S00.E156: Resolution (New Year's Day 2019)

[Joe Hellandback]

3 hours ago, HouseofBeck said:

The so-called comedic break was exactly what we humans would do when faced with a break in routine. No internet / etc. = Now what do we doooo? #NotAllHumans. No way of knowing the world's about to end! Bit close for comfort, that. 

I did like that bit although reminiscent of 'It Knocks'. 

[Cobb Salad]

2 hours ago, Dobian said:

That girl is now going to be wanted by the police for murder.  Guess that's a plot point that will just be ignored entirely.

I was wondering about that too,  assuming there was a camera in the police car that she stole when the Dalek was controlling her.  I guess she’s on her own for this ...

[LiveenLetLive]

19 hours ago, Riplet68 said:

Commercials were horrible!  I don’t like Dalek story lines, Doctor defeats too easily.  Love this Doctor

BBCAmerica is shameless with the amount of commercials they insert, watching the marathon was difficult for this very reason.

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, Joe Hellandback said:

All told I thought this was a little underwhelming, I hope Dr Who rediscovers its' magic next year.

I think they've been relying on the CGI to impress viewers, but it needs to be just one element of a good, coherent, story. If you're going to have defeat of the Dalek hinge on it not being able to hold on, don't give it improbably long tentacles earlier in the story for the sake of a cool horror scene, or come up with a reason why it'd have to let go. I'd have been happier if the Doctor gave it a sonic hotfoot; at least it would have been some comic relief after a tense scene.

[madhacker]

Personally I loved it but I would've had the ending be The Doctor deciding the since the Earth isn't defended she'd do a recruitment drive to restart Torchwood. I'd be worth it just to see who'd she'd get besides Jack. I'm thinking River, Martha and Mickey, Donna and Luke Smith.  Hey I know it'll never happen but it'd be fun though

[supposebly]

I binged the latter half of the season yesterday starting with Demons of the Punjab and I feel like I was a lot more engaged and the episodes were a lot better than the first half. The thread of Graham and Ryan dealing with their loss was wonderful. For once, someone actually stays dead.

Loved this one. I don't know if a Dalek ever acted as a parasite, I think in Dalek, Nine actually said that they abhor the touch of another living being, so that would have been rather surprising to the Doctor. I thought it was reasonable to expect the Dalek to scamper, having no shell.

Are the scouts that left Scaro first somewhat different Daleks? It was laughing, wasn't it? That was odd. They don't usually do that from what I know.

Overall, I loved this one. Shades of Dalek but very different and I really love this Doctor and how she deals with things.

Overall, I'm very happy that the Universe doesn't implode on a weekly basis anymore and I like small-scale stories as long as they are done well. Nothing yet like Vincent and the Doctor or Father's Day but those don't come along often anyway.

Edited January 3, 2019 by supposebly

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, supposebly said:

Are the scouts that left Scaro first somewhat different Daleks? It was laughing, wasn't it? That was odd. They don't usually do that from what I know.

The Doctor said they were. That's why it was able to short out the TARDIS. 

1 hour ago, supposebly said:

Overall, I'm very happy that the Universe doesn't implode on a weekly basis anymore and I like small-scale stories as long as they are done well.

I was thoroughly entertained. We know well enough that 1 dalek is big trouble, so I felt some actual stakes because it was interacting with people and didn't need an entire Battle of Canary Wharf II. 

I was disappointed UNIT lost funding. 

[Last Time Lord]

1 hour ago, madhacker said:

Personally I loved it but I would've had the ending be The Doctor deciding the since the Earth isn't defended she'd do a recruitment drive to restart Torchwood. I'd be worth it just to see who'd she'd get besides Jack. I'm thinking River, Martha and Mickey, Donna and Luke Smith.  Hey I know it'll never happen but it'd be fun though

I have wanted Luke Smith to show up on Doctor Who as a somewhat regular character ever since Sarah Jane Adventures was forced to end due to Elisabeth Sladen’s passing. 

It seems to me like he’d be a perfect fit, just character continuity wise. 

[ganesh]

On 1/1/2019 at 3:06 PM, John Potts said:

I thought his moment of heroism was going to be like Pete Tyler's in Father's Day and he'd save the day by deliberately throwing himself into space, but maybe that's too much of a downer ending.

I thought that for a minute, but I think the consequences of Ryan feeling responsible for both Nan and his father dying would be too heavy for this kind of show. 

