thingies, explains who the thingies are and that's your explanation. It's a big infodump of what the alien is rather than the characters actually discovering what the thingies are.
Yeah the Vincent episode is a corker. One where basically everything works and the only underdone element, the alien, doesn't matter too much as it still manages to evoke a strong emotional effect in the story.
Up to Capaldi's second season now on my rewatch, and it's so much better than the first. Also, iPlayer have extended the amount of time they're keeping all of New Who for another year, so fill your boots.
I felt a little better about this season when I recalled that I gave up on Moffat's first season five episodes in and didn't come back until they switched doctors.
Disappointing but not surprising. If we're lucky they might squeeze in another New Year's special next year.
This surprised me, but at an average of 8.1M UK viewers for the first nine episodes this has actually been one of the most successful seasons since the revival. It's currently beating the average of every other modern season, though the final episode figures might knock it from the number one spot, especially since there aren't any big story arcs being resolved. The only other season to finish at +8M was Series 4*, which for my money is the best-written season of the show ever - whereas this season has already had more than its share of clunkers.
I think they need to introduce some kind of conflict, internal or external, for The Doctor. She doesn't have an opponent like The Master to bounce off, yet. She doesn't seem like a conflicted person battling a dark side like say, 13. A good person who tries to do the right thing is fine, but they should be challenged about what the right thing is, and what the cost of doing the right thing can be.
One of the reviews for the latest episode pointed out that it feels like we've had more than one moment this series where we have no clue what's going on and the Doctor suddenly slaps her head and says oh no of course it's the thingies, explains who the thingies are and that's your explanation. It's a big infodump of what the alien is rather than the characters actually discovering what the thingies are.
Which in and of itself can be fun- that's more or less what hapoens in Blink. But there's enough setup for it to work.
Disappointing but not surprising. If we're lucky they might squeeze in another New Year's special next year.
This surprised me, but at an average of 8.1M UK viewers for the first nine episodes this has actually been one of the most successful seasons since the revival. It's currently beating the average of every other modern season, though the final episode figures might knock it from the number one spot, especially since there aren't any big story arcs being resolved. The only other season to finish at +8M was Series 4*, which for my money is the best-written season of the show ever - whereas this season has already had more than its share of clunkers.
On reflection, this is a dumb thing to be surprised by. It's the first season with a female Doctor and even in the less-than-great episodes Whittaker is consistently killing it. I think even if I wasn't a fan to begin with I'd keep tuning in just for her.
There were some nice individual elements, like Ryan's speech to his Dad and the new Dalek design, but it just didn't hang together. There were so many holes and unnecessary elements.
So let's take just the opener. A single recon-type Dalek comes to Earth in the 9th century and is just barely defeated by the combined forces of three armies, once in opposition to each other but now united against a common foe. That's pretty cool! Having vanquished the Dalek, these armies completely destroy its incredibly durable casing but decide that the soft, fleshy Dalek inside can just be cut into three pieces and buried, and not, say, burned to a fine ash. But okay, I can live with this one, it can be hand-waved as a superstitious reaction.
So, these three pieces of Dalek are then to be taken and buried at three distant points of the Earth. Now, this is a promising set-up! Clearly they're going to be going all over the globe in this story, maybe they'll have one companion in each - no never mind, the Dalek just teleports the parts of itself back together later. That is something Daleks can do now! Look, I'll give a lot of leeway for this being a specialised breed of Dalek, but this is just fucking bonkers. Why wouldn't it just regrow tissue?
Also, when the third custodian is killed by thieves, the thieves completely ignore what is clearly the most valuable item he's carrying, the thing he's clutching in his hand as he falls from the horse. Not only do they ignore it, but apparently everyone else in Sheffield does too, because his body is left in the middle of what is clearly a road for so long that it fossilises.
I'll be here forever if I start in on the rest of the episode, but in brief:
- The Dalek stops to fight the army for absolutely no reason.
- Yaz - once again - had nothing to do this week.
- Why is anyone worried about the Dalek signalling its fleet? The Daleks already know where Earth is! They visit literally every year! They're probably in the middle of putting their next invasion plan together right now, they're not going to come charging in half-cocked just because some rando from the 9th century sent them a reminder that the planet exists.
Butler on
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
That would have been a cleverer ending, in retrospect
the Doctor just delivers the Dalek to the newest incarnation of its fellows. They deem it inferior/an abomination and kill it before it can tell them the good news.
I gave up around episode 5, I think this might be like Matt Smith where I just skip the whole Doctor. I think Whittaker is really good, but the characterisation isn't. I've never known the show to be this bland and I don't see it turning around significantly. I'm glad that the ratings are really good (I think it was important that they were), but I can recognise when the show isn't for me.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
For what it's worth, I didn't like the first bunch of episodes and felt it turned around at The Tsuranga Conundrum and that they were all p.good from that one. But just p.good, never excellent. You can see the better stories lurking at the edge of what they actually do, and it's frustrating as hell.
the finale should've been a bootstrap paradox dealie leading into the Ghost Monument. It was right there, have the Doctor need to wreck that planet to save the others. C'mon!
I had to go to Walmart this past weekend, and they had the entire Matt Smith run (including the 50th Anniversary special) for $25. So of course I bought it. It also came with a surprise toy, and mine turned out to be the War Doctor.
When I got home, I checked online and apparently there is a box for Eccleston+Tennant, and another for all of Capaldi. Will probably pick those up soon too even though I already have Eccleston's season. I'd been holding off on buying most of the seasons since they were typically $45+ just a single season, so the deal with these has been pretty great.
