Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Ickabod]

[Sec]

[Tegan]

[Amano07]

actually in the end of the world the ninth doctor said he knew of another "unsinkable" ship and that he "ended up clinging to an iceberg"

[g,uest]

seeing tennant Looking 'older than Hartnell
NOT BAD!

[Theta Sigma]

What a spectacular end to the season.

At first I was bit baffled that it took place a year later but this gets remedied towards the end of the episode.

Wished I was surprise that the Master got shot but accidentally found out about it beforehand. However this does not seem to be end of the Master if the person who picked up his ring is any indication. I for one would love to see John Simm return as the Master.

Once again the season ends with the Doctor saying "What?" What indeed.

Another thing is why I recognise the person who plays Lucy Saxon as she, Alexandra Moen was in the short lived TV series Tripping Over alongside Paul McGann and Love & Monsters guest star Kathryn Drysdale.

[KnottyEmily]

I thought this episode was great. I have a question though, I always assumed that every citizen of Gallifrey was a Time Lord, but The Doctor talks about children being taken away to be trained at an academy. So, are Time Lords born, or trained, or a combination of both?

[Greg]

[KnottyEmily]

Thanks for the detailed explanation The knowledge of some people about the whole universe that is Doctor Who is just inspiring, it makes me want to learn more myself, being quite the newbie

[Theta Sigma]

With Last of the Time Lords soon to be shown on the ABC, I have read a couple of positive reviews about it.

It is TV WEEK's Pick of the Day on Saturday September 22 with reviewer David Kettle saying it is a season final that fans have been eagerly waiting for.

Jen Rosenberg in the SMH Guide gave it the thumbs up and says that it is a epic made up of a hybrid of Lord of the Rings, Big Brother (the Orwellian version), shades of Star Trek and the Bible being thrown in.

The downside to the timing of Last of the Time Lords is that it is in competition for kids' viewing as it is on at the same time as High School Musical 2 on Disney. I, of course will be watching Last of the Time Lords but I would also be recording High School Musical 2 as my niece and I are High School Musical fans.

Also at the same time as Last of the Time Lords will be on the ABC, 10 will be showing Back to the Future. Two time travel stories on at the same time on free to air TV.

[Theta Sigma]

Saw the trailer of Last of the Time Lords after What The Future Sounded Like* over an hour ago. The trailer is quite good but it did show a major spoiler, so people should be wary when they see it.

*See http://drwhoaustralia.org/board/viewtopic.php?p=20211#20211

[Greg]

So, was that actually the shorter version? It didn't seem to be missing anything important to me!

[g,uest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS7UzK6sj6Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf11pZazSLA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEZ_yJRSeLM

[kalid]

It went for a bit over 51 minutes... so it seems they played the full one after all.

[montypython]

I don't think that actually was the shorter version, Greg. It went 'til about 8:21.

Before I say anything else I need to say this: I HATE MARTHA JONES! I HATE HER! I ABSOLUTELY HATE HER! I've really tried to accept her. Really, I have. I even forgave her for admitting her love for the Doctor in FOB. But to do it twice in one season! I can't handle it! The finales for S1 and S2 have both drawn tears to my eyes because they were so beautiful. But for this one, I cried when she said she loved him (and not in the way that I cried when Rose said she loved him, but in an "OMG you bitch you aren't allowed to love him" way).

Okay, now I've got that sorted out... this didn't feel like much to me. It was alright, but nothing special. The best bit was Jack's revelation.

Interesting how they keep getting old women to be technoheads (Mrs Moore in the Cyberman episodes, now Prof Alison).

I'm getting a little sick of the "What? What?" to end each season.

[Theta Sigma]

Just as I finally got used to Martha she leaves the Doctor. So typical of how things work out.

It was only last year I asked people whether they liked to see a three parter:
http://drwhoaustralia.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=1102

I have to say that Utopia, The Sound of Drums and this episode is a very good attempt at the three parter and would not mind seeing more of them in future.

[old_and_nu]

Well, it was interesting, but very frustrating. I thought the story (like the end of Series 1) relied too much on a 'miracle' to get the storyline out of the deep hole it had fallen into. I expect more out of Dr Who (and RTD) than to frequently rely on a miracle to make the beginning and end of a script line up - it's the sign of a bad writer.

