Doctor Who (37) 11:10 The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

nixie

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The season finale, rather tame in the end.
I know a lot of people haven't enjoyed the series, I have, yes there have been some poor episodes, Yaz and Ryan are surplus to requirements but Jodie has made the role her own. I've seen complaints that she uses the sonic too much, to much running.
Makes me think maybe the doubters are looking at previous series through rose coloured glasses. There has always been a lot of running and screaming, the sonic has always been over used. I also remember the shaky sets and laughable monsters.
Jodie has shown the Doctor's gender is irrelevant, as long as who ever is in the role has their own quirks. Bradley Walsh is a good companion.
I really hope she stays for a few more seasons.
 
What? The season is over already?
They keep us waiting for 15 months between seasons, and all they can give us is 10 measly episodes? BBC budget cuts?
Overall, I wouldn't say that this season was any more frenzied than most. I think that Jodie Whittaker slipped more readily into the Doctor's shoes than some of her predecessors, notably Peter Capaldi.
I'm not loving the team approach to the Doctor's adventures. It limits character development and my ability to become attached to any of them, although I would also cast my vote for Graham if given the opportunity.
Two are companions, three are a crowd and four in a TARDIS should not be allowed. :)
 
I WANT MORE!!!

Loved the season. Can't wait for next!

As to this episode, it was pretty awesome; though I felt a bit let down at the end. I guess I was expecting the baddie to get killed!
 
What? The season is over already?
They keep us waiting for 15 months between seasons, and all they can give us is 10 measly episodes? BBC budget cuts?

And another 15 months or more till the next season. I just saw today that they won't be back until 2020, except for this (and hopefully next) Christmas episode, which also won't be until New Year's. Arrgh.
 
And another 15 months or more till the next season. I just saw today that they won't be back until 2020, except for this (and hopefully next) Christmas episode, which also won't be until New Year's. Arrgh.
That is sad news. I wonder, at what point does a show cease to qualify as a series?
 
Nixie, must say the excessive use of the sonic screwdriver annoyed me with other Doctors (only saw two episodes of this run, so it didn't bother me, but I have enjoyed reading bickering).
 
I wonder, at what point does a show cease to qualify as a series?
When it's cancelled.

Doctor Who hasn't been cancelled, just made subject to a delay between seasons... a bit like Game of Thrones.


Note that in the UK, our name for a "season" is a "series", so (give or take the Christmas New Year's Day special), this series is now over.
 
Well...what to say about this episode?

That was better. Much better.

Darker, more serious and no preaching a message. Less sonic, and less running about.

Great scene between the Doctor and Graham - though I thought the Doctor was a bit too sanctimonious.

That was spoiled when Graham did the "better man" bit; it would have been far more interesting if he'd killed Timshor and then lied about it (e.g.. I put him the status chamber) and to see how the Doctor reacted. It was also a bit too convenient (and a cliché) that Ryan was able to get back to him in time (and how, without the sonic to beam himself back??).

Good slow build up to what was going on; the viewer knew as much as the characters.

My wife thought the same and said "the rest of the series has been soft and nicey nicey. I hope that's not because they made her a woman."

Not sure what the New Year Special will have in store for us (we switched over before the "taster"), but I hope it's not a 'super nice' episode.

Can't really see the next series (all the way in 2020 it seems) being any different in tone to this one since that would mean changing the manner of this Doctor and there would need to be a good excuse for that - callous death of a companion perhaps? - or it would look odd.
 
(and how, without the sonic to beam himself back??)
It wasn't clear to me that the sonic had beamed them into the artefact in the first place. Didn't the Doctor say that the artefact had done that when they first were beamed up?
That was spoiled when Graham did the "better man" bit
It depends what you mean. I'm not convinced Graham didn't kill Timshor because of being a "better man". I thought he simply couldn't do it because, well, not everyone can kill someone**. And his wry way of mentioning being a "better man" may have been his regret that his morality had stopped him killing, but just have easily been him covering what he saw as his inability (a sort of "cowardice") to carry out the act.


** - I'm sure I've seen it said that quite a high proportion (10% or more?) of conscript soldiers in one or other of the World Wars didn't shoot to kill. By that, I don't mean that they shot to injure, but that they shot to miss entirely.
 
When it's cancelled.

Doctor Who hasn't been cancelled, just made subject to a delay between seasons... a bit like Game of Thrones.


