Doctor Who — Page 10

ChainsawAsh said:

Gotta agree, The Girl Who Waited has become, along with The Doctor's Wife, one of my favorite episodes of the entire series.  All the Series 6 naysayers can go eat a shoe!

Granted that these episodes were absolutely stunning, I still believe that some of Series Six is pretty weak... "The Curse of the Black Spot," for example. Also, the mid-season finale could have been a stronger episode. Many characters were randomly introduced for the purpose of this episode much too quickly in my opinion. I would have wanted to see someone we really knew, not necessarily Mr. Harkness though.

My one criticism - WHO THE HELL WOULD PRESS THE RED BUTTON?!

That episode was so fantastic that I can overlook that as Amy being brash.

Oh, and Arthur Darvill was amazing, too, but he's been the one who has impressed me time and again these past two series, so that didn't particularly surprise me.

I do agree with you here immensely. Arthur Darvill's acting performances are outstanding and he's proved that a continuous male companion can indeed work still. His work in "The Pandorica Opens," "The Big Bang," and the Silurian episode rank among the best performances in Doctor Who.

In all, I do admit to liking Moffat's work a lot more than RTD's work. It seems that the social commentary is still present but not painfully obvious and the episodes aren't hit or miss as before. I do look forward to this next episode. We'll get to briefly see the Weeping Angels! :-D

Curse Of The Black Spot isn't bad (neither is Night Terrors) it's just they seem to be a bit lightweight coming after that mind scrambler of an introduction (though I personally would have preferred them in their original order).

Similarly A Good Man Goes To War only seems anti-climatic because it was billed as a finale.

If you watch it as 'just an episode at the middle of the series' and follow it up with Let's Kill Hitler it's much more action packed and narratively interesting than a similarly placed episode like The Sontaran Stratagem or Daleks In Manhattan.

I remember being utterly mystified by some of the complaints about season three of NuGalactica.

I was watching the show from DVD boxsets so I didn't have to wait weeks between episodes of characters rubbing salt into their own wounds instead of blowing up killer robots so I didn't suffer that frustration.

I think the Box Set crowd will have the same reaction to this series.

The God Complex plays like Doctor Who as written and directed by Derren Brown.

It should come with a warning for the easily hypnotised.

Lots of levels, lots of possible clues and red herrings and definitely not an episode to watch first if you are new to the game.

It reminded me more of Sapphire & Steel (and in my book that's not a bad thing).

What the kiddies will think of it is a mystery (especially seeing as many of their parents will be equally mystified).

Wow. That was another good episode of Series 6. The God Complex is indeed a very intriguing and engaging story. To me, it seems like one of the first episodes to really test the audience's capacity of understanding, so it's aces in my book.

The only thing with the episode is that, to me, at least, the ending really upstaged it. I have to say that I truly didn't see that coming. I'd heard rumors, but, considering the last few episodes, it makes perfect sense. I do like seeing the Eleventh Doctor's deeper and more emotional choices; Matt Smith seems to be skilled at portraying them... In any case, it seems like everything's set up so that the Series can end as it started (if that makes sense)...

In any case, I'm most definitely excited for next week's episode. The Cybermen will return!!!

MJPollard said:

And what was in the room that contained the Doctor's greatest fear? (Room 11, of course.)

I think I know: Amy's grave, or her dead body.

That's what I thought too, and it would make sense considering the end. However, he really didn't look that afraid of what was inside; he just sort of smiled and said "Of course," like he knew that it was his fear but wasn't that afraid. The cloister bell probably wouldn't ring if just Amy died. If it was a dead Amy or Rory, then I would imagine it being silent and the Doctor looking serious.

My bets are on the universe being destroyed, the Daleks destroying all, time unraveling, him accidentally causing the destruction of all creation, or Omega returning... All of which would trigger the cloister bell.

In any case, what do you guys think, is Amy and Rory's departure permanent? There were rumors that this was Karen Gillian's last season.

I think we saw it at the end of the story.

The Doctor, on his own, in his box, without anyone to adore him, just him and his warden/prison.

