Funny how some 45 minute episodes of nuWho seem to fly by instantly, while some 24 minute episodes of the Classic series seem to drag on forever. lol
5x02 The Beast Below (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)
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Funny how some 45 minute episodes of nuWho seem to fly by instantly, while some 24 minute episodes of the Classic series seem to drag on forever. lol
Considering that it's widely known that there was a small budget cut this year I'm wondering if the pay-off for the 65 minute runtime of "The Eleventh Hour" might be shaving a minute or two (or in this case four) off the remaining dozen episodes keeping the overall season runtime (excluding Christmas Special) at 9 and three quarter hours.
Isn't the Dalek one also supposed to run 65 minutes?
It was a 41 minute episode. I guess with no commercials, that is short, and maybe they could have made it 45, but I thought it was the right length. Heck, everyone is saying how the episode was rushed. I didn't think so.
Strange timing, it felt like quite a bit happened, but they didn't spend too much time on any one part.
The runtime makes me think maybe there was a subplot that helped explain things a bit more (the true purpose of the smilers, etc) That overran the episode and ended up getting cut out entirely.
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no its 45 minutes, the BBC Press website is run by lazy hacks who have no notion of what the BBC is actually showing.
Ah. Thanks.
Someone said that Eleven's clothes look like Buckaroo Banzai
^^ Not as much as Orville Redenbacher
Well if we're gonna play this game...
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God, that's harsh. 
The more I think about this episode the better I like it - I'd have rated it "excellent" today.
Moffat kinda likes this business of using living creatures in place of machine workings - ala "The Girl In The Fireplace," again.
The more I think about this episode the better I like it - I'd have rated it "excellent" today.
Moffat kinda likes this business of using living creatures in place of machine workings - ala "The Girl In The Fireplace," again.
also the little girl in Silence In The Library.God, that's harsh.
The more I think about this episode the better I like it - I'd have rated it "excellent" today.
Moffat kinda likes this business of using living creatures in place of machine workings - ala "The Girl In The Fireplace," again.
Looks like initial viewing figures are out.
The programme had an audience of 6.4 million on BBC One, with an additional 330,000 watching on BBC HD. A big drop from last week. Thanks to football and nice weather though, tv viewing was down all across the board. It was STILL the most watched show for Saturday.
It also scored an 86 AI, (about average for DW) which is pretty damn high.
The programme had an audience of 6.4 million on BBC One, with an additional 330,000 watching on BBC HD. A big drop from last week. Thanks to football and nice weather though, tv viewing was down all across the board. It was STILL the most watched show for Saturday.
It also scored an 86 AI, (about average for DW) which is pretty damn high.
Well if we're gonna play this game...
Nah, he's got Orville's jacket, I'm telling ya.
Absolutely. For all we know, Elizabeth X helped design the system in the first place, and set up the whole ten-year loop because she knew her personality well enough that even with her memory wiped, she would always inevitably discover the truth.
The whole system of forgetting, indeed their whole system of government, seems to be based on the fact that the Government of Spaceship UK knows that what it is doing is wrong, wrong, wrong, yet completely necessary to their continued survival. The Queen gets her memory wiped every ten years as a temporary respite from her guilt, and her Government (Hawthorne and his helpers), who presumably can never have their memories wiped (since someone needs to remember to ensure things continue to run) try to live with themselves with the knowledge that their people support what they're doing, since most of them choose to Forget rather than Protest every time they learn the truth at five-year intervals. And based on Amy's reaction, they press "Forget" not because they're worried about what happens when they press "Protest" (no one knows for sure, since the people who Protest are killed before they can tell anyone else what "Protest" does) but because they are wracked with guilt about their terrible crime yet know that the continued survival of their whole society is dependent on that crime.
Basically, the society of Starship UK is like the society of Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, except rather than having a malevolent, power-hungry government controlling the minds of the population for the sake of their continued power, they have a benevolent government controlling the minds of the population for the sake of their consciences and their society's continued existence.
Maybe I'm over-analyzing the episode, but I really did find the premise intriguing.
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On a basic level it's a satire of every contemporary democracy: "Every five years, you forget everything you've learned."
A lot of what Smith is doing with his hands and arms, his "stiff" sort of mannerisms, and his looks and stares -- especially during his "We're inspecting all the water in this area. Escaped fish" bit -- reminds me of Patrick Troughton.
Someone said that Eleven's clothes look like Buckaroo Banzai
^^ Not as much as Orville Redenbacher
Well if we're gonna play this game...
The wisdom and age of Orville, the ability to travel between dimensions of Buckaroo, and the zaniness of Peewee.
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