At least the Drama channel is showing complete 4 parters of Hartnell and Troughton series on a Sunday afternoon

Retro TV is showing the classic series weeknights here in the US. We're up to Pertwee at the moment.

As for this latest episode, my wife and I are both wondering if Moffatt was frightened by Mary Poppins as a lad. 

The final episode of this series ?
'Fraid I didn't enjoy that at all.
Hope we go back to the 'old format', as was mentioned earlier.
Cheers - Phil

But at least Pink is dead!

Huzzah!


What irrational dislikes? - FSN

Least convincing Zombie Apocalypse ever

So much wasted talent in this series, so many wasted opportunities.

Also, who the hell trains UNIT's troops? Madame Tussauds?

Ross Kemp's "Henno" Garvie would have wasted Missy before she'd got those cuffs half undone :-)

Ooh is Pink dead? Thank god for small mercies.

Quote from: Ithoriel on 08 November 2014, 09:44:19 PM
Least convincing Zombie Apocalypse ever
So much wasted talent in this series, so many wasted opportunities.

Have to go along with that, totally !
I think they all played their parts very well...(Mostly !  )...But many of the roles themselves, left an awful lot to be desired.
I felt quite sorry for the chap that played Mr Pink.
Cheers - Phil

Well I like the current series  

Oddly enough the Fandom seem to rave about the Moon one, which I think was the weakest.  Though I did wonder about those two guards for Missy.  I think she was using the teleporter thingie (she beamed out at the end - the FX was blue, not red for the kill shot).  Course the SAS would have had her in plasticuffs (well, cable ties).  I assume UNIT is international - those 2 in the hold were obviously Yanks.  (Loved the commend - "Not the Americans, they bomb every thing then try to pray it away)

I think there is far too much rose tinting regarding original series - they could be pretty ropey.  Even the classic 'City of Death' (Leonardo is a swamp thingie one) is very slow, and could easily be done as 2 x 45m with no loss (and still some slack)

Tomb of the Cybermen, Drama Channel 4pm today

Not that great to be honest. You knew that the 'good guys' would control the cybermen (again) to sort things out. My son is a fan of the Dalek episodes and looking back they are very iffy in places; with weak scripts and stilted acting. Rose tinted spectacles and all that can make previous episodes and series seem great.

I have very rose tinted glasses and plenty of nostalgia to munch on while I watch 

So true that many of the original Dr Who episodes were nothing to write home about but they had at least a semblance of internal logic.

For me the relationship between The Doctor and Clara made no sense at all given their previous history and the relationship between Danny and Clara was so underdeveloped and unconvincing as to make the last episode wholly unbelievable. Seriously, Danny Pink, Mr rufty-tufty soldier boy, is so heartbroken that he'd rather be a cyberman than lose the woman who's consistently lied to him, ignored him and run off with another "man" ... we haven't seen enough of that relationship for that to be believable. If he was a pre-pubescent twelve year old maybe it would be believable.

Three excellent actors doing a damn fine job despite being given sod all to work with by way of plot or script!  

As before, please, please, please can we stop upgrading old monsters and have some new ones. If every third episode features the daleks or the cybermen then Dr Who becomes a story of temporal whack-a-mole! Why give cybermen the ability to fly (leave that to Iron Man) lets have a new enemy who can fly from the off. Ditto levitating daleks to be honest.

In the original star trek the cast complained that the third series  turned into a creature feature and what monster would they have to overcome this week, but the TV company said that it was what the public wanted

I'll simply post some comments i made elsewhere...

Part 1
Well Bob its been a great match so far; top grade entertainment and i have to say its a close call but i'm giving Man of the Match to Dr Who. Wait, he's got the ball again, oh, that's some excellent skills in the midfield. I think he's making a break for it. He is! We're on for another score here. He dodges, he weaves, i think..yes, he's in the box! The defence are all over the place!! It's an open goal!!! OH NO!! HE'S FLUFFED IT!! I can't believe it! Choked in the open net...

Ahem.

Yes. Well, a really creepy and genuinely disturbing episode to set up the finale for the first Capaldi season.

Big reveal...it's coming...it's coming! Here it is...It's the Rani!

Wait.

WHAT?!!?

Are you kidding? The Mastress?

Not the Rani then?


Part 2
The Mastress still isn't right. Michelle Gomez is excellent, and its a brilliantly bonkers character and performance....buuuuuut...it's not right that its The Master.
Don't get me wrong, gender change during regeneration is fine - heck i wanted Tilda Swinton to play this Doctor...it's just not working as the Mastress. For me at least.

OK, the episode was a bit of a plot mish-mash I thought - it lacked a bit of focus for me, but everything that happened was pretty damned awesome.

I'll try to avoid spoilers but the Danny/Clara thing was excellently heartbreaking.

The UNIT action was good to see and nicely muted; and Osgood...well...that CAN'T be the last we see of her...it just can't be.

And, well, the whole thing with the Brigadier was just brilliant.

The loose ends with Gallifrey are obviously setting things up for next season, which is fine, but talking of loose ends...

This was the best part of the finale for me...understated, personal, intimate, and a ragged ending bursting with unresolved loose ends.

Simply brilliant.

OK, so looking forwards, the Xmas episode looks...ugh...
We'll see i suppose but the teaser didn't blow my sonic screwdriver off.
What I am hopeful for is that Capaldi will now have space to bring the Doctor back to the centre of the series. Given the Doctor's 'realisation of himself' in this episode, i'm really not sure where the character will be going, so it'll be interesting finding out.

Watching Tomb of the Cybermen. It's verging on painful. I'll ignore the BBC 60's SFX - that can't be helped. Disregard the acting - Troughton's good, many of the rest are not much better than the cybermen who are SUPPOSED to be robotic - but lets assume that was the style of the age (despite Troughton showing it isn't). Ditto the direction.
The plot is as thin as [blank]. The whole script could be much tighter - there is no way this should have taken 90 minutes so far. There are big lumps that make no sense, at the best some parts are only there to make a Chekhov gets on screen. Anyone who has a Nu Who episode that they would rather swap for this is 'internet-meme-hipster' - liking the original stuff purely because it's 'original'.

The companions are inconsequential - no characterisation, purely there to Watson or to push a lever.