Thank you. Glad someone agrees with me.

I would tend to agree. All of RTD's finales are only good cinematically -- they're grand overtures that are designed to make you feel rather than think. To be fair, this is evident in TPOTW as well, just a bit less so.

Amen to that. :D

Not being based in the UK, I can't say for sure, but I didn't notice them on the BBC web site or anywhere like the two years before.

You're absolutely right -- he was extremely underused in all three episodes they had him back. What a waste. Jack's a great, fun character, and his potential was really wasted for what will probably be the last time he appears on Doctor Who. :(

Yeah, I thought this was pretty ridiculous too. What I said above is "You can take it seriously or you can take it as a joke -- the only thing is, as a joke it makes sense, but seriously, it doesn't." :rolleyes:

I think that covers it pretty adequately. ;)

Thanks for your comments Danny.

It will be a shame if Jack doesn't return to Doctor Who at some stage. At least we can watch him in Torchwood series 2 whenever that arrives on screen. Early 2008 is what I last heard. It will be interesting to see how Martha is included with Torchwood and what her role will be? Will she take a holiday to Cardiff and just happen to bump into Jack? :confused: That would be silly now wouldnt it. :P

She'll probably actively seek out Jack since they're both staying on contemporary Earth.

Thank God! Someone who agrees with me about him for a change!

He's running out of idea I think.

Totally agree with you there Ben. It seems to me that he's more concerned with asserting his own ideas and views than he is with writing a complete and competent story, if that makes sense

EXACTLY!!! He's wrting a story that he'd be happy watching, not a Doctor Who fan.

I remember saying a while back in my opinion on 'Gridlock' that a lot of his work seems too samey. Generally speaking, in an RTD piece, you'll always find a gay character/s and/or it'll be extollling the virtues of Wales to great extent.

I'd like to stress that I have nothing against homosexuals or Welsh people (given that I am at Uni in Wales) but as I've said before it just gets too boring after a while. In my own personal opinion the mark of a really good TV script that you can't really tell for certain what episodes they've written. In the case of RTD, it's all too obvious.

I'd say he should get out while he's still in one piece, eventually people are gonna really notice the same thing over and over again.

Agreed. He's written some fantastic episodes, but perhaps it's time for him to bail

Russel should stay on only to add good dialogue to the episodes and leave everything else to the others. He may not be a good plotter, but he's damn good with brilliant lines. :P

I must respectfully disagree. In my opinion, RTD's episodes range from excruciatingly bad to moderately good. I have yet to see a phenomenal episode from him.

Rather a waste of a writer, wouldn't you say?

Kind of have to agree with Danny. Even though Parting of the Ways was good, I just couldn't get over the fact that these modern popular gameshows would still be running this far ahead in the future. However, if you look around that, it's a very good story. But for me, this niggle was burnt into my mind and I couldn't see it as a serious classic. However, I liked Doomsday, Gridlock, and Smith and Jones, and, despite the bad finale, Utopia and the Sound of Drums are 2 of the best acted and creepiest stories I've ever witnessed.

Exactly. It's stuff like that that RTD does most typically, and that's the kind of thing that has always bothered the hell out of me. Stop with the contemporary references!

Doomsday -- pretty good.
Gridlock -- meh.
Smith and Jones -- agreed; perhaps RTD's best.
Utopia -- also agreed; pretty damn good one here too.
Sound of Drums -- hmm... this is where my interest in the finale dipped, so I dunno.

Is this that hindsight thing kicking in again Danny? I canr emember last year, when you saw Doomsday, everyone was like "OMFG" "AMAZING!!!!" And now it's "pretty good"? Why does your opinion change so much?

I'm always on a high after watching an episode for the first time, so it always seems better that first time through. After living with it for days, weeks, months, and watching it countless times over and over again your opinion changes and the flaws shine through. It's safe to say that my opinion is never the same after watching it the first time versus after watching it ten times later. 9/10 times my opinion will get lower -- the other 1/10 times my opinion will get higher (as with Utopia).

You know what would be a good idea Danny? If you reopened all of the S2 and S1 threads and posted a second review, having spent a year or 2 to watch time and time again, and see if your opinions stay the same.

I got that with Tooth and Claw. I didn't enjoy it that much on the first viewing. (You can shoot me if you want to as long as it doesn't kill me :P).

But after watching it again once I'd got the series 2 box set, I thought it was one of the best episodes from that series. It's strange what several viewings does to you. :)

I'm going to create a new thread for all my new reviews as soon as I have a chance to write them.

You know why else your opinion will degrade? You'll get bored of seeing the same episode over and over. :P

That's not true, because if I watch it again, chances are I'm showing it to someone else, and when I show it to someone else, I revel in their reactions, and pay far more attention to them than to the episode itself.

Like i did with my sister and my friend Emma, although Athina seems to have lost mtouch with the series :(

After my second viewing of this, I dont think the Doctor is in the episode enough, neither is Jack.

Yeah, agreed. One of the many problems here.

Likewise, too little of The Doctor and Jac :(

Also, although i loved The Simm Master, i thought he was a bit too comical to be taken seriously enough. If you know what i mean :(

Yeah I understand that. Like when he said he was going to kill Martha I just didn't take it seriously.

Yeah, since we had more time to see him. I can say now that Derek Jacobi should have stayed on as The Master, it would have given a far more chilling finale i felt we were robbed of.

Oh, you should know by now that RTD's finales are NEVER chilling.

True, sadly.

I must agree, the last two series finales were more sad then chilling, but they were better then what we say last week.

Danny Stewart for Doctor Who head writer! :P Maybe if we all chant that at the same time it will work :)

He needs to "tune in" to the Archangel network first... and probably also build one to tune into. :P

Might help. :D

You know, it's very possible that I'LL be a science fiction writer when I grow up. Who knows, I might wind up writing an episode one fateful day in the future if I can pay for the long-distance calls and have enough time. :P
However, chances are it would be a very funny/bizarre episode, my mom has described my writing as "very Douglas Adams-y". Probably because my two favorite writers growing up were Douglas Adams and Dave Barry. :P (I've only read Dave Barry's humor articles, not his novels. My mom read a novel by him called "Tricky Business", which apparently shows a darker side to his writing style.).
Then again I really haven't written anything with a dark or serious tone in a long time.

We should work together on a story or something, my plots are accliamed on here and we know of your talents, we ought to try and do a story ourselves :)

I'd be glad to see that -- although see if you can channel some more seriousness into it, Superkid. ;)

Oh but isn't The Doctor's sense of humor his greatest strength? ;)

Actually now that I think about it I have written something with a serious(and somewhat sad) tone. It was a romance thingie that had nothing to do with Doctor Who, it was exclusively my characters... and it was... a little dirty. x_x (The previous chapter was a lot dirty) Only my girlfriend has seen it and she will be the only one ever to see it. :P
But she said it was a good combination of eerie and sad at one point and it made her cry a little...
If you think she may have been biased, she knows that I desire critisism that may be helpful. ;) She herself I think writes much more beautifully in that genere and she actually inspired me to write it.

Cool! See, I know you can write serious. And when I say "write serious" I don't mean change the Doctor's character. Of course he can keep his sense of humor. ;)

I've made my triumphal return, after Ronnie has cajoled me... well, several times. I enjoyed the episode. Very much. Having a 3 parter made me all warm and tingle inside, too.

Great to see you back, Alexus! :)

Lol, were you even here when Alexus was about, dalek? If so you were probably fresh. A baby Dalek :P