The Stolen Earth (3012/412)

[Pitry]

Maybe it works like the opposite of the Geneva Convention...

but yeah, it's been nagging me as well, as I've always thought hte Shadiw Proclamation would be a piece of paper with words and articles in it. Like #15...

[ShadowMaat]

Dumb question, but why is it proCLAMation when you proCLAIM something?

[Pitry]

Huh.

*ponders this for a moment*

I'd go for either the great vowel shift (although I don't recall it ever changing orthography, so that's a bit unlikely...) or some sort of weird umlaut (vowel change between different forms of the same stem, derived from another vowel's influence). It probably is an umlaut because of the "ation" ending... methinks.

*ponders some more*

[Mr Prophet]

Dumb question, but why is it proCLAMation when you proCLAIM something?

Because pro-clay-may-shun just make it sound like you're committed to the support of future Wallace and Gromitt films.

[nx01a]

English is the worst language in the world, and not just for non-native speakers.
I mean, absorbing energy is called 'absorPtion'.
Best to accept it and leave it alone.

[Alipeeps]

English is the worst language in the world, and not just for non-native speakers.
I mean, absorbing energy is called 'absorPtion'.
Best to accept it and leave it alone.

Ah but that's probably a holdover from the days of mutation - and most languages had mutation at one time or another. Most of em have grown out of it... with the notable exception of Welsh!

[wwlh]

Everlasting Death for the most faithful Companion: If Dalek Kahn is seeing the future and speaking only the truth...then maybe he sees the Doctor being triumphant...which would once again seal Rose away forever...and she was the one who called it the story of her Death or something like that???

[nx01a]

You're right, she did say her last story was the story of 'how she died'. Interesting theory. Enjoy the finale.

[MasySyma]

This episode was not my favorite. The bad, the really bad, and the awful outweighed the good, so I'll likely skip the rewatch until the DVD comes out.

The Good:
I liked seeing all of the companions again, and I was surprised to realize that I had missed the Torchwood crew a bit.

Donna as always was fantastic.

The Bad:
Rose: I don't know what it is. I was resigned to her return, but I had decided to look forward to it. All she did was walk around, look wooden, and whine. I particularly had problems during the regeneration moments at the end. Donna was screaming as expected during this scene, but Rose's melodrama annoyed me. She has been here before, and while the Doctor may change into someone who doesn't love her, it would be preferable to the alternative, a dead Doctor. She is so selfish. I wanted her chucked through an airlock right about then. We still have no idea why she is here, what she went through to get here, and how she will be useful. I also wasn't that impressed by her jealousy of the other companions, particularly Martha. She is aware that he travels with women. This isn't new. She doesn't seem to learn.

The Really Bad:
Who is Dalek Caan again? Didn't he die in the Daleks in Manhattan fiasco? We just moved, and my DVDs are packed, so I can't answer this myself. I'm also suffering from Dalek overkill. Mainly, I wish they would say "Exterminate" and then just do it already. The constant repetition of "we will kill you" gets old quick, even if I don't want Sarah Jane dead. One death threat is enough.

The companions (except Rose): All of the companions were wonderful, but they took up entirely too much of the episode. We saw the Doctor and Donna for all of ten minutes, and we also had to suffer through odd moments of explaining Luke, why Martha was in New York, etc. The Ianto/Jack look was cute as were many of the inside jokes, but I wish that we didn't have to have companions or the Doctor sometimes.

The Awful:
Dalek Caan. I realize that he lost his mind, but he had my family laughing at the screen and not in a good way. His giggly comments and tentacle waving just made me expect him to burst into song. Even now, I can picture him singing "I Feel Pretty" faster than I can see him serving any useful purpose, despite the spoilers I've read.

It didn't help that SciFi choose to interrupt the episode at horrible times with really inappropriate commercials. Right after the scenes with Sarah Jane and Jack holding their loved ones as they realize what is to come, SciFi ran a musical trailer of Eureka with everyone dancing.

I'll watch it again on DVD, and hopefully, I'll like it better then. Right now, I found it slow and annoying. A 4/10.

[Pitry]

Awww, but the entire point was to laugh at Dalek Caan! He was soooooo sweet! I loved him. "I fleeeeeeeeeeeeeeew"

As for how he survived Evolution of the Daleks, he does an emergency temporal shift at the end of that episode, just like the Cult of Skaro did at the end of Doomsday.

Re: Rose's "this is the story of how I died", I believe their excuse was that she was on the lsit of the dead? But indeed, that one was a cheat.

Spoiler:

*whistles*

[SGalisa]

The Really Bad:
Who is Dalek Caan again? Didn't he die in the Daleks in Manhattan fiasco? We just moved, and my DVDs are packed, so I can't answer this myself. I'm also suffering from Dalek overkill. Mainly, I wish they would say "Exterminate" and then just do it already. The constant repetition of "we will kill you" gets old quick, even if I don't want Sarah Jane dead. One death threat is enough.
...
The Awful:
Dalek Caan. I realize that he lost his mind, but he had my family laughing at the screen and not in a good way. His giggly comments and tentacle waving just made me expect him to burst into song. Even now, I can picture him singing "I Feel Pretty" faster than I can see him serving any useful purpose, despite the spoilers I've read.

It didn't help that SciFi choose to interrupt the episode at horrible times with really inappropriate commercials. Right after the scenes with Sarah Jane and Jack holding their loved ones as they realize what is to come, SciFi ran a musical trailer of Eureka with everyone dancing.

yep, commercials are notorious for spoiling moods and disrupting thoughts of some programs..


okay, I have to state the amount of "Exterminate" mantras that went forth in this "The Stolen Earth" (# 3012/412) episode were a bit on the excessive side.. but it's probably like a song jingle to the Daleks, whenever they go forth into *kill* mode.

