h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just caught the end of Doomsday again, I'm still impressed by Billie Piper's acting especially in the bit at the end on the beach, and generally that episodes a top notch one for Dr Who.

Army of Ghosts / Doomsday is one of the best stories ever. Just a great way to end the second season. The way it was scripted that you 'knew' Rose was going to die. That you think it's all about Cybermen and then the Daleks appear. That we finally got to see what happens when the Daleks and Cybermen confront each other. And that scene where they do meet is a classic in itself.

And yes, the beach scene (and the bit leading into with the walls in Torchwood) is just tremendously moving. The music, the acting, the pacing, the words, the unsaid words. Just awesome.

Never looked at the Confidential for it ... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XWKsbGPYj0o

Personally, I'm just rewatching Season 3. Surely the best season!

Just run through the episodes making up the second half of the season - 42 then Human Nature / Family of Blood, then Blink, then the Master trilogy at the end. Plus Martha as a companion!

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'We are the Family of Blood!'

Good stuff. Plus scarecrows, I've always been creeped out by scarecrows.

I'd say it's pretty close between seasons 2 and 3, but I'd plump for the former. As one of the few who enjoyed "Love and Monsters", I'd say that only "Fear Her" is a duff story - the rest of them "GitF" (Moffat again), "Tooth and Claw", "Idiots Lantern" are brilliant.

Love and Monsters



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I like seasons 2, 3 and 4, but overall I think 4 is the best rounded season, Catherine Tate was such a good companion and they seem to have really refined the writing and everything for that season. Apart from the odd duff episode like 'The Doctor's Daughter' it was top notch, and even that episode was nice and fun the first time I watched it and I only started picking holes on my second watch and after reading this thread.

I wouldn't go for the fourth series myself: it had two outright bad episodes, and the ending seemed a bit naff too (perhaps because I hadn't been watching all the spin-offs). Davros meeting Sarah Jane was very good though.

1 was ok, 2 was alright until the middle two parter with the cybermen, then the lovey dovey stuff started to irritate, I was glad to see the back of Rose by the end of it, I enjoyed 3, the stories were good with only a couple of duff episodes but Martha's unrequited love and The Doctor's mooning over Rose really, REALLY irritated me. 4 has been the best so far, no shipping, no romance, no unrequited love and back to the Doctor/Companion relationship of old (Only with no screaming and ankle twisting) I really hope Steven Moffat takes note of how popular the relationship between the Doctor and Donna was and keep it that way. With Matt Smith's Doctor I'd like to see an older companion a la Evelyn Smythe

For me, Season 4 is particularly let down by the ending story.

The Stolen Earth was painfully dull as someone who had never watched Torchwood or SJA. There was very little Doctor in it. It was only buoyed up by the complete surprise of the regeneration issue. And then of course that turned out just to be a bit of a non-issue.

Add to that the rehashed "the most faithful companion will die" which was good in Doomsday when you expected Rose to die and then she didn't; and it's a real stretch of the imagination to say Donna having her memory wiped is dying.

Midnight and Turn Left were superb; as were the Moffat Library stories. The Sontaran stories were a little generic and the last two episodes and The Doctor's Daughter were below par.

One other great positive for Season 4 was Bernard Cribbins. Tremendous acting.

Another negative in 4 for me was Donna; I never warmed to her like others here seemed to.

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have to say that the only story I thought Donna was OK in was 'Turn Left' which played to her stronger points. Personally I could see what they were trying to do with the Donna character but unfortunately Catherine Tate was not quite right for it. Too much gurning whenever she had to express outrage or shock.

She had her moments and it could have been a lot worse. But that isn't really good enough.

I can understand people not liking her but personally I thought she was brilliant. A great refresh overall with her not being in love with the Doctor unlike the previous 2 companions. Turn Left was great, and I liked how in the Pompeii episode she disagreed with the Doctor and tried to save the people. The relationship that developed between them was the one I liked best out of the 3 main companions, really friendly and trusting without distracting from what was going on by having a love interest between them.

Companion wise I think Martha was the weakest, but only because she came so soon after Rose and was also in love with the Doctor so she's going to suffer by comparison to Billie Piper who was very good in the role. Martha was good in her own right but by the third season the doe eyes were getting annoying in the companion. Also when Martha was in the TARDIS the romantic side was all about her and the Doctor and there was no-one back home for her like Mickey was for Rose. Another love triangle, while risking being same-y, would have added a bit more to a love interest sub plot that was pretty same-y anyway.

Is that how you spell same-y?

In the new companion, when Matt Smith's the Doctor, I hope it's more like the sort of relationship DT had with Donna than it is with either Martha or Rose. I've got my fingers crossed for more than one companion at once.

"I liked how in the Pompeii episode she disagreed with the Doctor and tried to save the people"

Now y'see I found that really annoying and felt they really belaboured the whole greater good, bigger picture thing. I can understand why they did it and it did play nicely into the 'showing the Doctor's soul' later on but *for me* that particular theme is a given and pretty obvious. The Doctor is clever enough to realise the 20,000 vs. entire planet bit and I personally don't think it is that hard to grasp. But I realise that is a case of me expecting the show to conform to my personal understanding of it. Still doesn't mean i have to like it though

Y'know, Donna *was* in love -- with where the Doctor and his TARDIS could take her, not with him. For all that, she did mug a tad in over-reaction at times. Not fatally so; I thought she did alright.

Just my

The Pompeii episode was on tonight it turns out, I caught most of it and hung around for an extra minute at the end when she's trying to persuade him to save that family. Nice and emotional it was.

Are you my mummy?

http://suigintou.desudesudesu.org/4scrape/img/78623.jpg

Talking of Love and Monsters, as I was; I seem to recall a large amount of the discontent was due to the 'monster' which was the result of a Blue Peter competition.

What hope do we have for:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7824547.stm

(Entries for children aged between 6 and 12)

Hell, at least they've learnt something... It cost them millions the last time for a 2012 logo that looks like a porn version of the Simpsons... At least this time they're getting it for free!

My gosh, I have just mamnaged to catch up on the backlog. The last time I was current was 9th July, just after the series ended. You have no idea how frustrating it is to want to contribute to a discussion but know that it's moved on numerous times since then and nobody would understand you.
To pull a few points from recent discussion:
Matt Smith seems promising to me, but I'm withholding full judgement.
A woman Doctor would be a bit too much of a break from previous incarnations. Why would the 12th be female when ALL 11 previous versions were male? Takes too much explaining.
I, like most thought the first half of the Christmas special was great. However, in our house we were delighted at the sheer preposterousness of the giant mecha cyberman. Perhaps they weren't aiming for gales of laughter, but I am always glad to experience them, at anyone's expense. All we really needed was for Godzilla to turn up and battle with it, possibly summoned by the Doctor in an act of desperation.
It's hard to judge how good Season 4 of Doctor Who was: my awesomeness-meter appears to have been broken by the end of Season 3. I've tried tapping it, turning it upside-down, even shaking it, but the needle is still stuck on 'Mind-blowingly awesome'. On the other hand, I thought I saw that needle shivering a little once or twice (during Davros' speech about what the Doctor turns his assistants into, and the entire episode with the mimicking creature in the Medusa Cascade) as if the awesomeness level might be nudging it slightly...