Rate and Discuss: Cold Blood

[Andrew Curnow]

There doesn't seem to be a thread already - but there is now!!

[shada pavlova]

The ship, Chesterton...THE SHIP!!!!

[Andrew Curnow]

For much of the time I enjoyed it, but found myself not quite as gripped as last week (and a bit unfortunate, voiceoverwise, that the narration was similar in style & feel to that from The End of Time Itself). But it certainly picked up towards the end - Rory's demise really surprised me, since I was anticipating a wedding for the end of the season. And... bits of police box?!

Zel was left (oh lordy, here come the puns) cold, by the whole two-parter.

(Zel would like me to point out that she didn't make any puns, I'd like to take full credit/responsibility for those!)

[Dino]

Well despite the voice over in the first scene pretty much killing the drama...
I bet you Chris didn't write the last five minutes? (The only bit worth bothering with)
I'd rather not comment any further thanks... How ironic Eurovision is the second programme after it tonight?

[Andrew Curnow]

Bit more flesh on the bones - I liked Stephen Moore, even though he didn't get nearly enough to do. The death of Rory was well-played, and without sounding heartless by having Amy forget it means that (a) it is moving the plot forward and at the same time (b) providing a neat get-out clause so that we don't have episode after episode of her moping about the TARDIS, crying and wearing black (we had all that with Anji in the EDAs and poor dead Dave).

And next week looks good!!

[Matthew T]

I thought it was magnificent tonight.

[Awesome Wells]

Really, really good; in fact, far better than last week - but that's only as things should be with a two-parter. The story worked well, ebbing and flowing nicely, with only the bit where they escape back to the TARDIS feeling a little bit rushed. Beyond that, very good. The Chinball Wizard did well, methinks.

What did I think of other stuff?

Well, Ambrose was as stupid as only humans can be; her son and (eventually) her father were the opposite. So was Meera Syal's character, whose name I've unforunately forgotten. But they were all absolutely splendidly performed - even better than last week.

Sadly, the Silurians weren't. They looked great, but they were all pretty cliched characters: the wise old man, the hotheaded young soldier, the human-loving scientist - maybe it's a genetic trait amongst homo reptilia that repeats throughout the ages. They felt too one-dimensional for the performances of the actors to shine through. Or maybe it was their makeup. Their city wasn't very impressive, either - the CG long shots were great and the big hall where the Liberal Democrats and the Tories - sorry, the humans and the Silurians - tried to thrash out their coalition - sorry, their peace pact - was equally impressive. But the corridors were just a bit too corridor-y, and the pod-launchy-things just reminded me of the place Torchwood kept naughty aliiens locked up.

Regulars? Matt Smith was wonderful, but I was less-than-impressed by Karen Gillan for three quarters of the episode. Like last week, she just didn't convince me as Amy as she did earlier in the season. But when Rory died, she was excellent - and the scene just after, where she gradually forgets him was brilliant... possibly her best performance thus far.

Speaking of that shocking climax, Rory's death was brilliantly unexpected, even though he's died once this series already. It was particularly timely seeing a companion killed off mid-series, asLissa has already stated she'd do precisely that if she were producer of the show (see the Fantasy Doctor Who producer thread). I just wish Arthur Darvill had been very slightly better. It felt like the death of a cypher, rather than a regular character. But fear not, fans of gawky, lanky, ironic-y nurses: Rory will almost certainly be back at the end of the series. He's been killed off twice and everyone - except possibly the Doctor - has forgotten him. That's pretty much a guarantee that we'll see him again.

Next week looks a bit rubbish in comparison. But we'll see. This wasn't the best episode in the series, but it was definitely in the Champions League places. A very solid eight "best of humanity"s out of ten.

[Awesome Wells]

How ironic Eurovision is the second programme after it tonight?

Is it? Why?

