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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Doctor Who Season 3 UK (No Spoilers)

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17:21 / 30.04.07

Normal people have survived lightning strikes too, though, innit. Also, didn't one of the Doctor's hearts stop in the first-part? (Or was that another episode?) I thought it was going to tie into restarting that.

But, yes, it would be so good if we could have a series where we just didn't know when the Doctor was going to regenerate into Tilda Swinton, rather than just saving it for the end-of-season bookend. Can you imagine the tension?

miss wonderstarr

17:34 / 30.04.07

I'm going a step further and saying wouldn't it be so best if we didn't know there was going to be a regeneration at all ~ it'd be a show-stopper. But yes, if you knew it would happen sometime, just not when, the producers could have loads of fun with near-death experiences.

17:38 / 30.04.07

Doctor who is now too high profile to keep a change in regular cast secret for long.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:53 / 30.04.07

If the Doctor was in some situation where his airflow was cut off (such as episode one or if he were drowned) then regeneration be buggered, he's still dead in a very definitely dead way, because even if he regenerated there would still not be any air for him to breathe, but the punishment the Doctor could take varies according to the demands of script, Tom Baker survived almost everything, 'Colin Baker' banged his head and became Sylvester McCoy.

fish confusion errata

20:23 / 30.04.07

There's a Big Finish audio (name withheld to prevent spoilage) where a character kills the Doctor, waits for him to regenerate, kills him again, and so on until he can't regenerate no more. Very cool.

23:22 / 30.04.07

If the Doctor was in some situation where his airflow was cut off (such as episode one or if he were drowned) then regeneration be buggered, he's still dead in a very definitely dead way

Or his dead body would bud-off a new, out-of-danger body somewhere else by using Gallifreyan bioquantum projecting. This is a guy who can send his DNA through LIGHTNING.

23:24 / 30.04.07

Speaking of which, surely we should get a one-off episode that has all the Green Mile pigmen regenerating into Weevils, yes? Yes.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

04:31 / 01.05.07

Only if a key plot point is them hunting down and beating up Owen's grandfather.

Who coincidentally looks just like Owen.

07:48 / 01.05.07

Surely it would be the Hudalifreyan hybrids from the theatre who regenerate into weevils? They're the only ones with Timelord DNA, after all.

But other than that, on the topic of beating up Grandpa Daterapeboy, I concur.

07:54 / 01.05.07

Hell I'd watch an entire season of that.

"Run! Owen! Run!"

Like Quantum Leap only every storyline involves him getting stamped on for 45 minutes.

Whisky Priestess

08:01 / 01.05.07

DNA is truly the new [INSERT TECHSPEAK HERE]. I really wish they'd lay off the old magic genetics, just for a bit, and not use it as a one-size-fits-all excuse/explanation for EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME. Crick and Watson must be spinning in their graves.

11:08 / 01.05.07

They will be when I revive them...with ZOMBIE DNA!

13:01 / 01.05.07

They're the only ones with Timelord DNA, after all.

Ah! But his DNA travels through LIGHTNING! What went through the roasted pigmen? Do you see?

I really wish they'd lay off the old magic genetics

Every generation has it's magicnology, Whisky. From steam to electrics to atomics to virtual reality (hello Lawnmower Man) to psychics (hello Scanners). And, right now, it's a battle between nanotechnology and genetics. In a decade we'll have Quantum Cyborgs. We already have one posting to Barbelith.

Anyway, Weevils. The lot of them.

Whisky Priestess

15:06 / 01.05.07

I know, I know, it's just ... it's been fifty years, you know? That magic bullet is getting a touch rusty. I'd actually prefer it if they used nanomachinetechmagic for a change, like in the WWII 2-parter in the first series (although IIRC that involved a certain amount of DNA-related fudge and bumfluff too).

Our Lady Has Left the Building

16:25 / 01.05.07

Mmmmmm, fudge-and-bumfluff....

15:32 / 02.05.07

Chris Chibnall's magnum opus "42," is to be delayed by a week thanks to the frakking Eurovision. Now we'll have to wait an extra week to see if the man can write a piece of decent television.

16:17 / 02.05.07

My antipathy towards eurovision has increased.