I was hoping the Doctor would sass the dalek a little more, since its been buried for over 1000 years. While the daleks quite well know where earth, I still wouldn't want it contacting Skaro or wherever. You really never know. Even 10 of them showing up would be a mess. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

This episode didn't let me down, once again , like all the other season 11 episodes it proved to be fed another suckass sandwich.  It had zero magic or appeal to watch again and again compared to many of the older Christmas episodes of DW.  I still__ feel zero connection to any__ of the companions or 13th Doctor, in fact I would have been ok if all the companions etc. would have been sucked out along with the Dalek. I couldn't give a rat's ass about the scene between Ryan and his father, reminded me of some hokey scene from an old episode of EastEnders.  Rotten Tomatoes Season 11 down to 24% and I don't think they are all trolls. 

[Unusual Suspect]

Another solid episode. Liked the comic moments, like the help desk and discovering UNIT was defeated by budgetary concerns. The short bit with the horrified family was also pretty good.

I really like Daleks in small numbers. Also, it was interesting seeing a Dalek being just as deadly out of its shell.

[tv-talk]

This episode was probably best of season but still not that good. I agree with sentiment above that it's a bit odd the first female Doctor seems bent on having a big traveling family, I would say that is virtually the antithesis of all previous Doctors. At the end of this episode there was a moment it looked likely that the Tardis would de-materialize with SIX COMPANIONS inside! I'm sorry but that is just not the Doctor, which is ok I suppose, but it will take some getting used to. In the end while I thought this season wasnt as bad as some of the Capaldi/Coleman debacles I cant point to an episode which I'd suggest to a friend who didnt know Doctor Who and wanted to dip into the vaunted series. 

[WatchrTina]

7 hours ago, ElleryAnne said:

The Tardis was crowded.  At one point, there were six or seven people in there.  

Yeah and I have to say, I don't like the new Tardis at all.  I'm sure the designer is very proud of him/herself because the support struts MOVE, but they're not elegant.  They don't look futuristic.  They look like cheese.

And yeah, it look CROWDED.  It may have been the numerous people but it may also be that the new set is actually smaller than we are used to.  I wonder why?  

Personally I always love it when the many unseen rooms of the Tardis are mentioned including the dressing room with all the period-appropriate costumes and of course the swimming pool that River dives into when she jumps out of the building to escape The Silence. 

[tv-talk]

27 minutes ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

 Rotten Tomatoes Season 11 down to 24% and I don't think they are all trolls. 

Yeah I'd noticed that with the interesting thing being the critics rating at 94%. Gotta wonder if being the first female Doctor has resulted in kids gloves treatment from many professional critics and perhaps some vitriol/blowback from fans who didn't want that change.

[ganesh]

There were 7 people in the TARDIS when they toed earth back because they were all driving it. Except Jackie. She wasn't supposed to touch anything. So for a one off special, I don't think it's that big a deal.

One also had 3 companions for a time as well. 

[tv-talk]

It's not just that they are there, it's that the Doctor seems to thrive on "fam" and "team Tardis." For me personally that is much different than any previous Doctor and the exact opposite of the recent "I've seen too much tragedy" storylines. I would say Whittaker is the least Doctor-y Doctor we've ever had- and it's not because she's a woman but rather how they wrote the scripts.  

[tennisgurl]

Dalek episode! I missed having good Dalek episodes! I love that they had just the one Dalek and it was SUCH a huge deal, and how much they filled this one creature with so much hatred and evil in just one episode. This was scarier to me than the Dalek armies we were getting for awhile there a few seasons ago. Liked its creepy squid body and its ironic metal body, and it was generally a cool return for a classic villain. The backstory was fun too, with the armies teaming up to defeat the Daleks and running off to split them up. Although, its sad that the Earth was almost destroyed by a couple of random assholes killing the poor guardian guy. Poor guardian guy. 

Speaking of Earth being destroyed because of a few stupid assholes, of course UNIT was disbanded because of budget cuts and BREXIT. Yeah, that was definitely a swipe, I saw that one, show. I mean, thats some high key stupid. "Well, its been awhile since we had an alien invasion, like, three whole weeks!" I do hope that this means that UNIT will be rebuilt soon, and we can have Thirteen meet with Kate and UNIT. 

I kind of like them doing a New Years show, because its more time to watch the show with less familial obligations for many people, but at the same time, Christmas has so much more epic mythos behind it, that its kind of easier to create a magical feeling special just based around Christmas iconography. I thought this episode was quite enjoyable, and I had fun watching it, but it wasn't as instantly memorable as many of the Christmas episodes. I mean, it was hardly even tied in with New Years, beyond the name and some jokes. It wasn't exactly a traumatized man in Victorian London having a Christmas after being so messed up he thought he was The Doctor, or the Space Whales that saved Christmas, or the alien Christmas Carol, or pushing the Earth back into its rotation, or anything like that. It was nice, and it was great to see these characters, but pretty forgettable. And I've actually enjoyed this run a whole lot! 

