[tv show] Doctor Who

[Arthur]

[Garacesh]

Well I feel that The Witchfinders was quite enjoyable. Yeah, the dialogue was a little bit clunky in some places and there was quite an obvious 'being patronising to women is old fashioned and backwards' which did feel a little bit forced, but overall the episode was a nice mix of reflecting on history and its atrocities, a healthy dose of 'just because you don't understand it, doesn't make it evil' (which is the much more needed societal lesson IMHO, since most of us tend to have the 'don't be an ass to women' thing nailed down) and good old fashioned Doctor Who alien hijinks... But then the last 10 minutes happened.. And the episode was left feeling hollow, rushed and anticlimactic. That ending was a huge let-down to an otherwise good episode, and I'm not sure the season can survive any more of it. It's a shame, because I genuinely do like Jodie and I feel she's fitting the role well, but I feel we're going to need another Blink or A Good Man Goes to War, else the season's going to have too big of a slump in ratings and they're going to shake up everything - cast, writers, the lot. The writing is the issue, I feel. It's all down to dialogue and pacing, and this season they're just commonly just a bit shy of the mark.

[E_G_R2]

OK had to sleep on this one.

 

Overall OK to average but nothing spectacular or wow. Victor Meldrew as James 1st LOL. The support actors were brilliant, high calibre and must have thought 'what am I doing in this?' As Garacesh say above and many other have pointed out the pace changes at the end and it just becomes rushed and over in a flash.

 

Companions beginning to grate on me now. So stereotypical (IMO).Time for one or more to go.

 

To much use of the Sonic, especially in situations where it is anachronistic.

 

Time for the show runners to be good old fashioned producers and get in a team of writers to work on scripts based on the show runners vision (if there is one)

 

Lets get over the Doctor being who they are and just be the Doctor.

[6Foot2]

...To much use of the Sonic...

This bother me, and it has since the trend started. It's a SONIC SCREWDRIVER!

 

/Mini Rant

 

Long exhale.

 

[E_G_R2]

This bother me, and it has since the trend started. It's a SONIC SCREWDRIVER!

 

/Mini Rant

 

Long exhale.

 

 

Me to but is it a 'screw driver' anymore as its now used for much more than opening things?

 

Needs to be ditched as its to much a convenient plot device as is the psychic paper. Once in a blue moon is OK but not every bloody chance you get. The Doctor always used to rely on their brains.

[6Foot2]

Me to but is it a 'screw driver' anymore as its now used for much more than opening things?

 

Needs to be ditched as its to much a convenient plot device as is the psychic paper. Once in a blue moon is OK but not every bloody chance you get. The Doctor always used to rely on their brains.

 

 

[LeMarchand]

Have to confess that I wasn't able to give this one my full attention for the start, so didn't really get into it. Didn't think it was that bad, though. Was quite pleased that they didn't have a suspiciously multi-ethnic 17th Century village population, but was surprised that Ryan wasn't assumed to be a slave and no-one commented on Yaz.

[Rochdale_Cowboy]

As I actually live with a beautiful view of Pendle Hill from the front of my property it was a great shame to see that it was not Pendle Hill that was shown. I believe it was actually filmed somewhere down south. What a shame as Pendle Hill is majestic, mysterious and beautiful in all seasons.

[Garacesh]

This bother me, and it has since the trend started. It's a SONIC SCREWDRIVER!

I personally don't mind the Screwdriver as being a multi-tool/tricorder combo. We've had that since day 1* (let's not forget Setting 2428D to reattach barbed wire!). I don't think that's intrinsically the problem. It's just how the plot is based around it and the ratio of screwdriver-works to screwdriver-doesn't-work is too heavily skewed at the moment. In a 45-minute timeslot each scene has to serve a purpose, and what purpose does a door that's locked serve if our heroes can just 'now it isn't!' through it? The idea is fine, it's the execution that's lacking, which again just comes back to the writing.

 

* Well, of the reboot.

[mavhc]

I like her as a doctor, its still a bit too SJW for me with weak writing though, its notably dropped off the last couple of years in quality I think

 

You make it sound like you don't agree with people being a warrior for social justice, which seems odd, sounds like an awesome thing to be

[Rob_D]

For me, this week's episode really highlighted the complaints I keep hearing about the show. The dr talks way too much and too fast, she just seems to spend the whole time wittering on and waving her "sonic" around, which is really starting to irritate me (almost Mat Smith levels of irritating).