Too much blind action. Too many unnecessary and clumsily-handled plot elements: e.g. the Doctor's ultra-ageing; paradox machine which is easily destroyed by Jack with bullets, but couldn't be stopped by the Doctor; the magical reset button (where did that come from!?); the Toclafane (why did they have to be from Utopia at all and coincidentally number 6 billion); the telekinetic powers suddenly gained by the Doctor; the human race using the Archangel network to give the Doctor magical powers; the Master 'choosing' not to regenerate; the TARDIS being pierced by the Titanic; etc ...

It seems RTD is passionate about Dr Who, but perhaps his skills are better aimed at Executive Producer, while leaving the story arc and episode scripts to better writers (who grasp the need to maintain the tone of Dr Who as well as not relying on convenient miracles and/or ideas siphoned from well-known movies whenever the writing gets hard).

That sounds all negative, but there were bits I enjoyed (Jack being the Face of Boa, etc.) and compared to a lot of other big-budget Sci-Fi, it's still worth watching. And at least there are fewer American accents and no overtone of "we Americans are so ******* great, even in the future" to contend with. So it's not all bad

To take stock though, RTD has so far killed off the Time Lords, the Daleks and the Cybermen, and maybe (?) the Master, plus we've seen "the end of time" in this universe (where apparently not even Time Lords go, but the TARDIS can - go figure). And then there's the "heart of the TARDIS" we were introduced to at the end of Series 1 - which seems quite incongruous with the nature of the TARDIS as it had previously been understood (they're machines, pure and simple).

Oh well. I guess I'll keep watching, but I'd like to see better storylines, which are not that difficult to write, I'm sure.

[Greg]

[old_and_nu]

Harsh? No, not really. Blunt? Yes. My opinion? Certainly. I did say that I'd keep watching, and overall I enjoy the series. I've been watching for 40 years, so I'm not going to stop now.

In new Who, we've seen so much (and relatively comprehensive) destruction packed in to three short seasons. RTD has been principally in charge of the new series as well as the writer of many of the episodes in question. If he's not in charge of the story arc, then who is? In classic Who, much was left up in the air when the Master faced obliteration and that was a small blessing in that explaining how he came back was less of a problem - not that classic Who was perfect by any means. The Master, here (aside from the acting which seems to polarize the audience, and yes, personally, I preferred Roger Delgado), is only problematic due to 'choosing' not to regenerate - I've never had the sense, anywhere in the Who universe, that regeneration was an option, and if such a change is introduced, it should be explained better. Oh, and maybe his new character is a little overly malicious.

Daleks being destroyed en masse wasn't such a problem in the past because there hadn't been such a big thing about the last of the Daleks being destroyed, as there is in the new series, after the Time War, et al.

I'm steadfast in my opinion on the TARDIS. My car communicates with me when the Engine Management System detects a problem. Military systems detect their surrounding environment with great precision and initiate quite complex actions as a result, including complex communication. So, I don't see why an incredibly advanced machine such as the TARDIS shouldn't use more advanced forms of detection, both within and externally, and communicate in an equally advanced fashion. But it should not, in my opinion, have a "heart" and should definitely be portrayed as a machine. If it is "alive", and it has such powers as telepathy, then we get into problems such as, why didn't it detect the Master and stop him? Why does the Doctor need antiquated levers and dials to control it? How can it be "programmed" by the Doctor to obey very limited instructions? Why does the Doctor's "emergency program" need to be there at all, if the TARDIS can think for itself?

If these points aren't discussed in a Dr Who forum, then what is the forum for? Surely it's not a Dr Who/RTD cheer squad? (Don't take that as combative - just posing the thought).

Classic Who was not without it's continuity errors, but then it didn't rely, to the extent that new Who seems to, on a coherent story arc.

Still annoyed about the reliance on 'miracles' to get the writer out of a hole.

Yours in Who-ness ....

[Jeffreyquah]

I thought it was a good, solid finale marred by some really dodgy bits. Was it ever properly explained how a mass psychic prayer reversed the aging effects on the Doctor, or did they conveniently gloss it over? I'm not upset over any potential conflict with previous mythology; then again, Christopher Eccleston was my first Doctor.

Also, is it me or were there some unusually strong religious overtones here? Not only did we have the mass prayer leading to the Doctor's rebirth, we also had Martha Jones traveling the world as his prophet. I'm not sure how to feel about that, though I did like the fakeout they pulled with Martha, teasing her transformation into a legendary warrior, only to reveal that she was simply a messenger/harbinger, which feels right, somehow.

And I laughed at the Titanic scene. So there.