I thought the only sub-standard effect was the killer wheelie bin scene. However, the direction and/or acting of the scene contributed to the poorness of the sequence. Moreover, it did seem silly that Rose never noticed her boyfriend had suddenly turned into an overgrown vibrator but I'm happy to cut them some slack on that score, since it ended up being a fun scene.

Probably the most effective scene was with Rose's mum at the shopping centre. When conspiracy man got shot in front of his family it was particularly chilling. I also expected Rose's mum to bite the bullet and was surprised when she lived to shop another day .

Jars, which bits of the special effects seemed cheesy to you?

Just like evil jimi, I thought the wheelie bin bit was just a bit crap. Ditto the London Eye as transmitter bit.

Also, I didn't get how the mannequins managed to have guns in their arms. I thought that the Consciousness thing was just controlling plastic that was already on Earth. Or had it been producing plastic products for years and I just missed some of the exposition?

Now that's interesting, because general concensus in my family was that the wheelie bin bit was the best bit. We've been saying for years that they looking sinister, mind you, so maybe we were conditioned to expect it to be good. On the other hand, I do agree about the London Eye Transmitter part.

With regards to the mannequins having guns in their arms, no, that wasn't really explained in this episode, to my knowledge. I think it was only there because the Autons had guns in their arms the last time they did Autons .

Agree about the guns.

I didn't think the London Eye as transmitter bit was good, I thought the interplay between Rose and the Doctor beforehand was good. As was most of their interaction.

Also, it wasn't necessarily the wheelie bin effect which was good, but the build-up and the idea (classic Dr. Who making do with simple things).

Just so that nobody thinks I only like the crap bits....

The Wheelie Bin Thing was fairly obviously a joke. It's hugely Buffy-influenced, as Davies has acknowledged - and as for stereotyping did you not notice that Rose was the hero who saved the Doctor when he was being a damsel ?

And yeah, the trailer for next week was fairly frank about the Adams influence. What I love, though, is that they've pitched it right; it's a kids show. They haven't made the mistake the McGann version did of shooting for the XFiles audience.

Yeah, Jim, I agree-- and when you're reading the Wheelie Bin Thing as a joke, the special effects don't matter so much-- though I'm still going to stcik with being reasonably happy with their quality, even if the idea is a bit goofy.

(And it must say something about the Wheelie Bin Thing that we're putting it in whitefont all over the place.)

That's a good point about the stereotypes-- there was that rescue bit. I'd sort of focused in on the Doctor treating Rose like a kid and telling her to run away in the shop (which really was a sensible instruction in the circumstances) and missed that, or not looked at that in that light, anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I did love the wheelie bin bit. I just thought the effect when it grabbed him and was pulling him inside looked lame. The whole concept was great though and I agree, they do look sinister. :)

I guess it's b/c I'm not a pom but I found the big ferris wheel as transmitter concept very cool. It really made the point that this is the 21st Century Dr Who.

The one really disconcerting element I found about the new show involved conspiracy guy. The fact he had pics of the current Doc from different times seemed to suggest that the past Doctors didn't exist .

The fact he had pics of the current Doc from different times seemed to suggest that the past Doctors didn't exist .

Uh, dude. He travels in time; that's his schtick. So any Dr can be in any time.

And the Ferris Wheel double take was pure Buffy.

On the new Dr. Who - did they keep the music? It's one of my favorite TV show themes of all time.

Frankenbuddha, as I mentioned above, it's the original theme tune, but "modernised".

At least the TARDIS noise is original.