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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #465 on: March 21, 2014, 07:35:28 AM »
Yes, as regeneration episodes went, it wasn't the best. Didn't have the scope of The End of Time, but DID have a better paced ending. I think on the whole, my favourite regeneration story has to be The Caves of Androzani. That started off slow, but the pace quickened with every episode and the last episode was brilliant, the action never let up. Superbly paced story. By contrast, most of the regeneration stories have been decidedly below par. Did enjoy The War Games though, but have yet to see the Tenth Planet (just got the DVD). Planet of the Spiders and Logopolis weren't classics, Time and the Rani doesn't really count, nor does The TV movie with Paul McGann (regenerations at beginning rather than at the end). Then you have Eccleston, The two part finale of the comeback season. Well paced, good regeneration scene and not drawn out.

Looking forward to Peter Capaldi taking on the role, hopefully we can dial down on the silliness, the overly intricate story arcs and get down to some damn good storytelling!

Remind me to post a picture of my full-size Dalek on here sometime!

Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #466 on: March 22, 2014, 01:27:46 AM »
In fairness to Logopolis, I think it fares better as part of a larger transitional period, starting with the E-Space Trilogy where we learn about the existence of E-Space and that there are fissures into it from normal space, and where the last trappings of Baker's era (K-9, Romana) are stripped away.  It then proceeds into the Master Trilogy, which includes Logopolis where it's revealed that the fissures to E-Space are used to funnel the destructive "decay" of the universe's entropy.  The Master's persistence in staying alive past death by taking over the Keeper of Traken, and then proceeding to turn the entropic forces of the universe on itself (because apparently the universe is also "past due" for its death without the use of the E-Space fissures) makes for an interesting parallel about staving off the corrupting forces of decay/rot/stagnation when it culminates in Baker's long-serving Doctor regenerating into Davison while surrounded by the new cast of companions.  While being conceptually good in context doesn't necessarily mean the resulting adventure in Logopolis is all that good, I think it still has merit and it does stand out as one of the best of the Master's schemes (certainly, one of the Ainley Master's best).

As to "Time of the Doctor"...well, there's still loads of stuff that doesn't work from the past few seasons in regards to the overall plot-arc things even with the context that the Church tries to explain.  But I see it as Moffat hand-waving a "no, see, really, all that crazy kooky stuff I dropped all over the place now has an explanation so we don't need to bring it up ever again."  So while I don't think the exposition (what little there is) rectifies the plot holes or other issues, I can at least respect that he seemed to bring all that up so that he could then properly dismiss it as a done deal, and if we never have to address that snarled mess again then I'm all for it.

I'm looking forward to the new era...with Amy/Rory gone we've left behind the sitcom-esque antics brought onboard by their pairing.  Clara's nice (and rather nice to look at too), and I liked that the only clear plotarc she's sort-of had around her was the Doctor's repeated attempts to understand her origins; it was more sensible and less random than the plotarcs during the Amy/Rory era, though disappointing that it was so heavily truncated, with only a half season to develop.  The short time meant that we only really got Clara as a sort of mystery object than as a full character; now that the mystery's been resolved we can hopefully get to see a stronger characterization and better development.  Same goes for Capaldi's Doctor; while I liked Smith, I never really got a good sense of his Doctor's character...mannerisms and momentary emotional states, sure, but not much about his drive or personality (which I blame much more on the writing than Smith's performance, since he really did a good job selling those emotional states even with the silly mannerisms).  It'd be nice if Capaldi's Doctor gets a stronger, more coherent personality at the same time that Clara might start to get one of her own...hopefully that's not too much to ask.

In the meantime, I'll mention this: Matt Smith had shaved his head for another role he'd taken during a significant portion of the Christmas special, hence the silly bit with him wearing a wig, but it means he's wearing one for the Amy hallucination.  And as it happened, Karen had shaved her head for her role in the upcoming "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie (a Marvel movie which ties into the world of the Avengers, though I don't know that the connection will be all that strong or evident).  So in that hallucination, neither actor has any actual hair, it's all wigs.  Just a funny bit of trivia.
be seeing you...

Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #467 on: March 29, 2014, 09:06:55 AM »
Vworp...vworp...
be seeing you...

