Forest of the Dead (3009/409)

[Alipeeps]

The preview of next weeks episode unfortunatly looked a bit meh.....but I will be more than happy to be prooved wrong on that point.

Yeah, not the best preview - cos from what I've read in the Doctor Who Magazine, next week's episode sounds really good! So am hoping it's just the promo not doing it justice... Mind you, it's also supposed to be quite different from the usual eps so maybe it's a style/concept that doesn't translate well to promo ads!

And that poor guy with the stutter! I was like NOOOO!! just yell something! Burp really loud just get her attention!

Hubby said why didn't he jump off the transport pad - I pointed out that it was about to transport and he might have ended up jumping at the wrong moment and only getting half transported and losing a limb or two!

[Bray]

lol yeah I was like just jump off! Then I thought...wait no....that might not be a good idea

Ah good at least it sounds like it might not be as bad as it first looked.

When I first saw it I was like.....Isn't that Colonial 1 off BSG?

[AvatarIII]

ahhhh

Spoiler:

so that's how 'the doctor's "song" ended'

[Madeleine]

My Youngest: "I wonder what the Doctor's real name is?"
Firstborn: "Daft boy! We KNOW what it is.
Youngest: "I don't."
Firstborn: "We heard River Song call the Doctor it, she called him it loads"
Youngest: "What is it then?"
Firstborn: "It's -

Spoiler:

- 'Spoilers', how could you miss that?"

[Alipeeps]

My Youngest: "I wonder what the Doctor's real name is?"
Firstborn: "Daft boy! We KNOW what it is.
Youngest: "I don't."
Firstborn: "We heard River Song call the Doctor it, she called him it loads"
Youngest: "What is it then?"
Firstborn: "It's -

Spoiler:

- 'Spoilers', how could you miss that?"

Bless!

[GodAtum]

Very poignant the resolution of River's story (River's song? Could this perhaps have been what the Ood referred to as the Doctor's song must end soon? ) - ahhh I do love my Doctor when he's angsty.

Oh I completely forgot about that reference

I thought River was the Doctor's daughter but probably not.

Also can the Doctor still communicate with River in the computer?

[wise one]

what gets me is 4,200 people in the biggest libary in the universe, its a whole planet

shouldnt there be millions of people on it or atleast 100,000 or more

good episode, reminded me of a scooby doo monster

[P-90_177]

what gets me is 4,200 people in the biggest libary in the universe, its a whole planet

shouldnt there be millions of people on it or atleast 100,000 or more

good episode, reminded me of a scooby doo monster

well just imagine how many people the Vashta Narada no doubt managed to eat before CAL got the rest away.

[Pitry]

I really really loved this episode.... up til the last five minutes.

The good - loved Donna's bit. To pieces. Seriuosly - trust Doctor Who to take the "this plot has been done in every science fiction show posible" bit and throw a new angle on it - in this case, instead of being the heroic heroine who knows her mind well enough to know she's being lied to and insisting that her madhouse experience can't eb real, Donna does the exact opposite - up to the point of struggling to hold on to her fantasy even when she is shown absolute truth - and indeed, remembers herself - it's a lie. Loved it.
"You mean this body isn't real? I've been dieting!!!." Did I mention Donna is the best conpanion, ever?
Doctor Moon was also brilliant "and then you rememebred, and then you forgot" - such a brilliant delivery.

The library scenes were also quite good. Loved the fact that it took the Doctor a moment to catch himself adn start acting Doctorishly again after River told him his name.
"Drag him when he gets too stupid to love" - brilliant. And shame about Other Dave! Well, they all died, and Anita was completely wonderful in her scenes - but still, sniff sniff about Other Dave.

