Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Beatly]

The first visit for Doctor Who redux to an alien planet, ie, not Earth.

I thought the Ood were... odd. Potential for them, but we'll see, I suppose, next week. There was a fair bit of tension in the episode, but, sadly, something was missing. I think it's been hyped up to a level that nothing could match. It felt like a series of set pieces - some very good set pieces, but set pieces nonetheless - that were tied together only very loosely by a plot. I'm guessing (hoping) that it will all be resolved next week and it'll make sense, but this first episode is slightly limp. Sorry!

[Tegan]

This one started out slowly, a deliberate ploy no doubt.

The Ood. At first I thought "How nice." A bit of old school Doctor Who with men in boiler suits and rubber masks. I quite liked that actually.

My first impression was that if the Doctor only asked, the Ood could translate the ancient language, and that this would be a "filler" episode.

How wrong can one girl be!!

Cthulhu, ancient ones, The Beast arising. Legion. Biblical references aplenty.

Near the end when the Ood were reciting the names of the beast, am I mistaken, or was one of them "Some may call him Doc-Tor" just as the Daleks pronounce the name? I'm sure they did.

Maybe, just maybe the denouement to this series will be an unholy alliance of Daleks, Cybermen and The Doctor against the beast of the pit.

Oh my, how I'm looking forward to next week!

All in all, very good, just missing out on excellent for the slow start, and that lame "We could turn back" joke.

Rose in particular was a little out of character for the first 10 minutes, although I liked the suggestion of a joint mortgage for the cottage with carpets.

[dave]

I really enjoyed this episode, and thought it was an improvement on last week. Although there's a great deal to establish, and thus most of it was just setting things up for the conclusion, it maintained a pervasive 'aura' of danger/evil right from the sighting of 'Welcome to Hell' through to the very end.

The possessed bloke with the runes/pictograms/whatever all over him and the red eyes looked very cool, and his lip-synching with Gabriel Woolfe's voice (or vice versa, I guess) was really well done. I liked that the Ood ended up killing with ther communicators, and they looked pretty good most of the time. And it all built up to a nice cliffhanger whilst still not actually giving away whether or not the being trapped in the pit is someone we might have seen in DW before...

However, there were things I didn't like. For the first truly alien environment - supposedly - to be seen in new DW, I wish it had been more...well, alien. With the exception of the 'black hole' (which was glowing, LOL) in the sky, it was just a barren, rocky waste. Why not, at the very least, have some interesting and gravity defying spires of rock or something? Something please. They might as well have been walking around in a quarry...

The disk being 30 feet across annoyed me too. The Doctor was standing on its edge and it was obviously only about twice the height of a man across the diameter...so, being generous, it might have been a 15 foot disc. It annoyed me that it was so obviously much smaller than claimed. I wonder why they didn't fix that with CGI or something. Or am I the only one who thought the disk appeared much smaller than claimed/described?

It also struck me as really odd - or just poor plotting - that after Scooty (?) was killed, seemingly in a manner which required foul play of some sort, the captain not only let the Doctor and Rose continue as they have been, he even lets the Doctor take his place in venturing down to the bottom of the shaft - the very point of the whole expedition. Sorry, I don't think so... (And did Scooty have the initials PKD after her name? That would be quite cool.)

Surely a base such as that, with bulkhead doors seemingly every few metres (and talking doors as well! They lacked the personality of the doors from HHGTG though...) would have been designed so each compartment was airtight? Seriously, that would be, I think, a very basic structural design requirement in such a place. Nope, lets just have lots of bulkhead doors which seem to do nothing other than slow people down, look pretty cool, and talk. Great.

However, my biggest problem with this ep, whilst still a rather minor one, was just one point when I thought the director made a bad choice in how he framed the shot. The Doctor's facing camera, and Rose walks over to talk to him, and then turns to face the camera herself - turning her back on the Doctor - whilst continuing to talk to him. This sort of thing always makes it painfully apparent, to me, that these people are just actors on a stage - it destroys my suspension of disbelief, and I hate that. Why he didn't just shoot their faces I have no idea.

