Dr Who… Awesome News If You're A Fan

Dr Who… Awesome News If You're A Fan

Author
Discussion

OldandGrumpy

2,681 posts

241 months

Tuesday 7th October 2014
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When it first launched it was excellent science fiction. Time travel, dimensional control, cybernetics, directed evolution, mutation, all mind expanding tools used to explore alternative futures., the nature of being alien, war, politics and civilisation. It had great characters and was well written.

Last Saturday was painful to watch.

Shuttles on the moon
The moon a giant organism that has suddenly increased in mass without consuming anything
It's one of a kind, but somehow gets impregnated
Then it lays an egg as large at itself without consuming anything to build the mass
Then it flaps it's wings and flys away in a vacuum

Drivel

stephen300o

15,464 posts

228 months

Tuesday 7th October 2014
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It's an entertainment show. It is science fiction, not science fact. Nothing has to make sense at all. Silly sods.

Morningside

24,110 posts

229 months

Tuesday 7th October 2014
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Next week: Saturn is made of cream cheese.

OldandGrumpy

2,681 posts

241 months

Tuesday 7th October 2014
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The only silly sods about are the script writers. Pathetic!

stephen300o

15,464 posts

228 months

Tuesday 7th October 2014
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ash73 said:
stephen300o said:
It's an entertainment show. It is science fiction, not science fact. Nothing has to make sense at all. Silly sods.
Don't be daft, credible science fiction must have some basis in reality that's consistent with the laws of nature.
Yeah like things being smaller inside than out.

Tuna

19,930 posts

284 months

Wednesday 8th October 2014
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If you break the laws of physics without any consistency, you basically end up waving a great big "Get out of Jail Free" card in your viewers/readers faces. Once you've established that there are no rules at all, then every cliff hanger and dramatic situation can be waved away with some random thing happening. It kills every plot dead.

Good science fiction doesn't mind imagining the impossible - so long as there are some constraints for the characters to fight against.

In the Doctor's case the sonic screwdriver has been a big problem as it can apparently unlock, hack, rebuild, reprogram just about any gizmo he comes up against. Watch the hoops the writers jump through to prevent it from being the easy way out.

Star Trek actually works quite hard to establish a known science around the series, and has a science advisor with the job of 'keeping it real' so that you don't end up feeling that the writers are just making it up as they go along. Last week's episode could have done with that - there are a bunch of credible reasons for there being earth-like gravity where they landed, and the final peril could have made more sense without breaking the peril or the conclusion. None of it needs big explanations, just a bit of care not to knock people out of their willing suspension of disbelief.

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

261 months

Wednesday 8th October 2014
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Tuna said:
Star Trek actually works quite hard to establish a known science around the series, and has a science advisor with the job of 'keeping it real' so that you don't end up feeling that the writers are just making it up as they go along.
+1

A good example being the 'Heisenburg compensators'. Totally preposterous in themselves but a way of saying 'yes we know transporters wouldn't work but we haven't strayed totally into fantasy'.

Bullett

10,886 posts

184 months

Wednesday 8th October 2014
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They still managed to use dilithium crystals and technobabble every week though.

gpo746

3,397 posts

130 months

Wednesday 8th October 2014
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FWIW
The HOrror CHannel look to be showing Tom Baker onwards episodes of DR Who starting next week
Probably cut to hell but for you nostalgia fans out there.................
Plus they showed a Sylvester McCoy snippet - perhaps Bertie Basset will appear !!
And the brigadier is bound to pop up !

simonrockman

6,852 posts

255 months

Thursday 9th October 2014
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the sonic Screwdriver needs to go the way of K9. He/it too made solutions too easy.

Morningside

24,110 posts

229 months

Thursday 9th October 2014
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simonrockman said:
the sonic Screwdriver needs to go the way of K9. He/it too made solutions too easy.
Yes Master!

vxr8mate

1,655 posts

189 months

Friday 10th October 2014
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I think comparing ST to DW is the typical apples and oranges argument.

Agreed ST was always good at explaining its theories but was often spoiled by such banal and over-complex writing which was also used to get them out of a predicament (especially Voyager).

Whereas DW has always been more about the drama and less about the facts and is written to attract a younger audience.

Sway

26,276 posts

194 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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Yummy.

Mutley

3,178 posts

259 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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Not bad so far.

gpo746

3,397 posts

130 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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like a car crash this one

Langweilig

4,326 posts

211 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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One of the better episodes. Frank Skinner was very good.

marshalla

15,902 posts

201 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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Skinner surprisingly good.

Anti-military undercurrent again.

Liked the sonic being disabled and the Tardis being put off limits, appreciated the new voice of "The Book" putting in an appearance, the nod to Red Dwarf, and the Tom Baker impersonation wasn't bad.

7/10 getting better.

Teppic

7,354 posts

257 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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IMO that was easily the best episode of the series so far.

FourWheelDrift

88,523 posts

284 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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marshalla said:
Liked the sonic being disabled and the Tardis being put off limits, appreciated the new voice of "The Book" putting in an appearance, the nod to Red Dwarf, and the Tom Baker impersonation wasn't bad.
"Are you my Mummy?"

Series 1 (Ecclestone), episodes "The Empty Child" & "The Doctor Dances".

MartG

20,678 posts

204 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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Much better than last week - no moon-sized plot holes