Whisky Priestess

21:44 / 02.05.07

Now if Russell T. or Joss Whedon wrote all the songs and they were performed by the combined casts of Who and Buffy, I could totally get behind it ...

Regrettable Juvenilia

22:25 / 02.05.07

Now we'll have to wait an extra week to see if the man can write a piece of decent television.

You could always go back and rewatch the Torchwood episode 'Countrycide', which demonstrated that he can.

22:58 / 02.05.07

You could always go back and rewatch the Torchwood episode 'Countrycide', which demonstrated that he can.

Countrycide is okay, up until the point where CJH smashes a tractor into the village hall and begins to shoot up the crazy cannibals. I preferred the goat demon stomping through Cardiff whose shadow caused instant death goodness of End of Days, though.

19:11 / 05.05.07

The Lazarus Experiment was great. Lots of nice foreshadowing. The mysterious Harold Saxon knowing stuff about who and what the Doctor is.

The theme of humanity is further expounded this week, exploring how the limitations of our life-span make what precedes it more meaningful, etc. I'm really enjoying the direction that this season seems to be taking.

Martha finally getting a permanent spot in the TARDIS felt perfect too, and Freema Agyeman finally seems settled in the role. Her family were all interesting characters too. Tish seems to be easily influenced by people in positions of power and was quite attracted to Lazarus once he had displayed his. Mother Smith (Francine?) seemed to be easily swayed by the words of Saxon's representative at LazLabs, perhaps she'll eventually come to betray Martha in some way, operating under the assumption that she's trying to help her.

13:09 / 06.05.07

Wait a minute? That's speculating talk where I come from!

Chibnall can write decent telly. His Life on Mars scripts, for instance, or in a different ballpark entirely that Sunday night fluffy thing with James Bolan and Wicksys younger brother.

13:20 / 06.05.07

Everything Llama said.

Saxon looks suitably smug, disturbed and nasty. Tap tap-tap tap.

15:47 / 06.05.07

Is it me, or has season 3 been more consistently enjoyable than season 2?

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:25 / 06.05.07

By some margin, I think. Although there's still time for an episode as bad as 'Fear Her' to come along and mess that all up, it just sort of feels unlikely at this point.

Man, that trailer for the rest of the season... So. Best.

18:40 / 06.05.07

Fear Her could have been made a lot better with just a few tweaks, particularly of dialogue - But I guess that's the problem when you have to rely on a Newsreader to deliver the main exposition... an actor with better dialogue would have done a better job of selling the idea... And yeah, I liked the scribble monster and the bad parking joke...

But yes, the trailer for the rest of the season looks great - I can't wait to see the scare crows, or the space ship, or the Doctorless episode (which sounds really scarey).

The Only thing I worry about is the return of Captain Jack after the disappointment of Torchwood...

19:00 / 06.05.07

I'm not worried about that. One of the reasons Captain Jack didn't work in Torchwood was because the chemistry between the characters (and actors) was non-existent. The other was that the writers spent all their energies desperately trying to justify the show's 'adult' remit - a character like that works far better when he's allowed to run with the springy, camp fun.

Just as long as they're not tempted to reference anything that happened in Torchwood. That'd kill the episode dead.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:45 / 06.05.07

So the scarecrow stuff and everyone screaming was the next episode yes? And everything else, such as John Simm taping on the desk, the stuff in a shuttle and, sadly, Captain Jack, is not next episode?

That was an enjoyable episode. I can just believe Martha's Ma being predisposed to dislike the Doctor because he's getting her daughter in danger, but even if Martha and some people are willing to accept the existence of alien life I doubt that the mysterious fella really told Martha's Mum that he was an alien life form. It's a bit difficult to explain away why she'd call Martha on her landline phone rather than her mobile, if she thought Martha was home why didn't she call the police? I'd fanwank it as Martha's sister telling her that Martha and the Doctor were going back to her flat and that she was actually driving over there to confront them both.

But Lazarus was a nicely unlikable villain, able to rationalise away his villainy. But based on previous weeks, if he'd only apologised to the Doctor he would have probably forgiven him and hold people down so that Lazarus could suck their gummy goodness from them.

