Doctor Who v. Patrick Troughton

[BlobVanDam]

Decent episode, although it's about the millionth space station horror space suits killing people episode they've done. Not particularly original, and the science was hinky, but still one of the better episodes of that kind.
This season really feels like Capaldi is taking it easy though. I'm hoping he goes out with a bang, because the end of this season is shaping up to be huge.

[BlackInk]

I liked the episode. It was a perfectly fine DW episode, which I suppose has been a bit of the "problem" with this season. There haven't been any real highs yet, it's all just kinda been there. Not bad but sort of fine. I'm hoping there's some great stuff to come.

I liked the Doctor still being blind though. I always like it when damage to character is either lasting or permanent, so that it feels like there are some consequences to all the crazy things they go through.

[BlobVanDam]

I hope he's not blind for too long, because as it is he's felt under-utilized this season, but that may play into part of his regeneration plot, which could actually be very interesting, since we know that occurs before the Christmas episode.
I agree there haven't been any major highs, or lows. These are all decent episodes, but that's all we've had this season so far.

I believe/hope that the tail end of this season is going to be epic as fuck though.

[soupytwist]

I actually really liked this recent episode.  It was well thought out - the capitalism theme was a solid idea and utilised well with an actual clever conclusion, where the Doctor had to think.

[abydos]

Capitalism as the root of all evil is trendy these days.

[masterthes]

Interesting story arc for the rest (?) of the season, but yes, the Doctor being blind is kind of dumb

[BlobVanDam]

That episode was not what I expected, and I'm glad they didn't give away too much. Best episode of the season easily, and a cool matrix-y concept to set up the next one. And what's in the vault is the least surprising option, but I liked the flashbacks to set that up.

[BlobVanDam]

I didn't realize this would carry over into a 3rd episode, but I like that. From the preview for next week, it looks like this is the location we saw The Doctor start his regeneration from, which would fit with seeing him being shot in the preview. But he still has the rest of the season, so I wonder if we'll see something like the 10th Doctor, but shown over multiple episodes. That could be cool.
And something interesting I just noticed. In the preview where he gets shot, he's wearing the same tattered outfit he was wearing in the flashbacks last week to when he made his oath to watch over Missy. Maybe something timey wimey going on as well?

I'm so excited for the rest of this season.

[masterthes]

Very similar to the third season finale when the Master took over. I'm thinking this arc could extend to the rest of the season

[abydos]

This is a really weak arc to have a 3 parter on and if that extends to the end it would be really disappointing. This whole season lacks the feel of an actor's last doctor season, it's not epic or foreboding and it just looks like this whole buildup will be for nothing - a quick and rushed resolution as most episodes so far.

[BlobVanDam]

I think this next episode will be the end of the monks arc, but possibly the start of a regeneration arc. I believe the episode after this one is featuring the ice warriors, and the final two parter will likely be set in the time war with John Simm's master, and the classic Cyberman are also in there somewhere. It's definitely building to a big end of season send-off for Capaldi.

[abydos]

Did they explain why his eyesight isn't returning? This should have been taken care of by the regeneration or did I miss something in that episode? The monks just being able to return his vision like that felt cheap.

[BlobVanDam]

There's not really anything to explain. Whatever that healing device was that he thought would fix his eyesight didn't work. I thought having the monks do it was very cheap too, and I think they could have found a better option there. I didn't want them to milk it all the way to his regeneration, but they could have made an episode out of it with him getting new eyes or whatever. I still don't get why his sonic glasses couldn't manage to fully replace his sight. Even current Earth technology could probably do better, so surely a time lord with access to all of space and time could have easily found a solution before the next episode. Go to the back alleys of the planet Mexicon 12 and buy some space hobo's eyeballs or something.

[soupytwist]

The first two episodes of the Monk trilogy have been fine, but a little disjointed so far.  I'm not really seeing the need for the Monks 'simulation' earth, hopefully we will get a good payoff next week.

[BlobVanDam]

The first two episodes of the Monk trilogy have been fine, but a little disjointed so far.  I'm not really seeing the need for the Monks 'simulation' earth, hopefully we will get a good payoff next week.

The simulation was so that they knew the best time and location on Earth to conquer it by consent (which for a yet unknown reason is apparently something they needed), and presumably also so they know the best strategy to rule the planet. I'm sure we'll find out more about all of that in the next episode now that they're ruling Earth.
It was a little coincidental that the simulation date that The Doctor discovered the Monks and their plan happened to align with the real world time of the end of the world though, and I'm sure it wasn't necessary for them to do it that way, but nonetheless I thought it made for really good standalone plots for the individual episodes.

