Planet of the Dead

[altariel]

Man, I LOVED that!

Comments

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

Utterly, utterly fab. Why can't RTD write episodes like that ALL the time?!

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

Because he doesn't collaborate with the mighty Gareth Roberts all the time. Although they both have faults, together they FIGHT CRIME!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

RUSTY/GARETH FTW!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I think that he has been improving firly steadily during the time that he's been writing. Almost all his really dreadful episodes were during the first two seasons, and he's done some good things over the last year or two. He's learnt that writing stories that will appeal to children doesn't gave to equate to their being childish. It probably helps only having to come up with two stories a year as well, compared with half a dozen or so for the regular series when he was its main writer.

And I'm glad that everyone else seems to have enjoyed that story as much as I did. It even had one tiny bit of genuine science in it!

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

And no awful melodrama. Just the right amount of tension and lots of fun.

[owl]

It was a Bit Good, yes!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

ME TOO YAY!!!! Especially Malcolm, the mad fanboy / scientist.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes! Malcolm was adorable!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I liked him too despite part of me not wanting to... the old fan-wanting-to-be-taken-seriously within me, perhaps.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was affectionate, like in Galaxy Quest.

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

Rather fun, that. No camels, though. :(

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I squinted really hard but I couldn't see any either.

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

Ah well. the locusts would've eaten them, so...

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

There were camels in the Confidential. I imagine they were being firmly shooed (or whatever you do to camels) out of shot during filming, since they were meant to be on the far side of the universe where grumpy humped quadrupeds were in somewhat short supply...

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, it was nice to see Athelstan getting a mention. :) Sadly, IRL his crown doesn't seem to have survived to the present day.

[i-smell-shite.livejournal.com]

I loved it too, especially the woo bit at the end. I am all excited about what that means!

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

Wasn't too shabby, was it?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

They done well.

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

Of course, the presence of Michelle Ryan didn't hurt, either.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see her play Emma Peel, opposite Peter Firth as Steed.

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

Yeah...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-)

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

Actually, joking (and leering) aside, that would be brilliant casting, wouldn't it? Firth would make a terrific Steed.
BTW, there was a pic of Catherine Tate in tonight's Standard, allegedly filming the Doctor Who Christmas special...

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

Ooh ooh ooh!

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. But I'm hoping it's not going to be another `all the Companions are gathered together to help The Doctor fight A Terrible Thing (even Rose, who's not supposed to be able to leave the Pocket Universe)' episodes. It'd be a nice way to say goodbye to Tennant's Doctor, but they've done it before.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Firth is terrific. And anything would be better than the appalling Uma Thurman-Ralph Fiennes effort!

I'm also very excited about the pictures of Bernard Cribbins on set...

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

I thought the film was so utterly deranged that it had a certain entertainment value, but nothing could rescue the casting. We need to find Someone In Power and get them to pitch Firth and Ryan as Steed and Mrs Peel; it's too good an idea not to happen.
I haven't seen the Bernard Cribbins pics. I guess that clinches it; unless the BBC have given him and Catherine Tate a free holiday in Cardiff to throw us all off the scent, Donna and her Grandad at least will be coming back. I'm glad. I liked Donna.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I did like the giant teddy bears in the film. Hopefully somebody will hear our voices raised, crying out for Ryan and Firth... (Have you seen The Flipside of Dominick Hide?)

Aha, it seems that

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a152363/cribbins-to-be-new-doctor-who-companion.html">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

I did like the giant teddy bears in the film. Hopefully somebody will hear our voices raised, crying out for Ryan and Firth... (Have you seen <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flipside_of_Dominick_Hide">The Flipside of Dominick Hide</a>?)

Aha, it seems that <a href="<a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a152363/cribbins-to-be-new-doctor-who-companion.html">">Cribbins is to be the companion</a> for the Christmas two-parter. Lovely!

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

I have very fond memories of The Flipside... Also of Another Flip..., even though it wasn't quite as good. My god, The Flipside... was on when I was at university, sometime back in the Permian Era.

[brendan-moody.livejournal.com]

I was feeling all right but not too excited about it until the last few minutes (after the bus got back), which were absolutely lovely and offered the perfect balance of a bunch of different elements. And "The Waters of Mars" looks great, too. Oh, so many months away...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I thought it delivered on the spectacle without being thoroughgoing nonsense, and Christina was a great companion, very Emma Peel. Hope "The Waters of Mars" is as good!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

But- but- why did the flyboys have internal comms devices that were clearly designed to fit over a human ear?!

Other than that, it was fun!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

As they say in Bored of the Rings to these unanswerables: "Alas. O alack."

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

I couldn't quite work out why I didn't like it more than I did. I couldn't put my finger on anything that was particularly wrong with it (except that I always feel RTD's Doctor Without Companion episodes have something missing from the dynamic, and with the best will in the world a single Special doesn't give the time to get that dynamic going with a one-off companion). It just felt to me as though they are all, very professionally, marking time until RTD gets to Drop The Grand Piano On Ten...

(Other, smaller persons in our household loved it, however, so maybe it was just me.)