I loved this episode... very Tom Baker.
I always get Picts confused with Pictsies... The Nac Mac Feegle.
I always get Picts confused with Pictsies... The Nac Mac Feegle.
Spoilers The Eaters of Light (Grade & Discussion Thread)
- Thread starter TommyR01D
- Start date
Not a bad story and pretty well drawn out. The resolution and final push against the "eater" felt a little rushed but that tends to happen in a 50-minute stand alone episode. It was a little "on the nose" that the opposing Legion / Barbarians were children and the Doctor has to go into his whole caretaker exposition about how humans at war are just like children blah blah blah. We get it.
I'm more intrigued with the Doctor / Missy dynamic going on at the end, and I'm assuming that will get off the back burner and really drive the season toward the end of Capaldi's reign.
I'm more intrigued with the Doctor / Missy dynamic going on at the end, and I'm assuming that will get off the back burner and really drive the season toward the end of Capaldi's reign.
Well, the fault does lie in the writer in that they were such a crappy writer I ignored there shitty teen characters to the point where I couldn't be bothered to remember the name of their group. If they weren't some of the most aggressively annoying characters this season, maybe they would have been worth paying attention to. Instead, to me their just annoying Scottish villagers in one of the most bland, average Doctor Who episodes in awhile. I'll only remember them because them being terribly written YA film style characters is one of the few things memorable (in a bad way) about this episode. So, yeah, definitely the writers fault.
Really? Everyone? They're not exactly Romans or vikings. Even in the UK I would bet thousands of people (if not more) have never heard of them, much less in the US. This comment was ridiculous enough that I did glance at their wikipedia page, and even it calls them very similar to most of the other cultures of the area at the time they existed, and they just kind of faded away. So, I'm calling BS on even most people in the UK knowing about the Picts, much less expecting them to be common knowledge to people in my country (and no, you can't prove they're common knowledge just because some people on a Star Trek forum know about them).
New promo image for next week
Or, an "old promo image" -- that's literally the "Day of the Doctor" poster with four elements changed. It's the exact same background and the same explosion. All they did was swap out the characters from "The Day of the Doctor," remove the Dalek, and add a floor for Capaldi to "stand" on. Delete a few layers, add a few layers, and boom! It's done.
I realize they made themselves a good Photoshop template four years ago, but are they so cheap that they had to so obviously recycle it?
You know though it's been a while since my Primary school days, But I'm fairly sure the Picts came up whilst we learned about the Roman's and Roman Britain esp. the part that deals with Hadrian's wall.
Well, if I'd read the BBC's press release, I'd have known that the poster image's reworking of "The Day of the Doctor" poster was deliberate. I should do my research. 
I would imagine the UK would be more likely to cover the Picts as it's part of their history. I'm familiar enough to recognize the name when specifically mentioned but I wouldn't have come up with it on my own. Hadrian's Wall is not something I was taught in school, for example.
And to be fair to Kirk, they did live in villages, didn't they?
Doctor Who has lacked a consistent schedule since about 2008.
People in the UK of my generation learned about the Picts and many other Celtic tribes in the Roman era when we were age 11-12 (sixth grade?). We were also taught about the Ninth legion in both English and History lessons and about the Antonine Wall that was built north of Hadrian's Wall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_of_the_Ninth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall
However, we were taught almost nothing of American history, including the Revolution and Civil War, which I expect were covered at an age after I chose to major in science and gave up studying History.
Well, fair enough. I'm an American though, I didn't even really learn about the famous ancient people outside of a little about the Romans and maybe a bit about Vikings. I never even heard about the Celts until I was an adult, much less Picts. That said, I'd still question how many people in the UK know about the Picts, because even learning it in school (assuming every single person who went to school in the UK did learn about the Picts) doesn't mean they'd remember it.
Anyway, who cares? My point is that they were obscure (they are) and that the episode wrote them so badly that I, personally, couldn't be bothered to remember anything about them. They're only memorable because the episode was basically Doctor Who crossing over with a non-existent scottish YA franchise. So, annoying YA scottish people is all I'll remember about the "Picts" in this episode, and I don't care to argue about such terrible characters.
Or the adult Picts had been killed by the Romans.
I thought it looked a bit County Fair.
