Dinosaurs On a Spaceship (3302/702)

[knowles2]

Spooky.... Maybe there really is a time traveller out there

or her story just been lost to the annals of time.

[Coco Pops]

or her story just been lost to the annals of time.

I was joking.......

Way to spoil the fun

[P-90_177]

Didn't like that much at all. Most of it was totally ridiculous redeemed only by Brian and the special effects. I didn't care at all for Riddell or Nefertiti and couldn't see any point in having them in the episode. Why on earth have a big game hunter? Not the type character I think the Doctor would associate with, to be honest. Also I wonder how many little kiddies were left crying at the demise of the poor triceratops. I think this episode is nearly as bad as Fear Her or Love and Monsters.

2/10. I hope Chris Chibnall is never let near Doctor Who again (although I know he's written The Power of Three which I hope is better than this trash.)

Edit - Though I too liked Rory's Dad sitting on the TARDIS floor having a cuppa.

I'll get to my views of the episode in a second, but covering Riddell, I was thought it a little strange that the Doctor would have a friend like him as well, but to be honest it could be that he helped out The Doctor during an adventure and the Doctor kinda owes him one. Or maybe he just likes Riddell for his personality and every now and then goes on random hunting trips, whereby he tries to sabotage as many kills as he can just for a laugh.

Did anyone else notice Solomon's non-direct referencing to rape when he had Neffi on his ship, or was that just me?

When Solomon pinned Nefertiti up against the wall with his crutch and how he said he liked it when his possessions had spirit or something and then he went on to
say about how he liked it because it is more fun to break in to them or whatever.. The way he looked at her and said that line about breaking into her with great pleasure. F**king come on man. You know exactly what he means. And it is nothing even the adults want to hear from a show like DW. F**king rape man.. SERIOUSLY. Made me feel physically sick.

I thought that was marvelous. It was the final nail in the coffin and made you want the Doctor to kill him in the end.

Riddell introduction could and should have been better, Doctor should have boarded the craft first saw that there were Dinosaurs aboard, especially the Raptors , saw that he needed reinforcements and bought in a game hunter to distract the Dinosaurs why he tried to turn the vessel around. .

Nerfiti should have been bought in after the Doctor relies he needed to distract Soloman and his two lovable dumb robotic goons, who will not be winning any gold medals for there shooting.

An Rory and his dad and Amy should have been bought into the episode when he relies he needed a DNA chain to fly vessel, an someone to help Riddell fight off the Raptors.

It would have made for a much tighter episode an one which made much more sense. An it would have given a reason for everyone to be there, with a job to do.

Soloman was a brilliant character, I only wish they went even darker with him, and we actually saw him spacing the Silurian's, why the doctor is sneaking around the craft . I did not mind the hint that he would rape Nefertiti. or how he killed the dinosaur. He a nasty piece of work and I hope we see him again.

Damn Indians still cutting corners in construction in the 24th century, who build missiles without a self destruct code, in the 20th century let along the 24th.

The crew who does the CGI for Doctor who still cant do space scenes or space ships to save there lives, it not hard or expensive to do descent models and texturing jobs for space vessels , they look worst than the stuff they were doing on Babylon 5 15 years ago.
They completely and utterly failed to show that the Silurian vessel was the size of Canada.

I thought the space scenes were fine. They do have limited time and resources to come up with these things you know? It's not like in BSG or Stargate where they create a model and textures to be reused time and time again and improved on over and over again. They have to create new ships and new planets week in week out without the sort of time or money you get in the states.

Anyway....the episode.

Loved it. It was mad and random just like I expected from an episode like that. Neffeteti and Riddell were cool characters and did serve their own purposes. Brian I was less thrilled about to start with but unlike most parents on Doctor Who I actually liked him by about half way through, and Mark Williams played it wonderfully.

Soloman was likewise a fantastic villain. I'm not sure he was really deadly enough to have back again since it was merely by luck of happenstance that he had the upper hand against the Doctor this time round. It was still great to see though that there was a Who villain who was fueled purely by material greed and lust.

All in all, a little rushed but a great bonkers episode.

8/10

[BruTak]

Is the character of Allan Quartermain still in the public domain?

