Doctor Who- The New Series (W/O spoilers)

Whew...Ok, my thoughts on this weeks episode.

I just didn't like it very much. I didn't see it as 'laughable', but I did feel bad about the structure of the episode and the way it was handled. It just seemed very rushed, very flabby and very, very random. Several concepts and events were brought up and just rushed over, explaining very little. I remember something about bees being alien and them giving off some sort of signal and Harriet Jones and Co somehow getting the whole world to phone the Doctor and Dalek Caan saving Davros. There were just so many vague aspects that I had to take in, and the problem with the episode is that it was just fast paced and hurried and action packed all the way through.

There were no quiet intervals, no time to think, nothing in the episode that was actually thought-provoking. It wasn't scary at all, just fast. I knew that Davros and the Daleks were coming back, there was no surprise element at all. It was just over crammed with references and past character, as though RTD has sat there looking over his old scripts and thought "hmm I'll 'ave that and that, this can be slipped in somewhere, oh wonderful I'll shove that in as well and I'll put all of these characters in". Again, there was no breathing space to allow me to take in what each companion was doing, what references were made, what was going on and what the characters were thinking. I could barely fathom any of it because everything was going at a lightening fast pace.

With 'Turn Left', I could empathize with the character's feelings, because they were portrayed so well in the crisis. In this heap, we didn't see any of that. We didn't see how other people were being affected, their terror, their feelings, apart from the 10 second bit where the one family tried to rebel.

Rose really got on my tits in this episode. Again she's being treated like some sort of old flame, and her pining came back. "Oh what about me? Don't you love me?" and all that ****. I was so glad that the Doctor was shot down mid-clinch, I was really ready to get angry when I saw them making for eachother's arms. Why oh why can't the Doctor get over Rose? Oh, and slight goof here, the Dalek shot the Doctor dead, why didn't he shoot Rose when she rushed over and dragged him to the TARDIS? Did the Dalek think "Ah sod it, she's bent over and I like her arse, I'll leave her be".

So that's what I didn't like, here are some of the things I did like.

Davros. Truly magnificent. He looked and sounded awesome, and it certainly was pleasant watching his encounter with the Doctor, the only such scene that truly gripped me in this episode.

The Daleks. Same old really, but still very fun to watch, and I also loved the "my vision is NOT impaired! Weren't expecting that, were you? Suck on that, ass hole!" as was Dalek Caan. He was interesting to say the least, but what bothered me is the way he was supposed to have 'lost his mind'. I thought the Daleks already had lost their mind. I thought they were driven insane with fear and claustrophobia and hatred, I'm not sure I can see how a Dalek can deteriorate any further, especially into that.

The acting. All the acting was convincing as ever, and Wilfred was, again, a joy to see. I admit I found the short comic exchanges between him and Sylvia delightful.

Paul O'Grady. Ok it probably wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but I thought it was a delightful cameo.

The ending, simply for shock factor and effect as a cliff hanger, I really cannot wait to see what happens to him.

So that's it. It had some redeeming features, but overall I felt that this episode was just very, very messy. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow, maybe it will be clearer. There were, to be fair, a lot of people in the room talking when I was trying to watch, so maybe my concentration wasn't all there, but we'll see. I can see this has been a popular one, so you're all free to shoot this review down and rebut it.

I thought Dalek Caan sounded a bit like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings . Or a bit like the elves from the 1960s radio adaptation of The Hobbit .

The dalek who show the Doctor was killed seconds after he did so by Captain Jack... hope that clears things up a bit

Oh balls, yes, of course he was. Sorry.

Well that was a piece of awesome. Just so epic.

Can't begin to think what'll happen next week but if DT regenerates I will be in a state of confused and shocked admiration at them keeping the secret. Some truly magnificent acting tonight - CT in the scene where the Doctor/Rose reunited was superb, I love how she truly is just a companion and doesn't love him, and was genuinely happy for him.

Davros - what can I say, immense.

