Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

I think we already don't believe that the Daleks have been utterly destroyed. Does anyone seriously believe that they won't be back?

I still want to see Mondasian Cybermen vs. Lumic Cybermen.

well, I still haven't seen Journey's End yet, took me nearly two whole days to get it, as apposed to the three hours it usually takes me... either everyone was getting it at the same time, or my isp sucked

one thing i would like to say, as much as I have enjoyed the return of The Doctor, through RTD, and pretty much defended (to myself) all the complaints I've found in various WHO links, one thing disturbs me in the second last episode...... the Daleks saying, Maximim Extermination.... for a race that holds and adheres itself to be the best and most important race in the universe, you think they could learn some grammer. no, i'd have prefered if they had said, weapons to full power, exterminate!

not that i'm good at grammer myself, but Maximim Extermination, just sounded wrong buuut that's just me...

anyway, get to watch the final episode tonight (aussie time) cause my missus didn't want me to watch it without her *insert intense frustration here)

i hope a dalek quote doesn't count as a spoiler!!!

Righteo, as this is a spoiler thread, I'm gonna spoil! So I'll say it now- if you haven't seen it yet, stop reading and get out the bloody thread!

Let's just go thru the good!

1. German Daleks. Love it. Would've liked to have seen a few other nations being attacked tho, Japanese would've been interesting!
2. Good to see the outstanding plot threads for everyone get settled. It seems that the "Children of Time" have drawn a line under their time in the TARDIS.
3. The final six way piloting of the TARDIS. Lovely seen played out beautifully.
4. The acting. No complaints from anyone. Felt like Rose was actually back, which is a complaint I had with Turn Left, where BP just didn't nail the character for me! Even John Barrowman, who I find very limited as an actor, shone go the finale.
5. Bernard Cribbins. I salute you sir. Wilf Mott has been the standout character of the series.
6. A brief cameo from K9. Thanks!
7. Nods to previous stories. Davros recognising SJS. The Doctor and Rose recognising the similarity between Gwen Cooper and Gwyneth from The Unquiet Dead. Both were nice touches.

The Bad.

1. Why bother bringing characters back and not using them? Yes, I mean you Jacquie Tyler!
2. What a lame idea for a bomb! What exactly were The Daleks going to do after all life go the universe had been destroyed? Just picture it!

Dalek Bob I spy with my little eye, something beginning with D.
Dalek Colin Darkness.
Dalek Bob Affirmative. Your go.

3. DoctorDonna to the rescue! A nice idea, but why would Davros have a control panel go his "vault" with the ability to destroy the entire Dalek race? He never seemed like their pet at any point. Barking orders at the supreme Dalek at all times. They should have played that with a little more consistency.
4. The Torchwood time bubble. What a cop out!
5. Towing the Earth home. Pur-leeze!

All in all, the good outweighed the bad, and it was a great way to finish the RTD era. Roll on Christmas!

If you haven't seen the finale, don't read. For the love of pete.

I laughed out loud when the Daleks said 'Maximum extermination'. What, killing people isn't enough? You have to kill them dead? Really, really dead? Maybe they should have yelled something about cranking up the ol' beaters to eleven. Or something. I likely would have laughed just as hard at that as what was actually in the show.

To the half-human Doctor thing. The *good* part about it was that it established that the Doctor himself was all-Gallifreyan, and that there never had been this particular version of a human/time lord person. We see that a time lord brain can sort of exist in a human body... If that human body is the Doctor. But a time Lord brain can't exist in an all human body, because it'll explode, or something. So I guess if a Time Lord and a human had kids, you'd have a fifty fifty chance of having a child who's brain wouldn't explode?

I was SO WORRIED that they were going to kill off the real Doctor and leave the half human one. I should have had more trust in the writers, but having a half human Doctor AS IT WAS sort of annoyed me.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending there, though. It is so happy, it almost feels like a fanfic. 'And then the Doctor is split in two, one for the parallel universe for Rose to love and hug and hold and make babies with and one for our universe.' The way Rose kissed him settled the shipping thing for me. The feelings were there, but for some reason, Time Lord!Doctor didn't feel he could act on them. Maybe because he's so much older than she is, and she'd grow old and die while he would stay the same, much like in School Reunion.

