Doctor Who: The Stolen Plot Device

[matgb]

So, watched it last night, then went to the pub, then came back, and watched it again as a few points were bugging me. There now follows a poll, and that poll does contain spoilers.

Comments

[davidnm]

The thing I didn't like with this one was the Shadow Proclamation. It seemed a bit of a letdown, really. Other then that I did quite enjoy this episode, and the giggling Dalek was actually a bit creepy, too. I liked the idea of the disappearing Earth, although as I noted on my own post on it, I do have some practical issues with it...

[matgb]

Aye, I just edited in a link to your post, but meh, there was a minor earthquake, Davros used some super special sekrit thing to stop the rest happening, obviously. Or something.

But yeah, enjoyable, despite Donna and Rose, here's hoping he doesn't mess it all up next week (reset buttons suck, two in a row would really suck).

[davidnm]

Yeah, there was the small one. In fact, they could have used all of that as a really good plot device. 'We need to get the Earth back into a solar orbit before the plants all die, the air freezes out - and OMG there's a volcano going off in the middle of Basingstoke!?!' (Actually, the geology probably wouldn't allow *that*, but it would be funny...)

Indiana Cribbins and the paintball of doom

[hazeljnutt]

"Nice try but they're Super!Space!Daleks so it won't work"

See, I thought it would've been a nice nod to original Who, if this did work! Of course, it would take everyone in the world having two paintball guns each and being a crack shot for it to have been any help, but it still would've been a nice stalling device.
*reminisces of daleks you could throw a blanket/scarf over or run up stairs to get away from*

Re: Indiana Cribbins and the paintball of doom

[purplecthulhu]

Did BC do something along these lines in one of the two Dalek movies?

Re: Indiana Cribbins and the paintball of doom

[davegodfrey]

I like it when they do things like this, like in Dalek where it starts flying up the stairwell (OK, so we've seen this in OldWho too), etc.

It would be nice if they do get to blind one next week though.

Re: Indiana Cribbins and the paintball of doom

[rhythmaning]

I thought the guys in Torchwood were going to shoot the Daleks' eyes off - kind of like paintball, only more violent.

[redatt]

"There was something on your back." Both because that's what it sounded like and because Donna replied, "How do you know that?" And not, "No, no, it's gone. It has. Hasn't it? OH.MY.GOD. IS.IT.BACK? Is it, isn't it? DOCTOR!!!!"

[matgb]

Good point, danke. Rewatched the scene about ten times trying to figure out the words clearly, context should've revealed it.

Still, huge chunk of others thought it was 'is', 32% at the moment. Does make things a bit interesting. Pondering the reset button is going to take fandom all week methinks.

[biscit]

I pressed skip back and switched the subtitles on. It was was.

[matgb]

Ha, subtitles prove nothing, they were fixed today, they did, for example, refer to Rose as Bad Wharf...

They don't always get to work from a script, and have to transpose what they hear, it's not always someone who actually watches the show normally.

[pickwick]

Re first death another black woman: assuming they're casting colourblind just now, would you rather they only cast white women in the role of first cannon fodder?

(I can't actually remember who the first victim was, so this could be totally irrelevant.)

Also, we're shooting the Doctor "on site"? Easier than when he's somewhere else, I guess ;)

[pickwick]

There's probably a breakdown somewhere, isn't there? I'm sure I've seen one - I'll go look. I've heard it said before, certainly, and I've noticed it a couple of times, but I'm not sure. If the leads are both white and a lot of one-episode-only characters die, if they're casting for diversity, there would be a higher proportion of non-white characters dying, IYSWIM. And it also depends on which of the characters are written as a certain race, I guess, and which are just cast that way.

I don't normally (well, always ~blush~) pick up misspellings, but I liked that one. Most of my mistakes are homonyms too...

[pickwick]

Ah - this post from seeingred is what I was thinking of - it's got a breakdown, and the difference isn't statistically significant. Though there are discussions about who counts and who doesn't, and the definition of "dying", heh. And it's from before this series - would be interesting to update it.

[paulgregory]

I thought it was "there IS", which makes sense because the Shadow Proclamation aide appears to default to present tense and has to correct herself to past/future references. I'll double check when I watch it a third time.

I did particularly like the combining of plot devices (rift, Mr Smith) to boost the phone signal.

Regeneration:
Theory 1: David Tennant will regenerate into David Tennant again (prompting heated argument on internet as to whether he is subsequently the 10th or 11th Doctor) because that hand in the jar is there. (This differs slightly from "a la Jenny", because I believe all Jenny's regenerations are clones).

Theory 2: David Tennant will regenerate into Noel Clarke (which would be a hilarious way to end the Rose plotline) but then Martha will activate her key thing which will turn out to be a big reset button. Which would retrospectively ruin 4x12.

[matgb]

I did particularly like the combining of plot devices (rift, Mr Smith) to boost the phone signal.

As did I, but the whole "get every phone to ring" was a bit too similar to last year, especially given that that wouldn't help in any way.

I'd forgotten hand-in-jar TBH, my hopes are still on double bluff new Doctor though.