Cathbad
Level 30 Geek Master
"What do you want from me?"
"The truth!"
"Don't be unreasonable!"
"The truth!"
"Don't be unreasonable!"
Dr. Who (36) 10.5: Oxygen
- Thread starter Cathbad
- Start date
Cathbad
Level 30 Geek Master
Okay, I liked this one. It even made a perverted sense!
I might be in the minority, but I like this Doctor.
I might be in the minority, but I like this Doctor.
Since the thread is here already, I'll comment as I watch.
"Got any reviews?"
"Space doors are supposed to go 'shuck shuck'."
"It's empty." "You couldn't just tell us?"
"Do people ever hit you?" "Well, only when I'm talking."
"You thought you were safe before." "Yes. Well I'm bound to be right eventually, aren't I?"
"Great. We rescued a racist." ... "Some of my best friends are bluish."
"Maybe get tired of carrying pesky humans around? Know the feeling."
"What happens if I throw up in my helmet?" "Color and smells."
Why did it only decide to expel the unlicensed oxygen after it talked to them, when it had noted it right away?
Hmm. Still blind. Interesting. Obviously can't go on for too long. Unless Stevie Wonder is the next Doctor.
Hmm. Still blind. Interesting. Obviously can't go on for too long. Unless Stevie Wonder is the next Doctor.
"Got any reviews?"
"Space doors are supposed to go 'shuck shuck'."
"It's empty." "You couldn't just tell us?"
"Do people ever hit you?" "Well, only when I'm talking."
"You thought you were safe before." "Yes. Well I'm bound to be right eventually, aren't I?"
"Great. We rescued a racist." ... "Some of my best friends are bluish."
"Maybe get tired of carrying pesky humans around? Know the feeling."
"What happens if I throw up in my helmet?" "Color and smells."
"I've got no TARDIS, no sonic. I've got ten minutes oxygen left and now I'm blind. Can you imagine how unbearable I'm gonna be when I pull this off?"
Or, to give the alternative episode title, Doctor and Bill and Zombies.
I think this is worth watching for all those science fiction and social commentary jokes alone.
As for the anti-corporation story, I thought it was a bit forced. All companies are not necessarily bad and couldn't care for their workforce, whether that be zero hours contracts or paying for Oxygen. Since we can't talk about politics anymore here, I'll have to leave it at that.
I think this is worth watching for all those science fiction and social commentary jokes alone.
As for the anti-corporation story, I thought it was a bit forced. All companies are not necessarily bad and couldn't care for their workforce, whether that be zero hours contracts or paying for Oxygen. Since we can't talk about politics anymore here, I'll have to leave it at that.
They are certainly overdoing the death and resurrection of characters this Season. Bill was seen to die, then she is okay, saved by the Doctor who is blind. Will he be blind next week? And when the time comes to regenerate what can beat walking in a vacuum to cause it? Maybe all the writers were competing to be the one who's story was used for the regeneration episode?
Definitely.
At least this time the explanation was that Bill was never dead, only in a state that looked as if she was... which, in the case of the suit, presumably means "not conspicuously consuming oxygen".
Cathbad
Level 30 Geek Master
I had the sense humans in that time weren't in charge of the Corporation...
Calum
Crabbit Minger
A solid little episode though nothing particularly special. Bill is delightful as always and it was elevated by the clever twist ending. The only glaring issue was the anti-capitalist subtext which I’m all for in theory but this wasn’t so much subtext or even text as much a luminescent neon text on a billboard on the side of a Brachiosaurs parading down Las Vegas boulevard with Elton John and Timmy Mallet in flares bawling through a disco tinted megaphone with wings that capitalism is bad. Vladimir Lenin would have told them to knock it down a peg.
Capaldi as usual elevates even the very worse material he’s given*. Throughout this era he’s suffered from inconsistent characterisation, but here they strike a balance, keeping his behaviour unpredictable and leaving his motives ambiguous until the end, but ultimately having him come through as the good guy in the end. Matheson also employed this characterisation on Mummy on the Orient Express, and it’s a good fit. It keeps the Doctor intriguing and alien without resorting to the grating deification we see in the Moffat and Davies scripts, where their insistence on hyping The Doctor up as the most amazing, skilled and powerful being in the universe makes any danger he faces seem flat and non-threatening.
