The Doctor is back!!

[Liz W]

Hi Geoffrey

Many thanks for your thoughts on each episode.

We look forward to their continuation in the autumn!

Hugs

Liz

[Geoffrey(aka Jasper)]

Liz,

I'm glad that you've enjoyed my random witterings.

One final one before the autumn:

The Doctor has used what might be termed a 'bad-ass boast' i order to get the bad guys to back down on a few occasions now, firstly in The Forests of the Dead, "I'm The Doctor, look me up!", in A Good Man Goes to War it seems that this boast (or possibly his history) has bitten him in the same said part of his anatomy. -g-

Although some people (e.g. me) wouldn't mind having their name synonymous with Mighty Warrior!

[David A Harvey]

I've got that down as one of the Matt Smith Doctor's defining negative tropes (first seen at the end of his first episode) and I'm glad that it is used infrequent (I'd prefer even less frequently ) and often as not he comes a cropper when he does .

[Liz W]

Hi all

The season re-starts next Saturday (27th) 7:10pm on BBC1 *yay*

Hugs

Liz

[Spudgun]

And so the Doctor returns.....

When I saw the title (Killing Hitler), I had feared that this was going to be the obligitory Nazi episode (Something that had been done to death in the 60's and 70's). I was glad that it wasn't. However, when Hitler pulled a revolver, I went into 'Rivet counter mode'!

Let's be honest. Dr Who is nothing more than a TV show. A piece of entertainment. Historical accuracy is not critical, so the fact that Hitler never carried a pistol can be safely ignored. However, pulling out a revolver is pretty damm wrong. At minimum, it should've been a P08 Luger (as seen later in the episode). Once I spotted this faux-pas, I started to look for the others.

It's no secret that Dr Who and Torchwood uses Airsoft replicas as props. Most are easy to spot if you know what to look for. I suspect that the revolver was used as it could fire blanks (The only gun that was seen to fire in the episode). Considering that Dr Who and Torchwood have used CGI in the past to add muzzle flash and cartridge ejection, I think some penny pinching was going on. Want some more evidence? Try this for size. When River Song drops her pistol, listen to the sound when it hits the floor. Does it sound like metal? Nope, that's because it's plastic. You've guessed it. It's an airsoft replica. Don't get me started on the two MP40's that River Song was waving around. Cheap Airsoft replicas the pair of them. Real MP40's and quality replicas have the correct bakelite brown panels and grips. Not ABS black. At least the German Officer had the correct P08 Luger. Sadly, it was made by WE-Tech and was gunmetal grey and not Parkerized black. Oh, it lacked trademarks was well (Now, that anal!). As for the German Infantry. Well they had D-Boys Kar-98's. The motorcycles I'll Forgive. Urals have been standing in for BMW's and Zundapps for years (The frame is a total give-a-way).

I'm outta here.

[kerry3e]

Don't get me wrong I enjoy'd the episode BUT I came away thinking this missed an oppertunity that if your going to have a super inteligence killing Hitler, capeable of time travel and able to select time and place despite Hitler surving numous attempt'd to kill him then this should of been 1944 not 1939. Most people..even the most base in this country know that now or did, under Blair whom saw the subject of History as having little or no value that maybe due to Tom Curise recent film on the subject.. Hilter's Generals ploted his removal! However, would such a plot require 'proper Who' to exist with an episodic story to set time and place...play'd out over so many weeks that little Jonny and Jonny-eta cannot manage time a patience to sit through?

Always
Kerry3e

[Geoffrey(aka Jasper)]

For various reasons I’ve only just seen “Let’s Kill Hitler” and “Night Terrors”

Well here are some of my random thoughts, as ever all JIMHO:

(And spoilered JIC)

Gut reaction: I enjoyed it.

More considered reaction: what the frakk was going on?

Yes it was weird, and as to indication of the scale of the weirdness . . . you have a time traveling shape-shifting robot, which is actually a time-traveling, shape-shifting starship crewed by miniaturised humans who are apparently time-traveling vigilantes administering summary justice to war-criminals, only not always before they’ve committed their crimes . . . well that wasn’t the weirdest thing in the episode.

Okay, while I was watching it everything did seem to hang together, but if I had to explain what was going on to someone I’d be reduced to “Well, there’s this . . . and this . . . and, oh, River Song looks surprisingly good in a Luftwaffe Officer’s tunic!”

Hmmm . . .

I liked the way the episode moved along like a rocket sled on rails, which possibly why it “sorta” made sense at the time; you didn’t have time to think.

Other bits I liked;

The Doctor asking for Rory’s permission before given Amy a hug.

Mel’s entrance. I was really expecting it to be River Song in the sports car. And it was. Sorta.

Rory’s distraction tactics.

And we need a clue . . .

Minor niggle: Hitler’s revolver, to be honest I was a little surprised when he whipped it out. I was expecting a Luger, or perhaps a Walther PPK. OTOH when you’re the proverbial mad dictator your choice of sidearm entirely up to you. Herman Georing was apparently armed with a Smith & Wesson .38 when he was captured.

Observation: This episode does strongly hint that Timelord’s have a limited number of regenerations.

Not so minor niggle: Is Doctor Who getting too clever by half? I dunno, it’s fun but if you can’t really understand what’s going on, are you really going to care?