Nice to meet Ryan's dad, and that he and Ryan are getting another chance at being close. I thought that his dad would try and heroic sacrifice himself, but I was glad we got the happy ending instead. I also loved the Doctor instantly telling Ryan's dad to fuck off when he showed up, but then she warmed to him a bit, while still noting his crappy parenting record. It was generally a good episode for Thirteen, she got lots of funny lines and sweet moments, but also had some real edge against the Dalek. I really loved when she said she had spent time thinking like a Dalek, it really seemed like she was channeling some of the older, angstier incarnations. I also loved the interactions between Graham and Ryan's dad, and how the dad clearly still missed Grace terribly, and felt awful for how he left things with them, even missing her funeral.Graham is just such a kind soul.

So, it was a fun, enjoyable outing with a nice return of a classic villain, but I was rather disappointed that it wasn't more unique as a holiday special. Still nice to see the fam though!

[Joe Hellandback]

7 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

I was wondering about that too,  assuming there was a camera in the police car that she stole when the Dalek was controlling her.  I guess she’s on her own for this ...

The Dalek too out the camera's, remember? Also I'm sure the Doc could call in some favours. Plus do we know she actually killed anyone? 

[John Potts]

12 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

5.  Did they have to kill off the gay character? Or maybe he was only stunned?

I'm guessing only stunned - if you need someone for their "magic fingers", you probably want them alive, as bioscanners in secure locations are usually designed to detect whether the finger is still attached to a living person. But I admit, that's Headcannon (you'd think if the Dalek only needed their finger, they wouldn't drag around the body, too). OTOH, it would be entirely consistent with other dalek abilities to have it be able to bypass the security system entirely.

[AudienceofOne]

That was terrible.  

[benteen]

10 hours ago, tv-talk said:

Yeah I'd noticed that with the interesting thing being the critics rating at 94%. Gotta wonder if being the first female Doctor has resulted in kids gloves treatment from many professional critics and perhaps some vitriol/blowback from fans who didn't want that change.

Yeah, I say take that 24% by the audience and that 94% by the critics and the season average is somewhere in the middle for me.  Like The Doctor and her companions, enjoyed this episode a great deal and most of the historical episodes but other than that, a very mixed bag.

[darkestboy]

I liked the episode more than the previous two, though the Ryan/Aaron scenes dragged a bit and it took too long for the Dalek to assemble a body for itself. On the other hand, some great possession scenes from Lin.

Seeing the Doctor be confronted with her old enemy was a highlight and played into Jodie's strengths and there was some nice moments for Graham here but the show is struggling with Yasmin as a character.

Bit of an impressive body count with the Dalek/Lin killing virtually everyone on sight but I do think at least one of the guest characters could've died as well.

UNIT got taken out by Brexit. Oh well, at least there's Big Finish I suppose. 8/10

[libgirl2]

11 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

Yeah and I have to say, I don't like the new Tardis at all.  I'm sure the designer is very proud of him/herself because the support struts MOVE, but they're not elegant.  They don't look futuristic.  They look like cheese.

And yeah, it look CROWDED.  It may have been the numerous people but it may also be that the new set is actually smaller than we are used to.  I wonder why?  

Personally I always love it when the many unseen rooms of the Tardis are mentioned including the dressing room with all the period-appropriate costumes and of course the swimming pool that River dives into when she jumps out of the building to escape The Silence. 

It did look smaller! 

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, ganesh said:

There were 7 people in the TARDIS when they toed earth back because they were all driving it. Except Jackie. She wasn't supposed to touch anything. So for a one off special, I don't think it's that big a deal.

One also had 3 companions for a time as well. 

The Doctor has at one time or another had multiple companions, but I always felt I knew them. I cared for them, I don't really care for the current except for Graham. 

[ganesh]

That's fine, but the point was that the TARDIS was "crowded", and the number of companions has been consistent with the show history. 

[benteen]

I mentioned earlier but show missed an opportunity for here for Yaz to have known those officers who were slain by the Dalek.  It would have given her a personal connection to what was going on.  But Chibnall and the writers have seemed to have forgotten that Yaz's is even a cop as the season has gone on.  Why make her a cop if you're barely going to utilize her background.  I always thought having a companion who is a law enforcement officer would be interesting for The Doctor.  Bring a whole new skill set into the Tardis.  But the writers apparently can't even be bothered with this.  They have The Doctor thing about her companions as a whole instead of as individuals after all.

