Doctor Who (39) 13:03 The Flux(Part 3): Once Upon a Time.

[nixie]

Bonkers, fractured time, dipping in and out of timelines.
Daleks, Cybermen, weeping angels and love.
All this jumping around time made me dizzy, difficult to follow at times but I'm enjoying the ride. Hopefully things will fall into place as the series progresses.

 

[AE35Unit]

Has that Love character been in Dr Who before? Also there's a black woman who keeps appearing in the Doctors place who looks familiar

 

[Dave]

As confusing as an episode of Lost, as baffling as an episode of Twin Peaks, and I'm as nonplussed as at the ending of The Prisoner or of Quantum Leap. This season is not a young children's show. It does look good visually though. I hope I do understand it before the end.

The "black woman" is a future regeneration of the Doctor that we have seen before. I do know that much, at least.

Never seen the "mission of love" character before, but the actor is familiar from somewhere. I thought she was human, observing the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans on planet Earth. But it now seems she is the girlfriend of the alien with the moral dilemma and dodgy haircut (don't know his name), and observing them on her own war-ravaged world.

It appears that the "timestorm" was fixed by the Doctor (hooray!), but that fixing it only brought additional problems (in the release of the "blue dot" things) and that this was all part of the plan by Mr and Mrs Addams. However, if it was all part of their plan, then why didn't they know about (Lurch) aka The Passenger, having the Morea (sp?) among his millions of species? Either that's a gaping plot hole, or they are lying, and things didn't quite go to plan at all, or else the plan was a very loosely based one? I really have no idea here!

 

[AE35Unit]

It seems the idea of there only been 13 regenerations is out the window. Its like they've totally rewritten the whole idea of DW

 

[Dave]

It seems the idea of there only been 13 regenerations is out the window. Its like they've totally rewritten the whole idea of DW

Oh! Quite a long time ago did they rip up that canon. - Doctor Who (36) 10.12 The Doctor Falls

Also it was 13 "incarnations" originally, so 12 regenerations. See this thread: Regenerations questions?

 

[AE35Unit]

Well I came to modern DW late. I stopped watching it not long after Peter Davidson took the role (my favourite is the 4th, Tom Baker)
I completely missed all of DW after that including the modern reboots, which I managed to catch up with last year with a massive DW marathon binge.

 

[Ursa major]

why didn't they know about (Lurch) aka The Passenger, having the Morea (sp?) among his millions of species?

I probably need to watch my recording of the programme, as everything was (deliberately) confusing, but weren't the Morea(sp) who were hidden in a Passenger at a (much, much) earlier point** in time (with an earlier incarnation of Mr Adams), i.e. when the Adamses were first imprisoned?


** - EDIT: A programme based on a character who is able to visit anywhere in time and space is bound to have enormous plot holes (ones that the writers have tried "valiantly" to cover by talking about fixed, unchangeable points in history) that one just has to ignore. However, at least this series is highlighting that changing the past (or the future/whatever) can have consequences. Luckily these can probably be solved with the aid of a sonic screwdriver and a regeneration....

 

[Dave]

I probably need to watch my recording of the programme, as everything was (deliberately) confusing, but weren't the Morea(sp) who were hidden in a Passenger at a (much, much) earlier point in time (with an earlier incarnation of Mr Adams), i.e. when the Adamses were first imprisoned?

Quite possibly. I think anyone is forgiven for not following that.

 

[AE35Unit]

Its found it all perfectly easy to follow...

 

[MemoryTale]

This episode showed possibly the biggest difference between myself and Mrs MT when we're watching something. I'm happily eating up all the confusing twists and turns and trying to figure it out ahead of time - she got about 20 minutes in before saying "Bored now".

Chris Chibnall was definitely channeling Stephen Moffat with this one. It felt more disjointed than episode 1, but in a good way as it tied in to all the seperate stories as the Doctor was trying to spin so many plates at once.

I liked the backstory for Swarm, Azure and Passenger, I'm not sure how I feel about the inclusion of the old woman. It feels like the last thig this serial needs is another villain, but we'll see how it plays out.

It was good seeing Dan do something other than play comic relief, and I can't help feeling there's more to him than meets the eye. First he gets rescued by Kalvanista ahead of time, now Swarm is taking his would-be girlfriend hostage - that's a lot of effort to take for a random Scouser.

I'm also convinced Vinder and Bel will end up being the Doctor's parents - seriously, if being conceived in the vortex is enough to make River, what will being Fluxed do to an unborn child? - spoiler tag in case I'm right.

 

[AlexH]

I found myself looking forward to watching an episode for the first time in a while. I enjoyed most of the confusion and am enjoying Swarm and Azure as villains. The ongoing storyline is helping with character development and seems to be working well in comparison to the mostly one-off episodes of the past few series.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

You can put me down as another who is enjoying this romp through space and time.
All the baddies you can shake a sonic screwdriver at, and episodes finishing with a cliffhanger.
It's almost like someone is channelling Terry Nation

 

[REBerg]

As confusing as an episode of Lost, as baffling as an episode of Twin Peaks, and I'm as nonplussed as at the ending of The Prisoner or of Quantum Leap. This season is not a young children's show. It does look good visually though. I hope I do understand it before the end.

Ah! So, it's my childlike mind that's kept me from fully understanding what's going on. Either that, or the creative minds here have had way too much time to brainstorm between seasons. (What's it up to, now, five years? )
Anyway, I've watched this episode twice and consulted Den of Geek wisdom, so I think I've got a better grip on what's happening. Maybe.
I thought that the Time Lords and Gallifrey were the ultimate time authority, with the Doctor as the loose cannon who regularly saves the Universe. All this while, it's been the Mouri and the planet Time keeping time from running amok?
Also new, at least in my finite memory, is the concept of an immortal battle between time and space.
The Flux has wrecked space, thereby permanently disturbing time. The Doctor is somehow responsible for the Flux, according to the authoritative older woman who confronts her near the end of the episode and pronounces the Universe dead.
Who is she? Another previous or future Doctor?
With Sontarans, Cybermen, Daleks and Weeping Angels all taking advantage of the chaos, it seems unlikely that the Doctor will be able to once again save the day. I have a feeling that the Weeping Angel's hijacking of the TARDIS will be key to the solution. After all, their specialty is pushing people back through time.

 

[AE35Unit]

Easy to understand; its a kid's sci fi show, so you don't need to know what's going on, just enjoy the fun

 

[REBerg]

Easy to understand; its a kid's sci fi show, so you don't need to know what's going on, just enjoy the fun

True. I've done less studying for college exams.

 

[MemoryTale]

Ah! So, it's my childlike mind that's kept me from fully understanding what's going on. Either that, or the creative minds here have had way too much time to brainstorm between seasons. (What's it up to, now, five years? )
Anyway, I've watched this episode twice and consulted Den of Geek wisdom, so I think I've got a better grip on what's happening. Maybe.
I thought that the Time Lords and Gallifrey were the ultimate time authority, with the Doctor as the loose cannon who regularly saves the Universe. All this while, it's been the Mouri and the planet Time keeping time from running amok?

The way I understand it, is the Doctor saves the peoples of the Universe, and these Moori, Mourie, however you spell themee, make sure time doesn't break from all the paradoxes the Doctor's adventures will cause. I seem to think it was said that the Time Lords could prevent paradoxes causing the Reapers to come out and eat everyone, I can only assume we're just now seeing how.

Basically the show's canon has gotten so twisted, you can stick anything in it, and it'll fit

 

[AE35Unit]

Well this doctor who, it aint Hamlet lol

 

[Vince W]

What a mess. Let's throw anything and everything in there and hope someone somewhere likes it. Ugh.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Now, as you all know, I'm not one to be critical of Doc Where, but I think almost everyone who whatched this nonesense must have had a tiny teeny sense of crap running down the inside of their screens.

The scriptwriters, belss their cotton socks, missed a golden opportunity to include the line :-

"Great Hoovering Daleks Docman, is that a magic wand in your hand or are you just taking the piss"

Tragic.

 

[Vince W]

Tragic.

Describes the Chibnall Who era to a T.