The Valeyard

Wasn't meaning it in a bad way. Floored me as well. Really can't wait until next week.

Makes you wonder what they're going to do next season for that finale that can top this.

Panda Phil

I'm really kinda suspicious of this whole 'Rose dies' thing. There's gotta be a trick to it otherwise the writers wouldn't be so damn open about it.

Personally I'm betting that she and her mom end up going to the alternate Earth with Micky and her dad.


No prob. I've just been hearing that term way too much in reviews of the episode and I was starting to wonder if ANYTHING could please fans anymore. No harm done.

Next season should be interesting alright. There'll be a new companion to introduce, the supposed return of Capt Jack, and that strange prophecy from the Face of Boe to deal with. I do hope the writers continue with their reintroduction of classic monsters though. I'd love to see the new production teams take on the Sontarans, or even the long forgotten Ice Warriors.

Damn, it's gonna be a looooooog week!

And an even longer nine months (except for Christmas) after that.

Chew

It's hard to believe that no classic monsters have ever been pitted against one another. After the end of the episode, I had that very question, but it was the Confidential that told me it hasn't.

I don't think the Cybermen have much of a chance.

wmansir

I believe the Mechanoids who battle the Daleks in "The Chase" were intended to be reoccurring villains, but they never caught on. Terry Nation was trying to recreate the success of the Daleks with another creature that was marketable. Since they only made one appearance on the TV series they probably weren't what you were thinking of as a classic monster. However, it was a truly epic battle. If 'epic' is a synonym for lame.

I also agree with your assessment of the Cybermen's chances, at least without the Doctor's help. In one corner we have the Cybermen, who were defeated by quasi-modern day humans in Micky's alternate universe, and in the other, the Daleks, who, with one exception, wiped out the Time Lords.

benedict

That said, the most recent Cybermen were a re-invention with an inbuilt software/central control-related weakness to more than just the gold and solvents that incapacitated the "originals".

From what has been said during current DW shows, following the Dalek v Timelord battle all the daleks were supposed to have been wiped out bar one [or was it two?] which also necessitated a re-invention from [corrupt] human stock.

The Valeyard

Since these Daleks have come from the Void Ship...it suggests that these are either a) Daleks from another universe/dimension or b) Daleks who popped out of the universe to escape the Dalek/Time Lord aftermath hence, pure Daleks.

I'm betting on the later.

davidoflondon

Just to let everyone know this in my last post as I died writing it .....

Doesn't make sense does it? If I died writing the post how would I know? I can write anticipating I'm about to die, maybe even certain I'm about to die, but I can't write about my having died in the past tense.

Unless .. that is ... if I "died" but didn't stay dead, like Buffy in the Prophecy Girl episode of Buffy or Jack Harness in Parting of the Ways.

I personally think this is a wind up, if Rose does die I don't think its a permanent state. I can't see RTD spoiling only the second time a long running companion has died (and the first time a popular one has, sorry Adric) by telling us about it in advance. As I recall some months back papers reported that David Tennant and Billie Piper had both signed for third season. I could be wrong, I was wrong once in 1974 so it has happened before. But I think there's more to it.

davidoflondon

But bear in mind the Daleks were fought to a stalemate by the Movellans in a centuries long battle, see Destiny of the Daleks. The same Movellans who were so crap they were defeated because they couldn't figure out how to play Rock/Paper/Scissors.

They didn't even have the intellect of the Duracell Bunny rabbit or they'd have had a better power source.

So Daleks versus Cybermen could be a closer run thing. Anyway Micky doesn't seem to have done such a hot job if there were millions left to come into our universe.

But Daleks or Cybermen versus Duracell Bunny, you've got to bet on the Bunny.

davidoflondon

Daleks in front of her, Cybermen behind her. Seems fairly surrounded to me.

benedict

If so, one wonders whether some/all of the Time Lords might've taken a similar escape route.

adamblast

We'll know soon enough... But I think you must be right that her "death" is just a storytelling device and that she'll be brought back immediately if she really dies at all... I don't think that's how she leaves the Tardis and Doctor Who, though it's clear she's leaving more-or-less for good with this next episode.