Hmm that's also a possibility...

All of this could be true, but in my opinion, I really think the cloister bell was part of his fear, which is why I'll stick by my theories of universal destruction for now. Another possibility is that the cloister bell could have been signaling an impending regeneration, like it did with the 4th Doctor. That could certainly make sense since the Doctor has previously not wanted to regenerate...

In any case, this was a great episode, and I'm actually glad they didn't show what was in the Doctor's room. Also, a nice touch was the Doctor calling Amy "Amy Williams" at the end; it was long overdue but a very sweet moment.

MJPollard said:

Hadn't thought of that; it's a good possibility, too. And the ringing of the Cloister Bell doesn't necessarily mean "catastrophic, universe-ending danger" in this case. Remember, the whole hotel setting was unreal to begin with, so the bell could've just been "atmosphere" to underscore the Doctor's deepest fear.

It could also be the Tardis exploding destroying the universe... it would be horrific if it showed him this whole series isn't real but is taking place as the Tardis blows apart part of the way into The Eleventh Hour and 'his room' is really the way out to real, reality.

That would indeed be horrific, to think that all the last two seasons aren't real. Another horrifying thought would be that he never stole the Tardis successfully and was in a Time Lord prison for this whole Doctor Who series. He's just been hallucinating.

THAT... would be insane.

I think he fears himself; what he could become, and what he IS... that's why we got the Dream Lord last series.

On the other hand, it could also be River or the Astronaut; lots of choices.

Oh man, after a strong start, I really haven't been enjoying this season much, however, the last two episodes were exactly the sort of thing I like to see in my Doctor Who.

As far as what was in rm. 11, I agree with Ovan. It explains his casual "Oh, it's you." and fits right in with the theme of the episode, which was the Doctor's "God complex".

I remembered when A Good Man Goes To War aired a lot of the viewers were complaining that the Doctor doesn't sink that far.

It seems clear now that the sinking wasn't in that episode (at least not all of it).

Traditionally the Cybermen were more like the Borg (Vice versa really seeing as they were introduced in 1966).

The new series Cybusmen are basically brains in armored suits making them physically more like humanoid Daleks.

Presumably the design team of the time thought that the body horror aspects of the Cybermen had already been poached by Star Trek.

They remained individuals but they were more an analogue for Communism (wanting to convert everyone into themselves) as opposed to the Daleks being a metaphor for Fascism (wanting to destroy anyone not the same).

Still not sure why the Tardis and the Doctor weren't sucked through the crack with as much easy as everyone else.

Spoilers within but here's a Guardian article regarding some of the recent complaints that the show is now too complicated (for adults presumably going by the Douglas Adams equation).

Trust me, doubleo, by midway through Series 3, you'll wish Rose Tyler had died during "Doomsday"; by the end of Series 4, you'll be wishing she'd died at the end of "The Parting of the Ways" rather than Nine...

Rewinding to doubleofive's comparison between the Daleks and the Cybermen it was a big mistake having the Dalek Emperor as THE Dalek Emperor in Parting Of The Ways.

Essentially you have a Cyberman story there.

Davros would have turned humans into pseudo-Daleks (he did it before rather gruesomely in Revelation Of The Daleks).

The lone Dalek from Dalek might have turned himself into a new Dalek Emperor and done it (making a new race like himself, Dalek with a hint of human).

But they would have picked the winners of the games not the losers.

The true Dalek Emperor would not have contaminated himself with all these disgusting human-Daleks unless it was just a means to get humans to kill each other.

One pure Dalek can clone all the pure Dalek mutants it needs from itself.

Racial purity is their prime concern.

The Cybermen would turn anyone they could into a Cyberman and things that they can't they would turn into Cybermats or Cybercontrollers.

Put that down to another RTD narrative screw up.

Cybermen (in theory) are totally emotionless and logical where as Daleks are ruthless and full of 'hatred of the other'.

There is another related species of cyborg (which I shan't spoil with details here) who are basically insane children who kill for fun.

Riffs on the same physical idea but differing because of their central philosophy.