Doctor Who IV - Everything Whovian - Would you like a jelly baby?

[Jim Kelly]

Isn't DW supposed to be on Saturdays? Throws off my whole week.

Having avoided spoilers, I didn't realize that the TARDIS was going to be missing for the whole season. Surely it will have to appear next episode to save our poor travellers. And I could use its help understanding the language they're speaking. It's a real pea soup of thick accents that made it hard to understand what they were saying for the first fifteen minutes.

I'm used to thick accents, watching CORONATION STREET, but usually DOCTOR WHO is more intelligible. Is this what it's like in Sheffield? I will probably keep watching just for Danny Baldwin's sake--but I might need to find a feed that offers closed captioning.

[protege]

Isn't DW supposed to be on Saturdays? Throws off my whole week.

Having avoided spoilers, I didn't realize that the TARDIS was going to be missing for the whole season. Surely it will have to appear next episode to save our poor travellers. And I could use its help understanding the language they're speaking. It's a real pea soup of thick accents that made it hard to understand what they were saying for the first fifteen minutes.

I'm used to thick accents, watching CORONATION STREET, but usually DOCTOR WHO is more intelligible. Is this what it's like in Sheffield? I will probably keep watching just for Danny Baldwin's sake--but I might need to find a feed that offers closed captioning.

I don’t know that it is, i just think that it might be.

[Miles To Go]

Isn't DW supposed to be on Saturdays?

The show had been struggling in the Saturday schedules whenever it aired in the Autumn due to Strictly Come Dancing and competition from The X-Factor.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Given how Chibnall tore Pip and Jane Baker a new one for delivering a "traditional" adventure, it is funny his first turn in the showrunners seat is a fairly traditional romp. Which isn't a bad thing at all. As an opener, it wasn't mindblowing. But it didn't need to be. All it needed to do was deliver a story told well and this achieved that in spades. But it isn't without faults.

Points

• I'd rank this up there with the better introductory episodes for a Doctor (Spearhead From Space is still the benchmark. The Eleventh Hour is second. The Christmas Invasion is third. But this might take that spot.)

• The theme! Love that it is a callback to the arrangement of the show during the 60’s. I give credit to the production team for trying something different with Capaldi's theme, but it was a bit too alien. So glad it is back to something more familiar.

• At last! We have finally gone back to a classic series way of introducing companions i.e. accidentally taken or a stowaway. More than that, The Doctor wasn't looking to take them with her. They've been thrown together by chance. Not due to some grand destiny.

• Not sold on there being three companions. Purely because it has never really worked long-term. The reason is that it is hard to give each character equal focus. It got away with it to an extent in the 60’s with Ian, Barbara and Susan (Ian handled the action/physical tasks, Barbara was a voice of reason who was often reduced to peacemaker or babysitter for Susan, and Susan just got herself into mischief.) But it was less successful during Troughton's first season (Ben took a major backseat once Jaime joined) and poor Nyssa was written out for large chunks in Davison's first series and quickly dispensed with in his second. Hopefully Chibnall can do something with it. But as it stands, I can only see Ryan as a longer term companion with Graham tagging along as a minder.

• I really hope Chibnall delivers a sufficient answer for how the Doctor survived the death drop from the end of Twice Upon A Time. Because it seems like it was brushed aside. Which would be a cop out.

• Jodie was great. Not a total standout yet. But she definitely has potential. The best way to sum up her Doctor so far is the energy of Ten mixed with the mannerisms of Eleven. Ten took his cues from Four and Eleven his from the second. Plus, with her accent, tinges of Nine.

• The new villain was interesting (I love Predator and this echoes that in motivation/function.) With the way he was dealt with, I can see future appearances and I'll welcome them as I did here. Who has been in need of new villain's for awhile. Glad we are getting that.

• Loved that she constructed her own sonic. One of the draw cards for me, especially with regards to the character of The Doctor, is the ability to construct a variety of gadgets and MacGyver intricate scientific instruments. But that has been missing since, well, the show came back. It is that attention to detail I love.

• Cliffhangers! The return of actual cliffhangers! What made the classic series so great was the cliffhanger where our characters are in peril and we have a desire to see what happens next. The new series has missed that somewhat. Not that the "done in ones" are bad, but Who was envisioned as a running serial. So its nice to see them get back to that.

[Tenebrae]

I really like her as the new Doctor. She's carrying it off well. The plot on the other hand is more standard stuff which I kept hoping would get better. Still it's only episode 1 so plenty of time to improve.

[Vworp Vworp]

• Not sold on there being three companions. Purely because it has never really worked long-term. The reason is that it is hard to give each character equal focus. It got away with it to an extent in the 60’s with Ian, Barbara and Susan (Ian handled the action/physical tasks, Barbara was a voice of reason who was often reduced to peacemaker or babysitter for Susan, and Susan just got herself into mischief.)

I don't think comparisons with 60's or 80's Who really stand up when it comes to the size of the crew. It wasn't that it would have been hard to give each character equal focus back then, it's simply that the production team and writers mostly chose not to. In the 60's, Susan was reduced to largely helpless damsel pretty much from the second ever episode and with 80's Who, companions were rarely there to be anything other than ciphers and plot devices. It never occurred to anyone to write them with any real depth and so they never made the effort to give them all a fair amount of screen-time, let alone character development.

