Doctor Who 4x12 - "The Stolen Earth"
 

"1950s B Movie" by Russell T Davies

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Pewpewpepew.

I'm just going to go ahead and see it. The fact that you actually rated it a 9 makes me all the more curious.

What, you were gonna skip it? Dude, this episode is guaranteed to be comedy gold.

Oh yes, so much so that I'm seeing it early. (I was going to wait til next Friday like usual.)

Incredible.

It worked. All the story lines.

All the Daleks (even Caan)

Rose and the Doctor (yay)

Opening and Cliffhanger (exciting)

Probably 10 out of 10. But we will see after next week!

Don't. I rated it 9 but it really was parody-worthy. I think I enjoyed it because of the badness.

Maybe it was a pretty crap episode to some, but I enjoyed it so much I say it's a 9. Enjoying it is all the justification I need.

Wow.

Hey, if it's so bad it's good then it's still good. I'm downloading it now.

Besides, my standards are admittedly a little lower than some of you guys. I'm not saying it's a good or a bad thing, but... for example, I enjoyed Eragon and Eldest even though I know that the whole damn story is a huge fucking ripoff of Star Wars with Lord of the Rings mixed in. I identified what was wrong with it, which was a lot, but I still enjoyed it. Sometimes it was out of a "so bad it's good" laugh but really it's a guilty pleasure, which is something I've gotten from a few of RTD's worse episodes.

...Eldest's side-stories were actually pretty interesting though.

I just hope that's not present in my own writing.

I enjoyed the plot and other aspects of the episode, but it could easily be amusing as well. I see no scope for a "well that was just shit" reaction. Even if you think it's shit, you can still laugh at it and thus enjoy it :P.

Brilliance.

I feel so sorry for you all. I truly do. For once I find myself empathizing more with Tom than with anyone else. I weep for the future of Doctor Who.

This is RTD's last season, so we shouldn't get any more of this, remember?

Second, you said that after Partners in Crime. I realize you're preparing for the worst, but if RTD's influence were that hard then most of this season would have sucked, yet most of it was great.

Still haven't seen it. :/

The damage is done. This is part of canon now. And I don't mind treating this as pure comedy -- what I do mind is the fact that so many people think this is "brilliant" and "fantastic" and "genius." Even Tom sees this as the farce that it is.

It was true then and it was true now.

But every tv show has horrible episodes, stains on its underwear. I can think of a few terrible Stargate episodes (mainly the fillers from close to the end). And the old series of Doctor Who had some seriously crappy episodes didn't it? (though I am unaware of them)

Like I said, if RTD's bad episodes were damaging enough to effect the very core of the series then most of this season would have sucked. But it didn't, did it? You were pleased with most of it it looked like.
The other writers can bring it out of the darkness, especially now that RTD won't be in charge. Yes, those episodes can't be erased from canon, but it's not like they'll infect all the others. I apologize for my optimism, but I'm just going by what I've seen.

Unless there was some kind of mind blowingly horrible canon-changing event in this episode that WOULD effect future episodes.

Ok, I'm feeling somewhat unsure, I'm definitely going to give it a second viewing before I vote, but here are my general thoughts after seeing it.

I just didn't like it very much. I didn't see it as 'laughable', but I did feel bad about the structure of the episode and the way it was handled. It just seemed very rushed, very flabby and very, very random. Several concepts and events were brought up and just rushed over, explaining very little. I remember something about bees being alien and them giving off some sort of signal and Harriet Jones and Co somehow getting the whole world to phone the Doctor and Dalek Caan saving Davros. There were just so many vague aspects that I had to take in, and the problem with the episode is that it was just fast paced and hurried and action packed all the way through.

