Thread: Who Christmas Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.
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Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on
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Personally I thought this year's Special was unmitigated rubbish and further evidence not only that Moffat should go, but that this recent "tradition" should be put to bed as well. However, I am well known for being a miserable old git on these issues - what did the rest of you think?
Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on
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You're definitely a miserable old git -- I loved it. Thought it was quite fluffy, but lots of fun the way it played around with the silly comic-book tropes.
Posted by M. (# 3291) on
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I enjoyed it as well. Light, frothy fun.
But I agree it's well time Moffatt goes.
M.
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on
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I didn't hate it. As has been said, it was just frothy fun with no deep message. I was a bit surprised that it didn't really try to set up anything for the return of the series. No hook, no cliffhanger.
On a related topic, I did enjoy watching the animated "The Power of the Daleks." I have long had the audio for that story (the first to feature a regenerated Doctor) but the animation helps immensely in appreciating what is going on. It really is one of the better Dalek stories!
Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on
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I enjoyed it and the husband, who HATES Capaldi, actually watched it with me. Sure, it wasn't deep and dark--but honestly, it's the Christmas special and doesn't need to be.
I like the valet--looking forward to seeing more of him--and I like that we now know that the Doctor and River did spend the last 24 years of her life together.
Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on
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When I first saw this topic, I thought it must be about the How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Posted by balaam (# 4543) on
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I liked it too. But when I saw the diagonal face scars I could not help thinking about this.
Posted by leo (# 1458) on
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I liked the heads opening up.
Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on
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I also love, love, love Matt Lucas as Nardole and was happy to see in the sneak preview for the upcoming season that we'll see more of him. I don't know why they need to introduce yet another pretty young girl as a companion: the Doctor and Matt Lucas having adventures in time and space is about all I'd ever require.
Posted by balaam (# 4543) on
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As far as I am aware Nardole is in for the whole 2017 series.
Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on
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Nardole, for me, was one of the many things to spoil the episode. Mercifully I had completely forgotten his last experience, and had to look him up, but he seems too close to Jar Jar Binks for comfort - there for "comic" effect and nothing else.
However, when Hedgehog says: quote:
On a related topic, I did enjoy watching the animated "The Power of the Daleks."
I must agree completely. It is a wonderful story, and hearing a Dalek say "I am your servant," remains very creepy. My only quibble is that the animation makes all the men look as though they have black eyes; otherwise it's grand.
Posted by neandergirl (# 8916) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
When I first saw this topic, I thought it must be about the How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Right there with you ...
Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Robert Armin:
Nardole, for me, was one of the many things to spoil the episode. Mercifully I had completely forgotten his last experience, and had to look him up, but he seems too close to Jar Jar Binks for comfort - there for "comic" effect and nothing else.
I don't have a problem with comic-effect or clown-type characters as long as they are actually funny. I loathe Jar Jar Binks, but not because he's only in the movie for comic effect -- it's because he's there for comic effect, but is not at all funny. Whereas I find Matt Lucas as Nardole hilarious, so I'm happy to see him in that role. But humour is, of course, notoriously subjective.
Posted by Gill H (# 68) on
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Frothy fun with superhero tropes, just the thing for dark times. Not a single reference to anything Christmassy, which makes me wonder whether it was originally intended as part of the regular series.
Patted myself on the back early on when I recognised what the mention of the names Siegel and Schuster meant.
Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on
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quote:
Not a single reference to anything Christmassy
Like the expectation of an elderly man to be fed milk and a biscuit on a particular evening?
Posted by Gill H (# 68) on
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Ehhh ... guess so. In the UK he gets sherry and a mince pie
though! (But the setting was Manhattan so, yeah.)
Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on
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Finally watched it. I'd been saving it because I wanted to watch again the episodes I'd kept from 2015. Including Christmas 2015...
...Which didn't help at all for the first half of the episode. Because I remembered the fate of Nardole, I found myself wondering how the heck Nardole ended up wandering around with the Doctor. And he really was just wandering around, contributing nothing whatsoever to the story. It took until more than halfway for those things to be 'fixed'.
There were other things I had problems with too, again mostly in the first half. It felt tonally all over the place, trying to do too many things at once. Superman and alien sci-fi (the diagonally sliced head lifted, just like Nardole, from the 2015 Christmas) simultaneously just felt... a bit awkward. It took a long time to gel, and the whole initial premise of the creation of the superhero was poor.
And finally, Mr Huffle is one of the most pointless and not-funny things I've ever come across. There are two elements that have the potential to continue on into the coming series, and I am dreading the fact that one of them is Mr Huffle.
Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
I was a bit surprised that it didn't really try to set up anything for the return of the series. No hook, no cliffhanger.
UNIT has been infiltrated. That sure looked like a hook to me. And it was one of the most redeeming bits.
[ 03. January 2017, 10:44: Message edited by: orfeo ]
Posted by Tubbs (# 440) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
I enjoyed it and the husband, who HATES Capaldi, actually watched it with me. Sure, it wasn't deep and dark--but honestly, it's the Christmas special and doesn't need to be.
I like the valet--looking forward to seeing more of him--and I like that we now know that the Doctor and River did spend the last 24 years of her life together.
I liked it too. It was light hearted, fun and worked perfectly as a one off whilst setting up the season. You know those things are going to be back. Which means more UNIT. Yay! Not sure about Bill yet, but I like the Matt Lucas character. He's very different companion wise. It'll be interesting to see what the new showrunner does too.
I have Powers of the Daleks to watch. So looking forward to it!
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