* Some Doctors like Troughton, Tom Baker, Davison and Eccelstone always excel even when they're handling dreck. Others like Pertwee, Tennant, Smith, McCoy and Colin Baker sink or swim depending on what they're given (Though not even Gregory Peck could have redeemed the Twin Dilemma).
Capaldi as usual elevates even the very worse material he’s given*. Throughout this era he’s suffered from inconsistent characterisation, but here they strike a balance, keeping his behaviour unpredictable and leaving his motives ambiguous until the end, but ultimately having him come through as the good guy in the end. Matheson also employed this characterisation on Mummy on the Orient Express, and it’s a good fit. It keeps the Doctor intriguing and alien without resorting to the grating deification we see in the Moffat and Davies scripts, where their insistence on hyping The Doctor up as the most amazing, skilled and powerful being in the universe makes any danger he faces seem flat and non-threatening.
* Some Doctors like Troughton, Tom Baker, Davison and Eccelstone always excel even when they're handling dreck. Others like Pertwee, Tennant, Smith, McCoy and Colin Baker sink or swim depending on what they're given (Though not even Gregory Peck could have redeemed the Twin Dilemma).
MemoryTale
Good with a stick
Just caught this episode on iPlayer. I'm not sure if it enhances my theory as to the monster of the week not being evil or not. Funnily enough I jokingly guessed the twist, that it was the corporation behind it all - although my guess was so that they could cash in on the insurance.
The Doctor surviving the vacuum of space does actually make sense, Time Lords have been shown to be hardier than humans in harsh environments before.
Missy next week.
...
..yay
The Doctor surviving the vacuum of space does actually make sense, Time Lords have been shown to be hardier than humans in harsh environments before.
Missy next week.
...
..yay
I was going to add to my post that it was another monster that wasn't, but then I couldn't decide. And death that wasn't, but I couldn't decide on that, either.
It was death just like last week's, though -- the previous ones remained dead, but the current one came back. At first, when the Doctor left Bill and said she'd be ok, I thought it was going to turn out that the suits had been saving them all in stasis or something, and it wasn't death for any of them.
The smartsuits seemed like a future add-on to Amazon's Echo.
I liked this ep even though I saw every twist coming a mile away, and it was reminiscent of every other "half a dozen people stuck in a place with killer things" episodes, but there was some really sharp writing in this one. Fun watch.
I don't know if it was from watching it while tired, but this episode never really came together for me or made much sense.
Great effects, but if oxygen was so valuable why would a business simply vent out anything not needed? If the company wasn't going to fill a space station with breathable air, then why build an enclosed space station with an air lock??
Bill being dead but not being dead was predictable, but I didn't quite get why no one else survived. I understood that Bill's suit was malfunctioning, but it was still strong enough to shut down her nervous system, as happened with the blue guy and others.
The Doctor being blind doesn't feel like a convincing vulnerability - this is someone who can cheat death by regenerating. So if blindness is a problem, regenerate!
Great effects, but if oxygen was so valuable why would a business simply vent out anything not needed? If the company wasn't going to fill a space station with breathable air, then why build an enclosed space station with an air lock??
Bill being dead but not being dead was predictable, but I didn't quite get why no one else survived. I understood that Bill's suit was malfunctioning, but it was still strong enough to shut down her nervous system, as happened with the blue guy and others.
The Doctor being blind doesn't feel like a convincing vulnerability - this is someone who can cheat death by regenerating. So if blindness is a problem, regenerate!
Cathbad
Level 30 Geek Master
I thought the same thing. But actually, it looked like he did - and he seemed genuinely surprised he was still blind!
Cathbad
Level 30 Geek Master
Good points. Maybe I was the one who was tired?
HoopyFrood
It's me! Hurrah!
I'm not sure if it was oxygen was expensive, more limited so you had to buy it from the company. Which is why they expel 'unlicensed' air so you have to keep buying only from them. I guess?
There was something the Doctor said just before they had to run for the TARDIS, about the station collecting the unlicensed air for resale.
Harpo
Getting away with it
I haven't watched DW for over two years. Maybe they're all online and I can catch up.
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