"I want to play.Lets have some fun..."

Bloody terrified me for weeks that one did. Nearly as bad as the Twlight Zone one.

I'm looking forward to every episode. I can hardly wait

I'd be willing to lay odds on the 'Commandant's Office' scene from The Impossible Astronaut playing a part in the next episode. Although that really has little to do with not looking forward to any episodes, so I'll shut up now.

I'm also not looking forward to that episode, although for the different reason that I don't think Mark Gattiss is a very good writer and I haven't enjoyed any of his previous episodes.

To be honest the second part of the season sounds like a damp squid so far. Moffatt's hardly writing any of it, there are no two parters; it sounds terribly like it will be a half season of 'curse of the Black Spots' - standalone stories that just pay lip service to the ongoing 'sub-plots' with a tacked-on 'remember you're supposed to be thinking about this' scene.

Really, sub-plots should evolve alongside the main narrative but in this series they haven't done that. They've just repeated a scene (Madame Kovarian's face, the pregnany scan) and basically kept you waiting for the next Steven moffatt episode to explain it. That isn't a sub-plot. I was a little disappointed with it all; I thought we were going to get a really involved, intricately plotted season.

If i'd gone into the series expecting the usual standalone stories, plus a recurring meme, familiar to 'NuWho' then I would have been satisfied but we were kind of led up the garden path and told this season was going to be linked like never before with a proper ongoing story. I guess you shoudln't listen to the hype eh?

The good news is that because I now have lower expectations I may be pleasantly surprised byt the second half.

Wasn't that the Steven King written episode?

I enjoyed that one.

I'm the same. A Mark Gatiss story has yet to work for me, I'm afraid



Surprised to see people worried about the portrayal of Nazis. I sometime wonder if people want to be offended.

I'm not looking forward to the Nazi one because I'm not all that thrilled about World War II stories. However, I liked Victory of the Daleks, so I'm trying to keep an open mind.

I have no desire to be offended, and very rarely find myself taking offence. However, I do love the show, want to see it done well, and have concerns that a Nazi story might raise problems, which I hope it doesn't.

I'm all for doctor who taking risks, and I find the idea of the show "offending" me fairly derisable, but I'd like to see it done well rather than in a way that I don't enjoy.

With a title like:



I'm not sure it's going to be too heavy on historical accuracies, though!

I would find it odd if the next half of the series were to consist of stand alone stories with the fate of Melody taking a back seat.

I don't see how Amy and Rory could just be immersed in various adventures as "normal" when their baby had been kidnapped. It's not feasible.

Even though we know who Melody is, the fact is, to Amy she is just a baby now.

I hope it's dealt with in a believable way.

lol, no probably not. I'd prefer Inglourious Basterds to Hellboy though...

I still remember the satisfaction of watching The Unquiet Dead. Three weeks in, everything looking ok so far, then this one really relaxed me to stop worrying. This really was going to be proper Doctor Who. Well, I started relaxing after coming out from behind the sofa. Scary opening.

But I also liked Victory and Lantern had plenty of good stuff. So it's probably just me.

This. I don't know how they're going to handle it. Fingers crossed for the kind of cliff hanger that I like - wrap it up in the first scenes of the next episode and move on!

edit: but of course that's tricky too. They're not going to be able to battle Nazis and also feed and change a baby. confused icon.

Believablity in this storyline long ago departed i'm afraid. Amy went instantly from not knowing she was pregnant to giving birth in a horribly traumatic way and suddenly she's totally ready for motherhood, protective of the child, it's the most important thign in the world to her etc. 5 minutes ago she didnt know she was pregant!

She had no experience of pregancy (sad in itself), no chance whatsoever to form a motherly bond or attachment to the child as it grew inside her. Then suddenly, in extremely stressfull circumstances, she awakes in a strange room, out of the blue, with a scary woman looming over her, something kicking and fightign its way out of her womb, she's in intense pain and disorientation, with no one she knows or loves or trusts around her to help. She gives birth, in an unknown corner of the Universe, alone... she hadn't even known she was pregnant and this thing just came out of her... Half an hour later she's showing hubby their new baby girl and cooing over it and isn't it great and wonderful? And shes' totally ready for, and embracing of, motherhood.

NO.

It is absurd that she cold be anything other than utterly traumatized from such an expreience and in a state of emotional devastation. It wouldn't be at all surprising and you would have total sympathy if she couldn't even bear to look at that child, let alone be all smiles suddenly.