At the end of the day, there's a lot of TV right now with considerably bigger regular casts than Doctor Who and none of them suffer with not being able to create stories and arcs for every character. Naturally, we'll see how things pan out over the season. But I honestly don't think it's gonna be a problem. Quite the opposite, really.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I don't think comparisons with 60's or 80's Who really stand up when it comes to the size of the crew. It wasn't that it would have been hard to give each character equal focus back then, it's simply that the production team and writers mostly chose not to. In the 60's, Susan was reduced to largely helpless damsel pretty much from the second ever episode and with 80's Who, companions were rarely there to be anything other than ciphers and plot devices. It never occurred to anyone to write them with any real depth and so they never made the effort to give them all a fair amount of screen-time, let alone character development.

At the end of the day, there's a lot of TV right now with considerably bigger regular casts than Doctor Who and none of them suffer with not being able to create stories and arcs for every character. Naturally, we'll see how things pan out over the season. But I honestly don't think it's gonna be a problem. Quite the opposite, really.

I agree that having three companions creates numerous plot strands for the writing team to exploit (Which is why it was done.) But it can be a delicate balancing act to navigate successfully. Not saying it can be done. Just that it is very difficult. Sadly, the show is only 60 minutes in length. With so much to cover in a short period, some characters will be under utilised. Yasmine was that character in this episode.

Still, we are only one episode in. But I want to see each one given their due in each episode. The cast is too talented to be reduced to wallpaper. Hopefully Yasmine gets more of a focus next week.

[Carabas]

I agree that having three companions creates numerous plot strands for the writing team to exploit (Which is why it was done.) But it can be a delicate balancing act to navigate successfully. Not saying it can be done. Just that it is very difficult. Sadly, the show is only 60 minutes in length. With so much to cover in a short period, some characters will be under utilised. Yasmine was that character in this episode.

I think Chibnall has more than proven he can handle ensembles considerably larger than this with Broadchurch.

Also, this episode really had four companions instead of three.

[Jim Kelly]

The thing that surprised is when 13 says something about her mission is to help people. She's supposed to be scrambled about her role at the moment, yet she knows she's supposed to be a hero. Whereas, most regenerations aren't that sure of themselves when they're still in raw form. It's not a guarantee that the Doctor is going to be a good person.

[protege]

The thing that surprised is when 13 says something about her mission is to help people. She's supposed to be scrambled about her role at the moment, yet she knows she's supposed to be a hero. Whereas, most regenerations aren't that sure of themselves when they're still in raw form. It's not a guarantee that the Doctor is going to be a good person.

I think that when the doctor told tim shaw that she had already removed the bombs and placed them where he would absorb them was when i knew she was the doctor- that’s the kind of thing s/he does; usually when you’re not looking.

[Jim Kelly]

I know that they want to introduce new monsters, but I hope this is the last we see of Tim Shaw, because his face was too much of a gross-out for me. I can stomach a lot of grotty stuff in my horror movies but I guess the line for me is teeth in the face--I just can't look at that and I wanted him to put his faceplate back on and never take it off. The monsters in DW are often creepy, but just enough so you can stand it. If this is a preview of the kind of new monsters they're going to present, I better not watch the show on a full stomach.

[thwhtGuardian]

I know that they want to introduce new monsters, but I hope this is the last we see of Tim Shaw, because his face was too much of a gross-out for me. I can stomach a lot of grotty stuff in my horror movies but I guess the line for me is teeth in the face--I just can't look at that and I wanted him to put his faceplate back on and never take it off. The monsters in DW are often creepy, but just enough so you can stand it. If this is a preview of the kind of new monsters they're going to present, I better not watch the show on a full stomach.

To each their own certainly, but I wanted him to keep his helmet on for an entirely different reason...because the whole tooth look didn't seem realistic to me at all, to the point that it was almost laughable. Not the best creature design in my mind.

[Forseti]

I know that they want to introduce new monsters, but I hope this is the last we see of Tim Shaw, because his face was too much of a gross-out for me. I can stomach a lot of grotty stuff in my horror movies but I guess the line for me is teeth in the face--I just can't look at that and I wanted him to put his faceplate back on and never take it off. The monsters in DW are often creepy, but just enough so you can stand it. If this is a preview of the kind of new monsters they're going to present, I better not watch the show on a full stomach.

It reminded me of the teeth monster in Channel Zero: Candle Cove. The Candle Cove thing was entire covered in teeth with nothing of its own body showing through. Not half as horrible looking as Tim because of that, but creepy in its own right because of the sound it made when moving.

[Jokerz79]

• I really hope Chibnall delivers a sufficient answer for how the Doctor survived the death drop from the end of Twice Upon A Time. Because it seems like it was brushed aside. Which would be a cop out.

Just Guessing but probably the 13 Hour Rule created in Christmas Invasion if 10 could grow a hand I imagine healing internal injuries for 13 from a fall isn't to crazy.

[Jim Kelly]

To each their own certainly, but I wanted him to keep his helmet on for an entirely different reason...because the whole tooth look didn't seem realistic to me at all, to the point that it was almost laughable. Not the best creature design in my mind.

It can be both. For example, the "uncanny valley" is both annoying and fails to be realistic--I can't watch THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004) for this reason, because it creeps me out--but everyone's threshold is different (some people actually enjoy that revolting movie). Audrey 2 in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986) looks like a puppet and still somehow is disgusting to look at.