Dr. Who/Torchwood

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eumaas
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

Post by eumaas »

Haven't watched it yet, but I'll probably be in the grumpy corner with Jack given my reaction to recent Who.
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Maybe I need to watch it again with a little more focus but I felt that was very... competent.
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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I don't think this week's was as good as last weeks but I'm really digging the quality of the stories so far this year. Really pumped for next week.

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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Boddington wrote:I don't think this week's was as good as last weeks but I'm really digging the quality of the stories so far this year. Really pumped for next week.
Everyone gets their turn with this feeling, I guess, but I would say that so far this season has been Not For Me. These last two episodes have been watchable only in the sense that the direction is competent and the leads give it their usual charm and effort. The first two episodes were enjoyable but highly flawed and ambitious in slightly the wrong direction. 1/3 of the way in and really not feeling it so far.

There's been nothing offensive about the show in my reckoning, or antithetical to what I like about the show, but it's just doing stuff that isn't very interesting to me right now. But that's bound to happen every once in awhile, and I'm still curious to see what next week brings.
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Best episode of the season so far. I genuinely LOL'd at "ZZ Top"
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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*the post so nice, he submitted it twice*
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

Post by Boddington »

I thought it was pretty good, probably the second best episode of the season after Under the Lake. I want to see where they go with this next episode.

Benny Hillifying the alien was great.

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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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I guessed Ashildr is going to be the Hybrid & Minister of War, but Adam Ant-ish whimsy of the preview makes me question that. Might still pan out that way.

Episode was OK. Maisie Williams was pretty good although some of the facial acting in the first Odin confrontation was a little off to my eyes. Glad they didn't waste her guest spot with total bullshit.

I was actually bothered by the horns on the helmets just because I thought they'd turn out not to be real Vikings. Wasn't a big gripe or anything. As someone very into medieval history and literature I think they missed out on doing some cool stuff. But they can't all be Curse of Fenric.

This is a more solid "OK" rating than some of the other eps. I really disliked the last two, for example.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

Post by Silent Majority »

Quite liked that one. Nae bad.
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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A very enjoyable back half to this two-parter. I found the antics with Sam Swift so-bad-its-good funny. Honestly, the biggest issue is the story would probably have been better if they ditched the Thundercats/sci-fi bit completely and just told a historical heist story with two immortals. But, as it is, I find the cosmetic addition of the sci-fi stuff preferable to actually focusing on any of it, so still a smart direction.

I thought Maisie Williams was really god. I enjoyed watching her in something that didn't immediately draw me to compare her to her Game of Thrones character. More stories like they last two episodes, please.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Boddington
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Flex wrote:A very enjoyable back half to this two-parter. I found the antics with Sam Swift so-bad-its-good funny. Honestly, the biggest issue is the story would probably have been better if they ditched the Thundercats/sci-fi bit completely and just told a historical heist story with two immortals. But, as it is, I find the cosmetic addition of the sci-fi stuff preferable to actually focusing on any of it, so still a smart direction.

I thought Maisie Williams was really god. I enjoyed watching her in something that didn't immediately draw me to compare her to her Game of Thrones character. More stories like they last two episodes, please.
Yeah, I loved Sam Swift, because he was exactly the kind of wacky terrible that a sometimes too serious Doctor Who needs. Maisie Williams was outstanding again, especially the early scenes. She was fantastic playing off of Capaldi who I think does such a great job playing off of his younger companions. I'm sort of sad she won't be showing up again, but I can always hope she'll put in another appearance.

I said to Kevin last night I think this two-parter could go down as the quintessential Capaldi story, or certainly at least one of them. There are a lot of themes that may have been a little too directly expounded here, but I don't think that took away from the story. If anything was a true negative in this story it was the stupid alien - I understand the need to have the Doctor show up again, but the alien was just another ez-mode villain for the Doctor to defeat. That could have been done better, but at least it was so quickly over we weren't terribly bothered.

Capaldi is continuing to grow on me - his turn as the Doctor is refreshing to me in a way that Matt Smith's wasn't. Not that I didn't love Matt Smith, because he's probably my second favorite Doctor of all time (Nine forever!), but there's something about Capaldi's facial expressions and little quips that make the Doctor feel so refreshing - like he's over the tired bit we saw at the end of Matt Smith's run, and has now accepted being a 2,000 year old mad man with a box.

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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Effortlessly the best of the season. And doing a pretty "traditional" two-parter structure immensely benefits the storytelling.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Flex wrote:Effortlessly the best of the season. And doing a pretty "traditional" two-parter structure immensely benefits the storytelling.
I thought it felt like an end of season two-parter. I also thought it was...good, but not as good as the last two-parter. Harness is good, but I don't love him the way Sandifer does. He's fine, but I'm never captivated by his Who - this is infinitely better than Kill the Moon without a doubt, but I still think it's at best the third or fourth best episode of the season. I'll refrain from really judging it until I see next week's, wherein I hope a certain member of UNIT makes a triumphant return to the UK and kicks some serious ass.

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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

Post by Chuck Mangione »

I watch Dr. Who now.

Flex
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Re: Dr. Who/Torchwood

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Chuck Mangione wrote:I watch Dr. Who now.
Cool! What do you think of it?
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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