So has anyone else been watching the Doctor Who animated episodes?

I watched it in one go on iplayer, it was all edited together to make a full length episode.

Wasn't bad, animation was a bit dodgy, reminded me of reboot! nice little story though (kinda felt like the mid-season stuff you get on the normal series) and the voice acting is good.

Christmas special wasn't very good

Silly, silly, silly, silly.

Wasn't too fussed with the first half but it picked up so much, loved the cliffhanger.

Sooo....
Timothy Dalton the big bad then?

Clever that Donna didn't transform as she's not technically human thanks to what happened to her.

As for the timelords coming back, they're blatantly going to kill them off again.

And a hilarious thought..

There's going to be Kids and babies walking around with the master's face!

That was pretty rubbish.

I quite enjoyed it actually.

It had it's moments, but it was a little too disjointed for me - and they seemed to spend an awful lot of time running around waste ground.

Master ending = silly, Timelords return ending = cool.

I really don't give a rat’s arse where they go with the Master thread, but I'm very interested to see what's going to happen with the Timelords (I personally don't think they will be killing them off again).

Me too.

Probably the most baffling, peculiar and boring hour of primetime Christmas broadcasting I've ever seen. It was like a watching a badly edited American dub of an anime show around about episode 32 with no prior knowledge of what was going on.

The first half hour of End Of Time was possibly the worst piece of on-screen Doctor Who there has been since it came back. It's had its flaws here and there since 2005 and I've let them slide as I've simply enjoyed everything else too much to let them bother me. Not this time though. For the first time I actually said out loud while watching, 'That's a bit shit.' Not once, but twice.

Firstly with the whole resurection of The Master scene where his missus went, 'Blah-de-blah...counter spell...jibber-jabber...people the audience haven't been introduced to just happened to make a secret concoction while I was in prison and somehow gave it to me...bingy-bongy...isn't that a coincidence...SHAZAM!'

Not to mention the bit before that about having The Master's genetic codes by simply wiping her lipstick on a KFC wet wipe. The Master brought back by a coldsore?

The second time I said, 'That's a bit shit,' was the photo posing with the Silver Cloak coach party when he was chasing The Master. Pointless and something you should only get on a half-arsed 20 minute kids' caper on CBBC in 1992. I thoroughly disagreed with Julie Gardiner when, on Confidential, she said it was important to have some humour at that moment. No, no it wasn't. It cut through the scene like a followed through fart at a dinner table.

The rest was ok, though. If slightly uninformative in regard to plot and new characters. The end scenes just about hooked it back to be a decent cliffhanger and, provided the 'coming next...' preview clips don't happen to be the only good shots, the final episode for the 10th Doctor looks much better. I hope so at least as it would be a crying shame for David Tennant to bow out on such a weak story.


Hamlet on the otherhand...marvellous.





I needn't have worried. It's literally the only ident they have.

Maybe it was RTD's tribute to Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy".

It was alright. Hoping for better things in the second part.

As much as I did enjoy the Christmas day episode, the New Years Day episode looks so much better and more epic.

Awesome Trailer for episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In_NE3jz5CE

And a 2 min preview clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_1BBAXIjk0

Who special made me think of Aphex Twin and Rimmerworld.

Wasn't as awful as - say - the cat people traffic jam episode but lots of it make not sense. Not even in a good way. If it wasn't for Cribbins and Simm, it would have been worse.

It suffered from RTD's general inability to write coherent sci-fi, to the extent that the potion bollocks was pretty much straight out of Harry Potter*. The first half managed to be incredibly convoluted and incredibly stupid at the same time, there was no real dramatic tension and the relationship between Joshua and his daughter was just creepy and vaguely incestuous, to the extent that I loudly uttered ''Wait, she's his daughter?'' whilst watching it.

On the positive side, though, it picked up in the final half an hour, the scene between The Doctor and Wilf in the cafe was quite a nice little moment and the build up to the cliffhanger was quite good. Simm and Cribbons are always good value for money. Hopefully the second half will make up for the massive shortcomings of the first, but given the fact that almost none of the two-parters written by RTD have actually had satisfactory conclusions, I am not all that hopeful.

