7X07 The Rings of Akhenaten (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It looked like absolute crap, photoshopped people standing on photoshopped floating rocks they got to riding on a wooden box.

A bunch of gobbledegook with lashings of sentiment that failed since it was impossible to care. Terrible.

 

[DalekJim]

You need a point-of-view character.

The point of view character does not need to be from this Earth though. Luke Skywalker is the point of view character in Star Wars and he's from a desert planet. It's assuming the audience are utterly thick to think that they won't be able to relate to anybody not local.

Romana is one of the most popular companions and she's from Gallifrey. Leela is another popular companion from another world!

 

[Thestral]

And yet the most popular classic companion who came back and got her own spinoff was... Sarah Jane Smith, regular human gal.

Aaaaand I want to point out that the big, red, glowy thing wasn't a sun. It was a planet.

True story. Was just about to post something similar. I'm pretty sure they specifically call it a planet early in the episode even.

The Doctor refers to it as a planet when he and Clara arrive. It's when he's telling her about the legend that all life began on 'that planet' in front of them.

Well then, there's that sorted with those reminders. Quibble dealt with, this episode is pretty much flawless.

the problems is, they killed off the smart, interesting victorian clara and replaced her with a boring amy-clone

You could do a whole lot worse than to clone Karen Gillan.

Fair enough. Certain companions will simply click faster than others. I know you're not a huge fan, but absolutely loved Donna right out of the gate. "The Runway Bride" Christmas Special is one of my all-time favorite episodes of the entire show, mostly because of Catherine Tate.

Runaway Bride's Donna was... ok. Terrible in the first half, pretty good by the end. But her second time round in Series 4 was absolutely fantastic right from the start.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The point of view character does not need to be from this Earth though. Luke Skywalker is the point of view character in Star Wars and he's from a desert planet. It's assuming the audience are utterly thick to think that they won't be able to relate to anybody not local.

I think you're the one who's making that assumption. The writers' assumption, is, I think, that the show is a study of contrasts and that it works much better when the eccentric alien is paired with a relatively normal contemporary human, just as Sherlock Holmes works best when paired with John Watson rather than, say another eccentric detective. Again, what you're describing here is the Ghost Cop & Martian Cop show, and I find that absolutely silly.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

The doctor took a massive chance here I thought. The only person that really seemed in trouble was the little girl. Everyone else on the seven planets had been getting along just nicely the last few millennia - they didnt seem particularly enslaved or anything. They just sacrified a little girl every thousand years or so to keep the peace.

Yeah last time I checked the Doctor didn't have a let people die becuase interfering with that is wrong for some reason rule. Or else earth would have been screwed during all those alien invasions seeing as it was only one planet being affected.

Im not saying its right but I doubt Picard would have intervened...

Yeah, and Picard once tried to let an entire civilization die becuase he couldn't be bothered to save as it was against the (at this point) pseudo religious version of the Prime Directive the TNG era Starfleet follows.

 

[The Wormhole]

I thought this was a pretty cool episode. Pretty decent sci-fi stuff what with all the aliens including a planet-sized life form which is worshipped as a god. And even a sly reference to classic Who ("I was here long ago with my granddaughter.")

The Doctor's speech to the god planet thing is definitely a defining moment and Matt Smit's coolest scene since the Stonehenge speech in The Pandorica Opens. It was a bit too damn predictable that Clara's leaf was going to be used to resolve things. I thought for sure she was going to trade that in to get the hoverbike. Since she didn't it came as no surprise she used it against the planet thing.

On the nitpick side of things, what were the Doctor and Clara breathing while flying on the hoverbike?

Still, an excellent serving from a new writer, and I look forward to his other episode later on this season. Not to mention, next week we have Ice Warriors on a frekaing Soviet submarine! I think this is shaping up to be the best season/half-season since Moffat took over.

 

[DalekJim]

I think you're the one who's making that assumption. The writers' assumption, is, I think, that the show is a study of contrasts and that it works much better when the eccentric alien is paired with a relatively normal contemporary human, just as Sherlock Holmes works best when paired with John Watson rather than, say another eccentric detective. Again, what you're describing here is the Ghost Cop & Martian Cop show, and I find that absolutely silly.

Well, I maintain your argument makes zero fucking sense as we're seeing Clara from The Doctor's point of view due to her mysterious, strange, timey-wimey nature. The Doctor is our point of view character in this scenario.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Oh and I really liked the "we don't walk away" bit.

 

[RoJoHen]

The companion as a modern-day human is fine, and it's one of the easiest ways to make the companion relatable to the audience. It only becomes annoying when the companions become interchangeable. One of the reasons I didn't like Martha is because she seemed like a re-hash of Rose, spending her whole season swooning over the Doctor. Donna was a nice change because she had a totally different personality.

Right now, unfortunately, Clara is just a nice girl. It's not a bad thing, but it's a little boring. I'm excited to see how she develops over the rest of the season. Her future Dalek self and her Victorian self had way more personality than her modern-day self, but it's possible that that's part of her mystery.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Well, I maintain your argument makes zero fucking sense as we're seeing Clara from The Doctor's point of view due to her mysterious, strange, timey-wimey nature.

That was unnecessarily rude. You shouldn't get so worked up about that kind of thing.

 

[DalekJim]

Well, I maintain your argument makes zero fucking sense as we're seeing Clara from The Doctor's point of view due to her mysterious, strange, timey-wimey nature.

That was unnecessarily rude. You shouldn't get so worked up about that kind of thing.

To be fair, yeah that does seem ruder than I intended when I wrote it. Ignore the swear word.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

To be fair, yeah that does seem ruder than I intended when I wrote it. Ignore the swear word.

Done.

 

[Stoo]

Much more memorable than last week. Felt quite epic, if a bit constrained by budget. But I love the concept of the angry god that feeds on souls, defined here as stories. And here comes the doctor with so many amazing, awful, wonderful, soul destroying stories that it gets nearly overwhelmed. (then Clara finishes it off). It's a reminder of just how much the Doctor has been through and how much he has both made and destroyed.

Music was maybe a bit overdone? I was wondering if it should be kept to the singing without the orchestral stuff kicking in.

Also I'm liking Clara slightly more with each ep. A bad start with the gabbling about soufles, but I could get to like her.

 

[Nightowl1701]

On the nitpick side of things, what were the Doctor and Clara breathing while flying on the hoverbike?

Clara had the AC going on the hoverbike.

 

[Saul]

Felt like they could have done more with the episode. I think have things tied into each other more in some way. A little richer story telling.

Looked pretty though.

But whores look pretty too.

 

[RoJoHen]

Felt like they could have done more with the episode. I think have things tied into each other more in some way. A little richer story telling.

This honestly felt like it could have been a two-parter. I barely even remember this episode having a middle.

 

[Konata Izumi]

The Doctor is a point of view character as is Clara not that either's point of viewness has anything to do with anything and there is a tiny bit more contrast in histories than with a Victorian one but not really. And it does not make a character weird to be a foreigner even if I'm setting the opposite example.

 

[Green Lantern]

I much prefer Clara to the Ponds. I was willing them to leave.

 

[Konata Izumi]

Making a story a tiny bit less fun to remove a part that causes trouble with many viewers, might sometimes be a wise move for the health of the show, especially after the quite unrelenting Series 6, even if it sets some poor example, but when you need to replace tons of stuff with banality to make the show work, there might be something wrong with the makers' ambitions and/or abilities, but at least that's not happening, when you look at the whole.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I much prefer Clara to the Ponds. I was willing them to leave.

No one likes companions once they're gone, or so it seems.