There were no quiet intervals, no time to think, nothing in the episode that was actually thought-provoking. It wasn't scary at all, just fast. I knew that Davros and the Daleks were coming back, there was no surprise element at all. It was just over crammed with references and past character, as though RTD has sat there looking over his old scripts and thought "hmm I'll 'ave that and that, this can be slipped in somewhere, oh wonderful I'll shove that in as well and I'll put all of these characters in". Again, there was no breathing space to allow me to take in what each companion was doing, what references were made, what was going on and what the characters were thinking. I could barely fathom any of it because everything was going at a lightening fast pace.

With 'Turn Left', I could empathize with the character's feelings, because they were portrayed so well in the crisis. In this heap, we didn't see any of that. We didn't see how other people were being affected, their terror, their feelings, apart from the 10 second bit where the one family tried to rebel.

Rose really got on my tits in this episode. Again she's being treated like some sort of old flame, and her pining came back. "Oh what about me? Don't you love me?" and all that shit. I was so glad that the Doctor was shot down mid-clinch, I was really ready to get angry when I saw them making for eachother's arms. Why oh why can't the Doctor get over Rose? Oh, and slight goof here, the Dalek shot the Doctor dead, why didn't he shoot Rose when she rushed over and dragged him to the TARDIS? Did the Dalek think "Ah sod it, she's bent over and I like her arse, I'll leave her be".

So that's what I didn't like, here are some of the things I did like.

Davros. Truly magnificent. He looked and sounded awesome, and it certainly was pleasant watching his encounter with the Doctor, the only such scene that truly gripped me in this episode.

The Daleks. Same old really, but still very fun to watch, and I also loved the "my vision is NOT impaired! Weren't expecting that, were you? Suck on that, ass hole!" as was Dalek Caan. He was interesting to say the least, but what bothered me is the way he was supposed to have 'lost his mind'. I thought the Daleks already had lost their mind. I thought they were driven insane with fear and claustrophobia and hatred, I'm not sure I can see how a Dalek can deteriorate any further, especially into that.

The acting. All the acting was convincing as ever, and Wilfred was, again, a joy to see. I admit I found the short comic exchanges between him and Sylvia delightful.

Paul O'Grady. Ok, it wasn't really important or vital, but I thought it was a delightful cameo. I <3 PO'G.

The ending, simply for shock factor and effect as a cliff hanger, I really cannot wait to see what happens to him.

So that's it. It had some redeeming features, but overall I felt that this episode was just very, very messy. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow, maybe it will be clearer. There were, to be fair, a lot of people in the room talking when I was trying to watch, so maybe my concentration wasn't all there, but we'll see. I can see this has been a popular one, so you're all free to shoot this review down and rebut it.

That's my 2 pence.

I agree with Ron for the most part. Very rushed, definitely not Doctor Who-feeling, but I admit I enjoyed it.

And the ending.

That made up for already knowing about Davros coming back. That caught me way off guard. But it's also made me scared. Very scared.

Just a retraction here. I posted this on TV forum also, and a very nice chap on there pointed out that the Dalek was killed by Jack right after it had shot the Doctor, so my little mistake there.

And here I was hoping he would go falling off a building after slipping from a cable.

One thing I didn't like, it was a rather poor death suffered by the Doctor.

Was it really that poor? He's been shot down by a Dalek, his greatest enemy sans the Master. A Dalek finally managed to shoot him. It was less than climatic for sure but still.

I'd still like to know what this "darkness" is. I'm having a hard time believing the stars going out and the dimensional barrier being broken was caused by the Daleks.


... and didn't Mr. Smith die?!

That was quite... Epic. Now I wonder who the Eleventh Doctor will be?

Rumour is that it'll still be DT... somehow. Dont have a clue whether or not that's true, could well be a new Doctor.

The hand. The hand in the jar.

Think, boys.

I'm not sure about the "RTD's greatest hits" approach to last night's episode. As I said, it seemed to be cramming too much in, at the expense of narrative clarity.

We hadhe most frightful round of "mashing the keyboard" shots tonight. Soon as the panic started they were all thundering away on their keyboards. The best example being the "former Prime Minister" who went for the two digit random-prodding approach.

