All New Who

{{ Yup, compared to what we currently have even when I wasn't enjoying some of the plotting in RTD there was always good character stuff to enjoy at least and good writing.
Now there aren't good plots to enjoy, there aren't good characters to enjoy, and the writing isn't good. }}

agreed.

Not Hurt,no.

Welp, looks like I have 50+ pages of Who to search through now...

Ha, looks like Moffat, writer of The Beast Below, saw some Thundarr the Barbarian in his younger days.

Jump to 0:47


It's amusing that the sound effects for the Fabulous Sun Sword are so light-saber-ish, considering that the Sun Sword is a light-saber rip-off from D&D.

{{{  Though given the episode I suspect in reality the Smilers were more influenced by the creepy weird automaton figures you used to get in booths at seaside resorts all over the UK from the Victorian era up till about the late 1970's. }}

Sweet Lord, that's straight out of a bad Stephen King movie.

{{ There used to be a'Laughing Policeman' one where I went on holiday as a kid- gave me nightmares. Was this one in fact, this does not bring back happy memories seeing it again! }}

The British beaches seem to be hellish places. I'll pass.

I can't believe somebody filmed 4 minutes of that first one.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ There used to be a'Laughing Policeman' one where I went on holiday as a kid- gave me nightmares.  Was this one in fact, this does not bring back happy memories seeing it again!   }}

One of the museums I volunteer at has a large collection of vintaage slot machines, including a couple like this, crepy things

{{ Wasn't entirely sure where to put this, here or on the games thread, but given I would class itmore as an experience that a proper game in any sense of the word I figured here would be better.

The Runaway a review of the VR experience.
I 'played' this on the Occulus rift and I'll start with the good. Rather than go for ultra realism it aims for an animated look and largely succeeds. In fact I would go so far as to say Jodie suits animated form somewhat more than live action as in animated form she gurns a lot less. The animation throughout is sharp, crisp and well motion captured. Likewise the interior of the TARDIS console room is detailed enough to be sure what everything is but retains the drawn part cell-shaded look.
Sound is good too, there's plenty variety, everything is super authentic and I actually found Akinolas soundtrack to this more engaging here than anything I can recall from the entirety of last series. And the Doctors dialogue is clear and fits the animation well.

So the bad. Well its the 13th Doctor and its the 13th Doctors TARDIS, so it feels small for a TARDIS- one nice touch is the the far walls, which look like plain metal in the show here have huge sections that are lit up orange with swirling Gallifreyean patterns, and it does help a tiny bit to break up the gloom and give a slight increase to the sense of scale- but its till feels like a gloomy cave, particualry when looking from the console towards the door area. Its just not a goo TARDIS interior and any other from any previous Who would have been better to have been in.
The other issue is 13 herself. If you dont like her already this isn't going to help. She delivers the lines well enough I suppose, but its pure nonsense and ear filler, the worst of the babbling she did in series 11. And its near constant. She rattles on, going off on tangents and what are supposed to be humorous and quirky asides, and it soon starts to grate. Its all still trying too hard to find a personality,l and she doesn't have one that's her own. It still sounds like a bad hodge podge of 10 and 11.
Another issue I had, and it may be hearing her only and not seeing her performance, but I realised what I dont like about her line delivery- every single line is delivered with an abundance of over enthusiasm, like an over eager camp councillor. And I find it very grating very quickly.





