Topic: Season 5 Finale
God damnit! "You will find out very soon" Not til the frakking christmas!
Any takers? Who is River Song?
Oh and, good finale and all that....
- Mxyzptlk
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- marco1475
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Re: Season 5 Finale
Ok, I just "returned" to the forum just to read and share reactions to what I just saw ...
So I pretty much worship Steven Moffat. He took over the role of my deity from Joss Whedon (sorry, Joss, Dollhouse was a great show, but this is a different league). Way back when I was reading the reviews for "Flesh and Stone" where people pointed out the continuity error of The Doctor talking to Amy with his jacket on and the theory that it was The Doctor travelling back in time, fixing his mistakes. I loved the idea, it tickled my brain, and even though I thought Moffat would be the type to do something like that, I didn't think he would pull it off. I thought to 99% that it was just a continuity error ...
Well, here we are. I am floored. I am flabbergasted. I am speechless. This finale, ladies and gentlemen, was perfection. Stop all other TV productions, because the pinnacle has been reached. Emotionally, story- and character-wise, there's no topping this. Extremely powerful stuff.
Add to that Moffat setting up a multi-season arc for the big bad and River Song and my joy cannot be contained. We are talking Babylon 5-level of planning, continuity, and complexity in Doctor Who combined with sparkling wit and dialog. It doesn't get better than this. Only downside is waiting until Christmas and then March for new episodes.
RTD's Doctor Who was great with flashes of brilliance. For me, season 5 has been brilliant with flashes of greatness. Even the weakest episode this season was on par with the good episodes of the RTD run and the rest were all much much better. I had insanely high expectations of Moffat and the new season - and they weren't just met, they were exceeded by so much that I can't see my original expectations anymore. Moffat is my new god.
"We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go."
-- Colonel Tigh
-- Colonel Tigh
- herusardo
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Re: Season 5 Finale
I was afraid it would be too magical and would spoil it, as we've seen in the gay-dalek fiasco. Turns out, it was MORE magical ... and somehow it worked. It is believable Doctor Who magic. I was giggling like a child throughout the whole episode. Moffat was my favorite writer from the previous series and I was overjoyed when he took over RTD. Best thing is that this was EPIC, as epic as RTD ever tried to be and yet it kept all within a certain human-relatable scale. It's all down to the Pond girl. Wonderfull! And, the Doctor having a couple, a true couple, as companions is wonderful.
Well, Moffat pulled it of. I'm still too giggly to continue. Can't wait for the movie or for season 6. Hope, really hope, they produce the script Moffat requested from Neil Gaiman. I was afraid for a bit at the start of the series, but I guess they really listened to the critics because they stopped oversellibng the crack thing and found the tone. As they would say in those parts of the US were the neck is redder: "Aaahhh luvs it!"
Everybody lives, just this once, everybody lives!
- proteinnerd
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Re: Season 5 Finale
Really? I've been pretty disappointed with this season tbh. I was good, I just didnt think it was great...
- XtazyMike
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Re: Season 5 Finale
proteinnerd wrote:
Really? I've been pretty disappointed with this season tbh. I was good, I just didnt think it was great...
yep , I agree with you...
- theConundrumm
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Re: Season 5 Finale
ach... i'm kinda glad i was sceptical of Moffat as showrunner this year, cos when i sat back after watching this episode and realised just how much of a mindfuck of a series he had handed over, it really felt like he had earned it... noticed someone bandying the word "epic" about above, and honestly methinks this is selling it short... kudos to you Mr Moffat... well played indeed...
[side note... watched this with t'Con Jrs, aged 7 & 9.... elder t'Con Jr much impressed by calling some of the twists way ahead of them happening, which only really served to make me feel stoopid, but the overall lesson for the day: NEVER try to explain the concept of a self fulfilling prophecy to a 7 year old...]
i'm going to eat your brains and gain your memories...
- karenbear
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Re: Season 5 Finale
I like the way that Moffat has dealt with the time travel element of the show this season. Other than using it as a plot device to get the Doctor to different places and times, I never felt that RTD used it to great effect.
Just look at how the finale two-parter started, getting Vincent's painting to the Doctor. And then in this episode with the Doctor going back to the Byzantium - okay, almost everyone called that it was a different Doctor, but it was still extremely satisfying.
Moffat has already shown that he can comfortably alter the structure of a show - some of the best episodes of Coupling were the ones where he messed with the standard format. I hope he takes even more advantage of that skill next season.
- marco1475
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Re: Season 5 Finale
karenbear wrote:
I like the way that Moffat has dealt with the time travel element of the show this season. Other than using it as a plot device to get the Doctor to different places and times, I never felt that RTD used it to great effect.
I agree completely. That is also where my joy, admiration, and love for this season stems from. We all knew Moffat loved time travel and knew how to use it properly from his earlier episodes during the RTD era, but I just never thought he would incorporate it that heavily into the season itself. It's one thing to play around with time travel within the confines of an episode, where the attention of your viewers is guaranteed, but what Moffat did was extend this to the whole 13-episode season in something akin to Babylon 5-style continuity. Not only did I last see this kind of stuff in Babylon 5 (and that's been what, 12 years off the air?) but I believed nobody would ever do such a thing in today's broadcast landscape that is mired with ADD-style programming for audiences who can't be bothered to watch all episodes of a season ...
What makes it even more impressive is the fact that until the finale it didn't look like Moffat was doing anything special with the overall season arc. Now it turns out not only where there deliberate breadcrumbs all over (at least) Moffat's episodes, but he was building a multi-season arc and is just getting started. Talk about taking the series to the next level.
"We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go."
-- Colonel Tigh
-- Colonel Tigh
Re: Season 5 Finale
all I want to do is go back and watch the finale again, but I had to come here first and check out the forum.
brilliant.. brilliant.. brilliant,
btw, who else thinks that River Song is in jail for bringing the silence?? after the finale, I'm almost sure its something related to that.
Argggghh, how soon is that christmas thingy you talk about?? I heard the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey, they then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner, like savages.
- turk182
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Re: Season 5 Finale
cemre wrote:
how soon is that christmas thingy you talk about?? .
christmas time.... 25th Dec
great ep, really liked the opening scene when little pond opens the box
Game Over
10 Years and counting
10 Years and counting
- herusardo
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Re: Season 5 Finale
I used the word EPIC. I was using it not as an adjective, this was truly an epic episode, end of all and everyhting. There are lot's of things going on here, but this was truly a great season finale, so good in fact it redemed in my mind the weaker ones I complained so much about.
Plus, we can get more angels! 
Plus, There is about to be an episode written by Neil Gaiman - I cannot be the only one shivering with this prospect. Neil Gaiman! Wrtiting The Doctor: Neil Gaiman! Oscar nominee, Hugo winner, celebrated author, creator of one of the best comic series EVER, Neil Gaiman twitted and blogged he was thrilled with the prospect of writing an episode for his favorite series. My head just exploded, he posted it'll air somtime on april 2011. GAH!
On the minus, I heard no talk of a Christmas special this season. So (God I hope I'm wrong) only spring next year.
Everybody lives, just this once, everybody lives!
Re: Season 5 Finale
herusardo wrote:
On the minus, I heard no talk of a Christmas special this season. So (God I hope I'm wrong) only spring next year.
No worries, they are shooting the Christmas special right now and Steven Moffat says its gonna be all the christmas movies you've ever loved.
My favorite moment is on the Voyage of the Damned with the tour guide explaining what happens on Christmas to group red6-7.
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