Doctor Who (may contain SPOILERS for current episodes)

Cyia said:

If I'd not seen reports from watchers in the UK, I would have thought it was an American typo.

I'm seriously going to have to stop watching the HD broadcasts. The music and background sounds are so prominent that I can barely understand the actors.

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Hm. Not sure how to check, but my friend who works in UK subtitling said that the typo was only on BBC America. BBC UK takes their subtitles from the shooting script, BBC America use a different script (she's not sure why, possibly timing changes due to the ad breaks).

I thought redrajah was in UK.

mirandashell said:

Was that closed caption genuine? Dear oh lor......

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Yup. That picture is off my own TV. I'd read about it elsewhere and wasn't sure I believed it, so pulled up the episode on our cable system's On Demand.

Hmmm.... someone being naughty at the CC company?

Cyia said:

I thought redrajah was in UK.

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I'm US, but I'm partial to UK spellings.

My biggest issue with Neo-Mickey came in the end of the Janitor episode.

Doc Scot called him "PE" throughout the episode, and he responded every single time with "Maths Teacher."

So how does he redeem himself? How does he prove himself worthy of Clara, worthy of rising up from the Doctor's derision?

He fucking does a flip over a robot to distract.

Maths teacher my ass. He IS just PE.


So: nifty athletic move, but absolutely the WRONG move for establishing him as anything beyond just "the athletic stunt guy since Capaldi's old."

Cyia said:

I'm seriously going to have to stop watching the HD broadcasts. The music and background sounds are so prominent that I can barely understand the actors.

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Is it specific to HD? I'll have to switch to standard also, because I'm really frustrated over how difficult it is for me to understand what's being said, especially when it's a scene taking place in a crowd.

This is totally random, but you know what I would like to see? Start the next series with the new companion getting angel-zapped or otherwise sent back in time without the Doctor. In the past said companion meets up with Eight and we get a couple of season with McGann.

Cyia, yet again proving why she should be showrunner (but I do like Capaldi in the role). More televised McGann can only be a good thing.

I like Capaldi, too - especially after this last episode, but it would be something a little different. When he's done with his run, they could do his regeneration scene and save it for a season or two. The short from before The Day of the Doctor gave us a peek at what might have been, and I wish someone would go back and actually make a season or two for Eight. Then, once his run is over - linking up with that short film - they could rejoin the regular timeline after Twelve.

A bit convoluted, but that's half the fun of playing "what if."

For the first time all season, I didn't hate Clara.

That's a step up.

Myrealana said:

For the first time all season, I didn't hate Clara.

That's a step up.

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I'll actually be sad to see her go (Didn't think that would happen.)

I liked the episode. I may be the only one that enjoys the Missy cameos! I like that the episodes can work on their own but just a brief hint at something that is coming later.

Curious to see what the fallout will be with Danny--no way he doesn't guess she's back on the Tardis, right?

Meh.

I finally figured out what my problem with this season is - nothing's connected. There's no set-up, just punchlines to stories we never see the start of.

For tonight's episode to work, we should have seen those kids before, especially Maeve. With all the time spent at Coal Hill, none of them had been featured. And the one child who was featured - Courtney - was absent.

There was a clumsiness to tonight's episode. The anvils and bad science were there for sure, but it wasn't as ragey as "Kill the Moon". Still, with some rewrites it could have been a better solid B+ for sure.

But I'm over with Danny Pink...that plot line is just bleah "Strangled By The Red String". Yes, we GET it. Come next Xmas, Clara's gonna be shackled to Danny whether it makes sense or not. Because all them pesky wimmenz just want and need is a MAN~! to be complete in Moffatland.

As for that teaser for that finale two-parter...if I wasn't certain that Moffat wasn't going to just cock it up as he has for his previous stories for this season I might have had hope. Instead, frustration reigns. And my sake supply is low.

ETA: And Cyia nails some points I missed about Maeve & Courtney.

Also, I would have liked the tiger-save better if the kid who was afraid of the dark had done it. Give him an "I bet you're glad I've got my torch now," moment.

