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