Viewers who don't know Dalek history, should be forewarned that the Daleks are deranged creatures, which Davros created in a science lab (see "Genesis of the Daleks" Tom Baker era episode). Davros was quite deranged himself when the Doctor first met up with him. Mostly everyone knew from that ep forward, that the Daleks were mutations who could think to some degrees, but were gross distortions of humanity.

The phrase "Exterminate!!" has been their stapled mantra ever since day one, and to repeat it in excess is mostly all they know when they go on their crazed (psycho) rampages. They are more or less broken records because they have broken spirits and (broken / mutated) DNA. It fits with their character. I used to see them as having some sort of Hitler obedience mentality with either Davros or their *supreme* emporer (Dalek) as their ultimate leader.

Daleks were born (or created) to conquer (the supremest mentality race). The question is as someone previous mentioned somewhere on these forums, is what will they do once they've annihilated the entire universe, and only have themselves left to live with. It's probably one of the most popular age-old questions about history in general for all populations, wherever they are in the universe.

As for Daleks in general, their true physical appearance looks like a disfigured octopus or squids that were in some serious accident. Pretty hideous, especially when they are able to survive outside of a seawater environment and have universal translaters for the entire world to understand their thoughts, etc.


I've never liked Davros, but storywise for the DW series, Davros has always been a challenging adversary for the Doctor over many, many seasons. Davros is a psychopathic maniac (who was in a tragic accident and rebuilt into that chair by some misguided science / medical people, who became totally devoted to him). Davros does love his experimental Dalek creations, and he has been considered upon occasion to be a wicked but "brilliant scientist" by the Doctor. And I have to agree that this particular characterization of Davros was just as much menacing as the original Davros (played by Michael Wisher), who was super creepy. Of course, it may have been the cave of his rejects that made that whole "Genesis of the Daleks" episode even creepier. brrrrrrr.

The metalic hand on the Davros in this eppy, made him just as creepy as the original. Plus, his voice was fairly close to the original. And Sarah Jane was with the Doctor when he first met Davros, so the encounter in "The Stolen Earth" eppy was very personal to her, as well.

I also kind of liked the squeamish reaction memory (continuity of) how Captain Jack remembered the fate he experienced with the Daleks back on "The Parting Of The Ways" (ep# 2713/113). It just seemed sort of sad, but the impact point was well made.. Jack fearing deja vu..??

[mizzoueng]

I liked this episode, but as I am just starting to get into DW I didn't understand some of the finer points that I am seeing on here.

What was the key and project indigo? I know Jack explained indigo, but where did we get teh technology for it? Martha said the pack "sensed where she wanted to go" and took her home, so does that make it a mini TARDIS? It didn't seem to be able to travel time, just space.

The time shift. The TARDIS travels through time, why did it seem to be such a feat to travel 2 seconds into the future? This just didn't make sense to me, if yo traveled 3 seconds into the future you would still see the planets all around the Medusa Cascade, why such a specific location?

Rose, based on her teleportation and the fact she used a phone to get there, I assumed she was still using the old TARDIS from the alternate Earth that we saw with Donna and the Beetle.

[MasySyma]

I liked this episode, but as I am just starting to get into DW I didn't understand some of the finer points that I am seeing on here.

What was the key and project indigo? I know Jack explained indigo, but where did we get teh technology for it? Martha said the pack "sensed where she wanted to go" and took her home, so does that make it a mini TARDIS? It didn't seem to be able to travel time, just space.

The time shift. The TARDIS travels through time, why did it seem to be such a feat to travel 2 seconds into the future? This just didn't make sense to me, if yo traveled 3 seconds into the future you would still see the planets all around the Medusa Cascade, why such a specific location?

Rose, based on her teleportation and the fact she used a phone to get there, I assumed she was still using the old TARDIS from the alternate Earth that we saw with Donna and the Beetle.

I can help a bit, I think.

Project Indigo is attempting to create a teleport from technology leftover after the Sontaran two-parter earlier this series. They could beam people from the surface of the planet to their ships.

The Doctor becomes part of events when he visits a time and place, so while he can visit the future in general, he can't go ten seconds into his own future at any specific locale. That's why the two seconds are crucial.

Rose has a phone that should be able to call the TARDIS, but unless something unusual has happened, she doesn't have a TARDIS, and the one she had access to in Turn Left was the Doctor's and would have returned to him when Donna and Rose fixed the timeline.

[mizzoueng]

i see, so we (humans) managed to shrink down the teleportation pod that was left in that kids mansion from the sontarans into a backpack. Nice.

I understand the part about Rose loosing the phone, but since she is essentially "jumping" realities, and the fact that she had and used a phone in this eppy, does it stand to reason that since the walls of reality are falling that the "Donna Beetle" reality is still there and she is using the TARDIS from that reality (or residual BADWOLF powers) to travel across the void to find the Doctor?

The only reason I wonder about the "beetle" reality is because in that reality the Doctor dies, Rose is there and she just misses him befoer he dies. This reality was centered around Donna turning right. Donna goes back in time and dies, making her turn left. Thus the beetle reality and the shows reality merge, so Rose should have followed the shows reality when they merged and could have appeared during the Christmas spider thing invasion. But she didn't, and she can still jump realities, I thought this was only possible because of the use of the dead doctors TARDIS.

I'm confused, hopefully they will explain how Rose is essentially a human TARDIS.

[Mr Prophet]

Rose is using the same alt-Torchwood tech that

Spoiler:

Jackie and Mickey

are using to jump across and within universes, which is made possible by the merging of the realities as a result of the Crucible's pan-dimensional effects. Throughout Turn Left she had to keep popping in and trying for the right moment to contact Donna. What the TARDIS allowed them to do was send Donna back in time; it wasn't connected to Rose's reality-hopping.