Was I the only one to start singing the Sir Digby Chicken Caesar music when The Master was chasing Ginger and the other homeless guy (were they homeless? They were surprisingly clean) around the wasteland? I also found myself saying "Raiden: Fight!" whenever The Master got a bit lightning happy.

*Just to clarify; I'm not saying Harry Potter is bad, I love Harry Potter, just that it isn't sci-fi, it's fantasy.

Not as good as Sarah Jane Adventures, frankly.

Series 1 finale...massive army of Daleks.

Series 2 finale...massive army of Cybermen and massive army of Daleks.

Series 3 finale...The Master and a massive army of Toclafane.

Series 4 finale...sizable army of Daleks and THE DESTRUCTION OF REALITY!!!

Specials culmination...massive army of Masters and massive army of Time Lords and THE DESTRUCTION OF TIME!!!


Is it a small liberty that only one of those were originally created for any of the finales since 2005?

So, it's the big one tonight. Tennant's big finale. Looks better than last week's episode, at least!

I thought it was really good.10 times better than part one.

Didn't live up to my expectations and in that annoys me that it has now blown some really good plotlines which really cannot be re-played. Timelords come back for 5 minutes and are sent back with a bullet to a control panel? What a waste! That's the end of the whole 'last of the timelords' theme. Pah!

Nah, 'cause technically now the rest of them have been "time locked" - including the Master - he really is the last of the Timelords.

Yeah, doesn't make much sense to me either.

Did anyone else see the preview for season five they showed after Doctor Who Confidential?! I don't know why they didn't show this on BBC One, but it looks great! (if you missed it you can watch it here!).

Much better than part 1 but still a bit of an anti climax.

Loved the new series trailer though, looks pretty good!

Ooh, the return of the Weeping Angels? Hopefully that'll be more high-octane nightmare fuel from Moffat.
I have to say, I liked that, I even didn't mind the slightly self-indulgent going back to see all the companions. I'll even confess that the scene with Jessica Hynes as Joan Redfern's grandaughter brought a lump to my throat. Although I for one feel that the lack of Sally Sparrow was a bit of a let down. Unless that's planned for the next series.

Personally, I'm glad Tennant has now gone, I don't think the last two episodes were that great, and nice though some bits were we had a big group goodbye at the end of the last series, so why re-hash it again?!

Don't get me wrong, I think Tennant has been an excellent Doctor, but the sullen, brooding Doctor that we've had for the last year is one I can live without.

I'm looking forward to seeing Matt Smith and Steven Moffat breathe some cheer back into the series.

I completely agree. I really wasn't a fan of Smith to begin with, but I'm actually quite excited to see what he and Moffatt can do.

I did like the 2nd part more than the first, I must say, but I'm not sad to see RTD or Tennant go. They'd both gone as far as they could IMHO.

I quite liked Part Two even if, as others have said, it was incredibly anti-climactic having the Time Lords return only to disappear again just as quickly. Oh, and having Timothy Dalton's metal glove be able to kill Time Lords and turn all the people of Earth back to normal makes me think that Russell T. Davies will probably have "deus ex machina" written on his tombstone. Then again, it could be seen as an example of them wiping the slate clean for Smith and Moffat, so taken from that perspective its probably a smart move to make.

As with Part One, I felt that the strongest moments were the quiet ones between Wilf and The Doctor, rather than all the spectacle. The Doctor's anger when he realised that it was Wilf who had doomed him was particularly striking, and their back-and-forth during that scene was particularly affecting.

Also, elements of it reminded me of Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman', which is a mighty compliment.

I had no idea Jess was going to cameo. That scene made me tear up a little. A good send off for Tennant. Now, onwards with Moffat, Smith and the amazing Karen Gillan!

A massive improvement on part one. It had clarity and the moments of humour actually worked in context. Although it did go to show up the flaws of part one, which clearly should've established the Timelords better and dropped the silly Silver Cloak stuff (as good as June Whitfield is that whole sequence was for the benefit of her cameo and frankly she wasn't worth it). My only qualms with part 2 were Martha and Mickey suddenly being married (wasn't she engaged to someone in series 4?) and the Timelords using the names The Doctor and The Master. Wouldn't the Timelords be using their real names as The Doctor and The Master are names they've given themselves for the benefit of others? On Galifrey they would be known by their real names. I realise they wouldn't say their real names as it would kill the mystery for the audience, but it's still one of those things.

