7x06 The Bells of St John - review/ discussion

[RoJoHen]

"Midnight" was very close to a traditional bottle episode. Only two sets, limited VFX work. Just 8 actors in a small room for the bulk of the runtime.

Good call, but for me (and this is just me being nitpicky), a real bottle episode is one that uses pre-existing sets, and they are often some of my favorites. One that always stands out to me is TNG's "Disaster." Lots of stuff happening, but it's all on board the Enterprise.

 

[davejames]

^If that's the case, then I believe they spent lots of money for something that looked and felt like what RTD did for much less. As a producer of "The Bells of St. John", I would find that pretty embarrassing. It's the definition of waste.

Maybe there weren't a ton of big effects sequences, but the episode still looked MUCH more stylish and expensive than anything in the RTD era.

Especially in the outdoor scenes, where it looked more like an episode of Sherlock, or one of the sleek and modern looking Bourne movies.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I would actually be interested in seeing a true Doctor Who bottle episode, one that takes place entirely in the control room. Imagine how claustrophobic that would feel.

The third Doctor Who serial ever was that.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Okies. My own question from a couple pages back... There's a St John's Ambulance sticker/poster on the front of the TARDIS... Were the "bells" the TARDIS making noise that it was time for the Doctor to get up off his ass?

It was the phone ringing on the Tardis.

Reminded me of Eccleston's "how can you be ringing?"

I guess he just wired it up to the inside "phone line".

 

[DWF]

I would actually be interested in seeing a true Doctor Who bottle episode, one that takes place entirely in the control room. Imagine how claustrophobic that would feel.

Try the first Doctor's story Edge Of Destruction.

 

[The Lensman]

This was the ep that cemented Matt Smith as my favourite Doctor since McCoy. Eccleston and Tennant were intentionally less eccentric, less alien and more accessible for The Saturda

I thought about this too while watching this episode. I thought back to Tom Baker saying he would do things that were decidedly un-human since the character is an alien. Smith made me think that with little things he does, tasting the leaf, reacting with disgust at the idea of snogging someone everyone alive would snog, and various other little "alien" actions.

All of that would've been fine and worked better if it were the 3rd Doctor. But the 3rd wasn't befuddled by any of this stuff when he started living on Earth. He wasn't confused about human's, jobs, money, women or courting women. Why should he be? He'd already had at least one child of his own.

So watching 11 mentally revert to someone who act's like they've just arrived on Earth is somewhat annoying at times. Thankfully Smith has the talent to make it bearable, if not funny. However, after interacting with humans for roughly 600 years, and given that 3 wasn't as confused, then the older 11 shouldn't be stumped by a single thing in the area of "humans".

 

[Mr. Adventure]

"Midnight" was very close to a traditional bottle episode. Only two sets, limited VFX work. Just 8 actors in a small room for the bulk of the runtime.

Good call, but for me (and this is just me being nitpicky), a real bottle episode is one that uses pre-existing sets, and they are often some of my favorites. One that always stands out to me is TNG's "Disaster." Lots of stuff happening, but it's all on board the Enterprise.

It helps when you have more than one room for a set.

 

[Awesome Possum]

This was the ep that cemented Matt Smith as my favourite Doctor since McCoy. Eccleston and Tennant were intentionally less eccentric, less alien and more accessible for The Saturda

I thought about this too while watching this episode. I thought back to Tom Baker saying he would do things that were decidedly un-human since the character is an alien. Smith made me think that with little things he does, tasting the leaf, reacting with disgust at the idea of snogging someone everyone alive would snog, and various other little "alien" actions.

All of that would've been fine and worked better if it were the 3rd Doctor. But the 3rd wasn't befuddled by any of this stuff when he started living on Earth. He wasn't confused about human's, jobs, money, women or courting women. Why should he be? He'd already had at least one child of his own.

So watching 11 mentally revert to someone who act's like they've just arrived on Earth is somewhat annoying at times. Thankfully Smith has the talent to make it bearable, if not funny. However, after interacting with humans for roughly 600 years, and given that 3 wasn't as confused, then the older 11 shouldn't be stumped by a single thing in the area of "humans".

He does seem to have spent a lot of time alone, he could have gone a bit odd over the years.

