Series 4;Episode 1

[Nick]

i shall await your comments with anticipation ;D

[Peter]

Firstly, I still heavily dislike the butched up theme, it's awful.

I thought it was pretty good, I loved the bit when Donna and the Doctor finally met across the room and that five minute motioning with the hands talking to each other. Sarah Lancashire was pretty good as well, the fgat people were irrepressibly cute!

As for you know who at the end of the bins scene, I sat right up, my jaw was on the floor, i wasn't expecting that cameo so soon despite knowing she'd be in it later on.

[Nick]

Well I thought it was utter tripe..or was it just me?

paper thin plot..yet another riot of mayhem in London

When the Doc said he wanted 'a mate' I thought Catherine was gonna burst into her 'How very dare you routine'

no,didn't enjoy it at all

[Peter]

I did say, pretty good, not wonderful. The first half was pretty run of the mill. I can't say I've ever been a fan of Ms Tate's stuff from her Runaway Bride to her comedy stuff, and there are aspects of her style that bothered me in Runaway Bride where she sounded like she was going to go into her "Bothered/How dare you" routine, and always will be and will always annoy me, but, i think she's gonna grow on me.

[Nick]

Time will tell

[RitaLittlewood]

Decided catching up with EE before tomorrow's omnibus was more important. Sounds like I didn't miss much but then I did say I won't watch Catherine Tate. Can't stand that damn woman.

Patsy

[eithne]

It was far, far better than I expected. They've totally changed the Donna character - in a good way I have to say. I liked the attempts of her trying to find him, and the writing where she did find him and was about to go in the Tardis with him was really good.

I liked the plot quite a bit as well, and I loved the fact that the real baddies were off screen more than anything. It was something different and I think it worked. Sarah Lancashire's character wasn't bad, she was just caught up in the middle of something and doing her job. I liked the more humane side of the Doctor as well - less punishment, more compassion. And we also are guaranteed no romance between the Doctor and Donna, something Patsy surely can't hold against them this time around (not that she's watching of course!).

And what do we think of Rose returning? A brilliant twist there.

Overall a very good episode - probably 8.5 out of 10 as 9 is too high, but 8 isn't enough. A far better opening than last years first episode I felt, even if it was written by Russell "I could teach a writing master class" and the T stands for Twat Davies!!!

[sootycat]

I was pleasantly surprised by CT's Donna.

Not half as bad as I thought she would be ( just the odd lapse )
Lorraine Kelly reckoned if she didn't do her 'shouty' acting, she would be ok.
I loved those little adipose aliens.

I thought Sarah Lancashire was great, hasn't she done well since leaving Corrie.

[Nick]

Theres just no substance to the plots for me..no wordy dialogue..just loads of needless special effects and people running around and offering throwaway reasons for whats happening....

[RitaLittlewood]

That's my problem with it too, Nick. That and the stupid romance. They say there won't be any this time. But Rose and Martha are going ot be in it therefore there will be slushy stuff which is unnecessary. Just give us proper storylines, dialogue and character development like before.

Patsy

[sallywebster]

Havent seen it yet. I have given up on Doctor Who by the end of the series every year apart from the first one so I wonder how far I will get this time!

[sallywebster]

Watched it now, I really enjoyed it. I agree that Catherine Tate was good and they have changed Donna for the better.

Great to see Raquel/Sarah Lancashire! LOL!

[Nick]

I shall continue with the series..just to see how they bring Rose and Martha back

We'll see

I think the producers assume the audience are too thick to follow any intricate plots and haven't got the attention span and just want to see 'funny people running around in lovely lit buildings'

[RitaLittlewood]

I'm sick of RTD's Rose obsession which is another reason I'm not watching. She's gone. Move on. They did in the past. The Doctor's a traveller. He doesn't fall in love because he's asexual. The companions DON'T fall in love with him either. They're best friends for as long as it lasts. Companions come and go so while he remembers them with fondness, he doesn't get hung up on them. I hate what RTD's done to it.

