S11.E02: The Ghost Monument

[Chaos Theory]

If anything The Doctor put all her eggs or hopes,  in this case, in one basket so all her energy was to get to the end.  When the TARDIS wasn’t there she had a moment of doubt and frustration.  Anyone would.  She had promised to get her friends home.  She wanted her ship back.  She is still relatively new.  I think she was just scared and frustrated for a moment.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[The Companion]

10 hours ago, elle said:

I am not looking forward to this.  This show does not need to be veering into the show "Timeless" storylines.  

 

In fairness, Doctor Who has done stories with a number of historical figures, so I am not sure it is really veering into new territory. I am curious whether it will be a Let's Kill Hitler where you don't even see the historical figure more than a minute or a Vincent and the Doctor where you spend a long time with the historical figure (or something in between like, say, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon). 

1 hour ago, darkestboy said:

I will admit so far that the monsters have felt underwhelming, so Chibnall does need to up his game on that front.

Personally, I am happy we have had some less terrifying monsters. My son LOVES Doctor Who, but he is only 5, so I have to decide each week whether or not the monster is too scary for him (admittedly, he has a high tolerance for scary monsters and loves the Weeping Angels). It is nice when we get a story that doesn't have too scary of a monster or too high of a body count. 

1 hour ago, ae2 said:

While the "boys" went off to repair the boat, Yas was left to empathize with the female racer (Angstrom?), who started to open up and then stopped herself saying, "I barely know you." 5 seconds later in the boat she then opens up to everyone. It was clunky. And speaking of Yas (Yaz?), she again seemed to fade to the back for most of the episode.

. . .

They're killing me with these on the nose public service announcements. I don't need my TV show characters to face the camera, wink, and tell me, "don't forget to brush your teeth kids!" Last week it was knives, this week it was "brains always beat guns every time", next week it will probably be the importance of using crosswalks, and after that how the illicit ivory trade is endangering Earth's biggest land mammal. It's one thing if you want to show brains beating guns, and that's worked great for DW, but you don't need to bash me over the head with it. Seaking of which, you should probably have an episode on the dangers of taking a club to the head.

 

I didn't actually find the first to be particularly out of character, so I was okay with it. They had established that Yas was a police officer, and this felt a bit like using her interrogation skills to get the racer to open up. It isn't like they asked her to make them some coffee and sent her on her way. We got a bit of a peek into something about her family, but I suspect we are going to have to wait for awhile as we deal with the fallout from the pilot. 

As to the second, I suspect that was one of those moments thrown in for new viewers. A thesis of who the Doctor is and what she is about. I would expect those statements to calm down (but I could be wrong).

25 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

I also don't mind the story being a little more grounded. I was one that gave up on the Moffat era for being too grandiose all the time. You can have an occasional big episode but one every few weeks gets tiring. 

Agreed. I love when the stories are about a few people (and trying to have a everyone lives moment). While I also enjoy a big save the universe or a world episode, I think they work because you also have these small scale stories. I think you have to have the contrast to make the big ones work. They also reinforce the point that the Doctor cares about everyone, regardless of whether their problem is something that will destroy worlds.

[benteen]

1 minute ago, The Companion said:

I didn't actually find the first to be particularly out of character, so I was okay with it. They had established that Yas was a police officer, and this felt a bit like using her interrogation skills to get the racer to open up. It isn't like they asked her to make them some coffee and sent her on her way. We got a bit of a peek into something about her family, but I suspect we are going to have to wait for awhile as we deal with the fallout from the pilot. 

Excellent point.  One of the reasons I like that they made Yaz a cop.  The Doctor hasn't traveled with one before and a police officer adds a unique skillset to the team.  Yas interviewing the racer fits with her profession.

[Llywela]

2 minutes ago, The Companion said:

Agreed. I love when the stories are about a few people (and trying to have a everyone lives moment). While I also enjoy a big save the universe or a world episode, I think they work because you also have these small scale stories. I think you have to have the contrast to make the big ones work. They also reinforce the point that the Doctor cares about everyone, regardless of whether their problem is something that will destroy worlds.

I agree with this - it's like the contrast between the Fourth Doctor dying while saving the entire universe and the Fifth Doctor dying to save a single individual; put the two together, and that's who the Doctor is.

[festivus]

The new theme song was creepy and the TARDIS interior even creepier. I said last week that this new season seems darker and I mean like more horror movie vibe which I am fine with. Except for the Doctor what with the clothes and her personality seems more mellow. The Doctor seems incongruous with the creepy honeycomb TARDIS so far. I'm really liking the companions, they are just normal people, I hope they stay that way. I liked the two aliens too, I was interested in their stories, I hope we see them again.

[Skycatcher]

I love the new Doctor, but  I'm not feeling the companions at all. Right now they feel like so much dead weight the Doctor is hauling around with her.  They do provide an audience for her incessant chatter so I guess they have some purpose. 

