Utopia (2911/311)

[Madeleine]

If Human Nature / Family of Blood made up for the s3 Dalek two-parter, and Blink made up for Love and Monsters, then I think Utopia has finally made up for the telemovie in the '90s.

I adore Derek Jacobi, and I had no idea he was The Master. I think that whole fob watch thing was fabulous. RTD is right that there were clues to it all through; that whole "If there was another Time Lord I'd sense it" thing, and then the explanation of how in Human Nature he really ceased to be a Time Lord... but I'd never have guessed it, never. Human Nature was just so good that it would never have occured to me that there was an ulterior motive for the ep.

Jack's back! And he and Martha get on well. The Doctor seemed a bit off with him, and I know that that was explained but I hope he loses some of that distance over the next couple of eps. LOL at "Have you had some work done?"

So Jack in Torchwood and s3 is 150 years older than Jack in s1. Explains a fair bit. And he has a broken vortex manipulator and a top notch fixer-of-things with him. I wonder...

Chantho was SO cute. And the way she spoke, it reminded me of walkie talkies where they always start with a particular thing and end with Roger or something. I bet in her culture it'd've been a heinous crime to interrupt anyone, cos there'd be no excuse . I wonder how she became the last of her race.

The ferral people were a bit cheesey and their bits felt rather like filler, but they did get the doctor & co to the silo, and they did get the Doctor out of the room so that the fob watch could be investigated without his being there.

I wonder what Utopia was and if the rocket will get there.

:: Looks at watch ::

156 and a half hours to go....

[uknesvuinng]

Ye flipping gods, that was pure excellence from beginning to end. I do suspect the Futurekind probably won't play a great role in the next episode, though.

Finally some explanation for Jack, though I wonder if/how the same information will be provided on Torchwood. Although to be perfectly honest, I think it'd be better if Jack just stayed a companion. None of the others have had that kind of interaction with the Doctor.

I really dug the retro scifi music when the Master was revealed. It had the right element of campiness to it to hearken back to classic Who and didn't seem out of place at all.

Martha talks way too much sometimes. At least she didn't have nearly as much trouble getting a Time Lord to open his watch this time.

[Madeleine]

Guys, when Yana held the watch, and heard the master's voice, was that a clip of Anthony Ainley's voice?

[lord-anubis]

Guys, when Yana held the watch, and heard the master's voice, was that a clip of Anthony Ainley's voice?

it sounded like him so it was a clip or a very good sound alike

[Major Clanger]

oh my
that ending was great

and it was filmed in a quarry
yippee!

[Locutus_Of_Borg]

Top notch episode, but clearly The Doctor broke something in the TARDIS...he wouldn't just say "Sorry" to it...sparks start flying and it dissapears...but thing i'm wondering, in the 1996 movie the master died by getting sucked into the eye of harmony...how did he get from there as a liquidy goo....man in a hosts body to a timelord again and changed his biology via the watch...all very confusing but it will hopefully be explained...or they're ignoring parts of that movie.

[Pitry]

Excellent episode! Loved it to bits!
Kind of spiraling this series, isn't it? We've had the spiraling timeline in Smith & Jones, again in Blink, and now

Spoiler:

Obviously everyrthing we've seen in previous episodes is in the Master's future and the Doctor's past.

Extremely cool.

John Simm is brilliant. I love this actor. He completely won me over in the whole two minutes he was in the episode - and yeah the "We have a little chat, I'll tell you about my plans and you'll stop me" line was brilliant, and brilliantly delivered.
*cough* Derek Jacobi is amazing as well, o'course.

Loved the conversation between Jack and the Doctor. Hell, liked all the bits. "Oh, she was blonde!" from Martha, excellent. And the blogging comment. And the hand bits (huh! Why did he take the hand with him when running to catch him!?) and of course, the conversation between the two of them.... *melts*

I hope they're going to explain how the Master got a Time Lord's body back, tho. I agree about the whole Human Nature/ Family of Blood planting of hte chamilion arch, I've read the rumours about Jacobi being the Master and regenerating into Simm but I didn't see the fob-watch bit coming at all. Fantasticly done.

I also laughed at the fact that this is the moment that my Dad, who's been watching the show since Rose worked out that Captain Jack was bisexual.

Well, better late than never, as they say

[Reefgirl]

Guys, when Yana held the watch, and heard the master's voice, was that a clip of Anthony Ainley's voice?

I've heard from a couple of places that it was, I was working last night so never got to see Confidential, if they explained

I couldn't help myself last night but when John Simm appeared on screen I started humming Life on Mars, I have no idea why

Edit Does anyone else think that the Footprint engine is carbon based, seeing as Carbon Footprint is the phrase of the moment
Edit Edit Having watched it again, that is defiantly Anthony Ainley's laugh

[MechaThor]

Another graet episode for this ever greater show! This series just kepps getting better and better! Well done DW team Well Done indeed!

I loved the DR - Jack interaction in the "Radiation room" With the Dorctors new dislike of Jack but also his new connection and understanding with another person who is starting to understand what its like to live 4ever like the DR!

