Doctor Who

[Red Ranger 1]

I think my biggest thought about the mid-season finale was...Hmm.Not particularly bad but not particularly special either, which all the hype suggested it would be.The implication in interviews that it would feature the Doctor going to a very dark place to protect his friends...didn't happen.At all.The closest was his humiliation of the colonel, which was a bit cruel but not really any more so than he's been in the past.In fact, it felt like the Doctor was hardly in it:It's about halfway through before he turns up and then he doesn't really do anything apart from one grand standing speech to the bad guys and a few nice light-hearted scenes.And while credit's to be given for not wheeling out the Daleks again(unless they're saving them for the actual finale), did the villains have to be so, well, random?

Plus points:The Doctor's initial gambit is actually quite good, the Sontaran is hilarious and some of the light-hearted stuff is actually rather sweet.The Doctor's sudden realisation that Amy and Rory were in the TARDIS on their wedding night is a typically "Doh!" moment.As in The Pandorica Opens, the Doctor discovers the downside of making people scared of you:They might run away but they also want to fight you and get rid of you.

Sort of minus points:Well, River's identity turned out to be what everyone's been speculating for quite a while, leading to a feeling of "Oh, so it is that."Although it didn't even occur to me that

Melody Pond

could be corrupted to River Song.I think we were meant to think Amy was a ganger(certainly I think most people in the room with me did)but I realised it was

the baby

as soon as Kovarian said they'd fooled the Doctor the same way twice.Nice twist, all the same.

Wild Mass Guessing:Is that the Doctor's name written on the side of the crib?(It would explain how River knows/will know it.)And could the person River kills/killed be

her and the Doctor's son

?She did say she hadn't seen it in a while...But I'm probably being too critical:This is basically the first half of a two-parter and it might be more satisfying when we see the whole picture. Although I suspect it'll be Series Nine before everything's explained...

Line of the episode:Rory:"Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"River:"Yes.But you must never tell him."

[H&Alover]

From what I can remember way back in The Silence In The Library River Song said she had been/was his (the Doctor's) wife which would explain the kissy signs they made at each other. That would make him Amy and Rory's son-in-law!!! It did cross my mind that River was Amy and Rory's daughter, I discounted the mother theory as we had already seen her.

It does cast doubt as to who the child in the astronauts costume was, a young River(?), but why kill the Doctor?

[darkcloud]

I think the last two series of Doctor Who have been seriously confusing. I absolutely love Doctor Who but been confused with the series with Matt Smith. David Tennant and Christopher Ecclestone were two brilliant doctors. Matt Smith is ok, but as I said I am confused with his series. Also, has anyone heard that the Daleks will not be used in Doctor Who for a long while?

[pembie]

I thought I might of been the only one which was confused by the last series I think I must switch off when I'm watching it my brother had to eplain to me

[darkcloud]

I thought I might of been the only one which was confused by the last series I think I must switch off when I'm watching it my brother had to eplain to me

Well, you're certainly not the only confused with the last serious. At least the series with David Tennant actually made more sense and was easier to understand. Also, one of my cousins is confused by it.

[Red Ranger 1]

Yeah, I've heard the "difficult to understand" argument a few times.I can kind of sympathise with it, Steven Moffat does tend to come up with storylines that are densely plotted and not bother explaining things.I tend to just sit back, enjoy the story on its own merits and accept there are things that are explained, things that will be explained later and things that will be left dangling with an "Ah, what indeed?"But I accept that's not everyone's cup of tea, especially when they've become used to Russell T.Davies' more straightforward storytelling.(Although that could be a bit of a headscratcher too at times:Bad Wolf anyone?)

[InfantryAlex]

I can't watch Doctor Who anymore The new writer is horrible. The new acting is really under par than the other's that have been on there. They've also completely shut off the fact that he had other companions. I know he's an alien and all that, but Matt's made him a very big alien. Like every other Doctor I saw gave the Doctor that edge. I'm sitting down watching Doctor Who and I'm partially falling asleep.

