Doctor Who - Utopia, open spoilers

[Maus_Magill]

@carnivorousplant

Is this sort of thing considered to be a spoiler?

One presumes the Doctor can repair and adjust it to pursue the Master.

I’d say it’s speculation, so no need to Spoiler.

I figured he’d use it, but it’s very inaccurate. For instance, it landed Jack about 120 years early and on the wrong continent.

[carnivorousplant]

@Maus Magill

I figured he’d use it, but it’s very inaccurate. For instance, it landed Jack about 120 years early and on the wrong continent.

Ah, but the Doctor will adjust it with his sonic screwdriver.

Hell, if Captain Kirk can do it…

[kingpengvin]

A quick question are all the folks heading for Utopia doomed? Was it all an elaborate hoax or was there something for them to go to?

[RealityChuck]

@Christopher

From reading the wiki on Doctor Who (and from the School Reunion episode that I just saw), I think that this series is actually being treated as a continuation of the previous version. As I gather, the Doctor has the ability to regenerate 13 times. In that case, The Doctor can only regenerate 3 more times and then he is stuck. I wonder what plot device will be found to overcome this, since regeneration seems to be a staple of the series.

Since the Master had regenerated at least four times* since his “final” regeneration**, the limit is clearly something imposed by rule rather than by nature. Since there are no Time Lords, the Doctor can presumably break that rule. This would also eliminate the issue of the 13th Generation brought up in Trial of a Time Lord – it referred to his “final generation,” which doesn’t have to be his 13th now.

*Anthony Ainley, Eric Roberts, Derek Jacobi, and John Simm.

**In The Deadly Assassin, it was established he was on his final regeneration and was shown to be physically deteriorating.

[kellner]

@kingpengvin

A quick question are all the folks heading for Utopia doomed? Was it all an elaborate hoax or was there something for them to go to?

That would be a spoiler. Do you still want to know more? Sorry for the meta-spoiler.

[Otto]

@RealityChuck

Since the Master had regenerated at least four times* since his “final” regeneration**, the limit is clearly something imposed by rule rather than by nature. Since there are no Time Lords, the Doctor can presumably break that rule. This would also eliminate the issue of the 13th Generation brought up in Trial of a Time Lord – it referred to his “final generation,” which doesn’t have to be his 13th now.

Note though that the Master was not in his original body for some of those regenerations. He had taken over the body of the Keeper of Traken. So it could be that being out of his original body granted him additional regenerations, or he could’ve cut some sort of a deal with the Council (who offered him a new cycle of regenerations in “The Fifth Doctor”). Should it come to it that the BBC runs out of regenerations for the Doctor, I’m envisioning a “greater love hath no man” scenario where his current Companion will sacrifice him/herself to allow the Doctor to use his/her body for a new regeneration.

[kingpengvin]

@kellner

That would be a spoiler. Do you still want to know more? Sorry for the meta-spoiler.

I’m watching the next episode tonight… so I’ll wait until tomorrow to see if I’m still woefully unaware.

Thanks!!

[WotNot]

@Otto

Note though that the Master was not in his original body for some of those regenerations. He had taken over the body of the Keeper of Traken. So it could be that being out of his original body granted him additional regenerations, or he could’ve cut some sort of a deal with the Council (who offered him a new cycle of regenerations in “The Fifth Doctor”). Should it come to it that the BBC runs out of regenerations for the Doctor, I’m envisioning a “greater love hath no man” scenario where his current Companion will sacrifice him/herself to allow the Doctor to use his/her body for a new regeneration.

In fact, only the most recent (from Jacobi to Simm) is a regeneration at all within the accepted meaning of the term. Taking over Tremas’s (Anthony Ainley) body was more like a form of possession, and the same applies to Eric Roberts in the TV movie.

I don’t care to hint here how he escaped total and ultimate destruction within the Eye of Harmony, but will say that I feel that the inference that RealityChuck draws is premature.

[Snooooopy]

The Master said that Utopia was a hoax? I totally missed that. Not that I’m terribly surprised that it would turn out to be a hoax. I guess I was too caught up in his reawakening.

[Junior_Spaceman]

A great episode, and if you haven’t seen the last two episodes yet, you’ve got some good viewing to come

FWIW, I loved JS as the Master - like in the older series, The Master is a ‘reflection’ of The Doctor, and here, he’s a young, handsome, manic dasher, just like David’s Doctor.

[Maus_Magill]

@NailBunny

The conversation in the radiation chamber is awesome - it was mentioned in the Confidential that the only way they knew they could get these two men to come together and talk things out was to put a wall and a chamber full of deadly stet radiation between them. So many answers, and how heartbreaking was it when Jack admitted to watching Rose growing up?

The more I think about it, the more pissed I get that there was more character development of Jack in those three minutes than in three (so-far) episodes of Torchwood.

And, check out the look on Martha’s face when she hears that Rose is “not just living on a parrallel world, she’s trapped there”. In an instant she goes from snarky to sympathetic - dammit Doctor, if you’d just explained what happened to Rose and actually had a conversation with your companion about it, she might have understood your lingering depression about it and gotten over her own schmoopy behaviour!

I thought he did at the end of the Motorway episode.

[NailBunny]

@Maus Magill

The more I think about it, the more pissed I get that there was more character development of Jack in those three minutes than in three (so-far) episodes of Torchwood.

Word. Poor Jack.

@Maus Magill

I thought he did at the end of the Motorway episode.

He told her about the Time War and the destruction of Gallifrey, but he’s never taken the time to explain what actually happened to Rose, only that she’s safe and with her family. Martha didn’t even get the “I lost her” explanation that Donna got. As far as she knows up to this point, Rose just got fed up and dumped him or something and he’s still pining for her.