I know the plays name had nothing to do with Shakespeare's son! It was just a bit of fun word play in the episode but it was a nod to the viewer that Shakespeare may now go off and write Hamlet. Chronologically speaking, it's the correct assumption as Hamlet was supposedly first performed in 1600.

As for Thomas Kyd's version, the play is lost and no one really knows what bits Shakspeare may or may not have used. Therefore, i can't see any problems with this episode of Doctor Who utilising lines such as 'To be or not to be .... ooh thats good. I might use that' as there is no evidence that these lines where ever used in any play before, let alone Kyd's version.

Unless i am missing your point entirely.

thanks for the warm welcome

ok, i hated it because of all these reasons:
the crap witches (like something off cbeebees)
the rubbish storyline,
the bigging up shakespeare feel to the whole episode(i thought the show was meant to be about the doctor)
the doctor and martha lying on the bed scene
martha in general,
it just held nothing of interest to me .... :sleep:

oh,and next weeks look rubbish as well

Those are all fair points - perhaps I'm getting too caught up in the whole 'historical accuracy' thing.

I suppose my problem is that the puns and jokes all seemed a bit lame and obvious - plus it's all been done already, much better, in 'Shakespeare in Love'. It would have been nice to see a refreshing take on things, rather than rehashing a load of fairly obvious 6th-form jokes.

Don't get me wrong, I watch Doctor Who to be entertained, not for a history lesson, but it's hard to be entertained when you're cringing all the time. This is not an anti-DW rant by the way, I just didn't like this episode.

I think it was awesome!

To be honest, neither did I. It was poor compared to the brilliant Unquiet Dead from series 1. Whilst i thought the production values were ridiculously high for this type of show, i thought it was trying to hard to impress and could have done with slowing down a bit and just doing a bit less. Something didn't feel right about the whole thing and i imagine those working on it would probably wanted a bit more time to do the whole thing justice.

One thing i didn't have a problem with though is the whole historical context. I'm no Shakespeare expert but as far as i was concerned they got all that spot on.

If it's so rubbish: why bother watching it?!

My favourite line of the night too, although there was so many good lines in this it made it a difficult choice!

This week's episode was top-notch on every level - and a special mention for how gorgeous it looked too. Next week's looks equally stunning from the clips we've seen - it looks like the Mill have done the impossible and improved on their already impressive SFX for series three.

I agree, the witches were like something from CBBC. Their laugh reminded me of Hansel and Gretal.

I knew there was a line here, and then:


Here it is!

Really disappointed with both episodes of series 3 so far, really hoping it will get better. Not sure if it's due to a lack of any really scary badies or classic enemies so far but I've been bored after 15 minutes of each episode and that's not a good sign for any Whovian. Let's hope things pick up with the 2 part Dalek episode due soon.

i liked it

I loved it i really did series 3 is shaping up to be better than 2 and far better than 1

enjoyed the episode voted very good

It is uncanny how many "new" members are teaming up and agreeing on some quite contentious points!

Sorry folks but it was rubbish.It was like a CBBC science fiction drama.So childish,I expected the fart jokes to return.No tension,the pace was too quick(as a result of cramming a whole story into one episode)and teh acting (othe rthan tha the two leads)was poor.

Oh well back to New earth next week! For a change!

One of the best episodes to date, I think.
My my, all these people wanting total realism. I'm sure we aren't too far away from people complaining about the Doctor time travelling as it is 'unbelievable'. The show, as someone rightly pointed out: entertainment. Not a documentary.

What a coincidence, so is your spelling!

I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending, no matter how brilliant the Special effects were.

I'm still definately watching though. Thats the good thing about the show. It changes every week, so there's no such thing as a last chance! Plus I know for a FACT that the outstanding episodes are to come.

Not relevant, this is not real life. Its ok he mentioned her so far, but now he should shut up about it and entertain us, not moan moan moan.

Perhaps they are scary when you are 8?

Hi all first post, been lurking a while. Watched it with my four year old neice last night and she was terrified of the witches, but loved it all the same! I thought it was excellent, production values were sky high, roll on the rest of the series and congratulations to all for last night.

People seem to be missing the point here . Dr Who is back on tv because they have re-invented family entertainment. This show is always going to be geared towards kids as well and will therefore have to strike a precarious balance. As an adult you are going to have to accept that on the face of it it is going to be a bit juvenile and obvious. The sub text (when there is some) is for us.

I get really nervous when older fans start trying to push the agenda for the show as we then start to lose the joy and innocence of Dr Who and end up with tripe like Torchwood.

I personally didn't think much of this episode.Yes the back drops and sets were stunning but the whole episode for me was just too childish with a fear factor of 0.The witches were like something out of panto and for the Tardis to land slap bang in the middle of the buisy main street and no-one batt an eyelid was just too unbelievable for my liking especially for those times,Surely there would have been absolute hysteria and the Doctor and Martha would have been set upon and been accused of being some kind of Warlock and witch themselves (Brain of Morbius got it right in that respect).
If they are going to have stories where they go back in time the least they can do is approach it realisticly.I voted average for this episode and that was only because of the beautifull sets. Very Dissapointed.

I enjoyed it. Maybe a bit too many jokes on Shakespeare`s words but not enough to really seriously irritate me. What I particularly liked about the last two episodes is that the Doctor is centre-stage (excuse the pun!) again and not playing second-fiddle to his assistant. I hope it continues like this, I like this more serious-minded Doctor.
Last edited by geraniums : 08-04-2007 at 15:24

Great fun. Voted it 4/5 in poll. One of the most engaging so far. Last week's was thoroughly enjoyable, too, so we have had 2 memorable stories on the trot.

Series 3 is shaping up well so far. Far less of the "universe about to be destroyed" stuff than in previous years (so far), therefore far less pompous.

chuff.x.

Sorry,this is off topic but people were talking about it on earlier pages;
Did it say in the first few episodes of the first new series that it was in 2005?
because if not, it could easily be that the first couple were set in 2004, and then after Rose had disappeared for a year it could've then been 2005..