Six days after this was broadcast, the Paris bombings and mass shooting happened killing 130 people. All I recall and all I think about now is just how hollow Capaldi's speech sounded and still does. It certainly felt like the ISIL terrorists who carried out the attacks had no intention of sitting down and talking. I agree, the episode has a great progressive sentiment at its heart, for which it should be commended, but thanks to the context around which it was broadcast in 2015, it ended up having the opposite effect on me. I concluded the Doctor was wrong, a dangerous idiot who was oversimplifying very real issues (admittedly about Zygons, yes). Eight years on, I've no desire to watch the story again (The Zygon Aversion), hopefully one day I will come back to it and enjoy it a lot more. It is strange how context on viewings can affect you.
That is interesting. I think there's an extent the story slides, unthinkingly, from terrorism to the conflicts that provoke them. There's truth to the idea that you can't end this stuff without talking to the enemy; that doesn't mean atrocities are not atrocities.
I think maybe I just don't expect Doctor Who to actually get even to that level, really, getting beyond it is unthinkable, all it can do is provoke thought.
I used to know Ingrid back in the Watson and Oliver days (my best mate is Lorna Watson’s partner). We made a formidable quizzing partnership. I hope she still has a truly fantastic line in eye-wateringly scurrilous showbiz anecdotes.
The imbecile line being a callback to Tom Baker yelling the same in a cave in Revenge of the Cybermen, of course. But yeah, way too harsh to a Harry fan like me
Six days after this was broadcast, the Paris bombings and mass shooting happened killing 130 people. All I recall and all I think about now is just how hollow Capaldi's speech sounded and still does. It certainly felt like the ISIL terrorists who carried out the attacks had no intention of sitting down and talking. I agree, the episode has a great progressive sentiment at its heart, for which it should be commended, but thanks to the context around which it was broadcast in 2015, it ended up having the opposite effect on me. I concluded the Doctor was wrong, a dangerous idiot who was oversimplifying very real issues (admittedly about Zygons, yes). Eight years on, I've no desire to watch the story again (The Zygon Aversion), hopefully one day I will come back to it and enjoy it a lot more. It is strange how context on viewings can affect you.
That is interesting. I think there's an extent the story slides, unthinkingly, from terrorism to the conflicts that provoke them. There's truth to the idea that you can't end this stuff without talking to the enemy; that doesn't mean atrocities are not atrocities.
I think maybe I just don't expect Doctor Who to actually get even to that level, really, getting beyond it is unthinkable, all it can do is provoke thought.
I used to know Ingrid back in the Watson and Oliver days (my best mate is Lorna Watson’s partner). We made a formidable quizzing partnership. I hope she still has a truly fantastic line in eye-wateringly scurrilous showbiz anecdotes.
This story is why 2-parters should continue to exist. It's so good
The imbecile line being a callback to Tom Baker yelling the same in a cave in Revenge of the Cybermen, of course. But yeah, way too harsh to a Harry fan like me