Which Who Stories Have you seen lately?

The Lodger

What a load of tosh. After Vincent and the Doctor this is a real come down, back to exactly what to expect from NuWho. I can't even be bothered to think what more I can say about it. It's just dull filler at best, and excruciating shite, at worst. 1/10

Trust me, The Lodger seems so much better if you watch the first 2 1/2 episodes of Logoboris first.

iank wrote:Trust me, The Lodger seems so much better if you watch the first 2 1/2 episodes of Logoboris first.

I might put that to the test during my upcoming re-watch of Logopolis, and see how it fares.

I haven't seen The Lodger since 2010. I seem to remember enjoying it at the time although I have never been a fan of James Corden.

iank wrote:Trust me, The Lodger seems so much better if you watch the first 2 1/2 episodes of Logoboris first.

Well there's always Karen, I suppose,

Hmmm..... Missus not back until tonight. No work until Wednesday.... I think I'll watch the NuWho S5 finale today. Might as well get it out the way, then I can start classic S14 tomorrow.

Ronnie wrote:Hmmm..... Missus not back until tonight. No work until Wednesday.... I think I'll watch the NuWho S5 finale today. Might as well get it out the way, then I can start classic S14 tomorrow.

I wondered why I couldn't remember much about The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.... It's because it's absolute shite.....
This is the point where Moffat lost it. The smoke and mirrors nonsense begins here....
Maybe I've just watched too much NuWho in too short a time, because I really couldn't get remotely interested in this one at all. I should've known it would be shit as soon as I clapped eyes on fucking River Song, and I'm so over all the Amy and Rory nonsense....
Within 2 episodes Matt Smith has gone from Troughton-esque to Tennant.2.... It's just a piss-poor greatest hits finale. Tedious, annoying rubbish. Makes Parting of the Ways look well written.
1/10.

Time I got back to classic who. S14 here I come.

Ronnie wrote:Time I got back to classic who. S14 here I come.

The Masque of Mandragora

Maybe it's an after effect of watching too much NuWho, but I enjoyed this rather more than I was expecting, considering I've always considered it the weakest of the Hinchcliffe era.
Granted, it's never going to be a massive favourite of mine, but I didn't get the sense of it dragging too much this time round. Maybe a bit in the latter half, but overall the sparkling script and the winning chemical formula of Tom and Liz, see it through.
6.5/10

Ronnie wrote:I wondered why I couldn't remember much about The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.... It's because it's absolute shite.....
This is the point where Moffat lost it. The smoke and mirrors nonsense begins here....
Maybe I've just watched too much NuWho in too short a time, because I really couldn't get remotely interested in this one at all. I should've known it would be shit as soon as I clapped eyes on fucking River Song, and I'm so over all the Amy and Rory nonsense....
Within 2 episodes Matt Smith has gone from Troughton-esque to Tennant.2.... It's just a piss-poor greatest hits finale. Tedious, annoying rubbish. Makes Parting of the Ways look well written.
1/10.

Watching at the time, I remember I enjoyed the pace of it. I liked its fanwank indulgences, I even liked the River-Amy-Rory ensemble (before it got *really* annoying the next year).

But the ending where Amy just remembers the Doctor back never made any bloody sense to me, and was one of the most tonally jarring moments in the Moffat era.

I wanted to get behind the praise and the excitement for what's ahead, but something just didn't feel right about that ending, and something felt hollow. Certainly in hindsight it was just an overindulgent fanwank mess with some ideas in there that could've been a fun story on their own, but ended up lumped in the hodge podge. And it was certainly an omen of the worst ahead.

Last story I watched was The Invasion of Time.

Strangely I've often thought of it as a shoddy, limp, lethargic story, but watching it this time I found myself actually enjoying it as an arresting, delightful watch, mainly I think because of how the cast do a lot with their characters, and how the writers are clearly having fun making some unplugged jazz here. It got quite a few genuine laughs from me, and it was nice to see the Sontarans up for a ruck with the scenery again, K9 was quite kick-ass here, and it did feel like there were high stakes in the end.

However, there was one moment at the end that really made me want to punch the screen, where after the Doctor kills Stor, Leela hears what sounds like the footsteps of the last Sontaran stomping into the workshop and prepares to ambush it, only for it to turn out to be the Doctor, and it just ends.... and oh I guess the writers forgot about the third Sontaran. Well if the writers did such a shoddy job even remembering the details of their climax and left it half-finished, then I can't really trust the writers know what they're doing and I feel pretty pissed off that I bothered to care and invest because I really wanted to. How can I care about stakes and odds that the writers are just going to forget about and let fall by the wayside?

(unless of course the D-Mat gun is actually meant to erase Stor from history and undo the invasion he led, but that's never really made lucid)

I think Leela really makes this one very watchable and is very much a protagonist in her own right in a lot of this, especially her double act with Rodan. Overall though I still think she would've been better being paired off with Cordo in The Sunmakers than Andred here.

The Hand of Fear

A rewatch of this story has done very little to change my previous perceptions of it. Hot on the heels of 'Masque', which although I admittedly enjoyed more than I thought; so far S14 is well down on the quality of the previous season in my estimation. But it's still early days....
I still feel that the first two eps of Hand are fine. Not exceptional, but all good stuff. It just seems to go downhill from the moment Eldrad arrives on scene. It's hard not to feel a sense of anti-climax. Episode 3, and much of 4 just seem to meander along, and then the 'male' version of Eldrad is almost literally a 3rd rate Omega.
Kudos must go once again to the understated leaving scene of Sarah. Very nicely done. Not quite as poignant as Jo Grant's departure, but suitably different and not feeling 'lacking' in any way. Will NuWho ever be able to do subtlety like this? I doubt it.
That aside though, it has to be said that this story far away from being any great classic. I can only give it 6/10.

