A rather spiffing CGI heavy story that really looked convincing for the most part. The bit with the giant brain at the end is right out of Lexx (Gigashadow)
but still for the most part it wasn't just a simple rewrite of The Impossible Planet. There's even a nice mention of the Sensesphere (The Sensorites)
and at one point I was sure Lord Percy Percy was back on screen for the first time since 1986!
Ood Believe It?
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 ushas the rani |
Ood Believe It? |
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mother/father
Posts: 285 19 April, 2008 7:32 PM |
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War Arrow |
#1 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 439 21 April, 2008 3:03 PM |
Just that one mention of the SenseSphere and I'm happy. I must be sadder than I realised. |
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bthogg |
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cousin
Posts: 122 21 April, 2008 4:56 PM |
This year's arc is the Hartnell references, and it's all leading up to the reappearance of the Abzorbaloff. They've found the whole of Marco Polo
and managed to keep it completely quiet, and the series is going to end with him showing it to the Renegade in the same manner as the Second Renegade showing
Zoe that one about the Daleks after Wheel in Space.
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felice |
#3 | |||
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Posts: 331 21 April, 2008 8:51 PM godmother |
Ood biology is kind of hard to suspend disbelief about. I can't really imagine circumstances where it's an evolutionary advantage to have half your
brain dangling out of your mouth and needing to carry it around in your hand all the time. And where does the giant brain come from, and what does it live on?
What did any of them live on before the humans came, since there doesn't seem to be any life on their world? And it's funny how they all seem perfectly
ok once the big brain is free, despite still missing their own brains. But at least it was a proper alien planet!
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ReverendSalem |
#4 | |||
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little sister/brother
Posts: 28 22 April, 2008 3:27 AM |
felice wrote: Maybe not an evolutionary advantage, but when I saw it, and Donna said her bit about them having to trust everyone they came across, it just made sense in
an odd way..
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doloras |
#5 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 280 22 April, 2008 8:03 AM |
Larry's review of this ep is plain shit. He waffles on about his Big Theory of Doctor Who (basically: "everything has sucked since about 1983")
for a couple of dozen paragraphs, and then deigns to mention the actual ep for three paragraphs at the end, which really, really read like he's decided in
advance that the whole season is going to be shit and will cherry-pick the evidence to suit his theory.
Case in point: he calls the "who made your clothes?" line a cop-out, without noting that the mere fact that exists blows his entire theory that modern ER is all about showbiz mutual masturbation out the window. Actually, isn't the implication that the Evil Renegade regards 21c wage-slavery as, well, slavery possible the most radical thing said on British Television since Alexei Sayle lost his own show? The Stacks - the site for
Faction Paradox fanfic and other fanworks
"Larry was with us in spirit" - Kate Orman
(for more of my messed up thoughts on culture, magick and revolutionary politics) |
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ushas the rani |
#6 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 285 22 April, 2008 8:07 AM |
well the 6th Renegade is MY Renegade, loud, colourful, shouty and a totally weird sense of humour
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ReverendSalem |
#7 | |||
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little sister/brother
Posts: 28 23 April, 2008 9:28 PM |
doloras wrote: He actually did mention the episode at the end? Only, I didn't make it that far. I got a few pages into his review, and it all went a bit tl;dr on me, which is weird because usually I really like Larry's style. I'm reading Alien Bodies right now, and it's quite entertaining. I'll have to look it up again (if he hasn't yanked it yet) and pull a Spaced-style "skip to the end" to see what he really though. |
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doloras |
#8 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 280 24 April, 2008 3:19 AM |
Ood biology is kind of hard to suspend disbelief about. I can't really imagine circumstances where it's an evolutionary advantage to have half your brain dangling out of your mouth and needing to carry it around in your hand all the time. Hey, I just remembered who this reminds me of - the Observers from season 8 and onwards MST3K. 
The Stacks - the site for
Faction Paradox fanfic and other fanworks
"Larry was with us in spirit" - Kate Orman
(for more of my messed up thoughts on culture, magick and revolutionary politics) |
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ReverendSalem |
#9 | |||
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little sister/brother
Posts: 28 25 April, 2008 1:28 AM |
felice wrote: Actually, the more I think on it, while it definitely is strange, and hardly predictable, if the planet had no real predatory species (which let's face
it, aside from the giant brain, there didn't seem to be ANY other species, I could really see a creature develop like that. Almost. For example, no real
predators around when the Dodo evolved, and it had absolutely nil in the offensive department. It may have died out quickly as soon as humans started coming
around, but it DID evolve.
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felice |
#10 | |||
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Posts: 331 25 April, 2008 2:07 AM godmother |
An external brain I can accept; it's the having to hold it part that defies belief. Even in a predator-free environment (and there must be some other life
on the planet, since they need to eat), not being able to use both hands is a serious drawback.
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Curufea |
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cousin
Posts: 65 26 April, 2008 8:07 PM |
Unless they started out non-psychic with internal brains, but when they developed psionic powers, they also discovered a nourishing psionic food source - which
could be more easily harvested with an external sub-brain.
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War Arrow |
#12 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 439 27 April, 2008 1:45 PM |
My (vague bet) is that the extra brain is all that remains of a different species which forged a symbiotic relationship with the odd, possibly originally a
parasite.
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Phil PH |
#13 | |||
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cousin
Posts: 95 28 April, 2008 12:51 PM |
That would make a surprising amount of sense. It would also mean that the Giant Floating Brain could be one of the parasite species -- a "queen" or
similar -- rather than, as seems rather less likely, a massively malformed Ood.
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War Arrow |
#14 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 439 28 April, 2008 4:08 PM |
Hmmm. It could work, couldn't it? Whatever the parasite was originally, presumably with the ood providing grub, (some) protection, and a thumb to change
channels every so often, all it needed to hang onto was its brain, and whatever else it may have once had became vestigial.
I'm sure I've come across something similar in real life (well, in a book in real life) - not quite so far out obviously, but some parasite/host relationship that caused my hat to rise above my head in surprise to the accompaniment of a swanee whistle sound effect. |
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ushas the rani |
#15 | |||
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mother/father
Posts: 285 28 April, 2008 9:34 PM |
humans have midichlorians mitochondria in their cells, that's a parasitical system that works really
well
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Arioch |
#16 | |||
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little sister/brother
Posts: 4 29 April, 2008 1:27 PM |
It's possible they could hold the brains in their tentacles/mouthparts if they need both hands.
quidquid id iest, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
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