Was Kroll not the mother of all monsters? Ripping through pipes, dragging poor guys—even the Swampies, who were supposed to be protected sort of!—kicking and screaming to their deaths…and that awful Cyclopean roar…

I did a peer review with a 20-something girl today who did not have a thought in her head and was feeling kind of depressed until I saw this comment pointing out the real reason I didn't get 40 seconds into this video; the acting.

How old were you when you first watched it?
I have an unusual respect for "Kroll" since it scared the bejeezes out of me as a very young kid. Never really looked at it critically though I will admit.

Not real people, no.

You mean how they were like these magical Leprechauns who granted the Doctor a new baker's dozen of regenerations in the holiday special? God, I'd nearly forgotten…God!

I looked at it a little differently, if this can help anyone appreciate "Victory of the Daleks" a little more.

I'm sorry that neither of us was satisfied then.
The only way to keep the happy couple in the story was
to hurt them. Either Amy fails Rory or Rory fails Amy or
Rory kind of dies or Amy kind of dies. I liked Rory but I
don't understand how he could have even tolerated the
Doctor.

I agree with your post, although I wasn't sure if you were being satirical or not with your last one. Glad that turned out to be the case. If we can look to the classic series for inspiration, Cartmel and Hinchcliffe over Saward any day. *That* sort of "back-to-basics" storytelling!

Confidence in the character goes a great way towards enjoying the stories. I think the search for Gallifrey could be a great focus for the series, and I don't need a "darker" Doctor to keep me interested. Or a Doctor that needs to be constantly "described" to death in the actual story, over and over again. If this…

I agree, but enough people loved it so I wouldn't want to dump on it like that. I liked Handles, at least.

I saw it coming! And that's why I didn't want the Ponds past series 5.

I was happy with the end of "The big bang."
It was conclusive; one last dance.
The Ponds stretched the format of the show in series 5
in a good way, but I was hoping that series 6 would've
featured a new companion. Instead I thought that the two
characters staying on limited the kinds of stories that
could be told.

I really hope you're wrong, and that it's just a rhetorical question, and that it will be a return to some back-to-basics "Doctor Who" storytelling.

I hear ya. Here's hoping the next series is full of unexpected mystery and the type of stories we can get invested in. I think we needed an older Doctor and at least *that* part's set in stone.

It's wonderful how Gaiman managed to find answers to the question of what to do with the Cybermen by just extrapolating everything. They really do feel like a nightmare come to life in that sad, silly world.

The last 20 minutes of the previous Xmas special—The End of Time—
managed to pull off a complete hat trick in the final minute with that regeneration. Smith turned the depressing death of his predecessor into the most exciting reset I've ever seen for the series. I thought series 5 kept up this level of enthusiasm, and…

This is just my opinion.

Ahhh, I don't want to rip on the specials.
I am prejudiced towards the regular series entries and don't want to diminish anybody's holiday cheer.

You're right, but I've never really read into any other instances of speechifying in the show's history. It was an odd way to end a story that I was underwhelmed with. The eleventh Doctor's shift into his darker phase started here, and I thought they were doing fine up to that point without that angst.

Oh, it didn't ruin series 5 retroactively or anything. It just sort of killed my enthusiasm for a lot of new Who.