tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post9172665697430762057..comments2024-03-28T18:01:28.997-04:00Comments on What's Alan Watching?: Doctor Who, "Forest of the Dead": 'Tis a far, far better thing I do...Alan Sepinwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-72828408108318450592008-07-05T21:55:00.000-04:002008-07-05T21:55:00.000-04:00"Hope Springs" sounds like the world's worst retir..."Hope Springs" sounds like the world's worst retirement community.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278397835543484753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-29466046940704373342008-07-04T05:44:00.000-04:002008-07-04T05:44:00.000-04:00"Ii was surprised the other night to see Dr. Eliza..."Ii was surprised the other night to see Dr. Elizabeth Corday. Glad to see she's still getting roles."<BR/><BR/>***<BR/><BR/>Alex Kingston has another drama lined up: <BR/><BR/>"ER and Doctor Who actor Alex Kingston is to star in BBC1's new drama, Hope Springs, about four female former convicts who try to create a new life for themselves...<BR/><BR/>The series, which will be set against the backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, is billed as "vibrant, thrilling and funny".<BR/><BR/>Hope Springs follows the women as they attempt to embark on the final stage of a long-held plan to live out the rest of their lives on a beach in Barbados, courtesy of £5m stolen from a violent and vengeful gangster husband.<BR/><BR/>But the plan goes wrong and they end up hiding out in the small Scottish village of Hope Springs without any money or passports..."<BR/><BR/>For full article see:<BR/><BR/>http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/30/bbc.independentproductioncompaniesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-33327268940915457192008-07-02T23:08:00.000-04:002008-07-02T23:08:00.000-04:00I've only started watching Dr. Who regularly this ...I've only started watching Dr. Who regularly this season. Without having seen the previous Moffat shows, I was impressed with this one. It had many more layers than a regular ep. I also appreciated how this show sets the stage for what will come, creating new dimensions for the doctor, not just in his relationship with River, but in his abilities and actions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-61364828813529275182008-07-01T13:06:00.000-04:002008-07-01T13:06:00.000-04:00I don't watch this show, since I like neither scif...I don't watch this show, since I like neither scifi nor brit tv (apologies to you fans) but my roommate does and Ii was surprised the other night to see Dr. Elizabeth Corday. Glad to see she's still getting roles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-1327958743996375392008-07-01T09:27:00.000-04:002008-07-01T09:27:00.000-04:00Late comment here I know: I watch Dr. Who with my...Late comment here I know: I watch Dr. Who with my kids which probably skews my perspective. But did anyone else see the skeleton in the space suit and think, "Hey its the Spooky Space Kook from Scooby Doo"?<BR/><BR/>http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c327/MrLORD/ScoobyDooSpookySpaceKook1.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-74971844651663032902008-06-30T07:11:00.000-04:002008-06-30T07:11:00.000-04:00Do any of you listen to the accompanying episode c...Do any of you listen to the accompanying episode commentaries? The one for this episode is given by RTD, Moffat and Tennant and has the most hilarious beginning! (They don't actually talk *that* much in the commentary about what is specifically on screen, so it is mostly understandable without pictures.)<BR/><BR/>It can be found under "Sounds" on the right hand menu here (major spoilers if you navigate to later episode pages, of course, or elsewhere around the BBC site):<BR/><BR/>http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_09<BR/><BR/><BR/>The other commentary which was a hoot was for episode 1, with Tennant, Tate and producer Phil Collinson.<BR/><BR/>http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_01Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-31107211693712943912008-06-30T01:00:00.000-04:002008-06-30T01:00:00.000-04:00I didn't understand the snapping to open the Tardi...I didn't understand the snapping to open the Tardis. In story, that is. When the River says her Doctor could open the door with a mere snap of his fingers, our Doctor said that was impossible. So, how did he learn how?<BR/><BR/>Anthony, I was thinking that since the TARDIS is a living ship, it had evolved/grew into that ability to allow its doors to open when the Doctor - and the Doctor only - snapped his fingers. Maybe it always had that talent.