View Poll Results: How would you rate The Doctor Falls?

Voters
8. You may not vote on this poll
  • The Doctor Falls

    2 25.00%
  • The Timelord Tumbles

    0 0%
  • The Prydonian Plummets

    3 37.50%
  • The Castellan Cascades

    3 37.50%
  • Goth Gravitates

    0 0%
  • Rassilon Rocks

    0 0%
  • Borusa Boogies

    0 0%
  • The Rani Rumbas

    0 0%
  • The Master Mambos

    0 0%
  • The Doctor Dances

    0 0%
Results 1 to 12 of 12
  1. #1
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    Default Rate and Discuss: The Doctor Falls

    Season finale time again - so what did anybody make of all that?!!

  2. #2

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    I was going to make a poll for this earlier with rhymes of "Falls" and 1/10 was going to be "The Doctor Was Appalled!".
    But I didn't and I really enjoyed that. Best series finale for some time. Great stuntwork for the Cybermen. So that's what they spent the money on!
    Loved how they handled Bill but the end to their story was a bit "Meh".
    It's like these two stories have taken in board and corrected the disappointments of the previous series finale and Death In Heaven.
    8 but could go higher on rewatch.
    Last edited by Dino; 1st Jul 2017 at 10:51 PM.

  3. #3
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    Huh, really not sure what to make of that. I was enjoying it whilst watching it but straight afterwards felt frustrated by it. Moffat set up some really great ideas - Missy and the Master and whether the former was good or evil now, and Bill coming to terms with being a cyberman, and then did so little with them, Bill had a minor tantrum and destroyed the barn door and then seemed fine for the rest of the episode whilst John Simm was utterly wasted. And Bill getting essentially the same fate as Clara is just shit, Moffat really needs to stop being a coward and properly kill off a companion. Still, I had no idea about David Bradley's cameo, and have to say that did please greatly, and I can't wait for the Christmas special despite everything.
    "RIP Henchman No.24."

  4. #4
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    We laughed, we cried, we shrieked with pleasure. The only thing I would have liked is more showboating from The Master and Missy (M&M). They were very restrained compared to how we've seen them previously. But what a perfect ending for the character! Of course M&M would stab/shoot himself/herself in the back.

    Oh my word David Bradley. Such a thrilling idea. Such a great use of the character, just when you think they've left it too long and they'd never do it.

    In the same way as the very end of The End Of Time, we are probably saying goodbye to a lot of Moffat tropes. These things are neither good nor bad, but just seem to happen a lot. We had:
    A barn.
    Gender bending.
    Companion dying but not really.
    Flying Cybermen.
    Loads of Cybermen - they're clearly his favourite monster.
    Ultra-obscure fan references.
    Sonic screwdriver as a gun (though there's a good explanation for it this time)
    Bit too much chat about people sacrificing themselves rather than just doing it.
    Stories out of order to make a good pre-credits teaser (Girl In the Fireplace).
    Complicated time paradox / business.
    Pairing off companion with another woman to explore the Universe.
    "I did a clever thing" flashback.

    There's probably more, would love to compile a complete list at some point, including Sherlock, with pictograms and flow charts.
    Pity. I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. EXTERMINATE!

  5. #5
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    I really enjoyed it. Like Alex, I admit I felt Bill's fate was a bit too similar to Clara's and also that final TARDIS scene between Bill and Heather seemed unnecessarily wordy (maybe I was just keen to get back to the Doctor).

    The Doctor's "being kind" speech to the Master and Missy was very well done, although I'm not sure what the significance of the close up of her clutching his hand was for - and in an episode interspersed with poignant moments, I thought it was tragic when Missy dies* without the Doctor ever knowing that she was doing the right thing at last.

    I'm looking forward to the Christmas special, and it was an extraordinary cliffhanger... my only 'worry' is that, although he's an excellent actor, David Bradley was not all that good as the first Doctor in "Adventures in Space and Time". I realise that wasn't really the point, and he was superb as William Hartnell, but his 'in character' Doctor moments weren't a patch on Billy's - so I'm not sure what, if any, additional guidance he's been given for actually playing the part 'for real'.


    *Presuming she actually is dead this time!!

