As no one seems to have done this yet, allow me to start this thread off.
I was going to boycott the episode as Eccleston is quitting, fortunately my wife told me to stop being childish and I watched it.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
The script seemed better than the first two episodes and the story seemed to fit the alloted time perfectly, it did not seem as frantic as the first two episodes which IMHO is a good thing.
I liked the fact that there were more hints about the “time war” mentioned in the first two episodes, hopefully this will build to something for the series finale and not be a red herring. I’m hoping that the Daleks are not the major enemy of this time war, but if they are I can live with it.
Simon Callow as Charles Dickens was excellent, particularly the references to his unfinished book “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the end of the episode. This also ties in with references in Lawrence Miles “The Book of the War” Shameless Plug
Effects were generally well done, but the script was the best part. I also enjoyed the fallibility of the Doctor, when he was duped by the aliens. Can’t remember their name though as I was to busy laughing at their “pity the poor xxx” line, which made me think of Blackadder II “pity poor Tom for his noze is frozen”.
I think I’m hooked now and will stay the course, I will try to keep faith that the BBC won’t mess up choosing a replacement. I should give them a chance before pre-judging.
As a last thought I echo the Doctors sentiments, but more crudely, Billie Piper loooked pretty good in the victorian dress.
Loved it … I think it was “Pity the Gelf”. I immediatly thought of the Dark Crystal when I heard the name.
As to my pet theory on the time war …
It will be the Daleks. We already know from BBC announements that they will appear twice in the series and they are the only other major time travelling race in the Doctor Who mythos.
I read somewhere that originally they were going to a shock ending to the first series where the doctor dies doing something heroic and regenerates into a new doctor during the episode. A BBC staffer didn’t realise this and leaked that Eccelson wasn’t returning which forced them to come out in the open about it.
I don’t know if that’s true, I guess the last episode of this series will reveal that.
I’m liking the series so far, I haven’t seen Doctor Who since I was a pre-teen and the current series seems a lot less cheesy than ones past.
I agree, I have two daughters aged 12 and 4, the 12 year old didn’t appear to be scared, but enjoyed the series and watches every week. My 4 year old was scared, but still likes to watch every episode. Both have been brought up on my video collection of the original series.
This was my favourite episode so far of the news series. It seems to be getting better and better, and I loved it to start with anyway. I also think it was excellently written.
I quite liked it, but I wasn’t sure about roping in Charles Dickens or the whole seance scene.
I’m never entirely happy about putting real life people into entirely fictional stories. Seems dishonest. And the 'God bless us, everyone!" at the end was just too cheesy for words.
The seance seemed perilously close to providing justification for woo-woo thinking and Dickens abandoning his previously sceptical opinion of this kind of nonsense. I would have been much happier if the episode emphasised the need to look beyond the superstitious claptrap for the real reason. But maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Apart from the revelation that she can act, the “appeal” of Billie Piper still eludes me. I could name at least half a dozen more attractive Doctor’s assistants.
Next week looks like a good one. But I’m looking forward to them actually leaving Earth.
My thought was that The Doctor has a vast level of guilt (or maybe angst) relating to the “Time Wars”, leading him to overcompensate by letting the aliens through without really thinking/interrogating them. With the consequences we saw.
The whole series seems to be leading up to the Time Wars episodes, with hints and snippets of information.
Also - I thought that the whole space/time rift thing was a bit “Sapphire and Steel” really. But in a “Dr Who” sort of way. I guess “Time Wars” could be fairly disruptive.
Yes. Sapphire and Steel is a great way to describe this episode.
I did enjoy the writing and the banter, even if the underlying “believe the supernatural” thread kind of bothered me. I am very disappointed that Eccleston isn’t going to stick it out as The Doctor, he’s proving him to be an outstandingly good character.
I heard that it is because he doesn’t want to be stereotyped. I find this hard to believe. He’s going to find it hard finding someone who’s willing to hire an actor for a major role that quits after one series because he doesn’t want to be stereotyped.
I have to agree, another very good episode. I was thinking I wasn’t going to like this one, as I generally don’t like “ghost stories”…but this one quickly captured my interest and I was hooked before the opening credits.
I was VERY happy to see that there IS more to the “new” TARDIS than just the control room. I was cheering when the Doctor directed Rose to the wardrobe room. From previous views of the control room, it had looked as if the only door out was the exterior door of the TARDIS. If that had been true, I would have been very let down.
I thought it was great. Saw it on the BBC3 repeat last night, having missed it on Saturday, and I was impressed with it. I didn’t hide behind the couch, (being over 12 years old), but I thought there were a couple of moments which did make me jump.
I’m liking it. A lot. But then, I also had to endure reruns/videos of Dr Who as a kid, courtesy of my dad.
