"Before the Flood" Grading and Discussion Thread

[ihno]

And him saying "the real question is..." was him teasing them about what they didn't know.

I felt it was Moffat teasing the super-critical fan.

@RoJoHen: I like "unimportant" stories and it was something I really enjoyed about it. We had "double meaning" stuff enough. The only exception is Gallifrey I think it's time that this goes forward a bit.

Btw. what do you people think about the sonic sunglasses? I don't like them.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

We ought to have an official poll on the Sonic Glasses.


As for the episode itself...I was really taken by the cinematography. That was some artistic stuff! Beautiful. The story didn't quite live up to the standard of the imagery, but I enjoyed some of the plot twists. Like the Doctor talking to his ghost and the TARDIS not letting him take drastic actions.

I was a little surprised at how much of a non-entity Clara was in this two-parter. There was a bit where The Doctor was worried she was too gung-ho about adventuring and there was the dig about her being willing to sacrifice people's lives. It's refreshing coming off of season 7.B's "Impossible Girl Arc" and anchoring the show around her personal life in Season 8. But it's also a bit odd. I wonder if this script started with Clara in it?

 

[RoJoHen]

@RoJoHen: I like "unimportant" stories and it was something I really enjoyed about it. We had "double meaning" stuff enough. The only exception is Gallifrey I think it's time that this goes forward a bit.

Last season was just a whole series of standalone stories, which is why I was hoping this season would be more arc-driven.

I don't mind standalones as a rule, but there comes a point in a TV series where I get tired of them.

Btw. what do you people think about the sonic sunglasses? I don't like them.

I thought the whole point of getting rid of his screwdriver was to make him not as dependent on it to save the day. It doesn't count if they're just replaced with some other magic device, so I don't really like them either.

 

[Mr Light]

Given how Clara-centric the last 1.5 seasons have been, I'm very cool with her being more of a normal supporting Companion this season. And I really like Clara.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It really is interesting to look at these episodes, thinking how they were written without Clara in mind... Does that mean that Clara's writing last year was simply too much?

 

[matthunter]

I found the "the real question is: where is this cup of tea from?" from the episode 9/2(?) was already a break of the fourth wall.

It's fun to notice something like the tea and the answer is usually something like "because he's the Doctor!". Just outright pointing it out takes the magic out of it.

The tea was from the Tardis - it was a hint to the fact that Tardis had survived. The Doctor rode Davros's chair to the spot where the Tardis had been, the Daleks all shot at him, the screen all whites out like it had when they had 'destroyed' the Tardis, but he's still there and miraculously has a cup of tea. I think he just nipped into the still-there Tardis and grabbed a cuppa while they weren't looking. And him saying "the real question is..." was him teasing them about what they didn't know.

.

The only issues with this are why he needed to reassemble the exterior with the specs at the end if he and Clara could just "pop" into the console room, and also why Colony Sarff - who was in the chair at the time - didn't inform Davros that the TARDIS had survived.

 

[Mr Awe]

Very good. A good solid conclusion to the first part. The deserted base with the Soviet signs was a cool setting. A bit underwhelmed by the pilot. Also, the lady the pilot killed (forget her name) in the past, her ghost should've been there with the Tivolian originally.

A bit weak on what UNIT was going to do with the ghosts. Really? Just drag them into space and let them disapate? These are people. Surprised the Doctor didn't find a better solution. But, still, a fun, solid story.

Capaldi is reallly rocking the role!

Mr Awe

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

No. The ghosts were not people. They where at best a bit like the ghosting electromagnetic echos from Silence in the Library. But instead of a mental echo, they were a visual echo... Somehow.
They all essentially behaved the same, there was nothing of the original person left.

 

[Mr Awe]

I don't see how this is a bad thing, this year so far he's more in the center of the action, last season Clara and Danny had the greater focus.

I'm just not fond of giving an actor that much control over what they do; especially since his main ideas seem have been, dress like a tramp and play his guitar a lot.

So, if Capaldi shouldn't have the control, I guess you're saying Moffat should!

Personally, I think it's working out *very* well these season for both Capaldi and Coleman.

Mr Awe

 

[Saul]

Because there was a ghost that wasn't locked in with them?

Ah right. But what was stopping the holo Doctor from just going ahead and using the Fisherking's voice straight away to lure them all back?

