S8E9: Flatline (SPOILERS)

I know nothing about this story other than what we've seen in the trailer, and it looks great! I'm interested to see more of the people in the walls. Quite creepy!

Looks promisingly good n creepy!!!

Bring it!!

The Doctor versus Flatland. Should be fun.

Looking forward to tonight's episode! It looks very interesting from the clips we've seen, but I'm a bit worried this is gonna be a very Doctor-lite and Clara-centric story...

some parts were good but way too much Clara AGAIN.... grrr

Awesome!!!   Loved it!!!

Holy crap that was good.

Finally !!!!!! a Decent Episode !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This episode opened the door for some Cool Action Figure Possibilities / Props

I will not list any ideas cause they would spoil the episode.

PS: Too Much Clara! she mush have a Good Agent

I thought it was the best episode so far. A lot less outlandish than the last few episodes. Good suspense.

The special effects for the episode were amazing, how they depicted 2D and 3D switching between the planes.

The Doctor is kind of removed from the action, but he isn't neglected either.

Clara, Clara, Clara.....



I'm missing the amazing Doctor that Capaldi is not having the opportunity to be, Moffat must have thought "I know we will have an "older" doctor and play it safe by making show more about Clara."

Great episode! Clara calling herself "the Doctor" was great. Lots of great moments, and I agree that there are several action figure-y things that can be brought about from just this story.

I loved the effect when the 2D creatures were making themselves 3D. Very creepy with the almost-faces and the lumbering. Proper Doctor Who monsters!

I liked the moment on the train, I forgot his name, the guy was going to sacrifice himself but Clara is like, or we can use a hairband!

Oh this was fantastic. This season is so good. Great concept, well executed. Clara as the Doctor is really fun and I think will make for an interesting dynamic for the season finale. How do we feel about Missy's interest in Clara?

So how did the Doctor defeats the aliens? There's a blue barrier around them, he jumps out, names them, flashes the sonic, & then they're gone. Huh?
Did they use one of CO's TARDISes as a prop?
I wish the Doctor would've clocked that cranky community service guy.
I liked Clara having to be more active but why does she need the Doctor to tell her that she did a good job saving the day?

Right before the TARDIS gets dropped down onto the tracks, the Doctor states that he has a way of zapping them back to their dimension; he just doesn't have the power to do it until Clara tricks the Killer Graffiti into zapping the wall. Presumably this is linked to the frequency change he uses to upgrade the 2Dis.

I'm pretty sure the small TARDIS is a Flight Control TARDIS with a TV production quality paint job. (The windows look an awful lot like the practical white windows on the First Doctor TARDIS set.)

As for why she asks for him to say she did a job, she heard him say it when she thought she couldn't her him. She wanted him to validate her to her face. Recall all season The Doctor has been pretty dismissive and outright mean to her. He finally says something nice and he won't say it when not facing certain peril. (See also: The Doctor's reluctance to validate Rose's feelings, The Doctor's reluctance to tell Amy about Rory being written out of history, etc.) Indeed, when Clara asks "did you say all that cause you were losing life support." The Doctor says yes, and this shocks Clara because he means it. And then she asks for validation and he gives it to her. Rule #1: The Doctor Lies. And the Doctor is upset that one of his companions is lying to him. (Indeed, I have a very strong suspicion that Clara refusing to tell the Doctor about her visit to Gallifrey is going to come up with Missy.)

Question: What exactly does Capaldi name the aliens? I could not for the life of me make it out.

I think they're called "the Boneless"

Loved this ep. This season is absolutely awesome so far.

I loved the creativity of this one but I didn't like the ending. A little too reminiscent of the RTD era.

SeaDevil wrote:

I think they're called "the Boneless"

Indeed he did say that!
If folks watched the Doctor Who Extra, they also kept referring to the creatures as 'The Boneless' as well.

Another fantastic episode! Filled with some great effects, a creepy menace and some terrific moments for both Clara and the Doctor.

