Doctor Who S10

[Durandal_1707]

I didn't mind the students—but then, I thought the girl that was Bill's friend (can't remember the character's name—the last one to get bumped off) was good looking, so maybe that's why.

[The Romulan Republic]

I was fine with the students as well. I mean, I'm not saying I'd like to see them every week, or anything, but they didn't ruin the episode for me.

[BunBun299]

So, the Doctor is now blind. Is this something that will be sorted out within the season, or will they wait until the Christmas Special and let regenerating into the 13th Doctor finally fix it?

[Nessus]

Saw this today, an d thought it was interesting:

youtu.be/TLgplc9A-So

I'm not a Brit, and don't know all the nitty gritty of the current British political situation, so I can't speak to the parallels there, but the stuff about the show itself and the actors is interesting.

I really like Capaldi, and am sad he'll be leaving so soon. I'm a newcomer to Doctor Who who was introduced to the series with the 2005 revival, and Capaldi is easily my favorite of the "new" doctors. I liked various things about the previous ones, but Capaldi is the first one that really "clicked". I think it's the fact that he's an old man, and the absence of romantic/sexual tension in his tenure. Even as a total newcomer to the series, the Doctor as sexy shipper-bait never really felt consistent with the premise to me, for reasons I can't really nail down. Last season he was hit-and-miss as he was still shedding all the inherited Tennant/Smith-ism and figuring out his own approach to the role, but now he's settled in strong, and it's super disappointing that he'll be leaving only right after.

I've seen very little of the original "classic" show, but of the tiny bits I've seen, I think I like Troughton and Colin Baker the best so far. I understand Colin Baker is regarded as having the worst stories (and wardrobe), but I kinda like his portrayal of the Doctor as, for lack of a better term, a heroic asshole. Capaldi has a bit of this too, which is part of why I like him, though he's more "pragmatic/clueless asshole" than Baker's "arrogant/narcissistic asshole". I feel like Baker maybe got a bum rap at the hands of bad producers/writers.

[MadAmosMalone]

Finally caught Oxygen on the Saturday rerun, right before Extremis. Gotta say that was a great evening of Who.

Oxygen was great. The opening of it, with the "Space, the final frontier" line, was a lot like a short story I wrote back in high school. I got chills. I loved how it was, like much of the rest of this series (season), a real "fresh take" on classic Who tropes and styles. Much of what makes this new series so great is Bill. I continue to gain appreciation for both the character and the actress who plays her. Likewise, Capaldi's Doctor really shines in this episode with his sacrifice to save her as well as his humor such as the line about having lizard eyes. I may have mentioned this before but I really hate that his Doctor will be leaving soon just as the show is becoming good again. I liked how people died in this episode and, quite unlike Knock Knock, they stayed dead. It was a little heartbreaking seeing the death of the blue guy. His interactions with Bill were great, dismissing her as "racist" and her shock at being on the other end of that accusation. The whole episode was pretty tense particularly the scene with Bill being left behind.

Then there was Extremis. I gotta admit, Moffatt can still turn in a decent episode when he wants to. This was one of them. I liked the concept. This show had covered the idea of simulated realities over 20 years before the Wachowskis made The Matrix so, in a way, this is yet another example of treading old ground in new shoes for this series. I got a kick out of the use of the sonic shades for the Doctor particularly after the reveal of the simulation, augmented reality within a virtual reality. Still, this episode was clearly a lead up for next week so will see what the overall story brings. I gotta admit for the first time in a long while I'm actually looking forward to see the next episode.

[Fixer]

I wish he hadn't added that "now you know how computer game characters feel" bit. That was hella stupid.

Computer game characters don't have feelings, intelligence or sentience. I've coded NPCs in games, a few integer values, a couple of scripts to move a sprite. There's no more death in that than me writing a one sentence short story. "I pressed a button and then everyone on Earth had a heart attack."

The concept was great though. I do love the idea of false reality and of course, the existential dread it results in. The setup is a great hook for next week.

Fingers cross for a better payoff than the vault mystery though. It was the most obvious answer and the spoiled it in the previous week teaser.

Billy has been a much better companion as well, mostly due to her being an ordinary human being. No special destiny or plot twists here. Her relatable reactions to weird alien stuff have been refreshing.

[MadAmosMalone]

I wish he hadn't added that "now you know how computer game characters feel" bit. That was hella stupid.

Computer game characters don't have feelings, intelligence or sentience. I've coded NPCs in games, a few integer values, a couple of scripts to move a sprite. There's no more death in that than me writing a one sentence short story. "I pressed a button and then everyone on Earth had a heart attack."

Kinda begs the question why give the simulants access to the internet so the simulated Doctor could email his real self? In any case I agree with you, him putting it that way was really melodramatic as well as inaccurate.

[Fixer]

Kinda begs the question why give the simulants access to the internet so the simulated Doctor could email his real self? In any case I agree with you, him putting it that way was really melodramatic as well as inaccurate.

I suppose you could argue that whatever "sufficiently advanced science" concept the sonic sunglasses work from was entirely duplicated when they copied it for the simulation. A bit like a virtual machine being installed on a rack server somewhere and having it's own backdoor to a network it shouldn't be able to access.

I get the feeling that the writer felt the doctor needed to make some sort of profound observational comparative statement but has a surface level of interaction with computer games on par with a regulatory member of parliament.

[MadAmosMalone]

...A bit like a virtual machine being installed on a rack server somewhere and having it's own backdoor to a network it shouldn't be able to access.

*slaps own forehead* And I used to be a Network Admin! Dunno why I didn't think of that even though I've worked on lots of Virtual Machines.

[MissKittyFantastico]

Wow, what the heck happened there? Part two of the Monk trilogy felt like they did the old TNG season finale trick of writing the first part with no plan for part two beyond 'we'll wing it when we get back after the holidays', and then they did it again for part three.