 I'm on the fence about the new Tardis. It does seem dark but I'm hoping they will lighten it up soon. But I love the Doctor's affection for her.

[Kelda Feegle]

I did love the shout out to Venusian Aikido. 

Totally saw the hunger games ending to the competition coming though. 

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, Sakura12 said:

I like the new Tardis, it even dispenses biscuts. You can always use snacks on a road trip. 

I also don't mind the story being a little more grounded. I was one that gave up on the Moffat era for being too grandiose all the time. You can have an occasional big episode but one every few weeks gets tiring. 

The Doctor's reunion with her Tardis is what I was here for and that didn't disappoint. I'm so happy 13 found her Tardis right away. It was nice to see the companions use a new line, "how do you fit all this in a police box?"

I'm also one that enjoys characters over story. If I like the characters the story doesn't matter as much as the characters interacting with each other. I wonder who the Timeless child is? 

I was waiting for the standard line as usual, so this was a good one. 

8 minutes ago, Kelda Feegle said:

I did love the shout out to Venusian Aikido. 

Totally saw the hunger games ending to the competition coming though. 

That made me very happy. 

[The Companion]

16 minutes ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Totally saw the hunger games ending to the competition coming though. 

I was hopeful it would be that ending. I was worried it would be cooperative person with a backstory dies to teach gruff man who refuses to care how to feel again. Possibly due to the water. 

[Llywela]

Just now, The Companion said:

I was hopeful it would be that ending. I was worried it would be cooperative person with a backstory dies to teach gruff man who refuses to care how to feel again. Possibly due to the water. 

Yeah, I kept expecting one of them to die, especially after last week, so I was pleased that everyone survived this episode! A bit clunky in places, perhaps, but a serviceable enough story, even if it was primarily a vehicle to reunite the Doctor with her TARDIS.

[ae2]

17 minutes ago, Kelda Feegle said:

I did love the shout out to Venusian Aikido. 

Totally saw the hunger games ending to the competition coming though. 

That comparison is a disservice to Hunger Games!

(And that coming from someone who's not overly fond of it.)

In HG they outsmarted the game master. The competition needed a winner to serve its purpose, so they forced his hand into letting them both win, or to not have a winner at all.

In this episode of DW, they simply threatened the race master with physical harm.

I would have been perfectly satisfied with a HG finish, but what we got was something much less.

[Eulipian 5k]

12 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

You have a desert location, why wouldn't you have sentient cloth that wraps people up like mummies.

This, and the train from last week reminds me of the mummy on the train with Clara and Capaldi.

I loove that toothface HATES being called "Tim Shaw".  I hope she keeps calling him that.

[Mabinogia]

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

If anything The Doctor our all her eggs or hopes in this case in one basket so all her energy was to get to the end.  When the TARDIS wasn’t there she had a moment of doubt and frustration.  Anyone would.  She had promised to get her friends home.  She wanted her ship back.  She is still relatively new.  I think she was just scared a frustrated for a moment.

I agree. And she bounced back pretty quickly when she saw it coming. I think she assumed they had just missed the thousand year window for the TARDIS. I know that frustration (well, not having to wait a thousand years, but just pulling into the parking lot as the train pulls away kind of thing). I like that she's still adjusting to the regeneration. I would think regenerating into a whole new person would be disorienting. Hell, waking up early every morning is disorienting for me and I'm not fully awake and functional for at least two hours. lol

[Chaos Theory]

The show has done its share of historical periods and figures.   Martha Met Shakespeare.   Donna Noble was there in Pompeii on volcano day and she met and saved the life of Agatha Christie.   So having something else going on during the background of an historical even is in line with Doctor Who.    And there was that whole thing with Amy Pond and Van Go

i know a lot of people may not be a fan but with a female doctor it lays the way for a lot of female historical figures and future stories.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[hnygrl]

8 hours ago, LadyArcadia said:

I love JW as the Doctor but it seemed a bit too "oh no! we're in danger!... safe.... oh no! we're in danger again!" 

That's exactly it.

That's why this isn't a season (thus far) that I'll rewatch or consider buying. It's just....OH NO!!! safe. SPOKE TOO SOON! OH NO!!! safe.

eeesh.

I'm two episodes in. It still hasn't grabbed me yet. Let's give it another episode or two. 

She's still The Doctor so thank GOD, but like the other Doctors, some seasons I like, some I didn't. The jury is still out on this season (so far, it's a no though).

[elle]

5 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

Way too much sonic screwdriver and OTT arm movements to use it.

I agree about the arm movements.  That big arm sweep before using the sonic screwdriver was getting annoying.

5 hours ago, ae2 said:

 It just felt like she was in over her head this week, which is such a strange feeling for The Doctor, especially during such a run-of-the-mill plot.

