Spoilers Orphan 55 grade and discussion thread

[Starkers]

Lewin Lloyd (Roger from His Dark Materials).

THANK YOU! I couldn't place him

I liked that far more than I think I should have because it was all over the place. You're in a Tardis that can go anywhere but Graham's collecting holiday vouchers? (though as someone on Twitter said, that's a very Graham thing to do). Too many guest stars, and some editing felt a bit off, like we were missing scenes. Sums up one problem I've had with NuWho since it came back in that the classic series had time to world build and build tension. Some of the guest cast were poor, and it seems a waste to get Laura Fraser and just give her generic shooty bird character. The “It was Earth all along!” bit was predictable, and the speech at the end far too on the nose.

And yet…it clopped along at a good pace, I was never bored (annoyed but never bored) and I thought Jodie was great, she’s seemed much better in these last two episodes. Someone said it felt like midrange RTD and I’d agree, is it any worst then The Long Game or The Doctor’s Daughter? Then again I oddly like both of those so clearly I’m just weird. I’m probably being generous giving it 7 but compared to shit like the Tsuranga Conundrum last year I’d rather have this. If this is the worst episode of the season I’ll be a happy bunny.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

THANK YOU! I couldn't place him

You're welcome! I recognized those eyes and freckles right away. He wasn't listed in IMDb yet for Doctor Who, but seeing his face with the name was enough to confirm it for me.

...and some editing felt a bit off, like we were missing scenes. Sums up one problem I've had with NuWho since it came back in that the classic series had time to world build and build tension.

I find that frustrating, too, so it's not a surprise that my favorite stories, especially in the RTD years, are the two-parters (with the exception of those expertly written by the likes of Gaiman, pre-showrunner Moffat, occasionally Whithouse). Granted, many of the classic serials had way too much filler as a result of the episode lengths, but many of the great serials really benefited with that kind breathing room. I can't imagine a story like The Talons of Weng-Chiang (sans the yellow face, of course) or Genesis of the Daleks or The War Games (some would argue it has a lot of filler, but I disagree) containing the same kind of nuance and layers that they have if they were produced in the same neck-break pace of today.

Some of the guest cast were poor, and it seems a waste to get Laura Fraser and just give her generic shooty bird character.

I really seem to be only person who really enjoyed the guest cast, size and all. Yeah, Fraser was a little wasted here but she chewed up the scenery well enough with what she got.

And yet…it clopped along at a good pace, I was never bored (annoyed but never bored) and I thought Jodie was great, she’s seemed much better in these last two episodes. Someone said it felt like midrange RTD and I’d agree, is it any worst then The Long Game or The Doctor’s Daughter? Then again I oddly like both of those so clearly I’m just weird. I’m probably being generous giving it 7 but compared to shit like the Tsuranga Conundrum last year I’d rather have this. If this is the worst episode of the season I’ll be a happy bunny.

Well, I would say this episode is much better than either of those, but I'm in the vast minority regarding "The Doctor's Daughter"...

And I loved "The Tsuranga Conundrum" so maybe I'm the weird one here.

 

[StCoop]

After the fist two episodes I thought they might have learned their lesson and dropped the simplistic, patronising moralising but more fool me. This was on the level of the PSAs that would pop up at the end of an episode of He-Man.

And was there no one involved in make the show (let alone Chibnall) who found themselves thinking, "I'm sure Doctor Who has done exactly this twist before..."

 

[YellowSubmarine]

- Yet another resort planet gone wrong episode? Bad feeling from the start.
- Computer virus that has a physical form in order to infect nervous systems, and converts bad fuel into good fuel? Looking for the dumbest thing on purpose much?
- Pointless trip outside is pointless. Learn it's a trap, then keep going. It's the smart thing to do. Make sure it's a wild goose chase, we love those.
- Oh, it's Earth. That was the good part. Except not, because the rest of the episode brought the whole idea into the ground.

- So, let me get this straight, global warming causes misplacement, hunger and war (yes, that it does), which escalates into a nuclear war and causes a nuclear winter (so far so good – it is a fair warning, it theoretically could), which turns the Earth into an uninhabitable wasteland (woah, you're getting ahead of yourselves there), and CAUSES THE FUCKING SUN TO EMIT DANGEROUS RADIATION (ok, now you're on drugs), and the survivors turn into sentient CO₂-breathing xenomorphs (look up breathing on Wikipedia, please).

Protip: If you show realistic humans in the wake of the catastrophe (could still work with an alien resort in the middle), that would deliver your point way better than a disjointedly written speech attempting to explain the witnessed bullocks, and informing you of a ridiculous and impossible chain of events that would occur, and make us all ugly, if we don't deal with the warming of the planet.

Drop the fucking hyperbola, people won't start taking things more seriously if you told them dicks would start growing out of their earlobes if they didn't. In the time that Australia is burning, and people are evacuated away from red skies above their homes in military ships, it almost feels offensive... Global warming – will make your teeth big, your jaw will protrude out of your mouth, and your eyes will turn black!

- Now, back to the story. Shoot the surviving humans. Shoot the fuckers. Don't forget it's bad they turned out that way because you find them ugly. Shoot them. They are monsters, they kill everybody for no reason, make sure there's no story there. Bella is destroying stuff up because of mummy issues, the surviving humans are destroying stuff for no reason because you know how they are. Don't even suggest they might be angry because the people on vacation look like the ruling elites that evacuated, there doesn't need to be any story continuity.

- While you're shooting the humans, make sure everyone else dies too. That's what a time machine is for.

- Oh, cool. The kid is smarter and is a better mechanic than his father. I guess that's what this episode was about, because it was the only thing not on the negative.

Also: We're on Earth. Let's make sure we never learn anything more about it, or never find any Earth stuff that might be useful to the story's resolution. Earth is just the background. We can forget about it, and just let it die, amirite?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Shoot the surviving humans. Shoot the fuckers.

- While you're shooting the humans, make sure everyone else dies too.

Charming.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

Another "woke" episode, huh? How many viewers will be driven away from Doctor Who this time?

 

[Nightowl1701]

One or two more 'holidays' like that and even the most hardcore Companion (or viewer) could be forgiven for bailing, throwing every nasty word they could at the Doctor on their way out the TARDIS door.

 

[Doctor Bombay]

It left me less than enthusiastic.

 

[SolarisOne]

How many viewers will be driven away from Doctor Who this time?

I won't be driven away, but only because I'm waiting to see how the season arc set up in the first two episodes plays out. Those two episodes were good. (Of course, I always like it when the Master shows up.)

This one is almost as bad as "Love and Monsters", and boring besides.

 

[Marc]

hopefully this episode is a one off from who ever wrote it.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I kept thinking is it over? As I wanted to turn it off.

 

[bigdaddy]

I hate all the internet dicks who are like "SJW are BS!!!", but jesus christ that episode was awful.

And Something I have been wondering, when did The Doctor get mind meld powers?

 

[Marc]

I hate all the internet dicks who are like "SJW are BS!!!", but jesus christ that episode was awful.

And Something I have been wondering, when did The Doctor get mind meld powers?

At least since the Three Doctors though if you mean between the doctor and non-timelords, I'm not sure.

A Memory wipe as seen last week were used in the novel No Future but can't remember a prior on-screen use.

 

[Australis]

I'm so so sorry for Whittaker who as seen in other series is strong but her a combination of terrible scripts and some poor choices about the character of her Doctor have left her all at sea.

So, Capaldi all over again?

That was a bloody ordinary episode I ended up skipping through because tedious.

 

[bigdaddy]

At least since the Three Doctors though if you mean between the doctor and non-timelords, I'm not sure.

A Memory wipe as seen last week were used in the novel No Future but can't remember a prior on-screen use.

She just seems to do a mind meld every episode now and I don't remember that being used that often.

And how did The Doctor erase Donna's memory? That was a partial mind wipe.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'm not quite clear, was the initial breach that killed everyone off because of the Dregs or Bella. Weird message throwing in this psycho chick into the mix.

They killed off Hyph3n, you bastards! I think she was supposed to be a cat despite her resemblance to Barf based on the Doctor's barking threat.

I liked all the old school Doctor Who stuff like Hyph3n and the green haired guys. Even Yaz's outfit seemed like a throwback to the days where'd you'd tune in to see what fabulous tackiness Jo and Sarah Jane would be wearing. Shame about the episode around it though with a little tweaking it could've worked.

- Oh, cool. The kid is smarter and is a better mechanic than his father. I guess that's what this episode was about, because it was the only thing not on the negative.

It just hit me I think that's supposed to be the "OK Boomer" moment to tell all the kids watching to listen to Greta and rise up.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Doctor is a ###king liar.

2157. The Dalek Invasion. All human industry stops and there's 6 billion human corpses layng about. Nearly 10 years of raining nukes and plague from orbit. Is the Dalek mining situation, burrowing to the centre of the earth going to muck with the Racnos or that Green shit from Inferno?

Ecologically, if humanity has been decimated, the Dalek's deserve a medal for ENVIRONMENTALISM. Earth thanks you our benevolent alien overlords.

27th century, the sun goes bat shit. Most humans leave, some stay on Space Station Nerva. THE PLANET BURNS.

31st century, the Silurians who met Rory and Amy wake up, and they are super pissed.

Theory... Its the Silurians who gene mod the last humans, satellites and bunkers, into the dregs as biological Terra formers, and then go back to sleep for another thousand years.

40th century, thousands of Popsicles wake up on space Station Nerva and reclaim a pristine untouched completely fixed Earth.

50th century, Australia is on fire again.

She had to be lying about time lines and potential futures, other wise every third adventure she had would be somewhen where the NAZIs had one WWII.

 

[Xerxes82]

Wow, this was awful. I'm having a hard time finding anything about this episode I liked. The Doctor remains completely useless. The moralizing was more heavy handed than a PSA, and the resolution was "everyone dies but the kid and Team TARDIS as we flee."

I think this may be my least favorite episode since Love and Monsters. It's not as bad as that, but it's close. Fear Her bad, which I'd hoped we left behind with those prior two episodes. Ouch.

Also, could we please, at some point, find something for Jodie Whittaker to do? They go and cast a delightful actress and then they just have her phone it in week after week. Give the Doctor some bite. Some anger, some depression, something! She's a smiling idiot who is very nearly superfluous to her own show. If it's a time issue, drop Ryan and Yaz. Keep Graham, he's the only reason I'm still watching.

Man, another episode or two like this and I may just give up on this show until we get new creatives.

 

[Mr Awe]

"so what you are saying Doc is the future is not fixed and we can change it?"

"yes!"

"So we can take the Tardis and simply appear before those two are killed and they can leap in!"

I thought she was actually going to do that at the end! I don't see any in-series time logic that would prevent her. Unless their deaths were fixed points--but that doesn't seem likely!

 

[Lakenheath 72]

it was established as early as The Sensorites that the Time Lords had some level of telepathy, when Susan communicated with the Sensorites. (TARDIS wiki)