The 13th Doctor will star in an animated Virtual Reality (VR) adventure to be released on selected VR headsets this year. The special will receive its world premiere at Tribeca Immersive Premieres, the VR section of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, taking place in New York City from April 24 to May 5, 2019.
Doctor Who: The Runaway is an animated episode that will run around 12 minutes. It features an animated version of the TARDIS and a chibi version of the 13th Doctor.
Whittaker is voicing the Doctor and Segun Akinola is doing the score.
What's the overlap of artists and Who fans around here? The BBC are running a contest to design Doctor Who T-shirt art. Winner gets a most-expenses-paid trip to London for four days (I think you have to cover some meals but you get flights and accommodation and a bunch of other stuff), and their design will be revealed along with four runners-up at San Diego Comic-Con.
Surprisingly, they're not insisting on depictions of Thirteen. Any canon Doctor is allowed, as long as their costume is era-appropriate. Oh, and you have to include the TARDIS too.
Some Big Finish stories are brilliant. Others are mind-numbingly dull. And then there are the ones that you look at the cover art and seriously wonder if you're awake right now.
Jodie Whittaker voices an animated version of the Thirteenth Doctor, who recruits the viewer as her unlikely assistant in a race against time to return a strange and potentially dangerous creature called Volta to his home planet. Armed with their own sonic screwdriver, it’s down to the viewer to help the Doctor as she faces the forces of evil in this immersive VR story.
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Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
Or you could watch it on Youtube, if you don't have a supported VR headset:
Oh, cool! I’ll watch that later. Given that it’s the only new content we’ll be getting mid-year, the BBC have been pretty indifferent about promoting it.
They're going in hard on this VR thing: The Edge of Time debuts in September. It's made by a different studio to 'The Runaway' and it has daleks, if that's your kink (not judging).
Posts
Also they threw "K9 and Company" in there too! I mean sure, why not?
If I had one complaint it would be the sound mixing - the music almost drowned out the dialogue in a few places, and the director seems to be unwilling to make people do a take again when they've clearly talked way too fast.
Mirror Universes are cool though. Especially sentient ones. I was hoping the Doctor would take the frog with her.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Oh yeah I'm a failure! Nobody is gonna rememeber me! All of my life's work was for nothing!
Wish I could have a cool time traveling alien come show me how things turn out.
Up to Capaldi's second season now on my rewatch, and it's so much better than the first. Also, iPlayer have extended the amount of time they're keeping all of New Who for another year, so fill your boots.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Steam
This surprised me, but at an average of 8.1M UK viewers for the first nine episodes this has actually been one of the most successful seasons since the revival. It's currently beating the average of every other modern season, though the final episode figures might knock it from the number one spot, especially since there aren't any big story arcs being resolved. The only other season to finish at +8M was Series 4*, which for my money is the best-written season of the show ever - whereas this season has already had more than its share of clunkers.
*Can't hyperlink this for some reason so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_episodes_(2005–present)
Which in and of itself can be fun- that's more or less what hapoens in Blink. But there's enough setup for it to work.
On reflection, this is a dumb thing to be surprised by. It's the first season with a female Doctor and even in the less-than-great episodes Whittaker is consistently killing it. I think even if I wasn't a fan to begin with I'd keep tuning in just for her.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
So let's take just the opener. A single recon-type Dalek comes to Earth in the 9th century and is just barely defeated by the combined forces of three armies, once in opposition to each other but now united against a common foe. That's pretty cool! Having vanquished the Dalek, these armies completely destroy its incredibly durable casing but decide that the soft, fleshy Dalek inside can just be cut into three pieces and buried, and not, say, burned to a fine ash. But okay, I can live with this one, it can be hand-waved as a superstitious reaction.
So, these three pieces of Dalek are then to be taken and buried at three distant points of the Earth. Now, this is a promising set-up! Clearly they're going to be going all over the globe in this story, maybe they'll have one companion in each - no never mind, the Dalek just teleports the parts of itself back together later. That is something Daleks can do now! Look, I'll give a lot of leeway for this being a specialised breed of Dalek, but this is just fucking bonkers. Why wouldn't it just regrow tissue?
Also, when the third custodian is killed by thieves, the thieves completely ignore what is clearly the most valuable item he's carrying, the thing he's clutching in his hand as he falls from the horse. Not only do they ignore it, but apparently everyone else in Sheffield does too, because his body is left in the middle of what is clearly a road for so long that it fossilises.
I'll be here forever if I start in on the rest of the episode, but in brief:
- The Dalek stops to fight the army for absolutely no reason.
- Yaz - once again - had nothing to do this week.
- Why is anyone worried about the Dalek signalling its fleet? The Daleks already know where Earth is! They visit literally every year! They're probably in the middle of putting their next invasion plan together right now, they're not going to come charging in half-cocked just because some rando from the 9th century sent them a reminder that the planet exists.
When I got home, I checked online and apparently there is a box for Eccleston+Tennant, and another for all of Capaldi. Will probably pick those up soon too even though I already have Eccleston's season. I'd been holding off on buying most of the seasons since they were typically $45+ just a single season, so the deal with these has been pretty great.
Whittaker is voicing the Doctor and Segun Akinola is doing the score.
... I learned nothing and that doesn't look like Whittaker.
The Eighth Doctor and four Masters, all voiced by their respective actors, in a two-part story called 'The Day Of The Master'. Let's go.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Surprisingly, they're not insisting on depictions of Thirteen. Any canon Doctor is allowed, as long as their costume is era-appropriate. Oh, and you have to include the TARDIS too.
That's a real thing. It's actually happening.
Oh, cool! I’ll watch that later. Given that it’s the only new content we’ll be getting mid-year, the BBC have been pretty indifferent about promoting it.