View Poll Results: How would you rate Extremis?

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  • 10 - praeclarum

    0 0%
  • 9 - magna

    1 14.29%
  • 8 - ipsum bonum

    4 57.14%
  • 7 - bonum

    1 14.29%
  • 6 - superius average

    1 14.29%
  • 5 - gratum

    0 0%
  • 4 - infirmi

    0 0%
  • 3 - satis mala

    0 0%
  • 2 - mala

    0 0%
  • 1 - stercore

    0 0%
Results 1 to 21 of 21
  1. #1
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    Default Rate and Discuss: Extremis



    In extremis!
    Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!

  2. #2

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    I did not see that twist coming. Always a good sign (Missy in the vault; well that seemed highly likely).

  3. #3
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    I really enjoyed it. It may be the sort of episode that suffers from rewatching, once you know what the twist is, but as a brand new one, very enjoyable. I guess we might ask who has sentenced Missy to death - perhaps it's the Daleks again, having failed to do so with Gordon Tipple all those years ago...

  4. #4
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    I thought it was a great one as well, I was pleased to see the vault / oath mystery cleared up this early on in the season and some of the scenes with the Doctor in the library as he was losing his sight again were very creepy. Once again it was brilliantly acted, and I really liked the fact that the Doctor going blind wasn't all resolved within the episode, and that it's clearly going to have severe ramifications.

    My only (tiny) complaint is that when Nardole approached the Doctor dressed in a monk-ish costume I thought his voice really sounded like John Simm's and got all excited for a second, so was disappointed when it turned out not to be him, but maybe that's just me.

    8/10 - and it's been a long time (well, season 6) since I've enjoyed Who as much as I am now, and I really appreciate that ten seasons in we're getting such amazing stuff.
    "RIP Henchman No.24."

  5. #5

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    Has anyone else read this book? (also called Counterfeit World). The story reminded me of it to a degree.

  6. #6
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    Has anyone else read this book? (also called Counterfeit World)
    Sounds like it's right up my street! Lots of people have pointed out things it might be based on, but really the premise is straight out of the Android Invasion isn't it? The Kraals might still be behind everything.

    Extremis was powered by the mystery that was set up right at the start and it motored through the episode. I thought it was spectacular, even with the usual Moffat tropes on display. (When he steps down I'm tempted to do a big chart of all these!)

    The scene where the semi-blind Doctor is chased through the library (Moffat Trope) by the hooded monks (Moffat Trope) was incredibly effective and one of the most tense and frightening moments Doctor Who has had. Superbly realised.

    I don't know if it'll stand up to repeated viewing but it's one of the more satisfying arc-type stories of the Capaldi era.
    Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!

  7. #7
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    Last night's seems to be the first episode of the current run to have attracted a mixed reaction from viewers. I certainly appreciated it more from knowing that it's the first part of a trilogy of episodes whereas I think a lot of viewers who hadn't read previews were confused by the ending, having not realised it's setting the scene for the next two weeks.

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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob McCow View Post
    Sounds like it's right up my street! Lots of people have pointed out things it might be based on, but really the premise is straight out of the Android Invasion isn't it? The Kraals might still be behind everything.
    I've expected to see comparisons to the Matrix, but I felt Counterfeit World was a lot closer (the people in the Matrix were, after all, real, not programmes).

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Brinck-Johnsen View Post
    Last night's seems to be the first episode of the current run to have attracted a mixed reaction from viewers. I certainly appreciated it more from knowing that it's the first part of a trilogy of episodes whereas I think a lot of viewers who hadn't read previews were confused by the ending, having not realised it's setting the scene for the next two weeks.
    Really? I didn't know it was part of a trilogy until you mentioned it and I still enjoyed it.

  9. #9
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    I though Nardole's voice sounded like John Simm's too when he was monked up.

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  10. #10
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    I enjoyed it, some of the scenes such as the one in the library, were absolutely amazing. Still enjoying this season more than I have any of the last 5 or 6.

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  11. #11
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    I enjoyed it but not as much as the previous five episodes. I had no idea that this was the first part of a trilogy so it may make a bit more sense as we go along.

    Maybe I missed it, but why didn't the Tardis translate the Pope?
    I’m being extremely clever up here and there’s no one to stand around looking impressed! What’s the point in having you all?

  12. #12
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    I thought it was a step back. All the episodes this year up to now have had a traditional feel and been easy to follow and enjoy. The showrunner turned up again this week, and we were back to the bad old days of last year - namely a confusing episode that you spent desperately trying to work out what was going on, before realising that the whole thing was just a rather substance-less bit of scene setting for episodes to come.