I admit all my problems are nit-picking. Overall, I really enjoyed this, and the preview for next week offers promise of being even better...whilst not actually giving anything away either.

Nice to see some big stone monoliths, though. Makes me wonder about Sutekh returning....although the glimpse of the demon/devil behind the captain suggests that whatever this thing is trapped on the planet, it's probably not my favourite Osirian. Oh well, one can hope...

EDIT: I think they called him 'Crock-tor' or whatever the name of that planet which was translated into 'bitter pill' was. I think.

I noticed on my second viewing that some of the music in this ep strikes me as very reminiscent of Firefly. Nice touch, and it wasn't as overpowering as it can sometimes be.

[Tegan]

Crock-Tor, yep, that would make more sense I suppose.

I wonder at the coincidence of the two episodes bookending next Tuesdays date.

6/6/06, the Birthday of the Beast.

It would be too delicious to think it was planned that way, but I do hope so.

[Beatly]

I just watched it again, and I was probably too tired to fully appreciate it on first viewing, although I still don't get the point of the "we could go somewhere else (laughter)" bit.

Rose's reaction to having the scary voice on her mobile was great: pause, throw it down, no comment. The make-up on the Ood looks great, as do the set design and special effects. The music for this episode is the best since the Dalek episodes of last year. The vaguely Chinese music accompanying shots of the black hole and the outside really works: suitably mournful for all those dying star systems.

I rated it a "Good" initially, but I'd bump it up to a "Very Good" if I could.

[meglos]

I thought it was excellent. I really was a good old Doctor Who story. The Ood look good and Scooty floating out into space was very eerie. And i love the fact that parts of this were shot in a quarry, a true Doctor Who tradition. Love the quarry

[Dazza]

I thought this was great.

It had a real traditional Who feel about it. At times it remindered me of Robots of Death and other times Planet of Evil.

How good is this series - we are indeed lucky.

[Hiruma]

This is also one of my favorite episodes of the 2nd season.

THen again... some of the minor things I found really good.


Note the very first opening scene.. the Tardis wheezes into normal space from the Vortex. Now this to me spelt a danger episode right away. I know the Tardis is under constant repair nowadays but I had the feeling that the gravity field had sucked in the Tardis .. or that they were manipulated off course.. which may mean someone has something to settle with the Doctor or the Timelords in general.. But Ive probably read too much into this

THe wall pulse was cool, when it stopped pulsing again it was a danger sign.

Scooty being slowly pulled towards the blackhole was also awesome. I think a bit too scary for kids (I dont remember if her eyes were open) but yeah.. I think it was definetly not for kids.

Very cool episode....

But wait just a second.. Continuity Gaffe... didnt she give that very same phone to Mickey in the alternate dimension? or was there 2 phones?

hoping the last of the Osirans is back

[charlie]

Wasnt the TARDIS in room 6, wing 6, space station 6 or something like that? I think Ill get my religion teacher to watch this story.

[Kerr Avon]

[phase5]

I quiet liked both this story and part 2 "The Satan Pit". However disappointed that some of the story points are given away in such a clumsy way.

More later ....

[phase5]

[Theta Sigma]

Clare Morgan in the SMH Guide gave it a thumbs up. She says the episode has unexpected turns and concluded by saying that they may be dealing with the biggest bad guy of them all.

[phase5]

[charlie]

[phase5]

[Theta Sigma]

Last night saw the "THEY'VE TAKEN THE TARDIS!" ad. Amazing that it looks intriguing and does not give too much away.

[phase5]

Hope no-one has seen the trailer for "The Impossible Planet" that gives away the entire plot for the next two episodes.

"Luke, I am your Father!"

[SharazJek]

[Speckled Jim]

All I can say is ... hot damn, yeeha, 'bout time! Season 2 has kicked into fifth gear finally! This episode was an award-winner and I loved every moment. The Ood were cool - kind of ugly, tentacle-faced Doozers (y'know, they crave domination ....) - the base was vintage Who (steel corridors, gantries, and a quarry outside!) and the story ramped up the mystery and suspense. I cannot be bothered with minor nit-picking; I was enthralled from start to finish.
Oh, and...