00:45 / 07.05.07

Is it me, or has season 3 been more consistently enjoyable than season 2?

Not for me. This season has suffered a major dip in quality from the last. There are bits out of each episode I love, of course, but overall, the show isn't as fun as it used to be. The trailer for the second half looks good, though, and I remain optimistic.

The Lazarus Experiment had horrendous pacing, but there were lots of fun little bits throughout it-- polarity reversing, organ playing, etc-- and the major theme was superb. The CGI monster did nothing for me, though. It was an okay episode. Probably better than the Dalek two-parter.

I did enjoy Shakespeare Code and Gridlock, I'd say. Smith & Jones was blah.

I have hope for 42, Chibnall be damned.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:58 / 07.05.07

an actor with better dialogue would have done a better job of selling the idea...

Selling the idea that the Olympic Torch symbolises love? I cannot conceive of an actor or scriptwriter who could convince me on that one.

10:12 / 07.05.07

That would be some of the dialogue that would have to be removed. You'd talk more about emotional energy - like the inexplicable wave of mourning that swept the nation after the death of Diana (it was also the basis for Desise Mina's run recent run on Hellblazer). Yeah that might still sound a bit cheesy to some, but I could seeing it working in the Doctor Who universe.

However I can't think of any way to make Love and Monsters bareable...

10:54 / 07.05.07

So the scarecrow stuff and everyone screaming was the next episode yes? And everything else, such as John Simm taping on the desk, the stuff in a shuttle and, sadly, Captain Jack, is not next episode?

As I understand it the trailer was a teaser for the rest of the season, something to keep us going through next week's absence.

Whilst I don't think that The Lazarus Experiment is going to remembered as a particularly ground-breaking episode (fairly standard "science gawn mad" fare) it was an enjoyable little romp and gave us a little introduction to Martha's family.

I'm liking Martha's Mum. Where Jackie Tyler seemed to just be generally suspicious of anything outside of her normal life, Francine seemed to be seeing past the Doctor's natural dappy charm. Whilst Martha's brother didn't do much more than get knocked unconcious (nice change of pace for that to happen to the fella instead though), her sister certainly seems to be possible companion material.

Whisky Priestess

12:01 / 07.05.07

Mmm, sisters ... wait! This is a family show!

Unexpected death/disappearance of Martha and (temporary?) replacement by Tish would be kind of interesting though ...

Quite liked this episode although Gatiss's face on the CGI beastie was unrecognizable and therefore pointless. Also, more DNA flummery *sigh* - but what the hell. He's become a life-sucking monster! Go Mark! This almost excuses him for that rubbish Lucifer Box novel he wrote.

Loved the long trailer. Simm managing to look very sinister indeed and someone's picked up on the spookiness of masks (oxygen or gas) having watched the WWII episodes from Season 1 (or, more likely, Blue Velvet), with superb results.

Tap-tap. Tap-tap.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

13:13 / 07.05.07

Yes, I'm not sure exactly what effect they were trying for with the face but it just looked naff, while the rest of the beast looked quite good.

I've been trying to work out roughly where Dr Lazarus' labs were, based on Southwark Cathedral, somewhere near Borough tube station, or nearer Waterloo?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

00:27 / 08.05.07

When did this thread go all spoilery, given that we're not even allowed to fucking speculate? (I still argue that one. I want speculation, DAMMIT!!!)

I loved that one.

Although Her family were all interesting characters too is something I'm not entirely sure I agree with- they have potential, sure, and the second half of the episode seemed to grant them more of that, but so far I really got the impression they were only there for plot purposes, whereas Rose's mum seemed to be an organic creation from the character. Mind you, I thought Mickey was shit in the first episode of Season 1, so I could easily be wrong.

I like the "almost-knowing-the-TV-series" dynamic with the Doctor and Martha too... we, the audience, know now that he can fall in love with his companions; that's allowed. For any pre-Ecclestone assistant to act the way Martha is, like there's some thwarted relationship going on, the jealousy- that would have been unthinkable. But it seems perfectly natural right now, because the rules aren't the same.

Martha's cool. She could do with learning a few more facial expressions, but hey, couldn't we all?

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