The Family of Blood (2909/309)

[MechaThor]

DAM!

This has got to be the best episode since the one with Satan! The ending was just the best part of it when we see a truly dark side of the doctor. Showing the family of blood just what "living forever" is like and why its a curse which they will soon regret.
However would some1 not eventually see theres a boy traped in a scarecrow outfit in the middile of a feild?.
The march of the scarecrow soilders on the school was also very well done as well as the old man at the end.

Can't wait till next week as isn't next week...

Spoiler:

the one where Jack returns? "DOCTOR!"

[TheWarrior]

Can't wait till next week as isn't next week...

Spoiler:

the one where Jack returns? "DOCTOR!"

Nope, its Saturday 16th episode where

Spoiler:

Jack returns - episode 11

[Reefgirl]

Can't wait till next week as isn't next week...

Spoiler:

the one where Jack returns? "DOCTOR!"

No

Spoiler:

It's the week after that, an episode called Utopia

[Anubis69]

"... He was being kind."

Amazing. When that scene started, I cracked a smile at The Doctor dispensing justice, but that quickly changed to, I guess, shock. It was just so cold and heartless... yet completely justified. I also remembered FOB's quote from another thread. ("Torchwood is the adult one, Doctor Who is the mature one") That reminds me, I need to green him for that... Anyway, it was completely true.

The episode was unbelievably good. That scene with the Doctor, Martha and the old... Tim (aye, that's it) was amazing as well. Very emotional.

Overall, between 0 and 2Pi radians, I give it one full rotation and my own personal "hooray"!

ETA: David Tennant. That guy can act!

[Major Clanger]

Wow, that was some ep!

I was convinced that the wee fellow (Tim?) was a TimeLord, but then I managed to convince myself out of it just before the ep started.

And Baines... how creepy was that sideways talking? I didn't recognise the actor at all, which is good because I have to have a lie-down in a darkened room if I think about Robin Hood.

arghhhh!

[ShadowMaat]

BTW, I notice at one point during the "evacuation" there was mention of a "Miss Cooper." Probably just a coincidence, but it still amused me.

[Missster.Freeman]

Wow! That was bloody brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

As I was watching the boys shoot down the scarecrows, it was a sad reminder of the terrible loss of life during World War One. Hardly a city, town or village in Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland and the Commonwealth nations were left untouched. The tragic thing is, all those young men and boys - as depicted in this episode - all thought they had joined up to go on a great adventure. Instead, they found themselves in the middle of a war on an industrial scale.

Smiling boy Baines/Son of Mine was very creepy, but he had me laughing out loud when he and the headmaster had a face off in the courtyard. It was like watching a "Suits You" sketch from the Fast Show. When Baines said "Headmaster Sir! Good evening sir. Come to give me a caning sir? Would you like that sir?", the only line missing was, "Ooh. Ooh, suits you sir!" I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the lines sounded uncannily familiar.

That aside, the final ten minutes or so were very powerful indeed and the flash of what the Doctor's life could've been had he remained as John Smith was touching. And that was a great moment at the end with the Doctor and Martha dropping in to pay their respects to the now elderly Tim. Very moving.

I rank this now as one of my favourite episodes, almost right up there with "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances."

[Flyboy]

"... He was being kind."

Amazing. When that scene started, I cracked a smile at The Doctor dispensing justice, but that quickly changed to, I guess, shock. It was just so cold and heartless... yet completely justified. I also remembered FOB's quote from another thread. ("Torchwood is the adult one, Doctor Who is the mature one" Which reminds me, I need to green him for that...) Completely true.

Unbelievably good. That scene with the Doctor, Martha and the old... Tim (aye, that's it) was amazing as well. Very emotional.

Overall, on a scale of 2Pi, I give it one full rotation and my own personal "hooray"!

ETA: David Tennant. That guy can act!

Thanks.

I must say, S3 is shaping up to be my favourite yet. With only two mediocre episodes (the dalek ones) and no lovesick Rose, this has been great. There seems to be a high quality of scripting and the acting is top notch. It feels like S1, when everything was fresh and unexplored. Even Rose in S1 was enjoyable. With only four more eps left, one of them (Utopia) almost guaranteed to please, it's going to be difficult to dissapoint now. Here's hoping "Blink" does better than "L&M".

[Phantom Limb]

wow, thats more like it.
what a great ending IMO so dark, the Timelord definition of immortality needs a little work, lol.
a bit too ironic for some peoples tastes im sure.
it does fit with the five doctors thing though, Timelords not looking too kindly on folk who want to live forever as some other people have said, nice continuity.

Am i right in thinking this is an adaptation of an existing story? without one of RTD's "shopping lists" pigmen! the empire state building! spoons! a talking cat!
and i wonder why some past eps have suffered story wise.

