Doctor Who Reactions: "The Woman Who Fell To Earth" (SPOILERS)

1)"Sorry. Half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scotsman."

2)"We don't get aliens in Sheffield". Really? the number of mass invasions they've had in the new series alone should mean that no one doubts the existence of aliens.

3)I had to look up "dispraxia". I'd never heard of it.

4)"I never go anywhere that's just initials." Except for UNIT, of course.

5)I think that might be the first time that we've seen the Doctor with hir finger up hir nose.

6)"She's got two separate pulses."

7)DNA Bombs? That's new.

8)"I'm...not yet who I am."

9)"I'm good at building things. Probably."

10)The spoon! A callback to "Robot of Sherwood".

11)"Only idiots carry knives." OK.

12)"Eat my salad, 'Alloween!" Not the best last words. An old Doctor Who staple, the random hobo who gets killed by the story's heel.

13)"Which one of you shall I kill first?" "I vote none of us."

14)"A Stenza warrior wears his conquests." The Stenza are new.

15)"Tim Shaw?"

16)"Did he just saw I had a small mind?"

17)"Tim Shaw is a big blue cheat."

18)"I am special. I am valued. Somebody out there wants me." Heh-heh-heh...

19)"I'm really craving a fried egg sandwich." Ew.

20)"These legs definitely used to be longer."

21)"I'm the Doctor, sorting out fair play throughout the universe." Yes, you are. I accept you as the Doctor without reservation.

22)I had a feeling that Grace was doomed. They did a good job of making us like here in a short time.

23)I like that Ryan didn't magically learn how to ride his bike at the end.

24)The scene with the Doctor talking about hir family reminds me of the scene in "Tomb of the Cybermen" where the Troughton Doctor talked to Victoria about the same subject.

25)"It's been a long time since I bought women's clothes."

Cliffhanger: The Doctor and hir new chums are lost in space!

Overall: I liked it - a lot. I like Whittaker as the Doctor, I think the new companions show promise, and the Stenza was an interesting heel. I'm hopeful for the show's future.

My wife and I enjoyed it enough that we've added it to our weekly list. I'll never be the expert you guys are, but I do plan to watch at least the 2005-2018 episodes if I can find them on Netflix or Prime or U-verse On Demand. I'm especially looking forward to the David Tennant tenure, because I like him as an actor. I see from IMDB that if I start with the 2005 relaunch that I won't have long to wait.

I did watch the gabfest. It was only 15 minutes long. Wil Wheaton did most of the gabbing, who probably isn't any more of an expert than the other two, but is at least famous. He seemed a little off, like he was medicated or something. He spoke more slowly than we saw on STTNG and very deliberately, with little change in cadence. Maybe he knew he'd be quoted.

I wrote about it in broad terms in this week's column (up Thursday), along with the TWD season premiere. It did seem very newbie-friendly to me, speaking as a newbie. They seemed to take care to explain things, or have us experience things bit by bit, as the Doctor remembered them. I had no questions at the end. And we are still to be introduced to the TARDIS, which I am looking forward to.

I also expected Grace to be dropped, but for prosaic reasons.

1) Four companions is a bit much -- as the producer said at NYCC, the companions are the viewer's POV, and we don't need four of them. It would be a chore to service them all each episode.

2) We had two women of color, so one was redundant. That sounds cold, but that's how quotas work, and I do not doubt that casting decisions follow exactly those lines.

3) For my money, you could have dropped the old white guy, as that is a POV I have had plenty of. But his need to be woke, to find his courage and to build a bridge to his stepson means he has more story to tell than Grace, who was written as a finished product whose death left no loose ends.

Say, when the Doctor stuck her finger up her nose, I assumed that this was a standard thing -- it looked like she was searching for some sort of reset button. (I got that out of the dialogue somehow.) But you say it's a first, Bob. What's the story there?

I loved her confidence. She was still incomplete, but if you have lived that long, you kinda assume you can handle whatever comes along. The new body should be no impediment -- at least after she gets used to the new length of her legs.

Replies

The Baron October 9, 2018 at 7:48pm

I'll probably have more to ssy tomorrow. I got to the library late, and watching the episode took up most of my library on-line time.
Doctor Hmmm? October 9, 2018 at 10:55pm

21)"I'm the Doctor, sorting out fair play throughout the universe." Yes, you are. I accept you as the Doctor without reservation.

