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I think the problem is that the episodes are a little too short. They're trying to cram too much in to 45 minutes. So the script suffers.

I liked the new Daleks, I think they're a good nod back to the Tom Baker ones (it was the Tom Baker Daleks that were Smartie cupcakes wasn't it?)

Best bit though EVER! "Would you like a nice cup of tea?" I've been waiting years to hear a Dalek ask the Doctor if he wants a cuppa! :)

But yeah, real mixed bag. Potentially a good episode, but it WAS let down by a rushed plot either too big for one episode, or too small and stretched - I can't decide which yet.

It's odd... Doctor Who was one of those fantastic sci-fi shows that "spanned". There was something uniquely British about the three or four episode stories that left you on a cliff hanger at the end of each part. You couldn't wait for next Saturday to see what happened.

Oddly, we've now got Dr Star Trek Who. Each episode is pretty much a self contained "opening mystery, work for resolution, clever idea, win" pattern Star Trek always fell into.

Conversely, the Americans have taken on board our long episode stories and made them into the latest hits (Lost, 24, lots of others :p ). So Dr Who is like 70's/80's American Sci-Fi now, but the Americans are creating series which have more in common with 60's/70's/80's Dr Who.

Having said that, if you watch classic Dr Who, the episodes tend to be the actors wandering aimlessly around for most of the episode in cardboard corridors searching for something obscure and hiding around corners "waiting for the coast to be clear". At least the new Who tends to be quite action packed :)
 
Slayed 3 was rubbish I was bored, it was just done to put in the new cabel cars from Alton (I mean Daleks).

I really do not like them and I do not think it was needed to change them.
 
^Unless Russel T had rights on them as well as the Tardis/Screwdriver/Anything else that has been changed so far in this series...

I thought they were more Power Rangers than Skittles personally...
 
All this stuff has been changed to move on from Tennant to be fair - I think it's working personally.

The Daleks didn't need to have such an alteration, but it fits in perfectly with the storyline and is a fab nod to the old series'.

I just want Smith to knock some of them over with a ball at some point - I will LOL excessively! :lol:
 
For me...

Matt Smith... the jury is still out. I can't seem to decide whether he is playing the doctor very well or whether he just annoys the hell out of me (which is probably the public school boy vibe he seems to have going on)... It seems to flit between the two at the moment (for me).

New Daleks... simply put NO. The colour scheme thing... This is NOT power rangers, that was my first reaction. It seems that they are possibly going for a similar marketing scthick though... Which is your favourite colour? etc. Even to the point that the central Dalek was white... (those of you who remember them will also remember that the White Ranger became the leader). to me, colours are indicative of personalities and moods, something that is apparently what makes Daleks weaker....? I thought these were an even more formiddable version of the daleks? The Doctor certainly seems more worried by them then ever before... Essentially, they have made them bigger and stronger but, as a race they are weaker (IF they do turn out to have personalities)... I am aware that Pure Dalek DNA etc etc and a continuity with their 1960s counterparts has brought about the return of the colour, but for me, it still doesn't sway it into the me liking them. I prefered the much darker undertones they had in more recent series and what they had evolved too...

Also, What on earth is going on with the shape of them too, it looks like they have a fridge strapped onto their back, it all bulges out and just looks horrid. Did not like them at all! Nevertheless, take away that horrible colour scheming and I could probably forgive the rest.

In terms of the storylines... I agree with Phil. They seem to be cramming in as much as possible which makes it almost harder to follow, to a degree. I did note how the last two episodes have closed on the same visual of that "rip". This seems to lead into the ongoing storyline thing... Potential some rips in the fabric of time (again?)
Particularly this recent episode, how did they managed to apply the technology to put the airbubble around the spitfire within 20 seconds and get it up to space... I didn't think that worked...

The music is growing on me, although I still think it pales in comparison to the version of the theme used in Series 4...

Overall, the show is growing, the effects are getting really good and it is clear that the budget being given to the show and therefore the show of support that the Beeb are giving it as one of their bigger ratings pullers is a great thing.
 
The cracks in the wall is basically this series equivalent of 'Bad Wolf'.

The new Daleks are ****. They've just made themselves more comedic and not as threatening. Now it's just brightly coloured, plastic looking things rolling around. I also dislike the new shape of them as it makes it look like they've been stretched out backwards like when you get a distorted image.
I appreciate that they are trying to give nods and references to the old original Doctor Who episodes but that was a bit too far. Still, I assume we'll just have to get used to them. We haven't seen what these new Daleks can do yet. I assume they can still float up stairs now that they're back to how they used to be and a 'pure race' as the floating was something RTD introduced?

