Doctor Who Series 7-7: The Bells of St John (SPOILERS)

[TimeLord]

Love the new TARDIS
Love the new coat
Love the new titles
Love the new companion.

Although I am a little disappointed that they are shackling an over arcing plot in already! Especially since they still haven't resolved all the old ones yet. But the entertainment was there and Clara looks like she'll be more than a match for the Doctor!

So what were your thoughts on the new episode?

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Ah I've missed these threads TimeLord.

Pretty decent episode, though I'm starting to lose track of all the loose threads still around from last season and already we have a possible big bad introduced for this season. Regardless I'm really liking the new companion so far. Glad she seems to going to useful in situations rather than just be someone to get kidnapped or nearly get killed.

 

[Josh123914]

I liked the little nod to the Great Intellience, and the trailer for the next episode looks interesting enough.

My one complaint with it is probably that Clara didn't have enough time to let the TARDIS sink in on her, but I suppose that's just because they made a big deal of it during the xmas special....

 

[TimeLord]

My one complaint with it is probably that Clara didn't have enough time to let the TARDIS sink in on her, but I suppose that's just because they made a big deal of it during the xmas special....

I assume that will properly be done in the next episode when she properly starts her travels with the Doctor!

 

[Tom_green_day]

I'm not a fan of Matt Smith or the recent episodes, and in this more than any other the acting was over the top and the plot was barely there. I think they've been aiming for a child audience for too long, they've started smacking into the same old cliches (creepy child) and plot points (big bad hidden away on computer). In my opinion they should bring in a darker tone- not darker like last season which was dark but still bright, they should introduce in some more action to make the talking and dancing have more impact.
The quirky-meter has ran out of fuel and now it just seems forced.

 

[Plinglebob]

Overall it was enjoyable, but not particularly memorable. After the brief glimpse we had of the new interior in the Christmas special, it was nice to get a good look at the new Tardis and I did like Clara despite it feeling a little like Mr Moffet was trying too hard to make us like her. I thought the story idea was great, but somehow felt a little wasted. The episodes where a new companion is introduced are often vey shouty/runny aroundy and an idea like that really needed an episode to itself. However, the return of the Great Intelligence was also a nice surprise and fitted very well with the plot. I just hope they don't use him as the "Big Bad" for the series, though thinking about it the Great Intelligence rebuilding/controlling/allying with the Cybermen could be interesting...

Also, I loved the look of joy on the Doctors face with "I invented the Quardricycle" and the Twitter joke was very nice.

Although I am a little disappointed that they are shackling an over arcing plot in already!

In fairness, the over-arcing "Who is Oswin" plot kicked off in the Christmas special so continuing it isn't a surprise (or did you mean something else?)

Edit:

I think they've been aiming for a child
audience for too long

I'm sorry to do this, and I know I say this every series, but Doctor Who is first and foremost aimed at children. It is the Disney/Nintendo/My Little Pony of the BBC's schedule where the primary goal is to entertain kids. The fact it has such a broad appeal is a bonus. I was listening to the commentary of The Eleventh Hour" the other day and Mr Moffet was complaining about how adult reviews complained about the Cooking/Fishfingers and Custard scene when he knew the scene was a hit with kids.

 

[TimeLord]

-snip-

I meant the whole Greater Intelligence thing. Yet another arc we won't see the end of for 3 series probably

 

[Plinglebob]

-snip-

I meant the whole Greater Intelligence thing. Yet another arc we won't see the end of for 3 series probably

*dons tinfoil hat* Maybe they'll both be resolved together and the reason Oswin keeps appearing is because she's actually a physical avatar of the Great Intelligence's species with the unconscious task of capturing it and returning it to its own planet. This is why she maintained control when turned into a Dalek...

For the record, this is why I don't write fan fiction

 

[ZeoAssassin]

This was probably the best written Moffat episode in a while in terms of plot and general scifi. Extending the concepts of malware and hacking to people instead of just computers was a neat idea and executed pretty well in general.

Clara using social networking to find the badguy's HQ was pretty clever and funny as hell since that makes a ton of sense. And the last moment when everyone is "reset" to their normal selves was neat and also pretty tragic for the women boss.

The great intelligence thing is interesting even if its YET ANOTHER unresolved Moffat plot thread, as well as who the women who gave Clara the Doctor's number was (I would have guessed River Song but why wouldn't they just say that then?).

ALso i like how the Doctor still occasionally uses Amy's glasses, not just in her final episode and the Xmas special.



Thoughts on the Next Episodes Preview: Looks neat i guess, not much to go on here...not very happy seeing what looks like a another retcon to how regeneration works thou...but its out of context to ill wait to ***** about it latter =p

 

[Crispee]

Love the new TARDIS
Love the new coat
Love the new titles
Love the new companion.

Although I am a little disappointed that they are shackling an over arcing plot in already! Especially since they still haven't resolved all the old ones yet. But the entertainment was there and Clara looks like she'll be more than a match for the Doctor!