I'm wondering if Riddell was supposed to be him originally, but the producers got cold feet.

[Quizziard]

Did anyone else notice Solomon's non-direct referencing to rape when he had Neffi on his ship, or was that just me?

When Solomon pinned Nefertiti up against the wall with his crutch and how he said he liked it when his possessions had spirit or something and then he went on to
say about how he liked it because it is more fun to break in to them or whatever.. The way he looked at her and said that line about breaking into her with great pleasure. F**king come on man. You know exactly what he means. And it is nothing even the adults want to hear from a show like DW. F**king rape man.. SERIOUSLY. Made me feel physically sick.

As an alternate view, we "break" horses (and potentially other "pet" "wild" animals). A process that doesn't include rape.

[Quizziard]

Damn Indians still cutting corners in construction in the 24th century, who build missiles without a self destruct code, in the 20th century let along the 24th.

And for deciding to only begin shooting when it reached 10,000km from the surface. Okay, that's the edge of the recognised atmosphere (and could, therefore, be classed as the edge of Earth's territorial reach) but seriously? If it takes a further 30 minutes before weapons hit, the incoming craft could be well into dangerous territory for delivering any sort of payload. Even if the missiles hit, a Canada size lump's worth of debris is going to be seriously unpleasant news to the planet, wherever it hits. And that's without any sort of actual fireable weapon system (which seems unlikely to be stopped, given the ineptitude of the ISA's defences).

[BruTak]

If memory serves, India would be a good place to launch a rocket into space. What with it being close to the equator.

[Coco Pops]

Even if the missiles hit, a Canada size lump's worth of debris is going to be seriously unpleasant news to the planet, wherever it hits. And that's without any sort of actual fireable weapon system (which seems unlikely to be stopped, given the ineptitude of the ISA's defences).

I think that was the point to show how inept and dopey the ISA is.

[knowles2]

I think that was the point to show how inept and dopey the ISA is.

Which frankly I am getting bored off, the doctor keep telling us how great humanity is, it about time we get to see that on screen for once. Beyond his companion.

[lordofseas]

Two words and an ampersand. Mitchell & Webb.

That is all.

It was a nice episode. The rape reference didn't offend me much. I mean, he just committed genocide. Why isn't that offensive? :/

[cosmichobo]

I was very impressed with the CGI and model dinosaurs... It's really still a risk I think to go the dino route (for a tv show anyway), and this episode did it splendidly.

Rory's dad... I was just waiting for Lister to burst in saying "Petersen me old mate!"... though he was quite fun. And indeed, the scene with him having a snack was brilliant... a moment that the show (DW, in general) definitely needed. Bit of a reversal of Wilf looking up...

The problem...

TOO MUCH!

Cut the queen and the hunter, and give more time to the dad and the baddie, and the episode would have been all the better for it.

Or, the dad and the queen... or the dad and the hunter... 2 of them had to go.

Or make it a 2 parter, with some more substance... somehow...

From a 5 year old's perspective - 2/10. My son couldn't sit still for any of it.

I'll give it a 4/10. No plans to re-watch it any time soon, though I did enjoy the nastiness of the pirate... hell, was more scary than the Master's first outing.

[Cold Fuzz]

Very enjoyable romp. Loved how Brian, Nefi, and Riddell added to the mix. The result is a playful, hyperactive dynamic, especially with poor Brian getting drooled on by the triceratops.

I'm seeing 2 recurring themes for series 7 so far:

1. The villains again did not recognize the Doctor. Last week, the Daleks ended up not remembering him at all due to the Pathweb getting wiped, so all memory of the Doctor and everything associated with him (including the TARDIS) is cybernetic oblivion now. Same kind of thing with Solomon and his trader's database: The Doctor doesn't exist. If the Doctor wanted to return to the shadows, as he told Dorium Maldovar in "The Wedding of River Song," then he most definitely succeeded. It's probably a safe bet next week's villains won't know who the Doctor is either. To me, the Doctor seems a more formidable opponent when he's working without his reputation to help him. But how long can he keep this up? It's only a matter of time before the Silence realizes he's still very much alive.
   
