The Pting was awfully cute to be so dangerous.
I have seen another comment suggesting the only other time Doctor Who has really gone in for a "cute but dangerous" monster design was the Daleks.
Well, if we followed the recipe...should be cake. A demon-violence-free-zone cake.
Lorne ,'Why We Fight'
Boxed Set, Vol. VI: I am not a number, I am a free thread!
A topic for the discussion of Doctor Who, Arrow, and The Flash. Beware possible invasions of iZombie, Sleepy Hollow, or pretty much any other "genre" (read: sci fi, superhero, or fantasy) show that captures our fancy. Expect adult content and discussion of the Big Gay Sex.
Marvel superheroes are discussed over at the MCU thread.
Whitefont all unaired in the U.S. ep discussion, identifying it as such, and including the show and ep title in blackfont.
Blackfont is allowed after the show has aired on the east coast.
This is NOT a general TV discussion thread.
billytea - Nov 11, 2018 4:39:23 pm PST #1166 of 2020
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Matt the Bruins fan - Nov 11, 2018 4:58:24 pm PST #1167 of 2020
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
What, no love for the Toclafane?
billytea - Nov 11, 2018 5:31:19 pm PST #1168 of 2020
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
What, no love for the Toclafane?
Probably not. I mean, how would that even work?
-t - Nov 12, 2018 4:46:20 pm PST #1169 of 2020
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I liked Demons of the Punjab. Nicely personal.
sj - Nov 12, 2018 6:55:31 pm PST #1170 of 2020
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
My DVR is refusing to tape The Flash this season. So, I just watched the two most recent episodes on the app. The newest iteration of Wells must go.
Dana - Nov 13, 2018 8:10:39 am PST #1171 of 2020
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."
Good episode of Doctor Who. Painful.
billytea - Nov 13, 2018 12:42:31 pm PST #1172 of 2020
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I liked Demons of the Punjab. Nicely personal.
Yes, I really quite liked that one. Probably my favourite of the season so far. (The other contender, for all that I don't think it's something Doctor Who can really do successfully, is Rosa. Which at this moment I mostly fault for not having Doug Judy serenading her. It would make as much sense as the time travelling Nazi, and be more enjoyable.) It's not perfect - in particular, apparently the Doctor missed Sadhu's freakin' GUN SHOT WOUND when autopsying him - but as an emotional dramatisation it worked well. (Not unrelated - one of the biggest emotional gut punches I've ever got from popular entertainment was the film Gandhi.) It may be a concern that my favourite eps are the ones not written by the showrunner.
We're now more than halfway through this season, and we've yet to have a single dead baddie. At this point I have to assume it's deliberate; not sure what the thinking is, but it's definitely a thing. Not that I'm baying for blood, but so far the Thirteenth Doctor may be the most ineffectual incarnation since the Fifth.
Final thing, about history. The aliens in this ep were almost entirely superfluous. Which I have no problem with, and (on the subject of things Doctor Who can do) I'd really like to see them lose the conviction that every ep has to have an alien or time traveller or such like. When Doctor Who began, it had twin mandates to educate kids about science and history. That didn't last long, but the pure historical adventure (where, like this, success for the crew is determined by whether they escape unscathed and without messing anything up) was a staple for the First Doctor - about a third of his adventures fit this bill. (One other was a historical but with a sci-fi villain thrown in as a plot twist - and it could be a plot twist because it hadn't been a thing in any of the previous historicals.)
The historical fell off the radar thereafter, and though there were occasional forays into Earth's past, they always had some alien menace to deal with. (The mission generally changed from escaping with their lives to protecting the past.) I think that's a shame - it's unnecessarily restrictive. (Plus, the Beeb can knock out good period drama in its sleep.) I'm thinking that's especially the case for Chibnall's tenure. A pure historical with some good emotional beats to explore feels like it's more in his wheelhouse.
Another observation concerning the historical. Doctor Who's fourth adventure, Marco Polo, went to China. Its sixth went to Mexico. In 1967 the Second Doctor had an adventure set in Tibet. That was the last time Doctor Who ever used a non-Western historical setting - until now. Eleven Doctors, 33 seasons, 51 years. One might suggest it's long overdue.
-t - Nov 13, 2018 1:36:19 pm PST #1173 of 2020
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I would forgive a lot for Doug Judy
ETA thanks for providing the show-historical context - so interesting to this pretty casual fan
billytea - Nov 13, 2018 6:57:19 pm PST #1174 of 2020
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
ETA thanks for providing the show-historical context - so interesting to this pretty casual fan
My pleasure! I am always happy to geek out about DW.
Typo Boy - Nov 18, 2018 8:33:25 pm PST #1175 of 2020
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
I have always had suspicion - not backed by evidence - that the early DW took advantage of the time and space travel to reuse old sets from whatever else was filming. BBC drama set in ancient Rome? DW sets an episode in ancient Rome. DW could reuse any set - contemporary, SciFi Fantasy. Probably not true, but ...