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

Who is Katherine Jenkins?

Dunno Clive, but he has a cracking voice. (I don't watch telly generally - just the odd sci fi series, or several)

Really rather enjoyed that one. Will watch it again in a couple of days.

Sorry Katherine, I've just given you a sex change

I thought she was a Welsh opera singer but Wiki describes her as a 'classical popular cross-over singer'.

She's certainly crossed over now ...

Mol

I thought it was just tremendous. Subtle, interesting, engaging everything about what Moffat does well. Amd I agree with what everyone said about the Katherine Jenkins character. It is just a better story that it kinda of had the bittersweet ending.

I reall hope all the press speculation about Matt Smithy is guff and we get to have several series of the SMithy/Moffat combo because I love how it is developing.

All in all I think that this is probably my fave Xmas special.

FB

I really hope all the press speculation about Matt Smithy is guff

What speculation is that then?

Probably for the spoiler thread.

That was good.
Especially the bit where my niece (back from uni) and I simultaneously cracked up laughing with the shark/rickshaw was first seen. Slendidly silly!

Interesting comment from my mum, who hasn't really watched the last series, just bits and bobs, who said "It had a different feel to it this time, I quite enjoyed it". And I guess that says something about how firmly established the whole Moffat/Smith DW is in my head that I had to think a moment before agreeing.

Oh, and it has to be pretty good to get away with the heavy emotional manipulation of a couple of scenes. But I'll forgive him...

I think the dictionary version of an opera singer is someone who performs on the stage in operatic roles, like Maria Callas, she played Violetta in La Traviata, the title role in Tosca and the Role of Norma, which she played over 90 times
Miss Jenkins is a singer of operatic pieces, she can't act to save her life all she can do is sing

I enjoyed that, cracking story! I too am glad they didn't cure the Katherine Jenkins character, made it a much sweeter and more poignant love story.

Someone else has mentioned the sound. I ended up watching with subtitles on as I couldn't make out what was being said in the scene when the doc came down the chimney. But to be honest I quite often find speech muffled in Dr Who, don't know why that is.

Overall, most excellent Xmas special IMHO.

Deb

I watched with my mum and nan - nan has two hearing aids, mum has a issue with certain frequencies she lost the range for - and they'd both look over to me to translate.

Matt Smith's mumbling lost them both frequently.

I'll agree with the general 'ace' consensus. I also had initial sound problems, but I thought that was due to general background chatter from my non-Who-watching kin.


...one of whom commented at the end something along the lines of 'that new guy is pretty good'. Given that Xmas specials always get higher ratings than any of the regular episodes , perhaps the production team had this pegged as a sort of 'second first episode' for MS?


Didn't much care for Katherine Jenkins - too cutsey-looking, couldn't act, and the singing had *way* too much reverb to be convincing - it sounded like she was in a studio the whole time, so it just didn't match up with the image of her singing outside.

Best lines for me:
Why are they still singing?
Because we haven't told them it won't work.

Also appreciated them holding back from a RTD-style 'the power of carol-singing saves the day' ending a la Last of the Time Lords. OK, we did have KJ singing, but it wasn't the whole ship's crew doing it.

NB: what a strange number 4003 is for a ship's complement. And I think there may be a hidden meaning to 'half-way through the dark' (i.e. half-way to the end of MS's 2nd series? We seem to have a lot of cliff-hangers left over from last year).

Gif

Spoilers.

Don't look if you're still playing.


http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/12/30/doctor-who-picture-puzzle-the-answers/

I loved the episode, and especially the script. Young adult Karazan was very good. Also, I've never seen Katherine Jenkins in anything else, but she was stunning here .

NB: I've been watching K-9 too - it's not much cop, and I shudder to see they've comissioned a 2nd series.

Also, I'm (re-)reading all the Target novelisations. In order.

Gif

I started doing that (re-reading Target, not watching K9) this time last year. I didn't get very far though - RL just gets in the way. Sigh.

But I'm visiting my brother wot owns them all tomorrow ... perhaps I should try again ...

Mol

Just to say, unless you see a tabloid news story confirmed on the BBC site, it's almost certainly speculation, misunderstanding or a plain old lie. Look at all of the speculation about how long David Tennant would stay for virtually from the first week of filming.

Haven't seen any speculation myself, but then by choice I haven't read a tabloid since 1999.

Ah yes. That. I only saw it in passing, but it did make me wonder how loudly the fangirl screams would echo: "She can't have him! He's MINE!!"

I've also been watching K9 and am pleasantly surprised. Admittedly, mainly because I thought it would be completely dire and it's turned out to be only average with no real stinkers so far. In fact, I'm quite getting into the 'oppressive regime setting' idea for future London. The most jarring thing for me to date was a postman whose accent drifted from Aussie to 'Dick Van Dyke cockney' several times through one of the episodes. Apart from that, not as bad as the internet had led me to believe it would be.

THE DEPARTMENT - IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!

Just rewatched the Eleventh Hour on BBC3 and noticed something pretty cool: at the end when Amy is asking the Doctor why he wants her to travel with him. He does a bit about how he's lonely but then the shot changes to the Tardis viewscreen with a Crack that the Doctor flicks away.

When I first saw it, I just thought it was Moffat reminding us the Cracks weren't gone. Now I've seen the Big Bang and the Doctor's speech about how he brought Amy on board because her life was too empty, the Cracks had devoured the life she was supposed to have, you know that's why he really brought her in.

Moffat included that in the first episode for people rewatching the series - there's no way it was just coincidental, for the Crack to appear just as the Doctor is talking about his motivations. It really brings home why S5 was so good, the intricacy and forethought of it all.