Doctor Who (Spoiler/Episode discussion)

Yes I'm not getting the "this wasn't really Doctor Who" thing. There's also partly an element of not just having the first female Doctor, but a more general change in the show's whole 'feel' and I think they are aiming for it not seeming like what we know as 'normal' Doctor Who. Given that normal DW had of late become rather lame, that's theoretically a good thing.

I do agree though that the baddie in this one was a bit bleurgh. There was no real sense of who or what he was. We're saying he was a random alien but I wondered if he was human but a murderous racist from the future who's got hold of the time bracelet thingy & other stuff and decided to undo what Parks did. Or else he is indeed a generally bigoted alien roaming the galaxy and disrupting civil rights wherever he sees them. But yes we expect alien baddies to disintegrate people rather than change a duty rosta, park inconveniently and stick some paper signs to bus stops! Maybe it's a new approach and we'll have giant snarling three-headed lizard beings doing a bit of graffiti and setting fire to litter bins. I'm surprised oxfordsimon found him pretty, I thought he had a really annoying punchable smirky face.

There is of course also the point made earlier, that in this episode the real villains were the humans of the time so maybe it was intentional to make the actual baddie seem comparatively tame.

Vinette Robinson was great, and it was good to see her get a decent appearance in following her previous one in 42 when she got to scream a bit then be reduced to a charcoal mark on the wall.

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought that. I don't mind the history lesson eps when they are executed well (eg. that ep with Vincent Van Gogh), but this? Meh. The bad guy was awful, the storyline was just lazy, and yeah, I was beginning to get earache from the preachy-ness and rambling, especially from Yaz and the Doctor to an extent. I appreciate they want to get a message across, but I wouldn't have done it like that. Plus the absolute tat of a song they put on at the end of the episode after the pivotal moment on the bus was a very bad idea.

OK, there was some redeeming qualities: Rosa Parks' actress wasn't half bad at all, and Bradley Walsh in anything is never not a good thing, imo.

After last weeks social drama episode, we get the attack of the spiders. This definitely wasn't one for the arachnophobes was it? I don't mind spiders, but even I would be shouting more than HOLY.... if I encountered one of them in my house or a hotel. Big beasties weren't they?! You definitely needed a bit more than bug spray to kill those. I would  certainly be writing a letter of complaint to Environmental Health if I came face to face with those spiders in a hotel.

Spiders aside, it was nice to see Yaz get a bit more character development this week. As others have mentioned, and which I tend to agree with, out of the 3 companions, hers is the least developed to date. So it was nice for her of it character to get a bit more flesh as it were.

Overall, JW is settling in nicely into the role I feel, though at times there is still the odd trace of a Matt Smith Dr lurking around. By the looks of it, we are getting back into the more sci-fi element next week if the promo is anything to go by. I have to admit with this new series its nice just to have some stand alone stories rather than a series long arc. The "Bad Wolf" one I actually enjoyed, but the others under Moffat, I really didn't like as at times they really didn't make much sense watching them unfold. Though I would have liked to have seen at least one 2parter in this series, but alas, this isn't happening.

One thing I am glad about is that the producers have decided to rest the traditional enemies for this series and just keep with introducing new ones. Though I must admit, even though its early on in the series, there hasn't been any enemies I think will stand the test of time like the Daleks, Cybermen or even the Master, but hopefully I will be proven wrong in the coming weeks if they can get a decent enemy that is well written and actually poses a real threat to the TARDIS team.

I agree with both these points. Even with the first female Doctor being announced, I still thought the show needed some kind of general overhaul. Both the things you mention are good examples of that. I got tired of the blessed, inviolable Story Arc, and the regular re-appearances of the Daleks and Cybermen despite (it seems to me) more than one assertion that either have finally been completely wiped out.

Come to Australia, I can hook you up with an 8 legs.
Oh sorry, you want a mechanical one. Ours don't have batteries! 😂

Ha ha thanks theatemonkey! Yeah I’m not too happy about them changing it from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day, it’s become a Christmas tradition to watch Doctor who while fishing all the orange creams out of the quality street! I’ll just be hungover and miserable all New Year’s Day and annoyed I have to go back to work the next day. Booooo to this announcement!

That is always the perk of being the one to offer to get up and get a box of chocolates - you can hide all the good ones before going back into the sitting room and then have a nice stash for Doctor Who time. It's also usually about the time I open the Baileys...

“Good number, 51. Number of federalist papers written by Alexander Hamilton. I love that show. I’ve seen all 900 casts.”

Hehehehe.

Short, chubby, always hungry and dangerous when approached - they based the Pting on me!

Seriously though, I thought this episode was ‘meh.’ Didn’t really excite me! And poor Mandip Gill, Yaz is such a boring character! Thank god for the eye candy Ryan and comic relief Graham!

A decent episode in my opinion and getting back to the more tradiitional elements of WHO. Surely the Pting creature is going to be made into a toy ready for Xmas?

Those of us who have noted that Mandip Gill is being criminally underused in the stories shown so far, so hopefully next weeks episode should rectify this situation as from the clips at the end of the episode for next weeks seem to focus on her character.

Wow you are so "message"-sensitive you're ready and primed to sniff them out in later episodes and pre-emptively pounce! Then again, maybe not... You didn't think this last one was messaging in some way then? The Pting gobbling up all the energy = warning about us using up Earth's resources = bad.... or something? Come on, I'd have thought that might set your message antennae pulsing.

I thought it was the best one since the opening episode. It had a good pace and more sense of actual peril. And 'Pting' sounds like a Don Martin sound effect, in case that makes sense to anyone.

That's 3.5 out of 4 episodes so far by Chibnall. Do we know if he's writing more pound for pound than previous showrunners?