Rate And Discuss 3.1: Smith And Jones

[SiHart]

This is the thread for all your thoughts about Smith and Jones, episode 1 of series 3.

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

I demand this poll be opened now, as I have already made my mind up about Saturday's episode.

7/10, a fun but flawed opening to the season. Freema needs more time to settle into the role. Is it just me or is the TARDIS even wider this year? RTD had better take some more lessons in how to write! Hahah.

[Andrew Curnow]

With only about three minutes to go, I declare this poll open. And may the Lord have mercy on our souls.

[Andrew Curnow]

And no sneaky voting before you've even seen the whole episode please - that way madness lies. Enjoy S&J, folks!!

[Alex]

A Hospital on the Moon! Walking Rhinos! An Old Woman Sucking Off An Old Man! Lots Of Running Around! I liked it!



To be a tad more serious, it wasn't a classic episode, but I thought it was a pretty damn good one. It had a nice swift plot, I felt we got to know Martha really well during the running time, there were a couple of "Woah...!" moments (the first shot of the Hospital with the clouds circulating above it, and then it on the moon, the Rhino folks landing on the moon), and a couple of "Blimey, are they really going to get out of this?" ones too.

Random Thoughts: Martha already seems like a cool companion, though her extended family has the potential to annoy (it feels like RTD specialises in this, why can't we meet someone whose family are normal?!), I was glad to see the sonic screwdriver wasn't destroyed for good, and they carried off Martha's joining the Doctor really well.

So I'd give it a 7.8 out of ten. And a big Yay! Cause Who's back!

[Trudi G]

I have to say, i thought it was quite average, although it showed us Martha's character quite well. I'm sure my 7 year old will love it though!
One thing i was waiting for was an explanation into how the old lady drained his blood, and he registered as dead - but was revived by the kiss of life and chest compressions....

[MacNimon]

One thing i was waiting for was an explanation into how the old lady drained his blood, and he registered as dead - but was revived by the kiss of life and chest compressions....

I wondered about this as well. A huge improvement on last years opener though, I really enjoyed this one. It maybe won't hold up to close inspection, but for the moment I'm happy.

8/10.

[Philipnet]

So far this is getting a decidedly solid 8.
And I liked it too.

For me it was "Cracking, Gromit!" . A good solid start to the new season.
I liked the Martha character; it was a nice touch that she kept her head whilst everyone else fell to pieces and was quite perceptive; case in point being the conversation on the balcony of the hospital.

My Mum doesn't get the time travel/tie bit. But I do, and that's a nice touch.

All in all, a nice solid innings with this one RTD, let keep the character chemistry going please.

[Philipnet]

One thing i was waiting for was an explanation into how the old lady drained his blood, and he registered as dead - but was revived by the kiss of life and chest compressions....

Okay, you've got me on that one.

Can the Doctor stop his hearts?
Can he go into a deep comatose state and register dead that way?
Or is it just artistic licence?

[Larry]

very solid and enjoyable start and IMO the best season opener of the new series so far Freema, was excelent and has clearly hit it off with David Tennent straight away. The family moments didn't really bother me to much and I actualy found the scenes with Martha's dad and his air head bimbo girl friend quite funny.

As for the Judoon, every thing about them looked fantastic from their battle armour suits to their rhino heads and just loved their menacing stomping around and Ogron type intelligence.

[Larry]

a very solid 8 for me..

[Andrew Curnow]

Ha-ha, I just really enjoyed it, what a romp! "We're on the bloody moon" is already a classic line.

And it's probably an indicator of how many spoilers I've avoided, that I didn't realise until tonight that Martha's dad was being played by matey from "Mindwarp" (whatsisname Laird who made Colin Baker laugh a lot, apparently).

[WhiteCrow]

Sorry - just a 5 from me. Nothing terribly wrong, but nothing terribly great. Didn't like Martha family, they seemed something out of a bad sitcom.

Plus Martha feels just a bit too much like Rose in a white coat at this point. When I was out of the room (more wine anyone?) she even sounded like her.

And my wife will not stop going on about aliens with marker pens. She thought with advanced alien tech, they should have some kind of laser brand. However when I told her, what would she rather kids in the playground be copying the Judhoon with, firey hot brands or marker pens, she calmed down.

And of course all this mad running around hospital corridors was a bit New Earth. Nice to see they had a Hospital Shop though.

[Captain Tancredi]

Spoilers are only as good as the men who use them...

For what was basically a reboot episode, this more or less touched all the important bases- introduced Martha and her family, involved her with the Doctor straight away, new aliens, decent guest star turns etc. There really ought to be a Russell T Davies Script Bingo game though- "airheaded blonde"- check; "throwaway pop culture reference- check", "opportunity for Doctor to do a bit of physical comedy-check", "companion shows how feisty she is- house!". Nothing you can really fault it on, though.