Hmmm . . . we’ll see how it goes.

Anyway on to “Night Terrors.” This was more (and I’m sorry about the reviewspeak here) classic Doctor Who, a monster of the week – which wasn’t actually really a monster – and some good old hide behind the sofa moments.

I did enjoy the Doctor’s aura of manic comedy, while still being very serious and there is something extraordinarily creepy about things moving which aren’t supposed move. At least not by themselves . . .

Final observation: if Matt Smith was already on the Christmas Card list of every bow-tie maker in the universe, then right now the makers of Jammy-dodgers are probably building a shrine to him.

I've some more episodes to catch up with; let's see how they go.

[Geoffrey(aka Jasper)]

Still playing catch-up with Doctor Who, and I’ve just seen “The God Complex” And I’ve just realized that I’m missing an episode, ah well, BBC iPlayer to the rescue!

Gut reaction: It’s a good ‘un.

More considered reaction, and assorted random thoughts, as ever all JIMHO and spoilered JIC:

It was scary and weird, but it made sense within its own internal structure.

Liked Gibbis, even though he was a creep, “Our anthem goes ‘All glory to insert name here’ “ -g-

Liked the humour e.g. “Did you just say we’re nice?” and also liked seeing a touch of steel about the Doctor when he had words with Gibbis.

Definitely JIMHO here, but having the most sympathetic character as Muslim did strike me as a bit PC. However suggesting that just because, how shall we say? Someone feels a bit naughty for enjoying a bacon sandwich washed down with a half-of-mild doesn’t mean that they’re a bad person, isn’t something I really have a problem with.

Then again the episode seemed to place Islam on a par with believing in Lady Luck or any wacky conspiracy theory going, and I will admit that the notion that any belief is the equal of any other belief strikes me as a bit wimpy. However the idea of “Faith” as a sort of snack food for energy vampires did work within the context of the episode.

A reference for old school fans to “The Horns of Nimon” – and I did think the monster looked slightly familiar when I first saw it.

This business about the Doctor beating himself up about his Companions. Maybe he did have a point there being something dodgy about an immortal surrounding himself with mortal followers. But the actual the casualty rate among Companions has been pretty low; okay Rose ended up in alternate dimension with a human version of the Doctor, and Donna Noble ended up as, well, Donna Noble. (Death might have been kinder. –eg- ) But basically his Companions join of their own free will, get to see lots of cool stuff and get to save the universe. It’s not quiet the dodgy guy in a dirty mac hanging around the kiddies playground the Doctor seemed to be painting himself as.

Hmmm . . . for an episode I enjoyed I do seem to have some niggles about it, but overall I did enjoy watching it and it’s nice to know that if the Doctor ever does give up wandering, he can always settle down to a career in cheese making. –g-

End of my random witterings.

[Spudgun]

I want a 'Mr Bitey'.

[Geoffrey(aka Jasper)]

Caught up with “The Girl Who Waited” thanks to BBC iPlayer, so random witterings spoilered (JIC) and all JIMHO follow:

Bits I liked:

Nice idea of the uses of technology to solve a problem. (However given the explanation of how the technology worked it might as well been solving a problem by waving a magic wand. OTOH you could look at it as the application of Clarke’s Law.)

Anyhow I did like the idea that when technology is used in ways it wasn’t intended, well, then you have problems. Okay, this idea has been used before, but it’s still a good. ‘un

The handbots, I thought that they were waaay creepy.

Mature Amy, or Old Amy, or even Warrior Amy, I liked her. “Woman with a sword here.” –g-

Pause for an unworthy thought lowering the tone moment: Amy did fill out her trousers very nicely. –blush-

Back to the (other) bits I liked, the whole look of the world, okay the CGI isn’t going to win any Oscars, but it still looked good with quirky technology like the magnifying glass time viewers.

People having to make a tough decision.

Bits I didn’t like:

People having to make a tough decision, okay this was one of the things I liked about this ep, so why am I including it in the bits I don’t like? Because it felt contrived, and the part with the Old Amy banging on the Tardis’ door almost felt like the programme shouting “Cry damnit! Cry!” And the last minute “There can’t be two Amy’s in the Tardis” felt a bit like an anti-Dues Ex Machina.

Okay, that may be unfair since there was a real paradox about it: Old Amy only existed because Young Amy hadn’t been rescued, so if the Doctor and Rory rescued Young Amy, Old Amy’s timeline would collapse and Old Amy would never have existed. And if they didn’t rescue Young Amy she’d cease to exist by virtue of turning into Old Amy over the next thirty-six years of subjective lapsed time. Which is fair enough, but there have been so many incidences of rules not applying to people by virtue of their being inside the Tardis . . .

That said I do wonder if there had been a “Happy Ending” with both Amy’s extant, and I’ll resist the temptation to speculate about the possibilities that would open up for young Rory, that I would have been complaining about Deus Ex Machinas and last-minute-out-of-the-back-pocket saves.

Ah well.

Mind you, there is also the sneaking suspicion that this could have all been avoided if the people who’d designed this world had been less bloomin’ cryptic about how they labeled their buttons. “Green Anchor” and “Red Waterfall.” Really clear that. Not.

End of random witterings, and that’s me (almost) up to date with Doctor Who.