SFX - so so. Not as jaw dropping as the Pompeii eps as they seemed to be out of any league we'd seen but many scenes tonight were fantastic.

Cliffhanger - one of the best ever. TW team in peril, SJS in peril ... the regeneration... and no next time segment.

Anyway, it was one of those 'shaking like a leaf after' episodes, and I can't imagine what'll happen next week. All in all, fine, fine show.

I would echo most of what you said, really. I was watching alone and found my concentration drifting within the opening few minutes.

The idea of reuniting all the past associates to come together and help the Doctor is good - but it seems to have been shoe-horned onto a fairly meaty story in and of itself.

The resultant script really did neither aspect justice, as we had no time to see the relationships between the players, nor a calmly put exposition of the plot. The bees thing was lost on me as was so many other details.

Also - the most frightful round of "mashing the keyboard" shots tonight. Soon as the panic started they were all thundering away on their QWERTYs. The best example being the "former Prime Minister" who went for the two digit random-prodding approach.

Wasn't keen on some of the music in the show - it sounded a bit like I was watching bits of one of the offshoot shows. It lacked the stunning scores we've had this series.

That said, it was a great performance from Davros and a great cliffhanger. I'm sure it will improve with a second viewing as I really didn't take enough information in for it to have made sense.

Interesting critical views Ronnie and Gavin.

I actually disagree, and think that where TSoD/LoTL lacked clarity this was more than acceptable. My only qualm was the phoning bit, that seemed lazy to me. Overall though it was just breathtakingly momentous. It just felt so momentous, all of it.

'Have you got a webcam?'
'She wouldn't let me, she says they're naughty.'

For anyone who doesn't want to see the trailer for the next episode, avoid BBC One from about 12:57 till 13:01.

I agree with Gavin totally on the "bee" bit. Considering the "bees are disappearing" has been mentioned frequently during the series, the actual explanation escaped me. Perhaps as Ronnie said because everything just moved so fast. A few seconds of this and a few seconds of that just to get everything in.

However, that is the only element of the episode that passed me by. While Ronnie is correct in saying that the Rose reunion thing was a bit schmaltzy, I do think it is a fabulous idea to bring everything in RTD's four series to a head just to wrap things up. I too thought the music wasn't as strong as previous episodes, perhaps a bit too Torchwoody!

All those negativities said, I must said that if you don't think about things too much, or over analyze, this was by far the best penultimate episode of the relaunch to date. Far superior to the rather daft "Big Brother" episode of the first series and for effects and total awe this certainly beats last years finale. With the magnificent ending and the lack of trailer afterwards, I thought last nights episode, considering it was a British show with a very small budget in comparison to US sci-fi, was a first class piece of television. Entertaining, enjoyable and damn good fun.

I loved that line, Bernard Cribbins has been my favourite character throughout this series, he's just been so brilliant

As for the episode, I rather enjoyed it even if, as you say, it was a bit of a mess in places. The "My vision is not impared" was a nice little bit of humour added in a bleak episode.

Like Rose's jealousy over Martha, even though she's never met her. Julian Bleech was excallent as Davros & the makeup looked even better than it did in the promo pics. Also like the totally insane Dalek Caan & The Red Dalek looked good as well.

As for the ending, that was great a real proper cliff hanger, left me wanting more & when the TO BE CONTINUED came up at the end & we got no preview I just thought "You b*st*rds".

8.5/10, not perfect but fun nonsense anyway.

I disagree entirely. Yes, I did think it was difficult to believe that Big Brother would still be on all those years away, especially with a robotized version of the host, but after that was out of the way it was a good story. 'Army of Ghosts' from 2006 was awesome, but the best, and it was miles better than any of the penultimate episodes so far, was 'The Sound of Drums'. It was so perfectly paced, written and performed. The Master was outstanding and insane, and the exchanges between the Doctor and The Master were awesome and chilling. Here we had no rushing, no hastily explained things, no overblown action. Just a strong, scary plan being carried out, and the Master constantly winning against the Master.

Now, LoTTL, THAT was a disappointment.