I didn't think that they needed to write Donna out quite so effectively, though. She can NEVER remember the Doctor, ever ever. Did the actress herself want to get out of the show? Because I was really loving Donna as a companion. I could see the DoctorDonna thing not lasting, because why do we need two brains like that in a show, but I wasn't expecting her whole arc to be retconned.

And Davros with his parting speech, about how the Doctor made people soldiers... He sort of did, but he also showed people what was worth fighting for, and what was worth dying for. The people who travel with him put others ahead of themselves, and learn to hold life so dear that they will sacrifice theirs to save others. He brings out the best in everyone, just look at the change in Jack. AND DONNA, though she'll never know it.

I hope that we see Donna's granddad again, he was possibly my favourite character in the whole season. Where he salutes the guy who's getting sent to the 'work camps', I nearly cried.

I am looking forward to the cybermen, because with only three? specials happening next year, they should hopefully be able to do some really amazing things with the effects and the like. I wonder how long they'll wind up being.

Wooooooo, long post. Sorry, just couldn't stop. XD

When Donna reached out to The Doctors severed hand I focused on that big ring on her hand and thought. "Is that The Masters ring???" So it was a bit of a disappointment when a second Doctor generated. Perhaps I'm just too much of a Master fan but I would have been very happy if Donna had turned out to be The Masters host, and I think that would have fit well with the subplot of manipulation.

But overall I was happy with the episode, especially the return of Mickey Smith.

(I know I'll catch hell for this)...
Did anyone else think that the last episode was utter RUBBISH??

I'm wondering how you felt about it Rich;
I feel embarrassed for comparing your writing to that of RTD after the jaw dropping gimmicks, plot holes, and down right cringe worthy moments.
what was all that "bad wolf" non-sense about?
Why does Rose always get everything she ever wants and still mopes about the one man she can't have?
Yes, Davros was amazing (lighting bolts anyone!) but what was the point of that red dalek?
How come Jackie couldn't save ANYONE around her when the teleports can carry several people?
a REGENERATION hoax as a throw away hook - a REGENERATION!!???!!
Did any of the companions serve any purpose except for Donna...whose entire character development over the last season is now pointless! That is of course, ahem, she actually turns out the be the Rani or-
(gets hit with a wet sponge)-

Sorry, I'll stop there...
My point being, Rich, that I take back what I said earlier. Obviously RTD certainly deserves MUCH credit for bringing back the Doctor in such an utterly fantastic way but I found that, at least in terms of major story arcs that deal with any of the show's 40 something years of continuity (or even that last four years worth) your comic is FAR more superior in ingenuity, cleverness, and holding true to that characters that we've come to simply adore in the course of the greatest science fiction TV series ever.

Why is it that in every page of this comic hits dead on what only a hand full of episodes a year manage to achieve?

*Panting* ok...I think I'll stop now (applause for the hook that drags me off stage?)
Just saying that even though an 'era' has just finished, the Ten Doctors go on!!
Hurray for the TEN DOCtooorss!!!
*microphone cuts dead as dragged off to fanfare*

ahh don't forget Donna's not the first to have her mind erased, the time lords did the same to a few of the doctor's past travelers, only this time with more feelin'

who was it, zoe and jamie i believe, after the time lords decided to banish troughton to earth, the pair of them where sent to their respective points of time, with absolutly no recolection of their travels with the doctor...

anyway, I just watched the last episode, and thought it was utterly brill!, and yes, i even cried at the end.... *sniffle*

I don't have time to write out all my feelings on this episode right now, so I will compose my essay and share it after work tonight.

I know. I know! He was the absolute best, and he's just a side character! If he was just a little younger, he could've made a great companion...I mean, he tried to use a rifle against a Dalek! Of course, it was a silly idea, but that takes guts.

And I did tear up a little at that point of Turn Left. It was so subtle and downplayed, but that was probably one of the most moving scenes of all the last episodes. It really showed just how far the world had fallen. They'd given up to the point that they became the bad guys. And the look on everyone's faces...the mom finally showed some humanity, that was probably the first time she showed that she does actually have a heart. Wilf, all broken and with those basset hound eyes, because really, when the government does something like that...what hope is left? Everything that could help is gone. And Donna, who doesn't fully get what's going on at first, but you can see the realization on her face as she understands what the grandfather meant by 'last time.' And she doesn't like it one bit.

