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I liked it! Saw it last night. I don't think those quote count as plot holes though.

I think the doctor was right to walk off, he shouldn't have to tell what he thought was right since it was very obvious what his opinion was.

So I was not really looking forwards to this weeks episode at all due to the idea of the Orient Express in space. Stupid, stupid, stupid thought I, cheap old BBC reusing sets thought I, tired writers trying to juxtapose ancient and future again.

Well what a fool I was. I loved, that's LOVED almost every second of that episode. Capaldi's Doctor is dark in a very quirky way and I can't get enough.

Clara was a much more supporting character in this one which helped to push the Doctor to the fore which was much better and (I apologise for being base and sexualising) she looked simply stunning as well dressed as she was in 20's flapper style attire.

Super bad guy effects, interesting but not overly convoluted reasoning for its existence. Good bad guy of the week material.

The sonic screwdriver was broken so couldn't be used as a get out of jail free card.

Even Frank Skinner didn't put me off.

All in all Top Banana! More please.

That was a good episode I think. The Doctor seemed to straddle shades of grey pretty well in it too.

I enjoyed Frank Skinner as well, though I'm wondering if the US audiences will notice that he actually was a 'guest star' rather than just some random engineer.

This was a really good episode.

I too am a fan of Flapper Clara.

Frank Skinner was rather good as the engineer.

Really enjoyed that!

Too bad Frank Skinner won't be the Doctor's companion. Go away, Clara!

Now that's how you do Dr Who, Dr Who! Nothing at all to fault, the best non special episode since A Town Called Mercy!

Loved Capaldi's sly Tom Baker impression when he was talking to himself.

Great episode - glad there appears to be a consensus on this!

And, of course, they brought back the Jelly Babies as well.

Wow, what an episode! Possibly the most solid one from season 8 yet. Tight pace, well-woven story, good monster, and Capaldi managed to top himself yet AGAIN. I swear, he goes from strength to strength each episode. Frank Skinner did a pretty good job as the engineer as well - I wouldn't half mind seeing him travel with the Doctor.

~Tim?

Hmm, didn't find it the strongest episode. The build-up was great, but the third act felt rushed. The creature approaches the Doctor and poof he says the magic word and fixes everything.

The whole Gus thing kinda gets ignored, since it's all solved then. However, the ending felt a bit suspicious: who is Perkins? He seemed a bit too willing to help, and the tone the Doctor has against him in the end does sort of sound as if he suspects something. Are Perkins and Gus linked?

Gus reminded me of the main bad guy from the Titanic Xmas special for some reason.

The question is who is behind Gus, or will that just get left as a loose end?

 Malika2 wrote:
Hmm, didn't find it the strongest episode. The build-up was great, but the third act felt rushed. The creature approaches the Doctor and poof he says the magic word and fixes everything.

The whole Gus thing kinda gets ignored, since it's all solved then. However, the ending felt a bit suspicious: who is Perkins? He seemed a bit too willing to help, and the tone the Doctor has against him in the end does sort of sound as if he suspects something. Are Perkins and Gus linked?

The doctor always fixes things in the third act. That's how it works.
As for Perkins, I think you may be a bit overly suspicious. Perkins was brought along by Gus, just like all the other important passengers. Obviously Gus wanted a hands-on, electrical/mechanical dude.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
The question is who is behind Gus, or will that just get left as a loose end?

I have a feeling we may see Gus again.

good episode, yes it was not one of the very best but it was one of the good ones. the doctors darker side was shown well, and fact he was not afraid to use lives to save lives.

and that dress, well definitely very good,

I was actually disappointed about Clara choosing to stay. He needs a good break from his past and a new companion (or at least one that is a little more open to moral grays) would be a great way to do it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I loved some of the allusions to earlier doctors. (Jelly babies and the very first doctor costume)

 pretre wrote:
I was actually disappointed about Clara choosing to stay. He needs a good break from his past and a new companion (or at least one that is a little more open to moral grays) would be a great way to do it.