I also liked that the factor that they didn't account for that allowed The Doctor to save the planet (ignoring Bill's fuckup to save The Doctor) was their own presence. Their simulations accounted for The Doctor and they still calculated they'd conquer the planet, but The Doctor was only able to track down the source of the plague because the Monks were there on Earth monitoring it in reality. Or maybe their simulation did factor in all of that, since their plan did succeed.

[ariich]

The first two episodes of the Monk trilogy have been fine, but a little disjointed so far.  I'm not really seeing the need for the Monks 'simulation' earth, hopefully we will get a good payoff next week.

The simulation was so that they knew the best time and location on Earth to conquer it by consent (which for a yet unknown reason is apparently something they needed), and presumably also so they know the best strategy to rule the planet. I'm sure we'll find out more about all of that in the next episode now that they're ruling Earth.
It was a little coincidental that the simulation date that The Doctor discovered the Monks and their plan happened to align with the real world time of the end of the world though, and I'm sure it wasn't necessary for them to do it that way, but nonetheless I thought it made for really good standalone plots for the individual episodes.

I also liked that the factor that they didn't account for that allowed The Doctor to save the planet (ignoring Bill's fuckup to save The Doctor) was their own presence. Their simulations accounted for The Doctor and they still calculated they'd conquer the planet, but The Doctor was only able to track down the source of the plague because the Monks were there on Earth monitoring it in reality. Or maybe their simulation did factor in all of that, since their plan did succeed.

Agree with all of this, I loved the whole simulation episode, and it set up the second one perfectly. These slightly longer story arcs (2-3 episodes, or longer) are where I think DW is normally at its best, barring the occasional standout standalone episode (like Blink or Listen).

[soupytwist]

The first two episodes of the Monk trilogy have been fine, but a little disjointed so far.  I'm not really seeing the need for the Monks 'simulation' earth, hopefully we will get a good payoff next week.

The simulation was so that they knew the best time and location on Earth to conquer it by consent (which for a yet unknown reason is apparently something they needed), and presumably also so they know the best strategy to rule the planet. I'm sure we'll find out more about all of that in the next episode now that they're ruling Earth.
It was a little coincidental that the simulation date that The Doctor discovered the Monks and their plan happened to align with the real world time of the end of the world though, and I'm sure it wasn't necessary for them to do it that way, but nonetheless I thought it made for really good standalone plots for the individual episodes.

I also liked that the factor that they didn't account for that allowed The Doctor to save the planet (ignoring Bill's fuckup to save The Doctor) was their own presence. Their simulations accounted for The Doctor and they still calculated they'd conquer the planet, but The Doctor was only able to track down the source of the plague because the Monks were there on Earth monitoring it in reality. Or maybe their simulation did factor in all of that, since their plan did succeed.

I presume Missy will be the key factor to victory in the third episode as the Monks wouldn't have been able to factor her in to the simulation as they wouldn't have known she was in the vault.

[BlobVanDam]

The first two episodes of the Monk trilogy have been fine, but a little disjointed so far.  I'm not really seeing the need for the Monks 'simulation' earth, hopefully we will get a good payoff next week.

The simulation was so that they knew the best time and location on Earth to conquer it by consent (which for a yet unknown reason is apparently something they needed), and presumably also so they know the best strategy to rule the planet. I'm sure we'll find out more about all of that in the next episode now that they're ruling Earth.
It was a little coincidental that the simulation date that The Doctor discovered the Monks and their plan happened to align with the real world time of the end of the world though, and I'm sure it wasn't necessary for them to do it that way, but nonetheless I thought it made for really good standalone plots for the individual episodes.

I also liked that the factor that they didn't account for that allowed The Doctor to save the planet (ignoring Bill's fuckup to save The Doctor) was their own presence. Their simulations accounted for The Doctor and they still calculated they'd conquer the planet, but The Doctor was only able to track down the source of the plague because the Monks were there on Earth monitoring it in reality. Or maybe their simulation did factor in all of that, since their plan did succeed.

Agree with all of this, I loved the whole simulation episode, and it set up the second one perfectly. These slightly longer story arcs (2-3 episodes, or longer) are where I think DW is normally at its best, barring the occasional standout standalone episode (like Blink or Listen).

I think S9 in particular did a great job with the double episodes, and is a very strong season because of it. There are just as many equally amazing standalone episodes too though imo, especially the Moffat stuff like the ones you've mentioned.

Also, I'm only just realizing that the combination of the original Mondasian Cyberman, John Simm's Master, finishing 12's arc from TDOTD, and the rumoured character who might appear, all add up to one potentially incredibly epic finale. It could all fit together so well.

[soupytwist]

Sadly the early review for the Monk 3rd part all say it's a bit of a letdown - oddly it's not written by Moffat either.