Full spoilers ahead.
The plot is, simple. There is a creature made of energy, if it gets upset it goes critical and the resulting explosion can take out a galaxy. The Doctor has rigged a home made stasis facility to keep it in and is transporting it home, when some sort of police turn up and demand they hand the creature over.
As the 'player' you first have to pilot the TARDIS whilst the Doctor tries to keep the creature calm as the 'police' fire on the ship.
Piloting consists of using the controller to pull and drag about a small hologrpahic TARDIS as oncoming debris and asteroids get in the way. Its basic stuff, a weird way to pilot the TARDIS not in keeping with any way its ever been flown, and makes no sense the Doctor wouldn't just have engaged the engines and dematerialised and gone to the destination.
Anyhow she doesnt and once you've got to the home place of the energy creature the police turn up again, the Doctor is trying to release it as the thing goes critical, but the machine is buggered and wont release it. So whilst she fixes that you have to keep it calm by waving various toys in its face.
Then it goes critical anyway once youve done that, turns into a blackhole, you have to point the sonic at it and drain off the energy into the TARDIS which proves utterly pointless, as it doesnt work, so the Doctor hits it with a hammer (the only good bit in the plot) and releases it.
Then it comes back in the door all happy with its mummy and Daddy.
And the Doctor says she will drop you off and then offers 'one more trip'. The End.

So um, its basic in plot, its very basic in 'gameplay' and annoyingly for a VR game you are rooted to the spot, you are actually told by the Doctor not to move. And if you try to move the screen will fade to grey and you have to move back.
Giving you a TARDIS in VR then completely restricting your ability to nosey about it is a huge missed opportunity. As is not letting you come in through the doors to experience the 'bigger on the inside' effect.

There is a lot of potential for Who in VR, and may be realised better in the just announced full Doctor Who VR game coming later this year.

Weeping Angels and Daleks in VR! - they could be onto something there.

Ooo, Daleks and angels! That has potential!

That 13 game tho... Fits her series I suppose...

If she talks fast enough maybe no one will know the script is shit, I can see the thought process there...

{{{ Its a good plan, but I don't think it's working. All I get is a really bad script hurled at me in a stream of babbling ear vomit.
They make is almost impossible to believe the gibbering idiot that is 13 is the same super intelligent being of her predecessors - }}

{{{ Well another new Who director announced if anyone is still interested, I am barely paying attention these days. And if your playing Chibnal pc bingo then you've probably got a winning card.

They are female (check), from an ethnic minority (check) young (check) no connections to the Whoverse in earlier work (check) and have bugger all previous experience of note (check). Her name is Nida Manzoor and she has 4 shorts to her name.
Presumably after the rip-roaring fan success that was last series Chibbers has decided that his master plan of hiring writers and directors with little to no experience of writing or directing, and no genre experience at all and avoiding anyone with experience of writing or directing Who, or has a penis (unless your gay in which case you get a penis pass), or whose skin is too white worked brilliantly and more of the same is called for!   }}

so Chibbers is still a thing is he? meh. I will wait until he buggers off.

{{ I have heard nothing in the little we do know, writers, directors etc to give me much hope we will not be getting more of the same }}

{{ I love this scene. Encapsulates the spirit of the show in a few minutes in a way last series failed to its entire run.
The characters are interesting and fun, the tale is engaging and proper sci-fi in concept and it has a point and tells you something about the characters, its got a hint of nostalgia for the history of the show but not overly done, just enough to make it feel part of it not just hearkening back to it, and of course its a little silly. }}

Though anything with Missy is fun, this scene also exemplifies Moffat's hero-worship trope, a card he plays too often for my taste.

{{ Do you mean of the Doctor?

If so I think he uses it to a purpose in general, though not always.

Only the first 1.42 is relevant.



From 20 seconds onwards}}



Moffat plays as a narrative with the idea of the Doctor having become a legend and a figure of almost mythical proportions, and the darker side he struggles with and the consequences of his actions and reputation. He often builds the Doctor up only to kick his legs out from under him later for it.

edit add- nor is the Doctor always shown to be in the right (and great performance from Jenna Coleman here too)}}

{{ The 'hero-worship' or deification of the Doctor arguably can be traced back to the 7th Doctor and the so called Cartmel 'masterplan' best summed up in 7's 'I am far more than just another Time Lord' declaration.



This idea that the Doctor was not as he claimed, there was yet more to him than just being a Time Lord never got taken very far as the show got cancelled, but it had laid the seeds.