Really, they need to bring new-Mickey... I mean, "Mr. Pink" onto the damn TARDIS already... I think that, while not necessarily a "break" from Clara, it is someone who has experienced morally grey areas first hand, and while he may have some issues with it, will make his choice and roll with it.

I was looking forward to Pink joining as I think he's been wasted so far, but I guess we'll see.

I too find the lack of Danny odd; The Caretaker set up a really intetersting dynamic between him and the Doctor I'd like to see taken further, but since then he's just become a substitute conscience/voice of reason for Clara.

Another good episode I think. Clara seemed to be written very well also. - I had absolutely no problems with her.

It looks like we'll be seeing Danny again next episode too.

Another great episode, same writer as last week and I expect great things from him in future! Brilliant mix of suspense, humour, drama and character work.

And Capaldi in full on Badass Mode was terrifying/exceptional!

The series has really picked up in the last few weeks!

Another banging episode.

This is the first one for a long time that really gripped my wife and daughter.

Excellent use of limited locations, a bit of real science with the 2D universe thing.

It was fun to see the Tardis reduced to toy size and Doctor Who scrabbling around from inside.

The sonic screwdriver is still a bit overused IMO. An old school Dr Who would probably have examined the human skin wall with a magnifying glass.

My wife likened the bit where the Doctor moved the TARDIS out of the way of the oncoming train to a hermit crab on the move.

I really liked the visual playing around with the dimensional shifts. The series just keeps improving.

The monsters looked pretty good, too, when they gained their 3rd dimensional quality. Very creepy as they were in constant "flux" as they moved.

 Necroagogo wrote:
My wife likened the bit where the Doctor moved the TARDIS out of the way of the oncoming train to a hermit crab on the move.

I really liked the visual playing around with the dimensional shifts. The series just keeps improving.

Yes! I thought the same thing about the hermit crab. Makes me want to make a Tardis shell and get one.

In the words of Edmund Blackadder:
'A spectacular return to form, Baldrick, after the genius moment.'

Two great scripts in the last couple of weeks, and then... whatever that was that just brutalised my eyes and ears. No threat, no substance, too many badly-acted kids, a plotline you can see coming from 20 miles away, and general confused nonsense. One of the worst not just in this series, but in the entire New-Who run.

And as for next week...

That was just awful. I've not seen much of this series of Dr Who but that amounted to bollocks. There was nothing credible about it, the adult actors were fine and the children were what they were. But the entire concept was just rubbish, it's a disservice to what this show can achieve. Science fiction doesn't mean a blank cheque to dismiss reality, because it's hard to suspend disbelief when it's just all magic. Even if you accept that a forest can be magically created and dissipated overnight with no real consequences to society, an event that has no credible basis in physics or biology, it just doesn't matter how much forest you have making oxygen, it won't stop everyone being cooked by the intense blast of gamma rays. I didn't really follow what the little fuzzy things were that seemed to control the forest, their dialogue was difficult to comprehend. It was nice to look at, so yay for the special effects.

To be honest, I didn't mind the episode (family show and all that).

The whole, forest immune to fire, solar flare thing did seem to beat you over the head a bit. I don't know how they would have done it better though, maybe done that 'reveal' later on in the episode? But then, wouldn't that have been a deus ex machina?

The diversity message is all well and good though, can't really complain about that. There might be a high number of very happy parents and children out there as a result of this episode. - And that might make the entire thing far more important than quite possibly most other Doctor Who episodes ever made. On the other hand, I did detect a note of sarcasm from Clara... That is hopefully just my cynical nature though...

As for the orange fireflies things... Nope, got nothing, made no sense to me at all. - And I was watching with subtitles on, so there was no dialogue missed.


As for, "there is no Clara Oswald..." First thoughts, the Great Intelligence / Trenzalore... Stable timeloop situation ala Bender's Big Break? When Clara went into the Doctors past /future to save him, that included, her going into the Doctor's past / future to save him....

Man, you guys are a tough crowd. I enjoyed it.

Hmm, felt like a bad filler episode. SAVE THE TREES EVERYBODY! It was like watching an episode of Captain Planet or something.

The thing that got me psyched though is the teaser for the next episode...evil Clara?