<BR/><BR/>It was only that the Doctor didn't know about this new ability. And in one of those wibbly wobbly timey wimey temporal loops, it took River Song to tell him something that she only found out because the Doctor told/showed her that it could be done.Toby O'Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06999037844031101965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-43496964572381560992008-06-29T20:05:00.000-04:002008-06-29T20:05:00.000-04:00I wonder if Moffat read the Marvel comic series "H...I wonder if Moffat read the Marvel comic series "House of M" in which, the Scarlet Witch discovers her children are not real and people discover they're living in a false world? Clearly, these types of stories have been told in scifi for years, but some of the similarities are there. <BR/><BR/>Not saying he copied it in any way, just that it may have been one of his inspirations. I can't wait for him to take over as head writer. (I think what I like most is his episodes avoid the alien of the week who Dr. Who knows, but the audience does not.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-62168144090066437972008-06-29T10:11:00.000-04:002008-06-29T10:11:00.000-04:00I think we have to expect that Moffat won't hit a ...I think we have to expect that Moffat won't hit a home run with every episode next season. It would be impossible for that to happen. I do hope that he cuts out the Rose worship and uses the reset button less than RTD has. (the one part about last year's finale that irked me was the erasure of all the finale events in the last minutes of the last episode).Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11317568565085893849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-91750492504726673662008-06-29T09:12:00.000-04:002008-06-29T09:12:00.000-04:00While the Moffat two parter was interesting, it wa...While the Moffat two parter was interesting, it wasn't the highlight of S4 I was expecting.<BR/><BR/>It felt far too rehashed and the ending was a slap in the face. Why would River be happy in her unreal world, cut off forever from the Doctor? Did Moffat not watch Rose's grief in Doomsday? <BR/><BR/>Perhaps the worse thing about this 2 parter is that it filled me with something I never thought I'd have about Moffat - doubts over S5.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-51903386700564310302008-06-29T07:18:00.000-04:002008-06-29T07:18:00.000-04:00Peter - Doctor Who is not shown in HD in the UK. I...Peter - Doctor Who is not shown in HD in the UK. It isn't even filmed in HD. The costs of upgrading the sets and the amount of CGI make it impossible... at least at the moment. <BR/><BR/>Torchwood *is* filmed in HD but that involves much fewer CGI effects.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-83232414695081254132008-06-29T03:47:00.000-04:002008-06-29T03:47:00.000-04:00Anyone know why Sci-Fi doesn't air these eps in HD...Anyone know why Sci-Fi doesn't air these eps in HD? I know they air on the BBC in HD so it's really frustrating to see them aired here in SD. If Sci-Fi would get the HD versions I'd wait the three weeks for it to cross the pond rather than downloading the eps.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-66747235067602445122008-06-29T03:45:00.000-04:002008-06-29T03:45:00.000-04:00It's late and I should be clearer. I meant that w...It's late and I should be clearer. I meant that when the Ood told the Doctor that his "song" must end, instead of his death (or regeneration) and I think they may have been referring to his version of River Song is at an end. I don't think they will meet until he has regenerated.Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11317568565085893849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-77163912799690772302008-06-29T03:27:00.000-04:002008-06-29T03:27:00.000-04:00I do wonder at how recently Moffat had read "Time ...I do wonder at how recently Moffat had read "Time Traveller's Wife" when he wrote this episode because I never would have thought that he would have made River Song the Doctor's partner/wife... at least I don't think that he would tell anyone his name except for someone that close to him. Even Rose doesn't know it, and as a non shipper, I was more touched by the relationship that River and the Doctor sorta had, but that he doesn't know yet, than any of the Rose/Doctor stuff. The latter seems very juvenile compared to what Moffat created in only two episodes. <BR/><BR/>Moffat was just as cruel to Donna, and I wonder if the "husband" will return when Donna's time as a companion ends, just like Martha with that Doctor guy at the end of last season. <BR/><BR/>I tearing up at River's death and was relieved, even though it was a cheat, to have her saved in the computer. Although I think the reference to "her song will end" or whatever it was, relates to River and not Donna. <BR/><BR/>The Moffat episodes are still my favourite this series, but I haven't seen the finale so I am not sure if that will stand.Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11317568565085893849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-86394523259604033922008-06-29T02:22:00.000-04:002008-06-29T02:22:00.000-04:00While there was a lot here that was familiar to ot...While there was a lot here that was familiar to other Moffat shows, there is a certain consistency to Doctor Who stories whomever writes them. Recurring story lines, running around, sonic screwdrivers, on and on and on. <BR/><BR/>As a fairly consistent US viewer of the show back into the 70's, I am as happy with what they have done with the show in this incarnation as I was back then when I first found it. Sometimes it is just OK, sometimes I erase the DVR file withe a fine sigh of satisfaction.