Doctor Who Thread

That episode was, I believe, what is technically known as 'a banger'. Top plot, top villains, top ending. Good stuff.

I enjoyed that one, yeah. Always enjoy a dig at capitalism.

To go back a week, I agree with the complaints about last week's ending. Maybe if it had been a two-parter, with more room for the atmosphere to be properly unsettling, the ending wouldn't have felt so abrupt and undermining.

Liked Oxygen but not sure what to think about Extremis.

Extremis:

Extremis:

Right! Prediction time:

Spoiler:

Bold!

Last week's ep at least

Spoiler:

Anyway, bring on tomorrow's episode!

I thought that was a good'n, and the cliffhanger was pretty cool and looks like it'll lead into a good next episode.

I agree with both Zero and Drunka - I didn't like that bit, but I liked the rest. Fences!

As Balla's good twin, I like those sorts of endings. Anyway, I'm glad that three-parter is over - hoping to enjoy this week's episode.

I do like the recent trend of two or three parters where the parts are all quite different. See also the Girl who Died/ Girl Who lived, the one with the ghosts and the flood and that, and so on.

I do like those kinds of endings, as long as they're used sparingly. I also like that the callback to the photos was done in such a way it didn't undermine the original simple sweetness.

So whilst last night's episode, Empress Of Mars, had some good notes, I have to admit that I wasn't that excited by it.

Spoiler:

It did feel unnecessary. The Doctyor could have just stayed to help out, or they could have done an old-fashioned rockfall to bury it or something.

Happily I forgot about that for most of the episode. Alright otherwise! And do I detect a touch of Bioshock?

Are you referring to the retro diving suits?

Yes. I'm sure Bioshock got the idea from the diving suits rather than the other way around, but they were very Big Daddy-ish.

Really enjoyed yesterday's episode. Last week's teaser for it made me roll my eyes: a monster that you rarely see is almost always a poor special effect one, but it wasnae so bad.

Also, next week's one looks like it could be quiet special.

This one was a bit daft and naff, but in an enjoyable way.
I'm looking forward to next week's. Done well, the cybermen are brilliant villains.
Also, on the subject of the TARDIS throwing a wobbly: could it be that the bleeding heart Doctor did that deliberately to give Missy an excuse to come out of the vault?

Meh episode, redeemed somewhat by a really nicely designed monster-of-the-week. Also, another somewhat ham-fisted thing about lesbianism, but I'm not sure whether that's my male-cis-white-scum privilege talking and that approach is actually necessary. And it's not like the straight romance is usually any more subtle, so...

To be fair, Roman and Greek cultures were considerably less heteronormative.
This whole series has been very deliberately courting tumblr Whovians though. Whitewashing, lesbians, capitalism, students and rent, british imperialism . . . I'm a fan of all this, but they were laying it on a tad thick.

As multicultural though? Obviously the Roman empire had black slaves. Did it have black soldiers? Genuine question, if it's all whitewashing I'd rather know.

Everywhere the Romans conquered, they conscripted soldiers. 20 years of loyal service, and they and their families were made Roman citizens forever. There would no doubt have been people of every race and creed living and working here and there throughout the empire.

I can believe that, cheers boss.

So last night's episode was one that I should be referring to as a "sausage" (hope I got that right, Balla). Dark and creepy, but not without flaws.

World Enough And Time:

As ever, roll on next week!