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rtpoe

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #468 on: March 30, 2014, 12:03:37 AM »
Deviant Artist hisi79 makes assorted Doctor Who wallpapers:
rtpoe

The snapping of pitch from a burning log,
The faint scent of pine filling the room.
Flames leaping about as if it were a ballet
Performing for its audience.
The soft, comforting glow of candlelight,
Bringing with it serenity and quiet thoughts.

Linda Christensen, Autumn's Beauty

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Breasts

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #469 on: March 31, 2014, 11:35:55 AM »
A great wallpaper for a truly great story. :)
01000010 01101001 01100111 01100111 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100001

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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #470 on: May 23, 2014, 04:23:41 AM »
Capaldi in the red spacesuit, on an ... er... Welsh beach...

Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #471 on: May 26, 2014, 02:15:03 AM »
I haven't heard any mention of when it's supposed to air...anyone here know?
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy (well, I'm looking forward to GotG in general) but I feel bad for her new show "Selfie" which looks horribly dumb (apart from Karen and John Cho).
be seeing you...

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ftl03

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #472 on: May 26, 2014, 04:08:01 AM »
The BBC have just started showing a short teaser "coming in August".

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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #473 on: June 01, 2014, 01:12:27 PM »
'Selfie' I see, has been picked up for a full series. I am looking forward to Karen in 'Oculus' moreso than Guardians of the Galaxy, because in Oculus she has her gorgeous red hair and walks around with bare legs a lot!

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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #474 on: June 17, 2014, 11:51:10 AM »
Saw Oculus recently, with the stunning Karen Gillan in the main role. Very good film.

Meanwhile, it looks like the TARDIS is shrinking in the new series. Are the Logopolitans, the Master or the Meddling Monk going to make an appearance?
« Last Edit: June 17, 2014, 11:52:52 AM by salem »

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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #475 on: June 28, 2014, 11:20:02 AM »
Doctor Who returns in the UK on August 23rd! Not long to go!

Meanwhile luscious Leigh Darby has done a rather good Doctor Who porno parody, the special effects of which are pretty much better than they were in the original series...

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Cris_H

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #476 on: July 12, 2014, 06:26:31 AM »
Who Who!

The Doctor premieres on BBC America on the same day as the UK! Woooooo!

"I see into your soul, Doctor!"

This simulcast-stuff is great.  This way we Yanks don't have to hear about what happens ahead-of-time!

From DoctorWho.tv:
"Filming is well underway for Series 8 of Doctor Who. Guest stars confirmed to join Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman in the new series, which will air on BBC One this Autumn include Foxes, Frank Skinner, Ben Miller, Tom Riley, Keeley Hawes and Hermione Norris."


Foxes?  hee hee hee... Her name is Foxes?  :P


« Last Edit: July 12, 2014, 06:47:43 AM by Cris_Helmare »
~Cris
all photos © Cris

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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #477 on: July 12, 2014, 04:48:48 PM »
‘I’ve been running all my lives, through time and space, every second of every minute of every day for over 900 years. I fought for peace in a universe at war. Now the time has come to face the choices I’ve made in the name of the Doctor. Our future depends on one single moment, of one impossible day. The day I’ve been running from all my life: The Day of the Doctor.’

23.11.13

#SAVETHEDAY

The above quote is from the official BBC trailer for The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary special in which the Doctor saves Gallifrey from the Daleks.

I watched ‘The End of Time’ last night and it threw up some interesting points which I intend to address here, most notably about how the two stories are connected and interact with each other.

Firstly, how do the two stories fit together and what is the continuity?

Well in ‘The End of Time’ we see the High Council attempt to escape the time-locked Time War by using a repeating noise of a beat of four (the so-called drumming the Master hears throughout his life) sent through time to the Master in order to establish a link through which they can send the whole of Gallifrey. Once done they intend to continue with a plan called the ‘Ultimate Sanction’ which would see the end of time itself and the Time Lords ascending to a conscious only state. This plan however fails and in the ‘Day of the Doctor’ we discover the failure of this plan when we visit the War Council.

