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Well, yes, the ship was named after the girl, who grew up to be Madame de Pompadour.  The Doctor asked the robots: why her specifically, and they only answered that she was compatible. At the denouement, one of the companions asks the same question, the Doctor gives some ambiguous answer, then we see the ship's name.  Apparently the robots went after the ship's namesake; Plus, she demonstrated remarkable mental abilities which impressed even the Doc. 

It sounds like this series has played in its entirety elsewhere.  I hope the naysayers are incorrect; this Doctor, and Rose, are growing into their roles very well. 

On the Cybermen, even in the old series the producers and writers seemed unsure of what to do with them.  At one point they were entirely robotic, then in a later episode they were portrayed as cyborgs.  Trivia: the Borg of Star Trek were based on the Cybermen of Doctor Who, so when you see the Borg, remember they are really a 'take' on Who's Cybermen. 

Rustydogz wrote:

It sounds like this series has played in its entirety elsewhere.

Yeah, it ran on the BBC in the spring. Plus, I believe that Sci-Fi, in the U.S. is a few weeks ahead of the CBC in its airings.

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Rustydogz wrote:

On the Cybermen, even in the old series the producers and writers seemed unsure of what to do with them.  At one point they were entirely robotic, then in a later episode they were portrayed as cyborgs.

The Cybermen were never really done "right" in my opinion after Troughton's run as the Doctor. Originally, they were much more intimidating, and had that "hive mind" aspect, they weren't very individualistic. Then later, they became much less so, lost the robotic voices, and were a fairly generic baddy in a funny suit.
I suspect the writers wanted to put a greater differentiation between the Cybermen and Daleks, who at the outset were fairly similar, really. I think the struggle of not knowing what to do with the Cybermen came from that.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!

I didn't want to name the 'old villains', but yes- Cybermen.

I thought these episodes were poor.

I also didn't like the Satan Pit two-parter- it lacked charm and good writing.

That said, Tennant is a fine Dr. Who. None of my dissatisfaction with the series has anything to do with him, or his performance. I find him utterly charming, and far more in the tradition of earlier Doctors than CE (whom I loved, btw).

In my opinion season two, despite a handful of good episodes, and one great one (Girl in the Fireplace is my favorite Dr. Who EVER...), just is not up to the level of season one.

m.

Just to offer another different point of view, I thought this second season of these newer ones was hands down better than the first. I think they really raised the bar with the quality of the writing and the themes explored as well.

I agree with Mark about The Girl in the Fireplace being a great great episode (just a pure gem), but for me Love & Monsters, then The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit were right behind it as far as best of the season.

New Earth, School Reunion, and Fear Her were at the bottom of the list as far as eps go for me, although Fear Her did have it's moments imo.

 

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I loved School Reunion! I was grinning like an idiot all the way through, it was so much fun. I guess nostalgia played the biggest part of the enjoyment, had it not been Sarah Jane and K9, the episode probably wouldn't have been as good.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!

Well now looking back at what I wrote, then what you wrote Gallifrey, I see now I should have made it clear that there wasn't any episodes that I didn't like. It was just kind of my top and bottom of all good eps I guess you could say.

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jhm wrote:

Hagenmeyer wrote:  WHO wrote: Just why is a ship named after anyone? My thoughts exactly, Who. It's irrelevant why the ship had that particular name. Steve hmm always figured that the ship was named after the girl in fireplace can't remember her name some long french title.

You may have misunderstood my response. I get who the ship was named after (that's the whole reason the ending is so "AHA!"), but my point was that it's irrelevant why it was named after her.

Steve

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Gallifrey wrote:

I loved School Reunion! I was grinning like an idiot all the way through, it was so much fun. I guess nostalgia played the biggest part of the enjoyment, had it not been Sarah Jane and K9, the episode probably wouldn't have been as good.

I'd agree with everything you've said.

I was expecting Tony Head to have a better role... all he did for most of the episode once stomp around making grimacing faces.

Steve

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Hagenmeyer wrote:

I was expecting Tony Head to have a better role... all he did for most of the episode once stomp around making grimacing faces. Steve

Yeah.. I kept thinking it'd be fantastic if he were to play the Master. His interaction with the Doctor was first-rate, and I could really see him being a superb nemesis, namely in the form of the Master. To use such a great actor for such a small, one-off role, is a bit of a disappointment, ultimately. The scene where he and the Doctor are confronting each other in the pool area, great work there and really good chemistry hinted at between the two actors. That hint reminded me of the brilliant work done by Roger Delgado and Jon Pertwee as Master and Doctor, there was a real chemistry there never equalled between Anthony Ainley and any of the Doctor actors. It'd be great to have a real vibrant pairing there again, and Head and Tennant might have had that, from what little was seen in School Reunion.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!

I still want them to get a former Doc to play the Master.  Peter Davison being my choice.

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Dam good eps tonight glad I have this rogers cable box got cbc's from all over so I could go out vote scrimmage and get back with timeto watch the votes coming in for a few hours then up stairs to watch the doctor. The cyber men remake are looking great. David Tennant is a great who, but I think I've seen him before on an earlier doctor on TVO I think it was, Oh well might be wrong. Anyway back to the eps. It's pretty good as a remake theres a little hint of the cybermen throughout and they keep little sceans of the cybermen untill they broke through the window at the party. Poor mickey you rreally got to feel him seeing his dead grandmother alive and around and how emotional he got seeing her and the torn carpet on the stairs. I wonder how long they had to shoot in London. I swear it looked like LA in parts of this eps.

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I don't think so *ZAAAPPP*

jhm wrote:

I wonder how long they had to shoot in London. I swear it looked like LA in parts of this eps.

Actually I believe most of the exterior shots for this episode, in fact for most of the new series, were done in and around Cardiff, Wales.

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I liked this ep, though I don't see why the Doctor kept trying to stop Rose from seeing her alternate parents.There was really no reason for it.

I noticed they mentioned Torchwood 2 or 3 times in the background. You'd think either the Doctor or Rose would have noticed since they sort of helped create it.

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...The poster formerly known as rick -s

Psi-Phi-Sam wrote:

I liked this ep, though I don't see why the Doctor kept trying to stop Rose from seeing her alternate parents.There was really no reason for it.

I think it was more out of concern for Rose's emotional well-being than anything. The Doctor knows that Rose has issues about her family and is afraid that seeing this not-really-hers family could tear her up emotionally.

Doug

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