zhoominator said:
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Were you watching the same episode I was? I can rattle off far worse episodes: School Reunion, Love and Monsters, Partners in Crime, Journey's End (now THAT was a complete shambles), Tooth and Claw, Daleks in Manhatten/Evolution of the Daleks, Planet of the Dead, these were all virtually unwatchable for me. It wasn't even the worst Series 5 episode (that would be the Beast Below). Could you explain how an episode with great acting, good pace (at least for the first half), an interesting premise and some great moments (such as the Doctor whaling on the Dalek with a huge wrench) is worse than any of those? Or my least favourite, the borefest first half and the nonsense and complete embarrassment that was the End of Time!? Or are you just another who's gonna moan about the chubby daleks? Or maybe your one of the people who hate Matt Smith because you'd decided you didn't like him before you'd even seen him play the role (because that was the case for most of them). Because I can't possibly understand how you can come to that conclusion without having some incredibly petty reasoning behind it.
For the record, I don't even think it's a great episode (it's about average, a number rating I'd give it a 6 out of 10), but to be able to say with confidence that it's the worst? Bullshit.
It wasn't the daleks that did it for me, It was the same things you are attributing as good.
I found it to have poor acting, poor pacing, and an uninteresting story.
The planes that were modified in about 3 minutes to fly up and destroy the spaceship? I'm used to crummy plot effects in doctor who (hell, as a doctor who fan you expect and cherish them), but that was just stupid, unbelievable even for a doctor who episode, it seemed like the writer didn't have a clue how to save the doctor and so he just made it up in the last minute. The weird stilted patriotism was unnecessary, even for something about ww2. The dangerous biscuit was a poor plot point, it's odd because usually I wouldn't mind stuff like that, it's what the doctor does, but somehow the pacing and angles used just made it seem tacky and dull to me.
The character of that scientist was the worst character I've seen in a doctor who. Just tacky and lifeless.
I also don't get why the spitfires stopped attacking the ship, the wormhole had nothing to do with chasing the daleks. And the dialogue to try to stop the wormhole from appearing was so, excruciatingly clunky.
There were a hundred other nitpicky parts that I didn't like, but those are a few of the bigger ones.
Beast below was bad, but a better premise and more interesting than this tripe. (Although, that queen comes close.. WTF?)
But now I've said all that it makes it sound like I dislike doctor who - Just reiterating, I really don't, even the poorest episodes are still comforting in that familiar way simply through being a bit quirky.
