wowee - it was hit in our house with Master Porbillas, Little Miss Porbillas and even grandma Porbillas glued to the telly.

Are we having a sweepstake on who the new doctor will be?

That was a really awful first fifteen minutes. Horrible, shouty, macho, info-dumping fanwank.

Then it became pretty good, largely thanks to an excellent performance by the bloke playing Davros.

And then they chuck in a hand grenade with a fantastic cliffhanger.

I really enjoyed the first half hour or so. All over the place, but in a good way. It was only when the Harriet Jones sequence kicked in that it lost momentum - a pretty clumsy way of uniting the various strands. After that, it was back on the rollercoaster. Agreed, Julian Bleach's performance was of the very highest calibre and, coupled with an equally extraordinary prosthetic job, killed off any fears of a Molloy-esque travesty. It would be criminal if he doesn't get at least half an hour of screen time next week, especially if it's at the expense of overwrought emotinal histrionics between the Doctor and his perishing companions.

And the cliffhanger... what a cliffhanger. What a cliffhanger. At least, it would be, if the ghost of the great Russell Davies Reset Switch wasn't hanging heavily over it. Would he? I don't know... for the reset to happen the regeneration has to be completed and someone has to emerge from the fireworks. Could that really be it for David Tennant? Could even the official BBC press releases mentioning his participation in the Christmas and 2009 specials be part of an almighty ruse?

For my money, and let's speculate here, the regeneration will be suspended a split-second before it becomes irrevocable and the fate of Doctor ten will be saved. But let's see.

They'll wangle out of it, there's no way they'd have been able to keep a mid-season change of doctor under wraps. Tennant has already been filming the Christmas special.

Without giving too much away, like.

They would only be able to keep a mid-season change of doctor under wraps if he regenerated towards the end of the season, and all his subsequent scenes were on set, rather than on location.

But this is RTD, who could easily have kept the last change underwraps, but decided to announce it after the first Ecclestone episode, which deflated, rather than excited.

QUOTE:
Purves Grundy posted 08-04-2008 14:36

Still no mention of the fact that Richard Dawkins will be making a cameo appearance as himself later this series?

Il Visionario Tecnico posted 10-04-2008 17:44

It'll be like all the other cameos. It'll be in the last two episodes, and he'll be on the news talking about whatever invasion it is this time, and then again after the Doctor presses the reset button that saves the world.

King Mob posted 10-04-2008 22:24

I'm not so sure, this time. I reckon he might be more integral to the plot.

King Mob, what were you thinking? Almost as integral as Paul O'Grady's dog.

And I'm going to call at least three reset switches, Donna not dying and The Doctor and Rose disappearing off into the sunset.

A hit with us too, young BL was the most scared seeing Davros that I can recall him being for a while - Still think there will be a twist, can't see anyway there will be a new doctor, but I kinda hope that there is - managed to avoid the frustrating bit at the end that always shows next weeks show, so will have a week of wondering...

QUOTE:
King Mob, what were you thinking? Almost as integral as Paul O'Grady's dog

Know what? Not bothered. Dawkins' serious analysis of events, followed by O'Grady's inane witticism and Ianto's laughter, provided a fine comic moment.

QUOTE:
RTD, who could easily have kept the last change underwraps, but decided to announce it after the first Ecclestone episode

Now you know I and know that the circumstances of Ecclestone's departure were considerably more convoluted than that.

I had some reservations as it continued. It seemed to go full-blown comic strip along the way. Well, it is comic strip in essence but I feared it would disappear up its own arse with its wide-eyed wow factor, but it became hugely-enjoyable, pacey stuff. I could have potentially gritted my teeth as it incorporated the other various Who spin-off characters, but, happily, the effect was brisk, painless and likeable. And yes, it was a ball-buster of an ending.

I bet he doesn't regenerate into someone else next week and remains Tennanty. A peek at the capsule story summary of next week's episode in today's IoS telly supplement doesn't mention any regeneration.

Taylor wrote:

QUOTE:
Yeah, next week's episode looks like an RTD version of that old fan fiction you used to get, where the first, second and seventh Doctors team up with Jamie, Dodo, Leela and Ian Chesterton to fight the Daleks, Yeti, Cybermen, Silurians, and The Meddling Monk.

Just found out that they recorded voice parts for the Slitheen during the Shadow Proclamation part, but they had to cut them dur to time constraints. (Not that the Judoon played an important part either). And (apparently), we've still got Mickey and Jackie (at least) to come next week.

Which will give us five Smiths (The Doctor/John, Sarah Jane, Mickey, Luke and Mr) and at least four Jones (Martha, Ianto, Harriet and Francine), depending on how many more of Martha's family turn up.

King Mob wrote:

QUOTE:
Know what? Not bothered. Dawkins' serious analysis of events, followed by O'Grady's inane witticism and Ianto's laughter, provided a fine comic moment.

To be fair, that was one of a few great one-liners.

Battylad wrote:

QUOTE:
managed to avoid the frustrating bit at the end that always shows next weeks show

There wasn't one - not even at the end of the credits.

Well, RTD obviously intends to go out with a bang. I loved bits of that: I'm a sucker for the Doctor/Rose story, for a start, and the cliffhanger was indeed a corker, and I'm intrigued about what Donna's fate is, and it was great to see old Davva again. But news from around the world again, and the use of a monument as a transmitter, and the "Yes ma'am" salutes, and "Ladies and Gennulmen, we are at war". Hmm. Flawed.

The kids loved it all, I'm bound to say.

from outpost gallifrey:

QUOTE:
Episode Twelve of Series Four, The Stolen Earth has received a record breaking Audience Appreciation figure of 91. This is not only the highest score the programme has ever received, but is one of the highest figures ever achieved for a mainstream television programme.

Sunday's football was the most watched programme of the week making Saturday's Doctor Who the 8th in the list. This position may rise when corrected figures, including numbers for those recording the programme, are released by BARB in 9 days' time.

Whatever way you slice it, that is astonishing.