He'd better appear again. Even though there really isn't a logical reason for him to come back, he was a great character and the actor was talented.

I'd kind of like an enemy besides the Cybermen or the Daleks next time...eh. Poor Doctor. They should really cut him some slack. I saw the Confidential after the episode, and man, those people are sadistic! They really enjoy causing him pain, apparently. So, yeah, probably not going to happen.

Okay.. my thoughts on the finale:

1: Rose. Whatever. I mean, I actually quite enjoyed her as a companion, but like a lot of companions, she works better with the Doctor she was written to compliment. She was Eccleston's companion. As everyone knows by now, I also hate the mushy crap they wrote into the storyline. But this isn't the place for that. It's a well known fact by now. Rose was (could have been) as cool as Ace. But turned out not to be.
Writing her out into the parallel universe the first time was kinda sad. Kind of a relief. Good way to end. She can't have the Doctor (thank goodness) and she's got an Earth to save. And her dad back. And Mickey.
So they pawn off a plastic Doctor on her? She can't have THE Doctor, so she can screw around with a cheap knockoff version, that should keep her happy. Twisted. Has that EVER worked? I mean, think about it. You fall in love with someone and it doesn't work out. How sad. You mope about, you get over it. Would you be PLEASED to have a not-quite-the-same photocopy to pretend is the same person but isn't? Did anyone feel broken up that Doctor 10.2 left the universe forever and would die? No. Nobody's going to miss him because we didn't get a chance to get to know him. We know he's NOT the Doctor. So how could Rose be expected to fall in love with him. And for that matter, how do you think he feels, getting a kiss from her just to have her scurry off after the TARDIS when the REAL Doctor takes off? Not too good, I'll wager. That's a relationship off to a rocky start. Let's find out how much fun a single incarnation of the Doctor is when he has no TARDIS, is trapped on Earth and wil get old and senile? Remember how hard the 3rd Doctor tried to get the hell off the planet? Imagine living with that all the time. No fun. ANYWAY....

2: Lots of characters, not much time. RTD tried to do what I'm doing with "The 10 Doctors" on a much smaller scale, and has 2 hourlong episodes to do it in. Jam pack pack jam jam. As a worker in the television industry, I've seen scripts that run over broadcast time and what happens to them. Snip snip snip snip... oh was that a cool scene? Was there dialogue? Off it goes. There was probably a whole lot of fun stuff that they simply didn't have time to do on screen. Them's the breaks. It was a bit ambitious a story for a show that has a standard 1 hour format. As a result you find yourself (and are probably expected to be) ignoring the actual plot for the most part while looking around for familiar characters and listening for old episode references. And in that respect it worked well. It was cool to see all those familiar characters smiling and operating the TARDIS like a 6 man crew (a very fun reveal that many have suspected but was never actually stated before). K9 YAY!

3: DAVROS! SPECTACULAR! I have a bit of trouble with his continuity in the old series, I mean, he was in a big white eggcup last time we saw him in the classic episodes. But okay. Whatever. He was a little more of a maniac in this one and it suited him well. The makeup was FANTASTIC! The electrical bolt from the fingers, nice! His goal to destroy everything in the universe except the Daleks was a bit weird. Would have been more in character if he'd just wanted to obliterate everything. ("that power woud put me among the gods!") If he can't have the universe, no one can! They never cleared up the whole thing about whether he was in control or the Supreme Dalek. He seemed more in control than the SD was. Complaints about the equipment needed to destroy the Daleks in his lab/prison for easy access was mentioned before, so I won't repeat except here to agree.

4: Dalek Caan. He's a Dalek. Bred to be the SUPERIOR SPECIES! Don't understand why he'd suddenly be ashamed of what the Daleks have become unless it is his shame that they get so soundly trounced all the time. I liked him better as a loon instead of a hero. And how did he survive outside of the Mark V Travel Machine (the Daleks shell) for so long?