You then have to take into account that it was cancelled, and a whole generation who grew up loving Who lost it, but they never gave up on it, and many of them created their own- novels, comics and what would go on to become Big Finish all saw their creation during the Wilderness Years when the show was off the air.
There was a longing among those who had grown up on it and were now themselves adults in the entertainment industry, a wish for it back and a nostalgia for what had been and to recreate it.

So by the time Russel T Davies brought the show back there had been this period of struggle, of keeping the Doctor alive against all the odds, of glorifying this character and show not just in an attempt to get it back, but in their own heads.

Whilst the Cartmel masterplan was never followed through on as originally intended, the idea there was more to the Doctor became something that was expressed in him having a near mythical status.

In the RTD era this often took the form of grand speeches he would make about himself-



or he would be spoken of in near legendary terms by titles such as 'The Oncoming Storm' or spoken of as if her were some sort of God.



And sometimes the Doctors actions are shown as being fantastical in his powers, more fairytale than sci-fi  -



The Doctor under RTD was a figure whose name alone was enough to turn enemies away-



In fact RTD went so far as to pretty much visually turn him God-like, rising up on basically a prayer into a crucifix posed super Jesus offering forgiveness and mercy



Moffat, like RTD, came from those wilderness years of working to keep Who alive in any fashion he could, but whilst he still has RTD's hero worship of the character Moffat was more interested narratively in using it to expose the Doctors hubris.

So in his first series in charge it all begins with the new Doctor taking his place, but he does so with one of those big 'I am the Doctor, you know who I am, so you better run away fast' speeches that 10 was so known for-



and the series cumulates in the Doctor continuing doing what he has being doing, using his name and legendary status to make the bad guys think again-



Only to then subvert this moment of arrogant triumph by revealing the whole thing was a trap all along that depended on his arrogance and grandstanding to get him-



All this eventually culminates in series 6's story line from where the vid above with River chastening him for what he has become is from, and I'll put again here for the sake of having it all in one post-



all the bad that happens is solely down to the Doctors name being so legendary and mythical now that people want him dead purely out of fear of what he might be or do.

So whilst its true that RTD and Moffat era glorified, deified and elevated the Doctor to this god like figure, Moffat did also use it to expose the character and to prick his ego and to deflate him too. One could argue the story of 11-12 is the story of the Fall of the Doctor, River even warns Rory that the Doctor will rise higher than he ever has before, and then fall further than ever before, leading to 12, whose story is one of rediscovering who he really is and what he really stands for under all the piled up centuries of legend.



With the 13th Doctor they have tried to strip all of that back from her- there is a clear attempt to go back to 1st Doctor principles- the companions are the lead, the Doctor doesn't often do anything directly but acts more like a guide and advisor and historical narrator, and she is just a traveller nothing more- problem is it creates a big disconnect with everything else NuWho. Which combined with how its written, the poorly written characters and plots and the lack of any other connecting tissue to previous versions, made it feel not very much like Who. }}

Okay, so it's not just Moffat. But I have to say everytime RTD does it, it feels different, while every time Moffat does it, it feels the same. Perhaps because RTD more often puts it in other people's mouths.

{{ There a lot of grandstanding speeches from the Doctor in 10 era, its known for them, too many I felt to put up so I just picked a couple to make the point, so not so sure about it feeling different every time. For a lot of people they got a bit tiresome towards the end.
In the case of series 5 its not coincidental it begins with a big I am the Doctor speech that does as expected- helps win the day, and ends on one that sees him punished for his hubris. But that does require it coming out of his own mouth for it be effective.

With 12 Moffat used it quite differently, such as when 12 threatened Ashildir.





It gives the opportunity to use the legendary status of the Doctor to exemplify how dangerous he really is under it all. By this point in the Doctor's story the 'veil has been lifted' and he its no longer grandstanding, its straight up warning and threatening.}}