The Snowmen Grading and Discussion Thread

[Dac]

As far as these things go, it was fair. Nothing particularly offensive (although the overuse of "Doctor WHOOOO?!" has been mentioned, and it is now beyond stupid) although literally everything in this was just explained away with no consequences and no explanations - stuff just happens because.

It was literally nothing more than pretty pictures. At least Jenna-Louise Coleman certainly makes everything shine when she's on screen.

[Lonemagpie]

Serial thread killer wrote:

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I've just clicked who did the voice over in the first prequel..

Gatiss doing his Scottish accent from Crooked House...

[The Mirrorball Man]

The episode in itself was a lot of fun, with a couple of remarkable moments (the Doctor's cloud in particular), although in the end it was nothing groundbreaking. Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman acting with one another is not something I'm likely to get tired of, though. They were a joy to watch.

[junxon]

it was ok.

did anyone else find the jump from the dr on the phone to suddenly being in the snowball room really jarring?

[diankra]

Lonemagpie wrote:

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Anybody notice in the "Great Detective" one that the music is almost identical to the mood music in Web Of Fear episode 1?

I did! Back in the Children in Need thread in November. Mind you, I had heard a rumour or two so I was cheating a bit...

On the subject of sound, did you spot that the new console has some of the sound effects from the 1970s/80s era? Don't think that was the case with the last two...

[Lonemagpie]

diankra wrote:

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I did! Back in the Children in Need thread in November. Mind you, I had heard a rumour or two so I was cheating a bit...

On the subject of sound, did you spot that the new console has some of the sound effects from the 1970s/80s era? Don't think that was the case with the last two...

They did have- ISTR it did the landing bleep when River piloted it

[Gep Malakai]

Dac wrote:

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As far as these things go, it was fair. Nothing particularly offensive (although the overuse of "Doctor WHOOOO?!" has been mentioned, and it is now beyond stupid) although literally everything in this was just explained away with no consequences and no explanations - stuff just happens because.

The whole thing did just kind of stop, rather than have any sort of ending, didn't it? And we never did find out how Doctor Simian became so rich powerful – I'd been thinking the Great Intelligence pulled strings for him, but that assumption fell flat once it was revealed that the voice was just Simian's reflection, and the whole deal fizzled out. Ah well. It otherwise felt in keeping with "A Christmas Invasion," which is still my favorite of the specials, in that it was all about starting a new status quo and setting the Doctor off on his next season's adventures. So that was nice. Otherwise it was filled with the standard Moffat tomfoolerly, which is fun in small doses but is wearing a bit thin after three straight season of it.

The new console room looked better in action than it did in the promo pic, but I still don't like it that much. It's at its best when all the lights and doohickys are going crazy, but that apparently happens only when the TARDIS is dematerializing. The rest of the time, they relied on tight camera angles, keeping the background out of focus and filling the set with smoke (!) to make it look decent. I can only hope they'll refine the set over the course of the season and add more detail. Doing something to break up those staircases and the floor would do wonders.

That said, the show finally gave me the shot I've wanted to see for years now – the lovely tracking shot following the Doctor and Clara as they enter the TARDIS. It was even a wobbly hand-held camera at eye-level, for the "you-are-there" feel, which was how I'd always pictured it should be done. Very nice!

[Lonemagpie]

Looking at the Dr Who trailer frame by frame, it's *not* an Ice Warrior type clamp-hand - it just looks like it from the angle after the one frame where you can see the fingers. Ah well.

[Gep Malakai]

I wonder if we saw more of the TARDIS interior in these shots from the trailer:




They could be random alien spaceship sets, of course, but the style is kind of similar to the new console room.

[Procutus]

Peacemaker wrote:

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Sets clock - Gentlemen, start your TARDISes!

Just under three and a half hours until the BBCA airing. I'm finally caught up on the first five eps of this series, so I'm looking forward to finally being able to sit in on a live commentary.

I haven't been this psyched for a new ep of DW in a long time. Hope it's as good as I think it will be.

[StCoop]

I was just counting up how many Books and Audios this episode manages to render impossible.

So long Yog-Sothoth, we barely know ya.

[Lonemagpie]

Oh, wait, there *is* what might be an Ice Warrior arm in the trailer- but it's a totally differen't shot from the one I originally thought, grabbing a sailor by the throat, not the creature immediately before the Cyberman-grabbing-Clara shot.

[Lonemagpie]

StCoop wrote:

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I was just counting up how many Books and Audios this episode manages to render impossible.

So long Yog-Sothoth, we barely know ya.

Actually it also fucks up The Abominable Snowmen, in which Padmasambhava had been possessed by the Intelligence for 300 years before 1930-ish (impossible if it only became what it is in 1892)... And gets the Web Of Fear's year wrong.

So, it's a show about time travel, everything changes all the time.

[MacLeod]

Time can be re-written.

[Lonemagpie]

MacLeod wrote:

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Time can be re-written.

Exactly. And the universe rebooted in The Big Bang probably has a few glitches in it as well...