Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Ickabod]

Haven't seen it yet....will let you know how I feel....but am excited going by what everyone says....and I agree with Tegs about aliens looking like humans.....Go Futurama.......DW puts the effort into making them look less human and more alien.....I don't like or dislike anything.....I love it all

[The_Face_Of_Joe]

I enjoyed myself watching Voyage of the Damned, but it was just a christmas special.

Really loved the moment when the Doctor said to Astrid "You should see me in the Morning" the look on his face after she replied "OK" was gold!

Bannakaffalatta made me laugh i'm a sucker for a short Alien and even more of a sucker for someone that talks about themself in the 3rd person!!

Looking forward to the up coming year I think I'm one of the few that thinks Catherine Tate will be very good for the show.

Oh and Hi everyone, I'm Jamie but I get called Joe!

[Ickabod]

Hi TFOJ,
Welcome to the forum.....this is your first post but you've been a member since July.....a deep thinker I guess

[Tegan]

Hello Joe, and welcome.

You'll find us all friendly here. Mad, but friendly.

And Happy New Year everybody.

[The_Face_Of_Joe]

No so much of a deep thinker but lazy, I do travel alot due to my profession so I will use that as my reason for not posting until now (But it's really all about the lazy)

Thanks Tegan and Happy New Year to you and all!

[Ickabod]

Hey Tegs....I'm not mad....crazy maybe but never mad

Happy New Year Everyone

[Tegan]

Oh. Never angry. Forgive me. Crazy it is then.

[Ickabod]

[Sulp Niar]

Based on this and 'Last of the Time Lords', I predict that every alien race in Series 4 this year is going to say their name like a Pokemon would. We'll have "Ood ood ood" and "Potato Potato Potato".

(And, of course, Rose saying "Swiveen Swiveen Swiiiiiveeeeeen")

I can't think of how to rate this story, in comparison with the other two (I don't think it's that fair to rate against "normal' episodes). Good in comparison: better pseudo-companion than last year (though, interestingly, from a character point of view, probably a lesser one); better setting (not [mostly] London, Earth); and far more morose, which made the ending potentially more happy. Those less fortunate and all that. Bad in comparison: Kylie wasn't horrible or anything, but she/the character (haven't decided which yet) was just slightly too bland; the characters didn't seem as naturally sketched into the story as Russell's characters usually are; the ending felt bland and tasteless.

Indeed, the entire story just felt like that... bland and tasteless. I don't know what it is, but somehow I felt more when the people were standing on the roofs of the buildings two years ago than the Doctor losing Astrid with silence used and all that, and him walking away from the explosion (good acting, mind, but oh-so-over-the-top). I was also surprised with the "I'm the Doctor, I'm a Time Lord from Gallifrey..." speech, because I figured that, considering it was uncalled for, Russell was going to make a joke out of it. Turns out, no; we're supposed to find that moment great. Boring, more like. 'Sides, why would the guy care if he's from Gallifrey or not?

I think it's main problem was just that it was too long. You don't need 90 mins to tell what is a very simple story that could have been easily, easily cut. I could completely understand the extended length of 'Last of the Time Lords', but not 'Voyage of the Damned'. Instead of being damned, it just felt like being condemned to an eternal nagging feel of boredom.

Despite being negative, I liked it for what it was. On its own Christmas Special (which I've always thought is a misnomer with most shows, but never mind) merits, it succeeded and all that. Just... bored me.

But, I liked the new theme.

EDIT: 600 posts. Yeah.

[Tegan]

All a person has to do to win an Imperial Honour it seems is to save Buck Palace from destruction by alien space craft.

Take a look at this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2008/01/03/51792.shtml

[Ickabod]

OOooh Tim Brook-Taylor would be so pissed off....didn't he steal one?...now they've given one to a canary

[Tegan]

[Ickabod]

[Tegan]

[Ickabod]

[Ohica]

At long last. I've finally seen this ep. I thought it was good. Quite enjoyable. I thought Kylie was lovely. I have not seen her on a TV screen for eons. Only pics in mags. I remember when I used to watch Kylie in "The Henderson Kids" when she was an early teen and I thought then, 'what a pretty girl.' She's lovely and I think she did a good job. Maids like that are meant to be humble and insignificant. The character showed her true worth in the end.

The only thing I have to say that I didn't enjoy is all the kissing. It seems these days everyone has to pash the Doctor. I even see in the ads for the following season that there is yet more kissing. I actually was surprised that that stock broker, tycoon character in VOTD didn't plant one on the Doc when he discovered that he'd sold his shares at the right time. The Doctor is an alien and I resent how they are over humanising him these days with sexual tension and infatuation by silly young girls [and boys].

I also do not like how the Doc was ever so happy to have Astrid come along with him and yet he had no desire to have the old bloke become a companion. Why not? He was a lovely old thing and they could have had some rollicking times together. But oh no, it has to be some young floosy with the hots for the Doc that has to be the companion. Even Jack had to have the hots for him. It's getting tedious. And of course they had the cyborg acceptance thing which mirrors the gay acceptance thing on earth. How about we leave out all the political correctness and issue-debating and get on with telling a decent story about a fantastic alien who has the most wonderful adventures in time and space.

As for the future, I'm not happy that Martha is gone. I really liked her. I liked Donna in the first ep and thought it would be nice if she stayed on but she went and I'm not sure I want her to return. However, it will make a nice change to have a companion that isn't hankering for the Doctor's affections. I would like it even better if the innuendo or thought of them being something other than companions was not there but by the ads I see it still is. It's the only thing that spoils this new series.

But back to VOTD. I liked it. I hope it is a taste of a better season to come. Last was great. If this one is better, then bring it on.

[Odnet]

I mostly didn't like it. It just felt it was way too predictable. David was great as always but Kylie was a little wooden. And she seemed a little plastic as well is some of the close ups. Don't get me wrong, she had some great moments but others seemed a bit forced. The Fat couple were just plan annoying and the Doctors speech about Gallifrey was woefully uncalled for..
As much as I love the new series and think that David is the best Doctor ever, I'm just starting to lose interest in the show. It's just not getting the stories right enough of the time. And the whole Doctor in love bit is annoying as hell. Why is he so desperate to have a new Female companion all the time. Can't he just take a break. That's the one reason that I think Donna will be good for the show. Hopefully he will not fall for her and she will not fall for him. And that is the problem with having a good looking Doctor. All the girls fall for him. So I have a solution.
I WILL BE THE NEXT DOCTOR. Then the writers can concentrate on fixing the other issues with the show.
In particular the fact that the Doctor can't seem to get far away from London, Earth. Despite having a TARDIS.

[Speckled Jim]

I feel like I'm walking into a bit of a s**tstorm here, but, well, here goes...
That was 600MB of bandwidth I'll never get back. Even by RTD's normally terrible standards, it was without a doubt the worst episode of Dr Who I've had to sit through - and, to add to the pain, the longest, too. Can someone tell me why this bowl of custard needed to be 70 minutes long?
As Tegan et al have said, we're not an angry mob on these forums, so I'll take a deep breath, a heavy swig of gin and try and be lucid and rational about all this.... nope, sorry, I can't. Bear with me.

I'm annoyed. Really ticked off. Agreed; the Chrissie specials aren't meant to be part of the seasons proper, and are definitely more lighthearted in nature and tone.
But fair dink, I'd given up on this "special" by the 10-minute mark, and within half an hour it was a solid effort to keep my mind from wandering aimlessly. I've rarely experienced dialogue so achingly bad as this - I mean, where do I begin ... the Gallifrey speech might be a good start, and it certainly had me digging fingernail marks into my face, but then just when I thought the script, seemingly scribbled on the back of a matchbook by RTD, couldn't rip out any more godawful cliches, no - there goes another one! Scene after scene, propped up on a shoddy scaffolding of Q-grade Hollywood feelgoodisms, stuff that wouldn't pass muster in a freakin' Steven Seagal flick. I've sat through undergraduate poetry readings that were less painful than this.
I'm losing focus here, I'm so cheesed off ... when did Dr Who become an embarrassing half-rate version of Star Trek? The endlessly sweeping score accompanying over-emotional monologues from soon-to-die characters I'm trying reeeeeally hard to give a damn about; the spotlight continually swinging back to love, bravery, honesty, sacrifice, yadda yadda yadda yadda, can someone bring me a bucket?? And as for Balafadaka... eurgh; can't be bothered typing it: one space freak with a head like a rambutan among an entirely anthopomorphic bunch of "aliens" on a ship named after an earth vessel shows me precisely how breathtakingly limited the imagination of Russell truly is. Please, mate: no more scriptwriting. I'm beggin' ya. It was all going fairly well with the last 3 eps of Season 3, and now ... this. Love and Monsters was Shakespeare by comparison.
Also: lay off resurrecting the brilliant old stories unless you can actually do something decent with their legacy. Robots of Death is the coolest Dr Who story ever. Your "homage" was pants. Utter, utter pants. Plus, your wholesale lifting of scenes and characters from The Poseidon Adventure was brainless. Did anyone give a toss when the fat couple carked it?
There's at least 156 other gripes I had about this writhing heap of offal, but I'm going to either bore people or piss them off, so I'll sign off, fuming and snorting somewhat derisively. Let me fish for something positive here ...
OK: new theme score, nice. Torchwood Series 2 looks good. Donna might be a decent character, by the preview - and Catherine can't be half as gut-wrenchingly wooden as Kylie was (damn! sorry, I'm losing it again... but it can't be helped ... 20 years in the business and SHE STILL CAN'T ACT!!!!).
Anyway, thanks for zip RTD. I'm going to stick with my favouritest ever show for now - I'm not going to give up that easily; I've been riveted since 197...something. But should Series 4 descend into the infantile pond gunk that was the 2007 Xmas Special, I'm going to lock myself in a basement with a lifetime's supply of baked beans and whisky and watch my Firefly reruns over and over until I'm barking mad....

Right. That's me done.

[Sulp Niar]

I pretty much agree with all of your points. Although 'The Runaway Bride' was actually worse than this one, it didn't feel like it was, because a) this one's longer and b) we've had a year to be even more cynical about the Christmas specials.

I don't agree about Russell stopping writing the scripts, though - unfortunately, to reel in that mainstream demographic (oh god, not the demographics bit), Russell's writing is essential for the specials and such. Although, who knows, maybe they should try someone different next time (whenever that is, I forget). Basically, Russell's at his best when he's not out to "entertain" or even to "impress"... his best episodes, for me, have tended to be his quieter ones. 'Love & Monsters' included (haha, sorry mate).

But as I said, you're pretty much spot on. Just, as you pointed out yourself, a tad angrier about it . For me, it's more that I just can't muster up the energy - particularly considering how long it was - to really get riled.

[Speckled Jim]