Doctor Who - Series 9 (continued)

[Dannyhood91]

You can tell Clara was being bad in this because she was talking different and shot a big gun in't sky at the end.

[biggytitbo]

I thought the opposite. I was struck by how much of a drop in quality there had been since the American episodes in series 6. Those looked gorgeous. These looked drab, flat and badly directed. The cut in budget has been really obvious over the last two years.

Ohh yeah the show has looked cack for a while now, but that's poor direction rather than budget cuts. It was evident again here where scenes were rendered odd and gibberish due to direction.


The direction in S5-7 was several notches above the last few years.

[biggytitbo]

Ingrid Oliver has a big face like a lovely cat doesn't she? I'd like her to be the next companion, never knowing if she's human or not.

[Kelvin]

Ingrid Oliver has a big face like a lovely cat doesn't she? I'd like her to be the next companion, never knowing if she's human or not.

I didn't understand that, at all. Wasn't the human version killed by Missy in the series 8 finale? I couldn't work out what that whole thread was about.

[dandoystevski]

So Clara killed all those Russians?

[Dannyhood91]

I did like the subtle nod to the 7th doctor with the question mark line.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Ohh yeah the show has looked cack for a while now, but that's poor direction rather than budget cuts. It was evident again here where scenes were rendered odd and gibberish due to direction.

The direction in S5-7 was several notches above the last few years.

I thought the first two parter was well directed, but there's been some odd editing choices and direction in the last few. Tonight, when the soldier's were heading towards the church, there was a really odd shot from inbetween a fence, I thought it was suggesting someone was hiding there, but no it was just the cameraman being rubbish.

Still, bar that I enjoyed this a lot. It sagged in the middle slightly but was suitably fun the rest of the time, especially the political commentary, and it had quite an epic feel for once, where not just England is at threat. Thought Rebecca Front was a bit rubbish though, which was a shame as she's normally a pretty fine actress. But bar that I've no complaints, and am looking forward to seeing how the Doctor escapes certain doom next week. Better not just use the sonic glasses to break the missile though, I'd be very unimpressed by that.

[Kelvin]

Ohh yeah the show has looked cack for a while now, but that's poor direction rather than budget cuts. It was evident again here where scenes were rendered odd and gibberish due to direction.


The direction in S5-7 was several notches above the last few years.

Hard to say. Surely the inferior directors and consistently worse production quality have to be down to a cut in money. It can't just be co-incidence that the quality has dropped so noticeably in the last two years. Sets, sfx, direction, they've all got much worse recently.   

[Alberon]

That was more like it. A cracking episode. Coleman wasn't horrible, some reasonable political commentary and a good how-do-they-get-out-of-that cliffhanger.

Another 'hybrid' mention was shoehorned in. So that's the arc and it must tie in with Clara's departure.

And, if they have a scrap of sense, they'll never answer the question of which Osgood lived.

[Talulah, really!]

Thought it was absolute crap from start to finish. Didn't even like Capaldi in it, the glasses and guitar gimmick is really grating now. Either the writing or directing or both were totally flat, don't think I've ever seen Rebecca Front turn in such an uninteresting performance in anything, Jemma Redgrave phoned in her performance as well and Ingrid Oliver was just some cosplay in search of a character and as for the utterly gratutious shoehorning in of that hybrid bollocks, it is frankly bizarre that the programme has no faith in viewers being capable of remembering something that happened a few episodes ago whilst at the same time stuffing the episode with inconsequential continuity porn like question mark collars, UNIT dating and a painting of William Hartnell as if the mainstream audience gives a flying fuck.

[biggytitbo]

[weekender]

Tonight, when the soldier's were heading towards the church, there was a really odd shot from inbetween a fence, I thought it was suggesting someone was hiding there, but no it was just the cameraman being rubbish.

Not anything to do with this 'Found Footage' episode then?

[Natnar]

Trailer for next week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3LMOcIDTSU

[Phil_A]

In all honesty, up until the last five minutes I thought this one was a bit of a stinker.

The scene with soldier boy and his Zygon mum was so dreadfully acted, scored and directed it just completely sucked all the tension out of what was going on. In fact most of the supporting cast in this episode were unusually bad, with the actress playing New Mexico cop lady being particularly awful. I don't know what it is, but whenever the modern show tries to do UNIT stories they almost never work.

Also the thing of The Doctor giving himself wacky nicknames, what was that supposed to be? It just didn't work at all.

Also, having literally pissed on the Brig's grave in the last season, they've now gone on to make Harry Sullivan a genocidal maniac(as it's heavily implied he created the nerve agent that kills Zygons by turning them inside out). Why?

[Cerys]

There's no dignified way of saying this, but when Clara went all evil, right, let's just say I experienced arousal, if you know what I mean.

That's because she was wearing extra lipstick, so her mouth looked more like a set of quiescent ladyparts than usual.

[Weeping Prophet]

I liked that a lot, but...

Sometimes it feels like, with all the two parters they're doing this series, they occasionally have to lengthen the episodes for time, which results in some odd pacing. One example is the Doctor's underwear joke. In the past they probably would've cut after he said "I still do", since that's really all we needed, but they have him spell out that it's his underwear and it just lands with a thud. I don't have a problem with slower pacing but it feels a bit forced.

[EFB]

Also, having literally pissed on the Brig's grave in the last season, they've now gone on to make Harry Sullivan a genocidal maniac(as it's heavily implied he created the nerve agent that kills Zygons by turning them inside out). Why?

But Harry would have done it accidentally, thinking he was brewing a pot of tea, or something.