(by the way, when Timothy Dalton said, "Earth," did anyone else think of Kevin Eldon on Big Train saying, "Eeeeaaaaaaaarrrrrth"?)


I don't think the last episode itself was an anti-climax. It was actually a fine episode. It's that this particular regeneration had started back early on in series 4 whipped up certain expectations and was, in truth, a fairly drawn out process. But still, it made the moment when Wilf knocked on the glass all the more striking as it turned out the 10th Doctor wasn't going out in a battle with The Master or the Timelords but from just opening a door. A worthy rug-puller in my book.

As mentioned, the scene where The Doctor cries out his frustrations when finally facing his fate really did hit with a genuine emotional punch. It especially struck a chord after a year of early deaths and brought certain people to mind, even if that wasn't actually the intention of the writing or performance (it was filmed back in May, after all). I'll miss David Tennant as The Doctor and shed a tear or two at his exit. I'm glad he got a decent send off in the end.

Allons-y!!


The next series looks fantastic if the trailer's anything to go by. Matt Smith has already made a good start with the regeneration scene. I'm looking forward to seeing his take on The Doctor.

Geronimo!!

If I remember correctly in the old episodes set on Gallifrey like Trial of a Time Lord, the other Time Lords all referred to him as The Doctor. I think they even lampshaded it by saying something about them having a "public" and a "private" name or somesuch.

I reckon the Mickey/Martha bit was set a couple of years into the future (at least). Mickey looked very manly with his beardface, I thought.

Ahh, see I'm not as clued up on the old series as I should be as I either haven't seen the episodes for years or not at all (haven't got the dvds).

That's a handy get out clause, though. Even if it would've been funny to hear Timothy Dalton say, "Keep track of them. It is imperitive to the future of the Timelords that these children of Gallifrey are not lost beyond our reach. They are needed to free us from the time lock that has imprisoned us for so long. We will bring them back.


We will bring back...Nigel and Roger!!"

These episodes prove James Bond is a timelord and regenerates. Albeit offscreen.

I was more blown away by the fact that Dalton was Rassilon. Wasn't expecting that.

Shoddy, shoddy, shoddy story, the return of the timelords was particularly disappointing and pointless. I fell asleep at one point, but even worse than the story was David's farewell. Petulant and cowardly - what a way to go. It was only worsened by dragging it out for a ridiculous length of time, including the 4th time he's said goodbye to Rose. I'm shocked I wasn't even slightly moved, but that's entirely the fault of the writing; Ecclestone got simple, dignified and in the spirit of regeneration, Tennant got mawkish hand wringing.

Never mind, ding dong RTD is dead and the trailer for the next series looked phenomenal.

I've been thinking a lot about where the series was going in 1989, before its untimely conclusion, I fancy watching 'Survival'.

Moffat will bring it old school. I can feel it.

The head in Jar looked like something from a Tom Baker episode, and there's classic old school who masks judging by the trailer.

And Matt Smith looks like he's playing a more manic version of Peter Davison's doctor, judging by the trailer.

Lovely.

Despite not favouring the long drawn out nature of the 10th Doctor's regeneration I can go with the justification for it in terms of the story.

The Doctor is selfless and puts his life on the line for others all the time. He doesn't take a moment to think about it, he just takes the action. He's regenerated before and it's not usually an issue as he never knows when it'll happen. He gets on with it when the moment arrives. This time he was told when and how he would die. That doesn't usually happen. That's a wealth of time to think about his own death rather than just making a snap decision about making a self sacrifice and then burying thoughts of mortality under the euphoria of survival. It's a different dynamic to The Doctor that's worth exploring. Whether not it's popular or works for the audience is a matter of opinion. It would, after all, be dull if each Doctor faced their regeneration the same way every time. There has to be room for character development here and there.