Someone noted that Yaz being the one taken over by the parasite instead of Lin also would have been interesting.  I can't argue with that.

Quote

I liked the episode more than the previous two, though the Ryan/Aaron scenes dragged a bit and it took too long for the Dalek to assemble a body for itself. On the other hand, some great possession scenes from Lin.

That moment when Aaron is telling Ryan what he was doing now seemed to go on FOREVER.

Edited January 3, 2019 by benteen

[Bruinsfan]

10 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Speaking of Earth being destroyed because of a few stupid assholes, of course UNIT was disbanded because of budget cuts and BREXIT. Yeah, that was definitely a swipe, I saw that one, show. I mean, thats some high key stupid. "Well, its been awhile since we had an alien invasion, like, three whole weeks!" I do hope that this means that UNIT will be rebuilt soon, and we can have Thirteen meet with Kate and UNIT.

I wondered if new heads of state objecting to that Capaldi Era protocol of making the Doctor President of Earth in planetary crisis situations might not have been the real reason for UNIT being shelved. I can see some of the current ones not thinking ahead to the risk of calling the shots in those sorts of situations also making one the target of shots from whatever alien menace is involved.

[Keely]

This is probably my least favorite holiday special in some time. The specials are usually very Doctor-centric. They needed said opportunity to continue giving her her own sense of identity. Both for her and the audience. Instead, she felt like a side character.

Ryan's dad figuring out how to defeat the Dalek, instead of the Doctor having a moment of yelling at herself to think and be brilliant, bugged. All the time spent on Dad bugged even more. With so many companions, I just don't care about a man realizing he doesn't know how to be a real person - whether people and their flaws are Chibnall's speciality or not.  

The ep also gave Moffat, and his science doesn't work like that madness and plot holes, a run for his money.  E.g. Dalek building itself a new suit? A-okay. Doing so with earth materials and metals found on random farm/warehouse? And having it be impenetrable and vastly superior to human weapons and defenses? Um, say again? Dalek doesn't recognize a Time Lord via scans, 2 hearts or alienness, but recognizes the Doctor by name? Okay then.

That also then begs the question why they are shying away from calling her a Time Lord. And when, exactly, is the Doctor going to get angry? Some of the Doctors best moments throughout the series happen when they hit that seething line of cross me and die. They've had multiple moments where she could have, or even should have, hit fury and yet nothing. This ep handed them the chance on a silver platter. That they, again, didn't take it is odd and becoming its own distraction - once you notice it missing anyway. 

[tv-talk]

32 minutes ago, Keely said:

The ep also gave Moffat, and his science doesn't work like that madness and plot holes, a run for his money.  E.g. Dalek building itself a new suit? A-okay. Doing so with earth materials and metals found on random farm/warehouse? And having it be impenetrable and vastly superior to human weapons and defenses? Um, say again? Dalek doesn't recognize a Time Lord via scans, 2 hearts or alienness, but recognizes the Doctor by name? Okay then.

Yeah there was so much of that you have to just ignore it and roll along in willful ignorance. I mean this ONE dalek in a scrap iron suit was a threat to the entire Earth...but was able to be taen out with swords and ropes 900 years ago when it was at full power? Um, ok.

 

33 minutes ago, Keely said:

The specials are usually very Doctor-centric. They needed said opportunity to continue giving her her own sense of identity. Both for her and the audience. Instead, she felt like a side character.

This might be my biggest peeve with the season, she never really became The Doctor or at least it took too long. The whole semi-amnesia bit was a big mistake, had her bumbling around a bit too much and never quite getting into fullness of the Doctor. So much of New Who has been the weight of being the Doctor and while it was often a bit too much as far as the writing, to do 180 degress where the Doctor doesnt really seem to get who she is...wasnt great. Hopefully next season she's more fully The Doctor and less Mum to the Companions.

[Sakura12]

I was one that wasn't impressed when 10 or 11 got angry and shouty and didn't like 12 always being angry. The Doctor is supposed to be a superior being that should know how to keep emotions in check. 

I also think the Doctor shouting about how much of badass he is was an ego thing. 13 just saying her name being enough to make the Dalek take a slide back was a much more badass moment for me. If you are the biggest badass in the universe you shouldn't have to tell people you are, they should know. 

I liked the Doctor being calm and rational dealing with the Dalek. Shouting at them hasn't stopped them from coming back thousands of times. Time to try something else. 

