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I have to admit - that being the first season opener I'ver ever seen (much to my shame, I missed Rose, and a couple of other episodes from Series 1... sweatdrop Don't lynch me, please!) I really enjoyed it! biggrin

I liked the humour in this episode, it made me laugh loads. I can't remember the last time I laughed like that at a telly show.

Yeah yeah, I know it used a couple of bits from the last series, but unless you're looking out for those kind of things, I don't think it really matters.

Must say though, wasn't Cassandra great?! xd They way she made them act, that was brilliant! And the disinfectant shower in the lifts, I loved those too!

Heck, I don't think there was a bit I didn't love actually... sweatdrop I'd never be a good TV critic, lol!

And I'm proud to say that my brother actually hid behind the sofa. twisted Now that's good family viewing... 3nodding

Please avoid calling people names. It goes against the rule of this Guild about being polite to others.

Just finished watching it for the first time (joys of the internet, indeed!). Thought it was a pretty good start to the new season.

The cat nurses looked great. I felt they were a bit under-utilized, considering they were the actual villians of the story. I think they ended up being upstaged by Cassandra.

Billie Piper's portrayal of Cassandrose was just fantastic! I was really stunned she pulled it off so well. And I'm glad that Cassandra didn't come off as completely evil in this story (selfish, yeah, but not straight-up evil). Though I wonder if she was really redeemed at the end. I mean, there wasn't anything to stop her from hopping into her pre-trampoline body at the end, was there?

I was a bit unsatisfied with the Doctor's miracle cure... it just seemed a little too easy. In the audio commentary for the story, Russel T. Davies says that in his earlier draft of the story everyone dies... the Doctor helps put the infected out of their misery instead of curing them. That would have been pretty depressing, so I think they made the right decision going with a happier ending.

I agree with Jettrick that Tennant's Doctor seems to go into angry mode a little too frequently in this story. Nevertheless, I think Tennant's Doctor is one of the best we've had in a long time. What's with the glasses, though? He wore them at the end of Christmas Invasion, and I know he puts them on again during School Reunion. I guess the new Doc's got poor eyesight...

And so all of this happens because the Face of Boe asks the Doctor to meet him on New Earth, just so he can tell him that he'll let the Doc know his great secret the next time they meet? If I was the Doctor, I think I'd be rather annoyed about being jerked around like that!

Just a thought: Cassandra says that she modeled 'Chip' after a favorite form (I forget the exact term she used). She also says the party shown in the film reel that Rose watches is the last time anyone called her beautiful. At the end of the episode the Doctor drops Chip/Cassandra off to that same party, and the possessed Chip walks up to the Cassandra and tells her she's beautiful.

Does this mean that the reason why she cloned Chip in the first place was because he told her she was beautiful in the past? And if so, was the Chip that we see at the start of the show actually a clone of his future self that died in Cassandra's arms during the party?

Argh... time paradox!!! My brain hurts! gonk

Hmm... so you're suggesting that the reason why the Face of Boe didn't tell the Doctor his secret on New Earth was because the Doctor talked him out of dying? I never really looked at it that way before... it's an interesting idea. So it's basically the Doctor's own fault (in a sense) that he didn't get to hear the big secret this time 'round!

FoB is a great design, though I'm not entirely sold on the voice they chose for him (I thought it should have been a bit deeper... though since he's communicating telepathically, it's not like he's using his vocal chords or anything). In the audio commentary for New Earth they said that Billie Piper's boyfriend accidentally broke FoB! What a klutz!

I think part of the problem is that the show's format is now a single 45-min episode per story, whereas in the olden days, you'd normally have a 90-min story spread over 4 episodes. This means that if they try to juggle too many ideas, individual subplots may not have sufficient screen time to develop properly. For example, I feel the "Cassandra's redemption" storyline was interesting, but like yourself, it doesn't seem like hopping into Chip provided her sufficient motivation to finally accept the idea of dying. Then again, I'm still not entirely convinced that she didn't just switch to another body (like her own) the second the Doctor and Rose popped into the TARDIS.

And since we're speculating on the Face of Boe, my theory (more like a wild speculation) is that his big secret is that he knows how to give Rose the ability to regenerate like a Time Lord, and he will graciously impart the knowledge upon the Doctor whenever Billie Piper decides to leave the show.

More spoilers here, too. > >

I'd say, if the Face of Boe is pyschic, then he knew to invite the Doctor in to sort out the Cat Nuns so everything could get rolling again. P:

Then, I'm of the opinion time is a straight line and everything's set out to happen - if you're going back, you're going back and what you do there will have already effected... ugh, I can't get it straight in my head, even @ @ - after reading The Time Traveler's Wife, which would also explain the Chip-model-thing Hairy Priest mentioned, which I thought was ADORABLE. ^o^

Then again, maybe the time thing works both ways... : O

IT'S TOO TROUBLESOME TO THINK ABOUT.

Anyway, my general opinions. =D

It was a VERYVERY snazzy episode. It looked amazing and shiny and got many Ooos and Aaas out of me. And apple grass? I want some of that! D:

However, I agree with that it's... too much like some of the stories from the old new series to sit comfortably. >:

I mean, more zombies? And what's with the matrix rip-off?

AND - MOST IMPORTANTLY - HOW COME THE CAT NUNS HAD OVERLOOKED THE POSSIBILITY OF STUFFING ALL THEIR MEDICINES TOGETHER TO MAKE A SUPER CURE IF IT WAS THAT EASY?!

Really, that bugged me. I know it's easy to overlook things, but there's obviously quite a few of them, and they're very intelligent, SO.

...Maybe he's screwed things up again and we're going to have an episode later in the series to sort it out. 8D

Oh well, it was entertaining and that's the main point. ^ ^

Wah well I absolutely loved the new episode! I'd been waiting for it for months and I definitely wasn't disappointed I LOVED the whole body switching thing it meant for some absolutely HILLARIOUS scenes and lines. I LOVED it when "Rose" kissed the Doctor his expression was priceless and when Cassandra was prancing around in the Doctor's body made me laugh so much. I'm looking forwards to the next episode even more though it's the one I'd heard most about I'm looking forwards to going back to Queen Victoria's time and very much looking forwards to the werewolf (Which looked fantastic) and the kung-fu monks should be great!!! domokun