Doctor Who 2007: Utopia (Major Spoilers)

[sniffles]

Oh dear god... Don't give RTD any ideas!

But then... wouldn't that be just the most evil thing? Think of it, at Season 3's end the Master is defeated but transfers his essence to Jack's immortal body. He then returns to Torchwood and proceeds to f**k around with the team to further his own ends, which in turn leads to the next confrontation with the Doctor in Season 4.

Yep. Definitely too sick, even for RTD.

I should certainly hope so!!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

it was Ok, a big drop off from Blink but that is to be expected. I do hope the Master isn't all "Tennenty" as he appeared to be after turning young. Seemed like the actor was doing a DT impression there.

Martha needs to learn to keep her trap shut. The Doc really should tell her not to go around telling everyone they have a time machine, that can only lead to trouble.

I have high hopes for the last two but RTD's writing is the weakest part of the new show so we will see how it plays out. Moffat should write the whole damn thing, he's fantastic!

 

[delericho]

I have high hopes for the last two but RTD's writing is the weakest part of the new show

Yeah, I found that very noticable back in the 'first' season, where every episode he didn't write was excellent, while the ones he did write were okay.

Watching "Doctor Who Confidential", it's obvious that he has a real passion for the material, and I do mostly like the direction he's taken the show. But perhaps his strength is as showrunner, and he should delegate the writing to others?

 

[delericho]

My Doctor Who fan-geekishness forces me to respond to this one:

Spoiler

The Master didn't get another regeneration...So the question isn't "How did he get another regeneration?" but "How did he get out of the Eye of Harmony?" I think the Eye of Harmony would explain how he's still alive.

I actually asked that latter question (in a slightly different form) in my first post. But, the first question was referring to

Spoiler

his regeneration from Derek Jacobi to John Simm

, so I think it is appropriate.

Actually, I think perhaps it would be no bad thing if they quietly dropped that bit of lore from the canon, as it does rather limit the duration of the show somewhat, especially if actors are going to come and go. Although if they played it right, they could get a really awesome story-arc out of it, so I guess they could go either way...

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Yeah, I found that very noticable back in the 'first' season, where every episode he didn't write was excellent, while the ones he did write were okay.

Watching "Doctor Who Confidential", it's obvious that he has a real passion for the material, and I do mostly like the direction he's taken the show. But perhaps his strength is as showrunner, and he should delegate the writing to others?

I don't like all of his ideas on the new show, though this series is a step up from the Rose seasons since we don't have constant interaction with Martha's family as we had with Rose's family. Some people liked that, I hated it. I like more adventures in space as well as just going through time on Earth. Overall the show is fun but the less he writes the better, I find his ideas like Gridlock to be pretty weak.

Moffat on the other hand has hit a grand slam with every episode he has written, Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Girl in the Fireplace, & Blink all stand with the best Who ever. More Moffat next year!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

it was Ok, a big drop off from Blink but that is to be expected. I do hope the Master isn't all "Tennenty" as he appeared to be after turning young. Seemed like the actor was doing a DT impression there.

Well, maybe using the doctors hand somehow for regeneration made him also pick up some of his personality traits.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Some ideas:

(1) Regarding the Chameleon Arch, this is likely something that every TARDIS has, allowing the Time Lord(s) operating it to conduct field observations without interfering in the local populace. And, I bet, the Chameleon Arch can do a lot more than "human" (in Human Nature the Doctor says he set it to Human).

(2) Regarding the Master surviving entering the Eye of Harmony, I theorize that it wasn't the Master at all but a Dalek construct that they wanted on Gallifrey. The idea that the Daleks were trying to make a Time Lord duplicate to send to Gallifrey (to assassinate the High Council) goes back to the 5th Doctor. That seems far more plausible to me than the Daleks actually putting the Master on trial, honoring his last request, and not trying to exterminate the Doctor when he came to pick up the remains. Also, Dalek duplicates have had the original personality exert control over the Dalek conditioning before, so that would make sense with the Master duplicate as well.