The Master seems pretty dam cool and an excellent cliffhanger! Also another cool looking alien. See this is why i think DW is so much better 4 aliens than stargate. That girl could have been a human (and sadly would of been in stargate world) But DW takes the opertunity to add another cool life form in an ever growing universe. AH

[Willow'sCat]

and it was filmed in a quarry
yippee!

LOL! Quarry love!

OMG! How can you not love this episode! It was about time, immortality (see what I mean about TimeLords and immortality ) living, hiding, being lost and found, loving and losing.... and a little place called hope! *whee!*

Thankfully I was not too spoiled, yes I knew about Jack and I heard about the hints of The Master showing up... but it was still cloudy enough in my head to be, well not a surprise ( clothing alone screamed The Master! and he used the nickname that often gets used for The Doctor (The Professor)) but a nice little twist... was the YANA like Badwolf? Was it spelled out everywhere and I just missed it?

Good things:

CAPT JACK! OMG! OMFG! *happy dance* I loved the flirting with everything, the looks he gave The Doctor were priceless... their conversation, The Hand *bless him* and he wants to live! Of course he was probably also thinking that The Doctor would want him around or at least take him someplace else other then Earth 2007... I can't see that happening with Torchwood still around.

And I adored the line from The Doctor about Jack "you're the only man you're ever going to be happy with" and Jack's response "this regeneration he's kind a cheeky" LOL!

The stuff about prejudice, that was a great little *blink and you miss it* exchange. See RTD can be subtle when he wants... he just often isn't.

David Tennant is awesome! The look on The Doctor's face from the moment Martha tells him about the watch until he finally realises who it is that has his T.A.R.D.I.S was played wonderfully well by David. As someone said I think the "sorry" was aimed at the T.A.R.D.I.S when I was a kid I use to get upset when people would mess about with T.A.R.D.I.S; lol they have feelings too! *the old girl*

On the question of The Master not having his own I think he would have hidden it away, it could be anything as his was in good working order unlike The Doctor's.... Until we see the next two eps I don't think there is much point in guessing about where The Master's is or if he still has one.

And yes I do believe it was Ainley's voice we hear, that is a nice touch.

I am not sure about Simm as The Master, that is a mighty big character to play... I mean it has almost as much history as The Doctor himself. At least we know Simm can act, that is a very good start.

Ooh it is getting very interesting...

Bad things.... um... er... *shrugs* Martha TimeLord!Crush... yeah that will do.

[Reefgirl]

It's going to take time to get used to John Simm being the Master. Roger Delgardo and Anthony Ainley had pretty much the same look for the Master, lot's of black and goatee beards and moustaches.

This year's 'Bad Wolf' was Mr Saxon

[beale947]

This was a great episode. The Utopia stuff seemed like filler, but i'm not bothered about that .

Spoiler:

I did say ages ago that the proffesser at the end of utopia would regenerate into into John Simm/The master. But it was shunned off, but ooo look

I think John Simm, will be brilliant as the master. Intelligent *as indicated by the trailer, killing all the leaders with such ease*

I would give this ep 10/10, just for the last 15 minutes

[Willow'sCat]

This was a great episode. The Utopia stuff seemed like filler, but i'm not bothered about that .

I did say ages ago that the proffesser at the end of utopia would regenerate into into John Simm/The master. But it was shunned off, but ooo look

I think John Simm, will be brilliant as the master. Intelligent

Spoiler:

*as indicated by the trailer, killing all the leaders with such ease*

I would give this ep 10/10, just for the last 15 minutes

Can people PLEASE keep in mind not all of us are watching trailers or reading spoilers, if it is to do with NEXT week please use tags.

[Elinor]

Heh!! Hermits United!! Loved that bit!

What a blinkin' flippin' fantastic episode!

Again, the fast pace of the story telling left me breathless and then there were some lovely sloooow bits where you could catch your breath. I'm thinking of the scene between the Dr and Jack, where they were discussing how he couldn't die. DT and JB are wonderful together. Very entertaining!

Then we had Derek Jacobi...always faultless...and I never saw the fact that the Professor was the Master 'humanised' coming at all! Very clever!

Then, the icing on the cake, we get John Simm as the Master! David Tennant and John Simm are my fave Brit actors right now. Can't wait to see more of these two interacting.

Blimey...all this show needs now is to have Joe Flanigan guest star and I may quite possibly spontaneously combust from pleasure overload!!

[Alipeeps]

I've heard from a couple of places that it was, I was working last night so never got to see Confidential, if they explained

They didn't mention it on Confidential. It was mostly about Jack being back and then about the Chantho character and about Derek and John playing the Master and them filming the regeneration etc.

On the question of The Master not having his own I think he would have hidden it away, it could be anything as his was in good working order unlike The Doctor's.... Until we see the next two eps I don't think there is much point in guessing about where The Master's is or if he still has one.

This was kinda my thought too.. from what we saw in Human Nature/Family of Blood, the process of becoming human through the Chamaleon Arch means they forget about the TARDIS etc, as well as conveniently overlooking the watch. The Dr had Martha to keep an eye on the TARDIS for him... It is to be assumed that the Master's TARDIS is somewhere near wherever he was originally found and may even have been brought into the base somewhere but he would have no idea what it was, would probably not even notice it. So it could have been there somewhere all along...