Well, there's a thread for the UK viewers to chat about the show, why not one for the Canadians, who get the show a month ahead of the 'States? Seems like a good idea, especially since it debuted tonight.

Well, I thought the season premiere was pretty good tonight. I'll never look at a bendy-straw the same way again, lemme tell you. :)

And as much as I loved Rose Tyler, I gotta say, Martha Jones definitely has potential. She seems a lot more intelligent, for one thing.

*Sets up the little chair, the bigger chair for two to curl up in, the rocking chair for those who like to rock, and gets comfy in the new thread. :D*

That was great! And did you see the CBC's lovely new website? Heck, the first thing you see when you go to the CBC mainpage is an ad for Doctor Who. The Mother Corp is giving the Doctor the respect he deserves! :)

I'm also liking Martha. I was not as attached to Rose as some people. I liked her fine, but I've seen too many faces come and go from the console room to get attached. :)

Great first episode! I also enjoyed Martha and the bendy straw. My favourite was the way the aliens marked them as human: an X on the hand with a permanent marker. Heh.

Halleluah! I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with programming my PVR...Gotta turn the puppy off to get it to record.

All set for the Runaway Bride now. :)

Love the CBC site. I think I might actually have to become a good little Canadian and watch something on CBC! :)

Oh, and don't forget "The Runaway Bride" Christmas Special episode airs tonight at midnight too!

I was wondering about the bride thing! I thought I missed the first episode, I have to go now..*RUNS to CBC*

Ahhh, ditto on the good Canadian bit. I'll sit through the commercials and feel all patriotic. Although, to be honest, I've also been watching them at the UK pace ;)

We get it a month before the US? Cool. I'm glad I checked in here before I posted open motivators from "Smith and Jones". We'll be getting Torchwood too, finally, I noticed! Huzzah for the CBC! I've heard it'll air at 9pm, but I missed the date it's starting. Anyone?

I should hope so, considering CBC is a co-producer!

As for Torchwood, it's listed in all the CBC Fall 2007 ads and promo materials, so I'm assuming it'll start in late August/early September (the Canadian networks generally get their stuff out before the main US networks do). Which will be...odd, as S3 will have finished before S1 of TW even starts.

I watched S1 and S2 on DVD, and acquired all of TW and S3 thru, erm, alternative means, so tonight was the first time I'd ever watched DW "live" with commercials and whatnot. I mean, I'll watch it every week because I CAN (even though I've already seen all the episodes ;) ), but DVDs have spoiled me. I did feel like a good Canadian, though! Sitting through CBC commercial breaks is sort of the television equivalent of eating brussel sprouts.

Now, one niggling thing from TRB that stuck out at me--in the bit where the Doctor and Donna are on the roof, you can CLEARLY see Canary Wharf and a bunch of other buildings that got blowed up real good in the background.

Which reminded me of my ONE continuity qualm with the season (and this isn't a spoiler, 'cause it only really shows up in TRB/S&J): decide how big the impact of the Battle of Canary Wharf was, and stick with it! In DD, Ten is all "so many people died that day", and well, the Cybermen/Dalek invasion looked incredibly horrible. But now people are like "That thing? Didn't notice it!" or "I heard the terrorists put something in the water and it was a hallucination!"

I mean, London obviousy suffers from extreme Sunnydale Syndrome in the Whoniverse, but come on!

Oh indeed, it just seems like they forget that every so often, but I guess they had to wait for the end of hockey. It is kind of a pain not to have an episode specific thread yet, but this is the price for being in advance of the US.



I agree, it's totally weird given the... *waves hand vaguely to indicate inference of a spoilery nature* ...you know. I'm hoping they don't edit Torchwood, but since it's on at 9pm on the CBC, they might. I've seen Torchwood thanks to a friend with a friend in the UK and if I get a working vehicle, I've got the standing opportunity to slam through season 3 in a single day up to UK pace, but I'm so thrilled that the CBC has them on I'll be watching and taping them regardless.



Well, I take that as a statement on the general mindset of humanity at the time. Most aren't willing to accept 'aliens' as an explanation, and denial and dissociation are powerful things. Even if it means disbelieving flying killer dustbins as being part of a mass hallucination or terrorist plot.