 

[Captrek]

It's fun to notice something like the tea and the answer is usually something like "because he's the Doctor!". Just outright pointing it out takes the magic out of it.

The tea was from the Tardis - it was a hint to the fact that Tardis had survived. The Doctor rode Davros's chair to the spot where the Tardis had been, the Daleks all shot at him, the screen all whites out like it had when they had 'destroyed' the Tardis, but he's still there and miraculously has a cup of tea. I think he just nipped into the still-there Tardis and grabbed a cuppa while they weren't looking. And him saying "the real question is..." was him teasing them about what they didn't know.

.

The only issues with this are why he needed to reassemble the exterior with the specs at the end if he and Clara could just "pop" into the console room, and also why Colony Sarff - who was in the chair at the time - didn't inform Davros that the TARDIS had survived.

Maybe the tea was a hologram.

The hologram device is really ripe for abuse.

 

[PorthosShadow]

The hologram device is really ripe for abuse.

Viewers have been making the same complaint about the sonic screw driver for years. Maybe with the sonic becoming a pair of shades, we should move to the abuse of holograms.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Did anyone pick up on the easter egg. The name on the amplifier was the Magpie as in the episode "The Idiot's Lantern."

Magpie was also listed on the side of the tent covering the alien tentacle in "The Beast Below."

I don't see how this is a bad thing, this year so far he's more in the center of the action, last season Clara and Danny had the greater focus.

I'm just not fond of giving an actor that much control over what they do; especially since his main ideas seem have been, dress like a tramp and play his guitar a lot.

I like Capaldi's guitar. I'd like to see more of it. Even a full musical number if possible. And they totally need to keep the hard rocking version of the theme song.

It is getting really irritating though when this show introduces characters who could make great companions only to end up killing them, as this story does with O'Donnell. Yeah, I get it, it's nice that we're made to care when a guest character is killed, that they aren't some Redshirt, but at the same time, it gets kind of annoying when we see a character introduced with potential to be an entertaining sidekick for the Doctor only to have the unable to come back at the end. But oh well.

When she did her little squee about the TARDIS, my friend said, "I love her. She's totally going to die. I hate this show."

I really liked this episode. It's not quite as strong as part one but it's a worthy successor to it. And I liked the Doctor's Beethoven speech. (Any time Capaldi talks a lot, it's all good with me.) It reminds me of "Back to the Future," when I always wondered exactly who wrote "Johnny B. Goode."

Also, I kept waiting for the Doctor to save himself with his own Petronus charm.

 

[The Wormhole]

Did anyone pick up on the easter egg. The name on the amplifier was the Magpie as in the episode "The Idiot's Lantern."

Magpie was also listed on the side of the tent covering the alien tentacle in "The Beast Below."

And on the back of Martha's TV in The Sound of Drums. All this raises the question, given Magpie was in financial ruin at the start of The Idiot's Lantern, how does his company continue years, decades, even centuries down the road?

 

[Starkers]

Someone bought it out and liked the name?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Another recurring thing in Doctor Who is that most aliens seem to dislike or hate the Timelords? Why is that?

Even in this episode when the Doctor meets the alien they go on a rant about Timelords?

 

[Starkers]

I think the Timelords are the kind of arrogant tossers who just rub most people up the wrong way

They do swing between extremes. They're either completely isolated, unwilling to help anyone, or else they're completely involved to the extent that they'd lay waste to the entire universe in order to stop the Daleks.

The rest of the universe is a guy being mugged, from his perspective the Timelords are either the arsehole across the road who walks on by and doesn't even shout a warning or call the cops, or else they're the arsehole who intervenes by charging over and kicking seven bells of shit out of the mugger, and the victim at the same time!

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Yeah, the Time Lords are not well regarded, and haven't even back in the old show.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Yeah, the Time Lords are not well regarded, and haven't even back in the old show.

Yeah but in the old show did aliens ever go on rants onscreen about the Timelords?

 

[FreddyE]

What do you think about this "The doctor breaking the 4th wall" in the beginning? I´m unsure about it...it was kinda out of nowhere and unexpected. But somehow I think I could get used to it if this becomes a (semi) regular thing. Thoughts?

What about the new version of the theme music? Do you think its a permanent thing for the rest of the season? Its a bit over the top for my taste...E-Guitar just for the hell of it...not really "integrated" into the composition...

Seems ratings are improving now...4.38 Million overnights for this one.