Doctor Who Season 10 [** Spoilers **]

pixelburp

The_Valeyard wrote: »

did ye all give up after last week lol

I usually watch on Sunday; used to be one of the few shows I'd watch 'live' so to speak, but sure aren't we living in a modern age?

Didn't realise this was a Mark Gatiss penned episode so my expectations will be dialled wayyyyyy down ...

ebbsy

I thought it was a good episode, again made better by the good actors.

Doctor DooM

Fairly standard "plz don't fight different species" Doctor Who episode!

ixoy

As soon as they transmitted the call, I had hoped we'd hear from Alpha Centauri - I was not disappointed.

Doctor DooM

ixoy wrote: »

As soon as they transmitted the call, I had hoped we'd hear from Alpha Centauri - I was not disappointed.

That was a great nod. I loved the doctors encouraging face, what a dick

ixoy

Doctor DooM wrote: »

what a dick

That's indeed what most people think of for Alpha Centauri

pixelburp

Yeah the Alpha Centauri moment was cute; definitely the passing form of easter egg that's unobtrusive.

Very generic episode otherwise, nothing to get too excited about bar those final 30 seconds. In fact without that ending it could have aired during the period of any of the 2005+ vintage doctors, it was that interchangeable.

pixelburp

Wrong thread there I think ixoy; multiple tabs open?

jasonb

Yeah, I thought it was ok, a bit generic and predictable. The moment we saw the message at the start, I just knew the Doctor would end up being the one leaving it there, it's a real staple of any time travel story.

I was kinda surprised that the Ice Warriors didn't kill all the humans in about 10 seconds, I couldn't see why the battle was taking so long. I was also surprised that the soldiers had bothered to build a jail on Mars! Bill has definitely come a long way from the first episode as well, I do like her as a character.

Did we find out why the Tardis went back to earth 'on its own', or do we just assume Missy had something to do with it? I presume Missy asking him at the end if he's ok is pointing towards the beginning of the end of Calpaldi's Doctor? Do we know if he's in the Christmas special, or does he only have 3 episodes left? I wonder if him using the device to temporarily restore his eyesight will lead to his regeneration, didn't he say it would have some negative effect on his future self?

Here's a thought, could we somehow see the Doctor regenerate into John Simms?

Simms Doctor, now that would be a turn around

SparklersJo

As someone who is only familiar with New Who (*shields face from expected barrage of stones to be thrown*), can someone explain the Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri to me? Are the Ice Warriors good guys or bad guys from before? What's the significance of Alpha Centauri?

ixoy

SparklersJo wrote: »

Are the Ice Warriors good guys or bad guys from before? What's the significance of Alpha Centauri?

Well they featured in the New-Who story "The Cold War", albeit not so heavily armoured.
You can find very detailed info on them here, but they're a little like Klingons in the post-TNG TV Trek - a war-like race, obsessed with honour, and neither good nor bad.

Alpha Centuari is in the stories "The Curse of Peladon" and "The Monster of Peladon" back in the 3rd Doctor era in the '70s. Made (in)famous by its squeaky voice and its suggestive appearance (take a look at the picture here or check out YouTube for some clips).

SparklersJo

ixoy wrote: »

Well they featured in the New-Who story "The Cold War", albeit not so heavily armoured. ...

Oh yeah, I had forgotten that. So an Ice Warrior was the dude on the submarine who was killing all of Liam Cunningham's crew. I wouldn't have put two and two together there. Thanks for the reminder

Doctor DooM

ixoy wrote: »

That's indeed what most people think of for Alpha Centauri

I'm getting so old- I was confusing Sontarans and Rutans with Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri

Greyjoy

jasonb wrote: »

I was kinda surprised that the Ice Warriors didn't kill all the humans in about 10 seconds, I couldn't see why the battle was taking so long.

That was a big problem I had with the episode as well - the humans posed so little danger to the Ice Warriors that it made the story feel dragged out. Why did the Empress need to wake up her warriors when it felt like she could have just brushed aside the human soldiers herself?

CastorTroy

jasonb wrote: »

I wonder if him using the device to temporarily restore his eyesight will lead to his regeneration, didn't he say it would have some negative effect on his future self?

If I remember correctly, that was done in the simulation so doesn't tie into the show any more

jasonb

Ooh... Good point CastorTroy!