[The Companion]

On 1/1/2019 at 4:06 PM, John Potts said:

Because I am "that guy", I did have a few quibbles: the military adopted that reliable tactic of "standing in the open under cover of daylight", which shows a shocking lack of tactical awareness even when facing human opponents (UNIT had been shown to have access to have the tech to actually deal with real alien threats - presumably why they've been removed from the game, at least for now). And other than Heroic Armour protecting Team Doctor, how were a bunch of civilians able to overpower a Dalek just by grabbing it but none of the soldiers or the guards at GCHQ were able to? Then there was the (brief) scene with the family complaining about the internet being down - I didn't think it was unbelievable, but it was the wrong moment for a comedy beat when the world was (supposedly) about to end.

But quibbles aside, I did really love it!

Agreed on the poor military tactics. Down to just screaming run and breaking formation. My other "that guy" comment is the weird narration at the end. Totally unnecessary and distracting. 

On 1/1/2019 at 4:27 PM, jenrising said:

I really enjoyed this. I agree that one scary Dalek was wonderful (and it helps make them scary when zillions don't show up every five minutes to be vanquished). It was a lovely rounding out of Ryan's story without his dad dying to "earn" forgiveness. I very much hope this resolution makes space for a lot more Yaz next series. 

Honestly, I still didn't feel like Ryan's dad deserved the level of forgiveness he got. That being said, I hope it is a resolution. Perhaps he can earn it off screen and we can give Yaz more to do.

On 1/1/2019 at 9:44 PM, grinchyheart said:

I loved it. The only thing that bugged was how shallow the dalek pieces were buried (6 inches of sand/snow? really?) and how the best guarding the Custodians could come up with was to stand or kneel at the burial spot staring at it. For a couple hundred years. Oh one other thing, the only piece that was properly hidden from ultraviolet (hello ordinary sunshine) under Sheffield town hall was somehow the one that got dug up. Aside from a little vigorous handwaving about those details, the characters were great, the dalek was properly creepy & it felt like the doctor was finally hitting her stride. I liked her from the beginning, but the other episodes this season were mostly just ok for me.

Right? How shallow were those holes? You walked the earth to bury them and left them like 6 inches below ground?

On 1/2/2019 at 3:29 AM, Llywela said:

I much preferred the New Year's Day timeslot over Christmas Day - controversial statement, perhaps, but I've always found the Christmas specials difficult because Christmas is such a busy family day - they usually have it on, but there's so much noise it can be hard to follow! Watching it as it aired, in the quiet of my own home, was much better.

I really really missed it on Christmas. I put away the food, cleaned the dishes and put my son to bed. It felt like it was time to sit down, pour a glass of wine and turn on the Christmas episode. Instead I had to wait and ultimately didn't even watch it the same day it showed (a rare occasion) because my New Year's Day involved so many other things plus football. 

22 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Seems a little sexist to give the Doctor a family now that she's female, at least in the sense you're referring. I'd rather she ran into Jenny, her clone/daughter she doesn't know survived, and teamed up with her to save people. That would give her family she can fret about at appropriate times, but it would mostly have more of a partners vibe than motherly.

I am not sure I see sexism in three companions. Eleven treated Rory and Amy as family (and ultimately married into their family). Honestly, I think the three companions thing came down to the following: they didn't want a one companion scenario to avoid any discussion of romantic attachment. I suspect they also wanted to have some sort of romantic storyline. They have done so for most of the companions, and Clara with Danny highlighted how very weird that is when you have one person leaving their significant other behind on a regular basis to have adventures. So, they wanted two young people who could end up in a romantic storyline down the road. However, they didn't want that to be the initial arc. Therefore, they wanted another companion to both break up the romantic tension they plan to insert down the road and to provide alternate drama. The easiest way to do that was with a family member, but there needed to also be a conflict.

Honestly, I would watch Graham and JW. I find him significantly more entertaining than Yaz and Ryan. Honestly, though, I don't mind the dynamic of a full TARDIS. There are things that I complain about this season, but the full TARDIS just isn't something that bothers me. 

20 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

I don't mind a bit of family drama, but enough already. If this is such a kids show, you think kids like are hanging onto the edge of their seats during the Ryan and his dad scene? Yes their has been drama before but it never felt forced and seemed to flow with the story, though I hated the Danny Pink drama! 

I loved Danny Pink and wish he had gotten to be something other than an accessory. I thought he was an interesting character and using him as a plot point for Clara really sucked. Agreed that I didn't love the family drama, though I did appreciate that Graham continues to be an awesome stepfather and granddad.