[BlobVanDam]

That would be a shame if true, but we'll see. Toby Whithouse has written mostly decent episodes in the past, although the only one I'd call great was Under the Lake/Before the Flood last series. And after that is a Mark Gatiss episode, so we need something good before his stinker.

I'm hoping Moffat saved up and blew his wad in the two part finale.

[BlobVanDam]

I thought that was a pretty good episode. I'm a little disappointed in the fake-out regneration, and the ending was a little rushed, and I really dislike the current trend of "humans forget everything" they've been doing in the Capaldi era, but overall I enjoyed it, and I liked the commentary of the episode. It felt very relevant. Given their fake news remark, that's probably no accident.

edit: Actually, you know what really bothered me about the fakeout regeneration? It was completely pointless. Bill has no fucking clue what regeneration is yet, other than hearing one brief passing mention of its name. That was not necessary to convince her of anything, all it should have done was confuse her. That was pure trailer-bait for the audience. The best thing he could have done for her sake is pretend to bleed out in a clump on the ground. How much regeneration energy did he just waste? Between this, and The Witch's Familiar when he had some siphoned off on new Skaro, he must be down a regeneration now.

[BlackInk]

I also enjoyed the episode overall, but I too noticed the issues Blob mentioned. I also thought how Bill fixed it all in the machine thing was a bit cheesy, but I could still appreciate the point.

[BlobVanDam]

Yeah, that kind of corny sentimentality is a common theme for many endings. You have to just accept it with Doctor Who.

This is what happens when you don't just shoot shit.

[BlobVanDam]

Whoa, was that a callback to The Curse of Peladon at the end there? The voice sounded instantly familiar, but I was almost thinking Zarbi at first. Although, that particular story was actually set in Earth's future, not the past, but I guess it could be a different character of the same race.

Decent episode, despite the silliness of the premise. I've never been much of a fan of the ice warriors, but this was ok.

[masterthes]

No, I think it was supposed to be who you thought it was

[BlobVanDam]

I guess that species live a long time. Every alien species lives a long time.

And I just saw a video that confirmed they got the original actress to do the voice, which I guess is confirmation enough it's the same character. It sounded dead on, but I assumed the original voice actor would be dead after all this time. That's a nice little nod! It's one of those references that isn't essential to know, but makes it more rewarding to be catching up on the original series.

[masterthes]

So, from what I have heard, Russell Davies reported they picked the next Doctor. I wonder if they're going to go for an unknown this time around?

[BlobVanDam]

The current rumour is Kris Marshall, but I don't know how reliable that is.

I'm sure whoever they go with will be unknown to me, since I don't watch many British shows outside of Doctor Who.

[soupytwist]

Kris would be a safe choice.  He's been on TV in the UK for well over a decade and had a couple of big roles in popular shows (albeit slightly bland shows).  I think he'd be best suited to a more earnest Doctor, like Peter Davidson.  If they tried to make him another wacky, over confident Doctor i'm not sure that'd work for him.

[ariich]

Kris Marshall was the main rumour last time, and possibly the time before as well. I remain sceptical.

And yeah that was a good episode, especially for an Ice Warriors one. I really liked the main story and thought it played out very nicely. I wasn't so keen on Nardole getting all panicky and accidentally sending the Tardis back home, as that seemed a bit out of character and really just as an excuse to get him to ask Missy for help. But otherwise, strong episode.

[BlobVanDam]

Kris Marshall was the main rumour last time, and possibly the time before as well.

I did not know that! (Capaldi had already been announced by the time I became a fan) I have no opinion one way or another on him, I just hope I end up liking their choice, whoever it is.

I didn't get why the TARDIS randomly decided to dematerialize the second Nardole got in anyway, it seemed like a pretty weak contrivance for the story to both get Nardole out of the way and also get Missy out of the vault. But whatever. If that's my biggest gripe with a Gatiss episode, I'll take it as a win.

[abydos]

God damn, this was an awful episode. They should get Dylan Moran to play hims..I mean the Doctor next.

[BlobVanDam]

Well, that's a whole season of solidly good but not great episodes so far. This two part finale better be absolutely amazing to do justice to Capaldi's final season, because S8 and S9 were both stronger seasons overall.

[BlackInk]

I still think this season is slightly above 8, but it ain't got shit on 9.

Latest episode started off pretty shaky, but got a bit better towards the end.

[BlobVanDam]

I still think this season is slightly above 8, but it ain't got shit on 9.

8 had some major stinkers, but it also had some of my favourite regular episodes, like Listen, Flatline and Time Heist, and imo got off to a stronger start.
This season is more consistent, and it does beat S8 in ways, but S8's high points make up for that for me. I agree there's not a huge margin between them, but it feels like a bit of a letdown for the sendoff of both Capaldi and Moffat.
And I agree S9 slays them. Possibly the best season of the modern series.