Also, she went SO quickly to doom and gloom when the TARDIS didn't appear! Since when is The Doctor such a defeatist? This may have worked better if she had been without her TARDIS for longer and this was her last chance of getting it back.

and a field of acetylene gas. Speaking of which, I'm not sure digging the "holes" in the sand did anything, people. That probably sounded great on paper but should have been cut once they saw how little impact those holes had.

I'm not sure why anyone is ho-humming about figuring out the Ghost Monument was the TARDIS. They showed us that 30 seconds after we learned about the existence of the monument. It wasn't meant to be a big mystery.

I loved the setting and the scenery in this episode. The shot of the ship landed in the dessert was just fantastic. I loved the race master as a character and wouldn't mind seeing more from him, as he's obviously extremely rich and powerful. The plot was a fun, classic setup, even if the execution was poor. The Doctor's reaction to the TARDIS was just about everything a fan can hope for. 

Snipping up your post liberally!  The Doctor often is in over their head.  How many times have we heard them say something about not having a plan or making it up as they go along.

I took the despair of the Tardis not being there as the guilt she was feeling after having promised everyone she would get them back safely, not knowing if or when it would show up how would they survive another night, and just being the Doctor with the Tardis.

My engineer-husband agrees with you on this scene.  He usually is pretty good at letting the suspension of disbelief be, but he commented at the end of that scene "it wouldn't work like that".

Thanks for pointing that out.  I'm glad that they choose to get that out of the way right at the beginning.

Again, loved the scenery too.  I was trying to figure out where they were.  I know that JW mention filming in South Africa, so I was speculating that may be where they were this time.

5 hours ago, benteen said:

Yeah, I do think she was talking a little too overactive with the talking in the first half of the episode.  Maniac all the time can quickly become exhausting.  I've also thought for years now that the sonic screwdriver has become a crutch for the Doctor.

You know, you might have been referencing it but when Jon Pertwee was The Doctor, he did a public service announcement on importance of crossing the street safely.  It was called SPLINK.

 

I think if the marathon ran the Nine episodes just before the premiere, people would see that the Doctor has been this way before.

Thanks for posting this.  It is fun to see clips like that.

4 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

I like the new Tardis, it even dispenses biscuts. You can always use snacks on a road trip. 

I also don't mind the story being a little more grounded. I was one that gave up on the Moffat era for being too grandiose all the time. You can have an occasional big episode but one every few weeks gets tiring. 

The Doctor's reunion with her Tardis is what I was here for and that didn't disappoint. I'm so happy 13 found her Tardis right away. It was nice to see the companions use a new line, "how do you fit all this in a police box?"

I'm also one that enjoys characters over story. If I like the characters the story doesn't matter as much as the characters interacting with each other. I wonder who the Timeless child is? 

Snacks are always necessary!

I agree with you about enjoying the tone and pace of the show.  I think it may take some out of the show because they are expecting something big every episode.  I am also enjoying the character moments.  I think it will take a while for the show to gel as the characters get to know one another and we get to know them.

It was nice to hear a new comment about the unique feature of the Tardis.  And it seemed genuine coming from Graham, rather than the knowing "wink and a grin" feel to Clara's "it's smaller on the outside".

3 hours ago, The Companion said:

In fairness, Doctor Who has done stories with a number of historical figures, so I am not sure it is really veering into new territory. I am curious whether it will be a Let's Kill Hitler where you don't even see the historical figure more than a minute or a Vincent and the Doctor where you spend a long time with the historical figure (or something in between like, say, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon). 

Personally, I am happy we have had some less terrifying monsters. My son LOVES Doctor Who, but he is only 5, so I have to decide each week whether or not the monster is too scary for him (admittedly, he has a high tolerance for scary monsters and loves the Weeping Angels). It is nice when we get a story that doesn't have too scary of a monster or too high of a body count. 

I didn't actually find the first to be particularly out of character, so I was okay with it. They had established that Yas was a police officer, and this felt a bit like using her interrogation skills to get the racer to open up. It isn't like they asked her to make them some coffee and sent her on her way. We got a bit of a peek into something about her family, but I suspect we are going to have to wait for awhile as we deal with the fallout from the pilot. 

As to the second, I suspect that was one of those moments thrown in for new viewers. A thesis of who the Doctor is and what she is about. I would expect those statements to calm down (but I could be wrong).

Agreed. I love when the stories are about a few people (and trying to have a everyone lives moment). While I also enjoy a big save the universe or a world episode, I think they work because you also have these small scale stories. I think you have to have the contrast to make the big ones work. They also reinforce the point that the Doctor cares about everyone, regardless of whether their problem is something that will destroy worlds.

Yes, you are correct about the Doctor visiting historical figures. Churchill was practically a featured player.  The Doctor did take Vincent to the future to see how successful he would be, I think partly to please Amy and partly because he liked Vincent.  That struck me as being out of character for him to mess with established timelines. (I thought that Eleven was rather cruel to Marilyn Monroe)  I'm worried about the show deciding that the Doctor was responsible for what Rosa Parks did just as they had Ten be the reason for Mt. Vesuvius erupting.

