Spoilers The Woman Who Fell to Earth grade and discussion thread

[Allyn Gibson]

I believe the historicals in the B&W days were associated with lower ratings and were dropped for that reason. Maybe that fear persists? I don't really know.

The "lower ratings" reason is an urban legend; historicals didn't do any worse than the more science-fictional stories around them. The historicals went away after "The Highlanders" (which I love) because producer Innes Lloyd didn't like the format and thought having monsters was best.

When I pitched a story to Declan May for Seasons of War 2 (which May cancelled), I pitched a pure historical because I thought it would be fun to write a pure historical War Doctor story. The pitch was rejected and, frankly, I felt like I dodged a bullet given the way things went with the Seasons project. The story, suffice it to say, involved a war, but I won't say which one. Maybe, some day, I can repurpose it for something else.

 

[BritishSeaPower]

Hopefully there is a good mystery there that the writers are going to tell.

My gut feeling is that the TARDIS (and especially the console) blowing up is going to be a plot explanation for the TARDIS going back to random locations and the Doctor not having control over it. Perhaps we'll be less tied to Earth and more likely to see the companions exit at random places again. Something we haven't really seen in the new series.

You aínt seen much torchwood. Or this first episode. Dignity and respect is...thinly spread in occasional areas. That’s why some human characters can walk past a corpse without much bothering about it now the exposition was done on another corpse, and why random grandad is established as one before his gruesome death, because he isn’t plot armour grandad who survived cancer. It’s a little clumsy. I am looking forward to some non chibnall stories.

I keep seeing this granddad on the phone death being brought up and I can't fathom why. This is a basic way to make the death of a supernumerary have impact. Someone on another forum (I don't think it was this one!) noted that it was very Chris Claremont, the X-Men writer, who would often attribute biographical information to a character who was killed off, sometimes with a whole paragraph about their motivations and fears on the same page they died.

 

[David cgc]

I keep seeing this granddad on the phone death being brought up and I can't fathom why.

Yeah, but it had already happened several times in the episode. The threat had been established. The Doctor had a complete plan of action and is set on preventing Tim Shaw from killing his target so, naturally, Tim Shaw kills off a rando. Dramatically, it just feels mean-spirited to continue killing people off even once the stage is set for the final confrontation, and it undercuts the "everybody matters" thing. A lot of people thought Moffat's era was relatively toothless, but it seems like the alternative is so much casual (yet still commented-upon) murder that we get the tiresome, awful, "Does the hero just create more problems?" theme that certain producers loved to bring up without ever actually rebutting.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

My gut feeling is that the TARDIS (and especially the console) blowing up is going to be a plot explanation for the TARDIS going back to random locations and the Doctor not having control over it. Perhaps we'll be less tied to Earth and more likely to see the companions exit at random places again. Something we haven't really seen in the new series.

I hope you're right. I miss the days of The Doctor having no idea where they were going and companions departing in different locations and times from where and when they started. Both of those added to the spirited adventure!

 

[Refuge]

Grade: Somewhere between Fair and Good. I don't know but the "after feeling" is a little underwhelmed.

Still, early days

 

[Samurai8472]

I was thinking of going to see this in the theater tonight but we've got 50 degree winds. I watched the premiere already but I thought a large crowd would be fun

After watching it I don't think a theater premiere would be all that exciting. The episode is pretty slow paced. It doesn't have that fast paced urgency of Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat's "The Eleventh Hour"

 

[auntiehill]

I gave it a good to very good rating. I really liked the performance and the companions. The baddie-plot was a bit underwhelming but the overall feel and tone were great. Your mileage may vary, of course.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the season.

 

[Gavin70]

Despite the different casings, don't all the Sonic screwdrivers have the same programming? That was a plot point in The Day of the Doctor.

I'm assuming that the programming is updated by the TARDIS. The sonic has been destroyed on a number of occasions (most notably in The Visitation) so there has to be some backup of the software. Although it was only a plot point in The Day of the Doctor because they needed to run the calculations to save Gallifrey over hundreds of years so they needed the same software running. Now that that's done it wouldn't matter if it's entirely new software. But I'd be happy to assume that once she finds the TARDIS the new sonic will link up and pick up the original programming (even if we never actually see that on screen).