The other thing that justifies the plot device is the reveal of Wilf being the one to give the 4 knocks. You're with The Doctor at that moment in realising where it's all been leading to and it's a genuine surprise.


Separately, I wonder if the regenerated Donna following Wilf about and being with the Timelords was a little future plot device for Stephen Moffat.


Of course, it's all fiction so it doesn't really matter. Does it?

For my mind, RTD does what he likes regardless of how it fits with the continuity of a story he doesn't have ownership over, this was the last in a long line of mis-steps and although there's been much to love about the revamped Doctor Who since its return I'm very glad to see the back of him.

He cannot write science fiction for toffee and his penchant for soap opera is infuriating (making Mickey and Martha married was practically parodying himself).

McCoy had to wait seven years for his regeneration - Tennant's just felt that long.

Roll on Spring!

Not only that, but he brought all his little mates along who also can't write sci-fi for toffee.

I liked the last half hour, if only for the fact that it tied up the RTD Era, in readiness for Moffatt. Plus, it got rid of the ghastly TARDIS interior.

Absolutely.

I've heard Moffat say he's going to reveal the true scale of the TARDIS in the new series, no more just a console room and a wardrobe.

So what's in there? I remember a swimming pool, I think.

A cricketing memorabilia room, a living room with drapes, a quad-type area with ivy, leaves and park benches, and the secondary control room (complete with stained glass windows). For starters.

You've been repeating that same line for the last few years but, to be fair, Doctor Who isn't always science fiction by a long shot - if the story is entertaining enough, what is the problem?! (I'll agree, however, that the latest two parter has not been the best, and the petulant, sulky Doctor was not the best way to finish one of the most vibrant Doctors we have had).



Sorry, I may be missing a beat, but they are?



So you really prefer a crappy hexagonal dais, on a bare studio floor with a jittery, shuddery time rotor?! Come on, the new set knocks several hundred spots off of any previous attempt.

I'm yet to see RTD write a decent, engaging plot regardless of genre. Perhaps that's just a matter of taste, but his style of story construction just doesn't do it for me. He's also obviously more concerned with character than plot, and I'm the opposite. Moffat knows how to emtionally engage for sure, but from what I've seen so far he's first and foremost an ideas man, which I find very exciting.

I don't know specifically who SSG is referring to, but other than RTD I particularly dislike Helen Raynor's contributions

at least we can all agree we're excited about who's taking over, regardless of our thoughts on his predecessor. Here's to the future!

Specifically, people like Helen Raynor, Gareth Roberts, Stephen Greenhorn and Tom McRae. Raynor's awful Dalek 2-parter stills stick in my throat when I think about it.

As for RTD, he can write when it's about relationships and such, but can't write sci-fi or fantasy.



I didn't say that. In a technical sense it's much better than some of what went before. But I would have preferred a similar set to the McGann movie. I like a steampunk or technological feel rather than organic. The coral just made me think of the TARDIS being a fishtank.

Regarding the final episode, the only thing that moved me was an emotional Bernard Cribbins trying to give the Doctor the revolver. And I think that's only because Bernard Cribbins was my favourite Jackanory-er.

I found the whole thing overstretched, unnecessary and yet another story where the people of Earth run about because something massive had appeared in the sky causing the "end of time".

As for the last 25 minutes where DT gave us his goodbyes, I could have done without it. I'm sure no other Doctor has spent that long wandering about saying his lasts and nudging some of the characters before he "died".

A huge big pfffft from me.

I cried, I thought it was sweet and I rarely watch Doctor Who! And the new guy looks freaky.

This! I didn't fall asleep but I feel the same about the episode.

I thought the woman in white might have been the Doctor's grandaughter (Susan?) aged, because when Wilf asked the Doctor who she was, he looked over at Donna, as if to say 'Grandaughter' (As in what Donna is to Wilf, the woman in white is to the doctor).

I thought it might be his mother, or at least some form of mother figure from his life on Gallifrey. Apparently one of the producers referred to her as such, but I don't know if that was just a useful shorthand or something to generate discussions amongst the fanbase.

I'm regarding her as Romana. I know RTD will probably have meant it to be his mother.