5: Tow the Earth Home, eh? Oh look, we're rapidly approaching the end of the show and I wanted to spend most of that with companions and Doctors mooning over eachother. Let's just get this turkey of a plot over and done with, shall we? Um... the Doctor turns on the tractor beam and they fly the Earth back into its proper orbit in exactly the right place. Harumph. Unbelievable that there would be some kind of effect? Like all that time away from the gravity and warmth of the sun? Okay, it causes a thunderstorm. The Doctor can call it an Atmospheric Disturbance.
Weak.

6: Daleks. How is it that because the Daleks are cloned from Davros' DNA they can all be wiped out? I mean, if I get obliterated in a crazy energy weapon explosion, will my sister and my daughter and my parents also all get destroyed? What the hell? Why do we have to continuously introduce a kabillion Daleks and have the ALL destroyed. Why can't we find a small bunch that are part of a fleet somewhere so that we aren't all "shocked and amazed" whenever they show up again? Not to mention killing plot time having to explain where THESE Daleks came from. *rolls eyes*

7: Doctor 10.2 is fine, but Doctor/Donna dies? Why? Explain. Or wait, know what? Don't bother. We know why Doctor 10.2 is fine. So that Rose can have her play-toy and we can stop reading fan fics about how she comes back into our universe so her and the 10th Doctor can have a romantic fireside screw. See point 1. No wonder Mickey left that universe behind. He got replaced by the Doctor AGAIN! Any smart guy would have moved on ages ago.

8: Sorry, but I'm indifferent towards the extra family characters in the show. They're drama dressing. I suppose Wilf was the best one, funny crazy old coot who actually knows what 's going on. But all the other mothers/brother/sisters/cousins/aunts.... whatever. Don't waste screentime on them unless they help tell the story.

9: The German frau... seemed insulting somehow.

10: GERMAN DALEKS! THAT WAS SO COOL! W00T! Do more of that!

11: The whole regeneration cliffhanger left me flat. We all knew Tennant wasn't leaving the show. We all scratched our heads at "TO BE CONTINUED", speculated briefly on how they were going to abort the regeneration... and all of us came up with a better way then the one in the show. Back to point 1.
You know what would have been cool would have been if a)the hand regenerated into a different 11th Doctor. b) If when the alternate Doctor is coming to rescue the original Doctor and friends, instead we see him in the TARDIS, he says they need rescuing, we cut to Davros and the lab, the TARDIS materializes, and out steps Paul McGann. THAT would have been a jolt and a scream of joy from the fans. Not having doughhead not-Doctor run out into a Davros zap. That was just stupid. He's seen that before. Then Donna does EXACTLY THE SAME THING. Dumb. I thought she was smarter than that.

Okay, most of this was negative. It wasn't meant to be. I actually enjoyed that rather a lot. Especially Davros, the cool red Dalek Supreme, the massive attacks, the german Daleks...

It just... well... there were parts that were very weak and rather than say it was badly written, I'll chalk it up to the limitations of broadcast television.

No.. no it was bad writing. Sorry.

*raises hand*

I hadn't intended to register and post here *L* but there is one plot point everyone everywhere seems to keep poking at, and I wanted to put forth my theory.

"We see that a time lord brain can sort of exist in a human body... If that human body is the Doctor. But a time Lord brain can't exist in an all human body, because it'll explode, or something. So I guess if a Time Lord and a human had kids, you'd have a fifty fifty chance of having a child who's brain wouldn't explode?"

Nah, the kids would be fine, they'd be BORN half human, half Time Lord. Gallifreyan genetics would be legitimately passed down to them from their dad, in this case Blue!Ten. His body was shaped out of original Gallifreyan biological material, so of course his DNA and such were wired to hold and use the Time Lord consciousness. He will pass that down through his future generations.

Donna's Time Lord half was imposed upon her; it's akin to a major organ transplant. If the donor and the receiver are not a genetic match, the likelihood of rejection increases. Donna was, from a physical standpoint, 100% pure human with no original Gallifreyan genetics. The foreign biodata had to reject.

As far as the rest of my thoughts on the episode...

Annoyed that Rose got her very own Doctor to hug and squeeze and call George but still complained about it.

