Doctor Who - Series 11 (Part 2)

[mothman]

Ryan's dad carrying a microwave oven under his arm for half the episode only for it to play a major role in the climax is the best worst thing I've seen in ages.

"What sort of man doesn't carry a microwave? Put it on your Christmas list!"

[daf]

Daleks go upstairs (off screen) in The Chase.

doo-dah
doo-dah

Daleks go upstairs (off screen) in The Chase.

Oh, De doo-dah day

The big cliffhanger in Remembrance
was that they could now go upstairs

Even when somebody was looking at them

Exterminate's all they'd say

[olliebean]

I don't like Daleks and Cybermen flying around as a default ability now.  The Tenth Planet Cybermen developing the ability to fly was so annoying and pointless.  Their menace should come solely from creeping around silently.

Unlike the newer Cybermen who might as well be auditioning for Stomp.

[Replies From View]

Unlike the newer Cybermen who might as well be auditioning for Stomp.

Yes, exactly.  I thought bringing back the Tenth Planet versions would be an opportunity to revise how the new series approached Cybermen, but nope, they ended up using the Wrong Trousers sound effect on them.

[Deanjam]

Both the Daleks and Cybermen are best when they're being sneaky. Always loved the bit in The Moonbase where they can't figure out how the Cybermen are getting into sickbay and they suddenly realise that a Cyberman has been on one of the beds under a sheet the whole time.

[Cloud]

Or that one with Lynda (Bad Wolf / Parting) where she's reassured the Daleks will never cut through the door, only for them to float up outside the space station and silently flash an "ex ter min ate"

Daleks go upstairs (off screen) in The Chase.

Those are Daleks?  I always thought there was something a bit off about them, especially the Governess

[Norton Canes]

Daleks go upstairs (off screen) in The Chase. The big cliffhanger in Remembrance was that they could now go upstairs even when somebody was looking at them

The series' first flying Dalek is seen in Revelation Of The Daleks when it exterminates Natasha and Grigory. Unfortunately the camera angle doesn't make it immediately clear that the Dalek is in the air. Later in the same story we see Davros levitating using anti-gravity.

The plan was also to film a sequence on location where the Doctor and Peri are attacked by flying Daleks. The 'effect' would have been achieved by... wait for it... catapulting an empty Dalek shell through the air from a big slingshot. Unluckily, poor weather put paid to that scene.

[Replies From View]

The series' first flying Dalek is seen in Revelation Of The Daleks when it exterminates Natasha and Grigory. Unfortunately the camera angle doesn't make it immediately clear that the Dalek is in the air. Later in the same story we see Davros levitating using anti-gravity.

I'd say it hovers in Revelation, like they hadn't mastered full flying yet.

The effect is replaced for the alternate version you can access on the DVD.  It's refilmed sensitively using a physical Dalek model and you don't notice that it is a new addition.

[gatchamandave]

" Hello JNT"

" Oh, hello Jonathan Powell, newly appointed controller of BBC1. How's things ? "

" Good for me, JNT, not so good for you. "

" Oh, why so ? "

"Because we're cancelling your show ?"

" What ? The nation's favourite ? The children's show that adults adore ? Why ? "

" Because you built 63 Dalek casings then catapulted them into a tree. "

" It's all John's fault ! "

" Yes, thanks for that, Eric"

[Norton Canes]

I'd say it hovers in Revelation, like they hadn't mastered full flying yet.

The effect is replaced for the alternate version you can access on the DVD.  It's refilmed sensitively using a physical Dalek model and you don't notice that it is a new addition

Cool. I don't usually watch the CGI extras, must take a look at that.

To be honest they only really hover in a few of the new series stories, too. In fact they don't look too bad when they hover - it's only when they fly laterally that it looks a bit wrong.

Actually, what's really off about the way they stay airborne is that the force comes from underneath, from under their base, and their centre of gravity therefore looks wrong. When a Dalek flies, the motive units should be housed around its shoulder areas and fuck I'm over-thinking this aren't I


(for much the same reason, the Cybermen look equally silly when they fly with the propulsive power coming from the soles of their boots. Although to be fair Iron Man gets it wrong that way too)

[Mister Six]

I hope CaB's leftist Who fans who recoiled from the ending of Kerblam! also got a good chuckle out of The Doctor negotiating with a space Nazi. She truly is the Hillary Clinton of the Doctors Whom.