[Larry]

big improvant on last weeks episode, however it did feel like one of those old pertwee, 7 parters condenced into 2 parts and I did even think that this could so easely have been a 3 parter. I can understand what some posters over on G.B are saying that the episode lacked some thing there just wasn't enough tension in the episode and the negotiations were agreed far to quickly. Perhaps the thing this 2 parter needed to make it an epic was for the talks to fail and a full scale battle against the humans. Also felt the naration spoilt things in that we knew that the Silurians were going to survive and made the soloution at the end to just "fumigate" to send the Silurians back to sleep far to easy.

As for Rory,well they did well to keep that a secret I nearly fell off my chair when he died as it was totally unexpected and made even more heartfelt by some great acting by Karen.

[Awesome Wells]

Can I take back what I said about Arthur Darvill's performance of Rory's death? I've just seen it again on Confidential and I think he did really well. "I'm sorry." Excellent. I think I've got something in my eye.

[egdcltd]

I can't help feeling Rory may come back at some point. Currently, he's been erased from history by light from an explosion apparently caused by an exploding TARDIS. Either Moffat is going to get lynched by Doctor Who fans, or the TARDIS exploding will be prevented. Which means Rory won't be erased from history. Okay, that doesn't mean he'll magically come back to life, but I think history will be rewritten. As long as it's not by a wind back time so everything didn't happen machine. Or was it called a paradox machine?

[MinaHarker]

They looked great, but they were all pretty cliched characters: the wise old man, the hotheaded young soldier, the human-loving scientist - maybe it's a genetic trait amongst homo reptilia that repeats throughout the ages. They felt too one-dimensional for the performances of the actors to shine through. Or maybe it was their makeup.

I thought that too.

I almost laughed at the stupid noise the hothead soldier made when she realised her sister was dead. I'm sorry.

Rory's death was totally unexpected, but I am CERTAIN there will be a big reset button and he'll come back. Probably due to cracks in time or something.

BTW, isn't Ambrose a male name?

I did enjoy it though.

[Jason Thompson]

I agree with Emma, the noise she made over Alaaya's dead body was ridiculous.

A bit variable, overall. The Silurian characters were all cyphers, not characters. As usual we have the absurdly undisciplined miltary, where the commander just wants to persue her own agenda rather than actually serving the rulers, which is presumably what the military was there for in the first place. The scientist is portrayed as quite a nice bloke at the end, as if we're all supposed to forget that he already cut open one guy while fully conscious and was about to do the same to Amy. I just didn't buy his change from amoral scientist to ape-loving all-round good egg.

If the Silurians are actually awake down there, and the commander whose name I have forgotten (Reztak?) was so eager to return to the surface, why hasn't she already done so? The scientist indicates that they've been able to come and go from the surface at will for millennia, and they do have a whole army down there.

The final countdown to the desperate run for the TARDIS was frustrated by a whole load of long goodbyes, and I was hardly able to stop myself shouting for them to just get on with the running away.

Rory's death was, for me, diluted by the fact that we've already had a Rory death scene, and the presence of the crack strongly suggests that some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff will happen and he'll be back. It also seemed very tacked-on, rather than being a part of the story proper. The fact that Rory hasn't actually done a lot this episode also made it less than it should have been.

That's not to say there wasn't some good stuff. Matt Smith continues to shine. The most interesting interaction was the Doctor and Ambrose. He's furious with her, but still saves her so she can learn from her mistake and teach her son to be better.

One final note: it is somewhat unfortunate that real science has made the explanation for the Silurians' retreat underground rather at odds with reality. The Moon was more than likely the result of a catastrophic impact early on the history of Earth, and that catastrophe would ahve been even beyond the Silurians' hibernation technology to endure, since it reduced Earth a abll of molten rock. Of course, when the original Silurian tale was penned back in 1969 that giant impact theory had not even been thought of, and indeed one hypothesis for the moon's presence was a rogue planet cpatured by Earth. It was only the analysis of the Apollo luanr samples that suggested it.