  6. #6
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    Overall I liked the episode but am inclined to agree that both incarnations of the Master were slightly under-used and to a lesser extent so were the Cybermen (Nick Briggs probably only needed about 10 minutes to record his lines there were so few of them).
    I really liked the ending for Bill. It was pretty obviously sign-posted in The Pilot that we would see Heather again at some point. I think that unlike Clara who outstayed her welcome, Bill earned a happy ending and I certainly wouldn't object to her making a return appearance whereas I think Clara deserved a much more definitive ending to her story.
    But yes, enjoyable but felt more like a middle episode than a finale.

  7. #7

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    The Doctor not regenerating at the end of the episode would have been a bit more effective if they hadn't pulled that trick already earlier in the series. Interesting to see the First Doctor (I wonder if everyone watching understood who that was?) at the end. Perhaps it's going to tie in with The Tenth Planet?

  8. #8
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    Even I quite liked it. (shock/horror!) 7/10

  9. #9
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    If only there was an episode of The Tenth Planet where the First Doctor happened to be absent to tie in. Oh wait...

    The Doctor Falls was a mixed bag. My favourite aspect by far were the two Masters. I have always liked Missy and finally John Simm toned it down to become the Master he always could have been. It's just such a shame that he was so awful in the Tennant era where here, complete with beard, he finally fulfilled his potential. The two of them were a joy every time they were on screen.

    Elsewhere I thought there was a bit too much talking from the Doctor. Not sure about the device of us "seeing" Bill as her; I know they couldn't have carried off all those scenes with her as a Cyberman but it was a bit tricky to get the head round.

    It also really annoyed me that if the Cybermen were to evolve during the episode, we only saw the three models they had in stock. It can't have been that much effort to run up a Wheel and an Earthshock model surely?

    I wasn't fond of Bill being restored and heading off to explore the Universe with a space girl, just like Clara. I know it was all set up in The Pilot but we struggled to remember what had happened to the Puddle Woman. Also, although mentioned earlier, it's still essentially Magic isn't it. Bill is a Cyberman. Her body has been destroyed. The Magic Space Woman swoops down and turns her back to life. What's the point of ANYTHING if that can happen?

    Moffatt would reply that "It's Doctor Who, of course we can do anything" but you have to have some things in the series which can't obviously be reversed, or else nothing at all matters. Does it?

    Si.

  10. #10
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    I have a feeling that this was supposed to have been the magic wand that saved Bill being shot last episode - a little bit of magic that's been summoned up by her until-now invisible-since-part-one guardian angel. It's nice to know that the explanation was there, but yes it does seem like magic - Bill's had it used a few times this season and you only get three wishes in fairy tales, and even the Doctor needed someone to intercede when his regenerations ran out recently; that resorted to negotiation rather than Glenda the Good Witch.

    And yes, the story did feel like a Moffat's greatest hits story (we can add turning a regular character into a Cyberman to Steve's list as well). It was still a pretty good story, although I agree that they didn't necessarily have to evolve the Cybermen into a recent, or indeed any pre-existing model. (I'd have loved it if at some point they'd played the Space Adventures music when Bill or another Mark 1 Cyberman appeared, but hey-ho - end-of-series budgets...) Both incarnations of the Master were finally likeable. We can't have seen the end of him. Last week was nice and sinister, this week action-packed.

    7/10

  11. #11
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    Enjoyable, but I wasn't keen on Bill getting the same exit storyline as Clara. Seeing Missy and the Master on screen together was fun. A great little nod to William Hartnell (Bill) and his wife Heather too.

    8/10
    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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    Quote Originally Posted by Si Hunt View Post
    I wasn't fond of Bill being restored and heading off to explore the Universe with a space girl, just like Clara. I know it was all set up in The Pilot but we struggled to remember what had happened to the Puddle Woman. Also, although mentioned earlier, it's still essentially Magic isn't it. Bill is a Cyberman. Her body has been destroyed. The Magic Space Woman swoops down and turns her back to life. What's the point of ANYTHING if that can happen?

    Moffatt would reply that "It's Doctor Who, of course we can do anything" but you have to have some things in the series which can't obviously be reversed, or else nothing at all matters. Does it?

    Si.
    I completely agree with you there and think it does spoil the series a lot. I'd be a little more forgiving if he'd properly killed off Clara last year but to do it twice is just taking the piss.
    "RIP Henchman No.24."

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