14 hours ago, ganesh said:

I thought that for a minute, but I think the consequences of Ryan feeling responsible for both Nan and his father dying would be too heavy for this kind of show. 

 

Agreed. We didn't need another storyline about loss.

24 minutes ago, Keely said:

TThe ep also gave Moffat, and his science doesn't work like that madness and plot holes, a run for his money.  E.g. Dalek building itself a new suit? A-okay. Doing so with earth materials and metals found on random farm/warehouse? And having it be impenetrable and vastly superior to human weapons and defenses? Um, say again? Dalek doesn't recognize a Time Lord via scans, 2 hearts or alienness, but recognizes the Doctor by name? Okay then.

 

Yeah, I laughed at the idea that he made some really great impenetrable armor and somehow found the supplies for complex missiles. Sometimes you just have to go with it, but that was stretching it. 

4 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

Hopefully next season she's more fully The Doctor and less Mum to the Companions.

Is she my mummy? :)

 

I feel like I have done a lot of complaining, but honestly I did like it. I love JW as the Doctor, and particularly her nerdy science side and enthusiasm. I am never a huge fan of Daleks, but did like they way they used them here. One Dalek was actually a lot more fun to watch than an army of them. I wasn't a huge fan of family drama but did really think there were some good scenes relating to the drama. I liked the silly first kiss only couple. They were cute and I wanted them to prevail, especially after what happened to that poor girl in kerblam. Overall, I thought it was a good cap to the season and a solid special. 

[libgirl2]

2 hours ago, benteen said:

I mentioned earlier but show missed an opportunity for here for Yaz to have known those officers who were slain by the Dalek.  It would have given her a personal connection to what was going on.  But Chibnall and the writers have seemed to have forgotten that Yaz's is even a cop as the season has gone on.  Why make her a cop if you're barely going to utilize her background.  I always thought having a companion who is a law enforcement officer would be interesting for The Doctor.  Bring a whole new skill set into the Tardis.  But the writers apparently can't even be bothered with this.  They have The Doctor thing about her companions as a whole instead of as individuals after all.

Someone noted that Yaz being the one taken over by the parasite instead of Lin also would have been interesting.  I can't argue with that.

That moment when Aaron is telling Ryan what he was doing now seemed to go on FOREVER.

that reminds me of The Hand of Fear and Sarah Jane! I think that would have been very interesting. And I also agree, for being a cop, its rarely brought up. 

[Keely]

16 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

Yeah there was so much of that you have to just ignore it and roll along in willful ignorance. I mean this ONE dalek in a scrap iron suit was a threat to the entire Earth...but was able to be taen out with swords and ropes 900 years ago when it was at full power? Um, ok.

There is that. Swords, rope and now a microwave. Okay then.

 

13 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

I was one that wasn't impressed when 10 or 11 got angry and shouty and didn't like 12 always being angry. The Doctor is supposed to be a superior being that should know how to keep emotions in check. 

I also think the Doctor shouting about how much of badass he is was an ego thing. 13 just saying her name being enough to make the Dalek take a slide back was a much more badass moment for me. If you are the biggest badass in the universe you shouldn't have to tell people you are, they should know. 

I liked the Doctor being calm and rational dealing with the Dalek. Shouting at them hasn't stopped them from coming back thousands of times. Time to try something else. 

Being a superior intelligent being doesn't necessarily mean keeping their emotions in check. That idea is our perception of what someone more evolved would be like. It doesn't mean they are and the Doctor has never been superior in the way of Vulcans and keeping all emotions tamped down. 

That said, I agree that it's a well that shouldn't be gone to constantly. It has been overused at times. However, their quirky sense of humor and their temper are the two traits shared by all doctors. Her lack thereof is then noticeable. You can be the biggest badass and still need to remind people what you're capable of on occasion.

 

9 minutes ago, The Companion said:

Yeah, I laughed at the idea that he made some really great impenetrable armor and somehow found the supplies for complex missiles. Sometimes you just have to go with it, but that was stretching it. 

I often try to go with it, but this one stretches how much I can go with it when you add in the Dalek blocking the Tardis, from the ground, with tech found in the general populace. I can do one, maybe two but three? Oi!

[The Companion]

19 minutes ago, Keely said:

 

I often try to go with it, but this one stretches how much I can go with it when you add in the Dalek blocking the Tardis, from the ground, with tech found in the general populace. I can do one, maybe two but three? Oi!

They could have at least had her carry off a few extra macguffins with the Dalek weapon. 

