Raonaild

Almeida's Army

Been in London today, seeing my football team get totally destroyed so haven't had chance to watch it yet. Will watch it tomorrow

Raonaild

I liked it. I like when the Doctor is confronted by difficult moral questions like that. I like when it isn't all about running and explosions and such, that some of it is about talking and struggling to resolve a complicated question.

The way it ended was a bit conventional though, it was the usual answer to this difficult moral question - the guy in the middle sacrifices himself, so that nobody else has to comprimise themselves to save him.

Oh, and I wish Ben Browder's character has survived longer. But he was the best part of the ep up until that point.

hiddleskittlesღ

I love it when filler episodes do more psychoanalyzing than the major ones. This one may have been about the other alien doctor, but it might as well have been about the Doktah himself. Jex’s suppositions said as much.
And I’m sooooooooooo glad they’re going there: the Doktah’s sudden urge to let the “guilty” die. I’ve only watched 4 episodes of the David Tennant version (so far) but from what I’ve read, the Doktah supposedly doesn’t do that - let other people die, no matter how awful their crimes. And this episode thankfully explains why the Doktah is suddenly feeling (no pun intended) cowboy-ish when it came to giving, or not giving, mercy. The furor started in the previous episode, when the Doktah let the baddie die in a shower of missiles. And I love that Amy hit it on the head - that traveling alone is getting to the Doktah, both psychologically and emotionally.
Not the best of episodes - I blame the writing and direction - I kept saying to myself “Why are Amy and Rory looking like after thought extras??” I felt like they were doing nothing, even though they were saying and doing things. It just looked so meh. I dunno. Maybe I need to watch it again.
Not sure I’m ready for the next ep. It getting closer and closer to the Ponds’ last episode and I’m not ready!

Raonaild

It reminded me a bit of Boomtown, only in this case the bad guy was a) less cartoonishly evil, and b) more sincere about repenting.

The Doctor does want to bring bad guys to "justice", but he doesn't often have to face the specifics of what that means. Here it was right in his face - the only justice the gunman would accept is the death of the alien doctor. And the Doctor didn't want to put anyone else in danger to prevent that justice.

As for the Doctor travelling alone ... I'm not sure exactly why he's doing this now, since the Ponds got married they seem to be only occassional travelers in the TARDIS, and the rest of the time the Doctor flits around on his own. If anything, it's Amy's fault that he's on his own so much, because she and Rory have made some sort of agreement with him not to travel full time. Maybe the Doctor feels guilty about taking on another full time companion while he still sometimes travels with them.

I agree, they were marginalized in this ep, though that's bound to happen when the guests in the ep take on a more prominent role. Not that I minded though, I wanted to see more of Browder's character

I can't believe we're halfway through part 1 of S7 already. At this rate it's going to be over in the first week of October, then we have to wait until Christmas for the next ep, and who knows when after that part 2 will start.

Musickat18

I thought it was a great episode. I love when the Doctor is faced with his past. The whole time he was ranting about what the other doctor did, I kept thinking "Dude, you're responsible for the genocide of you species." I mean, I get that he felt it was necessary, but it is what it is and I love when the Doctor is forced to stare that in the face.

I also wish that Ben Browder's character had lived longer. I really wasn't expecting him to die so soon in the episode.

I love how Steven Moffat is continuing what Russel T. Davies started at the tail end of Ten's time, where it become apparent that without a companion and without the rest of the Time Lords to help monitor his behavior, the Doctor can easily get way to big for himself and begin to feel like God.

Raonaild

At least he died heroically. I think that what the Doctor was doing at that point was wrong, and what the Sheriff did was what the Doctor should have been doing. Usually, the Doctor does believe in mercy, in redemption. Execution like that isn't justice.

Almeida's Army

Very enjoyable episode. I large part of that was the fact Amy and Rory were not centre stage, as the show is called Doctor Who not the Pond Show like it seemed like it was last season. That annoyed me a lot and is a large reason I felt last season was terrible. So I'm glad they've re-addressed the ballance, but I'm not optimistic about next weeks.

Musickat18

I'm apathetic (is that the word I want?) about whether or not the pond's take center stage. That in and of itself doesn't bother me. What bother's me is that it makes it seem like Amy is the first companion who really means something to the Doctor more than the others...like...Amy's your best friend, but no one else was? You've traveled with all these other people and only Amy made that sort of impression?

For pete's sake Doctor, why don't you ever visit Susan!? ( )

Sursonica

I thought I had written on this thread, but it seems to be I didn't (or maybe I did in the future? )

but anyway. I enjoyed the episode. Not so much for the plot itself, or the setting (I blame that on every saturday of my childhood with my dad watching westerns that made me loathe the genre) but for the insight we got on the Doctor. He is turning darker and darker as the season progresses and I find myself really enjoying it. There were parts where I wanted to stand up and do a standing ovation for Matt's acting. He can be the goofy happy-go-lucky Doctor, but when he plays anrgy Doctor it's absolutely terrifying. The Doctor scared the beejesus out of me in this episode and I loved it!

it also called my attention the Doctor's age in this one: 1200 years old. hmmm. He has aged almost 300 years if I'm remembering correctly since season 5. And it absolutely makes sense with how he is behaving lately.

Raonaild

Most of the Doctor's aging happened at the end of S6, between The God Complex and Closing Time. The Doctor now is the older Doctor from The Impossible Astronaut. And it seems like he spent most of that time running around more frantically than usual, not traveling with a regular companion, until he decided to stop and face his death in The Impossible Astronaut / The Wedding of River Song. It's probably the longest time he ever went without a regular companion, and though he might have traveled occasionally with River in that time, he wasn't traveling intermittently with the Ponds until now.

Raonaild

With this episode last week, iTunes sent another clip called "The Making of the Gunslinger". I assumed it was a behind the scenes thing, a sort of mini-Confidential. But actually, it turned out to be more of a prequel for the ep, explaining the origin of the Gunslinger.

Sursonica

I have to look tat up then, thanks for the heads up!

Almeida's Army

Nice Will try and check it out...