Doctor Who Club of Australia

Ohica · Joined: 24 May 2007 Posts: 33 Location: Karn

Where can I get some of those adipose pills? I need a few to jump out of me. LOL. I was disappointed when the Doctor threw away the sonic pen .But......which bin did he throw it into? Was it the one that Donna threw her keys in? If not, will the mother go scratching around in that bin looking for the keys and find the pen? Could Donna then have herself a sonic pen when she returns home? How cool!!! There's got to be some sort of follow up to that. It was a bit obvious when he threw it away. Good old Rose won't be there to tell Mum which bin so things could get interesting.

Nice to see Billie Piper with out the caked on makeup.

I love Donna's Grandad. He missed the space ship but seeing Donna in the TArdis was really great. I love that scene. I think it is up there with my faves for this new series.

charlie · Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject:

Lame.

That thing with almost running into each other was overplayed and made no sense since the last time we saw bride she wanted nothing to do with the doctor and they weren't looking for each other etc etc. We should have been told Martha now felt exactly the same as all the other companions of the new series before they almost found each other. Its mistakes like these which will date this show so its hard to enjoy in 20 years.

And as if bride wasn't annoting enough last time anyway. Why bring her back?

Rose looks like another lame story arc which isn't really an arc.

Ickabod · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 504 Location: far far away

I liked and enjoyed it....the grandfather was/is great and the fact that we don't have another female wanting to "shag/kiss/fall in love" with The Doc is great

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4147

What a fun start to this season.
The first shot of Donna is identical to how Martha first appeared in the previous season opener Smith and Jones.
I so love the expression on Donna's face when she first sees the Doctor again.
Penny is so unbelievable - she got the chance to escape courtesy of the Doctor only to be captured again.
Sarah Lancashire is superb as Miss Foster.
Not too sure practically it was a good idea for Donna leaving her keys in a bin for her mother to pick up.
Wow in the midst of all this Rose appears and literally disappers. Lovely to see her back albeit very briefly this time around.

Incidentally this week's episode of Medium on 10 is also called Partners In Crime. Good timing my viewing of the Doctor Who episode.

Dougy · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:13 pm Post subject:

It was okay. It seems Who starts off the season with a so-so episode and then build up after about ep 3 or 4. It was almost a little too silly although the Adipose were very cute. The Nanny was less scary as a villain than my left foot and there was no sense of danger in the episode at all. And Donna....I'll just say I'm looking forward to Martha's return.

But it was fun, so not a terrible episode. Kind of take it or leave it for me. Next week looks good though.

montypython · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject:

I voted average for this one. I know it was meant to be light-hearted and fun, but it's hard to get the adrenaline pumping through your system when the aliens are cute little balls of CGI. And in Doctor Who Confidential when the actress playing Miss Foster said she saw her character as a bit of a goodie, well that takes even more out of it. Who wants a good villain?

I loved the scene where the Doctor and Donna saw each other again. Very amusing - especially when they saw that everyone was looking at them. But all the times they missed each other was certainly dragged out a bit.

I got a bit bored when Donna was talking to Gramps about how she wanted to see the Doctor again. In my household we used this time to discuss what we'd seen Gramps in before (the answer was Fawlty Towers as Mr Hutchison the spoon salesman). I did love Gramps - it put a smile on my face to see him jumping around at the end, and it was hilarious when he missed the spaceship.

Interesting parallel between the Adipose and the baby Racnoss.

Rose! Yay! I know Rose has received a lot of criticism for her falling in love with the Doctor, but can I say something in her defence? I think the blow was lessened due to the fact that:
1. The Doctor obviously felt something (I'm not saying what that something is) for her too, and they were both comfortable in their relationship (it didn't get complicated, like it did with Martha)
2. Rose didn't go declaring her love for the Doctor to random strangers wherever she went

Finally, it seems the writers are being a bit generous to Catherine Tate regarding her age. She's actually 40, but for Donna to have a grandpa that active and a mother that looks like that she'd have to be way younger.

Martin Dunne · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Adelaide, Australia

I'm surprised at the negative comments about this episode; not because I disagree rather I keep finding people who'll have no criticism of RTD!

His end of season anti-climaxes all remind me of the Russian fairy tale of Koschei the Deathless; he kept his soul hidden within a needle, which in turn was concealed within an egg. If you don't care how the hero finds the needle then it's not much of a story. The needle gets broken, Rose becomes omnipotent, the Daleks get sucked into the gap between dimensions, the power of belief heals the Doctor, do do do de-do do, something happens. The set ups are always ludicrous making the resolution less of a pay off than a rip off.

Damaged Goods was a surprisingly memorable Virgin novel in a sea of try hard adult wanna-bes. Davies has been a better and more powerful producer than we could have hoped for since the show returned, but I'm not sorry to see him go.