Yup, I'm in.

24)The scene with the Doctor talking about hir family reminds me of the scene in "Tomb of the Cybermen" where the Troughton Doctor talked to Victoria about the same subject.

14 years in and I'm still surprised how much our minds work alike sometimes.
Jeff of Earth-J October 10, 2018 at 9:07am

I’m glad you got the opportunity to watch it, Bob. I’m glad you didn’t see the aftershow fan gab-fest (of which we watched about one minute). Their “expert” was a “long time” Doctor Who fan who had been watching since “the Chris Eccleston days in 2009” (that’s what she said). She liked the scene in which the Doctor tried on new outfits because “We’ve never seen that before” (except the Fourth Doctor, the Fifth, the Sixth, the Seventh…).

Of the new “companions” I liked Grace best. Her death was something of a callback, I thought, to the fourth Doctor’s.
Captain Comics October 10, 2018 at 3:30pm

My wife and I enjoyed it enough that we've added it to our weekly list. I'll never be the expert you guys are, but I do plan to watch at least the 2005-2018 episodes if I can find them on Netflix or Prime or U-verse On Demand. I'm especially looking forward to the David Tennant tenure, because I like him as an actor. I see from IMDB that if I start with the 2005 relaunch that I won't have long to wait.

I did watch the gabfest. It was only 15 minutes long. Wil Wheaton did most of the gabbing, who probably isn't any more of an expert than the other two, but is at least famous. He seemed a little off, like he was medicated or something. He spoke more slowly than we saw on STTNG and very deliberately, with little change in cadence. Maybe he knew he'd be quoted.

I wrote about it in broad terms in this week's column (up Thursday), along with the TWD season premiere. It did seem very newbie-friendly to me, speaking as a newbie. They seemed to take care to explain things, or have us experience things bit by bit, as the Doctor remembered them. I had no questions at the end. And we are still to be introduced to the TARDIS, which I am looking forward to.

I also expected Grace to be dropped, but for prosaic reasons.

1) Four companions is a bit much -- as the producer said at NYCC, the companions are the viewer's POV, and we don't need four of them. It would be a chore to service them all each episode.

2) We had two women of color, so one was redundant. That sounds cold, but that's how quotas work, and I do not doubt that casting decisions follow exactly those lines.

3) For my money, you could have dropped the old white guy, as that is a POV I have had plenty of. But his need to be woke, to find his courage and to build a bridge to his stepson means he has more story to tell than Grace, who was written as a finished product whose death left no loose ends.

Say, when the Doctor stuck her finger up her nose, I assumed that this was a standard thing -- it looked like she was searching for some sort of reset button. (I got that out of the dialogue somehow.) But you say it's a first, Bob. What's the story there?

I loved her confidence. She was still incomplete, but if you have lived that long, you kinda assume you can handle whatever comes along. The new body should be no impediment -- at least after she gets used to the new length of her legs.
The Baron October 10, 2018 at 6:43pm

I have no idea what the nose thing was about, I hope it doesn't become her "quirk".

Most fans would say that three companions was too many, and that one, or at most two, was better. That said, the new companions don't really match up to anyone that we've seen before, really. The idea of an older male companion may not appeal to you, but it's a fairly new thing for the show. I'm just glad for a break from the Pretty Young Thing Who Serves As The Doctor's Quasi-Girlfriend.
The Baron October 10, 2018 at 6:45pm

Note: I most likely won't get to see the rest of the new series until it comes out on DVD, so if someone else wants to start the episode spoiler threads, that's fine with me.
The Baron October 10, 2018 at 6:49pm

I also meant to say - we may not see all three companions in every story, and not all three of them will not necessarily last out the series.
Captain Comics October 11, 2018 at 1:23am

So, there has never been three companions before? How often were there two, and when?
Richard Mantle October 11, 2018 at 1:41am

Not completely new Captain, back in the 5th Doctor (Peter Davison) term he had a Tardis full of Tegan, Nyssa and Adric .

Captain Comics said:

So, there has never been three companions before? How often were there two, and when?
Tracy of Moon-T October 11, 2018 at 6:34am

Welcome, Andrew and Joan!

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