[Jonno]

Very, very impressed - for me, that was the best season opener since 1988 (and before that, 1977). A big yay to Freema first and foremost for not only making Martha instantly likeable, but also making me not miss Rose at all (sorry Billie, but for me you were so much better in S1).

why can't we meet someone whose family are normal?

Because then, they'd be less inclined to go off with the Doctor, I would imagine!

Nice little nods to "Rose" actually - no pre-credits sequence (I assume and hope they will return for the rest of the series though), the repetition of the "Run!" while holding hands sequence, and of course her amazement at the TARDIS interior - loved the Doctor's miming of "bigger on the inside" as explained in the subsequent Confidential.

The Judoon were excellent - design wise, more than a nod surely to the Sontarans but then you couldn't really have brought them back as a police force! They're right up there with the Ood for me as the best new monster race.

David Tennant gave a great performance too - his cheeky chappie, smiling and winking at Martha, his heroic virtual self-sacrifice in order to let the Judoon identify the Plasmavore, and good stuff while he and Freema were, respectively, coming round while drained of blood and losing consciousness from oxygen starvation.

Excellent effects, excellent music - love Martha's theme - and plenty of running up and down corridors! Great stuff!

[duncan]

4/5 from me. That was a good series opener. It was very visual and Freema was OK. I thought she was going to be a bit wooden, but she wasnt.

I liked the some of the one liners and the little nods to the previous episodes. Like The Doctor grabbing the new companions hand and saying "RUN" as in Rose, and the reference to New Earth when the Doctor saw the shop in the corner, "Oh you've got a little shop. I love shops."

The Judoon looked great and the animatronic model worked very well. They came across as ruthless one minute by executing the guy who smashed a vase over one of their heads, then the gave Martha compensation for examining her. A funny contrast, but they werent the total villians I was expecting them to be.

[P-Bal]

It was a treat and a half. I forewarned you all the Freema Freema Flickerbeana would be fabbo, now bow down before my wisdom!

Get her mum bigger hair and an even bigger hat.

[Milky Tears]

Get her mum bigger hair and an even bigger hat.

and get Tish in a shorter skirt.


or get Trevor Laird some acting lessons!

Edited to add: Commentary from Collinson and Agyeman has appeared:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/sounds/

[The Secretive Bus]

Solid switch-your-brain-off fun, really. Martha's a lot more likeable than Rose ever was and the Doctor got lots of good Doctorly stuff to do, aside from that radiation scene where I was convinced RTD had written in a "Doctor farts out radiation" joke, which mercifully didn't happen. Odd that the Judoon were such a Sontaran rip-off (clones of a cloned species - gosh): averagely intelligent, stocky, militaristic soldiers with helmets the same size as their heads and little wand thingies. I quite like them all the same. Still, as noted at least they weren't stock villains: just rather stern aliens with a job to do. Frankly I think I prefer them to the Sontarans.

7/10

[stephenhannan]

The Poll part now seems to be missing off thus thread however a 5/10 from me. I really hope that the "family" soap story does not get in the way as much as in the last two series. It's time we got away from this type of participation in the newer series.

Also really do hope that Martha turns out to be a proper companion and not a "Girlfriend in waiting" especially as I think we saw the smoke signals in tonights show, And where there's smoke there's etc.

[stephenhannan]

Andrew!! you bad lad.

[Larry]

and the throw away "Saxon" references have started already juist like with Bad Wolf and Torchwood in the previous two series it looks like Saxon is this seasons recurring buzz word.

[Darren]

I agree that it was the best season opener so far and Martha is far more likeable than Rose. She's able to think for herself and is much more mature. The dynamic between her and the Doctor is looking good already. I was a bit worried at the start as the acting and dialogue seemed a little dodgy. My only real complaint is that Roy Marsden was wasted as a secondary character. And why did the Plasmavore need to wipe out half of Earth's population just to take the Judoon's ships? And how did she end up stranded on Earth anyway? Okay, that was three complaints.

And I thought the Judoon's bodies were similar to the Nimon.


And has someone merged two threads? We've lost the poll.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

The Doctor can't have a very high opinion of humans if he thinks that anyone who doesn't instantly run around screaming, and who might consider the non-airtightness of hospital windows, to be amaaaazing.

[Anthony Williams]

That's twice now this evening I've ballsed up Merging threads. Later on I fear Ant as big boss will be doing a Kandyman, and telling me he can feel one of his moods coming on...

I can feel one of my moods coming on....



Ant x