These new storylines have really put me off the series.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing

Torchwood: Miracle Day and seeing how that turns out, since the writer of Eccleston and Tennant's era of DW wrote this.

The point is, Moffats completely and utterly butchered the idea of Doctor Who in my mind. The storylines still all lack potential. I watched the first series of Smith's doc and I tried to watch the next season but I forgot about it.

One thing that pissed me off was

Amy's daughter being River Song. How come she could find that out? And they couldn't tell the Doctor that they saw how he dies? Though I already know who's killed him. It's all obvious with what River said in the first epi she was in with the Doctor "I killed the great man" or something. I don't know, but I have that high suspicion that it's her that kills him.

She drives me around the bend. I've never liked her and she had a cheek telling Amy she's her daughter whilst telling others they cannot tell the Doctor of his death.

I'm quite disgusted in the progress of Doctor Who. I am really saddened to be writing that I now hate Doctor Who, because I loved it. I reaaallllly loved it. I can't believe that they would just wreck it with really louzy acting skills, pathetic storylines, pathetic puns.

What were they thinking?!

Bring on Russe T Davies New Show

There's my rant on the new series of Doctor Who.

I say bring back Tennant and I'll watch again. Or at least make a spin off with Rose and the Human Doctor. I don't believe that was fair either, being left in the lurch wondering what is going on with them.

Mhm, I'm quite annoyed now.

[Red Ranger 1]

I dunno, I think Russell T.Davies and Steven Moffat both have their strengths and weaknesses as head writers.I definitely don't think they should bring Russell T.Davies back, any more than I think they should bring back Tom Baker as the Doctor and get Terrance Dicks to write it.And I definitely don't think they should bring back Rose, it was bad enough having her in Series Four.She was okay in Series One but by Series Two she seemed to have inherited the Ninth Doctor's role of being self-absorbed whilst thinking she was wonderful and being treated as special for being so ordinary.At least the arrival of Amy has seen the end of adolescent ideas of love and the portray of genuinely loving adult relationships.

Whilst it seemed to take Russell T.Davies a couple of series to work out how to structure an ongoing storyline, he did seem to make a point of ending each storyline at the end of the series so they could have a new start next year.(Even if that did mean dropping castmembers at the end of every year.)Steven Moffat...well, I'm not sure his storylines will end until he leaves, we'll get mini-climaxes but there'll always be something left dangling.Mind you, I suppose there's worse ambitions than wanting to be J.Michael Straczynski, even if he does seem more like Chris Carter at times.

I'm not a huge fan of River Song and think it might have been better to leave her as a one-off, she seemed to get more irritating on each reappearance.Still, I think her modus operandi has been fairly well established:As someone who's seen their future, she knows she can tell Amy and Rory she's their daughter because she knows that's when they find out, whereas she can't tell the Doctor his future because it risks changing history.(Anyway, I think he's worked most of it out by now.)

Loved the beginning of the new, er, half season, although it did seem a bit involved.The stuff with the Tesselecta seemed to deserve an episode of its own but ended up being shunted to one side by the Melody/River stuff.At least Steven Moffat managed to avoid having his characters carry out massacre without really thinking about the ethics of the situation(*cough*Gwen Cooper*), which looked likely at one point.I'd say that pretty much everyone realised that

"Mels" was Melody

pretty much straightaway, except I was with five other people when I watched it and I'm not sure how many of them realised.But hey...Amelia!Any excuse to bring her back.(And Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill actually did a credible job of playing teenagers.)And, ironically, we did get a role call of past companions, although I wish they'd been brave enough to stick the likes of Adric and Peri in there instead of just new series ones.Still, a lot of loose threads tied up, a few more still out there, a few more pieces of a bigger puzzle and the Doctor typically refusing to worry about any of it.

The Doctor whispering something in River's ear to make her trust him echoed their... other first meeting so much that I wonder if it was the same thing...