Kill off Rose for real and you've got a whole generation of kids and new fans thinking: why the hell would anyone want to be a companion... This is at heart a fairly sentimenal show: with a Dad pining for Mom in one world, and Mom pining for Dad in the other, I think she's going to choose a reunited family (maybe including Mickey?) over a lifetime of more adventures. The conversation in the Tardis seemed to be pointing that direction, when Jackie said that after a lifetime with the Doctor she'd no longer really be Rose Tyler...

D.Zero

Well, I don't know if Rose is going to die or not but we have a new companion, , Freema Agyeman. Would she be the first black companion, at least fulltime since Mickey only lasted a few episodes?
Full details from the BBC/Doctor Who web site.

astrochimp

I use to love reading the Dr Who books when i was a kid and saw some of the shows back in the late 70's early 80's but im lookign for something new to watch and this was on my mind and especially since this topic was at the top today.

Where would be a good point to jump in at? I dont know if its on Canadian tv here or not but im thinking maybe a blind buy on a season set.

Groucho

I hope that Hawaiian shirt isn't the Doctor's new costume!

adamblast

Darn. Nothing against her, and I hope she shines in the show, but I was really hoping for something other than another contemporary gal from London or Cardiff.

Of course, we don't know anything about her character Martha Jones yet, but my expectations are leaning toward more soap opera backstory, and another year of mostly earthbound Who that owes as much or more to other genres than it does to sci-fi.

wmansir

I though she looks a lot like the chick who got robotamied this week, but then that character was killed, and besides all minorities look alike to me* so it couldn't be....but it is. They've brought actors back as new characters before. Still, it will be odd to see her dying in one episode only to show up as a new companion just an episode or two later.



*joke

Panda Phil

Boy amen to that! I hope they at least give her an interesting back story. Alien exchange student, survivor of a doomed space colony, anything to give the writers an excuse to get the hell away from Earth for awhile.

Going by what I've read and seen elsewhere, the main problem with the Mechanoids was that the 'suits' were just too damn big for the size sets the show had in those days. You could only fit two, maybe three into the room.

davidoflondon

But not the first time. Peter Purves (Steven) turned up early in the story The Chase only to become a companion later on that season.

davidoflondon

Personally I think you're getting a little previous here. I think it was fairly certain that whoever they cast would be currently living in 21st century Britain. For some obscure reason they seem unable to actually travel to other times and planets to interview for cast members.

However despite this, self imposed, BBC limitation they have asked other people to play aliens or people from other times. In total companions we've had have been

Human Comtemporary

Ian
Barbara
Dodo
Ben
Polly
Victoria (nearly contemporary)
Liz Shaw
Jo Grant
Sarah-Jane Smith
Tegan
Peri
Mel
Ace
Rose

Human Non-Contemporary (Past/Future)

Vicki
Katarina
Sara Kingdom
Steven
Jaime
Zoe

Alien (Not born on Earth although in some cases descended from Earth)

Susan
Leela
K9
Romana I
Romana II
Adric
Nyssa
Turlough
Kamelion

Don't think I've forgotten anyone. Contenmporary Humans is the largest group. Particularly if you consider the period from Davison onwards where Turlough and Kamelion are the last non-contemporaries.

The producers tend to feel viewers need contemporaries as companions in order to give us someone to identify with. So you're probably right but its not guaranteed until we actually "meet" her.

Chew

2005 Series One that just came out on US DVD.

Groucho

With a name like "Martha Jones" it's probably a safe bet that she's not an alien.

Tracer Bullet

Well, she is English.

bub2000

They're showing season one on CBC right now. The DVD is really overpriced, at about C$100.

D.Zero

Purely idle speculation on my part. The talk of Rose's death is itself a red herring to make people think that no way would they discus something that was going to happen and have it actually happen. Rose dies in heroic fashion saving the Doctor, her Mom and the world. This gives us a distraught Doctor at the beginning of series three and sets in motion various interesting dramatic possibilities with a new companion.
On-thehand idle speculation, Rose doesn't die but does save the Doctor & the world from certain doom but chooses to return to the alternative Earth with Mickey and that time line's version of her Dad. She also brings along her Mum for good measure. Make any sense or is it all crazy talk on my part?

The Valeyard

CRAZY!!!



Just kidding. I think it's gonna go that route as well. It's too perfectly set up to go any other way.