The Power of Three
It's more fun watching the Doctor get bored than those black cubes.
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It's more fun watching the Doctor get bored than those black cubes.
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The Power of Three
- Thread starter Susan Arendt
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- Mar 31, 2010
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I'm a little lukewarm on the next episode so far as the first weeping angels episode was excellently written and structured but the more recent two-parter involving River Song was mediocre, reducing them to a far more typical "monster". I'm hoping this one will be at-least good, though I don't expect it will be able to recapture what made the first special so it'll have to hit gold on it's other parameters like setting and supporting characters.
This episode was good, but I find it best not to look to closely at it. Because then you have to ask yourself, why weren't there bombs? Sure, it's a great way to let the Doctor make some jokes about having two hearts, and it lets him save everyone later, but I think bombs would have gotten the job done quite a lot easier. Also, the cubes would have known not to count down, because then people would have reacted negatively. I'm sure one of them had to have counted down in the test phase, and someone probably chucked it out the window.
I liked the nod to the Brigadier but good god this episode was boring. I have mixed feelings about next weeks episode. On the one hand I am happy that the Ponds are going (Hopfully being killed so they cannot possible return) on the other had River Song is in the episode and I hate her more than a gunshot to the balls. Here is hoping that, with the Ponds gone, River will not turn up any more.
This episode's ending has to be the most disappointing out of the lot. I was really enjoying the first 40 minutes of this episode and when it got to the "5 minutes left" mark I was expecting it to go into "to be continued" but instead we get a hastily thrown together ending in which the most interesting element is glossed over in minutes.
Then there's the plot holes:
- What's the point of the little girl in the hospital?
- What were those cube-faced men and why were they taking humans onto the ship?
- Why can't the Doctor always bring Amy and Rory back a minute after they left? He has a time machine and it has been proven that he can do it.
I loved the concept of this story and the character interactions are where it shone the brightest, but damn was it ever wrapped up in some mediocre plot contrivances.
Then there's the plot holes:
- What's the point of the little girl in the hospital?
- What were those cube-faced men and why were they taking humans onto the ship?
- Why can't the Doctor always bring Amy and Rory back a minute after they left? He has a time machine and it has been proven that he can do it.
I loved the concept of this story and the character interactions are where it shone the brightest, but damn was it ever wrapped up in some mediocre plot contrivances.
The best parts involved the Doctor playin the Wii. The worst part was the fact that a group of people, completely innocent people too, get blown up when the ship explodes and no one seems to have noticed or cared. I have been fine with the doctor killin and doin all around horrible things to people as he's done that since I started watchin the show (totally a newvian), but it has always had some sort of breakin point. Genocide, all around massive douchebaggery, somethin that would push the doctor enough to do somethin awful. Killin innocent people crosses that line that makes my brain go buh wha and get really annoyed.
I guess we're supposed to assume the doctor checked their vitals and realized they were all dead some time in the few seconds he was offscreen durin that final part and then told Rory and Amy that the people were dead in the nonexistent time they were all offscreen together, I can not comprehend how it did not get brought up. At all.
I guess we're supposed to assume the doctor checked their vitals and realized they were all dead some time in the few seconds he was offscreen durin that final part and then told Rory and Amy that the people were dead in the nonexistent time they were all offscreen together, I can not comprehend how it did not get brought up. At all.
The build up to the episode was good, and the pacing made me think it was going to be a two part episode... Then it was just over, after pressing a couple of buttons in a keyboard.
Aside from that I thought it was mediocre at best. Yes there were a couple of funny lines. But the flip-flopping of characters thoughts on if they should leave or not, casual free advertising (especially for apple), and the seemingly pointless shit at the hospital...
I can see why they might need one human to get a view of the biology, but more than one bloke and they dragged the doctor in and he thwarted them in the style of saving the world by switching a switch off... The only episodes I've. Disliked more were the ones with James Coddenham (who I despise, and they were shit anyway) and the one with Marc Warren...
Aside from that I thought it was mediocre at best. Yes there were a couple of funny lines. But the flip-flopping of characters thoughts on if they should leave or not, casual free advertising (especially for apple), and the seemingly pointless shit at the hospital...
I can see why they might need one human to get a view of the biology, but more than one bloke and they dragged the doctor in and he thwarted them in the style of saving the world by switching a switch off... The only episodes I've. Disliked more were the ones with James Coddenham (who I despise, and they were shit anyway) and the one with Marc Warren...
Yep. There seemed to be a lot of stuff in there that was just there to add tension, but it never actually meant anything.Proverbial Jon said:
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. I was absolutely loving the episode and completely expecting a "To be continued", but then it just suddenly ended.Proverbial Jon said:
...Wait, what?
Nothing about the Shakri was explained and I was really interested about all the stuff I assumed they were leaving for next time. It would have worked really well, set up the plot and tension in the first half than have all the direct, head on alien stuff in the second half. Instead the Doctor just fixes it, and it's all good.
Yeah, I think that's what we're supposed to assume, but we can only assume that because it's the only thing that makes sense. It's a real shame, since I really wanted to know why they were abducting them at all.shintakie10 said:
The Brigadier did turn up in a spin-off of NuWho, namely in the Sarah Jane Adventures, so at least he got in somewhere.