I know in classic Who there was story about the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve.  Did they also name drop/visit famous people as much as NuWho seems to do?

How fun that you have a little Whovian there!  Keeping up the tradition of "hiding behind the sofa" to watch.  Good for you to screen it for him.

I think every new Doctor gets to have the "this is who the Doctor is" moments of explanation.

Well stated about the need to have a mix of "big" and "small" episode.  I too loved the call back to the "everyone lives" moment.

I do wish there was some way we could have found out what happened to the racers after they disappeared.  I was suspicious of the guy running the game, that he might still decide to null their win because there was two of them.

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

know a lot of people may not be a fan but with a female doctor it lays the way for a lot of female historical figures and future stories.

How many times have we met the Queen?  You are probably right but it seems sad that it would take having a female Doctor to make the way to have famous female historical figures.

Edited October 15, 2018 by elle

[Bruinsfan]

Not that original a plot, but I liked all the characters and performances, and am really grooving on the companions' relationships and coming together as a team with the Doctor.  Jodie Whittaker continues to do fabulously well in the role.

I was thrilled at the reunion with the show's other regular character, the TARDIS. Not so fond of the console room decor having apparently been designed by Sam Neill's character from Event Horizon, but the TARDIS had to repair herself without the Doctor's help and she did bake cookies, so I can live with it.

I actually wish they'd taken advantage of the rare absence of the TARDIS to have the companions not understand what aliens were saying, with the Doctor having to translate like she did with the writing. Then maybe getting tired of the delays and telepathically teaching all of them the racers' language so everyone could communicate.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Bruinsfan

[Dobian]

I really liked the episode, though those robots were awfully bad shots.  The TARDIS reveal was great, though the machine punk interior is a bit too dark.  The season is off to a good start.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Dobian

[Eulipian 5k]

The Doctor must be holding back or has forgotten something. She fell (out of her TARDIS) in pursuit of the ball of wire on the train in the same place Tim Shaw appeared. Then(?), the TARDIS continues on to Desolation, the home of the Stenza. So, did the Twelfth doctor  have an encounter with the Stenza before or did she? She didn't seem to know of  them  when she was challenging Tim Shaw. Does the TARDIS know?

btw: If the whole planet is a shooting range, how come none of the sniper-bots can shoot straight? (I was hoping "The Girl Who Waited" would show up to shepherd them thru the maze of robots)

[The Companion]

47 minutes ago, elle said:

Yes, you are correct about the Doctor visiting historical figures. Churchill was practically a featured player.  The Doctor did take Vincent to the future to see how successful he would be, I think partly to please Amy and partly because he liked Vincent.  That struck me as being out of character for him to mess with established timelines. (I thought that Eleven was rather cruel to Marilyn Monroe)  I'm worried about the show deciding that the Doctor was responsible for what Rosa Parks did just as they had Ten be the reason for Mt. Vesuvius erupting.

. . . 

How fun that you have a little Whovian there!  Keeping up the tradition of "hiding behind the sofa" to watch.  Good for you to screen it for him.

Ok, I can buy that concern. I will be interested to see what they do with it. I still laugh about all the time that went into anticipating Let's Kill Hitler only to have Rory punch him in the face and lock him in a cupboard. I am hopeful, given the tone of the season so far, that this will be handled well. We shall see.

It is fun to have a little Whovian. He will definitely be watching this episode. What is funny is that he likes the one-off episodes that have traditionally not been as well received. His favorites are probably The Curse of the Black Spot and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. I suspect the will like this one because of the robot bad guys. Slightly off-topic, he had to get stitches this summer after falling and hitting his head at camp and I told him he had to be totally still, like a Weeping Angel. He sat there totally still the entire time.

2 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I agree. And she bounced back pretty quickly when she saw it coming. I think she assumed they had just missed the thousand year window for the TARDIS. I know that frustration (well, not having to wait a thousand years, but just pulling into the parking lot as the train pulls away kind of thing). I like that she's still adjusting to the regeneration. I would think regenerating into a whole new person would be disorienting. Hell, waking up early every morning is disorienting for me and I'm not fully awake and functional for at least two hours. lol

That was my take. They had no way off-planet and the TARDIS was showing up every 1,000 years, so missing it was a death sentence. Regardless, it made a beautiful contrast between disappointment and pure joy at seeing the TARDIS again. It really was my favorite moment of the episode.  

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, ae2 said:

They're killing me with these on the nose public service announcements. I don't need my TV show characters to face the camera, wink, and tell me, "don't forget to brush your teeth kids!" Last week it was knives, this week it was "brains always beat guns every time", next week it will probably be the importance of using crosswalks, and after that how the illicit ivory trade is endangering Earth's biggest land mammal. It's one thing if you want to show brains beating guns, and that's worked great for DW, but you don't need to bash me over the head with it. Seaking of which, you should probably have an episode on the dangers of taking a club to the head.