@CorporalCaptain that too.
I quite liked this one. Sure, it's a pretty basic plotline by Who standards, the Doctor and companion(s) get entwined in local strife which includes rivals needing to team up against an alien monster with an underlying message of there's nothing to fear but fear itself, but the way the episode was presented felt fresh and interesting, and this was a great episode for showing the strengths of this TARDIS team at their best. Like last week I am bewildered why they couldn't deliver this kind of quality consistently through the season.
The only real complaint I have is actually with the last scene and even then it's not that there's anything wrong with it. Earlier in the season I compared Nardole to serving a role similar to the Master's in Scream of the Shalka, only now it seems they have shifted to having Missy literally filling in that role. Which is great, like I said earlier the Master in Shalka is a concept I wish could have been further explored in the show somehow, and I am glad it is finally being realized now. But damn, it is a great idea which I wish could have been kept around much longer than five minutes finishing an episode. Ah well, minor thing to quibble over, I guess, especially since this is a storyline which actually seems to be moving somewhere.
The only real complaint I have is actually with the last scene and even then it's not that there's anything wrong with it. Earlier in the season I compared Nardole to serving a role similar to the Master's in Scream of the Shalka, only now it seems they have shifted to having Missy literally filling in that role. Which is great, like I said earlier the Master in Shalka is a concept I wish could have been further explored in the show somehow, and I am glad it is finally being realized now. But damn, it is a great idea which I wish could have been kept around much longer than five minutes finishing an episode. Ah well, minor thing to quibble over, I guess, especially since this is a storyline which actually seems to be moving somewhere.
What? They're from Boston, everyone knows that.
Nardole continues to be the best (or one of the only good things about) this season for me. I don't think I'll be rewatching this episode anytime soon, but I thought it was a respectable B- and one of the better episodes of the season.
Oh, and I've never heard of the Picts.
Oh, and I've never heard of the Picts.
Nardole I can do without. He's like an annoying alarm clock...."Gotta guard the vault. Gotta guard the vault" - bang, Doctor hits snooze button until next week.
My question, is it possible that Missy is the Master before Yana? Does anything solidly contradict that possibility?
My question, is it possible that Missy is the Master before Yana? Does anything solidly contradict that possibility?
It seems it's a minority opinion in these parts but I really love the season so far. Nearly everything clicks for me which is delightful because I struggled with the Moffat era time and again and found the last season a bit disappointing. I had hoped for Moffat to go out on a high note and it looks that's what he's going to do.
I loved the stuff the Doctor said, like a wise but world-weary man who has figured it all out. His interaction with Missy was superb. And while it's not totally new I was touched by the fact that everyone sounds like a child to the Doctor. I feel it explains a lot about his character.
As for next week's promo -- wow, I didn't expect to ever see John Simm's master again. And he has a beard!
I don't think Missy is the incarnation before him. So far, the Doctor and the Master have always met in the right order and since John Simms has a beard I think it's the Master that travelled back to Gallifrey in "The End of Time", somehow survived and then escaped from there. Remember that Missy told the Doctor where Gallifrey was and that wouldn't have been a big deal before the Time War at all. I'm also looking forward to the Cybermen. (I love the little tributes to the old show we got throughout the season)
I loved the stuff the Doctor said, like a wise but world-weary man who has figured it all out. His interaction with Missy was superb. And while it's not totally new I was touched by the fact that everyone sounds like a child to the Doctor. I feel it explains a lot about his character.
As for next week's promo -- wow, I didn't expect to ever see John Simm's master again. And he has a beard!
I don't think Missy is the incarnation before him. So far, the Doctor and the Master have always met in the right order and since John Simms has a beard I think it's the Master that travelled back to Gallifrey in "The End of Time", somehow survived and then escaped from there. Remember that Missy told the Doctor where Gallifrey was and that wouldn't have been a big deal before the Time War at all. I'm also looking forward to the Cybermen. (I love the little tributes to the old show we got throughout the season)
No, I guess not. I was wondering about Missy's line in Dark Water about the Doctor "abandoning" her, which doesn't really describe how Ten and the Simm Master parted ways. But she'd have to lose her knowledge of the Doctor post-Time War for Simm's confusion about what happened to Gallifrey to work.