   
2. The noticeable distance between the Doctor and his companions: There are now far less frequent visits to Amy & Rory and that really uncomfortable expression on his face at the very end with Amy, Rory, and Brian looking down on Earth brought some great dramatic tension. We're also seeing mixed messages from the companions: Amy doesn't like that the visits have been rarer, but both Amy & Rory didn't want to stay with the Doctor to relocate the dinosaurs and they wanted to go home for a couple of months. All of this after not seeing the Doctor for 2 years between "The Wedding of River Song" and "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe."

[Flyboy]

Very enjoyable romp. Loved how Brian, Nefi, and Riddell added to the mix. The result is a playful, hyperactive dynamic, especially with poor Brian getting drooled on by the triceratops.

I'm seeing 2 recurring themes for series 7 so far:

1. The villains again did not recognize the Doctor. Last week, the Daleks ended up not remembering him at all due to the Pathweb getting wiped, so all memory of the Doctor and everything associated with him (including the TARDIS) is cybernetic oblivion now. Same kind of thing with Solomon and his trader's database: The Doctor doesn't exist. If the Doctor wanted to return to the shadows, as he told Dorium Maldovar in "The Wedding of River Song," then he most definitely succeeded. It's probably a safe bet next week's villains won't know who the Doctor is either. To me, the Doctor seems a more formidable opponent when he's working without his reputation to help him. But how long can he keep this up? It's only a matter of time before the Silence realizes he's still very much alive.
   
   
2. The noticeable distance between the Doctor and his companions: There are now far less frequent visits to Amy & Rory and that really uncomfortable expression on his face at the very end with Amy, Rory, and Brian looking down on Earth brought some great dramatic tension. We're also seeing mixed messages from the companions: Amy doesn't like that the visits have been rarer, but both Amy & Rory didn't want to stay with the Doctor to relocate the dinosaurs and they wanted to go home for a couple of months. All of this after not seeing the Doctor for 2 years between "The Wedding of River Song" and "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe."

Your second comment raises a very interesting point... I'm quite anxious to see where this is going. It's been a very long time since we've had a set of companions outgrow the Doctor, shall we say... I hope it's well executed. And if one or both companions do die, I think I will genuinly be emotionally hit.

[Flyboy]

Very enjoyable romp. Loved how Brian, Nefi, and Riddell added to the mix. The result is a playful, hyperactive dynamic, especially with poor Brian getting drooled on by the triceratops.

I'm seeing 2 recurring themes for series 7 so far:

1. The villains again did not recognize the Doctor. Last week, the Daleks ended up not remembering him at all due to the Pathweb getting wiped, so all memory of the Doctor and everything associated with him (including the TARDIS) is cybernetic oblivion now. Same kind of thing with Solomon and his trader's database: The Doctor doesn't exist. If the Doctor wanted to return to the shadows, as he told Dorium Maldovar in "The Wedding of River Song," then he most definitely succeeded. It's probably a safe bet next week's villains won't know who the Doctor is either. To me, the Doctor seems a more formidable opponent when he's working without his reputation to help him. But how long can he keep this up? It's only a matter of time before the Silence realizes he's still very much alive.
   
   
2. The noticeable distance between the Doctor and his companions: There are now far less frequent visits to Amy & Rory and that really uncomfortable expression on his face at the very end with Amy, Rory, and Brian looking down on Earth brought some great dramatic tension. We're also seeing mixed messages from the companions: Amy doesn't like that the visits have been rarer, but both Amy & Rory didn't want to stay with the Doctor to relocate the dinosaurs and they wanted to go home for a couple of months. All of this after not seeing the Doctor for 2 years between "The Wedding of River Song" and "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe."

Your second comment raises a very interesting point... I'm quite anxious to see where this is going. It's been a very long time since we've had a set of companions outgrow the Doctor, shall we say... I hope it's well executed. And if one or both companions do die, I think I will genuinly be emotionally hit.

[Blencathra]

I think it's really interesting the way no-one now knows who he is. I was never very keen on the whole previous God-like premise anyway as I felt it didn't sit well with "classic Who". I much prefer the Doctor being an anonymous hero.