I just watched it again and the episode was blown open a little more, some bits clearer, some narrative errors that bugged me.

I think the story was shaping up nicely up until the 'Bees are disappearing' part, but after that it mostly went to pot story wise. I did like the explanation of the 'Indigo Project', and it being taken from the Sontarans, but Martha somehow ending up at home was again, very very weird and confusing. The scene where Rose walks away from that explosion without flinching reminded me of Sylvester McCoy doing the same in 1988's 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. I liked the 2 mystery strands that started. First, 'I'm sorry for your loss", and "The Osterhagen key" was also odd, but my fear is that it's going to turn out to be some giant reset button that will lazily conclude and fix the story, like last year's disappointing finale. The scenes with Davros were brilliant, I liked the music that went with it and they provided some good, quiet and haunting intervals, although they were much too short. On a second viewing, I liked what Dalek Caan became, but the explanation for getting into the 'Timelocked' time war being "yet he managed it" really spoilt it for me, it was just so lazy. The line "you know nothing of any human and that will be your downfall" was very cliched, I felt.

A couple of major goofs here. How were any of the televisions working without satellites? Perhaps the Daleks took them, but that's very unlikely. I would have liked to have seen more of the scientific effects of having the whole freaking planet moved. For example, the tide going crazy without the moon. Also, how the hell can planets be kept that close together without them all bumping into eachother or going wild from eachother's gravitational pulls? And finally, the end. Rose had been carrying a big, fuck off gun around with her all the way through this episode, why didn't she have it at the end to blow the Dalek to sky-high kingdom-come-bollocks-and-gone?

Again, too much continuity. It was the pandering to the fans that ballsed up Doctor Who in the 80s. Why oh why is it happening again?

Pah. This really isn't very good at all. Again, I am deathly scared of next week's finale being resolved with the proverbial 'reset-button'. I'm praying it isn't.

+ YouTube Video

I say, JB certainly is good at ranting. Very, very faithful. I'm going to remain optimistic and hope that next week's will perhaps not be so rushed, and more will be revealed about some of the less clear aspects of yesterday's episode. It will be 65 minutes, I'm just hoping some of that time will be used as breathing space.

I agree mostly with Ronnie's little review.

The more I think about it it felt very different. I think it was the Shaadow Proclamation and Earth scenes that really split it apart made it feel a bit more complex in ways perhaps.

HATED Mr.Smith's fanfare. IT MUST GO!
RTD may muck up the next part but after seeing that trailer I doubt it and I know Davros will ROCK!

Thanks Ron!

Davros was badass, there's no doubting that. ... Youtube clip was removed. :[

And I was under the impression that Mr. Smith was dead by the end of SJA.

Wow, Ron, your review was like reading Light Danny from a parallel universe where I understand his criticisms :P

I disagree with almost everything you said, but I understand why you said it and I applaud the cogent manner in which you did so. Vive la difference!

I love how you can commend Ronnie for having a different view point, but shoot down Danny and the others, who posted just as well thought out and coherent arguments in the past. :p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_standard

That said, you did make a lot of good points Ronnie. Still not sure what to say about it myself.

I'm saying that I did not find Danny's argument's coherent, though, and that Ronnie's was different in that it was a cogent one. Reread my post.

And I was referring to the Turn Left episode discussion thread. :P

As long as someone produces a thought out, well written opinion of an episode, even if you don't agree with it I'd tend to rest on the side of at least not insulting them for it.

I apologize, the tone many people took in that last thread is still rather annoying. :)

I understand Danny's argument, he didn't really make much of one recently because he's already stated it more than once. His problem is that it's too epic. I realize that sounds like sarcasm but it isn't, it's stupidly epic and really fast performance makes it cease to look or feel like Doctor Who. And all the ridiculous human drama in Turn Left did the same thing.
Too fast, too much drama.

