Heads up! Dr Who starts Saturday....

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Oh, that was great. Nice to see them doing comedy.

[bobb]

I really liked that episode too. I loved the football scene 

[TimO]

... One criticism - the alien/monster seemed superfluous to the plot, something which has happened before in this series. ...

Well, not really.  Without the alien/monster/whatever, there wouldn't have been anything to hang the rest of the storyline off of.

They needed an excuse for Amy to get stuck in the Tardis whilst the Doctor went off and did zany "human" things.  The alien/monster/whatever was the mechanism used to do that.  This did mean it seemed a little superfluous, since they didn't really flesh it out very well, probably for reasons of brevity, ie keeping the episode within it's limited duration.

[woollypigs]

Just watched it with Peli and PGtips. And PGtips got Pelli with a great placed Boo!

[goatpebble]

I could see James Cordern's belly from the back of the room! 

I am probably the only person who dislikes James Corden even more than Patrick Stewart might.

The belly debacle just confirmed it.

I wish I could watch him being 'disembellied' by the alien. I would hope to be toasting this messy event in the company of Sir Patrick...

[bobb]

I really like James Corden, I think he's funny as fuck. It's sad when people use "He's fat" to criticize him. So what if he could lose a few *insert whatever units you wish to use*

I probably weigh half as much as James, but what the fuck has that got to do with the price of kettles?

[citoyen]

I've met James Corden and he's every bit the lovely bloke he comes across on telly. I like him.

My only problem with him is that he's a bit over-exposed at the moment - seems to be on the telly every time I turn the darn thing on. However much you like someone, this is never a good thing.

d.

[mattc]

... One criticism - the alien/monster seemed superfluous to the plot, something which has happened before in this series. ...

Well, not really.  Without the alien/monster/whatever, there wouldn't have been anything to hang the rest of the storyline off of.

They needed an excuse for Amy to get stuck in the Tardis whilst the Doctor went off and did zany "human" things.  The alien/monster/whatever was the mechanism used to do that.  This did mean it seemed a little superfluous, since they didn't really flesh it out very well, probably for reasons of brevity, ie keeping the episode within it's limited duration.

Well yes really. What obviously happens here is that a writer comes in with a good idea that makes a nice 40min story [DW plays football, meets Bernard Cribbins, whatever], then the head writers remind them to have some proper Who elements, so they crowbar an alien in there.

So Amy needed to be in the tardis:
well have the lock jam, or Amy get sick ... keep it simple if you only have 2 screen minutes for it!
<\grump>

[Rhys W]

Anybody been playing the free adventure game yet? I'm no gamer, but I enjoy frittering my time away on this.

[Rhys W]

Stunning episode tonight - wow. Nice bit of misdirection, I was  only about 2 seconds before the reveal.

[Adrian]

They appeared to have stirrups on the horses.I thought that conventional wisdom was the Romans didn't have stirrups.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

 

Ooooh! I thought they would open the Pandorica to find the Doctor, not that they'd lock him in it.

I wish it was next week!

[gonzo]

Why if the screwdriver is a torch did he not use it when it went dark in the angels episode?

[woollypigs]

Why if the screwdriver is a torch did he not use it when it went dark in the angels episode?

New update released

[Dave]

God, I *love* River Song so much.

Anyway. Can't wait for next week. That was brilliant - almost as good as 'Blink' - the intro pre-credits was just superb. I think Moffat can do these big stories much better than RTD.

[woollypigs]

Lined it up nicely to a big episode next week, just hope that it will not fail.

[tonycollinet]

Excellent episode. The kids predicted that the pandorica would hold the Dr just from the "next time" at the end of the last episode. Though like Kirst they thought it would hold a future Dr.

[Dave]

OK. My take on it. They've got the wrong person in the box. The cracks in time are being caused by Amy - the Dr *knows* there's something not right with her.

I still think River is by far the most interesting character - is the diary really hers? She doesn't seem the kind of person who would create a diary like that, but does come across as the kind of person who would steal it off someone. Like Amy, who does seem like the kind of person who would write a diary like that...

But where did River get the ability to pilot the Tardis? Or the funky sonic screwdriver? Hmm.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I think they put the Doctor in the box which means he's the only thing which survives the TARDIS exploding and the universe ending so then he can sort it all out and make it not happen. Because obviously the TARDIS exploding isn't a fixed point in time thing that always has to happen, or else River wouldn't have all the memories of the future because they wouldn't have happened.

I think it is River's diary and the reason she keeps it is because she and the Doctor both travel in time, separately and together, and she uses it to keep track of when they are when they meet so she doesn't give him spoilers - I think it really is that simple. And I think she's his wife. But from a future regeneration. So he gives her the screwdriver and teaches her to fly the TARDIS in the future.

I'm scoobied about Amy though.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Is River the future Amy? Mabe this Doctor likes gingers...

[mattc]

Excellent episode. The kids predicted that the pandorica would hold the Dr just from the "next time" at the end of the last episode.

Does anyone think the "next time" bits are a good idea? In our house they are always the cue to lunge for the remote

[redshift]

The whole point of the cliffhanger at the end of an episode, back in the bad old days of four- and six-part stories, was that there was no guarantee that anyone would survive.  If you have a cliffhanger, followed by 'ooh look, they're all there in next week's episode,' it kind of defeats the object.

[citoyen]

I was very pleased there was no "next time" at the end of this week's episode - no idea what's going to happen. It's properly exciting!

However...

(click to show/hide)

I do know that Karen Gillan is back in the next series, so that's at least one question answered already.

d.

[TimO]

Hmm that was interesting (I just watched it on iPlayer whilst eating my breakfast).

I must admit I thought maybe the Pandorica contained the Doctor (or one of him anyway), seeing as generally he's the worst thing in the Universe for most of the baddies (I also wondered if his Daughter could reappear, since she's sort of in the same category, basically being a clone of him).

It's a bit of a dark end to that episode, what with everyone apparently incapacitated by something, although we don't really need any "...and next time", because we know they'll be back, or at least the Doctor will.

I wondered about the Nestene intelligence, because I've always thought of that as a bit of a second class baddie, not really up to the level of the Daleks or the Cybernen, but I guess within the Alliance they were a suitable candidate for that function, being good at being undercover.

[Valiant]

That was fabulous. Rivetting stuff. I thought it would be the Dr too in the box.