(3) Ever since The Deadly Assassin, the Master has been trying to steal the Doctor's body to claim his remaining regenerations. It is quite possible that, with the Doctor's escape, he stole the body of another Time Lord.

(4) It is also possible that, since the Time Lords claimed to be able to give the Master another regeneration cycle in The Five Doctors that they gave every Time Lord another 12 regenerations to aid in the Time War (much easier if your dead get up and keep fighting) and that the Master (and the Doctor) benefited from that.

(5) The Valeyard was said to be the sum of all the Doctor's evil between his 12th and final incarnation. That doesn't make him necessarily an incarnation of the Doctor. In Trial of a Time Lord we see that beings can enter and exit the Matrix. I posit that the Valeyard was a Matrix construct of the Doctor's potential evil.

(6) I also posit that the Melanie Bush that left with the 6th Doctor was a Matrix construct of possible future events.

(7) Was Trantis (from The Daleks' Masterplan a Futurekind?

I think about this stuff way too much!

 

[horacethegrey]

On the subject of Russel T. Davies: I don't think he's all that bad. I certainly don't think that all the episodes he's written were all crap. Rose was a great reintroduction to Doctor Who, and End of the World was a decent follow up. It's when he starts conceptualising is when his writing starts to falter. The Long Game and New Earth are examples of this, and especially Utopia (end of the Universe and they still use trucks and machine guns? Yeah right ). Still the season enders he's writen haven't been bad (admit it, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday were awesome), so maybe he'll wow us yet again.

 

[delericho]

Still the season enders he's writen haven't been bad (admit it, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday were awesome), so maybe he'll wow us yet again.

Actually, I haven't been particularly impressed with anything featuring the new Cybermen (except that one Torchwood episode, which had some dumb costuming choices, but was otherwise pretty solid). Watching the Daleks wipe them out was fun for a while, but didn't leave me thinking of them as much of a threat.

However, I did feel that "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways" were awesome from start to finish.

All that said, the only episode of the new series I would actually label 'bad' is "Fear Her". At worst, they've been 'okay'.

(Speaking of being unimpressed with the new Cybermen: I've started to worry that the Daleks and Cybermen, and other recurring villains, are losing their menace. Looked at objectively, we know they're going to be beaten back every time they appear, we know they're not going to kill the Doctor or companion, and so they start to look rather toothless. I'm starting to think the next time we see Dalek Kaan he needs to score an emphatic victory, probably re-establishing the Dalek species and leaving as a massive and credible threat. At least, that's what I'd do at this point.)

 

[horacethegrey]

Actually, I haven't been particularly impressed with anything featuring the new Cybermen (except that one Torchwood episode, which had some dumb costuming choices, but was otherwise pretty solid). Watching the Daleks wipe them out was fun for a while, but didn't leave me thinking of them as much of a threat.

I thought the new Cybermen were quite all right, and hope to see them again soon. That said, I wouldn't mind a return of the original Mondas Cybermen, if only to show how much more vicious and dangerous they've become since their absence.

However, I did feel that "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways" were awesome from start to finish.

Okay, I'll admit that those two episodes were much better, in that clearly showed how frightening the Daleks can be.

(Speaking of being unimpressed with the new Cybermen: I've started to worry that the Daleks and Cybermen, and other recurring villains, are losing their menace. Looked at objectively, we know they're going to be beaten back every time they appear, we know they're not going to kill the Doctor or companion, and so they start to look rather toothless. I'm starting to think the next time we see Dalek Kaan he needs to score an emphatic victory, probably re-establishing the Dalek species and leaving as a massive and credible threat. At least, that's what I'd do at this point.)

I certainly didn't think the Daleks were in any way toothless at the end of Season 1. They practically killed everyone on Satellite 9 just before they were about to exterminate the Doctor. He only got off because Rose reappeared in God Mode and wiped them out (something that turned me off at first, but gradually learned to accept and appreciate). Still, I do agree that Dalek Caan needs to do something quite dastardly in order to reestablish the Daleks as a credible threat.