<BR/><BR/>For me, I tend to take stories as they come and look for the way it is told, and do not try to remember every twist and turn that a writer may have previously used. I am looking for how things are presented to me at the time and try to avoid being spoiled as much as possible, and then let the episode roll over me. <BR/><BR/>This two episode story left me with warm familiar feelings, choked up, happy, horrified, amused and in the end satisfied. <BR/><BR/>And one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet was River Song's last line, which to me harkened back to the stories of British children in the 60's hiding behind the sofa and being terrified into nightmares on a weekly basis by Doctor Who. I don't know for sure, but it has the sly feeling of being written by someone who lived that. Maybe he was trying to make up for the talk about the shadows being everywhere, maybe he was trying to apologize for scaring the crud out of a 51 year old man with the imagery from Blink. I don't know, but it sure was a sweet moment. And Alex Kingston was just glowingly beautiful. <BR/><BR/>I am always sorry when I come to the end of one of these episodes that I can never get my wife interested in the show.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-22696419556511740102008-06-28T19:47:00.000-04:002008-06-28T19:47:00.000-04:00and the complaint here is that one pair of episode...<I>and the complaint here is that one pair of episodes a year has a thematic familiarity to the best episodes of the series?</I><BR/><BR/>Well, my complaint is that those few previous Moffat episodes often redeemed entire seasons by giving us something different. Were there four or five Moffat eps a season, these would have been acceptable schedule-fillers. As the only ones this season, a sloppy quilt of regurgitated stuff... no, not satisfying.<BR/><BR/>The show also needs to stop hammering at the "And I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry" line. Once is special, four billion is spanking.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02438138745372633266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-26512544093458263112008-06-28T15:58:00.000-04:002008-06-28T15:58:00.000-04:00I really don't understand why people are disappoin...I really don't understand why people are disappointed in this two-parter. If your problem is that Moffat repeated some themes from earlier episodes he's written - the why on earth are you watching Doctor Who? It seems like half of the episodes involve some alien is trying to take over present-day London - and the complaint here is that one pair of episodes a year has a thematic familiarity to the best episodes of the series?<BR/><BR/>I'd welcome the repeating themes every week if they had the emotional resonance of this pair did. My sister, who hates science fiction and avoids Doctor Who, actually watched this two-parter after my insistence, and agreed that it was really compelling.<BR/><BR/>How unnerving was the concept that a person's "essence" would be caught in their communicator even after their dead? That alone was worth the price of admission, even ignoring Donna's "family" and the Doctor's unfolding relationship with a stranger that was simultaneously one of the people he's ever been closest to.<BR/><BR/>I actually cared about the people who were killed by the shadows, despite knowing them for minutes at best - and was really thrown by the idea that their voice would carry on, in a really plaintive and lost way that made you want to offer them comfort somehow even though nothing could be done and they were already gone.<BR/><BR/>Great episodes from a season that felt like it was dragging a bit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-7531302600146701232008-06-28T15:53:00.000-04:002008-06-28T15:53:00.000-04:00I didn't understand the snapping to open the Tardi...I didn't understand the snapping to open the Tardis. In story, that is. When the River says her Doctor could open the door with a mere snap of his fingers, our Doctor said that was impossible. So, how did he learn how?<BR/><BR/>Great visual though.afogliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02820361829972093800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-21672540721111640292008-06-28T12:21:00.000-04:002008-06-28T12:21:00.000-04:00I found it very satisfying. At the end of part 1 I...I found it very satisfying. At the end of part 1 I thought, "Yay, they're killing off Donna!" Then part 2 made me feel guilty for thinking that. She was terrific.<BR/><BR/>All sorts of nice surprises. This one pulled me right back up into the Dr. Who bandwagon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-11393137253386509522008-06-28T12:18:00.000-04:002008-06-28T12:18:00.000-04:00I think it would've been much better if the Doctor...I think it would've been much better if the Doctor would've let River Song be dead - the first time he meets her is also the last time, but actually it isn't, or it won't be. That to me feels much more in line with the whole "time is all over the place" principle of the Doctor/River Song affair. It's more playful and poignant, if you will (besides feeling more honest, in a way).