You take that back! My favorite scene this season was a PSA. Don't get drunk and throw tomatoes at random strangers! The average viewers are several decades older than the target audience, but I don't think you can get them to stop and watch something more age appropriate.

[Llywela]

2 hours ago, elle said:

I know in classic Who there was story about the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve.  Did they also name drop/visit famous people as much as NuWho seems to do?

 

Oh yes. The First Doctor in particular loved to name drop. So did Three. And historicals were quite a big thing in the First Doctor era (pure historicals being stories set in a historical era with no alien involvement other than the Doctor and his companions) - he travelled with Marco Polo for a period of months in his first season and played chess with Kublai Khan, visited the Aztecs (where Barbara was mistaken for a goddess), lived in a villa outside Rome for a few months and met Nero, got involved in The Crusades and met both King Richard and Saladin, hung out with Achilles and Odysseus and the whole gang during the Trojan War, had a tooth extracted by Doc Holliday out in the American West, and, as you've noted, also found himself in Paris in the run up to the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (in which he refused to get involved because he wouldn't change the course of established history; companion Steven was devastated by the whole thing, it is part of an amazing run of episodes). And that's just the First Doctor! Pure historicals fell out of favour thereafter, because the show had become so strongly associated with monsters and aliens that it was felt they had to be included in every adventure, so stories that were just about being part of history fell by the wayside, with adventures in bygone ages always written to include some kind of alien menace from the mid-2nd Doctor era onward (with the notable exception of the 5th Doctor adventure Black Orchid). But the Doctor has always had adventures in Earth's past, and a lot of those adventures have included encounters with famous historical figures.

3 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

The show has done its share of historical periods and figures.   Martha Met Shakespeare.   Donna Noble was there in Pompeii on volcano day and she met and saved the life of Agatha Christie.   So having something else going on during the background of an historical even is in line with Doctor Who.    And there was that whole thing with Amy Pond and Van Go

i know a lot of people may not be a fan but with a female doctor it lays the way for a lot of female historical figures and future stories.

 

Well, the male Doctors have met their share of female historical figures too - Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria being case in point - but if we do get to explore more fabulous women in history than before, I'm all for that!

Edited October 15, 2018 by Llywela

[Skycatcher]

Hee,  I want them to meet Henry VIII and have him fall for one of the companions, determined to make her his queen.  I guess in this iteration (1520?) that would be the "exotic" Yas.

[tennisgurl]

Oh yeah, The Doctor has always been a massive name dropper. The Doc is basically the Tahani Al-Jamil of outer space. 

I liked the episode, and I am enjoying the smaller stakes of the season so far. I am sure that things will get more epic as the season goes on, but its nice to see the Doctor fighting to help just a few people, and not entire civilizations. The Doctor cares about saving whole worlds, AND the Doctor cares about saving just one or two people, and both are equally important. The backstory was kind of average, but the story itself was engaging enough, and was a good sort of "first day out" story for the new Doctor. She even got an Everybody Lives ending where pretty much everyone won! The female racer gets to help her family, the male racer learned a lesson about opening up to people, and the Doctor and her new best friends found the Tardis. 

I definately got the happy feels when we first heard the Tardis again. Damn it, that always get me! I like the design, even though it seems a bit dark for my taste. Looking forward to exploring the new beehive Tardis further on. I also like the new companions, they all seem like nice, normal people who have unique skills and personalities to have adventures with. It was why I liked Bill so much as a Companion, and it seems like they are keeping that theme. 

[Mabinogia]

11 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

The Doc is basically the Tahani Al-Jamil of outer space.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!! The Doctor totally is Space Tahani! 

2 hours ago, The Companion said:

Regardless, it made a beautiful contrast between disappointment and pure joy at seeing the TARDIS again. It really was my favorite moment of the episode. 

Yep. I'm fine with her moment of doubt because OMG her face lit up when she heard her beloved TARDIS, and the pure joy when it finally materialized fully. That moment was every dog ever when their human comes in the door. Pure love and joy and worth the wait. 

[snarktini]

3 hours ago, The Companion said:

His favorites are probably The Curse of the Black Spot and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

He can sit with me! Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is one of my silly favs. I typically prefer alien-of-the-week standalones to the big angsty arc stories.

Side note: As the ship was crashing down, they tried to outrun it. On the flight path, in the direction of the ship. Doesn't seem like sound strategy. Wouldn't running at the ship be better? Or at least sideways?!

At any rate, I'm still pleased with the new incarnation. I thought I was done with DW, and so relieved it was just a single Doctor glitch (for now).