[LoneHaranguer]

13 hours ago, ganesh said:

There were 7 people in the TARDIS when they toed earth back because they were all driving it. Except Jackie.

Nine actually. There was one other companion on the sidelines with Jackie while the Doctor narrated and supervised the six driving.

35 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

Yeah there was so much of that you have to just ignore it and roll along in willful ignorance. I mean this ONE dalek in a scrap iron suit was a threat to the entire Earth...but was able to be taen out with swords and ropes 900 years ago when it was at full power? Um, ok.

It would have had trouble getting power 900 years ago. Kill a few swordsmen and it'd be helpless while its suit slowly recharged. Not a problem today with all of the EM energy flying around. 

1 hour ago, Keely said:

Dalek building itself a new suit? A-okay. Doing so with earth materials and metals found on random farm/warehouse? And having it be impenetrable and vastly superior to human weapons and defenses? Um, say again?

If the Doctor can build herself a new sonic screwdriver in a similar fashion, it's only fair.

[andipandi]

Quote

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

that reminds me of The Hand of Fear and Sarah Jane! I think that would have been very interesting. And I also agree, for being a cop, its rarely brought up. 

 

Also Sarah Jane, Planet of Spiders, with a giant spider on her back. When the woman archeologist appeared after chasing the monster, I totally turned to pandiJr and said, it's on her back.

Edited January 3, 2019 by andipandi

[Eulipian 5k]

If the Doctor can make a Sonic from Sheffield steel, or Amy Pond (!) can build her own sonic (as "The Girl who Waited") Why can't a Dalek build its shell from a warehouse of equipment?  It must know what alloys to make from all the elements on earth, there's at least 104 stable elements that don't exist everywhere in the universe.

[libgirl2]

30 minutes ago, andipandi said:

Also Sarah Jane, Planet of Spiders, with a giant spider on her back. When the woman archeologist appeared after chasing the monster, I totally turned to pandiJr and said, it's on her back.

Yes! I think having the Dalek attach itself to Yaz would have meant more to the audience and give the character a decent storyline. 

[Sakura12]

Impenetrable armor? All I saw was some bullets bouncing off it, which I can see with all that steel and metal plating. When they shot a missile the Dalek blocked it with it's own missle. It also could found some of its armor when it robbed the black market weapon place. It also wasn't impenetrable since they did get through it and destroyed it. 

[DanaK]

2 hours ago, The Companion said:

My other "that guy" comment is the weird narration at the end. Totally unnecessary and distracting. 

I believe it was to match the opening narration. For me it worked

Did it seem like the Doctor had never been in Graham and Ryan’s apartment before, given she had to ask where the kitchen was when they first arrived with the Tardis?

I’m still tickled at Polly the security helpline operator. The actress used the perfect inflection for at least the stereotype of an irritatingly unhelpful helpline operator

[DanaK]

Guest actor Charlotte Ritchie did a really nice job as Lin. The guy playing Mitch was more sidelined but he was still helpful

[The Companion]

25 minutes ago, DanaK said:

I believe it was to match the opening narration. For me it worked

 

yes, I figured it was to match the opening sequence but it was unnecessary and I felt it was jarring. The final line from the Doctor was pretty great and very Doctory and then they went and overlaid the ending with unnecessary narration. 

[libgirl2]

15 minutes ago, DanaK said:

Guest actor Charlotte Ritchie did a really nice job as Lin. The guy playing Mitch was more sidelined but he was still helpful

I watch Call the Midwife so I spent most of the episode saying "Barbara!" 

[AudienceofOne]

3 hours ago, The Companion said:

I feel like I have done a lot of complaining, but honestly I did like it. I love JW as the Doctor, and particularly her nerdy science side and enthusiasm. 

I agree with this and it's why I've enjoyed this season a lot LOT more than most of Moffatt's run. The Doctor was originally an unassuming scientist and it makes me feel Chib understands the character way more than Moffatt did. 

My main issue with this episode - and the reason I rather pithily labelled it 'terrible' - was that the Doctor was essentially useless. I'm all for giving up the self-aggrandising bloviating nonsense Moffatt gave his Doctors - President of Earth, the Universe's Biggest Badass, Intergalactic Stud (god can that be retconned out, that was horrible) - but at least have the Doctor be the driving agent in her own story. Instead of this being about how terrifying the Daleks are, it instead became about how useless the Doctor is. And then she nearly killed Ryan's Dad on top of it. The whole episode was her declaring she'd found a solution to something and then f'ing it up. 

