Comments | who_at_50: Mummy on the Orient Express - Reaction and Discussion Post [SPOILERS!]

jjpor in who_at_50

Mummy on the Orient Express - Reaction and Discussion Post [SPOILERS!]

Oct 11, 2014 20:29

Sound suspiciously similar to a certain end-of-season throwaway line of Eleven's a few years back now, doesn't it ( Read more... )

series 8, twelfth doctor, mummy on the orient express, television stories, television

Comments 17

jjpor October 11 2014, 19:57:00 UTC

Still early days in this episode, but for the record:

Capaldi doing Tom Baker impressions?

:D

That's my actual facial expression after hearing that.

katherine_b October 12 2014, 10:24:05 UTC

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who loved that!

jjpor October 12 2014, 19:08:48 UTC

That and the cigarette case full of jelly babies both made me cackle like a loon, I have to admit. ;)

persiflage_1 October 12 2014, 05:38:15 UTC

I can't be the only one, can I, who's beginning to think that the Doctor's feelings for Clara are a helluva lot stronger than hers for him?

I quite enjoyed the ep - apart from the usual epic fail of the BBC's streaming service which left the audio and visual out of sync for great chunks of it.

jjpor October 12 2014, 19:12:15 UTC

I think there's a decent argument for that, and I also think it's part of Twelve's characterisation that he's quite bad at communicating that. And, it has to be said, at relating to humans in general, certainly compared to some of the previous Doctors. I think it's interesting but I want to see where it's going with the pair of them (and Danny too) before I pass judgment.

Yeah, I watched this one online as well and about halfway through the picture quality went to pot as well, quite blurry in fact. I wondered whether it was my connection or computer, but it seems fine for all other videos so I suspect it's the BBC site in one way or another. Maybe a lot of people were watching it at the same time?

persiflage_1 October 12 2014, 19:57:45 UTC

Yeah, Twelve definitely seems to have lost the knack of interacting with humans.

I think there must have been a lot of people watching the livestream last night.

dragonsally October 12 2014, 06:54:42 UTC

I liked this episode a helluva lot more than last week. Enjoyed it a lot. What other historical journeys can they mine? We've had The Titanic and now The Orient Express.

katherine_b October 12 2014, 10:26:50 UTC

I just wish that both those historical journey storylines hadn't had the same basic premise that the journey was being controlled by a computerised figure and was actually a cover for something else. And that the vessel at the centre of the event was intended as replica/homage to the original thing. And that the main evil character (angles/mummies) hadn't actually all been controlled by something else and could be overcome by finding the right words. That level of recycling disappointed me.

jjpor October 12 2014, 19:14:05 UTC

Those are good points, but on the other hand I really disliked the Titanic one and quite enjoyed this one. I don't know what that says about me or about the production teams, but it's nevertheless a fact (from my POV). ;)

katherine_b October 12 2014, 20:24:45 UTC

Actually I agree that this one was better. I'm not a Kylie fan whereas I love Frank Skinner so that improved this episode a lot for me.

Thread 6

librarylover82 October 12 2014, 16:42:33 UTC

"I can't be the only one, can I, who's beginning to think that the Doctor's feelings for Clara are a helluva lot stronger than hers for him ( ... )

jjpor October 12 2014, 19:22:51 UTC

That's interesting, actually. I think you might be on to something there. I do want to see where the Doctor's relationship with Clara is going. At the moment, it's pleasingly complex and I like that the dysfunction of it is clearly intentional rather than the result of blinkered writing (as seemed to be the case with Eleven's spectacularly messed-up, imho, "thing" with River). Great performances from the two leads, too, really selling the characters this season.

It was a good episode, I thought. Agreed that Frank Skinner was really rather wonderful. I didn't know what to expect, as I've only ever seen him as a stand-up comedian/television presenter rather than an actor, but he acquitted himself well. Capaldi is killing it week after week (as is Jenna Coleman), and you're right, we're getting interesting new wrinkles and sidelights on the Doctor the whole while. The "human mask" that Nine, Ten and Eleven tried to keep up (although it kept slipping) has fallen away completely now. Good stuff.

persiflage_1 October 12 2014, 20:01:00 UTC

Oh Twelve is definitely protesting too too much!

katherine_b October 12 2014, 20:27:14 UTC

Given how much Eleven harped on about "the first face this face saw," one presumes the same effect will happen with Clara and Twelve. Since I'm not a Whouffle fan, I tend to look at it more as him feeling this strong loyalty towards her, meaning he won't just go off and pick up someone else, and his reaction to her agreeing to travel with him because he hates to be alone so much.

wunnerwmn October 13 2014, 03:52:22 UTC

Pretty good episode, I thought. I liked all the references to past Doctors: the jelly babies, 11's sonic, 1's tie, "Are you my mummy?" from 9's story (I think? mind like a sieve), and I could swear he was doing a Tom Baker voice impersonation at one point. But it's kind of time for him to be developing his own "thing", you know? I love Capaldi and he's doing well, but really about all I know about this Doctor is he tends to be pretty acerbic. The ending was nice though, where he showed he does have some feelings. Letting Clara sleep was a nice little touch to show he cares ( ... )