Be Excellent To Each Other

Agreed.

The Big Brother/Weakest Link stuff worked in S1. I... can't imagine this being any good.

Just the excuse I'm looking for to begin giving less of a shit about the show. Dr. who is already cheesy without adding extra cheese. Even in a Christmas episode, this would be utter cocksnot.

A 5 second gag cameo, yes. Hanging the plot around it... God I hope not.

So it's basically an advert for the Apprentice? Alright if you like the program... I however, don't.

Perhaps the bit will end with Lord Sugar joining Hitler in the closet?

Much better this week! I hated last week's episode but this one was much more a return to form. Good work Toby Whithouse. Your Being Human was really good too. And Schoo Reunion. But not sure about your other Doctor Who episode. Glad to see you've got things sorted again now.

Really? I thought it was poor. I am fed up with seeing the doctor live his moral ambiguities through the vicarious externalisation of his persona onto the characters around him. It is just a bit old hat now. Also, Kryton could have killed that dude at any point.

That was great!

And Ben Browder adds another to his 'cult sci-fi series' resume.

Really enjoyed it. Great setting, morally complicated (even after seven years I still love seeing the Doc struggle with his survivor's guilt), and a loving tribute to Westerns.

I thought it was the restrauant critic from 'Frasier' playing the bad guy of the week, but I was wrong.

Oh.

My.

Word.

Time to pull the plug methinks.

And I see it's written by Chris Chibnall (well known for his inability to write his way out of a wet paper bag).

Oh yes, and that annoying physicist Brian Cox is in it too ... and to think that we thought that the celebrity stuntcasting gimmick died when RTD left.

<groan>

What IS Moffat on these days?!? Must be a middle age crisis or similar.

What's he on? Reportedly orders to make the show more populist and accessible, hence the standalone stories and, presumably, next week's clusterfuck. Still, nice to see the BBC still dicking around with the broadcast time almost every week—I'm sure that's helping and not at all hindering matters.

Maybe I'm hoping too much, but from the trailer, it looks like any sleb involvement on saturday may actually be a couple of one line cameos/tv on in the background, rather than the basis of a plot in and of itself.

Does any one not use sky+ or virgin to record stuff. I don't think I have watched something 'live' in ages, well other than the Olympics.

You lot do get in a twist about Dr Who, it is light hearted Drama, BSG it is not.

Well loved and hard fought for it *is*. No one wants to see it dragged back to its worst.

Well yes, but on the whole all new who has been good.

...and I want it to stay light hearted drama, not begin pointlessly sucking the rancid jizz from the BBC's patented idiot-charming celebricock.

Having that "soviet weetabix" Sugar on it serves only to elicit honks of approval from the braying fools who give his shitty program the time of day. The apprentice is part of a massive problem in tv currently, a celebration of the worst of human nature. Who, light entertainment thought it may be (just like The Apprentice and Celebrity Come on my Dignity and so on) has been fifty years in our hearts and minds precisely because it's better than that, regardless of whether it has let itself down on occasion. It is a celebration of the best of human nature, not a fetishisation ofthe worst. There's no reason to welcome further low points.

I suppose so, but didn't they already do a game show one, which was ok?

The Apprentice and its ilk are part of the Zeitgeist, so it is topical, if you look at the kids watching this, they will be aware of the apprentice as it has been going for 5+ years.

I agree, it's nothing like BSG. Because on the whole, Doctor Who is really good.

Timeshifted viewing is still only a small part of ratings at the moment. Most people still watch things at their allotted time slots.

I've only watched Doctor Who live this season, but I can't say I've noticed it moving around the schedules much.

I really don't get the fascination with this show. I can understand the nostalgia due to its history but as it stands these days it's just too dull for me.

*braces for impacts*

I think it's always on around 18:15 - 18:45 but I don't think it's started at exactly the same time yet?

Malc

Didn't really like this weeks.

