Dr Who:In the Forest of the Night

[Albino Boo]

Almost a good episode. Given the writer of this weeks I was fairly sure the MESSAGE would be loud and clear and entirely from the north London dinner party circuit hymn sheet. They will get complaints about this weeks and not just from the usual suspects but from the medical establishment. Personally I have had stop someone throwing themselves out 13th floor window after taking bread knife to both their wrists while suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, those complaining have a point. That aside, before the reveal there were some interesting ideas and a genuine sense of menace in places.


Next week it looks like we have the beginning of the end for Clara and will we will find out who Missy is.

 

[Gizmo1990]

The premise of the episode would have resulted in a mediocre episode but add in Clara's boring boyfriend and some very irritating children and a mediocre episode becomes a crap episode.

At least the cybermen are back next week.

 

[Breakdown]

Do schools actually have sleepovers in museums? My school never did that.

This episode was so bad it's just turned into a kind of blur in my mind where there's a bunch of people wandering around a wood for a hour with the Doctor occasionally shouting "it's the TREES!".

Oh yeah and don't take your pills, listen to the voices in your head, they just want to help you.

 

[Mikeybb]

Do schools actually have sleepovers in museums? My school never did that.

This episode was so bad it's just turned into a kind of blur in my mind where there's a bunch of people wandering around a wood for a hour with the Doctor occasionally shouting "it's the TREES!".

Oh yeah and don't take your pills, listen to the voices in your head, they just want to help you.

That didn't click with me at first, just passed it over, but yeah.

Not a good message if taken out of context.
Granted, I'm inclined to think any child with regular medication isn't going to be influenced to resist that by yelling "oh yeah? well my OTHER doctor said not to take them and he's got a time machine!"

I enjoyed it all the same.
What I think I enjoy is Capaldi.
I like his surliness and clear love of the role.
He almost exudes it and, given his history with the doctor, you can understand why.

More focus on the doctor is what we need.
I like Clara and Danny, don't get me wrong there, but Capaldi needs the spotlight a bit more often.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I would have liked it better if there wasn't a status quo copout at the end with all the tree spirits dissipating. Maybe talk about collateral damage from having billions of trees collapsing all at once? But if a newborn can lay an egg moon bigger than itself, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

And please, Science Fiction, stop using Solar Flares like some sort of doomsday device. The earth gets hit by solar flares constantly and we've never needed a tree invasion to stop them.

Also, Flamethrowers vs trees. IN AN OXYGEN RICH ENVIRONMENT. It reminds me of the Futurama Christmas episode where Bender lit a cigarette and set the atmosphere on fire.

 

[VincentX3]

Just finished watching it and it was.... meh

I mean, sure I enjoyed it. But the kids kinda irritated me through out the episode. I actually thought they we're going to go humanity burns today route just to show the Doctor cant do everything (Or something of the sort) but nope! TREEEEE POWAAAA! Happy endings for everyone.

So far not a single episode has kept me intrigued like the LISTENING episode.
At least the next episode seems interesting and darker.

I'd give this a 2/5 :l

 

[Zontar]

Uhg, is it just me or has the show's quality gone downhill since Moffat took full control and lost the checks and balances which at least made the initial series in which he was head writer at least work? I mean it's bad enough he's responsible for the US being the one with a better current adaptation of Sherlock Homes then the UK, but this whole season has been... I don't know how to put it, but when an anime fan who loved Galaxy 999 can't get a kick out of a doctor who episode being basically a live action version of that, well, it'll have to be a dame good season ender for me to be tuning in next series. 8 looks like the end for me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

That ep was so bad I predict people will make up lies about Sarkeesian being behind it.

 

[wildstyle96]

I haven't watched this season since episode 4? I think, it involved the doctor looking for the invisible people under the bed or the Bank Robbery episode, anyhow.

Capaldi is brilliant as the Doctor but the stories haven't been compelling, complex or interesting enough for me to both watching it over other shows starting up again such as The Black List or The Walking Dead.

The four episodes I watched all seemed to be a perfect Problem, Resolution and ending. With nearly all the side characters either dying or being resurrected removing any tension present or reason to care for a character I know will most probably die soon anyway. Where are the interesting episodes of the past new iteration Doctors?

 

[Lilani]

Yeah...I wasn't so hot on this one. There seems to be a consistent problem with this season's stories in that they have too much they're trying to do at once. Kids are lost in London which is now a forest like the rest of the world, with their two teachers who are going out but hoping the kids don't know, the kids are problem children who are in a special class to help them deal with that, there's another girl in particular whose sister has gone missing and has apparently put her in a fragile mental state, and the adventure seems to be helping all the kids and revealing more about that one girl...and we haven't even gotten to the Doctor's role in all this! Then it turns out to be some global catastrophe that one special girl happens to be the center of.

It's just too much. I would have been fine with a kiddy field trip episode, or a discovering some ancient thing that protects the earth episode, or a Danny and Clara episode, or a mom trying to find her daughter episode, or a daughter trying to find her long lost sister episode. But this one was trying to be ALL AT ONCE, and all the characters and storylines suffered from it. I've got no complaints about the acting of any of the main characters, or even the kids. I think it's funny and interesting that they're pushing so many kids on Capaldi's Doctor when he's probably the least kid-friendly Doctor of the last couple of regenerations. But the stories are just doing them all such a disservice.

So, yeah. I'm fine with the characters and acting, but there was too much going on at once and it all got wrapped up just way too perfectly. A lot happened, but it didn't feel like any of it had much of a point.