www.gamingtavern.eu

[dpmcalister]

Maybe I'm just being picky then as I would have expected, at least, a little movement from the two behind Bob given that, not 5 minutes later, the rest are moving fairly quickly
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[d(sqrt(-1))]

[Gallowglass]

Honestly? I thought it was the weakest episode of the series so far.

The Angels were cool, and the added twists were OK (albeit the "problem" was too easily spotted well in advance of the protagonists noticing). But it was Matt Smith's least convincing turn as the Doctor, Amy was overly muted, River Song came over as far more of a irritating Mary Sue than before and the combat clerics were too much the cliche of SF / Who soldiers and not enough individual characters.

*shrug* we'll see what part 2 brings...

Nick

[Kultist]

[Pirate Julio]

All the Dr Who fan's are being very quiet, too disgusted to speak, overawed with how wonderful it all is, tongue still hanging out at the length of Ms Pond's skirts?

I for one loved the episode with James Cordon, yes it was a little trite but I thought it was good viewing.

Anyone else?
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Take what ya can....give nothing back.

[Gallowglass]

Well, let's see.

Flesh & Stone wasn't much of an improvement on the preceding half I'm afraid. Matt Smith seemed more settled, River Song was less irritating and Karen Gillan as Amy was excellent... But the monster's powers were now changing scene by scene to be appropriately scary (no matter how contradictory to previously scene stuff), and the combat clerics remained cliched to the end, even down to the "gruff, hostile, but ultimately respectful" doomed leader. The end scene I'm could have done with out - it made sense and it was, ranting newspapers notwithstanding, pretty tame. I just could do with out it in Doctor Who. Overall, well executed for what it was, and I am very much in favour of the way Moffat's handling the series arc, but his least successful two parter for me I'm afraid.

The Vampires of Venice - looked pretty, thought the handling of Rory and Amy was excellent (and some what mollified my concerns from the previous week's ending)... In the end a rather slight, overly rushed bit of padding that's mostly there to established Rory and Amy more in viewers minds. I'm already a little fed up with "perception filter" as the new catch all technobabble plot fix and at least a half line explaining where the tidal wave went would have been nice. Also, back story elements seem rather similar to stuff from previous seasons...

Amy's Choice was the best episode of the season yet for me. In the end, it's only the three main characters who are in jeopardy and it's as much a psychological fairy tale as anything, but it had more atmosphere than Vampires of Venice and was more coherent than the Weeping Angels two parter.

The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood looked great and again the arc plot advancement was good. But key roles (Nasreen Chaudhry and Eldane in particular) just didn't convince (not sure if it was the actors or the script) and as a result it felt a little flat. A solid story, on a par with the Sontaran one, but not as good as the Library or some others.

Vincent and the Doctor I liked but felt it had the opposite problem to Vampires: there was too much implied, left lying just below the surface here. The monster was daft, but served the story well enough, and again I liked the scale on which it all happened: it wasn't per se Van Gogh the great painter Amy and Doctor saved (because they didn't), it was Van Gogh the troubled soul haunted by a very real and dangerous monster. I like Doctor Who on this scale, I always have, and I think NuWHo in the RTD went way over the top with epic, universe shaking threats, so I'd like to see more of these sorts of stories.

The Lodger was a lot of fun - I'm rather reminded of City of Death by the back story, but that's OK as it was well integrated with a good story highlighting the Doctor's eccentricity and compassion. I could do without the head-butt info dumps, and the Doctor's insight in to relationships is a little hard to square with earlier in the series but hey ho, it was a fun romp.

So now we come down to it. It's been, on balance a strong season so far. As good as any previous season of NuWho and one of the better ones. But the finale is the real test: RTD always seemed to fluff these to some extent, letting his penchant for mawkish melodrama and deus ex machina get the better of him. I'm hoping that Moffat will handle it better. We'll see.

Cheers,

Nick

[dr_mitch]

Overall it feels like a cross between "classic" and "new" Doctor Who. In terms of quality, it's much much better than series four and the specials, although none of the individual episodes so far has matched the best episodes of seasons 1 to 3. Still, I'm rather looking forward to the season finale!

In terms of individual episodes, Flesh and Stone felt fairly weak- I can't quite put my finger on why. Vampires of Venice was fun. Amy's choice was really really good. The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood was as good as a good "classic" Doctor Who story.

I thought Vincent and the Doctor was oversentimental tripe. Easily the worst episode in the series- worse than Beast Below. I hope Richard Curtis doesn't write any more Who.

The Lodger was fun. Showed off both the new Doctor's more appealling and less appealling character traits.

Other thoughts- I do like the Matt Smith doctor. Amy Pond is rather good looking, but doesn't really seem to have all that much personality.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[dr_mitch]

So what did people think of the finale then? I rather liked it- and it definitely made a nice change from *another* Dalek invasion of Earth.
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Paul Mitchener

Maths Sensei

Author: Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents in Ancient Greece), Drowned Lands (in Adventures in Wordplay), Dragon City (in the OpenQuester).

[ben.quant]

[Pirate Julio]

I enjoyed it, liking the new doctor a lot, looking forward to the Xmas episode.
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Take what ya can....give nothing back.

[Gallowglass]