Page 34 of The All New Doctor Who Thread...

William Russell RIP.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/jun/04/william-russell-obituary

The first companion, back when it was the companions that made the show, not the curmudgeonly old Doctor. Just months shy of his 100th birthday.

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Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

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so conflicted by this one, it was just a gorgeous setting and very interesting storyline BUT

SPOILER:
is this the new/next captain jack? wouldn't mind it but the in your face gay pushing is not for me!! It seems RTD always has minor or major gay undertones or like this one rams it down your throat, I said in a previous thread the gay storyline I felt would have worked much better with the female doctor with most of the Doctors in love (not lust) with some of their companions, this was another great showcase for Millie who is killing it

Well, I enjoyed it while watching it, but contemplating it left me with doubts. Come to think of it, I think when this season is done and dusted, Rogue will be the stinker of the season.

SPOILER:
It really did feel like warmed over leftovers of Doctor Who past.

I don't care one way or the other about agenda, whether it's sexuality or gender identity. All I need is a good story, with believable characters. The thing I've realised about a lot of episodic television is that it's hard, if not impossible to craft a believable romance in the space of 45 minutes, unless that is the focus of the episode. It's why companion/Doctor relationships work as they develop over the course of several episodes. One time RTD did get it to work was The Girl in the Fireplace, where the relationship was the heart of the episode.

But yeah, leftover Who. As mentioned, this is RTD wanting Captain Jack back, which was blindingly obvious, while the whole meta, cosplaying Bridgerton felt twee, with the birdpeople reminding me of The Family of Blood, but not as interesting.

===========================
Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

Torchwood all over again, YUK!...Gave it a 1/10

Oh what a shame, absolutely awful from start to finish

It wasn't that bad. Although of all the Part 1's to a RTD 2-parter I have seen, this was the most muddled and aimless. All questions and no answers, pulling plot twists out of the aether, and the potential for a lot of squandered potential.

It all depends on whether Part 2 can pull all of this together and make sense, or whether RTD only needs to make his main plot points land and doesn't care about the kind of minutiae that fandom loves to nitpick.

SPOILER:
But I have to say, making Sutekh the big bad... This isn't even a pale shadow of The Pyramids of Mars. Looks more like a hellhound escaped from a Ghostbusters movie.

===========================
Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

I kept hearing the monster being called sunak, sunak, rishi sunak :D

The boy was ridiculous as chief advisor, and the story was a jumbly as ell, with so many OTT moments...Gave it a 3/10 for trying too hard.

What a travesty of a finish to what promised to be an absolute masterclass but unfortunately im not surprised , the most underwhelming finish to a story arc I have ever seen and its all down to RTD make no mistake.

Major mistakes throughout the series, the main one cutting the episode count knowing that the actor you chose was actually MIA in 2 episodes due to filming his other series, I mean WTAF?? both leads where superb but there was zero chemistry between them, nowhere near rose and her doctor(s), donna and hers, Amy etc etc, I could go on and on but we knew what they meant to each other because the viewers were a part of it through the show this season we were told it but me anyway didn't feel it.

The other major failing is simple, the Doctor is not and never has been a romantic lead especially a gay romantic lead and if they are going to go down that road build it ffs, dont ram it down our throats!!

And as for the ending, well it was a shambles, pacing was all over the place (as it was the whole series) with the first part of the finale 100 miles an hour trying to fit in as many answers to way to many questions as possible the second part slow as a week in the pokey and struggled badly to keep my attention, the flux cop out really p***es me off, if you cant give a storyline a suitable ending change the story because you are cheating the audience and we deserve better and the big reveal??? YAWN, Ruby's exit must be the most unsatisfactory in the shows history and how many times they are going down a particular road just to use timey wimey nonsense to reset everything which we know from the start because a particular character or characters are killed of is just criminal, I will watch the Christmas special but honestly if RTD is continuing to write I think I will have to take a leave of absence till the next writer takes over because one of my favourite shows shouldn't make me this angry

This item was edited on Saturday, 22nd June 2024, 22:19

I have to agree...
I am so tired of the reset button. World/universe ends. Push the button, all back to normal at the end of the second episode of the two parter.

It annoyed me the first time that RTD pushed it, back when the Master turned Tennant into Dobby the House Elf, and Martha went walkabout telling everyone to think good thoughts.

The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

Moffett did it twice in two successive seasons with Matt Smith,

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
Closing Time/The Wedding of River Song

And Chibnall forgot to press it with The Flux, but everyone pretended he did.

So I was in the strange position of not actually caring about the story. The Pyramids of Mars was such an iconic classic, this just didn't do it justice. It boiled down to taking the dog-god for a walk. It does feel like they're pulling story developments out of their fundament, the whole remembered Tardis thing, although given the whole narrative malleability that RTD has added with his genre switch from sci-fi to fantasy, I suppose it's the new rules of the universe. I did like the end of the Ruby Sunday story arc (although she is back next season, apparently rejoining after doing the whole family thing). For once it was pleasant that she wasn't all important, and the secret wasn't massive in the grand scheme of things, just only on a personal level. I think one more Impossible Girl would have put me right off. But the whole Mrs Flood build up is so extreme that the reality will never match the hype, even if she turns out to be The Doctor/Romana/Susan/The Master/The Rani/Angie Watts.

Also agree that the series was just too short, not enough time to develop the characters, not enough time to emotionally invest. And that, I find is the biggest problem with Who right now. I don't care about the characters. I haven't cared since Peter Capaldi's final episode. That's what I wanted RTD to bring back when he took over from Chibnall, but he hasn't managed it.


===========================
Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

I never went back to it after struggling through 50% of the first episode.

Maybe I should but I've a big enough watch list and it's way not even above half way.

Snaps