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

"Did she have any idea about regeneration anyway to do it or not? She didn't know where she came from really. I took it as the Spock-ish terraforming renewal rather than regeneration."

The problem is when the companions pointed out that she'd simply regenerate, the Doctor didn't say "oh, no, she can't do that because she needs to know about it", he simply came up with some guff about her being "too similar" to him.

I accept the "Spock-like" restoration linked to the terraforming mentioned above since it seems to make most sense, although it wasn't exactly well-telegraphed in the script.

There are so many holes here there and everywhere in this episode, though, as I mentioned; it was simply badly-written.

Hi Zag,

Ah, but your alternative ending would have given less reason for the Doctor to hold a gun to the General and announce he 'never would' - which we all seem to be guessing is going to come back to haunt the Doc at the season finale. And was one of the best moments of the episode.

Of course, you could make a case that the story-arc shouldn't get in the way of the episodes...

Yes, the battle scenes could and should have been more intense, and I'm guessing budget was the main reason they weren't. I thought the Jenny-takes-a-bullet thing was pretty clear. Was the gas the same as for Rose coming back to life at the end of Season 1?

Gif

Oh yeah, and speaking of plot holes -

How come Martha is such an expert on the signs of regeneration now?

Gif

Who said she was an expert? She'd probably had a certain amount explained by the Doc, especially after the Master "not" doing it. though the Master's a whole other story. Think he'll be back and the hand the took his ring is yet to be revealled. Don't think it'll be something to do with Jenny though. Thought iot may have been the Master's wife who pinched the ring.

The Master's ring.

Martha's ring.

Hm.

Deb

I wasn't bothered by the general looking too old, since I assumed the clones aged much faster. The seven-day war did imply that their entire sense of time was compressed, including lifespans.
The war not being very intense was a bit awkward. For the plot to work, clones had to be killed very quickly, but we didn't see that happening. It's especially worrying given the implied size of the warzone: far too small. I could see past that, though, and the underlying plot idea was very good.

There were hints there - when the Doctor first found the humans HQ there was a computer voice listing casualties in the background. Something like "Generation 2534343 - terminated" and so on, for about ten people. Easy to miss, perhaps.

As regards the size, I suppose it depends how many of each group there were to start with. At first I assumed that we were just seeing the command bases of the Humans and the Hath, but if that's all there were of each faction, a small area for combat would make sense.

As for the clones, I assumed that they were just a bit random in how they turned out. The clone of the Doctor looked nothing like him (obviously), and although most of the others looked younger, perhaps the machine could produce older clones. Or maybe it had options to produce different types of clone for generals and for grunts.

I rather liked this episode, but then I think this incarnation of the Doctor spends too much time on earth, so I like alien settings...

I thought it was strange too that it was mentioned that clones had shortened lifespans and yet they were planning to take Jenny with them.

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I noticed that too that they were all different. Figured it was something to do with the machine and the original DNA they were using to make the clone. Perhaps if the original was young, the clone would be young. Like I read that Dolly the sheep was cloned from a 6 year old sheep and developed diseases younger than other sheep and they reconed it was coz she was 6 when she was born.

ah, but they weren't actually clones were they?
They even mentioned haploid and diploid and messing about with them so that 1 person was both mother and father. Thus you should still get variation because you are not replicating the same creature, but playing mix'n'match with its DNA. And, in line with that, I think Jenny was very mutch modelled along the lines of theDoctor Remixed '08. A version of him if you will.

So, that means we have another 'the Other' running around the universe now?

Yeah, at the start they said that Jenny (and all the other 'clones') were recombined to create a slightly different individual from the original.

I have to admit, when the general shot Jenny, instead of going "oh my God!" my immediate reaction was "what did he do that for?" It did seem rather pointless and there was no indication in the plot he would have had a reason for doing so, which seemed at odds with the Doctor's behaviour which was consistent with his character. Unless the point was to show that the only thing the race was trained to do was kill, but then they'd already proved that. That's my only gripe.
If you watch Confidential you'll find the reason Martha was separated from the rest was sheer logistics in storytelling (keep it to three characters in one place max) but then I guess the natural response is why write her in in the first place when you've got the docs daughter and Donna to contend with.
I thought it was good but my favorite episode so far was the Ood one.

He really was trying to shoot the Doctor, Jenny just stepped in front. However as mentioned neither of her two facial expressions could convey self-sacrifice. Also I believe the Doctor´s line was she´s like me but not enough like me. That she had some of him but not enough to regenerate. That and apparently she was never meant to return in the first place.

Ooh, just read all the backlogue. Only just found this conversation.

Martha is engaged to the young dark haired Doctor we saw at the end of the last series isn't she. Unless the Master is disguised as him....

Too much like me I took to mean her sacrifice. Ah, humility!!

My real question about Cobb was not why was he old but where did he get that dodgy accent!

Pst, pst!
Get your dodgy accents here guv!

Wasn't as dodgey as the bad Irish accents at the moment in Heroes. But that's for another thread.

I may have missed it, but I thought the not-quite-clones lifespans were short because of them being casualties of war, not due to rapid ageing?

If Cobb was an original member of the crew who went a bit power crazy and used his own mythology/partially remembered instructions etc to get his forces, a constant stream of new, untried, fully trained but socially and culturally empty recruits, to fight for his cause, then why wouldnt he be old?

i have to say, at the end I was thinking 'Oh great, S-club style spin-ff with a time lord for the little girls and boys is on it's way!' however I now have a glimmer of hope that she'll be there at the end when he has to choose between her and Rose... his true love Vs his only living child (however much that may be a little odd, she's not a clone and she was created from him, plus, they 'bonded' in this episode even if it was rushed. Watch it again and pay attention. It helped me!)... i'll be crying my eyes out!

I didnt like the Hath self-sacrifice story, however I think it's meant to back up Martha's decision to stay home and have a normal life. It's hard for her but she takes it soo hard when things go wrong she knows it would destroy her. She's making her decision and she's happy with it, it was just one last push to confirm it all.

I got the impression there was a lot of 'plot' being crammed in (we now know that Donna's good with numbers, that robots are fast builders, Martha's ring was backed up again (after taking it off her evil clone from the Sultana episodes... Did no-one else notice that? Did she have it before then? Did I miss them taking it off her first?)

All in all it was a holey but enjoyable episode for me and I liked seeing Tennant acting serious and bitter. i like bitter doctor

Cant wait for next week, i wonder if they'll do Cocaine before dinner? If they dont, surely someone will notice they aren't really party people?

(I got a pillow thrown at me for saying "he said, in an unconvincing Irish accent" every time somebody spoke on Heroes t'other night)

I really liked Jenny and I normally can't stand perky blondes. Guess I'm in the minority. I also think Catherine Tate has been pretty good and find Martha rather irritating. Still, wouldn't do if we were all the same!

Like Robyn, I thought the rapid turnover of soldiers was due to the fact that they were being killed quickly in the war, not because they were programmed to age and die within a week - what would be the point of populating a planet with people that only last five minutes?

I think it is clear that there were some big plot holes.

But once again as always seems to be the case here when a hoo episode gets universally slated... I liked it

I must just be more of a child than aynone else