 

[Bilbo Baggins]

I liked the episode, Jodie seemed quite at home in the role, and this should only increase over time.

 

[jaime]

My gut feeling is that the TARDIS (and especially the console) blowing up is going to be a plot explanation for the TARDIS going back to random locations and the Doctor not having control over it. Perhaps we'll be less tied to Earth and more likely to see the companions exit at random places again. Something we haven't really seen in the new series.



I keep seeing this granddad on the phone death being brought up and I can't fathom why. This is a basic way to make the death of a supernumerary have impact. Someone on another forum (I don't think it was this one!) noted that it was very Chris Claremont, the X-Men writer, who would often attribute biographical information to a character who was killed off, sometimes with a whole paragraph about their motivations and fears on the same page they died.

Audience considerations. If you are aiming say...twelve and up, maybe an eight thirty time slot....then fine. It’s leaning into the alleged ‘black humour’ we saw in Torchwood. 7.35 and the still watching CBeebies crowd? Nah. Even if we go with the ‘kids are tougher/should be tougher’ argument that some people roll out, most parents probably wouldn’t be happy with it. It’s crass and poor storytelling too. Shrug.

 

[jaime]

The thing it most reminded me of in places, visually, was Last of the Summer wine.
Also...why would Ryan dangle his feet over that massive drop? He falls off things, that’s his thing.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Also...why would Ryan dangle his feet over that massive drop? He falls off things, that’s his thing.

To take it a step further, I could not understand why they thought it was a good idea for him to be trying to ride his bike up there in the first place, discoordinated as he was. If he can just toss his bike down from up there so that it gets stuck up in a tree....

 

[jaime]

To take it a step further, I could not understand why they thought it was a good idea for him to be trying to ride his bike up there in the first place, discoordinated as he was. If he can just toss his bike down from up there so that it gets stuck up in a tree....

That was magical location hopping. I am not even sure the second bit of forest was in the same country. Either way, as someone who can’t ride a bike as an adult, I think by his age I had pretty much given up on it.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Yeah, but it had already happened several times in the episode. The threat had been established. The Doctor had a complete plan of action and is set on preventing Tim Shaw from killing his target so, naturally, Tim Shaw kills off a rando. Dramatically, it just feels mean-spirited to continue killing people off even once the stage is set for the final confrontation, and it undercuts the "everybody matters" thing. A lot of people thought Moffat's era was relatively toothless, but it seems like the alternative is so much casual (yet still commented-upon) murder that we get the tiresome, awful, "Does the hero just create more problems?" theme that certain producers loved to bring up without ever actually rebutting.

I know Chibnall talked about going more old-school classic-series style, but I really REALLY hope this isn’t a start back to the JNT era where casual violence was the norm and sometimes the Doctor and Companions were the only ones still standing by the end.

 

[VDCNI]

I doubt they'll embrace the casual violence of the 80's, but most Doctor Who has shown the villains kill innocent people. I don't see how this episode was different to the 60's and 70's or the RTD years.

 

[Marc]

I doubt they'll embrace the casual violence of the 80's, but most Doctor Who has shown the villains kill innocent people. I don't see how this episode was different to the 60's and 70's or the RTD years.

Horror Of Fang Rock anyone?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Despite the different casings, don't all the Sonic screwdrivers have the same programming? That was a plot point in The Day of the Doctor.

When the Doctor plugs it into the charging dock in the TARDIS, it probably syncs automatically. Not to mention software updates.

 

[Christopher]

I just saw an interview with Chris Chibnall, and it's surprising how much he looks like Russell T. Davies. Steven Moffat is also a fairly similar physical type. Weird.

 

[VDCNI]

Horror Of Fang Rock anyone?

Which was unusual even then and actually there's not a huge amount of blatant violence or gore in it unlike some of the mid eighties stories.

 

[jaime]

I know Chibnall talked about going more old-school classic-series style, but I really REALLY hope this isn’t a start back to the JNT era where casual violence was the norm and sometimes the Doctor and Companions were the only ones still standing by the end.

That started under capaldi. Tried watching with little one again and...within ten minutes there’s a kid under the ice and had to turn off. It’s one of the reasons I am pretty sure we are within three years at best of another cancellation. History repeats after all.