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

Also the Master said he would take away his ability to regenerate.

I thought The Master was depriving The Doctor of the possibility of regeneration, which to some measure (as reinforced by The Master) can be a matter of choice. The First Doctor regnerated because his body was wearing a little bit thin... and it would seem to have been the same for The Doctor in his Dobbified state. The Master somehow prevented The Doctor from taking the regeneration option... though, I suspect, he would never have taken it even if he'd had it.

Since Gallifrey vanished and the TARDIS has become dependent on the onboard miniature Eye of Harmony (and Artron energy refuelling at handy waypoints), a lot of systems have downgraded or gone offline. These include the State of Grace inside the TARDIS, the collision avoidance stuff, and the ability of the TARDIS to modify its mass (the Fourth Doctor managed to get the TARDIS to float on the Thames once I thought... and by and large it has been nigh-on-impossible for enemies of the Doctor to ferry the TARDIS around without her cooperation). All adds to the vulnerability of our heroic Doctor.

Regarding Archangel, I guess The Doctor used his telepathic abilities to attune to the network and when the time was right he 'nudged' the people of the planet to think happy thoughts. Martha had prepped them with exactly which happy thought to have at the given moment.

I have to say, I spent most of the episode thinking 'Russell, don't you dare kill The Master off...' - and this thought got more desperate over time. When The Master and The Doctor appeared on the cliffs of Dover, I hoped for a Holmes/Moriarty type struggle and The Master falling to his apparent doom on the beach below. But... no. RTD had to spoil it all and kill him, then opt for the Ming the Merciless rip-off. Gah!

It could have been so much better... but, it could also have been so much worse.

The Apprentice

Was thinking about the responses on here and I agree with bits of both the 'yeah great' and the 'no, pants' sides.
And I think this is why.
As a bit of pulp scifi it is as good as, if not better than a lot of stuff out there. Compare to contemporary stuff like Primeval, threshhold (nnot sure if that counts, dunno how old it is), heroes etc it is as good as. Holes and all.

But as Doctor Who it doesn;t pay enough respect to the fanbase and what has gone before. In fact it annoys me. I've found myself several times not wanting to watch it because I thought I'd be disappointed. The accusation of RTD having a companion fixation is very accurate, and The Doctor might as well at times be called The Taxidriver.

I guess he has relied on the honeymoon period too much, counting on the mere fact that it is back on telly to carry the disappointments. Series 1 was initial honeymoon. Series 2 extended it by introducing a new Doctor and the Cybermen. I think he's tried to extend it again with a new companion and The Master. But it hasn;t worked. Honeymoon is over.

Nope, I said "Ooh look, Davros" when the opened up the sphere

A poll running on Gateworld for the Best episode of this series has Blink running away with the lead, followed by Family of Blood and a tie for third between Utopia and Sound of Drums

Funny how no-one voted for the Dalek 2 parter

When they opened the sphere I thought we had flicked over to a channel showing Men in Black.

Family of blood was the best by far.

"As a bit of pulp scifi it is as good as, if not better than a lot of stuff out there. Compare to contemporary stuff like Primeval, threshhold (nnot sure if that counts, dunno how old it is), heroes etc it is as good as. Holes and all."

I agree. I think "Who" should strive to be clever and should *never* insult the intelligence of the audience (which it has been guilty of in the past) but at the same time it's just light, Saturday-night sci-fi fluff and it's allowed a certain leeway. It's like the Doctor's "timey-wimey" comments in "Blink" - just accept that it all makes sense in the internal universe. Plot devices like "paradox machines" help too. I'd rather have them than massive plot holes.

"But as Doctor Who it doesn;t pay enough respect to the fanbase and what has gone before. In fact it annoys me. I've found myself several times not wanting to watch it because I thought I'd be disappointed. The accusation of RTD having a companion fixation is very accurate, and The Doctor might as well at times be called The Taxidriver."

Not sure. First, I don't think the new series has to slavishly follow a "canon", merely acknowledge it. RTD is quite good at building on what has been before (the upgraded daleks, the idea that *all* Timelords seek a companion). And I think he learns from his mistakes - the "Doctor useless" aspect that dogged the Ninth Doctor was smoothed out in series two and three making the Doctor and his companion very much co-dependent rather than the companion saving the day and he seems to have about-turned on both his "alien planets have to be CGI" comments and his pre-occupation with giving the middle-aged audience members lots of tedious soap opera. He's given us proper old "Who" planets and we've got human drama that doesn't rely on kitchen sink blandness. Slowly but surely problems are being smoothed out.

<He's given us proper old "Who" planets and we've got human drama that doesn't rely on kitchen sink blandness. Slowly but surely problems are being smoothed out..

It certainly was more rounded this season. There are a few episodes I would happily watch again. I can't really say that about the previous two seasons.

Although I have been a bit critical, don't get me wrong. I can't wait for the re-runs!

When are the re-runs?

Like a lot of people I liked some of it a lot and found some bits a little disappointing
John Simms was excellent. I wasn't that excited by the Captain Jack/Face of Bo revelation but I don't like his character, too action-hero for me
I disliked the way the Master was defeated, definite religious undertones for me
This was disappointing but fitted in with the whole the Dr is like a lonely god theme that seems to be going on, one I quite dislike since the Dr, although alien and immortal (or at least very long-lived), always defeated his foes by using his intelligence, not through supernatural powers

<< This was disappointing but fitted in with the whole the Dr is like a lonely god theme that seems to be going on, one I quite dislike since the Dr, although alien and immortal (or at least very long-lived), always defeated his foes by using his intelligence, not through supernatural powers. >>

Though some folks jibe about his performances, I much preferred the take of the last season of Sylvester McCoy's Doctor in terms of the haunted god-like figure. Stories revolved around his subtle manipulation of others and knowledge of some greater scheme, adding the mystery and interest behind the stories. This got waaaaay too overt with the god-like powers and suffered for it.

The Apprentice

Traveller in Time evaluating episodes
"My favourite for this season was:

1. 'Gridlock' just a science fiction story with some monsters, some technology, some society aspects, a atechnical solution and a great revelation

2. 'Blink' not really _science_ fiction but at least some technical easter eggs. Nice tension curves a 'Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff' and 'The angels have the phonebox'. (makes better T-Shirts then 'Vote Saxon')"

Hum, I thought Gridlock was pretty weak.

At the risk of being obvious Human Nature/Family of Blood was probably my favourite. I also liked 42, though it seems others did not.

I liked Gridlock and knowing what we know now I'm going to have another watch

Loved Family of Blood, the creepy 6th former and the ending still makes me shudder. The way the boy described the Doctor in that episode was superb, that's the character we love! Still, what do I know? I have very little memory of anyting before Tom Baker!

Same here, my first clear Dr Who memory was Jon Pertwee regenerating into Tom Baker

Although I'm told I watched the First Doctor I can't remember anything before the 2nd. I'm not sure if I remember the 2nd from watching him when 1st shown or later. I can remember Pertwee and Baker well. After that I went through a period of only watching the series intermittantly but can recall Davison and McCoy quite well.

1 reason I liked John Simms was because he was so different to Delgado. Delgado was excellent but to try and repeat his style of playing the Master would have been a mistake IMO.

Call ME weird but my fav was Utopia