Oh yeah, and what was with all of that "trees don't communicate" garbage? There was an ENTIRE FREAKIN' MOVIE dedicated to a woman with a forest IN HER BRAIN. A forest sophisticated enough that could navigate the time vortex WITHOUT A TARDIS.

Yeah, I admit I was hoping for Krynoids from "Seeds of Death" or the Treekind from "End of the World" back from Nine's era.

The Treekind would have been an awesome addition, in light of Clara's "but we've seen the future" moment. They were supposed to have come from Earth, after all.

I didn't mind last night's episode. Nothing special, but an enjoyable little adventure and great fun for the younger segment of Doctor Who's audience. Agree with the above points about continuity, though to be honest I've mostly given up on this series linking correctly to anything prior (and half the time, even to the previous episode).

The tiger moment definitely should've been the kid -- they spent so much time establishing his fear of the dark! It seems like they stripped out the intended plot resolution in favour of shoehorning in more Danny/Clara series subplot. I like to imagine that the original script was written before Danny was introduced, and included more of the kids: why the nut allergy mattered, and the clever lassie's lack of imagination and useful fondness for facts.

Do kids in London actually get to sleep over in museums? Because that's awesome.

Very excited about the finale. Clara! Doing things! For herself! Being badass! PLEASE GOD DON'T LET THIS SUCK.

Actually, how horrible a teacher is Pink (or Clara) that he failed to notice the missing child before The Doctor's phone call? I could understand him overlooking her when the kids first woke up, but what teacher wouldn't do a head-count before actually leaving the building? And didn't anyone notice that Maeve didn't collect her things from the floor? This is supposed to be a child in need of regular medication. Someone would have twigged to the fact that she wasn't there making her usual noticeable tics.

There were enormous WTF gaps of logic in the writing, but I still enjoyed the episode. One has to overlook those so often on television that I'm used to it, and the parts that remained after I squinted my brain was pretty good entertainment.

For the two-parter, I see our genial host Mr Moffatt is trying to go for Epic Who. It looked promising... I hope it fulfils. I'll be practicing brain-squinting all week just in case.

Cyia said:

Actually, how horrible a teacher is Pink (or Clara) that he failed to notice the missing child before The Doctor's phone call? I could understand him overlooking her when the kids first woke up, but what teacher wouldn't do a head-count before actually leaving the building? And didn't anyone notice that Maeve didn't collect her things from the floor? This is supposed to be a child in need of regular medication. Someone would have twigged to the fact that she wasn't there making her usual noticeable tics.

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I had to suspend all teacher logic because it made no sense in this episode -- they regularly wandered off at the front of the ground and let kids mill around at the back, going off to take selfies etc.
One teacher at the front, one at the back is basic school trip knowledge, and it would've easily been solved if they just had one of the wandering mums (or Matt Smith lookalike teacher) keep an eye on the back of the group.

RedRajah said:

http://www.examiner.com/article/what-is-missing-from-series-eight-of-doctor-who

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I'm confused what this article was trying to say? Good title, but the title doesn't seem to connect with the content at all?

This episode was really lame, I felt cheesy just watching it. The plot super obvious and the score was heavy-handed and seemed to replace any real emotion in the story. The girl's sister was missing, but I felt none of her joy or fear. Mr. Pink is annoying and I can't believe him and Clara are in love. This episode seemed more like a high school play with nice graphics.

I liked the last two episodes though. Mystery and high-stakes always plays well with me.

Not sure how I feel about the next episode. Moffat has this thing where his finales are really anticlimactic. God, I miss RTD.

The sister is one of the many reasons Maeve should have been featured alongside Courtney (or melded into her character) since episode one. IF we'd seen the special needs girl who heard voices and claimed to have people inside her head, and IF we'd known her older sister had been missing for months, then the pay-off might have worked. Having Sis appear out of a bush was dumb. Even having Twelve take Maeve into the past to find her at the point she disappeared would have made more sense than that!