Doctor Who Club of Australia

Noni · Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 35 Location: I Hate Dubbo

Whoa! That was great! I have to say it was worth working 6 hours on a checkout to get to see that. On a side note: Did anyone else think that it was awfully misleading to put all those "John and Joan and kids etc." scenes in the promos? As soon as it came up in the flash fowards, I just burst out laughing, "Those cheeky buggers!" Was anyone else sucked in?

montypython · Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:27 am Post subject:

Greg · Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 5:54 pm Post subject:

One part that did annoy a bit was the little girl's balloon. She spends the whole story wandering about a nice big red blob to make her easier to spot. It's not like their was any other young girls that she could be mistaken for!

This is really a left over from the novel - the original of the character had a balloon, which in fact was a living weapon of a kind (much like Rover in The Prisoner), so it may be that they were planning to do teh same, decided against it but didn't remove the balloon-carrying from the character costume; or they left it in so those who had read the book would eb waiting for it to attack.

Either way, it just looked incongruous.

(On the other hand, invoking Remembrance of the Daleks with her musical cue was a great idea!)

The two-parter is arguably the best continued story in the new series, and the story deserves to be remembered as among the great stories the show's history. As I aid earlier, more Paul Cornell scripted stories, please!

montypython · Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:54 pm Post subject:

Odnet · Joined: 22 Nov 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Mudgee

I enjoyed this but I felt a lot of the tension was lost by badly chosen music. There was a scene with the Jack Straws where the music was a woefully bad choice. I think the girls balloon was also meant to make her seem cute and therefore creepy like the little girls are in The Shinning.
I felt a bit sorry for Martha when The Doctor asked Joan to become his companion. It was like Martha was nothing to him. Even though he was looking a bit jealous in the last story, now she seems to have lost ground. It's a bit rough after the way she looked after him while he was human.
I also don't mind that Martha is in love with The Doctor, I mean really, what girl wouldn't be in that situation. And while I understand that The Doctor doesn't want a repeat of the Rose situation he would find it hard not the have strong feelings for Martha. I do. She's hot.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4107

Now the story is over on the ABC, those who have not read the original novel can read the ebook here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/index.shtml

Paul Cornell explains the adaptation of the novel to the screen here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/adaptation.shtml

montypython · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:37 am Post subject:

Odnet · Joined: 22 Nov 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Mudgee

montypython · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:45 pm Post subject:

charlie · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:47 am Post subject:

I thgink the Doctor should always have a minimum of two companions. One just isn't good enough. Except for Ace.

kangamac · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 2757

Average.

I found this episode to be a bit of a disappointment after the first one.

The Doctor's final solution at the end was inappropriately callous and sadistic. This was not some split second decision that he had to make under duress like when he killed the Sycorax leader at the end of “The Christmas Invasion”. He had time to weigh up his options and decide upon his course of action.

And note that he decided upon a different fate for each and every member of the Family. We have witnessed his dark side before, but this time he outdid himself in his cold, calculating premeditative cruelty. It was right out of character for the Doctor – especially considering the humanity he displayed not long before this.

His actions to begin with at the start of the story are also seen as rather pathetic and lame when viewed with the new information that he only hid for the sake of the Family. What a load of crap! He could choose to hide from them, but he could not choose a more humane manner to deal with the villains? What a piece of rubbish!

How come he can effectively change his species – but he cannot exercise a little restraint...? And considering how easily he defeated them, by just strolling into to their spaceship and blowing it up, he really had no excuse for what he chose to do...

As for all that mindless drivel the Doctor went through to do with losing his humanity and the state of his love life – yet again... It is fast becoming a vomit-inducing irritation. If it was not for the fact that we have been bombarded with this same excrement in nearly every story so far – to some degree or other – it might have made for a very entertaining, interesting and original story.

However, due to the fact that we have already had this same drivel crammed down our throats for the last three years, it was not. It was merely more repetative and unnecessary romantic dross. It was embarrassing and painful to watch.

Rather then watching that overblown bull in the farmhouse, we could have had an episode devoted to seeing exactly how the Doctor managed to detain all the Family members, his reasoning for their punishment and so forth. Oh and exactly how does detaining someone and tying them to a pole in the middle of a field equate with throwing someone into an astronomical phenomenon...?

Also, this passage of the story could have been interspersed with more than one incident from the young boy’s life, to see exactly how much the fob watch affected him throughout his life and helped him to become the man he ended up being. The episode had quite some potential, but unfortunately, it descended into the normal crud that we have become accustomed to of late.

And as for Martha's increasing obsession with the Doctor – oh give me a break. It is getting sickeningly familiar and ridiculously predictable. It is as irritating and unbelievable as the so-called romantic tension between the Doctor and Rose. For pity’s sake, change the damn record already! We’ve seen this same crap before...

charlie · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject:

"OK this watch.

This watch is me.

It is my essence. It is my being. It contains my entire existence.

You cannot let anyone have this watch.

Take care of this watch and kepp it safe.

Now I'm going to spell over it so it will be totally insignificant to me, leave on my shelf and not let you touch it.

Got it?"

KnottyEmily · Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 114 Location: Melbourne

kangamac · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 2757

"You don't think the punishment was just a little bit fitting? These people had been trying for years to get the power to live forever, so the Doctor gave it to them."

Not really - it simply appeared to be a cae of overkill to me.

However, if as I previously stated: "we could have had an episode devoted to seeing exactly how the Doctor managed to detain all the Family members, his reasoning for their punishment and so forth", then I might feel differently about this.

KnottyEmily · Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 114 Location: Melbourne

kangamac · Joined: 09 Feb 2006 Posts: 2757

"I think this might be a case where something got lost between the book and the screenplay. I'm about halfway through the book, so I don't know how it ends, but if the Doctor does the same thing as the 10th Doctor does in The Family of Blood, I wouldn't call it overkill. I think in order for the punishment to be justified, Paul Cornell needed to go more into how dangerous those creatures really were [i.e. in the book they wanted the power to regenerate so that they could multiply and conquer]"

You make a valid point about the need for justification.

I have noticed on more than one occasion since DW has returned that it is often the case that the plot seems to get lost in between all the scenes of sexual tension and mutual admiration between Doctor and companion.

As I commented earlier, I found that this episode focused too much on the wrong part of the story for my taste. That aspect of the story - the romance - might have been more effective, if it wasn't for the fact that we have been treated to similar happenings ad nauseam for the last three years.

KnottyEmily · Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 114 Location: Melbourne

I think they should have left Martha's feelings for the Doctor out of the story, and used that time to explain how dangerous the Aubertides [are they identified as Aubertides in the episode?] are/would be with the genes of a Time Lord.

Greg · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 9:23 pm Post subject:

They aren't called Aubertides in the TV story. I don't recall the elaborate punishments being in the book, but it is many years since I read it!

Firestarter · Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 18

mmm I thought this was a very good double episode except for one thing. Parts seemed to drag on a little. For instance the preperation for the battle. IMO the episode would have made an excellent 70-80 mintues.

KnottyEmily · Joined: 12 Aug 2007 Posts: 114 Location: Melbourne