For everyone who thinks there's too much Clara, I couldn't disagree more. It's not like they're throwing her in there just to appease teenage girls. They're very clearly exploring the nature of The Doctor and particularly this incarnation using Clara as audience proxy.

Throughout this season, Clara's difficulty in understanding this new Doctor has provided some fascinating new insights into the Doctor. We've learned that regeneration can be as terrifying for The Doctor as it is for the companion. We've learned that the Doctor (no matter how confident or authoritative he seems) often has no idea if he can save anyone. We've been reminded (quite rightly after the glamor of traveling with the Doctor presented in Rose and Amy in particular) that traveling through time and space is dangerous. We've learned that sometimes The Doctor only has bad choices to make and cannot get too emotional about the people he meets.

Clara's tantrum at the end of Kill The Moon has the writers very clearly forcing Clara (and the audience) to have to "walk a mile in The Doctor's shoes" and I, for one, welcome this approach. In this ep, Clara acts very Doctor-ish, so much so that Capaldi wonders out loud of he really sounds like that. We also learn that Clara has learned how to lie (Rule #1), which I couldn't tell if it was a good thing to The Doctor (despite his dialogue about it being a survival skill).

Clara needing validation was, I thought, a very human moment, and I absolutely loved The Doctor's line there, "You were an exceptional Doctor, but goodness had nothing to do with it". Does this mean The Doctor doesn't think himself a good man, or does he sense something sinister in Clara? I have no idea, but I can't wait to find out. For the first time since Eccleston, really, I feel like I'm not quite sure about anything anymore, and I couldn't be more excited!

Ben C. wrote:

SeaDevil wrote:

I think they're called "the Boneless"

Indeed he did say that!
If folks watched the Doctor Who Extra, they also kept referring to the creatures as 'The Boneless' as well.

Okay, thank you... my son and I both heard something that started with "bone" but were reluctant to think was what he actually said.

That was quick: http://www.rubbertoereplicas.com/#!product/prd1/3049202281/tardis-'seige-mode'-cube

Evil Monkey Pope wrote:

That was quick: http://www.rubbertoereplicas.com/#!product/prd1/3049202281/tardis-'seige-mode'-cube

It's funny - I was mailing back and forth with them yesterday morning (EST), asking if they made the prop in the show, and if they were going to offer them for sale. They answered yes to both questions, and then I bought the first one at 1PM. It's surreal - I went from watching the show and loving the concept and the prop (a 1:1 scale TARDIS you can hold in your hand!), to purchasing an exact copy of it from the actual prop shop less than 24 hours later.

If anyone is interested, here's how they made the prop (same materials and finishing used for the items they are selling as well):

FABRICATING THE TARDIS 'SIEGE MODE' CUBE

.

Like this episode.

Don't know how it could have worked with any less Clara. With the Doctor shrunk inside a tiny TARDIS he'd be pretty well stuck if Clara wasn't around to help out.

"Hello barely sentient local...  "



Enjoyed this one! The 'Boneless' were pretty cool and creepy, despite the atrocious CGI which I chose to ignore. I really liked how the TARDIS was used as the means of defeating them.

I love that even after 50 years we continue to learn new things about the TARDIS. I got many smiles out of seeing the Doctor poke his big face through a tiny TARDIS, and also thought the 'siege mode' silver cube form of the TARDIS was very cool to see. The scene towards the end with the Doctor using his hand to get the TARDIS off the train track was also really awesome, and his little dance of celebration was great.

For a Doctor-lite episode he was actually in this story quite a lot throughout. Usually Doctor-lite episodes aren't as enjoyable as others in the series because the absence of the Doctor lets the story down, but he was in this episode just the right amount for it to be enjoyable and still a Doctor-lie story. There wasn't too much focus on Clara, so it turned out good.

All in all, another good one! There's not a story that I've disliked in this series so far!

This is the first episode this season I've totally loved. Very creative and funny. Loved the small TARDIS.