I'm slowly getting used to Matt as the Doctor. But if you look back at all the episodes of the show ever done the Doctor seems to have gone from some brilliant scientist who knows loads and you can trust, to some bumbling crazy young man, who gets outsmarted by his ginger companion (section of episode 2 with the buttons). I guess that's just how the show has developed though and that's what the audiences want now.

I thought the first half of the second episode was brilliant. Those smilers were actually really cool and creepy. Shame they couldn't make a whole episode about them in a similar style, as here they just seemed to be there for the first bit of the episode before they started on the whole 'space whale' thing.

Looking forward to the next episode though. Mainly because I loved Blink. Was really clever and showed that Doctor Who can actually be quite scary. I'm just worried if they're going to live up to it though. Now that the military are involved in the whole 'weeping angels' thing I fear for the worst. How many things have done sequels and involved the military or army to make things seem bigger and failed? Loads.

Still I'll carry on watching. The series is slowly growing and developing so we can only hope something will crop up soon that will be quite special. :)
 
Neal said:
If they are original Daleks then flying should be impossible for them :p
Click to expand...

Daleks first flew in in the Sylvester McCoy days. He ran upstairs to escape them, and they floated up to get him and Ace. So it's not a RTD thing :)

I like the new Daleks though, but I much preferred the older Daleks to RTD's slimline ones. I don't care about colours - but in my big book of Daleks (I do, honestly have one) - they use colour coding to assign tasks. While there's no Dalek reason one should be better than another, they are randomly assigned a role and just get on with it. The colours do indeed indicate potential Dalek Red shirts :lol:
 
New Daleks... simply put NO. The colour scheme thing... This is NOT power rangers, that was my first reaction. It seems that they are possibly going for a similar marketing scthick though... Which is your favourite colour? etc. Even to the point that the central Dalek was white... (those of you who remember them will also remember that the White Ranger became the leader).
Click to expand...
Seen this yet :lol:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sXpInWFVVo[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sXpInWFVVo
 
Gazza said:
New Daleks... simply put NO. The colour scheme thing... This is NOT power rangers, that was my first reaction. It seems that they are possibly going for a similar marketing scthick though... Which is your favourite colour? etc. Even to the point that the central Dalek was white... (those of you who remember them will also remember that the White Ranger became the leader).
Click to expand...
Seen this yet :lol:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sXpInWFVVo[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sXpInWFVVo
Click to expand...

Almost dieing of laughter at my desk. Cheers Gazza
 
Awww. I was about to post that Gazza. That's hilarious though. :lol: Was only a matter of time before someone did it.
 
Still making me chuckle too...

Glad to know at least a few people in this country are thinking the exact same thing...
 
The great space dustbin. Now in a variety of shiny new colours! :lol:

I have mixed feelings about the new episodes. The first episode of the season was fantastic. The second and third episodes had great ideas, but just seem to have been a bit too disjointed for some reason - I've come away from both with a feeling of "is that it", and I'm not sure why. It's almost as if there are too many loose ends that haven't been addressed properly.

I hope these are just teething problems and that things will improve as the series goes on and everyone (writers and production staff included) settles into their roles. Matt and Karen have so much potential, and I really hope it doesn't go to waste.
 
But remember were going through that whole introduction period of a new Doctor where everything has to be explained.
 
I know that, but something still doesn't quite feel right, and I can't quite put my finger on it. The first seasons of Eccleston and Tennant's runs didn't bug me like this, so it's definitely something about this particular series.

The plot lines just don't feel quite right, somehow, as if they jump around too much and don't quite flow properly. Like I said, I can't quite decide what's bugging me so much, which annoys me all the more.
 
^It's in the writing.

As you say, there have been some great concepts in the episodes.

Sometimes these apply to the plot, and sometimes to the characters.

However the episode as a whole has to be written such that all these ideas are woven together into a coherent script, and THAT'S where it's gone wrong - it leaves you with a feeling of "I can see everything that's happening but something's not quite right".

The best example so far is Ep. 2 - fantastic ideas in there (Smilers, Winders, Space Whale, future UK, moral dilemmas, future incarnation of the Queen, said Queen unknowingly controlling herself, Doctor misreading it etc). However all of these ideas just weren't stitched together properly.

Plus there were so many ideas that they weren't fully developed (the Smilers being the best example), and don't get given the time they need to be fully realised.

Ep. 3 I thought just looked rushed - not too many ideas, but they were badly handled, with plot holes aplenty.

Ep. 4 looks RAMMED with stuff from the preview - I hope they've not done it again...
 
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