So…

The intertwining continuity of the two stories may go something like this…

The War Doctor (John Hurt) tires of the endless war and steals ‘The Moment’ an immensely powerful Time Lord weapon from the ‘Omega Arsenal’ (Day). At the same time, the High Council are discussing the fact that the War Doctor has this weapon and intends to use it to destroy Daleks and Time Lords alike (End). The War Council discover that the Moment is missing and we see the War Doctor engage the Moment in the form of Rose Tyler (Bad Wolf version). The Moment sends the War Doctor back to Elizabethan England where he meets his future selves (Day).

While this is occurring the Time Lords attempt their plan to take Gallifrey out of the Time War and fail (End) The Master attacks Rassilon and goes with him into the time-locked Gallifrey.

Having helped Doctors 10 and 11 with the Zygons, the War Doctor return to Gallifrey and is about to destroy it along with the Daleks when 10 and 11 show up and instead of destroying Gallifrey, they manage to hide it away in a pocket universe.

Now, in the End of Time the Doctor (in a conversation with Wilfred Mott) mentions that he doesn’t want the Time Lords to return because of what they have become. He also states that he knows they were planning the ‘Ultimate Sanction’ and that is why he did what he did. So why did he seem so eager to SAVE Gallifrey in the Day of the Doctor? Well, my opinion is that the 10th Doctor probably realises that by SAVING Gallifrey and hiding it, the Time-Lords will have no need of the Ultimate Sanction and would therefore not have to use it. The 11th Doctor of course remembers the events of the End of Time and knows that the High Council’s attempt to extricate Gallifrey from the time-locked Time War failed, which is why he talks not to the High Council but to the War Council (although Doctor No 1 does indeed refer to the High Council). They then of course begin their plan (along with all the other Doctors) to hide Gallifrey and make it look like it blew up.

Of course the 10th Doctor forgets most of this and then pops back into his TARDIS and heads for the Ood-Sphere, where he learns of a deadly threat which is returning to end time itself, and hence begins his final adventure which strangely enough occurs just before the adventure he has already had!

So what of Gallifrey, the High Council and the Master?

Well, the High Council were sent back into the time-locked Time War, along with the Master and Gallifrey, only to be frozen by 13 Doctors not long after. However, Gallifrey still exists and given the failure of the High Council and their nefarious plans, I would suspect they have been replaced. The Master may or may not still be alive and Rassilon has either been deposed or placed back in the Dark Tower from where they plucked him to become President for the duration of the Time War.

I guess we’ll find all that out when we eventually re-join Gallifrey, which may or may not be sometime in the next season.
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rtpoe

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #478 on: July 12, 2014, 10:26:06 PM »
And to think RTD came up with the idea of the Time War so he could have a clean break from the Burden of Continuity....
rtpoe

The snapping of pitch from a burning log,
The faint scent of pine filling the room.
Flames leaping about as if it were a ballet
Performing for its audience.
The soft, comforting glow of candlelight,
Bringing with it serenity and quiet thoughts.

Linda Christensen, Autumn's Beauty

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salem

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Re: The New Doctor Who
« Reply #479 on: July 13, 2014, 09:38:56 AM »
Don't forget, the Moff rebooted the whole Universe so it's a similar sort of thing. Anything that happens that does not fit continuity you can just say 'ah, but the Doctor rebooted the universe...' 

I was never a fan of the whole 'Daleks and Time-Lords being wiped out during the Time War' thing anyway. The Daleks have been back so often and in such great numbers that it actually made the Doctor's sacrifice of his own people meaningless. I think Moffat realised this and decided to do something about it. By making out that the Time Lords survived too means that he isn't responsible for aimlessly wiping out his own people. Besides, I think we needed the Time-Lords 'back' in some capacity to issue the Doctor with a new regeneration cycle.

It would have been totally different if the Daleks had never come back in the new series, but they are always popping up with alarming regularity which made the Doctor's attempt to wipe them out a terrible failure.

One important thing is that the Master is still 'alive' of sorts on Gallifrey as he got sucked back to Gallifrey when the link was broken in 'The End of Time' so we will most likely see him back again. Capaldi is a good Doctor to stand up against the Master, I mean I liked Matt Smith as the Doctor, but his quirky, eccentric Doctor wouldn't have looked quite so good next to an evil being like the Master (although Tennant managed it).

Looking forward to the new series very much.