    I don't want plots spoon-fed, but I do feel that a satisfying viewing is one where you have a reasonable grip on what's going on. Even when Nardole dissipated in a burst of pixels I didn't think the dialogue did enough of a job to explain what had happened - that should have been the moment when everything at least clicked. But would computer people vanish when they "realised" they wern't real? I thought Missy was oddly subdued and the revelation that it was her in the vault was obvious. Surely she was the number 1 candidate? Right until the end I was hoping the Doctor would open the vault to reveal John Simm in there (we don't know that the Missy incarnation comes after the John Simm one do we?).

    The monsters were very unoriginal - they were effectively just the Silence, dressed up like the Pyroviles.

    A total Steven Moffat Greatest Hits in a season that had until now looked and felt fresh and original.

    Si.

  13. #13

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    I think Nardole disappeared because he stepped out of the range of the projector that was creating him; the realisation was a result of the derezzing, not the cause of it. Although I would have thought that stepping back into range would have caused him to reappear and stop disintegrating admittedly.

  14. #14
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    I was wondering about whether Missy was definitely post-Simm as well, Si. But I have a feeling that at the end of Capaldi's first season she says something like, "I know where Gallifrey is" which (even though it's a lie) wouldn't make much sense unless it was after The End of Time. I think. Well, maybe. Ish.

    You're right, though, those monsters did look a bit like the Pyroviles, I think it's the red robes that does it.

    I still really enjoyed it, and I think if I was 8 and it was the first time I'd come across the 'you're not real' plotline I'd have been fascinated by it (I certainly was the first time I came across something of the sort, with 2000AD's Robohunter - the mayor presses his tooth and his face pops open, and he discovers he's actually a robot! OMG!!). I love Doctor Who when it chucks ideas at you!!

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    I was surprised that it followed through on the premise right to the logical conclusion. There could have been get-out clauses to allow Bill, Nardole and the Doctor to be the only real people in the simulation. That's what I expected.

    To wipe out the companion - even if it's only the simulation of the companion - is pretty extreme. It's also very wrong. We care about fakeBill by the end of the episode so her death seems to be pushing it too far.

    Even so, I still thought it was a great episode.

    Did anyone say why a simulation would have a bit of paper in a vault somewhere explaining that it was a simulation?
    Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!

  16. #16
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    The weakest episode so far - it felt like a decent-ish, albeit typical Moffat episode, as has been pointed out, which only lasted half an hour. Then they added the necessary Missy stuff, which I'm also glad they've got out of the way. if nothing else, we don't have to spend the rest of the series wondering who's in the cellar.

    The Monks' makeup was particularly good, as was the idea of the world being copied and turned into a computer program. (Unfortunately, Marvel's Agent's Of SHIELD is currently using the same storyline, and dragging it out somewhat - full marks to Doctor Who for not doing so.) There's one or two possible clues given away already as to who or what the Monks might be... Knowing me, I'm reading too much into this.

    6/10

    PS More rubbish for trivia buffs - the actor providing the voice of the Monks is Lord Pedant's friend Tim Bentinck, the 12th Earl of Portland.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart Wallis View Post

    PS More rubbish for trivia buffs - the actor providing the voice of the Monks is Lord Pedant's friend Tim Bentinck, the 12th Earl of Portland.
    I believe his title's only honorific as he's basically a jobbing actor. He's probably best known as the voice of David Archer in a certain long-running Radio soap and has previously made a number of appearances with Big Finish.
    I find myself wondering if he's offering a more competitive commercial rate than Nick Briggs...

  18. #18
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    So Nardole dissapeared because he stepped out the simulation... Bill did because she realised she wasn't real. Yet the same visual effect was used for each. That didn't help!

    I think I might enjoy this one MORE the second time around.

    Si.

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Si Hunt View Post
    Bill did because she realised she wasn't real. Yet the same visual effect was used for each. That didn't help!
    I thought Bill disappeared because one of the thingummies essentially deleted her. I need to check on iPlayer.

    Yes, there was a thingummy with a raised hand standing behind her when she disappeared, so I'd guess she was deleted.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Brinck-Johnsen View Post
    I believe his title's only honorific as he's basically a jobbing actor. He's probably best known as the voice of David Archer in a certain long-running Radio soap and has previously made a number of appearances with Big Finish.
    I find myself wondering if he's offering a more competitive commercial rate than Nick Briggs...
    He's a jobbing actor because of Mr. Blair making several titles honorific in order to stop a Tory majority in the House of Lords during his PMship. Still, I can see him picking on BF in a Stavros Mountbatten-type way - "Do you know who I am? I'm the Earl of ruddy Portland! Now open your wallet and repeat after me - help yourself!" (Only not quite that nasty, we should add!)

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob McCow View Post
    To wipe out the companion - even if it's only the simulation of the companion - is pretty extreme. It's also very wrong. We care about fakeBill by the end of the episode so her death seems to be pushing it too far.
    They did this last week as well when it looked like Bill had been murdered by the walking suits, I hope it doesn't become a regular thing ala Rory's ridiculous amount of deaths.
    "RIP Henchman No.24."

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