His daughter Kate was first mentioned in the (basically) fan production of Downtime by Marc Platt (first video then novelisation), that also featured previous companion Victoria Waterfield of the Second Doctor, and Professor Travis (played by Deborah Watling's father) from Abominable Snowman. Kate, however, was not as presented here, but given the same name has to at least be a nod.
(If you are going to bring up Mawdryn Undead, I think the most interesting piece of trivia related to that is that was supposed to be first Doctor's companion Ian Chesterton instead, making the maths teacher far more appropriate.)
But most annoying plot point for me: how long were those people out from the heart attack? Many of them would have straight up died, probably more brain damaged, and I don't care how tough you are, you do not just get up and walk away like someone merely pushed you over.
His daughter Kate was first mentioned in the (basically) fan production of Downtime by Marc Platt (first video then novelisation), that also featured previous companion Victoria Waterfield of the Second Doctor, and Professor Travis (played by Deborah Watling's father) from Abominable Snowman. Kate, however, was not as presented here, but given the same name has to at least be a nod.
(If you are going to bring up Mawdryn Undead, I think the most interesting piece of trivia related to that is that was supposed to be first Doctor's companion Ian Chesterton instead, making the maths teacher far more appropriate.)
But most annoying plot point for me: how long were those people out from the heart attack? Many of them would have straight up died, probably more brain damaged, and I don't care how tough you are, you do not just get up and walk away like someone merely pushed you over.
I rather liked it. The threat was really less interesting than the fact it forced the Doctor to move through time at the same speed as regular people for a good portion of the episode, and I enjoyed watching the Ponds dealing with the friction between regular life and 'Doctor life.' I suppose the resolution was rather rushed, but again, the enemies in this episode were really more of a plot device to emphasize the changing relationship between the Doctor and the Ponds, so I'll forgive that and their needlessly lengthy plot to destroy the Earth.
As far as the next episode is concerned, I'm not yet sure whether or not this looks good. To start with, I'm uncomfortable with a series dropping companions halfway through, as this strikes me as the kind of thing you save for a climactic end-of-series finale (I'm not comfortable with this new trend of mid-season mini-climaxes). That, and I was never a huge fan of the Weeping Angels, as they struck me as more of an 'interesting concept' monster better suited to one-off episodes that tailor directly to that concept, rather than all-purpose returning baddies. I have no issues with River Song returning, however, as I actually rather like her as a character and the unique dynamic she has going on with the Doctor (even if her story arc was admittedly a little too overdone and all-consuming in the previous season).
I always assumed it was more of a case of "he can, sometimes, but he's not 100% sure how to fly the TARDIS and can often miss his mark by a few hours, months, or even years." Not to mention the fact that, even when he does, they still age, and people will start to notice after they stroll out of a room and come back in their 50s.Proverbial Jon said:
Yeah, I actually realised that as I was typing it... but it's called the "power of three" and I wanted to point out three plot holes, damnit!Suicidejim said:
Suicidejim said:
I agree. I found the angels in "Blink" actually quite terrifying, probably the first time I've been physically creeped out by a Dr Who monster since "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" but they just didn't have the same effect in the two parter they later featured in. I am not looking forward to the next episode because I know it will mark yet another step down for one of the truly great new monsters.
It's always the same lesson that needs to be learned in Dr Who; less is more. Perhaps the classic series did it better because they were under budget constraints and physically couldn't produce alien armies at the drop of a hat. "Dalek" was a very good episode and one of the best new episodes to feature Daleks. It emphasised the destruction and terror one single Dalek could induce by having only one Dalek. All subsequent stories have featured vast armies of the things and they fail to be scary in large numbers, a paradox that not even the Doctor can solve. The best stories have been the small scale, personal tales that require more thought and less CGI.
And if anyone can remember the episode School Reunion (2006) where Rose and Sarah Jane Smith (the companion in Terror of the Zygons) are arguing about their time with the Doctor, Sarah Jane wins by saying she has seen the Loch Ness monster.Susan Arendt said:
Proverbial Jon said:
I think the intention was to explore the characters a bit more and they just crow bared a plot around it, similar to the Van Gogh episode. The only thing I will point out is that the Dr can bring back Amy and Rory whenever he wants but they wont have unlived the time they spent with him. The Dr himself is 1200 years old but those years are not in strict chronological order, he has experienced those years spread out over all time.
I quite liked the episode overall, just because it gave us a better view of what the Ponds do when not with the Doctor. And the Doctor playing Wii Tennis. But the ending was...eh. Bringing everyone back to life felt like a bit of a cop out, because surely they'd be dead after their hearts failing for so long?
Well technically it only took them a few moments. The rest of the months were spent making sure they were taken to every facet of human life. Then they had a few moments of activity where they scoped us out before the countdown
Did the Brig actually appear in SJA, or was he just mentioned? I've never actually seen SJA, so I may have incorrect info.ritchards said:
And I didn't know that about Ian! That would make more sense, actually. Thanks for sharing.
Going to quote myself from when I watched the episode because I'm an egomaniac it's the more accurate account of my impressions than me a week later.
Don't let it fool you, I did like the episode, I was just fustrated with it.
Don't let it fool you, I did like the episode, I was just fustrated with it.
Scorched_Cascade said:
I've lost interest in the Doctor since Tennant left, but these overviews are a great way to keep up to date, loving the information about nods to DW lore. thank youSusan Arendt said: