Now onto Hide. Another one I really enjoy. Such a well done concept.
3 Likes
Akhaten has awesome worldbuilding, a great Doctor speech and that one funny freeze frame of Eleven.
But the story as a whole is kinda meh. I donât dislike the episode but itâs only a 6/10 for me.
4 Likes
Hide done. Very well done episode. Now onto another personal favourite, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.
4 Likes
Watching Dinosaurs on a Spaceship!
Not seen this one in years. In my memory it was just a silly romp,
But itâs so sad!! David Bradleyâs character is so damn cruel. How dare he do that to a dinosaur.
Iâd completely forgotten it was a Silurian ship, escaping earth! But itâs so crucial to the story, I donât know how I forgot!
Bradleyâs characrer is so cruel. Waking up Silurians in small batches and releasing them from the airlock⌠just wicked.
Incredible episode. I remember when these came out that they were released with these cool looking movie posters!
I think budget constraints ruined that scene where the Doctor, Rory and Arthur escape on the dinosaur. They went so slow and the robots somehow went even slower, then after 15 seconds went âoh well we lost them.â Ridiculous.
7 Likes
Watching the final episode of The Daleks during lunch. More thoughts to come in the club thread.
3 Likes
Finished Underworld, and it was kinda borderline 3.5/4, but I went with 4. I had a good time! I think what really helped me like it more than most was that I watched in the way it was intended to be viewed: on my small phone screen, armâs length away, with probably insufficient brightness. You can barely notice the CSO!
And I didnât realize I already rated The Invasion of Time, so I got surprised by getting the S15 badge!
5 Likes
The Sontaran Stratagem. So GPS and car pollution was a big thing back in the latter 2000s, so I think itâs a neat idea to make a story revolving around both of those topics. Doctor Who often excels at taking the ordinary every day stuff and making it scary, dangerous, or a threat of some kind, and this is no exception. And Iâm guessing âthis is your final destination,â had to be a little reference to that film franchise which is known for its vehicular deaths.
The Doctor gets a call from the phone who only one person knows the number for, and yet he still acts like he doesnât know whoâs calling. Didnât even seem to be happy to hear from Martha at first. I do like Marthaâs return for the most part, but some things just donât quite work. So she had her M.D. rushed through to get her as a UNIT doctor because she knows the Doctor. Rushing someone through an M.D. sounds like a bad idea, given how much study and experience is needed to learn and do the job right. And I also donât like how itâs very much the âyou know the Doctor, so welcome to UNIT regardless of your qualificationsâ sort of special treatment we often see with RTDâs UNIT in both of his eras. Also, they paired her off with Tom Milligan? The doctor guy she only actually knew in an aborted timeline, and she just I guess shows up and says âhey, I know you, but you donât know that.â It just feels weird. I did like how we see that what happened to her family the previous season has had an effect on her. Iâm glad that sheâs come to understand it wasnât the Doctorâs fault like she said it was in the moment (I know she didnât really mean it, but just from a character development standpoint), and even that maybe if she hadnât kept it all secret from them, it could have gone differently. Itâs good that sheâs trying to make sure Donna doesnât make the same mistakes. Companions looking out for each other, nice to see. And the Doctor thought they would fight, smh.
I also like the proper return of UNIT, again, for the most part. And a lot of the other part is the way the Doctor acts towards them. Remember that UNIT is the same people that gave the Doctor a home and essentially a family during his exile. Three and UNIT would disagree at times, yes, but he grew to like and appreciate them all, something that seemed to continue all the way through the rest of the classic series, and even to the way 9 talked about them in Aliens of London. Seeing Ten just completely treat them with disrespect, as idiots, and going at them with the holier-than-thou âyou guys have guns, therefore youâre the bad guys,â attitude. Not even allowing them to express their gratitude for all the help heâs given them over the years with a salute. It feels very similar to the early 12th Doctorâs anti-soldier crap which I also donât care for, but this irritates me more considering this is UNIT itself and all of the Doctorâs history with them, rather than it just being generic soldiers.
Luke Rattigan reminds me so much of Adric itâs not even funny. He even kinda looks like him. Heâs got that same genius but just generally annoying, thinking heâs better than everyone else kind of behavior but even more so. But I think that works better for someone whoâs actually one of the bad guys instead of a companion that youâre supposed to like. He does not pass for an American character, and the biggest reason is the way he uses the word âclever.â Americans donât generally say âcleverâ in the context of just being smart. In US English, clever has more of a crafty, manipulative, devious connotation. Luke would say âIâm smarter than you,â or â[sheâs] intelligent by the sound of it, but not as smart as me,â rather than âcleverâ or âcleverer.â It worked very well when the Doctor intentionally wound him up just to see what he was up against (and it was really easy too). Good facial acting from the guy in those scenes though, you can just tell by his expression that heâs trying so hard to contain himself when angered.
The Sontarans. Honestly, of the major returns so far, I think the Sontarans are among the best done in this episode. Iâd say the Daleks were done better in Dalek, but the Sontarans definitely better done here than the Cybermen were in their first one in the modern series. They essentially hit all the beats, theyâre tactical to a fault, evaluating everything in terms of their military significance. The encounter Staal has with the two soldiers that become their puppets highlights this nicely. Thereâs even that little bit of misogyny that we caught glimpses of back all the way with Linx criticizing the âbinary reproductive cycle,â and thinking of Sarah as lesser, or more fragile. Probic vent, they always face their enemy, their enjoyment of combat, compared to potatoes, all of the things they were known for before come back. And this strategy theyâre going with isnât their usual MO, but thatâs even acknowledged by the Doctor, and in doing so I think highlights how Sontarans usually are by that contrast. I donât know exactly where the new series gets the âSontarans are shortâ thing though. Sure, Kevin Lindsay wasnât exactly tall in the first two appearances, but I wouldnât say they were particularly short in The Invasion of Time or The Two Doctors. Iâm guessing theyâre going for a sort of Napoleon complex thing, but them being short feels like a modern series invention. Also, the lighting and their costumes makes them look really purple, which for me has always undercut how threatening they look on screen. âSontar Ha!â as a chant, as much as I donât like the Cybermen getting a catchphrase like the Daleks have, I think the Sontaran chant works. Theyâre soldiers, a chant can be part of the discipline, it makes sense. Rattigan looks like such a tool when he does it though.
Donna, her interactions with Martha, and her trip to visit her family is all good stuff. I liked how she just checked personnel records, using what she knows to help out. Supertemp, as she says. I donât really get why Donna wound the Doctor up to think that she was leaving for good, it just felt out of place. Even as a joke it doesnât feel typical of Donna. Felt more like they wanted the audience to go âis Donna leaving?â Wilf is great as ever, Sylvia is as Sylvia as ever, both rather filling the same roles as they had before. More of Donnaâs stuff to do in this is in the second half, but sheâs still good in this one.
Some random thoughts here. So when they first storm the Atmos facility, Martha says something about how theyâre looking for âillegal aliens.â Does that feel on the nose to anyone else as well, like they were just trying to shoehorn in a buzzword to make it seem âtopical?â â70s or 80sâ was a funny joke referring to the UNIT dating controversy. Lazy on the Sontaransâ part and not tactically sound when they didnât confirm the kill when they thought they got rid of the Doctor there. 7/10 this one overall, pretty good episode.
6 Likes
So, onto Series 7B.
The Snowmen is another one of my favourite Christmas Specials. Having the Great Intelligence back was nice, and Ian McKellen does a great job. Having the Paternoster Gang together is a real treat. The real standout is the chemistry between Matt and Jenna. They are like a classic B&W screwball duo. Their banter is well written, and they perform it excellently. The ending is heartbreaking, but I love the reveal of Modern Clara. 4.5/5
Season 7V is excellent. Check it out if you havenât.
The Bells of Saint John is kinda silly, but I love it anyway. It is carried by the chemistry of Matt and Jenna, but the storyline is interesting, and very dark. 4/5
The Rings of Akhaten starts well, but once the singing starts I want to crawl out of my skin. The speech that the Doctor gives feels like an attempt at another Stonehenge speech, but it just doesnât really deliver. It just doesnât seem earned to me. 2.5/5
Cold War is a legit creepy/scary serial. Having the Ice Warriors back is a real treat, even if I donât like the out-of-suit stuff. Ice Warriors are a cool concept that Iâve always enjoyed, and itâs a real shame they werenât used more. Also as a side note, so many GoT people. and David Warner 
. 4/5
Hide is a simple, but comepling serial. It has a level of creepyness that really works for me, but it also doesnât go full horror and allows for levity. Also it has the right level of heart for me. It could have easily gone into a sacerine direction, but it weaved a fine line excellently. 4/5
Journey to the Centre off the TARDIS is a really enjoyable epsiode for me. The actualy plot is totally serviceable, but I enjoy getting more TARDIS stuff. Itâs someting that Iâve really missed in the Revival era. Seeing a modern depiction of the TARDIS innards really worked for me. The ending is a but âmehâ, but I like it anyway. Plus it has my favourite Clara outfit. 3.5/5
My partner really enjoys the chemistry between Matt and Jenna. Also they have been laughing a lot more. They say that it seems like the show is having more fun that I has in a while. Clara is a mystery, but isnât a âbig badâ that drags everything down.
They are also shocked that we only have 5 episodes left with Matt.
7 Likes
Nearly done with Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor. I donât think itâs a good sign I started to fall asleep during Silâs monologue at the end of Episode 3.
NOTHING IS HAPPENING!
(And, my god, Sophie Aldred isnât good in this, is she⌠and her make up is shoddy as hell).
6 Likes
Doctor Who predicted the future! 
2 Likes
We finished The Sontaran Experiment in one sitting of course, and although it is a very brief story, I think itâs kind of underrated (at least by me, haha)! Itâs got such a nasty tone to it (compliment), what a total vibe shift from the Pertwee era this is, and Ark In Space too with the body horror element, though that one is a bit closer to the kind of story you might have got in 3âs time. This is so spare, itâs just a Sontaran and his golf robot torturing some humans for fun on the deserted planet Earth, our crew have to get in there and mess him up bad and thatâs that haha. But I think itâs pretty effectively done! A story need not be complicated to land beautifully.
It remains so funny that this Sontaran who is from an identical clone race and is even played by the same actor looks VERY DIFFERENT lol, but it had to be changed for his comfort and itâs probably their second best mask, and all the other Sontaran icons are some of my faves in the whole series (their ship, their spacesuit etc). Putting this outside helps a lot, they absolutely should have continued with this clever production hack of having one director and crew make a âsix-parterâ but splitting that into two separate stories, one entirely studio and one entirely location. When the script is as great as Ark In Space, fully studiobound is no problem, and this episode proves that you can take a pretty barebones idea and really take it up a notch simply by moving it outside.
Kind of a 4/5 for me on this watch, I liked it more than I usually have! Harry has always been a favorite, heâs just so great.
10 Likes
Nice to see you enjoying series 7. Itâs underrated. Disagree about Rings of Akhaten but I can see why people might not like it. Hide and Journey are my favorite series 7 epsiodes as well.
6 Likes
Oh, Iâve always liked series 7. Something I will bring up when finish the season is talk about how I enjoy the more standalone serials on rewatches because the season long story isnât a surprise any more. Some of the ones I like in the revival are ones I didnât on release because they werenât helping resolve the main story. After the fact, with it all known, I could appreciate the standalone ones for the quality stories that they are.
9 Likes
I just watched the documentary Goodbye Bannerman Road: Remembering Elisabeth Sladen and honestly, it fell a bit flat? I know that may be sacrilege but it really felt like she deserved far more. Itâs made up primarily of interviews with Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra, Matt Smith and Gary Russell. No Tommy Knight, Phil Ford, Russell T Davies, David Tennant - to say nothing of anyone from the classic era (which does feature a reasonable amount, itâs not just coverage of SJA). If it had been thrown together with little notice as soon as she passed, Iâd totally understand, but it wasnât (that was a different doc, My Sarah Jane). Thankfully, better and more substantial tributes have been made elsewhere, but I really felt this didnât do her justice.
That said, it ends with Sarah Jane looking up to the sky and speaking her final lines from the end of Series 1 and that did stir me. She was evidently a great woman.
7 Likes
Finished horror of fang rock. That was great.
Started Rosa. Letâs see how that goes
10 Likes
I remember I randomly selected this to watch a few months ago[1], and for some reason I thought that the fan consensus was that it wasnât that good. So I was quite pleasantly surprised when it ended up being so strong.
Well, 6 months now that Iâve checked. Why the hell is 2026 passing so quickly? âŠď¸
8 Likes
Yeah I liked that too
Season 11 is hitting it off strong! Could do with a little less rambling from 13 but Iâm quite enjoying what Iâm seeing so far!
7 Likes
Tsuranga conundrum: mpreg is canon to the doctor who universe. Pretty good episode otherwise!
If anything this season Is consistent, and I havenât disliked anything Iâve seen so far! (Including arachnids. I hate spiders but this ep was still decent enough)
So Iâm definitely a 13 fan! :D
8 Likes
Thirteen nerding off about the particle accelerator is one of my favourite scenes of hers. You can just tell that the Doctor is talking about something she founds fascinating and really cool, I love it.
Not the biggest fan of the episode as a whole but I do really like that part and also the Pting is fun.
7 Likes