Note that in the UK, our name for a "season" is a "series", so (give or take the Christmas New Year's Day special), this series is now over.
Cancellation is setting the bar far too ambiguously low.
Loyal fans need to push lawmakers to establish and hold the entertainment industry to rigid production standards. I propose that television producers be legally required to give us no fewer than 20 episodes per season/series with no more than 6 months between seasons/series.
I further propose, in the interest of international harmony, that the term "series" be defined as a group of "seasons" consisting of consecutive "episodes" of the same show. ;)
 
The season felt short. It seemed like we just started.

I thought it was one of the better episodes this season. There was action and Tardis interaction (which I like to see). It looped back to pick back up on the episode one villain. Two out of three of the sidekicks had nice relevant storylines. And Robert Baratheon.
 
It wasn't clear to me that the sonic had beamed them into the artefact in the first place. Didn't the Doctor say that the artefact had done that when they first were beamed up?
It depends what you mean. I'm not convinced Graham didn't kill Timshor because of being a "better man". I thought he simply couldn't do it because, well, not everyone can kill someone**. And his wry way of mentioning being a "better man" may have been his regret that his morality had stopped him killing, but just have easily been him covering what he saw as his inability (a sort of "cowardice") to carry out the act.


** - I'm sure I've seen it said that quite a high proportion (10% or more?) of conscript soldiers in one or other of the World Wars didn't shoot to kill. By that, I don't mean that they shot to injure, but that they shot to miss entirely.
Hmm...I think you're right on the first one now that I think of it (and I only thought about it when I wrote my post, not during the episode). Still a little convenient Ryan found his way back to same place though.

And you read a bit too much into my second comment. My fault; I should have simply said "didn't kill him". You're right - I saw it that way as well but I think it would have more interesting if he'd gone through with his threat - especially given how determined he was earlier. I fully expected him to be ruthless at that point - in a way, "anti-Doctor" (and also, judging by past episodes, "anti-Graham"); that's why it would have been interesting.
 
Warning! Grump Alert!

I know nobody cares, but I finally figured out what it is that bothers me so much with the sonic screwdriver, and not just this series.
In a nutshell, the Doctor just whips it out and it does whatever it needs to do at that point in the story.
There's no configuring it. There's no changing from scanner mode to door unlocking mode to screwdriver mode.
My epiphany came in the Kerblam episode when it was whipped out, waved at the tablet/iPad device and magically added their names to the guest list. How did it know what names to add?

Of course, one can always invoke Clarke' third law, but in a science fiction show that seems like cheating.


I leave you with a little spot the difference...
drwhowandscrewdriver3.jpeg
hermionewand2.jpeg
 
This was a good episode, by any standard of New Who. That said, I do hope Tim Shaw doesn't become a recurring villain, he's not much more than an up-jumped playground bully in a silly costume
 
This was a good episode, by any standard of New Who. That said, I do hope Tim Shaw doesn't become a recurring villain, he's not much more than an up-jumped playground bully in a silly costume
Though I agree, he's nothing but a simple bully in costume, I think he's going to be recurring. The last we see of him, he is calm - far too calm, given his supposed predicament - then he slowly raises his fingers and touches the glass.

He knows he can escape.
 
Though I agree, he's nothing but a simple bully in costume, I think he's going to be recurring. The last we see of him, he is calm - far too calm, given his supposed predicament - then he slowly raises his fingers and touches the glass.

He knows he can escape.
I agree; the status chamber is his technology - they made a point of saying so (albeit in a isn't that poetic justice way).
He has a lucrative future as a spokesman for tooth whitening products.
And inhalers...
 
Slight criticism follows (sorry)

@Matteo

I also thought the scene between Graham and Team Leader Who was at last worthy of the two actors. It was serious and engaging and for once believable and at the end we have the dynamics of Graham and Who clearly set out.

However (and this is typical of the writers who can’t seem to hold a plot/story line together in one episode never mind a series) in the very next scene we have Who handing out weapons and grenades (an indiscriminate weapon) to all and sundry in a

“Here chuck these about if you get the chance,” manner.

To make things worse she then straps grenades to a device she knows nothing about (other than blowing it up could cause mass destruction) and off she goes to do the very thing she slapped Graham's wrists about not five minutes earlier.

So we have what was a really effective moving exchange completely wiped out.
 
Slight criticism follows (sorry)

@Matteo

I also thought the scene between Graham and Team Leader Who was at last worthy of the two actors. It was serious and engaging and for once believable and at the end we have the dynamics of Graham and Who clearly set out.
...off she goes to do the very thing she slapped Graham's wrists about not five minutes earlier.

So we have what was a really effective moving exchange completely wiped out.

Then again, she did say her "rules" change often. ;)
 

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