Anyway, yeah, 6/10 or so. If this had come in the middle of S1-10 you'd go, "Oh that's not bad for a Chibnall episode I suppose" so the fact that it's been hailed as genuinely good is an indictment - as if one were needed - of how grindingly, painfully shit much of S11 was.

Yes, the idea of a Dalek possession is a good one, and the Terminatoresque rampage was well done, but most of the middle of the episode was set in three rooms - the cafe, Graham's house, or the TARDIS (which they've finally figured out how to shoot, thankfully) - and The Doctor was basically useless throughout, failing to stop the Dalek from escaping at the start, being unable to properly track it, fucking up and letting it escape, and then nearly getting Ryan's dad killed.

He was also clearly struggling to fill out the middle, hence the Dalek killing a bunch of blokes in a field for absolutely no reason whatsoever - and doing so in a far less dramatic and interesting way than in Dalek, 13 years ago. Plus the bizarre decision not to make Yaz the possessed copper, and the late arrival of dad (and apparently him being written out of the show now) retroactively making last season's boring convos about him even worse. Chibnall is still at heart a crap writer.

Also despite Ballad's positive remarks about the direction, I thought it looked absurdly fucking shit. Despite having more actors than the rest of the previous season put together it still felt so sparsely populated and drab. The epic battle scene at the start was about nine people on a hill. The Dalek/soldier fight was likewise on some blasted heath in the middle of nowhere, with the expanse of nothingness really reducing, rather than adding to, the spectacle.

And that teal and orange shit! Yes, it looks good when the Americans do it, Chris, but they set their shows in deserts. When you're filming Sheffield, it just turns everything into a muddy, murky, hideous mess.

One final moan: that font for the location titles was fucking disgusting, and made worse with the little grey outline and squeezing to fit the screen. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Still - good performances from everyone, especially archaeologist woman and Ryan's dad (and even Tohsin!); the helpdesk scene was properly funny, as was the little bit of satire about Trump pulling funding for Unit; the SFX were superb; and I suppose the plot more or less made sense.

Best Dalek-based story since Dalek, but I didn't like that too much either.

[Phil_A]

I'm still mildly annoyed about the casual axing of UNIT, to be quite honest. The Brig would turn in his grave if he was actually still in it.

[Alberon]

I'm still mildly annoyed about the casual axing of UNIT, to be quite honest. The Brig would turn in his grave if he was actually still in it.

That's not a problem. It'll be back next time someone wants to write it. Maybe it's funding gets hastily restored when they try to explain how an alien cyborg fucked over GCHQ.

[Replies From View]

To be honest they only really hover in a few of the new series stories, too. In fact they don't look too bad when they hover - it's only when they fly laterally that it looks a bit wrong.

Actually, what's really off about the way they stay airborne is that the force comes from underneath, from under their base, and their centre of gravity therefore looks wrong. When a Dalek flies, the motive units should be housed around its shoulder areas and fuck I'm over-thinking this aren't I


(for much the same reason, the Cybermen look equally silly when they fly with the propulsive power coming from the soles of their boots. Although to be fair Iron Man gets it wrong that way too)

It's also the fact that whenever the the Daleks are flying they always use deeply shit CGI for it.  I've no idea how the New Year's Day 2019 CGI Dalek can look as bad as the CGI Daleks in the 2005 finale, but it does.

[Replies From View]

Best Dalek-based story since Dalek

Hmm, not sure about that.  I agree with the rest of your post though.

[Mister Six]

I'm still mildly annoyed about the casual axing of UNIT, to be quite honest. The Brig would turn in his grave if he was actually still in it.

It's not been axed, it's just suspended while they work out funding. Basically just a little joke to explain why UNIT isn't available. It'll come back, of course it will.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Also despite Ballad's positive remarks about the direction, I thought it looked absurdly fucking shit. Despite having more actors than the rest of the previous season put together it still felt so sparsely populated and drab. The epic battle scene at the start was about nine people on a hill. The Dalek/soldier fight was likewise on some blasted heath in the middle of nowhere, with the expanse of nothingness really reducing, rather than adding to, the spectacle.