WomanSkirtFan8

SparklersJo wrote: »

As someone who is only familiar with New Who (*shields face from expected barrage of stones to be thrown*), can someone explain the Ice Warriors and Alpha Centauri to me? Are the Ice Warriors good guys or bad guys from before? What's the significance of Alpha Centauri?

Don't know about Alpha Centuri (Other than all the Star Trek references) but the Ice Warriors go all the way back to the Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor) years around 1967 or so which is also one of those so-called "missing" stories that the BBC wiped around the early 1970s.:)

DirtyBollox

Watched this last night, apart from the end when they get rescued it all just seemed like filler. I was sitting there predicting it to my wife the whole way through, she's still unconvinced I hadn't watched it beforehand. Oh well, not long now before the end of the season and we find out whats happening.

pixelburp

Well there are only 3 episodes left, so I wonder if Empress of Mars was intentionally left as a filler episode before the climax.

Mind you, it's unknown if episode 10 is itself going to link up with the presumed 2-part finale, although it might be of interest to Classic Series fans that that the story is written by Rona Munro, who wrote the very last story of the Classic Series, 'Survival'.

pixelburp

RopeDrink wrote: »

Now now, Ghost Light was the final story - they simply aired in a different order (which explains why the ending speech was so blatantly dubbed in for the final clip in Survival). Still a cool thing regardless of the minor details.

Probably just as well the last story was something a bit more standard; given people to this day are still debating what on earth Ghost Light was about, had that been the very last story it would have been quite the whimper to go out on...

RopeDrink wrote: »

EDIT: Regarding the here and now, Rona returning is a cool aspect and all, but I'm not sure why it'd be overly interesting to the classic fans given having an old writer return doesn't necessarily mean there'll be any throwbacks (I wager the most you'd get is a nod in some manner rather than anything too blatant) - aside from the whole irony of "Survival" being a final episode of sorts, old or new.

I dunno, I think it's something worth noting, as there haven't been that many creatives from the Classic series that worked on this new run, if any really (IIRC, a director from the old series worked on a few stories back in the Tenant era). While the Alpha Centauri cameo from the most recent episode showed the actual continuity still pops up here & there, it's nice to see people involved with the historical iteration popping up. Adds a little production continuity if nothing else.

ebbsy

Next week is going to be a classic.

Angron

Gonna be weird seeing the lads from Mondas again.

pixelburp

Angron wrote: »

Gonna be weird seeing the lads from Mondas again.

Be curious to know if they tweak the costume at all, cos the old design was a bit clunky. The voices were pretty creepy though so hopefully that remains.

That was a better episode than that Martian one, felt a bit better put together and thought out, not in as much of a rush to blast thorough the Dr Who Plot Checklist.

ixoy

Be nice if we could spoiler previews for next week's episodes and upcoming story lines..

This week's episode - I liked it. The characters were much more rounded than normal, the dialogue was above average too. It also finally had someone say : "It even does lip sync!"

pixelburp

ixoy wrote: »

Be nice if we could spoiler previews for next week's episodes and upcoming story lines..

This week's episode - I liked it. The characters were much more rounded than normal, the dialogue was above average too. It also finally had someone say : "It even does lip sync!"

Yeah that's actually fair enough; I've spoiler-texted my reply & Angron's own comment.

So a mild Mod Request: given we're up to the last two episodes, and what'll probably be a fairly climactic finale, I'd ask people to use best judgement on discussing plot points, surprises, twists and all the rest. If in doubt, spoiler-text it out.

The statute of limitations here can probably run for a week or two after the series ends, and equally I'd ask those not up to speed with the series to use best judgement when reading this thread.

ebbsy

Angron wrote: »

Gonna be weird seeing the lads from Mondas again.

Showing your age.....!!!!!

CastorTroy

So why are they stuck for eternity guarding the gate? Surely the best option would've been to collapse the entrance so no light got in to open the gate.

At least Bill was lucky enough to encounter the nice Roman soldiers and not the raping and pillaging soldiers.

The_Valeyard

Whoever keeps putting spoilers in BBC trailers needs to sent to Skaro

Doctor DooM

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Whoever keeps putting spoilers in BBC trailers needs to sent to Skaro

They seem to be determined to mine every potential little bit of surprise for views all right.