Doctor Who Spoiler Thread

[filkertom]

Season Five has begun, and I have to admit Matt Smith carried it off. He wasn't the wonderment that was David Tennant, at least not yet, but he carried himself rather better than I anticipated given the previews. The new companion is adorable (and, bluntly, has incredible legs). Fun stuff all around, lots of good lines. The only real problems I had were the food sequence at the beginning (yep, got it, he's alien, goin' through changes, GOT IT awready) and the character of the doctor in the coma ward (jeez wotta beyotch). And it was kinda cruel to have Amelia wait ten twelve fourteen years, but it does seem to have made her proper companion material.

Thoughts? Your mileage may vary. Especially, I anticipate, in the case of smallship1. ;)

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

As I said over in my own entry, I was disappointed that the food scene didn't include jelly babies. They were associated with at least three prior regenerations, and a signature of Four; with all the homages in the episode, that one seemed a natural.

Amelia's smart and ballsy. What more could you ask in a companion? (The fact that she's gorgeous is pure gravy.) (That she's redheaded is perhaps rubbing in the whole "Doctor wants to be ginger" thing a bit hard, though :-) But don't construe that as a complaint in any way from this quarter.)

I wonder if the swimming pool randomly moves throughout the TARDIS, or if it got temporarily mislocated in the landing. If the former, when's the worst possible time for it to land in the control room? I expect to see it there, then.

[wyldemusick.livejournal.com]

HATE the new theme arrangement. Actually, no friend of the title sequence, period.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Yeah. They ought to have used the Arc Attack Tesla coil arrangement. I don't hate the new logo, the way some do, but it's not easy to see, against the vortex.

[his-spiffyness.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if the old lady we met in the episode turns back up in the past. She was talking about how she remembered seeing him before.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

She knew him because Amelia kept on drawing "the raggedy doctor" I think she was the Hated aunt. I'm not quite sure.

[briansiano.livejournal.com]

I didn't warm to Tennant right away, either. His eccentricity seemed a bit forced, but I warmed to it after a while. So if I got that from Matt Smith, it's not bothering me. Thing is, there were moments when he was a bit _too_ reminiscent of Tennant, and I hope that he'll emerge as his own Doctor soon.

Love Amelia Pond.

[his-spiffyness.livejournal.com]

He did feel a lot like Tennant is quite a few bits, but then with Tennant dominating the role these past few years it's kind of hard not to see him in the writing.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

He's still working out who he is though, isn't he? I think he'll solidify as a character, and that it will be part of the storytelling process. :)

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

I just got done watching the new episode, and I gotta say it was a good trip. I've been holding off on my full opinion on the new Doctor, in part because the character of the character hadn't been set until now. Even the actor mentioned that he had to take time to write some stories to figure out *who* this Doctor was going to be. I'd have to say he did a wonderful job. If this is an example of this season, I think we got a lot to look forward to! Congratulations to the new Doctor, off to a wonderful start filling some well-trod shoes. Care for a jelly baby?

Even more abbreviated than in my own LJ

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Doctor, the console room is on fire.

Must stop making promises to little girls and then standing them up. :: looks slightly askance at Teh Moff ::

Doctor, the CONSOLE ROOM is ON FIRE.

Cloister bell! (It is probably bad that my response to it is at least as much *squeee* as OHSHITBEARSAPOCALYPSE.)

Not sure yet what I think of Amy; we got enough of her, and yet didn't. It is odd.

The Doctor is decidedly the Doctor, certainly as much as he's ever been at the end of a first story. After several years of Oncoming Storm this and Lonely God that, I'm giving a big thumbs-up to the directness of "Basically? Run."

I'm on board with everything about the new console except for the fact that the base structure appears to be made of some obscure sort of cheese.

Bottom line: I have been delivered a perfectly adequate quantity of squeee.

Re: Even more abbreviated than in my own LJ

[zellion.livejournal.com]

Cloister bell! (It is probably bad that my response to it is at least as much *squeee* as OHSHITBEARSAPOCALYPSE.)

No, I think that's standard response for any long term fans when something obscure shows up in the new series. ;)

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Personally I loved it. OK I didn't like the opening sequence change or the music change. But I can anticipate that change every week. I like Matt Smith, he's new he's different, every doctor is new and different. I liked the crack in the wall, I loved the "five minutes" when we all knew it wouldn't be. I try and enjoy the few tv shows I do watch for what they are. Entertainment. If I start disecting them I don't enjoy them. TV is escape. I Love Dr Who. My main comlpaint is that I'll have to wait till Monday to watch next weeks episode since Saturday is in the middle of FilKONtario. I really should go to be it's late and I can't spell.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

The new opening sequence looks like a colonoscopy.

I liked Matt Smith's performance, but I'm not entirely sure he's The Doctor to me yet. He's certainly earned the chance to convince me, though.

Fricken' awesome creepy alien, too.

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

Love the new credits sequence. Love the new Doctor, though I think we only saw him truly start to emerge toward the end when he was done regenerating. Love Amy. Love Rory.

Didn't love: the Leverage-style camera tricks showing how the Doctor "figured it out". I hope that isn't going to happen in every episode. Ugh. And yeah, the food thing went on a bit too long.

