On the Sofa 11

[WhoHar @whohar]

Anybody watched the Sea Devils spin off yet?

And, more importantly, is it any good?

We don’t have it down here so I can either wait until February or go looking for an unofficial version. Not sure it is worth the bother, so would be interested to know what people think.

[Devilishrobby @devilishrobby]

@whohar watched the first 2 episodes on Sunday, given that  to my knowledge the series is only 5  episodes long and appear to be 45 minuets long I thought they were a bit slow in progressing the story much to the point that I think for some it will be better to watch all the episode in a binge almost as a single film. Having said that the acting seems to be excellent. There’s an overly obvious ecological political theme running through the episodes I’ve seen so far. The effects are as you would expect from a collaborative Disney/BBC budget are superlative.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@devilishrobby

Much obliged. I think I’ll probably wait, as there is too much good stuff available right now, and coming up. Maybe if I get through my backlog over Christmas…

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @devilishrobby

Hope this doesn’t give too much away. Overall, yes watch it!

Positive:

Acting… though Russel Tovey does his best, Barclay the character could become annoying.

Theme… why ARE we specularly failing to control plastics?

Effects… those are great rubber suits! No really it’s fine and we’ll be watching that water flow down the big tube many time I’m sure (sigh)

Unsure:

Bit slow… the ‘naming’ thing takes up lots of verbage. Maybe there will be a point at which Barclay will actually ask ‘what do you call yourselves?

There seem to be some clumsy Checkhov guns yet to be let off. Not sure how RTD can stop the overall effect being quite silly

It’s the new UNIT with all that entails… but not all the Who interns, so far anyway.

The villains/antagonists and the conflicts among the humans tend to the cliched comic book level. The overall effect may also become quite silly.

We’re dealing with marine reptiles with retro evolved gills. I think there should be more of… ahem… a ‘barf’ factor. But maybe not all of Checkhov’s arsenal is deployed yet.

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

Hello All, I’ve only watched one episode of The War Between the Land and the Sea so far, but it’s quite good.

Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Lethbridge Stewart continues to be very believable. You just know she comes from a family with an aga and the smell of wet dog in the kitchen in the morning.

The least believable bit is having a sane and functioning US administration (at least so far). Can you imagine the garbage Trump and his cronies would spout about “so monstrous, these fishy fish invaders” etc., but maybe that’s coming…

I’m not sorry the Disney partnership has ended however, despite the beautifully rendered Sea Devil outfits, as I would rather have extended storytelling and lower budget effects than incredible effects but hardly any time with the Doctor and companions, which is how Gatwa Doc’s run was, sadly, hobbled.

Got to do some work before I’m allowed to watch the next episode!

[WhoHar @whohar]

@ps1l0v3y0u @devilishrobby

The overall effect may also become quite silly.

That’s my concern, and that the whole thing will be clumsily preachy about the environment (rather than cleverly showing us the ways the planet is being destroyed.

@juniperfish

You just know she comes from a family with an aga and the smell of wet dog in the kitchen in the morning.

This is excellent

[janetteB @janetteb]

@ps1l0v3y0u I suspect the writers left because they were under paid, under appreciated and better jobs were on offer. also back in teh old days there wasn’t the love for the show that there is now and keeps writers like Moff and RTD on the hook. they grew up loving the show.

speaking of RTD, I was wondering if anyone has watched The War Between the Land and the Sea yet? Guardian gave it three stars but not a great review.

Meanwhile we are not doing our annual seasonal re watch of the Christmas Specials.Just watched what I refer to as “the giant stompy robot story”. I will be skipping the End of Time specials. Found them pretty unwatchable so now to some Moff christmassy goodness.

Cheers

Janette

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@janetteb

Yes, I suppose writers’ relationship with the show was different after the gap, because of the gap. But there are loyal writers who were apparently cast aside before. And writers who were obviously commissioned, delivered and slid away after; Maxine Alderton almost made the Fam and T’floox work for ooh 45 minutes or so. Where is she?

Is it a case of ‘try anything once’? Or ‘not working with that guy again,’ or ‘it’s a madhouse!’

Obviously I think in a madhouse, one writer is as good as any other and anyway it’s a kid’s show.

tWBtLatS… it’s not a disaster… yet. 3 out of 5 is about right. As opposed to the (anticipated) complaints about heavy handed eco virtue signalling, I am worried that there are good ideas here which will be sold short. It does have a hohum feeling but NOT a glazed eye feeling.

I do hope it’s not Stockton Rush who’s going to deliver Barclay to the abyssal plain.

Stompy Robot? Husbands of River Song? Only problem is the final freeze frame. Not sure if Michael is being taken. I can take End of Time. ‘I like you. I bet you’d taste great!’

 

 

 

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

After seeing episode 2 I’m getting Shape of Water vibes. Tovey is going to boink the gender-fluid fish lady in the Mariana Trench, isn’t he.

[Derek Winters @winters3758]

I’ve enjoyed it so far. Not mind-blowing but solid telly

[ElleOhElle @elleohelle]

Hello! I’ve not yet seen the war between the land and the sea yet, though I also haven’t watched much of the UNIT series- once I saw this thread discussing it, I went to go check where I even could, and I can’t seem to find it streaming anywhere in the US. Does anyone happen to know a streaming service I could use to catch up on it? I’ve pretty much lost hope on finding somewhere to watch the actual DW series in any other way than buying the blurays secondhand. But it would be nice to be able to stream online. I had thought that UNIT was on Netflix, but apparently not, or at least not anymore. And apparently it’s not even on BritBox anymore too, so I’m a bit baffled as to how anybody is even watching it right now, honestly!

I must be missing something, right? Somebody please correct me! Good grief.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@winters3758

Only watched as far as The Deep (ep 3) so far. Interested to see the various resolutions, if Russ manages that, because there’s a lot of tropes and peculiar soft sci fi genuflections which I’m sure can’t be all they seem to be. But by the time you read this, you’ll know.

It’s interesting that this longer form seems more successful than the ‘combined’ effect of the various episodes of the last two series. Though there were real short form triumphs there too. Whether this is down to a rush in writing and editing, or because Russ is now less in sympathy with an episodic structure I’m not sure. Cos he mastered it effortlessly before.

Some critics have been moaning about UNIT too. I recognise the issue and hope this is part of the same question of resolution. ie I think the world of ‘The War’ is distinct to the world we’ve been looking at in Who.

Does that make sense?

@elleohelle

Sorry, I watch ‘The War’ on I Player in Britain. Surely it’s on Disney+? Good luck. I think it’s worth watching.

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

Not on Disney+ until February apparently. Which tells it’s own story.

Happy people are enjoying it so far.

And hope you are all having an enjoyable festive period…

 

[ElleOhElle @elleohelle]

Huh, weird that it’s also so hard to access! Almost a conspiracy, I’d say… Jk, lol. But still, pretty frustrating. Ah well, I guess it’ll make it all the more exciting when it finally is available here! Based on the feedback I’ve seen, I’m definitely willing to wait for it.

Personally I don’t have any holidays to celebrate during this break, but hey, more time to catch up on the classic who episodes I can find on Tubi, etc! I hope everyone else is having a restful break or a happy holiday season, if you celebrate! Anyone else watching or catching up on any shows?

[Author]

Posts