Patsy

[Nick]

Here here...anyway how can he love them..he isn't even human..its un natural

[RitaLittlewood]

Not just that but it also pissed me off they suddenly had Sarah Jane Smith in love with him. Lis Sladen always said they were best friends. Then suddenly she was talking about SJS loving him. Talk about towing the RTD line for work. That ep was so bad when it came to rewriting history so it could continue RTD's lurve obsession.

Patsy

[Lane Kent]

I wasn't going to watch this, I hate Catherine Tate with a passion, and her Christmas special for me remains one of the worst episodes, if not the worst, ever. My comments on that episode are probably somewhere on this board so I won't go there. My husband had given up on DW at the end of Season 2 so wasn't keen to watch, however come 6:20 there was nothing else, it had been a heavy week and so I said why not let us just watch it, if we hate it, we don't need to bother again.

I agree with you all to some degree.

The first 20 minutes bored me stupid and I couldn't agree with Nick's sentiments more. All that chasing each other around got repetitive and began to be slow in moving. I was starting to think why are they both there in the first place, get to the point please.

However

Suddenly, Donna and the Doctor met and the story began to move and the earlier bit was all explained, even brought a smile to my face a couple of times and by the end I found while not one of the better episodes it certainly wasn't one of the worst. 5/10 possibly. If it wasn't for the weak plot for the first 15-20 minutes, this episode would of been all the better. It was clear there had been poor editing on this episode that becomes apparent near the end. So perhaps the first 20 minutes were a victim of that. For the rest of it I go with Eithne, Jez Sootycat and Peter for the most part.

Regarding Catherine Tate, when she was trying to be all posh, she was actually unrecognisable as Donna. If I hadn't of been for-warned I would of wondered who she was. So she came across quite tolerable. Unfortunately as soon as she slipped back into her cockney, little bits of the old Donna did seem to emerge. For the moment though I would agree, she has been toned down a bit, I just hope this continues, but it may not, because remember even she was trying to be something else in the earlier part of the episode. All things considered, I didn't want to throw something at the screen.

Never been an SL fan and Raquel is one of my least favourite Corrie characters ever, with her stupid, clumsy sluttish ways and that stupid fake voice the character had. Yet we were all meant to think she was an angel of a character. Anyway all things considered I didn't mind Sarah's performance in this too much.

Yes, our little blonde friend from yesteryear made an unexpected visit. If it wasn't for the audio description I may well of missed her. A bit premature, I just hope that every episode until her proper return won't be a case of now you see her now you don't? Just like we had Bad Wolf in season one. At least now we know she can move between dimensions. Wonder if she has control over it? She faded out afterall. I suspect she does though.

Finally the big thing that I noticed in this episode would appear to be one of the biggest continuity errors I've ever seen on any show. Not plot wise but prop wise. If it isn't I have serious dementia. Donna goes to the boot of her blue car, takes out all her luggage, which she has been keeping for the Doctor's return. She bangs down the boot. In the wider shots I couldn't see the Tardis. She throws her luggage at the poor bemused Doctor. While babbling to him. The whole time he doesn't move because he is just trying to balance all her luggage. When the camera spins back to Donna she is standing in the doorway of the Tardis, the door is open, with her hand wrapped around the Tardis. No sign of her car in sight. She then remembers that she needs to give the keys to her mother. Goes running down the street, no car in sight, finds a bin, throws the keys into the bin. Phones her mother. Gives a message to the crowd for her mother (which includes Rose) and then runs off.

Now I know you sometimes have dialogue going on while events unfold, but from what I could see this was not the case. The Doctor did not move from his spot. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but it does make you think if the editors putting the show together didn't even notice that, what were they on? May be this episode could of been a lot better if more care had been taken over the editing of it. I hope other episodes don't suffer from sloppy editing. My apologies if I am wrong.

[RitaLittlewood]

Now you've just mentioned something else I hate about RTD's DW. All those damn story arcs. he said after Bad Wolf there wouldn't be one in series 2 only there was. It's boring.

Patsy

[Deleted]

We enjoyed it - light, fun, and fast-paced.

I always thought Doctor Who was meant to be children's entertainment, so I can manage without heavy, convoluted plots with depth and meaning.

I agree about the fixation with romance tho', and so far his relationship with Donna has been great.

Catherine Tate excellent - slipped into it seamlessly.