Doctor Who Series 11

[Lupine]

^Yeah, that's kind of odd. The Christmas Special had become something of a tradition.

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, and I haven't heard what the reasoning for the change might be.

[Lupine]

An OK episode. I loved seeing the Doctor wear a fez again and there was good use of red herrings. I did find the Amazon allegory a little over the top and the plastic-looking robots gave it a been there done that feel. Still the characters did a good job carrying the show.

[RJDiogenes]

The Fez is back! It only appeared on On Demand at lunch, so I've only seen the first half or so.

[Gary]

A nice "Whodunnit" where the culprit was not the obvious target. Well done.

[RJDiogenes]

There were several nice red herrings in this one-- the biggest one being the main plot. What started out as an apparent satire of Amazon turned into a subversive indictment of the Millennial Generation. "My generation, we change things, we make things happen." Solving problems by making things worse. And the sneaky bureaucrats and insidious artificial intelligence were actually trying to help-- in fact, it was actually the AI who sent the cry for help (and this also answered my initial question of why such an efficient company would just be delivering a fez that was ordered two Doctors ago-- it obviously duplicated a previous order as a medium for the message).

That said, the highlight of the episode may have been the middle-aged HR lady ripping the head off the robot.

As has been typical, the banter and chemistry between this group of Companions was strong. Initially I thought it would be amusing to have them along for the ride unintentionally, somewhat like Tegan, and spend the season trying to get home, but I like how eagerly they've adopted the roles of freelance troubleshooters. The standout moment of the episode was Yaz asking to take the pendant back to her deceased co-worker's family. There were actually a couple of particularly sad deaths in this one, the repentant family man and the insecure young lady-- until near the end, I was still expecting one or both to turn up alive.

I just hope this doesn't lean to a bubble wrap ban-- I love bubble wrap.

[Gary]

There were several nice red herrings in this one-- the biggest one being the main plot. What started out as an apparent satire of Amazon turned into a subversive indictment of the Millennial Generation. "My generation, we change things, we make things happen." Solving problems by making things worse. And the sneaky bureaucrats and insidious artificial intelligence were actually trying to help-- in fact, it was actually the AI who sent the cry for help (and this also answered my initial question of why such an efficient company would just be delivering a fez that was ordered two Doctors ago-- it obviously duplicated a previous order as a medium for the message).

That said, the highlight of the episode may have been the middle-aged HR lady ripping the head off the robot.

As has been typical, the banter and chemistry between this group of Companions was strong. Initially I thought it would be amusing to have them along for the ride unintentionally, somewhat like Tegan, and spend the season trying to get home, but I like how eagerly they've adopted the roles of freelance troubleshooters. The standout moment of the episode was Yaz asking to take the pendant back to her deceased co-worker's family. There were actually a couple of particularly sad deaths in this one, the repentant family man and the insecure young lady-- until near the end, I was still expecting one or both to turn up alive.

I just hope this doesn't lean to a bubble wrap ban-- I love bubble wrap.

I hope that bubble wrap is actually explosive and is used in an upcoming episode. I also got a kick out of how The Doctor disarmed the company president with Yaz explaining how The Doctor doesn't like guns.

[RJDiogenes]

I think Ryan popped some of the bubble wrap at the beginning. I don't think any of the explosive wrap was actually shipped-- it was all with that army that got destroyed.

[Lupine]

A commentary I found on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R51BOF-EF7g

Mostly sums up my thoughts.

[Gary]

A commentary I found on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R51BOF-EF7g

Mostly sums up my thoughts.

@5:27. Other than that, I have been enjoying Whittaker's interpretation and hope she stays 3+ seasons.

[Lupine]

So far, from what I heard, the ratings are pretty good- despite some of the clowns on Youtube insisting that the ratings are collapsing and the show is on the verge of cancellation

[Gary]

So far, from what I heard, the ratings are pretty good- despite some of the clowns on Youtube insisting that the ratings are collapsing and the show is on the verge of cancellation

[RJDiogenes]

Per the stats on Wiki, the ratings are up from last year-- which is kind of sad, since Doctor Capaldi is my favorite of the modern Doctors.

Mostly sums up my thoughts.

Ditto. I wish he had included Doctor Capaldi's full quote from that episode:

"I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right. Because it's decent. And above all, it's kind."

[RJDiogenes]

And here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOaVJufPqUU

[Lupine]

^The crowning moment of the 12th Doctor.

New episode tonight!