She doesn't seem to work things out (or we don't see her working things out). She just ends up being told them because the villain is feeling expositional. And then in the next scene, she's all "I think I know what's going on..." You only think? Were you not listening when the mud people told you this information? (sorry that bit really annoyed me.)

There really are too many companions. This week I really couldn't tell you what any of them brought to the table. There's just not enough time in a 45 minute episode to give all 3 of them enough story to engage with. I'm not against having 3 companions, but maybe they could have a rota or something.

 

To be honest, I was surprised it took them as long as they did to think the dr was a witch. I mean, she says odd things, knows things she can't possibly know, and does the impossible by waving a glowy stick.

[mikeprice]

Yup - really thought this episode was badly written - especially the last 10 mins.. No real depth to the thing - and then suddenly she solves everything.

 

Basically a good idea - weak writing. I am hoping that things will improve and we end up seeing what the new Doc can do with better writers and direction.

 

It is also a shame that the weakness has come along with the first female Doctor - I am waiting to find something on the WWW about falling viewing figures 'proving' the Doctor should be a man.

 

*EDIT*

just seen an article in the Independant saying how scary it was

errr - did I miss something??

Edited November 26, 2018 by mikeprice

[6Foot2]

...I am waiting to find something on the WWW about falling viewing figures 'proving' the Doctor should be a man.

Sadly I have seen a lot of that already (appropriatley consigned to the small round filing cabinet in the corner of the room)

[Garacesh]

It is also a shame that the weakness has come along with the first female Doctor - I am waiting to find something on the WWW about falling viewing figures 'proving' the Doctor should be a man.

 

I'm with you on that one. I think Jodie is doing a great job, but she (nor the companions) are being allowed to shine as well as they could. We see brief glimpses of what they're capable of and they've all proven they can nail it, but it all falls flat in the wake of bad writing and bad pacing. Basically, it's the Star Wars Prequels all over again. And I'm concerned that most people are just seeing "This new doctor's a bit rubbish, huh?" and we're going to end up in a 'treat the symptom rather than the cause' scenario.

 

*EDIT*

just seen an article in the Independant saying how scary it was

errr - did I miss something??

Eh, when compared to all the other episodes this season, and from a child's perspective, I can see it being scarier than the rest.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Garacesh

[FishCustard]

Agreed - I think the only problem with this series is just bad writing. Plots that have little depth compared to the Moffat-era stories (and while I think the complexity of those was often too high, there is a middle ground), and 13 has yet to have a defining character moment (e.g. Capaldi's "Listen", Smith's "The Beast Below"). I fear that Chibnall doesn't have the sci-fi writing ability to carry the show. I'm sure he's a great writer for shows like Broadchurch, but something is lacking here.

 

I like some of the creative decisions he's taken though, and think that Jodie is amazing.

 

Now, where can I submit script ideas...?

[LeMarchand]

I feel that the disparity between the actor's potential as The Doctor and the writer's ability to service it was worse with Capaldi.

[6Foot2]

First image from the New Year's Day special:

 

 

So the scarf is new. Which is nice...

 

[Rob_D]

First image from the New Year's Day special:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51185[/ATTACH]

So the scarf is new. Which is nice...

 

I like the scarf (I mean it's no Tom Baker, but it's cool). Now, if we can just get her into proper length trousers.

[mikeprice]

Now, if we can just get her into proper length trousers.

 

I'd rather get her into a better script!

[6Foot2]

I like the scarf (I mean it's no Tom Baker, but it's cool). Now, if we can just get her into proper length trousers.

 

And a nice floppy fedora and a big mop of curly hair, a broad toothy grin, an extra nine inches, or so on the height,...

 

[Garacesh]

 

Quite an interesting discussion surrounding Chibnall's previous episodes vs the current season and its lack of meaningful character development or character defining Doctor moments.

[pooley]

Caught up with last week's episode.

 

I really didn't care if she survived the dunking or not. I'm not sure we needed the "if I was a man it would be different" dialogue, femanist agenda creeping in or just lazy writing. And as for the queen tree who looked half teddy bear.

 

Rubbish all around

[mavhc]

Yeah, why would a show mention feminism in an episode about the history of killing women, weird

[Ephelyon]

Actually, they didn't bother discriminating on gender when it came to witchcraft. The victims were predominantly female, but there were also plenty of males.

[psydii]

Actually, they didn't bother discriminating on gender when it came to witchcraft. The victims were predominantly female, but there were also plenty of males.

 

Citation needed.

 

While not my specialist topic, it is that of a friend of mine and as far as I am aware there were not ‘plenty of male’ victims.