wmansir

This was an ok episode, but it has a few problems that annoy me.

First, the external brain thing. OK, normally I would just chalk it up to a weird DW alien characteristic, but what raises it to the level of annoying is that Donna and The Doctor spent the whole episode running around investigating the plant because they said it was impossible for a species to naturally evolve to be as subservient as the Ood. (The Doctor obviously never having heard of Mutualism.) But they don't bat an eye when they it turns out these creatures evolved to walk around with the most fragile and vital organ swinging around on a cord. Not to mention the literal giant brain.

Which brings me to the entire retcon of the Ood. It seems like a real cop out to me. I don't know if they had it planned all along, but having the Ood be "happy slaves" was much more alien in the politically correct DW universe than any physical attribute they came up with. It may not have been a good allegory for our world, but they took something that was a little provocative and turned into just another cookie cutter morality lecture about how much human's suck.

And that brings me to the final point, while it was a human who actually freed the Ood, the story ends with the Ood thanking the 'doctordonna' and saying they will never forget what they did and their names will be sung for eternity....except the doctordonna really didn't do anything to free them besides physically pulling the switch after everything was settled.

Baron Of Hell

It was kind of Ood that the Ood would thank the doctor and donna when the human did all the leg work.

Slumbering Fist

^ B-b-b-but you guys forget. According to NewWho- The Doctor is Jesus

Shazam

Oh, I know he didn't write the episode. He still needs to be euthanized

boredsilly

I liked the episode myself. It did seem weird to go through all of the trouble of making the Ood come from an ice planet, when that doesn't really jive with their appearance.

I am still waiting for the first "great" episode of this season though.

boredsilly

Now I get why people give us long time comicbook fans a hard way to go.

Being new to the series, I think Tennant is fantastic. I don't get "stiff" at all, but I love when he's all enthusiastic and "overdone". I also really liked Eccleston too. I only have two Doctors to go buy, but I hope they stick to this sort of flavor.

rfduncan

I believe he is booked to do something on the West End? The specials instead of a whole "season" allow him to get through both rehearsals and performances while still doing new episodes here and there.

I agree on both counts. It was a shame that we didn't get 2 seasons out of Eccleston, but I REALLY enjoy Tennant. I never expected to cry watching this show, but he made me THREE TIMES so far. Only Tennant could have delivered that "I am the Doctor. I am a time lord" speech in "Voyage of the Damned" and make it work.

dan30oly

Honestly, I don't think you're missing much.

I first got into Doctor Who with Eccleston (I had never seen an episode before). The last 8 months I've been watching what's available on dvd (it helped that I was grounded for 6 weeks with a cast on my leg back in august) and the older episodes do not hold up well. Right now I'm up to The Doctor before the series went off the air. Wow...really bad Dalek episode.

I know I'm going to be pissing off alot of fans, but the new Who is far superior and Tennant is by far the best Doctor of the bunch.

Slumbering Fist

Well, to be fair, Doctor Who before was a totally different animal. Its like saying, "I like science fiction. I absolutely loved Terminator 2, but Forbidden Planet was horrible."

Classic Who was a much more pulp show and every major aspect was different- audience, approach, budget, etc. Hell, it was around during the biggest change in sci fi tv/film, when the genre went from being cultish, mainly kiddie material, to a post Star Wars-is-cool, popular phenomenon.

New Who exists in a very changed sci fi landscape, especially in terms of television where stuff like The X-Files, Buffy, and such really altered fantasy televisions approach towards content.

riley_dude

Loved the Sontaran episode tonight. Exciting and a lot of fun. Good to see again too.

Superman07

With regard to: ^

This is why I need to wait until the series is finished and watch it straight through. I'd have popped in the next disc to find out what happens!

As for the episode specifics:

Panda Phil

^ I don't know.

Slumbering Fist

It took me a line or two to realize who was playing the Sontaran commander, then I laughed my ass off. Hopefully we'll get Rik Mayall or Adrian Edmondson as a Zygon soon.

I swear, so far, three seasons in I've only liked one of the two-parters. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't horrible and a decent ending could be redemptive, but it, like most of the two-parters, didn't feel epic and looks like a one hour concept that has been stretched out.

riley_dude

If he is elimated by the second part I will be upset. He was annoying and an irritant.

boredsilly

I LOVED this episode. So much was happening, that never let me get bored. The bad guys look completely ridiculous, but I still buy into them. Apparently Napoleon complexes are not relegated to this planet.

riley_dude

They look better than they used to in the old series. I remember first seeing them in the 80's in an episode called The Sontara Experiment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sontaran_Experiment

Chew

I don't remember them being 4ft tall in the original series!

Kevin M. Dean

They're not 4ft tall in the new series either.

Shazam

Nice rehash of the "Are you my mommy?" line

Panda Phil

Well, the 3rd Doctor did refer to the Sontarans as "Nasty, brutish, and short." So...

Personally I thought it was a brilliant second half. Much better IMO to not have enough story than trying to cram too much into 45 minutes.

The Sontarans are probably best most well developed enemies so far in the new series.

And loved the cliffhanger ending. That sort of thing is straight out of the Hartnell era.

riley_dude

Enjoyed the conclusion of the Sontaran episode. Liked the Doctor blurting out, Are you my Mommy when he had the gas mask on and interesting that up again.

Groucho

I imagine the preview for episode 6 ought to upstage anything that happens in this episode.

Slumbering Fist

I thought it was pretty disposable. I think that entire storyline could have been a one parter. Throw out a lot of the war room phone conferencing and some other little bits and the plotline could have been tighter. You could really see a lot of budget cutting on this one too, more so than any recent episode.

As for the preview:

Traxan

Well I tried one more episiode this week, where the Doctor ended up in Pompei in 79 AD. Awful. He's supposed to be in ancient Rome and we're hearing cockney accents and British slang. That's just sloppy and lazy.

Sorry, I'm gonna stick to old school Who.

Shazam