[Mabinogia]

4 minutes ago, snarktini said:

Side note: As the ship was crashing down, they tried to outrun it. On the flight path, in the direction of the ship. Doesn't seem like sound strategy. Wouldn't running at the ship be better? Or at least sideways?!

Yeah, I was kind of yelling STOP RUNNING! You are running in the same direction it is crashing!!!! 

In the amount of time they were running they could have run out of the path of the plane, but that wouldn't have been as dramatic I guess.

[tennisgurl]

@Mabinogia “We get it Doctor. We always get it.” ;) 

[clack]

The 2 racers were more interesting than the companions.

A selfish, alienated cynic who needs to learn to connect with others seems like it might have provided a more involving series-long character arc than a brave and good-hearted (but rather dull) youth who needs to connect with his brave and good-hearted (but rather dull) step-grandfather.

[starri]

Like a few others, I might have gotten something in my eye when she saw the TARDIS.

There's a little clip on YouTube about the design of the console room, and the production designer had asked Jodie ahead of time what her favorite cookie/biscuit was.  When they showed her the set the first time, they told her to stomp on the pedal, and down came one of them.  I find that just delightful.

My old-school husband told me he thinks the theme is the first one of the NuWho era that sounds like the classic one.  

I believe he and I both agreed that our favorite thing, however, is that Graham has taken to calling her "Doc."

[Pattycake2]

I thought this episode was boring.  And JW is channeling 10 and 11, but without the charm.  It took me a while to really enjoy 12, so we’ll see.

[Sharpie66]

I don’t know why it took me two episodes to realize that I knew Bradley Walsh from Law & Order: UK. He’s a really good actor, so I am looking forward to Graham this season.

[DCCme]

Every time I walk into my parents house, aka the cave, I start flipping on lights.  I wanted to do the same thing in the TARDIS.  Good grief.  I hope they find the light switches soon.  Other than that I enjoyed the episode.  Some beautiful shots on the planet.  Tender Gran moment, funny Ryan gun moment, loved Yaz attitude “we’re on a spaceship.  Ok”. Weird...killer thingies.  At first I thought they were flying pieces of paper and thought we were about to see death by papercut.  No closure on our racers, it was just poof. I was a wee bit emotional at the reunion of the doctor and the TARDIS.  Loved the outside color, just turn on the lights inside. And still love the new Doctor.

[DCCme]

4 hours ago, snarktini said:

He can sit with me! Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is one of my silly favs. I typically prefer alien-of-the-week standalones to the big angsty arc stories.

Side note: As the ship was crashing down, they tried to outrun it. On the flight path, in the direction of the ship. Doesn't seem like sound strategy. Wouldn't running at the ship be better? Or at least sideways?!

At any rate, I'm still pleased with the new incarnation. I thought I was done with DW, and so relieved it was just a single Doctor glitch (for now).

Yes!  I was talking to my TV during this whole scene because I was watching it alone.  Go sideways, why aren’t you going sideways, who thinks they can outrun a crashing spaceship, get out of the way! 

[call me ishmael]

9 hours ago, Eulipian 5k said:

The Doctor must be holding back or has forgotten something. She fell (out of her TARDIS) in pursuit of the ball of wire on the train in the same place Tim Shaw appeared. Then(?), the TARDIS continues on to Desolation, the home of the Stenza. So, did the Twelfth doctor  have an encounter with the Stenza before or did she? She didn't seem to know of  them  when she was challenging Tim Shaw. Does the TARDIS know?

I don't think that Desolation was the home planet if the Stenza.  I thought they said that the Stenza came and made them experiment on their own planet.

Anyway, I love JW.  I don't think she is overdrawn.  She seems much more like an old style Doctor to me and I certainly don't think she is more rapid than say CE.  And her curiosity is totally winning.  I think that they are trying to convey that she has her "youthful" wonder back.  

[SVNBob]

On 10/14/2018 at 9:37 PM, phalange said:

I love that TARDIS made a mini spinning replica of itself

Apparently, according to tweets from the production team, that's part of the Chameleon Circuit interface.  It's there to show what the TARDIS looks like from the outside after landing in a new location/time.  But since this particular Chameleon Circuit is broken, it's always going to show the police box.

Also from them, the reason that the biscuit was a custard cream is because that's Jodie's favorite kind.  And all they told her for that bit was when she sees that particular pedal, step on it.  They didn't tell her what it would do.

 

I don't get why everyone is saying that the Ghost Monument/TARDIS appeared every 1000 years.  The race official said it appeared every 1000 "rotations", shortly after saying that the two racers had only 1 "solar rotation" (ie, "day") to get to it.  I took that to mean that the TARDIS was appearing every 1000 days, not years.  Which would give it more time to grow a reputation as a "monument" on this planet.

 

In either case, it was "lucky" that they arrived on the right day.  The Doctor was right about them not surviving another rotation.  No food, no drinkable water, toxic air, not to mention the robot guards and killer bandages... 