Ryan saving his father with the Power of Love was the eye-rolling cherry on the top. 

[theatremouse]

11 hours ago, John Potts said:

I'm guessing only stunned - if you need someone for their "magic fingers", you probably want them alive, as bioscanners in secure locations are usually designed to detect whether the finger is still attached to a living person. But I admit, that's Headcannon (you'd think if the Dalek only needed their finger, they wouldn't drag around the body, too). OTOH, it would be entirely consistent with other dalek abilities to have it be able to bypass the security system entirely.

It might've just been a weird angle, but in the moment when she put the hand on the scanner, it very much looked to me like the arm was detached and she was only holding elbow to hand. Which, as you note, should've been a problem for the scanner, but in the moment I thought it looked pretty gruesome.

[LoneHaranguer]

3 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

The whole episode was her declaring she'd found a solution to something and then f'ing it up. 

It's been quite a while since I've seen his episodes, but didn't Two have somewhat the same problem? Of course, those stories were written as a serial with the Doctor still relatively young and inexperienced, while this was self-contained and about Thirteen, but it makes sense if the point is to do a reset (and we can just presume she hasn't fully recovered from regeneration).

[AudienceofOne]

19 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

It's been quite a while since I've seen his episodes, but didn't Two have somewhat the same problem? 

He did and Two is the Doctor she most reminds me of. He made mistakes, he had a lot of companions, and he tended to think of them as family rather than friends. 

It may sound contradictory when what I most like about this season is Chip bringing Doctor Who back to its roots, but this bumbling incompetence seems jarring to me sometimes. And part of that is because she's a woman. If you'd only watched New Who you might find it problematic that the only female Doctor is the least competent. 

[ZoqFotPik]

On 1/1/2019 at 8:38 PM, hnygrl said:

4.  You see your partner in grave danger. And you don’t draw your weapon??? Stupid!!!

Are you referring to the two traffic cops? Other than Northern Ireland and some special units, British Police are unarmed. 

On 1/2/2019 at 2:10 PM, Cobb Salad said:

On 1/2/2019 at 11:25 AM, Dobian said:

That girl is now going to be wanted by the police for murder.  Guess that's a plot point that will just be ignored entirely.

 

I was wondering about that too,  assuming there was a camera in the police car that she stole when the Dalek was controlling her.  I guess she’s on her own for this ...

Everyone is wearing different clothes during the scene at the end, so a little bit of time has passed. Hopefully the Doctor was able to clear up what happened. She presumably still has some friends in the British Government and there would be some video surveillance of the attack on the military and GCHQ.

13 hours ago, The Companion said:

They could have at least had her carry off a few extra macguffins with the Dalek weapon. 

She is clearly shown to be loading the police car with multiple boxes and crates, so it was definitely more than just the weapon.

9 hours ago, theatremouse said:

It might've just been a weird angle, but in the moment when she put the hand on the scanner, it very much looked to me like the arm was detached and she was only holding elbow to hand. Which, as you note, should've been a problem for the scanner, but in the moment I thought it looked pretty gruesome.

You can hear the body dragging so at the very least she didn't rip off the poor guy's arm.

Overall, I thought the episode was good. My big issue with it was that the other two guardians served no purpose. They could have been completely removed from the episode and nothing would have changed. I expected that the sword and axe were going to be special somehow and the Doctor would need to use them to defeat the Dalek, but that would have added to an already crowded cast. Also, the scene with the family complaining about the internet was dumb and unnecessary. I wouldn't mind seeing Polly or the two archaeologists return as guest stars.

[LoneHaranguer]

17 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

It may sound contradictory when what I most like about this season is Chip bringing Doctor Who back to its roots, but this bumbling incompetence seems jarring to me sometimes. And part of that is because she's a woman. If you'd only watched New Who you might find it problematic that the only female Doctor is the least competent.

Doesn't much of the Doctor's competence come from the ability to see all that was, is, and could be, via a connection with the Tardis? Thirteen started off without the Tardis, having fallen out of an exploding control room, so she was on her own for part of the season, after which the Tardis may have been holding a grudge and not been entirely cooperative.

[Eulipian 5k]

UNIT may have been a United Nations agency but it is HQ'd in Britain just like the UN Secretariat is in NYC and the World Court is in The Hague, Netherlands. I'm sure the heavy contribution of the host countries to the budgets of those organizations is decided by the host governments. Just like the Trumpster is complaining about the funding of NATO, an international organization, by the US gov't..

If UNIT were still active, they would probably have known to stop the archeological dig at the Sheffield City Hall for "classified" reasons.