It felt a lot like Gunmen of the Apocalypse.

Zardoz, you might want to change your password.. It looks like Myp has hacked your account.

I don't think this series has been as good as the previous two so far, but Moffat/Smith Nu-Who has been the best overall since its return. I'm a fan of the classic series, but I'm not precious about a lot of it (ie the large swathes of it being shit). It's certainly nowhere near as bad as the first half of S3.

I do like the Whoniverse as a whole though, including the good novels, Torchwood, etc. It's much more interesting to me than a lot of scifi universes.

/cheap firefly ripoff. quite a lot of it feels like low-budget 'homage' these days actually.

That's weird because I feel this series it's looking a lot more high budget. Have they started using film now? Something is definitely different.

HD cameras demand higher values. Much of the CG is horrible though.

If it was on vinyl you'd be bumming it senseless.

The only downside this series is that the budget cuts are definitely showing.

I've just been watching S1 & 2 of Torchwood, so I have to respectfully disagree.

This is the third series I've seen in HD, so it can't be that.

I didn't particularly rate this week's episode but the cinematography was gorgeous. There was one scene where Smith faced down the lynch mob; his face was lit with warm orange light in one direction and cold, hard blue light in the other; there were also numerous lovely well-composed shots getting the best of the Spanish landscape and big, big sky.

I have it on vinyl*.



*Theme tune.

Last weeks was fucking awful. It zipped along so fast and the writing was desperately trying to be full of Whedonesque quips, but it went from silly to dark to silly so fast I ended up with whiplash. There was no build towards anything and anything that did get going either got junked in three seconds or was swamped. There were some great bits in there (the entire Solomon character was deliciously evil) and then you are yanked back to two stupid bickering robots who are now evil, now they are dumb, now they are chasing the Doctor (but only because they were too stupid to do themselves) and now there is peril and a triceratops and chase the golf ball and now shot lets feel sad... I was... "what? eh? but? erm? eh? Fuck it... whatever."

This week was much more of a slow burn. I thought it was a neat idea, and I like nothing better than to have Matt Smith in angry mode. I think he is an awesome Doctor, absolutely my favourite, because he feels so utterly alien. Yet another rushed conclusion I thought (and an obvious one, albeit befitting of the story and the characters). I liked the idea of carrying all the souls you had hurt up a mountain - a fantastic image. I liked the showdown with Amy (although again could have done without the slapstick gag).

My only criticism of Moffats tenure is that everything is thrown at the screen and nothing much gets time to breathe. The Doctor works best in the slow bits, especially Smith. One of my favourite scenes is at the end of the last episode of the his first series, when it feels like he is about to be wiped out of the Universe and he sits by Amys bed and feels the sadness.



I think we are lucky to have such a good show on our screens.

A fun episode, but WTF was up with the 'threshold' that was keeping the gunslinger at bay? A bit of a lame plot device.

Why didn't the gunslinger shoot the doctor alien bloke when they were standing around and the Marshall had just been shot? He was right there. Easy shot. No more collateral damage.

I thought he went into a bit of a temporary breakdown as he realised he had just killed an innocent.

No, the script writer did what they always do nowadays and ignore the glaring hole in the logic of a major character's behaviour.

I do, however, like we're the main thing is potentially going, with The Doctor getting more an more willing to kill to solve things, and Amy, who keeps him in check, starting to want a normal life off the TARDIS.

This week's episode was about the fourth "new" episode I've seen.

Goodness, it wasn't very good. I only seem to watch bad ones, so I'm going to stop watching it now so the rest of you can enjoy it more.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but someone has been killed at the end of each episode of this season so far, haven't they?

I think that's the impression we're meant to get, as he's been travelling on his own for the last 300 years - he's become less 'human'.

Yes, so where is this heading?



The doctor should not travel alone.

\0

He's gonna have a lot to carry up that mountain.

Every Darlek and a few thousand Cybermen! He is going to need a basket!