The Deadly Assassin

I do like this story, and it has some great scenes, particularly in the matrix... But the way timelord society is portrayed has always grated on me a bit. To see this mysterious and powerful race reduced to a far too humanistic political hierarchy of doddering old men, like some version of the sleepy old fuckers in the House of Lords, really makes them seem rather banal.
Having said that, it has some really dramatic stuff in it, and the concept of the matrix is a great idea. I think bringing back the Master was always going to be difficult after Delgado’s iconic portrayal, but they definitely did it in the best possible way, and it works. Peter Pratt puts in a solid performance, which would later be equally matched by Geoffrey Beevers.
Despite my reservations about the time lords, this story is a definite step up from the previous two stories, but for me this is still not up to the best standards of S13 yet. Nevertheless, I’d give it 8/10.

The Face of Evil.

Not bad, but again nothing that special. Nice introduction for a great companion, but it feels strangely like a premonition of S15 or 16, somehow. Some nice bits of dialogue here and there but the overall plot feels rather underdeveloped.
Watchable and not too overlong, but just lacks that certain je ne sais quoi. 6/10.

Robots of Death

Same writer, but a much superior story. Tighter plot, good set of characters, and a convincing 'race' of robots, with a unique and memorable design.
Leela is already coming into her own as a companion, and is a good fit with the Doctor. Great to see a companion that's entirely different from what the show had for a long time.
It's about time this season started to catch up with the overall quality of the previous season. 9/10

State of Decay. Still a treasure.

State of decay is a very good one I quite enjoy warriors gate too

Talons of Weng Chiang

It's always been a tussle between this story and Robots of Death for my favourite of the season, and a re-watch of both has not changed that.
This time I favour Talons slightly more. It's such a great story in so many ways. Full of atmosphere, excellent performances by regular and guest cast alike, and a plot that doesn't sag over the 6 episodes.
Not quite up there with my absolute favourite TB stories, but an easy 9/10. Classic in every way.

A definite upswing towards the end of the season, but overall it's still some way behind 13, (and 12) in my affections.

Before moving onto S15 I decided to revisit the next NuWho episode from where I left off.... which happened to be A Christmas Carol...
I knew this was shit, but I’d forgotten how shit. The Christmas specials are special shit by default, but surely this saccharin rubbish is one of the worst, even by Xmas special standards.
Not impressed with Moffat does Scrooge. Away with it. O/10

I award Christmas Carol 1 just for Katherine Jenkins. The rest gets nowt IMHO.

The Moonbase (1967)

I watched this earlier this year and to be honest, I didn't enjoy it much and felt like it didn't hold up on repeat viewing so I decided to go and rewatch it again tonight to see if it was just the wrong time.

I was right about the latter and found myself enjoying it a lot more and I found the animation to be the strongest of what we've had so far.

The story itself is terrific, an nice, atmospheric base under siege tale that takes everything good about The Tenth Planet and uses it to better effect. The Cybermen are pretty good throughout and the regulars are great as usual.

3.5/5

On a side note, with the recent discussion in the Rise/Age Of Steel thread, I might give that a re-watch at some point.

As someone or other once said, you have to be in the right mood for a lot of stories I think.

'Hide'.

At this time of year,  I enjoy a good ghost story, so I thought I'd give this Series 7 haunted mansion tale a rewatch.   Unfortunately, Hide isn't really a ghost story, nor is it any good and I didn't enjoy it.
Here's why:
The episode starts almost like a simplistic, kiddy-friendly, fast-cut edit of 'The Stone Tape'. Nigel Kneale's 1972 masterpiece is even referenced in the following lines: "During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned Spam. The tins were found in 1965, bricked up in the servants' pantry, along with a number of handwritten notes. Appeals to the Ghast. For the love of God, stop screaming" (homage or rip-off?).   Unfortunately, Hide may aspire to the genius of Kneale but it actually comes across more like an episode of Scooby-Doo (not scary at all). Clara is supremely annoying, and at this stage was fast becoming the most irritating NuWho companion of all, while Jessica Raine is weak and ineffectual (I've seldom seen such a wooden performance) and the whole thing quickly descends into gooey sentimentality. As the Doctor says: "This isn't a ghost story, it's a love story"!

Horror of Fang Rock

A strong opener for S15, which works very well in continuing to convey the tone of the previous season. Personally, I don't think it's quite as good as the last couple of stories of S14, but it's certainly better than the earlier stories of S14.
It's highly atmospheric and features a good guest putting in strong performances that are matched by the leads.
A couple of minor quibbles for the effects, but that's par for the course for Dr Who, and maybe it's just a tad too heavy on talk rather than action. These really are small complaints, but it's the difference in me giving it a 9/10 score, and the 8/10 which I feel is more appropriate. But a very good start nonetheless.
I might be a little slower than usual getting through this season, owing to the time of year, but I'm looking forward to watching the rest. :-)

The Invisible Enemy

A drop in quality from the opener, but this story is still actually not that bad.
The worst thing about it is the prop of the host, which looks tremendously silly waggling about as it does. The rather silly eyebrows look a bit daft as well. But the story itself is reasonable enough, in a kind of Dr Who does 'Fantastic Voyage' kinda way. In fact, I honestly think this is better than some of those earlier S14 stories. The performances are solid, and even K9 would've been alright had it not ventured into the Tardis.... 7/10.

I actually like k9 but I think the doctor need a to solve problems with his mind so i agree with jnt having k9 stay with romana