[Philipnet]

At the Bracknell meet last night, somehow we got onto the topic of What would Amy do if Rory died?

IIRC, we all decided that if Rory did die, that Amy would stop travelling with the Doctor.

Well, I don't think anyone considered or even mentioned what Amy would do if Rory died and then he went into the crack in time!


I don't agree with Matt (IIRC) from the Confidential, that what goes into the crack doesn't come out again. I do think we will see the crack being opened up and the contents messed with at the end of the season.

[Jon Masters]

At the Bracknell meet last night, somehow we got onto the topic of What would Amy do if Rory died?

IIRC, we all decided that if Rory did die, that Amy would stop travelling with the Doctor.

Well, I don't think anyone considered or even mentioned what Amy would do if Rory died and then he went into the crack in time!

It must have been the ginger beer - it was suggested that such a thing might happen (though not tonight) and someone made a comment about Rory falling into Amy's crack

No-one beat the trivia machine or made a prediction about this week's lottery numbers though.

[Darren]

Oh dear, 2 out of 10.

An awful conclusion to what was shaping up to be a great two parter. Most of my issues have already been picked up by others. The voiceover served no purpose at all. The scientist who had been dissecting conscious humans was suddenly a good guy- and what will happen to that bloke? Will he suddenly realise his lung and kidney are missing?
Exactly how naive was the Doctor in this one? An irritating girl and a mere scientist can negotiate a shared Earth? Yeah, forget about all the governments and nations up above who can barely get along with each other. Ludicrous.
All other characters were cyphers (as mentioned), simply walking cliches.
The humans escape scene when Ambrose's execution was ordered was unbelieveable- The Silurians get off one shot and then stand around while they run and the Doc gets his screwdriver out.

Easily the worst story of Series 5 so far.

And Rory's death was unexpected. It should have been Amy.

[Darren]

BTW, isn't Ambrose a male name?

No, it's a custard. Though I wouldn't pour her on my roly poly.

[MinaHarker]

When Amy and the bloke grabbed the guns from the silurians in suspended animation and then burst in and brandished them, I really hoped they'd turn out to be musical instruments or something.

[duncan]

Not bad, better than last week. It was a shock to see Rory's death but I'm sure he'll be back come the series finale.

[Larry]

OhExactly how naive was the Doctor in this one? An irritating girl and a mere scientist can negotiate a shared Earth? Yeah, forget about all the governments and nations up above who can barely get along with each other. Ludicrous.
.

agreed, and moffatt, as producer really should of realised that this was not believable and ordered a change in the scripts or had the whole scene chopped completely.

[Alex]

I enjoyed it but it was a very generic episode, as others have mentioned. Last week I didn't mind Meera Syal but felt she was very flat here, and far too accustomed to her strange surroundings. And the whiney Mum character annoyed a lot too, if I was the Doctor I'd have been far harsher to her - and Amy too, as you could blame the Mum's actions for the death of Rory.

The last ten minutes were superb though, I didn't see Rory's death coming (though like others I expect he'll be back) but I'm quite glad in a way, I didn't mind him but prefer it when it's just Amy and the good Doctor. Despite Amy coming to realise her love for him in Simon Nye's superb episode, during the two parter she seemed all rather negative about the relationship (questioning whether it would last ten years / calling him an idiot a lot) and it's ground I'd just rather not see in a show like this.

Anyhow, this gets a solid 7/10 from me, I can't imagine rewatching it, but it was by no means the disaster I feared it might be.

As for next week's, well, I didn't watch the trailer, but as it's written by Richard Curtis I'm certainly very interested to see what he's created.

[Perry Vale]

Hmmm, oh dear. After a wonderful opening seven episodes, the series finally threatened to come off the rails. A big disappointment.

