Doctor Who - Discussion Thread III (no untagged future spoilers)

When did it work on wood? Did I miss something?

In the 50th anniversary ep.
He says the screwdriver can work on wood but it takes many hundreds of years so he tells people it can't work on wood. But since the john hurt dr started the calculation (to open the door) it was still going in matt smiths dr's screwdriver (in the furture), even though they were in the same bit of time. Hence they would have been able to open the locked wooden door of the tower of london.

Reply 3101

muonz

Original post by Yoghurt

In The Day of the Doctor they used it between the three doctors to open the prison door, but it technically took 400 years for the Sonic screwdriver to work out how to do it (Plus the door was open anyway)

Also, it was just a plot device to set up the ending, so I doubt we'll see it do it again...

Original post by randomd_love

In the 50th anniversary ep.
He says the screwdriver can work on wood but it takes many hundreds of years so he tells people it can't work on wood. But since the john hurt dr started the calculation (to open the door) it was still going in matt smiths dr's screwdriver (in the furture), even though they were in the same bit of time. Hence they would have been able to open the locked wooden door of the tower of london.

Ah yes I remember. Seems a cheap trick!

Reply 3102

516359

12

Original post by muonz

Ah yes I remember. Seems a cheap trick!

Indeed.

Reply 3103

Feefifofum

16

I didn't think that made sense anyway. If it's locked, the lock will be made of metal surely - which the sonic works on.

Reply 3104

greeneyedgirl

19

Original post by Feefifofum

I didn't think that made sense anyway. If it's locked, the lock will be made of metal surely - which the sonic works on.

Unless was a wooden bar/latch across the door :dontknow:

Reply 3105

AffirmedCube

9

My thoughts on the Christmas special:

Spoiler

Reply 3106

rmhumphries

17

Original post by greeneyedgirl

Unless was a wooden bar/latch across the door :dontknow:

Original post by Feefifofum

I didn't think that made sense anyway. If it's locked, the lock will be made of metal surely - which the sonic works on.

Aye, they were working out the resonance to disintegrate the door in a similar way that an opera singer can make a glass break.

Reply 3107

VladThe1mpaler

14

I wonder if there will ever be a decent Dalek story again under moffat as showrunner? It feels like they always either play a small part in an episode (i.e. you see them exploding and shooting things in the background) or they are in poorly written, forgettable episodes.

Reply 3108

Robbie242

Original post by VladThe1mpaler

I wonder if there will ever be a decent Dalek story again under moffat as showrunner? It feels like they always either play a small part in an episode (i.e. you see them exploding and shooting things in the background) or they are in poorly written, forgettable episodes.

Asylum of the Daleks was quite Dalek focused but I agree Daleks are been thrown in random places for like 1-2minutes and its starting to bug me

Reply 3109

chernid

2

Original post by Robbie242

Asylum of the Daleks was quite Dalek focused but I agree Daleks are been thrown in random places for like 1-2minutes and its starting to bug me

Maybe he's just realised how unscary the Daleks have become, and can't think of ways to make them truly frightening again.

Reply 3110

Jarred

18

I could be wrong, but I have heard that they are contractually obliged by Terry Nation's estate to feature them at least once a year, ergo, even if they don't want to do a Dalek episode that year, they have to show them in some way, so that's why we get the odd glimpse every now and again.

Reply 3111

VladThe1mpaler

14

Original post by Robbie242

Asylum of the Daleks was quite Dalek focused but I agree Daleks are been thrown in random places for like 1-2minutes and its starting to bug me

It was, but it was also a mediocre episode.

Reply 3112

VladThe1mpaler

14

Original post by chernid

Maybe he's just realised how unscary the Daleks have become, and can't think of ways to make them truly frightening again.

They dont have to be scary, they just have to be exciting. I didn't think they were scary in Doomsday but that is one of the best Dalek episodes of modern doctor who.

In fact, the only one I can recall being a bit scary with new who was Dalek.

Ever since Moffat took over 90% of the stories have been forgettable and mediocre and all the Dalek stories fit into that 90%.

Reply 3113

chernid

2

Original post by VladThe1mpaler

They dont have to be scary, they just have to be exciting. I didn't think they were scary in Doomsday but that is one of the best Dalek episodes of modern doctor who.

In fact, the only one I can recall being a bit scary with new who was Dalek.

Ever since Moffat took over 90% of the stories have been forgettable and mediocre and all the Dalek stories fit into that 90%.

Very very true. I think Doomsday was a great episode because it was the first episode which at least I saw with more than one enemy (Cybermen and Dalek), which was exciting in itself, and the episode was also emotional due to Rose buggering off to Darlig Ulv Stranden.

I also agree with what you said about "Dalek". One Dalek by itself is much more creepy and scary than a whole fleet, and the fact that the Dalek also became slightly human after Rose touched it made it that much better.

Reply 3114

chernid

2

Original post by VladThe1mpaler

It was, but it was also a mediocre episode.

I can't actually recall any details about that episode, only tiny glimpses. And they are just like the extremely bad opening on Skaro with a Dalek-shaped building and the puppets being introduced as well as Clara.

Reply 3115

Dalek1099

21

Original post by VladThe1mpaler

I wonder if there will ever be a decent Dalek story again under moffat as showrunner? It feels like they always either play a small part in an episode (i.e. you see them exploding and shooting things in the background) or they are in poorly written, forgettable episodes.

Victory of the Daleks has been the only good properly focused Dalek Story and that story was mainly about getting the Daleks back into the universe.It seems to me that the whole point in bringing the Daleks back was do they could feature in cameos to fulfill the contract with Terry Nation because under RTD the Daleks couldn't just appear anywhere because they were supposedly extinct so explanations where required meaning they had to appear in full episodes. Asylum is actually the only really other Dalek focused episode and that was more about Rory and Amy's relationship and that is one of the worst episodes of all time and seemed to suggest that Moffat didn't have a clue about Daleks-the lines the Daleks were saying were hard to believe and completely out of sync with usual Dalek discussions.I am also concerned that here hasn't been a massive onscreen Dalek extermination scene since 2008-this is what makes Daleks appear ruthless and scary to The Doctor because although He may beat them every time(almost every time in Victory He loses) every win comes at great cost to so many lives, Moffat's obsession and toning everything down to kids level with hardly any deaths is bad for Doctor Who.

I really became a Dalek fan because when I started watching in 2006 I had saw the Cybermen and they looked tough, monsters that looked extremely hard to stop and you thought nothing could be as good as them but then I saw the Daleks slaughter the Cybermen and look completely invincible.Everyone wants to be a Dalek, they want to be able to kill people in a couple of seconds and to have armour so strong that bullets don't even leave a scratch.I often have fantasies of taking over the planet with an army of Daleks-The Daleks are an icon of superiority and dominance.When I was younger I created another monster The Critlons which were even more invincible than the Daleks, which had disintegrating guns and an unbreakable forcefield their disintegrator guns could easily destroy Daleks and the only ways to kill a Critlon are to sound a big bell or horn because they have small ears which are sensitive to sound and sound can get through the forcefield or to blow up their ship, which takes a lot of effort.