Though I didn't quite understand his argument on how it's going to somehow corrupt the entire continuity of Doctor Who from now on even though all the episodes sans for a lot of RTD's haven't been effected. The only "effect" is the Valiant being in the Sontaran Strategem.
But I've already talked about that.

You're going to have to spell it out, it would seem.

Somehow the hand in the jar is going to give him a freebie and he'll regenerate into the same body?

Going into this and expecting something worse than Turn Left, I have to say I was somewhat surprised. There were parts that were excruciatingly bad, parts that were awesomely bad, parts that were decent, and parts that were somewhat awesome.

Excruciatingly bad:
-LOTTL "let's all call the Doctor at the same time and then he'll magically hear us" bullshit. Maybe that works for calling his name but if everyone at once calls his phone I think the whole world would just get an obnoxious busy signal.
-Rose and especially her whininess. So Wilf doesn't have a webcam because it's too naughty. Deal with it. No one wants to hear you bitch about how Martha gets to talk to Harriet and the Doctor and you don't. STFU. :mad:
-Ummm...bees are returning to their home planet, we can follow the path of bees back to Earth. Ummm...what?
-EXTERMINATE! X infinity + 1

Awesomely bad:
-Flying Daleks WHEEEEE!!!!!
-CGI = win, apparently.
-"MY VISION IS NOT IMPAIRED"
-"DALEKS DO NOT ACCEPT APOLOGIES"
-"I FLEWWWWW...etc."
-The Doctor dissing Davros. BYE!
-Murray's WILD WEST score. WTF WAS THAT?!!
-Wilf + paintball gun = hilarious.

Decent:
-Well the acting was pretty good, as usual.
-Although the cross-overs were a bit awkward, it worked and they got their point across. It's always nice to see Sarah Jane and Torchwood. :D

AWESOME:
-Agrees with Ronnie: cutting off the dramatic running towards each other reunion with something horribly tragic.
-JACK WITH TWO GIANT GUNS.


I'm probably missing some things but I think that's sufficient for now. I didn't know how to categorize this, but I'm pretty disturbed by the cliffhanger. I assume, due to the precise moment at which it ended there will probably be some sort of reset button moment in the next episode. After all, the whole point of it being a cliffhanger is because it's shocking. However, if he does actually die and regenerate into someone else then it would make more sense for RTD to show the new Doctor at the end of this episode and not at the beginning of the next one. I figure that we were left with him about to regenerate so we can have a shock now and a shock at the beginning of the next episode when he's magically OK. At least, that's what I've rationalized myself into believing so I don't freak out. No more David Tennant? That would just make me cry.

Welp, she beat me to it. I think that sums it up nicely.

Oh, though you did forget Harriet Jones annoying as hell little shtick with holding up her ID and everyone saying the over used "We know who you are."

Even the Daleks! I mean, come on.

OH! Yes that was terrible. But more importantly you reminded me of something even more odd. Why is it that being the ex-prime minister gives her 1337 hacks0r skills? Why is it that she has the power to turn everyone's computer on and talk to them at will? Did she have these powers before when she was prime minister? Either way it's just creepy as shit.

Oh, and props on defending Danny's definitely coherent and (wow it's like the best word ever!) cogent posts.

I'd come close to tears myself. Ten is easily my favorite Doctor ever. I think I knew how a lot of the fans felt back when Four fell from that tower...

Luckily I'll be watching next week's episode with Danny so if it turns out that David Tennant is no more I can at least be comforted in my grief. I would be very sad to see him go, for he's probably my second favorite Doctor (For me, nothing beats Patrick Troughton. I love his cosmic hobo/Chaplinesque portrayal! Plus...he's just so snarky!).

I think maybe when Rose said "But you can't!!" it wasn't because she didn't want him to change, maybe because she knew he couldn't. (If he doesn't.)

If he does finish exploding without changing into another actor I'll bet you anything he'll utter his famous:
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