Doctor Who 4x12 - "The Stolen Earth"

MI7 · #1 June 28, 2008, 3:11 PM

"1950s B Movie" by Russell T Davies

Pewpewpepew.

Superkid11 · #2 June 28, 2008, 3:26 PM

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.

Danny Stewart · #3 June 28, 2008, 3:33 PM

Originally Posted by Superkid11

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.

Superkid11 · #4 June 28, 2008, 3:40 PM

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

Jamie Minty · #5 June 28, 2008, 3:41 PM

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!

MI7 · #6 June 28, 2008, 3:41 PM

Originally Posted by Superkid11

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

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.

Alexus · #7 June 28, 2008, 3:51 PM

Wow.

Superkid11 · #8 June 28, 2008, 3:53 PM

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.

MI7 · #9 June 28, 2008, 3:55 PM

Originally Posted by Superkid11

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

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

.

Ross Hendrie · #10 June 28, 2008, 4:11 PM

Brilliance.

Danny Stewart · #11 June 28, 2008, 4:26 PM

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.

Superkid11 · #12 June 28, 2008, 4:27 PM

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. :/

Danny Stewart · #13 June 28, 2008, 4:32 PM

Originally Posted by Superkid11

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

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.

Originally Posted by Superkid11

Second, you said that after Partners in Crime.

It was true then and it was true now.

Superkid11 · #14 June 28, 2008, 4:40 PM

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.

Ronnie Rowlands · #15 June 28, 2008, 5:33 PM

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

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.

Superkid11 · #16 June 28, 2008, 5:43 PM

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.

Ronnie Rowlands · #17 June 28, 2008, 6:06 PM

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.

Superkid11 · #18 June 28, 2008, 6:09 PM

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

Ross Hendrie · #19 June 28, 2008, 6:40 PM

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

Superkid11 · #20 June 28, 2008, 6:43 PM

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?!