You know some people are trying to repress memories of Fear Her. It was a traumatic experience

Well apart from being pointlessly rude, you've summarised the plot of something that you've clearly made up (whatever you are writing about, it's not what happened on screen in Fear Her).
And you want realism? This is Doctor Who you are burbling about isn't it?

First of all, it's science fantasy, remember? Within it's own rules it was quite realistic.

It wasn't the child alone, it was her fears from bad memories of her father, mixed with the abilities of the alien thing that had crashed in her street.

Since when was it not realistic that a mother would be protective of her child? A realistic and perfectly understandable, normal human response (if misguided given we're talking about Rose and the Doctor here). But that mother, unlike us, didn't know how special and heroic they are.

This thread is a crime against forums everywhere

I must admit, I've not watched Fear Her in years. I may have to take a peek this weekend to see if it's as poor as I recall.

To be fair, I remember it being a weak episode as opposed to appalling so I will take another look. I really loved the 10th Doctor and Rose and I think when you have two lead characters that you really love, it probably helps when the episode itself isn't great.

It's one of the reasons I (personally) have a soft spot for Love and Monsters, because it gives Jackie Tyler such a major role throughout the episode and actually there are some key parts of the episode that are just hilarious.

I guess the problem I have with an episode like Heaven Sent is that it's a gloomy and (I felt) rather dull episode starring a Doctor I'm not particularly keen on who was mourning a companion I was glad to see the back of. Would I have liked it more if it had been Doctor 9 or 10, mourning the likes of Rose or Donna?

I would never say Heaven Sent was a poor episode because I think in terms of acting, writing and production values it was clearly of the highest standards.

I simply didn't enjoy it. In many ways it demonstrated everything that (for me) is wrong with Doctor Who at the moment - grey, funless and lacking sympathetic characters. But then I've had problems with the lead characters in Who since Moffat took over.

Fear Her just seems to get worse every time i think about the episode. it probably isn't as woeful as i think it is, but i know it is definitely a bad story.

No you don't. You think it is, and that's fine. I happen to hold a different point of view and think it's an OK story.

You can't know something which is only an opinion and not a fact.

Well some could say that this is the best episode ever in the show or it deserves a 10/10. But you can analyse a story to know what the problems are where it fails and succeeds to get an idea if it is a good story etc etc

Ultimately it is opinions, some will find the problems of the episode not as bad, or find it more enjoyable, but in the end this episode has a lot of problems which for me is enough to put it into the bad category.

The concept behind Fear Her was absolutely fine, and could have been really good.
It was just really badly put over IMO, and trying to tie it in with the London Olympics (six years before the event!) was a ridiculous shoe-horned in idea that was ill-conceived to say the least, and put over cringe-makingly badly (IMO).

I must be the only one that likes Fear Her it reminded me of a fun Sarah Jane Adventure styled episode and it was just harmless filler anyway.

The concept was never the problem for me with Fear Her. The execution as you say was. For me it was poorly cast and acted, with weak SFX and direction and cringeworthy scenes throughout - not just the ending. The whole episode was lacking in every department. The episode just looks like to was thrown together without much thought (or budget) or effort.

As Mulett rightly pointed out at least Love and Monsters had some humour and a generous helping of Jacqui Tyler (who I think was the best realised female character of the RTD era after Donna).

It's strange how much tastes can differ, as Jacqui is my main problem in Love and Monsters! I love Camille Coduri in everything else I've seen her - King Ralph is a guilty favourite of mine... But it appears to me that she's phoning in the performance when she's Jacqui - I don't think there's an episode where she comes across convincingly to me.

But Fear Her - now that is terrible! I don't think I liked any of it bar the main conceit. I felt the child actress was appalling, and as a consequence thought it brought down everyone else's performances - yes, including Rose and The Doctor. I think it is the only episode I would quite happily never watch again (series two is the only box-set I just haven't had the impetus to get...)

I though she was played just right and her character was great right from the moment she delivered this line to the Doctor:

"There's a strange man in my room. Anything could happen."

Fantastic!

It was exactly the opposite for me - that line turned me off from her immediately. It was the delivery of it - can't really explain it, as it's more a feeling than any nuanced dislike. It came off cheap - but not in the brassy way that it was intended.

Just seen the Christmas Special. Absolutely shit. Please RTD come back or at least return the show to how it was when it was genuinely popular rather than the dull brain challenging episodes now around. And by how Doctor who rarely wins popular voted awards compared to pre 2010 should be a big warning

We'd need a necromancer and Doris Stokes.

No... wait!!!

Aww, does you want a tiny, ickle plaster to put on your 'over-worked' splodge of grey matter to make it all better?

Sometimes there are posts so full of dopey nonsense that reveal much about the poster... Firstly, we we have basdfg admitting that modern day Doctor Who is far too challenging for his brain.
Also, his nuanced and detailed critique of the Christmas episode - "absolutely shit" - shows how far reaching and insightful is his understanding of Doctor Who.

I don't know if I'm reading into it a little too much, but I think this person really hates Moffat.

Lol, are you having a laugh?

Both RTD and Moffat have there strengths and weaknesses as writers, but dull brain challenging episodes? What the ....

Dude, I think your data-core is corrupted. Time for a positronic upgrade.

The crime of Fear Her is that it's aimed at the kids. The other two stories are so grand yet so terrible it makes the former look simply mediocre in comparison.

A fair point but I'd argue there is more than one crime associated with Fear Her!

For me it's not so much the scale of the story as my joint favourite RTD story is Midnight - pretty much the most confined DW story ever (although there is a Hartnell one set solely in the Tardis I saw once) but how it is executed. For me Fear Her was a weak story poorly executed across the board (acting, FX, casting, direction etc.).

I do think that it is also valid to argue that the more potential a story has then the more disappointing it is if not done well. Oddly enough the Phantom Menace was mentioned at work today - best example of so much potential never realised that I can think of! Last of the Time Lords falls easily into this category, Death in Heaven less so as it had several redeeming features, not least the acting, which raises it in my eyes in comparison.

The acting was pretty bad I felt. Fear Her didn't have any more bad acting than a typical RTD produced episode. This is why we have opinions, everyone's is different.

Just watched Seeds Of Doom and loving it - loving classic who