<BR/><BR/>What I really don't understand is why the "saved world" created by the computer would be 21st century Earth. Why not a representation of the library or something a lot more contemporary to that time?qrterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10028863153825150258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-72539213571595577512008-06-28T11:12:00.000-04:002008-06-28T11:12:00.000-04:00I see where much of the criticism is coming from, ...I see where much of the criticism is coming from, but this two-parter is the first Who of this season that I thoroughly enjoyed. <BR/><BR/>Even if he used some of the same ideas as he did in his earlier episodes, what Moffat did here is get to the heart of the Doctor and Donna. Donna spends time in the simulation and sees a life with marriage and kids that she actually wants-- that travelling with the Doctor might not be enough to satisfy her. (Catherine Tate adds a lot to the show in an episode like this where she's asked to be subtle and funny.)<BR/><BR/>The Doctor sees a future (for him) where he has connected with someone else in a deep and meaningful way. The Eccleston Doctor was too emotionally scarred from the time war for much joy, and the Tennant Doctor has more joy, but hasn't quite connected with anyone in the way that he will with River. He is confused-- and scared-- about what will happen that will allow him to fall in love. <BR/><BR/>So even though the elements may have been the same as elements in Blink, the emotional impact on the characters is different. The Doctor is going to place that we haven't seen him go at all in the modern series.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-10288363661592599402008-06-28T08:56:00.000-04:002008-06-28T08:56:00.000-04:00One small point: I found the ending confusing too....One small point: I found the ending confusing too. The bedroom looked like the bedroom in Donna's house, but we just saw River and gang in front of the manor house.<BR/><BR/>The story feels like Moffat is playing with all sorts of hermenuetics, how we read and interact and interpret text. <BR/><BR/>Some people are writing that what's the point of the Doctor saving River to "live" only in a virtual world. <BR/><BR/>But of course the whole universe we are talking about is only virtual, and yet how vibrantly alive it is. We all have REAL lives, which include where and how we sit and watch TV. And yet it is our interaction on the Internet that brings that TV world into a deeper dimension. <BR/> <BR/>The children disappearing when their parents close their eyes is really the idea that fictional characters of all kinds disappear when the reader is gone. And that fictional creations are the children of the writers.<BR/><BR/>It's all about the interaction: the traditional structures of writers to characters and readers to characters, and the new creative depths that arise from TV and internet.Mapeelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12149683683413237283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-73310819051685815682008-06-28T08:10:00.000-04:002008-06-28T08:10:00.000-04:00Moffat is a terrific writer and, like most great w...Moffat is a terrific writer and, like most great writers (in any medium) the same themes come up again and again. It simply depends on how the writer turns those themes and weaves them together. I never once felt surprised at any twist in the story, never once felt something wasn't appropriate but I loved watching how Moffat turned the story, watching where the themes would pop out.<BR/><BR/>If you look at most writers, from Hemingway to Shakespeare to Arron Sorking you'll see the same themes over and over. For me, it's just how the themes are presented that is important. And I felt Moffat presented them beautifully.Grunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03308246886810700890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-49123692195282845982008-06-28T07:48:00.000-04:002008-06-28T07:48:00.000-04:00I really like Doctor Who!! I think it's one of the...I really like Doctor Who!! I think it's one of the best production I've ever seen! (sorry for my english!)Bea - bellezapartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03023836594959452378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-75257787626955693832008-06-28T07:38:00.000-04:002008-06-28T07:38:00.000-04:00I also did not understand how he saved the others ...<I>I also did not understand how he saved the others (particularly Ms. Evangelista, a different version from the one Donna met) and why, once they were saved, he couldn't just bring them back. The whole thing felt forced in a way the rest of the episode didn't.</I><BR/><BR/>He couldn't bring the others back because their bodies had been killed. All the people in the computer before, including Donna, were brought there after a failed teleport, so their bodies were being held in computerized transit.<BR/><BR/>And the computer picked up the other ghosts in the same way it did Miss Evangelista, and it fixed her because it had been repaired, thanks to no longer having 4000+ human personalities wandering around the data core and confusing it.Alan Sepinwallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.com