Doctor Who

[gorast]

She wasn't taking the part of the previous companions, just lurking about and guiding him

Also, iirc, that's the first time we've seen the TARDIS in its natural form

Ah, alright. The outfits just reminded me of screenshots and clips I've seen. My mistake.

[orestes]

OMG best episode of the season by far and definitely one the best episodes. The opening scene alone made me pick up my brain off the floor.

Susan!
William Hartnell!
River Song & the Doctor feels!

I knew that John Hurt was going to be in the 50th Anniversary special but I was not expecting him to be revealed at the end. I literally leapt off the couch when they showed his credit.

This gif sums things up:

[sheepdean]

If susan returns i will literally explode

literally.

[orestes]

So the show won't return until the anniversary special, right?

[sheepdean]

Yeah, until 23/11/13 all we've got is re-runs. Oh for the days when it twice a week

[Trains]

Damn, that was pretty great. Hands down the best series finale for years, though it did remind me of an old spin-off book called Interference. I was really impressed by that episode. That ending! Man, it made me realise how much I've been missing cliffhangers in Doctor Who.

First off, am I getting this right? Spoiler: John Hurt is an incarnation of the Doctor we have never seen before, either from before the First Doctor or somewhere along the line in between all the regenerations that we do know? Or is he a future version of the Doctor who committed the atrocities that the Great Intelligence was talking about (slaughtering ten million on Trenzalore, or something like that?). Or was it not meant to be clear yet?

Loved the flashback sequences with the old Doctors, I thought they did that really well, and I loved that the Valeyard got a mention! I was pretty disappointed I didn't see Paul McGann anywhere both times I watched the episode. Anyone else spot him? Loved seeing Susan and First taking the Tardis from Gallifrey, especially as we've never seen a Tardis in its default appearance before. The Clara resolution was well done too, much simpler to how I expected.

The only thing I didn't quite like? Not 100% sure I like the idea of the Doctor dying as a war tyrant in the middle of a battlefield on some apocalyptic planet in the future. I prefer it when he's just the classical, romantic traveler journeying through time and space in pursuit of fun. Don't get me wrong, I love it when it gets slightly darker, but that's taking things a bit far IMO.

[gorast]

Damn, that was pretty great. Hands down the best series finale for years, though it did remind me of an old spin-off book called Interference. I was really impressed by that episode. That ending! Man, it made me realise how much I've been missing cliffhangers in Doctor Who.

First off, am I getting this right? Spoiler: John Hurt is an incarnation of the Doctor we have never seen before, either from before the First Doctor or somewhere along the line in between all the regenerations that we do know? Or is he a future version of the Doctor who committed the atrocities that the Great Intelligence was talking about (slaughtering ten million on Trenzalore, or something like that?). Or was it not meant to be clear yet?

Loved the flashback sequences with the old Doctors, I thought they did that really well, and I loved that the Valeyard got a mention! I was pretty disappointed I didn't see Paul McGann anywhere both times I watched the episode. Anyone else spot him? Loved seeing Susan and First taking the Tardis from Gallifrey, especially as we've never seen a Tardis in its default appearance before. The Clara resolution was well done too, much simpler to how I expected.

The only thing I didn't quite like? Not 100% sure I like the idea of the Doctor dying as a war tyrant in the middle of a battlefield on some apocalyptic planet in the future. I prefer it when he's just the classical, romantic traveler journeying through time and space in pursuit of fun. Don't get me wrong, I love it when it gets slightly darker, but that's taking things a bit far IMO.

I think the implication of the episode was that the Doctor's death on Trenzalore was supposed to happen in that episode, which was averted by Clara (see - the crack in the TARDIS's window that they made a point of showing, and that very same crack visible on the full-size TARDIS grave).

Spoiler: The rumor mill is saying that John Hurt is playing the actual Ninth Doctor, which the Doctor blocked out of his mind because that Doctor is the one that committed atrocities during the Last Great Time War, hence the 'not in the name of the Doctor' line. That would make Eccleston the tenth, Tennant the eleventh, and so on. Of course, that's just a rumor based on John Hurt saying he's part of a "trinity of sorts" with Tennant and Smith. Another rumor is that he's just Eight at the end of his life, hence why he's so old and has the jacket that Paul McGann started using in promo photos for the non-TV stuff. I don't know how to reconcile that with the whole 'not the Doctor' thing, though - wouldn't he just block out his entire eighth life, or just what Eight did towards the end?

Man that ended up being longer than I thought it would be.

[orestes]

So Doctor Who was awarded a special Peabody Award yesterday. Picking up some serious Nine vibes from Matt Smith.



Also, I realized some of my attraction to Smith was his hair. :/

[Trains]

I think the implication of the episode was that the Doctor's death on Trenzalore was supposed to happen in that episode, which was averted by Clara (see - the crack in the TARDIS's window that they made a point of showing, and that very same crack visible on the full-size TARDIS grave).

Spoiler: The rumor mill is saying that John Hurt is playing the actual Ninth Doctor, which the Doctor blocked out of his mind because that Doctor is the one that committed atrocities during the Last Great Time War, hence the 'not in the name of the Doctor' line. That would make Eccleston the tenth, Tennant the eleventh, and so on. Of course, that's just a rumor based on John Hurt saying he's part of a "trinity of sorts" with Tennant and Smith. Another rumor is that he's just Eight at the end of his life, hence why he's so old and has the jacket that Paul McGann started using in promo photos for the non-TV stuff. I don't know how to reconcile that with the whole 'not the Doctor' thing, though - wouldn't he just block out his entire eighth life, or just what Eight did towards the end?