So what were your thoughts on the new episode?

I agree with all this opening stuff, I love this new aesthetic they've got going on with the new Tardis and opening, makes the whole show look higher quality.

Still unsure on Clara, but this Clara was definitely more interesting than the previous Clara, who struck me as badly written because they couldn't be bothered reintroducing the reactions to the Tardis 'n' crap.

Episode was far too fast paced (Why were we expected to guess that the title refers to the Tardis phone and cloister bell based on the two seconds of footage that showed the St John's Ambulance badge on the Tardis door?) but has an interesting to watch middle.

 

[Ldude893]

Overall meh episode, though Clara as a character is promising, and I'm looking forward to seeing her as the series goes.

Also, can't wait for the 50th anniversary. Apparently Davie's back.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Why the fuck was there so many people stupid enough to fall for the killer wi-fi? Wouldn't anyone have noticed and did some investigation? What about people using ethernet cables? Also, how come the villains (What were they called?) used freaky symbols as the connection name? That's really suspicious.

How come no-body notices the dead bodies on the floor, then the same people walking around?

How come there isn't anything done about a fucking aeroplane nearly crashing into London? Nobody who wasn't a wi-fi slave thingy saw that? Surely in this sort of world something like that would be noticed.

Also, why the fuck do all high-tech "secret" organizations in films and shows always use those flat, touch, light-up keyboards. They must be fucking terrible to type on, why can't they just use normal keyboards like every other company?

... ahh forget it. They should really stick with doing non-technology based stuff. This just reeks of an episode they did to "get with the time", whilst completely failing and falling to the typical TV traps when it comes to technology.

Other than that typical Doctor Who, wasn't very good but still entertaining none-the-less. I liked it.

 

[kurupt87]

I think they've been aiming for a child
audience for too long

I'm sorry to do this, and I know I say this every series, but Doctor Who is first and foremost aimed at children. It is the Disney/Nintendo/My Little Pony of the BBC's schedule where the primary goal is to entertain kids. The fact it has such a broad appeal is a bonus. I was listening to the commentary of The Eleventh Hour" the other day and Mr Moffet was complaining about how adult reviews complained about the Cooking/Fishfingers and Custard scene when he knew the scene was a hit with kids.

And how fucking depressing is it that it's one of the only things worth watching on the beeb?

 

[Froggy Slayer]

Good, I enjoyed it. A little iffy with the tech side of things, but Doctor Who has never been exactly accurate with any other subject (what do you mean it started as a edutainment show?) so I can let them slide. I like the idea of the Great Intelligence coming back as a recurring enemy, but I hope that Moffat either finds a way of tying it into the other plot threads or resolves it in short order. We still need to resolve some things about the Silence, like who the hell was making the Tardis explode with his creepy voice.

 

[Coppernerves]

Things which made a sort of sense to me (and were awesome to see):

People are software, run by wet, squishy hardware.

Using high-tech robots, you can scan said hardware to make a copy of the software, then wipe the software from the wet squishy hardware.

Having collected the software, you can run, test, analyse, debug, hack, crack, and mod him/her.

With that done, you can make the wet, squishy hardware run the modded version of the software, and then use your robots in conjunction with the modded software to control and utilise the wet, squishy hardware.

Things I really want to know:

Why the client was doing all the above.

Why he made sure the modded versions of people had high level expertise in computer science.

Why he only downloaded people who'd connected computers to a weird-lettered computer network.

Why two of the people downloaded were "integrated" in such a way that they couldn't be uploaded to wet, squishy hardware without doing the same to a load of other people.

Why such a mysterious villain is introduced when we've already got a mysterious, and apparently non-connected, supporting character for us to find out all about.

 

[Dryk]

I liked the little nod to the Great Intellience, and the trailer for the next episode looks interesting enough.

I liked that it came with a nod to The Web of Fear.

For those that don't know that's the 2nd Great Intelligence story (Snowmen was the 3rd). It tries to invade London through the Underground with robot yetis and is stopped by some soldiers and the Second Doctor, which lead to the formation of UNIT.

 

[Aarowbeatsdragon]

Great episode but i have to point out something i found weird, in Claras book of her ages going down from 1 to 24...it skipped the age 23...is there some significance there or just an oversight on the writers part?

 

[saintdane05]

Not as good as last episode, but still a bit of fun. The Great Intelligence is making a comeback... and UNIT is getting more involved... this is going to get interesting.

 

[saintdane05]

Great episode but i have to point out something i found weird, in Claras book of her ages going down from 1 to 24...it skipped the age 23...is there some significance there or just an oversight on the writers part?

Clara's hand-written adventure book skips age 23. She types the password wrong because she can't type 23. Last episode saw Clara dying on the 23th of November... the day Doctor Who first aired.

 

[Fijiman]

I found it fairly interesting and am looking forward to the next episode.