I've read tens of Dicks Target novelisations, and while I've got nothing against him I'm so glad they sought original authors in the '80s. If it's all the same to you I'd rather have Lawrence Miles write for the show than yet another Davies script.

Fantastic! · Joined: 22 Sep 2006 Posts: 16 Location: WA

It may have had a somewhat boring plot, but overall I enjoyed it.
As my sister pointed out "not too much violence". I seem to have missed major epiosdes last season -having not seen the runaway bride OR the last ep of S3! So, at our house we're still working out what happened (no spoilers please - I will get to see it eventually) however, Martha is gone, and Donna seems to be a promising companion. (where's Sarah Jane... all these new companions have irritating accents)
Thank goodness for the fine acting of Mr DT Smile

I loved the Supernanny parody! and the appearance of Rose (?) at the end.
Didn't so much love the new version of the Theme music.
It was funny, it was enjoyable and a no-brainer. I can't wait for the rest of the season.

Greg · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:11 am Post subject:

Sulp Niar · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:23 am Post subject:

Very well said.

charlie · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject:

That was the first time Ive seen confidential and Ive gotta say I didnt see much point to it. They didnt really tell us anything that wasnt in the episode.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4147

For most of the Australian audience's viewing order they would have seen Partners In Crime after Voyage of the Damned. I for one saw the Whoniverse episodes in their original transmission order meaning I saw Partners In Crime after the end of Torchwood season 2. Without giving anything away about the yet to be screened on Australian TV of Torchwood season 2 when I saw Partners In Crime for the first time prior to the ABC1 transmission the episode had a very different atmosphere from the way the said Torchwood season ended.
The night before Partners In Crime came on ABC1, Donna's first appearance in The Runaway Bride was shown on UKTV. Good timing.
The end credits for Partners In Crime includes a memoriam for Howard Attfield who played Donna's father Geoff Noble in The Runaway Bride. He had died during filming for Partners In Crime. This is why his part in the storylines got taken up by Donna's grandfather Wilfred Mott.

Confidential Cutdown: A Noble Return:
Apart from script reading, the cutdown version of A Noble Return does not show us the production process in making the episode.
Among the things that wasn't included in the full version is Russell T Davies mentioning the passing of Howard Attfield and Attfield reading his part in the script.

Tegan · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:11 pm Post subject:

Martin Dunne · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Adelaide, Australia

Dougy · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject:

It amazes me that some people are so harsh towards RTD. Don't they realize that without him we may have no new Who at all? These people need to wake up and show some respect.

Martin Dunne · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Adelaide, Australia

Hmmm, that's a bit of a stretch. If Davies wasn't available they would have tapped Gatiss, or Moffat. If I was going to credit one person it'd be Julie Gardner, but I think a functionalist (sh*t happens) rather than an intentionalist (sh*t heads happen, also known as Great Men in History) interpretation works best--BBC Wales was empire building and was looking for a hot property.

1. If Davies had said "No" in 2003 who would have ended up on the short list/show runner?

2. Is the current level of input from Davies unique or mundane--will producers wear writer's hats for ever after?

3. If BBC Wales hadn't made Who, then who'd be a possible commissioning body? Could we have seen it funded by the Australian Film Commission/Screen Australia and made on the Gold Coast, as per K9 Adventures?

FredDag · Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 69

I gotta agree with Greg, under RTD Doctor who has had some brilliant episodes and some hmmm, not so brilliant episodes, just like all other Doctor Who produced over the last 35 years.

Overall I think RTD's done a great job. I'm glad he's not there just to please the fans, cause if he did that, then the show wouldn't of made it past the first season of it's return. RTD is a smart man, Doctor Who had to change to keep going.

I like Doctor Who as it is now, it would bore me if it just went on an on just like it always has. There are some RTD stories I don't like and there's some I love. It's just like politics, you can't keep everyone happy all of the time.

My non fan friend's love some of the stories I didn't like. eg, Unicorn and the Wasp, I thought that was a waste of space but friends and my partner love it.

So point here I'm making, is RTD is no better and no worse then the rest of the producers.

FredDag · Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 69

sorry missed typed there. Meant to say 45 years.

Martin Dunne · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Adelaide, Australia

I take your point that there is a group of "Doctor Who producers" and Davies conforms to membership of this group (actually executive producer).

But the producers aren't considered on this black and white criteria in any case. If you know enough about the show to be aware of the history of producing Doctor Who inevitably there will be opinions. Does anyone not have thoughts on JNT, Barry Letts or Verity Lambert?

Personally I've always been intrigued by John Wiles' high concept approach to the series and curious about what he would have done with more time. He reminds me of Gene Roddenberry--but I mean that in a good way!

mudcrab · Joined: 13 Jul 2008 Posts: 7

not a great story, but had some good moments, I very much like the mime sequence between The Doctor and Donna Smile