Man that ended up being longer than I thought it would be.

Spoiler: That would make a lot of sense, the only room for Hurt's Doctor is between 8 and 9 which is when the Time War is supposed to have happened. And I swear they kept mentioning the War in this series. But to be honest though, I kind of hope they don't just fall back on the Time War again, there was a period where everything seemed to revolve around it. In fact the majority of the 'big episodes' in series 1-4 directly relate to the Time War, so it isn't anything that special tbh. If the Doctor's greatest secret is that he was responsible for terrible things during the War...well then that isn't really much of a secret at all; we've known that since literally the first episode of the 'new' show. I really can't see Moffat wanting to celebrate the 50th by doing a story surrounding the Time War...he didn't even come up with that idea in the first place. I'm guessing there's more to it than that, but we'll see. Either way I'm just happy John Hurt is the Doctor.

Edit: Also, if I write Time War one more time I'm going to start one myself...

[sheepdean]

Spoiler tags are ugly, but here goes:
Spoiler: John Hurt is playing an incarnation of the Doctor that the Doctor has chosen to block out. The first truly is the first, that's well catalogued, so the only Doctors he could be are the ones we didn't see him actually turn into: 3 and 9. Logically, it's not going to be 3 because not THAT much time passed in-universe, so he's got to be 9. Which means, of course, Time War. The reason for the same jacket as 8 is logically to show that he was wearing it when he regenerated.
Also, I wonder if the 50th anniversary special will be on at 17:15, to make it truly 50 years since the first?

[ibanez33]

I realized some of my attraction to Smith was his hair. :/

Have you seen Tennant without his hair all "Doctor"y? Good god, it's horrible.




Also I saw this today:

[orestes]

I have a Tardis-sized hole in my heart so I've started to watch classic episodes until the November return.

"Nightmare of Eden"-- holy hell, what the fuck? Romana's outfit, no no no.

[sheepdean]

I have a Tardis-sized hole in my heart so I've started to watch classic episodes until the November return.

"Nightmare of Eden"-- holy hell, what the fuck?

They've just re-released the Cushing films on Blu Ray if you wanna watch some fanfiction

[orestes]

Shaaaaada.

I love how nobody really blinked an eye at Skagra's outfit.

[Trains]

I have a Tardis-sized hole in my heart so I've started to watch classic episodes until the November return.

"Nightmare of Eden"-- holy hell, what the fuck? Romana's outfit, no no no.

You could always check out Big Finish in the meantime, they produce original audio stories featuring classic Doctors and companions. They sort of fill the gaps between the classic series, pretty good for the most part. They're a little pricey, but worth checking out. The Eighth Doctor stories in particular are awesome, Paul McGann's voice acting alone makes up for the lack of tv-serials featuring Eight.

[orestes]

The Shada box set I've been watching comes with a Big Finish version to fill in production gaps.

[orestes]

Matt Smith leaving after Christmas special.

I'm genuinely chuffed.

[gorast]

Didn't he say he was doing series 8?

That's some shitty news to come home to. That Christmas special better send him off properly.

[Trains]

I'm surprisingly gutted about the news. Matt's been consistently brilliant as the Doctor, even though I felt the show took a turn for the worse during series six. Of all the Doctor's, I find him the funniest. I will miss his giddy arm movements, his cowboy-esque strut, his quirky lines and his impossible chin.

[WorzelG]

I'm really hoping for Damian Lewis to be the next Doctor, I loved Homeland. I've yet to catch up on most of Matt Smiths episodes, only the first series has been on our BT TV service, I did enjoy most of it though

[WorzelG]

They've just re-released the Cushing films on Blu Ray if you wanna watch some fanfiction

Those films were utter shite - my little brother went through a phase of watching them all the time, terrible gaudy daleks

[orestes]

Maybe this will make it um, tolerable. http://www.rifftrax.com/vod/dr-who-and-daleks

[Hula]

I'm genuinely chuffed.

That sentiment and that emoticon don't go together :P

I'm quite pleased myself that Matt Smith's going. He's the main reason (along with Amy Pond) that I've watched very little of this current incarnation of the Doctor. He just rubbed me up the wrong way and kind of coincided with the shift of the show to whatever it is that the Superwholock idiots love about it.

[sheepdean]

Emma Thompson for next Doctor, who's with me

[SeeOhDeeWhy]

The next Doctor better be a fucking ginger.

[ibanez33]

Didn't he say he was doing series 8?

That's some shitty news to come home to. That Christmas special better send him off properly.

Technically the Christmas specials are the first episodes of each series... I really hope he gets a good send off but I want it to be a happy one, kind of like 9s "You were fantastic, and so was I" moment, not "I don't want to go" and make me cry myself to sleep about it.

[orestes]

That sentiment and that emoticon don't go together :P

Blimey, you're right.

[Sutekh]

90 missing episodes may have been found... Been following the missing episode hunt since 1995 and this is the first time I feel compelled to repeat a rumour...!!!

[orestes]

^ ^ http://io9.com/maybe-those-doctor-wh...true-514194463

[Sutekh]

I started paying attention when underwater menace episode 2 appeared on youtube a few weeks back! Exciting stuff

I actually can't watch that single existing episode of web of fear... It is so good I end up mourning the missing episodes. Dalek masterplan and web of fear... Hnnnnnnnn