Can't wait to watch it again with my kids - hopefully tomorrow, if the relatives leave us in peace for a while.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Are you asking me? :)

Okay. There are things about nuWho I haven't liked from the outset, and one of the worst was exemplified in the whole "five minutes"/"twelve years" business, which I predicted from the trailer and shouldn't have been able to. Gratuitous cruelty, particularly to children, is a bit of a turn-off for me, and I preferred it when the vagaries of the TARDIS were a matter for rueful joking or a spur for unexpected adventure rather than a cause of heartbreak. Also I don't like the Doctor being the bad guy, another thing the writers of nuWho have insisted on plugging away at from the beginning. Mysterious, yes. Powerful, yes. Cruel to kids, no.

Food scene, too much. Mucb too much. Plot, recycled from two old episodes. Villain, flashy CGI eel thing that does nothing but pull faces and talk menacingly (what's it guilty of? Does anyone care?). Arc hint thuds into place with dreary predictability at precisely the usual point in the proceedings, and why does the thing that has been opened, or is to be opened, have to be called the Pandoricum? Clankingly obvious much?

The Doctor. For me, he's too young for that character. The Doctor's a father figure, an uncle figure, an older man (and let's not start swapping numbers; there's a clear divide, character-wise, between "younger man" and "older man" and the characterisation in nuWho is definitely the former, whereas in realWho it was the latter. Tennant couldn't play "older man" and so the writers had to resort to shoving in lines about how old he is whenever possible. Smith can't play "older man" either; the best he can manage is "young fogey" which will just look silly in the long run.

Otherwise, we've gone from Salford brickie through Peckham double-glazing salesman to geography teacher from West Dulwich (the less posh end), which is at least moving in the right direction. Maybe the next Doctor but one will manage to achieve Time Lord from Gallifrey. The fact that, on current projections, he'll be played by a nine-year-old is just one of those things.

There is much to like here, as there was, infuriatingly, with nuWho mark one. Some lines made us laugh, the return of the infinite TARDIS is cheering even though the console room still looks like a workshop and not the safe place I remember it being, and Amy might end up being less abrasive than Donna, though I do not trust Moffat not to pull out the unresolved sexual tension stop yet again.

I see we have further demonisation of Winston Churchill, and by extension us, to look forward to. Daleks with Union Jacks on. Oh joy. I wonder how reminiscent that episode will be of Rob Shearman's "Jubilee," already plundered by the man himself for "Dalek"? One thing this episode has not shown any sign of is originality of storytelling. Maybe that will change.

I'll be watching.

Oh yes; revamped music not as good, title sequence hard to read even for me, impossible for the Countess. Somebody didn't think about colour values.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Hm. I heard the mysterious arc target thingy as "Pandoracle". Which, if true, supports what you're saying even more.

[adamselzer.livejournal.com]

I thought Smith was excellent - at various times he reminded me of each of the last two, so he seemed familiar even though he was certainly his own man. Wasn't a great episode on its own merits, but it did its job. I loved the food sequence.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

I watched it this morning. Good escapist fun, which is exactly what I want in Dr Who.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It was everything I'd hoped for (rewritten theme tune and cheesey spaceships aside.) Humor, horror, continuity, and characterization by the boatload. I welcome my new Moffaty overlord and Eleven.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

When Tennant took over from Eccleston, I wasn't all that sure. It took a couple of episodes. Smith has pretty much won me over. I was really worried after only seeing the previews. But seeing him in full blown action I'm pretty much sold. He stated it pretty well himself, he's "A Mad Man in a Box", not a bad place to start.

Ms Pond is pure companion material, and cute too.

The new opening is.. meh.

And the new TARDIS interior is rather Steam Punky, rolling with the times, but its nice to see they are remembering that there is more to the inside and I'm HOPING we'll delve deeper.

[batyatoon]

Eleven can stay. :D :D :D

So can Amy. Definitely. Though I do hope she goes back to Amelia at some point.

So can the new TARDIS oh you sexy thing.

I ... could take or leave the new title sequence, but I don't hate the new logo.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Saw it over lunch today. So we have an explaination of the TARDIS changes now: when the Doctor regenerates, so does the TARDIS. I want to watch it again, I think that I caught a reference to Silence in the Library. And I still wonder if we will get the other half of the Cybermen-forced regeneration mentioned in The Next Doctor.

I wonder if Amy's unseen Aunt will be important later on. I do like this starts a new series-long mystery (the cracks in the universe). I think the series goes better when it has an arc to move the individual episodes forwards.

Oh yeah, and what is it with the Doctor stealing female companions right before their wedding? :-)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I loved it. Watched it again today with friends after Easter dinner and one of them said, 'You know, for the first time since they decided to remake it, I feel like they've got it right.' I think that's the writing rather than the acting--Tennant was brilliant and all but bogged down by RTD's bulky, heavyhanded writing. Watching this made me realise how much I'd missed subtlety and good writing and being able to enjoy watching things unfold. *hearts Stephen Moffat*

Also I love that Moffat and Smith both admit that Doctor/TARDIS is the OTP of the series. ;)