Doctor Who (37) 11.07 Kerblam!

I thought it would have been a good episode for Christmas Eve.

And an even better one if adults had been persuaded to use more bubble rap in their christmas parcels....
 
I liked it, I thought the villain was going to be a rogue section of the core programme so like a computer code with split personality...
 
I enjoyed it. It's not often Doctor Who fools me with the bad guy. In fact, I can't remember it ever happening. Bonus points for using the screwdriver and the sonic paper at the same time. Extra bonus points for using the paralyzing finger again.

It kind of reminded me of the Ood factory episode. It wasn't a copy but had a similar environment and mood or feel was close.
 
I liked it. It had the feel of some of the Christmas episodes with the various scary mannequin/robot dudes.

I do have to admit I wasn't quite sure why it was necessary to destroy all of the delivery bots, after they had been rerouted to deliver to where they were already standing. Was that just to destroy Charlie? Seems a bit of ...err... overkill. Maybe I missed something.
 
This was, to me, an amusing poke at delivery services in general and Amazon in particular.
I worked at UPS (AKA The Big Brown Machine) during my college years, and I swear that each employee was saddled with a supervisor equipped with a riding crop to keep him or her moving throughout the shift. As I vaguely recall, they bore a remarkable resemblance to the bug-eyed Kerblam! supervisors.
I thought the episode went off the rails with the big villain reveal. Raising the ire of the "organics" by framing the system for making a thousand or so gift recipients literally go kerblam! seemed like a stretch or, as Graham put it, the worst business plan ever.
 
You don't think the mass, simultaneous, murder of a thousand people by a bunch of robots would create a bit of a stir?
 
This was a fun episode. I was rather pleased (though I'm not sure why) that the computer/system didn't turn out to be the bad guy. I was also surprised by who the villain was. We weren't really given a lot of clues to figure it out, but as soon as he was revealed, it made perfect sense!

So the Doctor saves tens of thousands. All in a day's work! ;)

I'm pretty sure I, too, would have destroyed the delivery bots, @TheDustyZebra . Perhaps just out of a hope to prevent a second attempt, perhaps malice toward technology! But the result was rather spectacular: The company is now going to a majority people structure! YaY! :D
 
The company is now going to a majority people structure! YaY! :D

Yes.
But I did find the "executives" a little too instantly willing/ wet about it. (Especially the finance guy.)
I know! Suspension of disbelief and all that. And no time to make more of it.

All in all it was fun, and I'm enjoying the new crew.
 
Seems like I'm in the minority on this one. I thought it was dreadful. Dull with a pathetic villain.

Too much sonic.

A computer terminal that worked despite a total system shut down...

Lee Mack!

At least there was less running around.

My wife said "I like her, but what's happened to the writing in this series?"
 
Oh dear.

Obviously the previous episodes (and episode is a good word for them) have so numbed people that are now staring at the screen and instead of throwing shoes and gcoffee mugs at it they sit there in wonder.

I'm beginning to suspect subliminal imagery might be the cause.

IT WAS CRAP

So now we have the sonic rapier/flintlock pose. The dashing cavalier cape and all. I can't be certain but it must have been at lease three time in this episode.

We have the now murderous Who happy to see (not to mention the CCB and their claim for it to be for children) Who deliberately murdering a misguided individual (and a human not so three headed seven tenticled monster) before the watershed.

Come out from behind the sofa Billy, the nasty Ms Who has finished killing the bad man. What kind of message is that sending to the new generation - Oh, I forgot, the CCB sells this to the the Trompy States so they'll lick it up.

I know there's a list of things that wand will do, but is there a list of things it can't? Ah is that it, Really it's a transitional series between Who the time traveller to Who the Magician. Why not? I think someone said last week that the show should be changed to the adventures of Sonica.

Sonica, aided by it's trusty Team Tardis set out for an adventure in time and space. To screw where no one has screwed before.

We even had a double treat this time, The wand and the these people are under my protection in the same scene. Marvellous writing - Wonderful imaginative scripting and real value for money.

As for the acting.

Well, I've certainly seen better in local school productions.
 
TEIN, half your post is uncalled for.

We get it. You don't like it. But the accusations you are making - really?

I'm beginning to suspect subliminal imagery might be the cause.
Thank you, but I can (and often do) think for myself. Just because I disagree with you, doesn't mean I've been duped.

the CCB sells this to the the Trompy States so they'll lick it up.
You really mean to make this political? Are you serious?

To screw where no one has screwed before.
Plain offensive.

The show is entertainment. One has the privilege of liking it or not; watching it, or turning it off. Please, I beg of you, refrain from using your hatred of it to insult others.
 
@Cathbad (and any one else who feels the same).

My appologies if anyone has been offended by my previous post.

It was not my inention to upset anyone or insult fellow posters/viewers.

Athough after Cathbad quite rightly pointed it out, I can see how it could offend people.

I can only hope that anyone so offended will forgive my over critical views.

Tein
 
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I'll resist the temptation to advise everyone to grow up, but let's just all take a deep breath and calm down, shall we.

TEIN's posts of this kind are always so OTT and exaggerated to the nth degree, there's no need for anyone to take his witterings at face value -- his humour might not be to everyone's taste, but he's clearly making no accusations nor intending to be derogatory of anyone here on Chrons. One certainly shouldn't allow his comments or those of anyone else to get under one's skin to the extent that, for instance, one thinks that anyone who doesn't like the new series must have made a decision in advance not to like it, with an implication that there is some hidden agenda at work.

People have different tastes, and have different criteria for liking and not liking things. Those who don't like the new series, you can stop watching or at least stop telling us at length how you don't like it. Those who do like it, you can reset your sense of humour button, or you can stop reading comments from those who don't.
 
The milk is pizzled.

Kerblam! didn't do much for me.

Walsh was great again, but when a delivery drone is more interesting than two of your principle characters, the producers and writers need to have a rethink.
 
I'm a bit late to this episode, but I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the Classic Who serial Paradise Towers, a story I probably enjoy more than it deserves.

I loved the twist with the villain. The system going rogue is such an overplayed plot device that the butler being the villain of the piece is new in comparison, so when it turned out the cleaner was behind it, it was a genuine surprise. The reveal was even hinted at very subtly when Team Tardis were given their jobs. The Doctor getting chosen to be a cleaner seemed like a brief gag, but who's the only other character chosen to be a cleaner? The genius hacker. He probably hacked into the job computer to give himself a role that has access to everywhere, so now it recognizes brilliant people as cleaners.

With regards the Doctor killing Charlie the way she did, it's not the first time s/he's murdered a human villain with extreme prejudice. 11 killing the villain from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship comes to mind pretty quickly, and I'm sure there've been others. I think what tipped the balance was when he refused to learn from Keera's death. At that point he knew the pain he was about to put thousands through, and was going to do it anyway, turning from a well intentioned extremist into a prime candidate for guilt free destruction.
 
The reveal was even hinted at very subtly when Team Tardis were given their jobs. The Doctor getting chosen to be a cleaner seemed like a brief gag, but who's the only other character chosen to be a cleaner? The genius hacker. He probably hacked into the job computer to give himself a role that has access to everywhere, so now it recognizes brilliant people as cleaners.

Aha. I had wondered why the Doctor was chosen to be a cleaner. I tried to work out whether it was a confusion due to her switching the task bracelets' programming, but I gave up. Now I see.
 
I caught up with this one tonight while most people were watching the latest episode.

It's still not up there with most previous series (modern Who) but I enjoyed it - it was probably my second favourite of the series so far (behind Rosa).

I thought The Doctor gave the villain plenty of time to escape.
 

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