 

[RoJoHen]

"Midnight" was very close to a traditional bottle episode. Only two sets, limited VFX work. Just 8 actors in a small room for the bulk of the runtime.

Good call, but for me (and this is just me being nitpicky), a real bottle episode is one that uses pre-existing sets, and they are often some of my favorites. One that always stands out to me is TNG's "Disaster." Lots of stuff happening, but it's all on board the Enterprise.

It helps when you have more than one room for a set.

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to do with just one room.

 

[Ghost Bones]

I'm not a Star Wars guy, so I'll assume that's why I'm not making the connection

They're the same character is what I'm saying.

You must not be truly aware of either then, they really don't have much in common.

They both blubber around like twits and make me a bit ashamed to call myself a fan of either franchise.

 

[ROBE]

I have to laugh at some fans calling the show childish compared to RTD's day.
So farting aliens are mature?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Good call, but for me (and this is just me being nitpicky), a real bottle episode is one that uses pre-existing sets, and they are often some of my favorites. One that always stands out to me is TNG's "Disaster." Lots of stuff happening, but it's all on board the Enterprise.

It helps when you have more than one room for a set.

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to do with just one room.

Doesn't mean you should either!

I think more than most shows the TARDIS is basically just a means to get from A-to-B.

 

[RoJoHen]

As with everything, it depends on the story.

 

[BlakeCrichton]

I admit to some surprise that there is a George Orwell aficionado in this thread and I'm the only guy connecting some diverse notions, like "The Bells of St. Johns" reminds me terribly of

"Oranges and lemons, say the bells of Saint Clemmons" the nursery rhyme dimly recollected by Winston Smith, and this episode of DW references the plethora of cameras in London, and the Great Intelligence even has a rather 'Big Brother-esque" cameo.

Joined to say that. All the reviews talk about how the episode title was promptly forgotten after ten minutes, but I snapped immediately to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four and was watching sharply for related social commentary. And was not disappointed.

But who knows?

 

[Awesome Possum]

They're the same character is what I'm saying.

You must not be truly aware of either then, they really don't have much in common.

They both blubber around like twits and make me a bit ashamed to call myself a fan of either franchise.

Are you aware that you don't have to watch the show?

Also if any Doctor was close to Jar Jar, it was the 2nd. It's an incredibly poor analogy, but that's as close as possible to him. Close in the sense that Earth is close to the Sun.

 

[Gepard]

Also if any Doctor was close to Jar Jar, it was the 2nd.

Didn't Smith say at some point that he's based his performance on the 2nd?

 

[Awesome Possum]

Also if any Doctor was close to Jar Jar, it was the 2nd.

Didn't Smith say at some point that he's based his performance on the 2nd?

Seems about right, he plays the Doctor like a toned down 2nd Doctor with the more alien aspects of the 4th.

 

[Ghost Bones]

You must not be truly aware of either then, they really don't have much in common.

They both blubber around like twits and make me a bit ashamed to call myself a fan of either franchise.

Are you aware that you don't have to watch the show?

Yes, someone or other always mentions it whenever I post. I have addressed the question numerous times, and I'm not sure you're really interested in the answer.

Also if any Doctor was close to Jar Jar, it was the 2nd. It's an incredibly poor analogy, but that's as close as possible to him. Close in the sense that Earth is close to the Sun.

I strongly disagree. I don't think there's a more similar character to Matt Smith's "Doctor" in all of fiction than Jar Jar Binks.

 

[Awesome Possum]

They both blubber around like twits and make me a bit ashamed to call myself a fan of either franchise.

Are you aware that you don't have to watch the show?

Yes, someone or other always mentions it whenever I post. I have addressed the question numerous times, and I'm not sure you're really interested in the answer.

Also if any Doctor was close to Jar Jar, it was the 2nd. It's an incredibly poor analogy, but that's as close as possible to him. Close in the sense that Earth is close to the Sun.

I strongly disagree. I don't think there's a more similar character to Matt Smith's "Doctor" in all of fiction than Jar Jar Binks.

You keep saying it, doesn't make it any more cleaver or even accurate. Nice try though.

 

[Cutter John]

I've just taken to skipping Bones posts entirely. Every week they're pretty much the same tired snark.