S9 E4 "Before The Flood"

[Rassilon]

What did you think?

[ninjaconor]

Only good. First disappointment so far this series. It jut felt like 60% of it was the writer showing off about the timey-wimey plot he thought up. It was all far too over-explained. Also, the fisher king seemed like such an interesting villain but was thrown away before we could learn anything interesting about him.

[zebaroth]

i figuerd the ending of it in the last 15 minutes or so but i liked it loved the fisher king
has the look of a doctor who alien

[ninjaconor]

Just rewatched it and it's better the second time round. Still not up to the standard of the previous 3 episodes, but better than most of seasons 7 and 8.

[misterharry]

I voted Great as I felt this lived up to the expectations set by the first episode. I'm not sure how I feel about the Fourth Wall stuff at the beginning though, and I agree that the Fisher King was woefully underused. I'm also unsure why it was called the Fisher King, as I didn't detect any links to the Arthurian character it's named after - or did I miss something? It was also odd to have the two most recognisable guest actors - Colin Macfarlane and Paul Kaye - in largely non-speaking roles; it seemed a waste of their talents somehow.

However, I still felt this was a great conclusion to the story and deserves 4 out of 5.

[jennysfan]

I really like how they called out the Bootleg Paradox and seamlessly worked it in.

Very nice. Even better, it reminds me of what I said in the last thread.

SPOILER: Click to show

Oct 5, 2015 12:49:17 GMT jennysfan said:

Oct 5, 2015 9:27:53 GMT Catsmate said:

So Moffat can completely ignore continuity now? He'll like that.
But it is an opportunity to rerun classic stories.

You say that like they hadn't been doing that since the beginning. DW has always had issues with continuity. The difference now is that they have a slightly better excuse than 'someone lied'.

Besides, past Dalek military actions would have been targeted during the Time War. Heck, from the perspective of the Daleks the Doctor started the Time War in the story "Genesis of the Daleks" but the mere (albeit temporary) existence of the DARDIS¹ in the Chase indicates that the Daleks were fighting the Time War during the Doctor's 1st incarnation.

Basically, just try to remember that the Time War was fought along the lines of how the River Song/Doctor courtship would have gone if they met less linearly. Try to imagine that the plot of the 8th novel "War of the Daleks" was a viable tactic.
Now imagine it on a scale comparable to WW1.

The Time War should be terrifying; my biggest problem with how they've treated it on screen is Sky Trenches. Cause it sounds stupid.

1: It is, after all, reverse engineered Time Lord technology.

Retroactive Retcons are Lore, not retcons now...

[bjmorga]

A very entertaining conclusion. There was a bit too much explanation, but the Doctor's introduction was kind of fun in a flippant, yet effective framing device. Not quite amazing level, but strong.

[Catsmate]

Oct 11, 2015 9:17:39 GMT misterharry said:

I voted Great as I felt this lived up to the expectations set by the first episode. I'm not sure how I feel about the Fourth Wall stuff at the beginning though, and I agree that the Fisher King was woefully underused. I'm also unsure why it was called the Fisher King, as I didn't detect any links to the Arthurian character it's named after - or did I miss something? It was also odd to have the two most recognisable guest actors - Colin Macfarlane and Paul Kaye - in largely non-speaking roles; it seemed a waste of their talents somehow.

However, I still felt this was a great conclusion to the story and deserves 4 out of 5.

I rather liked the intro sequence. And yes the Fisher King is a bit of a puzzle as you say, it doesn't seem to tie in to either the classic or Whovian versions of Authurian myth.

Oct 11, 2015 9:40:49 GMT jennysfan said:

I really like how they called out the Bootleg Paradox and seamlessly worked it in.

Very nice. Even better, it reminds me of what I said in the last thread.

SPOILER: Click to show

Oct 5, 2015 12:49:17 GMT jennysfan said:

You say that like they hadn't been doing that since the beginning. DW has always had issues with continuity. The difference now is that they have a slightly better excuse than 'someone lied'.

Besides, past Dalek military actions would have been targeted during the Time War. Heck, from the perspective of the Daleks the Doctor started the Time War in the story "Genesis of the Daleks" but the mere (albeit temporary) existence of the DARDIS¹ in the Chase indicates that the Daleks were fighting the Time War during the Doctor's 1st incarnation.

Basically, just try to remember that the Time War was fought along the lines of how the River Song/Doctor courtship would have gone if they met less linearly. Try to imagine that the plot of the 8th novel "War of the Daleks" was a viable tactic.
Now imagine it on a scale comparable to WW1.

The Time War should be terrifying; my biggest problem with how they've treated it on screen is Sky Trenches. Cause it sounds stupid.

1: It is, after all, reverse engineered Time Lord technology.

Retroactive Retcons are Lore, not retcons now...

Agreed. And are the SPOLIER tags new? Or did I just miss them before?

[jennysfan]

I borrowed the bb code from another site. Apparently it works.

[ spoiler ]TEXT[ / spoiler], With no spaces if you want to give it a try.

[Catsmate]

Oct 12, 2015 12:07:54 GMT jennysfan said:

I borrowed the bb code from another site. Apparently it works.

[ spoiler ]TEXT[ / spoiler], With no spaces if you want to give it a try.

I will keep it in mind for the future, it beats colourising the text. Thanks.

[imajica]

Enjoyed it. And the additions to the theme music were most welcome.

I think they've a strong contender for the next lead writer in Toby Whithouse...

[DEN]

Not as over-the-top strong as the first part of the story but a really fun episode.

I like the Bootstrap paradox. The first time I recognized it was in the Chrostopher Reeve/JanE Seymour movie 'Somewhere in Time' in which a pocket watch is passed back and forth in a time loop between the characters.

I'm not a fan of the 'sonic sunglasses'...

[jennysfan]

Yeah, not feeling the sonic with the shades. Still beats the magic wand though.

[Stormcrow]

Making it sunglasses isn't the answer, and it's stupid. The answer is to make it take some time to work. "Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete."