It's always nice to see Oliver Queen when you least expect it! I guess we're going to see Barry in Arrow's finale then! YAY
I got legitimately excited when Firestorm and Arrow showed up. Unexpected and pretty cool.
love it! but the resolution of the hybird really sucks :(
Deeply disturbing. But an excellent chapter. Makes me wonder what awaits me next chapter.
The first half of this season was better than the entire first season combined. Here's hoping the second half is as strong or even stronger. Considering how the episode ends, looks like the second half will definitely be "chilling" to say the least.
Interesting concept! But the acting is so horrible...
If you liked BRB, do try to catch the movie Her which explores kinda the same plot but from a different angle. Here the main character (a woman) was already in love and hence the AI was competing in a way. In the movie, the main character (a guy) meets the new AI and gets reeled into a relationship (if we can call that) with her.
A silly and inventive adventure with some questionable production values and the introduction of K9 begins strongly but falls flat by the end.
Story: 6
This story is lighthearted and silly. It's adventurous from the very start and keeps going at a brisk pace. It's not the strongest story plot-wise, but it's remembered for its introduction of robotic dog companion K9. It's a pretty action-heavy story too, particularly in the second half.
The story truly gets silly and creative in Part Three, once we enter the Doctor's head. It's a pretty stupid sequence meant to once again boast over the Doctor's superior mind, but it stands out nonetheless.
The way how Leela's immunity against the virus becomes a central mystery in the story feels like something that would be done in the revived series, where the companion is usually given more of a mysterious purpose.
Acting: 8
K9 is voiced by John Leeson, arguably the most well-known and popular actor to voice the character. That squeaky but determined voice is hard not to love and be annoyed by at the same time. Leeson also voices the Nucleus of the Swarm, and I have never seen such a contrast between two separate performances by the same actor in one story. The Nucleus sounds like shit.
The great Michael Sheard is back after previously playing the concerned brother of Marcus Scarman in Pyramids of Mars (1976) and Summers in The Mind of Evil (1971). He's okay here, but not particularly interesting.
Another returning actor is Frederick Jaeger, who appears as the slightly nutty Professor Marius (somewhat of a mix of Kettlewell from Robot, 1974; and Solon from The Mutants, 1972). This performance is quite different from his equally brilliant turn as Sorenson in Planet of Evil (1975). Here he is a silly but memorable character, and one of my all-time favourite supporting characters.
The Doctor: 8
This story puts the Doctor in an unusual position from the very beginning, forced to work for the bad guys from the onset, despite trying to fight against the influence of the Nucleus. The Doctor is pretty helpless most of the time, so Leela gets an important job keeping things running.
The Companions: 9
While Leela still acts naively at times, she is given an important role in this story and gets plenty of interesting stuff to do. With the Doctor out of action for parts of the story, Leela becomes more important than ever before. That being said, she just hangs around with K9 halfheartedly fending off the villains until the final episode.
The Monster/Villain: 2
The virus is a pretty bland idea for a Doctor Who monster by now, but having it (mostly) invisible is a great way to save money. The possessed hosts seem very ineffective, and the fight scenes between them and Leela/K9 has less energy than the trench warfare of WWI.
The Nucleus within the Doctor's brain looks and sounds like shit (literally) but even worse is the ridiculous space shrimp that appears in the cliffhanger to Part Three. That's some horrifying stuff.
Production: 8
I quite like the production values on this one. The model work is beautiful, the costumes look great (at least the astronaut suits do) and some of the visual effects are pretty creative. The sets are colourful but simple. The set design inside the Doctor's head is creative, but the visuals don't hold up very well.
The Nucleus of the Swarm is the ugliest alien lump I've ever seen in anything. Terrible, utterly terrible. And its shrimp version is stuff from anyone's worst nightmares.
Pacing: 8
This story is evenly paced, quite fast and mostly solid.
Atmosphere: 6
The difference between the previous story, Horror of Fang Rock (1977), and this one are like night and day. While Fang Rock is atmospheric and creepy, The Invisible Enemy is colourful and silly. The silliness feels somewhat out-of-place at times, and with a weird plot and some ineffective villains, it becomes even less tense.
The tension and horror of most earlier stories in Tom Baker's era are gone and will never be back again. The fine ideas presented in this story are overshadowed by the silliness of the production.
Impact: 10
The only reason this story is remembered among fans is due to the introduction of K9. Other than that it doesn't leave any lasting impressions.
Replay Value: 7
Despite its silliness, the stupid plot and some problems with the production, this is a fun little adventure to re-watch now and again.
Random Observations:
This story famously introduced K9, the robotic dog companion and one of the more popular companions in the show's history. K9 was popular with the kids but caused loads of problems for the cast and crew backstage. We also see the return of the original TARDIS console room, now slightly updated.
Michael Sheard will be back in Castrovalva (1983) and, perhaps more interestingly, in the Eighth Doctor audio drama The Stones of Venice (2001).
