The new Doctor Who

[kel83]

I'm not loving either Dr Who or Torchwood at the moment (but that's a different story). I didn't like how they just plonked Mels in there. If she was so important to Amy and Rory, why haven't we heard about her before? Too much of a Deus ex Machina for me. Unless I missed it from being bored with this season.

[hannah_dru]

They couldn't have set it anywhere; it had to be somewhere where they could explain what the Teselecta was up to - hunting down war criminals.

 

The best known of all war criminals is - yes, you guessed it - Hitler.

True, but I just felt they could've spent more time on it. It was done very quickly and felt a bit of a waste.

 

If you look at the old Who episodes, they were always intricate and woven stories, managing to appeal to kids for the monsters, and the adults for the tales. I feel that the show has become more akin to those days again, whereas during RTD's era it was just explosions, deaths, and deus-ex-machina plots.

 

My kids all sit absorbed by 'new-Who' - one of the only times the lot of them will be quiet for 45 minutes, so there must still be enough appeal for kids in there. At the same time there are enough plot elements for me to latch onto and try to decipher.

 

With regards the setting of this week's episode, yes the 'Hitler' aspect had nought really to do with the plot (aside from it gave a reason for the Teselecta to be there). They could have had it set around a wealth of famously evil people - but then again, Hitler is so well known a name that both kids and adults should have an idea of what his crimes were (to some degree - and if your kids don't then Doctor Who would be a great starting point to let them know why he was chosen to be killed).

 

You could also argue that the majority of settings for any Doctor Who episode are unimportant as the story can play out anywhere. They simply use them as a jump-on point, which doesn't have to have any relevance to events. In this case it worked as the tease of that title (Let's Kill Hitler) meant that you HAD to watch it when it came back after the break, and it also made the opening scenes lively and wacky enough before they slipped into the confusion and plot.

 

That's true, since Stephen Moffat has taken over though I've just felt that it's gotten overly complex and intellectual.

 

Kudos to any children who are watching and following it! I feel like I need to watch all the episodes more than once now to 100% take everything in. I recently read a letter in What's on TV where a lady had said her family found it'd gotten a bit too much. I'm only 22 though, I don't have children.

[0742Sheff]

Was i the only one thinking the last episode was totally garbage?

 

I thought the story line was decent enough but the absolutely terrible special effects, combined with yet more Amy and Rory running around aimlessly, was just too much. I thought it amounted to a garbage episode of a series that is rapidly going down hill.

[Karis]

No. I agree with you. I thought last night's episode was another Black Spot...

[lubylou]

Same here, i thought it was going to be quite good, the story line sounded quite scary, but i have to agree, it was pants

[Beakerzoid]

Just watched last nights with my son, and we both enjoyed it. A simple 'bottle' episode, and I love anything that plays on childhood fears (and wooden dolls..which I think are freaky anyway). Felt like classic Who in nature - no explosions, no gizmos, no whizbangs, just a simple story.

 

In fact, since Moffat took charge Who has become more and more akin to the old-Who, which is probably why I am liking it more and more, but those who loved the Tennant/RTD era are being put off.

 

Mark Gatiss' story for last nights was much better than the last one he had made (Victory of the Daleks - although I think it was a good idea poorly executed that one), and ranked alongside his earlier tales - The Unquiet Dead and The Idiot Lantern.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Beakerzoid

[Tess]

I liked the doll episode but think it would have worked better over two episodes. The build up was good, and seeing them for the first time was good too.. but then it was over before we knew it.

[Ghostrider]

ooh, ooh - spoiler alert :

http://www.orange.co.uk/entertainment/television/28553.htm

[HeadingNorth]

ooh, ooh - spoiler alert :

http://www.orange.co.uk/entertainment/television/28553.htm

 

That story might be more interesting if it didn't include a blatant falsehood in the opening sentence. Moffatt never did say he'd retired the Daleks; just that he didn't think they should be turning up in every single series and he was leaving them alone for a while.

[Rich]

Hmm, as it happens I've just been watching the excellent Tom Baker story Genesis of the Daleks, bought the DVD on Play.com last week! Best Who story ever! Even better than the Sly McCoy story Remembrance of the Daleks (which I also have on DVD).