Spoilers The Tsuranga Conundrum grade and discussion thread

[Starkers]

I'm still liking Whittaker but she does need to tone down the Tennant-ish aspects of her performance. Whether it's the writing or what the showrunner / directors want her to go with or her own choice or whatever, I'd rather she was herself than a caricature of a Doctor I detest. Here's hoping, I suppose.

I thought she was very good in the pilot but to be honest I'm cooling on her as the weeks go on, I know she's a great actress but I just wished she owned the screen more. Whatever your view of Tennant he lit up the screen (to the point where it was hard for someone like Freema to shine in fairness). She doesn't have that innate alien quality that someone like Tom or Matt had, and isn't even pulling the cantankerous old man in a younger body vibe that was key to Davison making an impression despite being a more sedate Doctor (and which Matt did so well).

Obviously not every Doctor hits the ground running (it took me time to warm to both Tennant and Capaldi to be honest) and I'm sure she'll grow into the role as many Doctors have, I just don't want the defining trait of her Doctor to just be that she was a woman.

Have to say the outfit isn't helping (and I still refuse to believe such coordinated and obviously tailored clothes would wind up in a charity shop).

I know people will say I'm being unfair on her and that's fine I probably am being, and maybe it's down to the direction/Chibnall's scripts I don't know. Why I'm looking forward to next week.

 

[StCoop]

So once again a very small scale threat with only a few lives at stake, which is good because blowing up the Universe every other week got a bit old.

But then again also another episode in which the villiain gets away scott free. I know this was a bit different since it wasn't deliberately setting out to kill people, but I do wonder if some order has come down from on high that the Doctor can't be seen to kill anyone even indirectly.

 

[Starkers]

Lowest overnights so far, 6.12 million. Still very healthy but one has to hope they stabilise soon.

 

[StCoop]

Lowest overnights so far, 6.12 million. Still very healthy but one has to hope they stabilise soon.

Lot of families out last night in the UK. But it still beats the final figure for most episodes of last series and will probably get an increased timeshifted number.

 

[1001001]

Pretty good, IMHO. Enjoyable, adorable little monster. 7

Did The Doctor always have a stethoscope?



I like the space adventures. I am kind of bummed to see we're going back to Earth again next week.

 

[Timo]

Weird how it seems every episode now exists about 75% for the sake of building up an arc of some extremely vague sort...

I mean, the sonic mine? There for a reason, but we never get the reason. The rest is fluff. Or is supposed to be fluff in retrospect, when we learn it was all part of a bigger game. Which is about as stupid as you can do in drama.

At least the fluff didn't culminate in a mysterious letdown this week. Oh, the look on the Nibbler when the bomb went off! I want more orgasms like that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Judge Death has hit the nail on the head about Whittaker. She doesn't quite own the scene in the way Capaldi did in his first series - and he was fairly unsympathetic there, so the portrayal was arguably worse than Jodie's. But to me, it really feels like she's channeling Peter Davison, except Davison is one of UK's best actors ever, and Jodie's just really, really good. I may sound like I'm too hard, but keep in mind, I prefer the Thirteenth Doctor, but Capaldi was better as the Twelfth Doctor than Whittaker is, so far, as Thirteen. Does that make sense?

Anyway, good episode, a considerable improvement over the last one, and I actually thought this was Jodie's second-best turn in the series (second to her superb debut). But the monster, despite understanding the idea behind it, just didn't do it for me. Maybe if they made a joke about the preconceived notion of how a threatening monster should look like?

 

[Professor Zoom]

I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the creature. It was a lovely version of a base under siege episode. And I liked, unlike last week’s episode, the Doctor was really engaged in the story. I also like how much more character driven and character revealing Chibnall is over Moffat.

 

[Redfern]

When I first saw the PTing, well, after it's chubby frame made me think of the Slitheen, I thought more along the lines of Joe Dante's "Gremlins". I didn't even consider Futurama's "Nibbler" until I read the posts here. But, yeah, Nibbler is a far more apt comparison.

Was it ever noted why it spat out the Doctor's sonic when it retained everything else? Well, other than plot convenience, of course.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Was it ever noted why it spat out the Doctor's sonic when it retained everything else? Well, other than plot convenience, of course.

I guess because it sucked all of the energy out of the sonic, not knowing it would recharge itself.

But yeah, plot convenience.