You want believability from this storyline?

As for, 'they couldn't possibly break off to have unrelated, standalone adventures'... wanna bet?

I would have thought the doctor would have been very keen to go look for that mysterious child who was wandering alone and vunerable somewhere at the end of Day of the Moon. Even without the humanist characteristics the character is known to have it is impossible that someone with the doctor's curious personality would be content to just shrug his shoulders and forget about it all without any explanation. And yet, that is, incredibly, exactly what he does! He says (exact quote):

"So, it's all about this little girl, who was she? Or, we could just go off and have some adventures..."

Which they then proceed to do. Totally ridiculous, but the next Steven Moffatt episode is five episodes away and so they shamelessly say to us "have some filler" for the next few weeks.

Is all of the above 'feasible'?

Beleive me, you will get standalone episodes, whether that is credible or appropriate or not.

I fear you are right, for the reasons you state.

I don't think the mixture of stand alone and story arc episodes works very well, or it doesn't for this story arc, anyway. (Though I have enjoyed the episodes so far).

I would point out that Amy had a month, didn't she, to bond with the baby before she was rescued?

Poke at anything deep enough, and you will find holes in believability, even with something like the Wire. And especially with something like Doctor Who. Things like Amy bonding quickly with her child doesn't bother me, as you can explain it away as a subconscious feeling she had when she was a ganger, or the trauma of being captured means she bonds strongly with her baby, or whatever. But when characters do stupid things, that is more irritating.

Not that I've seen anything so far like that that has stood out for me and ruined an episode. Didn't Steven Moffat say that the most difficult thing when writing for Doctor Who is answering the question 'Why don't they just use the TARDIS?'. I haven't noticed anything glaring in that respect yet.

With a name like "Let's Kill Hitler", I'm not to sure on this...



Also, the title of that episode has apparently officially been revealed as being called "Night Terrors"

I totally agree. Including the part about having enjoyed the episodes, mostly.

I agree with you, I don't mean to sound too harsh but my post was kind of a convoluted way of saying what you said: you cant scratch too deeply with Doctor Who and you can't assume that somethign can't be done because it doesn't make sense, because Doctor Who is inherantly absurd, just by dint of being melodrama before you even get to all the fantasy stuff. A small child could demolish the format of Doctor Who.

I just fell for the hype a little that this year would be less standalone than the previous near 50 years of Doctor Who seasons and so have been a little disappointed, because really, it's been a pretty ineffectual stab at having a more linked storyline. A failed experiment I guess, demonstrating that Doctor Who will always be mostly standalone as long as it's mainstream telly. But as I expect that now for the second half of the season I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

I definitely agree with a lot of what you have said. I actually felt that last year had a great balance of story arc and standalone, although I know that not everyone thinks that, and of course Series 6 isn't over yet. And again to agree with you, that's not to say I haven't enjoyed it!

Going back at watching Curse of the Black Spot, I actually think it's a really great episode. A good villain, funny lines, and so on. But it was a real jolt to go from a two-parter that was almost all about the ongoing story, to an episode that had little to nothing to do with it. And I don't think it's a 'problem' that can be fixed, just because so many people want different things. I would love to have all story arc episodes, but somehow my favourite episode is Vincent and the Doctor!

No that's not me !

But do you want a pictureI'm the one on the left

I'm not looking forward to the one where the Doctor runs out of regenerations

(EDIT: Not me, my naughty cat typed that. I've shut her in the kitchen now.)

I knew when I read the thread title you were gonna say Dolls Rostaria. I can see why they cause people trauma.

Personally I'm not looking forward to the Hitler one. Not cos I'm terrified but because I find anything to do with war tedious and dull. I hope they pull it off somehow

You cruel thing!!!!!!!

Seriously, I'm dreading the dolls one and the clown one (I'm severely coulrophobic).

Not offended, but it's all in how it's handled, as it's not just 'history' for a lot of older people. It's fine used as dramatic background, and it worked brilliantly in The EmptyChild/Doctor Dances and in Torchwood when they met the real Captain Jack, because it was used as a backdrop for everyday life rather than using specific real people and you can't get more real than Hitler. For me one of the weakest and least believable things (allowing for it being Who therefore not straight historical) last year was the portrayal of Churchill, which I thought was pretty bad.

Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see what they do, as we don't really have any idea what theye're going to do.