Doctor Who Blog

Who’s Flatline is it Anyway?

What did you think of tonight’s episode of Doctor Who? Do you think that the aliens could hear what the Doctor named them when half of the audience couldn’t and even if they did, do you think they’ll accept what the Doctor called them? What do you think the Doctor called them? Do you think it would have been cool if the two-dimensional creatures had been defeated after a teacher from Coal Hill School gave them the old five-dimensional problem to solve (using the 2D blackboard that Ian Chesterton once used in An Unearthly Child)? Tell us flatly what your answers are to these questions, or even better, ignore my silliness and just tell us what you thought of the episode. Remember, goodness doesn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with it.

6 Comments...

Ok don’t get me wrong I love Dr.who but just not this guy. I like him in other shows I’ve seen him in I even liked him in the episodes as a different character. But he just can’t pull it of for me as the new Dr. He just doesn’t have the energy and fun as the past dr.‘s I wasn’t raised with the series and didn’t get him here in the states in the 60’s but I caught up with hulu and I still watch the show I just don’t like this guy playing the part.

Posted by not a fan  on  10/19  at  12:52 AM

I think that Capaldi turned in his best performance to date in the role of The Doctor. The speech he gave about the Earth and this dimension under HIS protection is probably the most powerful one that has been done since the series returned to the air!I feel that if this author is not considered for the role of showrunner when Moffat leaves, then the BBC is missing out on a opportunity. I would consider this author up there with the late Robert Holmes.

Posted by Harry M VanHoudnos  on  10/19  at  06:45 AM

I first start started watching Doctor Who towards the end of Jon Pertwee’s time, and there are echoes from that era I see coming through Capaldi’s performance, last week’s Mummy in particular had a channeling of Tom Baker for me.  I tend to agree with the much-made comment that this series is the most daring and dramatically most successful since the re-boot.  And yet; I’m missing the warm heart of RTD and the empathetic 10 and 11 – 12 may be the most interesting Doctor of the modern run, but the crusty alien exterior creates distance.  However, that does mean the overall story arc for 12 has lots of potential and a long way to go.  There is lots of speculation about Clara’s trajectory and whether she will make it through to series 9.  I hope she does.  While her abrupt departure might be a catalyst for character development of this particular presentation of the Doctor, its difficult at the present to see where the space for a different character around Capaldi’s Doctor would be that didn’t have her history and continuity across 11 and 12.  Clara’s TARDIS junkie can put up with 12 in a way that would be difficult for a newbie and I don’t see 12 re-creating the Doctor from The Snowmen and pressing keys on passing lassies.  Still, while The Moff plots his magic and Missy manipulates from the Nethersphere, this series has delivered some of the best run of episodes since 2005 even if I miss the warmth of the sand shoes and bow-tie.

Posted by Jon  on  10/19  at  02:34 PM

With Flatline, Doctor Who continues its most daring and divisive run in, well, who know how long…

Capaldi remains unbelievably strong in the lead role, but I do understand why some people don’t like him. Like Hartnell, this is an alien Doctor remote from human sensitivity. Age and experience have hardened him.

Posted by Andrew  on  10/20  at  10:35 AM

I think I know who Missy is. Could she be the daughter of the woman who kidnapped Amy Pond? The woman who trained River to kill the Doctor?

Posted by Tish Williamson  on  10/20  at  07:59 PM

The other episodes this season have been either great or meh. This one divided me.

Personal preference, but the RTD approach of “now that we finally have a huge budget, let’s spend all our time hanging around a council estate instead of exploring the universe” trained me to dislike episodes where aliens go out of their way to menace one suburb, tower block, etc. So any further episodes in that vein have a strike against them in my book (even though this one opened it up a bit more by going through the train tunnels).

And yet the Boneless were awesomely freaky, all the dimension stuff was cool, and the character stuff was great.

It took Clara a strangely long time to determine what the audience probably guessed right away - that the ‘graffiti’ of people were not really graffiti.

I loved the twist at the end of using the poster to trick the aliens into powering the TARDIS. Yet the Doctor’s means of finally repelling the aliens seemed like technobabble hand-waving to me and was not so clever. I guess that sums up my split reaction to the episode - there were two sides to it (sorry).

I spent the episode wondering where else I’d seen Christopher Fairbank (the mean boss Fenton) until I remembered him as a mugger in Tim Burton’s Batman and a comic-relief scientist in The Fifth Element.

Posted by Curt  on  10/20  at  11:38 PM

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