Sad about Donna. I came to really adore Donna. And therefore I cried when she got wiped...I think CT had only signed up for one series and hadn't ever planned to come back, so Donna had to go somehow, and permanently. I'm just ready for a Companion to last a few series already!

Gleeful to see the Torchwood crew, but had that bit of discombobulation because John Barrowman has stated plenty of times he plays DW Jack a bit different from TW Jack, so here we had both Jacks and OW my BRAIN. But I was glad to see the TW folks. Wish they'd gotten a bit more time in the ep, but it's not their show and RTD was running out of time to cram tricks and gimmicks in, so I can see why he chose to lock Gwen and Ianto up in the Hub and ignore them for the better part of the hour. But I am still pouty about it.

The regen gimmick was pulled off lamely. No offense to DT, he did his best with what he was given. RTD could have done something much more interesting with that, but he was more into cramming bigger tricks into the hour and also, I feel, kind of wanted to rub our noses in how he tried to mess with everyone's heads.

I'm so glad RTD brought back Who, and I think he's done lots of fun and wonderful things with it, but I am just as glad to see the back of him. I'm worried but excited about Steven Moffat.

Yes! For the tiniest second I secretly hoped - wished!- that we would get another glimpse of the 8th doctor!! How great would it be for the hand to regenerate into Paul Mcgann? Please, please, please let one of the new specials bring back Dr. 8 so maybe we can get the tiniest explanation of what just happened to him. I quite like the idea of McGann suddenly bursting through the 'time lock', or whatever Dalek Caan got through to get Davros, and somehow managing to bring back the timelords to the 10th Dr. Possibly by hiding the Matrix in his own brain like in the NA series, Moffat really seemed to be prepping this in 'the forrest of the dead' in how the little girl saved the patrons by literally 'saving' them to her hard drive. How would that be for the finale television special of 2009?

Anyway, did people really expect Sylvester McCoy to randomly appear (I admit, I would love to see it) just because of that confidential interview? He always dresses like the doctor people - seriously!!
I guess it only goes to show that if you throw us Who fans the tiniest scrap (timecrash) we won't be pleased until we've had the whole buffet - that's why we have this comic strip!!!!

Thanks for the thoughts Rich, I have to agree with you mostly.
It's OK to be a little negative now and then because each of us here already KNOW that we all love every bit of the Doctor but sometimes we have to show that we really are paying attention. Nobody's perfect and to assume such a thing would be just lazy and patronizing.

RTD was great for managing the direction of the new show but attempted to juggle far too many balls by writing major continuity laden episodes and handling the mythos of new who by himself - on top of all of his other responsibilities!
A good effort but come on, who is isn't absolutely drooling for season 5? (would it be season 5.2 or season 6 considering the year of specials?)
Bring on Mr. Moffet!!

Boy, what a bunch of downers!

Here I was, all fresh from seeing the episode and excited about how much fantastic stuff was in it, and all I get is moan, bitch, complain. C'mon people, you can't tell me that you all sat there totally dry-eyed through the whole thing and didn't once feel excited or scared or apprehensive or curious or melancholoy or amazed or gob-smacked.

Was it perfect? No, nothing is ever perfect.

Was it a rollicking hour of incredible Doctor Who fun? Hell yeah.

But no, all I see is Rose this, and Donna that, and two 10's the other. Gee, if you all hate the show so much, why do you bother to watch it?

I think it's time for me to give up on visiting Doctor Who forums. I expect to see people who are excited and enthusiastic about the show, not people who want to poke holes in every tiny thing and bring down one of the best "just saw an amazing TV show" highs I've had for a long time.

I was impressed with Julian Bleach's Davros, too. From the Outpost Gallifrey forums, the general consensus seems to be that he's one of the all-time best to have played the character. I thought he was quite excellent, a quintessential villain.

Speaking only for myself, of course, I think it's because the show is so good that we're so disappointed by the downright sloppy writing in what could have been a brilliant set of episodes. A few small changes and fewer cop-outs would have been all that was necessary to make it a really solid story. Instead we sat there going "but - but - but -" and "physics doesn't WORK that way!" (which I usually only yell during Stargate. ) and "oh man, another opportunity for awesome missed."

I was frankly disappointed by the episode because I see what it could have been, with one more script draft. If that makes me a negative nellie, so be it.