Under the Lake (3503 / 903)

[Flyboy]

From the episode titles this looks like a whole season of two parters

That's what Doctor Who needs, more time to develop stories. Not just alien thing happens, witty one liner from the Doctor and everything is back to normal all within 45 minutes.. It always seems rushed. Now if they could just figure out that "Season long arc" doesn't mean mysterious thing in the first episode, vague hint in the fifth and then all revealed in the last one..

I keep trying to 'Like' your comments... but alas, I can't atm.

I agree. Kinda like the old school 80s era of Colin Baker where you had 2 x 45 min eps per story. I really liked that format!

[GodAtum]

I wonder why the deaf girl was telling her mate not to go into the spaceship.

[Annoyed]

2 parters or even more within a season are fine, but I don't want to see them get in the habit of breaking everything up, considering how long the wait is between seasons.

[Sealurk]

I'm definitely in favour of lots of two-parters, and I can't help but wonder if they would also be preferable from a production standpoint - if you have to pay for sets, props, costumes, CGI, actors and maybe location shoots surely you get more value if you can use them for more than one episode. Maybe it eases the strain on the principal actors a little as well?

[Coco Pops]

Not sure if this is true but anyway read away.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2468263/doc...Oov7bSmMFze.99

[Annoyed]

I hope that article isn't true.

[Sealurk]

I hope that article isn't true.

As stated in the News thread it's The Mirror reporting this - for anybody who doesn't know, The Mirror is one of the UK's tabloid newspapers so everything is sensationalised and blown out of proportion, so take anything they say with a few truck loads of salt.

That said, the same story is doing the rounds in a variety of forms, so there is probably little truth to it - most likely the cast and crew want a bit of a break so they're taking a year off from doing a full series and just doing specials, like they did with Tennant. I would be very surprised to find out it actually is because of a "ratings crisis".

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

The "live" ratings are falling. But the live ratings don't take into account the number of people who watch through the BBC Iplayer.

4.6 million watched "The Magician's Apprentice" live. When you include the Iplayer viewers that number increases to 6.5 million. And even then it doesn't take into account the number of people watching on tablets or phones.

And when you take the international audience into account...

[Coco Pops]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about the ratings figures... I think they will be solid once you add up all the numbers.

[Matt G]

1. Yeah...ghosts..can't blame the TARDIS for being a bit nervy...these things aren't meant to exist in the WHo universe.

2. UNIT recognised in the 22nd century. First I'd heard they were still around at this point.

3. It'll be interesting to see how they get out of this...and how far back the Doctor goes for that matter.

4. Regarding the ratings concern...I would take that with a pinch of salt...I've wound up watching Who on iplayer quite a lot over the last year or two and in the case of this year it's been up against the Rugby World Cup on ITV! No reason to panic.

[rushy]

Finally saw it. I'll make a full review when the second part comes out, but so far I just want to re-affirm: Doctor Who is back on track!

The serious attitude of this episode felt very refreshing after so many episodes of Moffat flippancy(no offense meant) and the cliffhanger was absolutely brilliant... one of the best I've seen in a long time.

I can't wait for the next episode!

[maneth]

This one was awesome. Modern DW at its best IMO.