There's no dignified way of saying this, but when Clara went all evil, right, let's just say I experienced arousal, if you know what I mean.

I did become rather flushed.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Not anything to do with this 'Found Footage' episode then?

Ah, I'm largely spoiler free, so didn't know there was going to be such a thing.

[olliebean]

But fuck me putting a Zygon/possible not Zygon shooting an air to missile towards a plane is a fucking bold move.

Possible not Zygon? Unless I missed something huge, hadn't it been definitely established by then that Clara was a Zygon?

Ingrid Oliver has a big face like a lovely cat doesn't she? I'd like her to be the next companion, never knowing if she's human or not.

Again, unless I missed something, didn't the inhaler give it away?

[Alberon]

Again, unless I missed something, didn't the inhaler give it away?

Don't think so. If both were being Osgood both would have inhalers.

[The Region Legion]

Cannot WAIT for The Region Legion's response to this.

Do tell, what element of it was I meant to be annoyed about? The barely-veiled pro-immigration/refugee crisis message? Yeah, it irked me very slightly but I got what they were trying to do, and I agree with the broader message that bombing leads to radicalisation, have been saying it for decades.

The things that usually bother me that you lot get annoyed at me for - namely, casting to a checklist of ethnic minorities rather than acting ability or relevance to the story - didn't feature at all in this one. Was I meant to be annoyed that the Zygon family weren't White British? Why would I care about that, there's loads of people from that background living in the UK. What else could you be referring to?


That episode was so dull and convoluted that I struggle to think anything about it other than "this is really dull and convoluted".

Why was The Doctor looking for Osgood in Turkmenistan or whatever when she was last seen in New Mexico, where Kate was asking about her too? Why would she have been there?

Why does Zygon Clara pretend to be real Clara when she leaves that apartment for the first time, for the benefit of absolutely no one at all except the camera?

Why does Zygon Clara call herself Bonnie?


I'm sure there's loads more questions like that. It had no idea where it was going with any of its plot points.

[Blumf]

Why does Zygon Clara call herself Bonnie?

After the most irredeemably evil companion in Doctor Who history.



Or maybe it's just her name.

[Urinal Cake]

Good Clara = open smile, bad Clara = closed smile. Acting!

This was pretty awful, there was no subtlety in the message at all down to the ISIS-like flag.

[BritishHobo]

Not quite getting the love for the cliffhanger. It's just the same 'everyone's dead (even though we know they're not and they'll all be okay next week)!' thing they did at the end of The Magician's Apprentice, and sort-of at the end of the ghost one.

I'm quite drunk so I may need to rewatch almost all of that; I'm not sure any of it went in. I do hope Robo-Brig turns up to save his daughter though. And I like the idea of the Doctor being the only non-Zygon about.

[The Region Legion]

Not quite getting the love for the cliffhanger. It's just the same 'everyone's dead (even though we know they're not and they'll all be okay next week)!' thing they did at the end of The Magician's Apprentice, and sort-of at the end of the ghost one.

Actually that reminds me - why are the Zygons abducting all these humans and putting them in these cocoon things if the eventual plan is just to destroy them anyway?

In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing what bullshit they come up with to get themselves out of Clara definitely being dead now. I mean, the "ambush" worked right? Unit woman and the soldiers are all dead, so there was no one to stop them destroying those cocoons which was the plan (even though they put them there...). So Clara is definitely dead. If she's not then it's yet another massive plothole.

But who cares about plotholes right? It's just a dumb show about a space Doctor![nb]just getting that in before some prick does[/nb]

[Urinal Cake]

Actually that reminds me - why are the Zygons abducting all these humans and putting them in these cocoon things if the eventual plan is just to destroy them anyway?

In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing what bullshit they come up with to get themselves out of Clara definitely being dead now. I mean, the "ambush" worked right? Unit woman and the soldiers are all dead, so there was no one to stop them destroying those cocoons which was the plan (even though they put them there...). So Clara is definitely dead. If she's not then it's yet another massive plothole.

But who cares about plotholes right? It's just a dumb show about a space Doctor![nb]just getting that in before some prick does[/nb]

I think Osgood came up with that theory to throw off the doctor about being the human twin. They still need the important humans to fully takeover the world of which Clara is one.

[The Region Legion]

I think Osgood came up with that theory to throw off the doctor about being the human twin. They still need the important humans to fully takeover the world of which Clara is one.

I dunno, that smelled of "ah, no, it's NOT that because the Zygons have NEW powers now". It was for our benefit rather than The Doctor's, much like Clara's performance before the reveal.

If it turns out that Osgood was lying then it's still weak scripting. So entirely in-keeping with Doctor Who's quality control then.

[Deanjam]

Quite a dull episode considering how much was going on. As mentioned above the 20 million Zygons being allowed to take human form was a bit weird. Who are they copying exactly? Agreed that evil Clara gave me the horn. Osgood was as irritating as ever. The whole 'I am human as we are Zygon and we are all together' bit makes me want to punch the telly. The terrorism analogy was heavy-handed too. Also ending the episode on the possible deaths of characters who we know aren't gonna be dead yet again.

But my main worry is how boring this was. Only got interesting in the last five minutes.

[biggytitbo]

It was only Zygon Clara who said Clara was dead, we saw her alive in the pod. I guessing Osgood lied about them not needing the copy anymore, so everyone is still alive.

[Natnar]

So Clara's flat just happened to be right above where the Zygons were keeping the humans? Coincidence or is someone manipulating things (Me perhaps?)