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

One thing I have learned from Doctor Who is if you´re doing bad things, keep that way. Otherwise you end up dead.

What does THAT woman have to do?
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.......leave.

"if you´re doing bad things, keep that way."

Ah, but that depends doesn't it - last episode with the PR woman for example. As RTD said in the confidential, as soon as she decided to not help the Doctor she was dead. I guess it depends on how good a character you are. And, at least, if you are a baddy turned goody the death is poretty spectacular!

I thought that was the episode of the season so far. Donna is improving as a character almost episode-by-episode too.

Gif

Several things about that episode...

Yes, I'm pretty sure there was a shot of Rose, screaming for the Doctor, in one of the monitors.

Loved the scene at the end where Martha, Donna and the Doctor are reunited... Really highlighted the differences in their relationships - Martha comes up and hugs the doctor, Donna walks up and thumps him

The ending did suffer a little from the standard problem of "we've used 42 minutes of the episode building up the suspense - oh s**t! we've only got 1min30 to save the world - quick - think of a method of cleaning this lot up without too much hassle! This seems to be an ongoing 'problem' since Dr Who has been back on the air - the actual 'problem solving' end of the shows always seems a little rushed.

I didn't notice Rose at all, so I was a bit confused when I saw her name in the credits! Was she on one of the monitors in the control room then?

I missed the beginning, can someone tell me how they got her grandad out of the car?

'Are you my mummy?' was hilarious!

"The ending did suffer a little from the standard problem of "we've used 42 minutes of the episode building up the suspense - oh s**t! we've only got 1min30 to save the world - quick - think of a method of cleaning this lot up without too much hassle! This seems to be an ongoing 'problem' since Dr Who has been back on the air - the actual 'problem solving' end of the shows always seems a little rushed."

The ending was just stupid. It had been thoroughly established throughout the episode that the Sontaran gas had reached to ground level and yet the audience was expected to believe that the Doctor could ignite it and yet only burn the air about a mile above the Earth's surface (with all the gas at ground level nonetheless dispersing). It was insufferably stupid; how thick do the BBC really believe the public are?

And whilst I'm at it how "poisonous" was that Sontaran gas, exactly? Early in the episode it seemed to be established by the Doctor that the Sontarans were using it to poison the planet to make for an easy invasion and yet no one was suffering any ill effects of this "poison" beyond a bit of coughing. It reached a cresent of stupidity when the UNIT commander actually pulled off his gas mask (having handed them out in order to combat this supposed poison gas) to make a rousing speech. No one in the episode seemed to be remotely afraid of the stuff, including the Doctor. Of course, it all turned out to be something else but it's like everyone knew that anyway. Terrible, terrible writing; what we've come to expect from the "genius" who gave us "Evolution of the Daleks" I suppose.

On the plus side the Sontaran-UNIT battle was well-handled and I was pleased to see the Doctor's "oh no, don't go fighting these people who want to kill you now silly apes!" stuff pushed to one side as UNIT actually got on with doing what they're supposed to. It was great when Double-Take Brother demanded the Sontaran turn to face him and then shot him.

They explained that it would start killing people when it reached 80% density, but it didn't get that far.

What I don't understand is how everybody could understand the Sontaran's speech. Surely they don't all get the benefit of the Tardis translation thingy? Or were the Sontarans speaking English?

"It reached a cresent of stupidity"

I have no idea what a cresent of stupidity is, either. I meant a peak of stupidity; I was originally going to use the rather OTT "crescendo" hence the wrong word I used.

"They explained that it would start killing people when it reached 80% density, but it didn't get that far."

Ah. I was eating my dinner so I didn't catch certain parts of the episode; that's okay then.

"What I don't understand is how everybody could understand the Sontaran's speech. Surely they don't all get the benefit of the Tardis translation thingy? Or were the Sontarans speaking English?"

I assume they use the language of the people they're attacking when necessary. Same as the daleks.

Or, indeed, the Vogons.

B

Never thought of that, but they must have some sort of translation matrix or something. Maybe the geeky bloke made one?

Never saw Rose!!

Did anyone else se the next episode preview? Oh my goodness!!!!!!!

Rose was litterally on the monitor for a fraction of a second, blink and you could miss her. It was when The Doctor was taking to the Sultana's leader, sorry can't call them by real name, it is a height thing. Oddly though if they were 7 feet tall and didn't have slightly posh accents they would be a lot more scarey.
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Bash 'em up fights are usually something they do well on Who so this week's was quite interesting. It is when they get all right on and touchy feely it sags a bit as a series.

Hi NPY,

Yes, I'm looking forward to next week's one.

Of course, when we first met the Doctor in An Unearthly Child, he was travelling with his granddaughter Susan, so he was assumed to be an ordinary family man. It was only later that he became asexualised.

In the books, they cleverly explain how Susan was his granddaughter despite him never having had sex - only to introduce another daughter of his called Miranda. I doubt there's any connection with next week's episode though - RTD has not made any direct continuity references to the books yet, and I can't see him starting after 3 1/2 seasons. Besides, I don't recall Miranda having the ability to do back flips through laser beams.

So I'm waiting impatiently...

Gif

Dr Who has always had the advantage of a quite exciting title music, even if sometimes the actual episode is a let down. It was quite inovative in itself if I remember correctly due to being entirely electronic when it was created many, many years ago.

Yeah, I'd always wondered about what happened to Susan, especially with the Time War. But as far as I've seen she's been the onbly relative and there's no reference to her or others latewr, especially in the new series. The only exception I can thuink of was one episode where DT's Doc made a passsing comment to Rose about being a father once, but it was never delved into.

So what did it say in the books?

Can't entirely agree with the assessment of the ending. I personally always find that Doctor Who at it's best is when it gets really really bad and it's so late in the day you think he can't possibly sort it out in time and he still does. The doctor has always been strong at brilliant plans right at the last second, rather than having a good idea and carrying through with careful application, it's more exciting that way.

>>I have no idea what a cresent of stupidity is, either. I meant a peak of stupidity<<

I quite like the idea of a croissant of stupidity.

>>I have no idea what a cresent of stupidity is, either. I meant a peak of stupidity<<

That really did make laugh out load. Quote of the surely.