Although the kids reluctance to give back the watch he STOLE got kind of annoying, especially when he knew what it was, but meh, what a great villain, i dont think i saw the guy that played Baines blink once throughout the entire thing! creepy.
such a great mix of all the things that makes who brilliant and David Tennant absolutely acted his face off in this one, Troughton is still my favourite Doctor but damn can Tennant act, love the fact that he was rubbish as a human as Martha said.
its the first time ive seen on screen the difference between the limits within a Human and the limitlessness within a Timelord shown in one person thanks to Tennants acting of the two characters, and the writing of course.
his scene with the matron (cant remember her name, d'oh!) at the end is a perfect example of that.

My one question to new who is, is there ever going to be a companion that doesnt fall in love with the Doctor within five minutes of seeing how big the tardis is on the inside?
i mean how would it have been in the old series if every female companion fell in love with him? a minor annoyance, for some reason i dont think it becomes Martha's character to be swooning over the doc like rose did, it just doesnt fit for me.

however, part 2
10/10 and then some!

[ShadowMaat]

a minor annoyance, for some reason i dont think it becomes Martha's character to be swooning over the doc like rose did, it just doesnt fit for me.

Oh yes, I agree with that. Martha should be above this sort of stuff; she should know better. And the first person who says "you can't control love" is going to have a plastic Dalek shoved down their throat. Or perhaps in another orifice.

Martha should be able to act a bit more adult about her "feelings" for the Doctor instead of resorting to Rose-like behavior. Or maybe that's the only way the writers know how to to write a woman in "love."

[Reefgirl]

Oh yes, I agree with that. Martha should be above this sort of stuff; she should know better. And the first person who says "you can't control love" is going to have a plastic Dalek shoved down their throat. Or perhaps in another orifice.

Martha should be able to act a bit more adult about her "feelings" for the Doctor instead of resorting to Rose-like behavior. Or maybe that's the only way the writers know how to to write a woman in "love."

I'm not sure whether I've said this here (So if I have bear with me) The Shippiness is there purely to appease the American audience, American Sci Fi now comes with a prerequisite amount of UST and unrequited love, we've seen it with Jack and Sam, Picard and Dr Crusher, Marcus Cole and Susan Ivanova, Commander Adama and President Roslin and Mulder and Scully, among others. The BBC want Dr Who to succeed in America so they've (for some reason) upped the shippiness, in the first series (The Christopher Ecclestone one) the relationship between the Doctor and Rose was perfect, they were mates, if anything the Doctor fell in love with Rose first butkept his feelings in context, probably the lonliness getting the better of him. RTD started laying it on with a trowel in the second series with Rose mooning over the 'new' Doctor and him mooning over her, I started thinking to myself 'For God's sake, have a shag and get back to decent storylines' now with Martha it's just pathetic, why can't the writers do something different and have a companion and Dr relationship that is just friendship and leave the UST to SG Atlantis and BSG

[ShadowMaat]

Every time complaints about shippiness are mentioned, American audiences get blamed. Does anyone know for a fact that producers are forced to add romance into their stories, or is it just a suspicion?

[Madeleine]

I don't know. I do know that all the SFish show's I've watched that didn't have romance between lead characters - 26+ years of Doctor Who, six years of Red Dwarf, four years of Blakes Seven, one year of Ultraviolet (I still miss that show), The Prisoner, Sapphire & Steel, The Avengers - all were British. Honourable exception: Supernatural, which is US-made.

But perhaps it's about the cast sizes: most of the above have a small number of regulars, and when you have only a few people romance isn't terribly likely, whereas in a BSG-sized cast it'd be incredibly peculiar if there was none.

Doctor Who ought to be in the no-romance category IMO. Having the entire regular cast in love with each other is too distracting from SF

[Tanduay]

Yup best episode by far.

Most of the highlights have been written about earlier but I have 3 points.

At the risk of being the unfortunate reciever of a plastic dalek, love is complex. There is romantic or eros love which is what everyone is assuming Martha is exhibiting. Dont be so fast. There is also Phileo or brotherly love and agape or selfless love.

What was in that kid's red baloon? No way a farm family could get helium in 1913 for a toy. While it had been discovered and experimented on it was not until 1921 that the USN flew their 1st helium airship. So it had to be hydrogen, (hot air would not work) ah what a great toy for a kid. "Here you are little girl, go play and blow your arms off." hehe

The VO about the punishments the Dr handed out seemed rushed, but IMO it was worth it to squeeze in the WW1 scene and the rememberance parade.

[BruTak]

It's pretty much been discussed to desth over on Outpost Gallifrey, but the concensus is that in 1913, the little girl's balloon would have been filled with hydrogen.