[WAnglais1]

21 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

I did love the shout out to Venusian Aikido. 

Totally saw the hunger games ending to the competition coming though. 

YES! I squeed a little bit. 

Also loved the TARDIS interior walls reminding me of the room Four went to during "The Invasion of Time" to block the aliens from reading his thoughts. 

I'm really enjoying this season: Better pacing, smaller scale stories, letting things develop...it's good to me.

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, SVNBob said:

I don't get why everyone is saying that the Ghost Monument/TARDIS appeared every 1000 years.  The race official said it appeared every 1000 "rotations", shortly after saying that the two racers had only 1 "solar rotation" (ie, "day") to get to it.  I took that to mean that the TARDIS was appearing every 1000 days, not years.  Which would give it more time to grow a reputation as a "monument" on this planet.

Ah, I missed that. I was being all Earthlingy and assuming a "rotation" = a year. Silly human me. lol Still, 1000 days with no food, robots trying to kill them, sheets trying to kill them and the only water available trying to kill them...yeah, they wouldn't make it 1000 hours, let alone days or years.

I am loving the thing about the biscuits. How cute. I like that it sounds like Jodie is LOVING all of this. Her joy on screen seems so genuine I bet she's having the time of her life, and it shows. I am loving her less angsty doctor. And yeah, Graham calling her Doc is too cute.

The worst thing I can say about this season so far is that the TARDIS is kind of dark inside. If that's as bad as it gets for me, I can live with that.

[clack]

Something I've been noticing : Whitaker, unlike the previous Doctors, is not playing a variation on Sherlock Holmes -- that is, someone who goes into a mysterious situation having already figured out much of what's going on, who is at least 3 steps ahead of everyone else. This Doctor is almost as mystified as her companions. This relative humility is appealing.

What is not appealing to me are the companions. What is the point of having 3 companions if they all have the same personality : brave, decent, smart, capable?

[Cruella]

15 minutes ago, clack said:

Something I've been noticing : Whitaker, unlike the previous Doctors, is not playing a variation on Sherlock Holmes -- that is, someone who goes into a mysterious situation having already figured out much of what's going on, who is at least 3 steps ahead of everyone else. This Doctor is almost as mystified as her companions. This relative humility is appealing.

What is not appealing to me are the companions. What is the point of having 3 companions if they all have the same personality : brave, decent, smart, capable?

I personally think that the young guy has personality of whiny bitch. I have somewhat similar problems and you don't see me throwing expensive bikes over the hill (which could hurt someone btw). If you really want to ride a bike, work at it, without wasting time of two grown people who, among other things, are of no use in this whatsoever. I know a guy with mild cerebral palsy who learned to ride bike as a kid, on his own. If you don't have particular need, say "screw it" and find better way to spend your time - that's hardly a tragedy. There are plenty of jobs where this is barely an inconvenience. Then he also whines about his nan (!) finding herself a second husband - at first I thought it was his step-father, which would be somewhat understandable, dead father, still raw, but damn, he could try to be happy for his grandmother who found some happiness in her not-so-young age, especially since the "intruder" is mellow super nice pushover who might soon die from returned cancer. 

The girl is non-entity so far. I want to like her but she's given nothing to do.

The "obligatory white guy" is the only one with any personality. Which isn't that deep either. 

JW is as bland and boring to me as I expected based on Broadchurch. I remember watching her in this and feeling nothing, despite the role perfectly suited for evoking emotions (and certainly not because I wanted grieving mother to be played by a guy, or something). For me I wish they would find older charismatic actress like Michelle Gomez. She's clearly trying - to me it looks like she's doing her best cosplaying David Tennant's Doctor, I keep seeing him (and I wasn't crazy about him either, though he's no doubt has more charisma) when she talks and moves.

She's not my main problem, though, I guess I just got too old for this show. If the story was smart and impressive I'd be fine with slightly bland Doctor. For the most part all I could think of was "It is all so stupid". Stupid robots, who can't shoot worth shit but can climb down shafts for whatever reason, stupid pieces of fabric that for some reason are given ability to talk, and sure take their time killing enemies, stupid Doctor who is burning the very air above herself and others - if that's brain give me guns any time, they should have died chocking on hot air, stupid game master and stupid players, who apparently could intimidate him so easily all this time! Back then they at least had starships... And on top of that, apart from few pretty outdoor shots (I plan desert trip in Morocco so that was fun to see)  it all looked like some film student project, and that's being generous. 

So that's almost good that there is no lead actor/actress interesting enough to keep me watching this. Maybe one day Chibnall does something "brainy" and the show will get good showrunner. 

[LGraves65]

12 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

I don’t know why it took me two episodes to realize that I knew Bradley Walsh from Law & Order: UK. He’s a really good actor, so I am looking forward to Graham this season.