Well that's all true, but the episode as a whole certainly had a greater sense of pace and peril than any episode since The Woman Who Fell to Earth. Ryan and microwave dad emoting (albeit convincingly) in a cafe slowed things down considerably, but it powered along with a fair bit of momentum otherwise.

[kidsick5000]

Anyone find the open ended 'The Doctor will return'  line slightly ominous?

When they skipped off, I thought "Hmm, you could end the series there really."
Then that message comes at the end of the credits.
"Hmm, that gives someone an out"

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Anyone find the open ended 'The Doctor will return'  line slightly ominous?

When they skipped off, I thought "Hmm, you could end the series there really."
Then that message comes at the end of the credits.
"Hmm, that gives someone an out"

No? Unless Brexit or vegan sausages somehow get in the way, Doctor Who will return in early 2020.

[Thomas]

'The Doctor will return in the Blu-ray release.'

[Replies From View]

'The Doctor will return in the Blu-ray release.'

It's called "Home Video", granddad.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Chris Chibnall will return.

[kidsick5000]

No? Unless Brexit or vegan sausages somehow get in the way, Doctor Who will return in early 2020.

I know that's the plan, but it felt... loaded.
Depending when they're looking at in 2020, there's a lot of time before filming for some spanners to be thrown

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Well, yes, but another way of looking at it is that no spanners will be thrown.

Chibnall and the current cast will return for at least one more season.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Anyone find the open ended 'The Doctor will return'  line slightly ominous?

When they skipped off, I thought "Hmm, you could end the series there really."
Then that message comes at the end of the credits.
"Hmm, that gives someone an out"

Wasn't it a homage to the message that appears at the end of every James Bond film?

[Mango Chimes]

I found it an appropriately / depressingly dull way to finish it off. Because last time we saw that it was in Moffat's split season and it said this:

The Doctor will be back
in LET'S KILL HITLER

Which was funny and exciting. At the end of this one, of course it didn't have a fun tease of an episode title. Of course it didn't.

[Mister Six]

I missed the first couple of minutes due to a cock up on the DVD watching front, but catching up with it now on iplayer, the obvious place to drop in the titles seems to be 2 minutes in - on the fossilised bloke when the narrator says :

". . . for eternity"
(music swells dramatically)
". . . almost"
(beat of silence)

- >BANG< -
straight into the titles

. . . and then fade out into the present day Time Team scene.

I think the problem they have is that the credits aren't designed to accommodate cold opens any more, since they start with that heartbeat orb thing building up rather than the old digital scream. Probably thought it was more effort than it was worth to re-render and re-score it.

[A Hat Like That]

The series' first flying Dalek is seen in Revelation Of The Daleks when it exterminates Natasha and Grigory. Unfortunately the camera angle doesn't make it immediately clear that the Dalek is in the air. Later in the same story we see Davros levitating using anti-gravity.

The plan was also to film a sequence on location where the Doctor and Peri are attacked by flying Daleks. The 'effect' would have been achieved by... wait for it... catapulting an empty Dalek shell through the air from a big slingshot. Unluckily, poor weather put paid to that scene.

I'd have paid to watch that.

The camera angles on both the Revelation ones are desperate. As is the digitised explosion when Stengos gets wasted.

[JesusAndYourBush]

At the end of this one, of course it didn't have a fun tease of an episode title. Of course it didn't.

Just as James Bond films used to end with something like "James Bond Will Be Back in Octopussy" but now only end with "James Bond Will Be Back" because the current scriptwriters are more disorganised than they used to be...

[Replies From View]

I'd have paid to watch that.

The camera angles on both the Revelation ones are desperate. As is the digitised explosion when Stengos gets wasted.

Yes; both of these were replaced in the special edition option or whatever they called it.

I normally don't go for the updated versions as usually the cheap CGI creates its own problems and you end up taken out of the story even more, but the Revelation one doesn't fall into these traps.  It uses a physical Dalek rather than CGI (it's a scale model but you wouldn't think it wasn't a standard prop from the time) and just carefully refilms a few seconds so you're not wondering what the hell was meant to have happened.  It's been a while since I saw it, so I suspect the Dalek blaster effects were replaced with CGI and there were a few other tweakings, but for my money it's one of the very few updated versions that are worth checking out.