'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS' - Series ,7 episode 11

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Amazon_Who
Amazon_Who Posts: 1,092 Member
Are you ready for some Doctor Who? I know I am!

http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/videos/episode-10-trailer-2/

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  • Amazon_Who
    Amazon_Who Posts: 1,092 Member
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    I enjoyed it but I had a lot more trouble understanding the dialog than usual for some reason. Usually I am the one explaining things when someone doesn't understand. Anyone else have trouble?
  • loril13
    loril13 Posts: 320 Member
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    I was so hopeful after Hide that the season was finally getting good. Last night wasn't bad, but seemed disjointed.

    I did like the references to past episodes as Clara was wandering lost through the Tardis.
  • rbartlett9671
    rbartlett9671 Posts: 193 Member
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    It was good on the face of it... some great moments when Clara is lost in the TARDIS, specifically the swimming pool, the store room full of things from the many incarnations of the Doctor... plus, of course, the huge library with the Time War book that makes such a prominent mention of the Doctor... that scene made me wonder who he *really* is... it was the way Clara reacted to finding out... kinda implied he was someone key (beyond the obvious connection to him being the one to wipe everyone out)...

    ...I guess what I'm getting at is that he could actually be some major leader... like a general, for example...

    I guessed the robot brother early on.... too easy... but it pissed me off that they allegedly did it for fun... that doesn't make any sense... the brother needed help, he was in a very bad way.... so the other two brothers only gave him bionics for "fun" when it while at the same time saving his life... Confusing... and contradictory...

    The zombies didn't make any sense either. I figured they'd have something to do with the future, but not that they were Clara and the brothers. I get the burnt skin, but the red eyes and their zombie-like nature? If you get yourself burnt, as the two brothers did, you don't instantly become red-eyed bitey zombies. You just die. How was it that they suddenly and magically became zombies?

    Both these points were, IMHO, just plain bad writing.
  • Amazon_Who
    Amazon_Who Posts: 1,092 Member
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    I'm guessing because it was because it wasn't just any old fire, it was TARDIS fire.
  • AngryDiet
    AngryDiet Posts: 1,349 Member
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    It was sort of very interesting and sort of very disappointing. Both at the same time. Like a switch that's flipped back and forth very quickly. Ya know?

    On the one hand, the references were great. There was more information shared about the nature of the TARDIS than has happened before. On the other hand, the monsters were just bad. The writing, story and dialog, which was so good last week, was weak this episode.

    I get the sense that it was an episode written by a Doctor Who nerd for other Doctor Who nerds. Almost like they took fanfic and made an episode out of it despite it being fanfic.

    That's the kind of crap that's leading to tripe (edited because I forgot where I was writing this) like 50 Shades of Grey.

    So while there were aspects to the episode which were damned exciting, the overall episode ended up being a very disappointing meh. Disappointing because it had such potential. Much like The Rings of Akhaten had potential but ended up falling flat.
  • rbartlett9671
    rbartlett9671 Posts: 193 Member
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    Yeah, I kinda agree with Angry... not quite as vehemently though LOL

    The zombies were a token monster of the week... they felt as though someone planned it all out (yes, like a fan) and then said "hang on! We haven't got a monster!!" and they got thrown in at the last moment with a very weak explanation...

    A fanfic is a good way of describing it... but then, while there's a lot of crap fanfic, I've also read some excellent fanfic in my time (not Who related though)
  • CollegiateGrief
    CollegiateGrief Posts: 552 Member
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    I've been fairly disapointed with the season so far, UNTIL this episode. I adored it. I think it will end up amonst my top favorites, with Blink, Girl in the Fireplace, Vincent and the Doctor, The God Complex. I thought it was absolutely amazing.

    I LOVED Clara in this episode. Her character so far this season has been so flat compared to Dalek Oswin and Victorian Clara. But she lived up to it this episode.

    Nine's voice, and Amy's, the cradle, Amy's toy TARDIS... hit the feels. Really hard.

    The library was absolutely gorgeous. The engine explosion. The "snarl" outside area. The general timey-wimey that we hadn't gotten as much of yet this season, either part A or part B.

    My only criticism was the zombies. Just because they burned, why did they turn into evil zombies? Or were they not actually evil? Maybe they were just scared, but touching them would hurt the living versions of themselves?

    I thought the brothers thing was perfectly plausible. The eyes and voice box were necessary after his injury, then they thought it would be funny to tell him he was an android. It was probably a stupid joke that just carried on way too long. And the older two brothers were obviously not very kind people. You really think no one would do something like that?

    And when the Doctor confronted Clara... "What are you? A trick? A trap?" So much of their relationship was revealed. He thought she knew and had been hiding it from him the whole time! "Secrets keep us safe!"

    And the whole, she found out everything, but then forgot it. Brilliant. The Doctor sacrificing himself to correct the timeline. "Will it hurt?" "Things that end your life often do."

    Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Doctor lead the Time War? I'm pretty sure he was one of the most important figures in it even before be ended it, killed everyone, and became the only survivor.
  • weefreemen
    weefreemen Posts: 652 Member
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    For me sadly this was yet another vaguely disappointing episode. I must admit to becoming fed up with Moffat's overuse of the entire Doctor Who? arc. Yet Clara manages to find the History of the Time War and discovers the Doctors real name, easy peasy. Now this is something that he never discloses (except very occasionally), it is something he has hinted would be disastrous and to be honest I don't want to know. It's the underpinning to the entire series starting 50 years ago, Doctor Who? Don't spoil it and give us an identity, not for me anyway..

    Agreed with most everyone here, the monsters were lame and yes @Dixie - the audio was fractured, I think partially because they were running around and shouting it made the enunciation a little rough. Also has anyone else noticed the subtle changes to the Doctors regional dialect since his first outing as the 11th?

    @Collegiategirl - Time War has always been just hinted at with snippets of information being doled out over the years since the reboot. But we know, or think we know (!) that both the Doctor and the Master had pivotal roles and yes ostensibly the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, but that's become hazy with Davies bring back Gallifrey at the end of the 10th Doctor's reign, and of course it is a Time War which technically could mean it's still going on somewhere but locked in a time seal.. ?
  • rbartlett9671
    rbartlett9671 Posts: 193 Member
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    and of course it is a Time War which technically could mean it's still going on somewhere but locked in a time seal.. ?

    Yeah, I thought that... but soon discarded the thought because all the timey-wimeyness made my head hurt LOL