He's also good friends with Phillip Schofield, and appears on PS's Snapchat regularly. They like to party, and are hilarious.

[taanja]

Hm? It was OK. I feel like the dialog is speaking down to me-- or that it is aimed at children? Not sure.

Are they incorporating public service messages into the episodes? Because .. No. Stop. Don't.

As someone who liked the Moffat era I am still a little ...underwhelmed so far. I like the concept of a female Doctor -- at least I want to like it. Perhaps this actress will grow into the role?

The companions so far are doing nothing for me. I still don't know any of their names.

[Eulipian 5k]

2 hours ago, Cruella said:

The "obligatory white guy" is the only one with any personality. Which isn't that deep either. 

Curious title in a show where the star and 99% of the characters have been white for 53 years ! I guess Mickey was the first non-obligatory character once the "Empire" revealed its true colors. (not a swipe at anyone in particular, the phrase was used by several.)

[Skycatcher]

2 hours ago, Cruella said:

it all looked like some film student project, 

 Your comments made me realize that's what I expect from DW. I started with Tom Baker's DW, and his Companion Leela who was  running around in buckskins. The cheesy-ness has continued all these years, is delicious, and I love it.  It's what makes DW in my mind.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Skycatcher

[Gummo]

So far, 2 episodes of JW have felt more "Whovian" than all one thousand years (that's what if felt like) of Moffat-Capaldi. 

To quote a Martha who wasn't a companion, "It's a Good Thing."

[CooperTV]

The first episode was boring and this one was lifeless. JW's attempts at Tennant fell flat, I liked her better in the previous one. The companions are completely uninteresting, especially Ryan and his petulant 13-year-old boy persona and his nonsensical relationship with his Gran's husband. Yaz has literally nothing to do, and she's dull as well.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Weird thing is, the episode that came on after this episode was the one with David Tennant and Kylie Minogue about The Titanic, what an awesome episode.  I'm trying to warm up to the new Doctor and companions....

[Kite]

On 10/15/2018 at 11:43 PM, ae2 said:

They're killing me with these on the nose public service announcements. I don't need my TV show characters to face the camera, wink, and tell me, "don't forget to brush your teeth kids!" Last week it was knives, this week it was "brains always beat guns every time"

The other day my young son took over my watching of the Honest Trailers does Doctor Who on YT and then autoplay on related content. Yesterday I talked to him about not hitting his brother, and how it was better to use his words, and he nodded earnestly and said he was trying to remember, he learnt that Doctor Who said "fight with your words not your fists". (I don't know if it was DW or some other show but whatever). The point is, he was impressed. He's constantly bludgeoned over the head with messages that violence solves problems (and I see the visceral effect that shows have on him) so if Doctor Who (which has always had this message) wants to take it up a notch on toxic masculinity, yay for them. I KNOW these PSAs but not everyone watching does, it's a family show in Britain. Besides, the sheer number of fans who thought that the Doctor's "you had no right to do that" displayed a totally bizarre alien morality shows that "eye for an eye" is pretty prevalent amongst adults too.

On 10/16/2018 at 6:13 AM, AnimeMania said:

My favorite scene this season was a PSA. Don't get drunk and throw tomatoes at random strangers! The average viewers are several decades older than the target audience, but I don't think you can get them to stop and watch something more age appropriate.

Yeah exactly, Doctor Who is my favourite show, but I do need to make mental adjustments sometimes, remembering that it remains at its heart a kids show, the age I was when I fell in love with it. It's my inner kid that likes it and stops me from getting too pedantic about it, I can go watch far angstier grittier shows if I want to get my adult on.

That said, I wasn't sure about this week's episode, but I was also really REALLY tired and grumpy, and it was definitely my head over my feels in operation (I should have gone & watched some Black Mirror or something), so I'll go back later with a lighter heart and see if I'm feeling it. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Kite

[ganesh]

On 10/14/2018 at 2:51 PM, John Potts said:

I get the impression somebody watched Pitch Black before writing this - desert world apparently bereft of life that is deadly (well, supposedly deadly!) at night.

Me too. Not a problem though.

I didn't have a problem with 'brains beats guns' because that is consistent with the classic Doctor.

I did like that the TARDIS knew the Doctor would make the sonic that would put the TARDIS in phase, or let herself be in phase, to reappear for this reincarnation. 

[Mabinogia]

Funny, I don't find it preachy at all. In a world where the majority of "heroes" are considered heroic for beating the shit out of badguys it's nice to see one who uses their brains to outwit. If the show were hitting me over the head with "violence always wins" I think I'd be bothered by it. But it is true that this is basically a kids/family show. For me, the show does it's PSA in an entertaining way, like Ryan running out and shooting all the robots, only to have them bounce back up. I thought that was a great moment. Of course I grew up in the 80s/90s when "very special episodes" were VERY heavy handed, so maybe I just have a high threshold for PSAs. lol