There was something wrong with episode 1, that I couldn't put my fingers on at the time. My problem with it stemmed from that weird opening scene with future Amy & Rory waving from the hillside. It was an awkward moment that stood out as not belonging. What did it have to do with the story? I didn't believe that even the Wizard would put in such a fanw*nky moment unless it was going to play out at the end. And when it again featured in this week's 'Previously' recap, I knew again this was going to come back...

And that was why I think I never engaged with this story. The whole stuff with the Silurians never felt like the story to me, I couldn't see any tension in it, and as others have said, all the characters were very cliched. It always seemed like it was treading water until the real story came along with five minutes to go. Add to that the dreaded voiceover (which I agree was very TEoT), a far above average use of the sonic screwdriver (The Doctor using it when Rory was dying being the worst), the pointless forcefield bubble in ep.1, the Scottish Agenda Silurians, and the awfully unconvincing 'Earth Conference', too much poor CGI, the very convenient 'this is not a fixed point in time', and we have a bit of a stinker.

Matt Smith wasn't bad, but it's perhaps interesting to finally find out that he can't lift every story out of mediocrity. Gillan was good too, mostly, and really delivered in the finale. Arthur Darvill continued to impress too, and perhaps was too good at times (his graveside speech to Ambrose hinted towards the resolution).

And so on to that ending. Well, I didn't know it was coming (my spoiler avoiding is doing well so far this year), and it was very bold.....but it was somehow not very surprising (to me), because of all the other things I've mentioned, as well as ep.1's scene with Rory returning the ring to the Tardis, and that cut scene from DW:C. Darvill was superb, but I do hope that they resist unwriting everything at the end of the series, and also hope we don't return to the scene of the crime 1000 years later....

So, a pretty unsuccessful director (IMO), one of my least favourite writers, and a messy first episode that had to be cut by fifteen minutes, this probably comes in somewhere around the 5-6/10 mark.

Oh, the piece of Tardis from the crack was cool, but......what about the crack itself? The Doctor didn't seal it, so surely it'll continue to consume Earth in 2020?

[Wayne]

Great performances. Crap plotting.
Somewhere out there, Pip and Jane Baker are laughing their arses off at Chibnall's ineptitude.
Murray Gold back to his intrusive worst. If i hear that: "Da da da, dada, dadada" one more time!!!
Like last week i gave this episode 4/10, and i can't be bothered to list all the niggles, but there were a lot, and it was largely down to shit writing and totally unconvincing Silurians.
Rory's death scene was excellently done though. Super stuff from Karen Gillan, and such a marked improvement from the rest of the episode that i wouldn't be surprised to learn that Moffat had stepped in to re-write it.

Amy's Choice, and Time of the Angels have been the best Dr Who since the series came back, but this two parter wasn't in the same league, despite Matt Smith being the best Doctor since the 70's.

[matthewsch]

A bit of a letdown after the previous episode. I decided before last week not to judge the episode badly right from the beginning just because Chibnall was writing it, but I think now that he should stick to Torchwood. There were so many missed opportunities. Moffat should have written these two, he would have made them amazing. Nasreen was flat this week, and it would have been better if we'd had more of Elliot (it's as if Chibnall stuck him in the chamber just because he didn't know what to do with him), especially some interaction between him and his father. The bit at the end with Tony was touching, but nothing compares to the last bit with Rory and Amy. I was glad to get rid of Nasreen, I bet the Doctor was too! The conference was cliched (as were the three Silurians) but watching Nasreen do all the talking while Amy yawned was funny. I had to laugh, though, when the Silurian made that strange noise while looking at her dead sister. Some great character development with Ambrose, although, again, Moffat could have drawn more out there. Hated the voiceover, it was too Doomsday/End of Time.

Good plot, weak on the characterisation. 9/10, I enjoyed the episode despite all my grumblings and I look forward even more to the series finale now!

I still want to know where the ducks went...

[Darren]

I still want to know where the ducks went...

They went through the quack in Amy's bedroom.