 

[EnderAKH]

What I like about this episode and the season in general is it gets back to basics. The Doctor shows up, things go wrong, the doctor fixes it the best she can and moves on.

 

[Professor Zoom]

What I like about this episode and the season in general is it gets back to basics. The Doctor shows up, things go wrong, the doctor fixes it the best she can and moves on.

I would agree. Gone are a lot of time whimey shenanigans. Except for more focus on our core cast, character moments between them, this feels more akin to Doctor Who in the 70s and 80s than modern Who. It feels a little more stripped down.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

As much as I love Moffat (but more on a single-story basis than on an arc level), I agree that this season is refreshing to return to the basics. I want more of the "regular" sense of adventure and no more "the planet/universe/time/reality is coming to an end and only the almighty Doctor can save us!" mentality. The occasional dire threat is fine, but the escalating threats are old and tiresome now. Both Davies and Moffat were guilty of that.

 

[Redfern]

Often times when I'm watching an episode of Nu-Who, I'll wonder how (or maybe even "if") it could have been achieved during the "classic" years (63 thru 89). Obviously, many would prove difficult if not almost impossible unless many elements were "scaled down". But watching last night's outing gave me the sense of a Peter Davison adventure.

The minimalist design of the sets, particularly the fully automated command center looked like something we would have seen in the late 70s to early 80s. (Please, don't mistake this observation as a "slam".) I realize the "bare bones" aspect of the "bridge" was to drive home the point this ship does not need a conventional crew. Some of the screens I figure were flat screen OLEDs or something similar, but given the sparse animation, I can easily see this being done with simple back-lit art. Likewise the "engine" room. The set piece appeared to use some Telsa coil lighting elements, but I could imagine something of similar look from "way back", the "energy flow" created via lighting elements available at that time. (I keep thinking of the twinkling effect used for the "war" computer in "The Armageddon Factor".)

The only thing which stumps me is the PTing. Obviously digital animation was limited to graphics like we saw in "Logopolis", so a more conventional approach would have been required. I keep "waffling" between the idea of a puppet, shot "Muppet" style hiding the lower body and that of a "little person" in a costume, either opting for his or her actual size (3 to 4 feet) or maybe CSO (color separation overlay) to make the creature seem smaller.

What are your thoughts on this matter of idle speculation?

 

[Hey Missy]

As much as I love Moffat (but more on a single-story basis than on an arc level), I agree that this season is refreshing to return to the basics. I want more of the "regular" sense of adventure and no more "the planet/universe/time/reality is coming to an end and only the almighty Doctor can save us!" mentality. The occasional dire threat is fine, but the escalating threats are old and tiresome now. Both Davies and Moffat were guilty of that.

I don't see how the Moffat era didn't have a sense of adventure. He also did way more to deconstruct the heroic notion of the Doctor, and it either flew over peoples' heads or they didn't even watch the thing they were complaining about.

 

[matthunter]

I don't see how the Moffat era didn't have a sense of adventure. He also did way more to deconstruct the heroic notion of the Doctor, and it either flew over peoples' heads or they didn't even watch the thing they were complaining about.

Well, he deconstructed the notion of the Doctor as pure goodness. But he didn't really do down the "almighty" bit, in fact played it up. The Doctor became a dark and terrible force of nature. He got back to his roots a bit with the "idiot in a box" realisation at the end of Capaldi's first series, but that got undercut again in Series 9.

Chibbers has taken the Doctor back to the idealistic clever-clogs who can still mess up and who bad guys don't immediately tremble in fear of, and I think we needed that.

 

[Paul Weaver]

I was worried after the first couple f episodes but the last theee have been great. Far better than the Clara years. Dr Who is well and truly back.

Are we the only ones who thought “stitch” when the gremlin appeared? Half expected Heartbreak Hotel to be the solution.

 

[The Wormhole]

Rather meh, though I did enjoy the pregnant man. I wonder if this is similar to the pregnancy Captain Jack hinted at on Torchwood?

The monster was a bit too cute to be threatening.

 

[StalwartUK]

Meh. It was alright but not really anything above mediocre. Obviously done to save some money, with the limited sets and small cast.

The Edutainment elements they seem to be going for this series were quite noticeable here, with the Doctor delivering a lecture on the antimatter drive.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Ooh aye.

That was a fun episode.

Couple of things on facebook they posted this, and an image I found from the episode off one of the ship interfaces. Taken from the Doctor 13 facebook page.





The PTing made me think of the Adipose.... It was so cute