Once again an alien causing some strange boogie-loo appearing on the victims' hands. It is something Doctor Who likes to do a lot.
There are some similarities between this story and The Tsuranga Conundrum (2018), including scenes set in sickbay while an alien menace is on the loose. The Doctor entering his own body is similar to the Doctor entering a Dalek's casing in Into the Dalek (2014).
The second time we meet a clone of the Fourth Doctor, after his android copy in The Android Invasion (1975). This is also the third time the Doctor is miniaturized, after Planet of Giants (1964) and Carnival of Monsters (1973).
Marius: "I only hope he's TARDIS trained". That's the worst final gag line I've ever heard.
Score: 72/120
This might just be the best episode in a long time? Very good, very in depth, amazing pacing, and oh boy they didn't take prisoners. Love it.
When I heard Doctor Who was doing an episode about Rosa Parks, my first reaction was 'huh?". One, because I didn't expect a British show to tackle such a crucial piece of the American history. And two, because I was afraid that they wouldn't do it justice. It's such a delicate subject matter and they really needed to find the perfect balance for it not to be a complete failure.
And find the perfect balance they did.
I mean, I'm a white girl living in Poland, so far be it from me to claim to be an expert when it comes to the Civil Rights Movement. I'm absolutely not. But I thought this episode was amazing. The actress who played Rosa did a phenomenal job. And I'm pretty sure I held my breath for like 5 minutes at the end there. The moment the Doctor realized that they had to stay on the bus and watch, unable to help because they needed to keep history intact... It was devastating. But Rosa's choice felt absolutely triumphant. I love that we got to see her receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And what a lovely ending with the asteroid.
Jodie really nailed it once again, especially the more intense moments. I loved both her conversations with the other time traveler (whose name I didn't catch because my ears suck and there are no subtitles yet). I can't be the only one who saw a bit of Twelve shining through. The editing, with the quick cuts between the two characters and the (sometimes extreme) close-ups, made those scenes feel very dynamic and intimate. I also adore her facial expressions. Her face does all kinds of crazy things and it's so completely Doctor-ish. When Graham put his arm around her shoulders at the motel and she scrunched up her nose in disgust... I am head over heels in love with this woman.
"- You ain't Banksy!
- Or am I?"
I can't believe I stan this absolute nerd.
All three companions played a big role, which I'm very happy about. We saw a bit more development from Yaz - a lot of people complained that she didn't bring as much to the table as Graham or Ryan in the previous two episodes. I think she really shone here. I also love that Ryan just vaporized the antagonist without hesitation. Good stuff. And I'm glad they haven't magically forgotten about Grace and she still gets mentioned a bunch. It is a very fresh tragedy, after all.
This was hands down the best episode of the season so far and it's probably gonna be remembered as one of the most iconic stories of the entire show. I hope we can keep this up. It looks like next week the Doctor is finally gonna get her gang home and they're gonna be fighting some good old-fashioned space spiders. Which means a ton of dumb fun. Hey, I'm not complaining. We need episodes like that too. But "Rosa" was excellent on all fronts and I'm definitely gonna have to watch it again.
An intense episode . . . keeping me at the edge of my seat.
Probably the best episode than the previous two in the term of writing; how the writers handled the darkest part of history really well, and used the Inciting Incident (A man try to change a tiny detail from the most important history) as an element that kept me glued to the screen.
A bit more like earlier seasons of Doctor Who, but not as emotional as the season finales before that. I do not know, maybe it is just me and I might have sort of outgrown the show, but in this season it seemed to me that the series is trying to get up steam but it never actually really got to this point. The whole series looks to me like a season-long introduction which does not move past the initial stages. I hope we would really get to understand the characters more in the new season to come. I never knew I would say that but I miss Moffat's convoluted and absurd plots.
As for the episode itself, the eponymous battle turned out to be the battle for Graham's soul and his humanity.
I'm sorry, but I can't bring myself to feel sad that Archie is dead.
we wouldn't be so lucky for them to actually kill that dumbass boy...
Lol. I don't know why I keep watching this show... though if Archie dies (though I doubt it) that would be the most interesting thing about him.
This is every kid's worst nightmare.
This story has some decent creepy moments. It's probably due to the Antarctic setting. There are lots of special effect miniatures in this which are fun to watch.
Sam is annoying sometimes. Please stop being so angsty.
Felicia Day?! How many cameo appearance does she have? That elevator dancing scene must have been fun to make, considering her usual awkwardness.
Terrible conclusion to an exciting Hawaii episode. The dialogue from the LA crew was ghastly
Only about 30 seconds of actual new content, the rest is just flashbacks to what we saw in the earlier arcs. You could skip this episode.
This ending was just terrible. Subtle references to religion and mythology throughout the series suddenly spiral down into some cheap therapy session designed to make otaku boys with daddy issues love themselves? Bah.
No clue what was going on. If we had to watch this episode for class, I would get a zero on the quiz.
classic anime ending, where nothing made sense at all :laughing:
What the hell was that?
