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

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Oh well there's always Big Finish.



Ravenous 1 is a fun time but it takes a while to get going.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I watched the last episode and it was a paint by numbers episode. The show hasn't changed, it's just run its course.

Do you folks really expect this show to never go off the air again? It's been 15 years. How much longer do you want the show to go on in this incarnation? Maybe it needs to regenerate but before it can do that it needs to die. Just like it did before it was brought back in it's current form.

Plenty of shows are still chugging along that ran their course years ago. Doctor Who will inevitably go off the air again. Just a matter of how long should it be rested this time?

[Somecrazyaussie]

I don't think it necessarily needs a hibernation but it does need a creative team that have a clear vision and plan for the show.
Last season seemed to be nothing but filler episodes and this season isn't really off to a cracking start either.

The creative team probably think they have a clear vision and plan for the show. I'll give last series the benefit of the doubt and put that down to teething problems. The announcement of a female Doctor created enough of a draw to get people tuning in to see how it would turn out. But the average writing and lackluster episodes lost them.

I don't like the show having gap years. But a break between this series and last was needed. There does appear to be a few ongoing threads this series (no such thread existed in series 11): So far we have multiple Earth's/realities, alternative timelines, Gallifrey being destroyed yet again, and the "timeless child" prophecy that was floated last series.

Whether or not these amount to anything significant at the end? We have to wait and see.

[Derek Metaltron]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned elsewhere but looks like we’re getting a second wave of Target adaptations of New Series storylines. The new books include the Ninth Doctor story Dalek by Rob Sherman, the Eleventh Doctor story The Crimson Horror by Mark Gatiss, and 13’s first Target novelisation with The Witchfinders by Joy Wilkinson. Curiously Ten and Twelve are getting no new books but they are also adapting the 1996 TV movie as well, despite the fact I am pretty sure it’s been a novel before...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-...23FK80SY2Y4B4T

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-...R1QYTY73540E3B

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-...TTRATBFKM8SJY3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-...ECT75VR5ZZBYKJ

Interested in reading Dalek and Crimson Horror especially since I got my username from Dalek and Crimson Horror is basically a Paternoster Gang story. Witchfinders is not a bad story either, though I am surprised that they didn’t got with Jodie’s opening story.

[ChrisIII]

Crimson Horror's an interesting choice. Seems to be one of the more forgotten Eleventh Doctor episodes apart from Diana Rigg though.

[Derek Metaltron]

Crimson Horror's an interesting choice. Seems to be one of the more forgotten Eleventh Doctor episodes apart from Diana Rigg though.

It is curious they wouldn’t go with an Amy and Rory story like Victory of the Daleks, Vincent and the Doctor, The Doctor’s Wife or Angels In Manhattan. I love the Paternoster Gang though so I love the idea of expanding a story with them, maybe also revealing more about how Eleven and Clara got involved (since we only get some brief flashbacks). No Ten story is weird too, you would assume that they would want another one for him and there’s plenty of options. I also think The Pilot with Twelve and Bill could be nicely expanded on.

Witchfinders is a okay story though I would have preferred Rosa myself.

[Derek Metaltron]

Okay, that episode was awesome, a real return to form for the series after last weeks disappointing show. A solid historical adventure. And yay for Judoon in the next episode!

[Somecrazyaussie]

They are also adapting the 1996 TV movie as well, despite the fact I am pretty sure it’s been a novel before

It has. Gary Russell wrote it.

[Anthony W]

Okay, that episode was awesome, a real return to form for the series after last weeks disappointing show. A solid historical adventure. And yay for Judoon in the next episode!

I tend to roll my eyes whenever Tesla is used in a science fiction story. It immediately makes the story hokey. I know it's Dr. Who and everything is fair game but the second I found out what the episode was going to be about i almost didn't tune in. Much like the last episode this felt like your basic episode of Who. I haven't been watching that much so I haven't seen the dip in quality that you folks have been talking about.

[Matt]

I just finished watching the latest episode - Tesla's Night of Terror.
It was a marked improvement over the previous episode, though some of the same issues are present.

There are still too many companions and not enough for each of them to do. What they did in this story could easily have been handled by two or even one companion.
The design of the main villain wasn't hyph3n bad but still pretty cheap looking. I immediately thought back to the spider aliens back from Turn Left (Tennant's era) and how much better they looked. I don't think it was helped that we got so many close up of the Queen's face, it just screamed they were trying to hide the rest of the costume. And it didn't work because why the heck would an alien scorpion queen have a painted human face anyhow.
The Doctor needs to stop talking to herself, asking herself questions. In this episode, she was doing it with the companions standing behind her doing literally nothing. Let the companions ask the questions, that's their job.

Goran Visnjic (glad to see him on-screen again after the woefully underrated 'Timeless') played Tesla wonderfully. He rather stole every scene he was in, especially the final one. I can very easily imagine him being the Doctor.

I am curious, however, about why there wasn't enough power for both the shield and the energy bolt attack. They had the TARDIS hooked up. The TARDIS that is literally powered by the infinite energy source of a time frozen collapsing star. The TARDIS has extended its shields before on numerous occasions and it has never been a notable power drain so that can't be the reason. I get the feeling that the current writers haven't actually seen a terribly large amount of Doctor Who before sometimes.

[ChrisIII]

There's a new preview out with some new glimpses of the Cybermen, some hints that maybe we'll be getting a bit more Master down the line, some kind of swarming monsters, and what looks like more of the companion's growing disillusionment with the Doctor. I think it's probable that at least one companion will leave/die? at the end of this season.

[Deathstroke]

My feeling about the episode was "Eh."

I just don't see much that is drawing me in lately.

[Indian Ink]

Haven't seen the latest episode yet, but something that occurred to me the other day regarding impressions of the last season. That is that there were some good stories there, but that they would have been even better if the Doctor and companions weren't in them. I wouldn't have been completely surprised if the writers had some pet project stories in mind, or even already written, and then to get them on screen had to put the Doctor in them. It's as though, with the historical stories at least, there's a half decent drama getting invaded by some odd kidult team to explain what's happening folks!

[protege]

About the too many companions thing; I’m hard pressed to say which one should go. Yaz is the obvious choice, but would it be too weird to have the doctor traveling with a grandfather and grandson, as opposed to a married couple? Ryan could go, but the balance isn’t better served that way either. Graham is my absolute favorite, and I hope he stays a while longer, but he’s sort of a ticking time bomb with his cancer, and Bradley Walsh may get tired. Of the grind. Problem is, if he goes, I’m not sure I’d tune in for the doctor, Yaz and Ryan.

[Derek Metaltron]

Annoyingly I think it’s likely to be Graham if one goes at this point, and I quite like Yaz even though she often feels like the third wheel - her family haven’t been utilised anything as well as they might have. But I might actually like to see a new companion instead to replace all of them and see what Jodie’s Doctor is like with someone else. I still have to admit I was gutted that we only got one season with Bill since she and 12 had a great dynamic.

I do feel like the show is a bit inconsistent with quality atm, given we went from the bad Orphan 55 to the well done Tesla episode this week.