The not so good - a shame they decided to change the episode's name from River's Run to Forest of the Dead. The whole Vashta Nerada bit was - at least to me - not quite interesting and definiltey not important enough to be referred to by the title. And besides, it sounds like a cheap horror movie

The really bad. The last five minutes. Sigh.
Doctor Who is one of the most emotionaly manipulative shows I know. It works, it works beautifuly, and I wouldn't have it any other way - but it also means they have to understand that when the emotional manipulation becomes obvious, it stops working.
And ripping off emotional hights from three(!) different episodes is telling the viewer "you're supposed to be touched". Sorry kids, doesn't work that way. Putting a big neon sign above the emotionally manipulating moment is not a good way to make it work.
I do hope it was just a momentary lack of judgement rather than showing a misunderstanding of why these moments worked in The Doctor Dances, Gridlock and Family of Blood and why they had no chance in hell of working here. Because immitation without understanding makes for a very frustrating ending.

Especialy the everybody lvies bit. Seriuosly. I mean, if it was meant or shown in any ironic way it would have been brilliant - but it was shown in absolute sincerity, as if everyone did live. Hello? From now on, whenever the Doctor sees River he's going to remember exactly how she dies because he saw her die. And it's going to keep on being there as he gets to know her better and better - I mean, even if she's not his future-past-whatever wife, he definietly gets close enough to her to tell her his name. And he's always known how she dies. The whole point of "everybody lives" was some healing from the Time War and the Doctor seeing he doesn't just bring death with him and it's not all so bad. How is seeing her die anything like it - even if she does get some cyber existance somewhere? He's not any less sad about Rose even though she's alive...
Meh.

o, I'l just take Doctor Moon's advice and forget everything after the Doctor and Donna walk away from the Tardis diary.

[Reefgirl]

My Youngest: "I wonder what the Doctor's real name is?"
Firstborn: "Daft boy! We KNOW what it is.
Youngest: "I don't."
Firstborn: "We heard River Song call the Doctor it, she called him it loads"
Youngest: "What is it then?"
Firstborn: "It's -

Spoiler:

- 'Spoilers', how could you miss that?"

Awww bless 'em

[Willow'sCat]

The really bad. The last five minutes. Sigh.
Doctor Who is one of the most emotionaly manipulative shows I know. It works, it works beautifuly, and I wouldn't have it any other way - but it also means they have to understand that when the emotional manipulation becomes obvious, it stops working.

Totally agree. I get so annoyed when shows do this. SGA is the top of my list for this kind of thing but with SGA it hardly ever works.

When it works on Doctor Who, which is most of the time, it works brilliantly but here I didn't feel it worked. OK with Donna it did but I think I can related better to Donna's situation, even though I don't want to get married or have kids I can still understand her feelings in the end when all that is taken from her.

[AvatarIII]

well just imagine how many people the Vashta Narada no doubt managed to eat before CAL got the rest away.

none, because there were no bodies. and because they said 4022 was exactly the number of people in the library when it went silent

anyway, what got me is when they all came back, they weren't all spread out. you'd expect them to all be put back where they were found right? but they were all around the entrance.

[Alipeeps]

none, because there were no bodies. and because they said 4022 was exactly the number of people in the library when it went silent

anyway, what got me is when they all came back, they weren't all spread out. you'd expect them to all be put back where they were found right? but they were all around the entrance.

Some of them were further out when whatsisname went to look outside... maybe the library shut down just after opening time and people hadn't had chance to move far beyond the entrance...?

[Reefgirl]

none, because there were no bodies. and because they said 4022 was exactly the number of people in the library when it went silent

anyway, what got me is when they all came back, they weren't all spread out. you'd expect them to all be put back where they were found right? but they were all around the entrance.

Maybe it was a Wednesday and half closing so not many people were there

Are there any shops that still close Half Day on a Wednesday?

[Alipeeps]

Maybe it was a Wednesday and half closing so not many people were there

Are there any shops that still close Half Day on a Wednesday?

Jeesh, don't think so. I remember when every shop used to - my dad had a shop back in the day and closed on Wednesday afternoons. *nostalgic sigh*