There's also the possiblity of things being stifled by the goverment or parts of the government, or interested other parties to avoid mass panic and flailing in the streets about the world coming to an end and alien invasions and such because the general population can't handle aliens. I say it happened, it was horrible, but it was meticulously cleaned up after and information regarding events has been suppressed to the point that unless a person had a direct connection to events, they only know what the media has been allowed to tell them.

Of course I'm probably not making any sense and completely wrong. I'm looking forward to taping TW so as to have reference material. September, eh?

I'm willing to bet that Torchwood won't be that edited, if it gets edited at all. Remember, here in Canada we show The Sopranos uncut at 10PM on CTV, and, well, Bravo and Showcase (though they may be on cable, they are just a hop and skip over from, say, Teletoon) basically show porn 24/7 ;)

Thank goodness for this thread.

I'm one of the few people who actually enjoys Canadian programming. I'm as pumped about the return of Little Mosque on the Prairie as the showing of Torchwood.

ON TOPIC: the thing I enjoyed the most about the first episode is how the three groups of aliens are alien in their personalities. The blunt and inflexable attitudes of the alien police. The quietly polite ruthless selfishness of the plasmavore. And the Doctor's quickness to face and deal with unpleasant truths. It's a goal of sci-fi to make something that thinks as well as a human but not the same as a human.

The new companion is someone I've fallen in love with. She's bright, curious and empathetic. The Doctor does the right thing but seems devoid of compassion. Rose was much more of a girl out on a lark. I'm looking forward to seeing her growth as she realizes that going with the Doctor is going to have negative as well as positive consequences. Choices always close off options.

I'm curious, what makes you say that? At most I'd say he's selective with his compassion. He certainly had a great deal of compassion for the New Humans last year in "New Earth", and for the folks at the Sanctuary Base in TIP/TSP.

Of course, when it comes to compassion Ten's no Five, but he's no Six either, who could be a right bastard, killing people and then cracking jokes about it. (Heck, even Five let the Master burn in Planet of Fire, despite his pleas for help.)

Well, I caught "Runaway Bride" at work last night (one of the few benefits of working nights at a hotel), and I gotta say, the Doctor dodged a bullet there. Sure, Donna turned out to be a moderately interesting character, but there's no way anyone could've standed a whole season with her. Okay, granted, she was upset about being snatched up at her wedding, but still, she was a right royal bitch pretty much from start to finish, and I can't really see her personality improving over time. Still, I could probably tolerate her for a guest appearance or two.

Heh, it debuts in the States in 2 weeks (July 6th). There are also two episodes that night, so US pace should only be a week off; which is good re: closeness of recaps, episode forums, etc.

I decided to give this another shot - I caught a few of the early episodes with Nine and Rose and it just didn't grab me. And then I spoiled myself for Season 2 and went that's all too shippy for me and gave it a miss. But it was on last night. There was nothing else. I don't do Idol or Dancing or whatever "reality" competition is on on any given evening. And I haven't really spoiled myself about this season.

Also - general old fart warning - I'm old enough to remember when TVO showed this on Saturdays and I started with Three and lasted through Four and most of Five. Wow the fx are a lot better now, but I prefer a mostly romance free show for all the characters.

This wasnt' bad - as Aunty Mib said - the aliens were alien. It's always better when there is a genuine disconnect between the thinking of the various companions, the Doctor and whatever the menace is. The plasmavore was particularly creepy in that old lady creepiness that the UK does so well. And it was nice to see Roy Marsden again.

Bottom Line - I'll give another go next week.

I couldn't wait for CBC, but I am glad they're now showing the episodes.

katherineO They might edit the word fuck. I'm not sure if that has to be edited before 10.

Between this and the Tudors it's going to be very interesting to see what happens with the CBC this fall

The Mad Maple It could have been worse he could have be with character Catherine Tate played when they did the comic relief special.

That's the other thing the actress is supposed to be a fairly well known comedienne in the UK so I'm sure her character was meant to be as well irritating as possible.

Just shows you how lonely the Doctor is, that he asked her to come with.

So say we all! ;)

Ooops mixing my fandoms there. But yeah, I think the combo of shouty Ten and shouty Donna for 13 episodes would have been almost unwatchable.

Mind you, I wouldn't mind seeing her again, just to see what she ended up doing with her life after he encounter with the Doctor. Did she really make a big change in her life, or will she just settle back down into old patterns once the dust settles?

In any case, I think I may have succeeded in creating some young Whovians. :) About 5-6 kids from my Grade 1 class watched Smith and Jones last night. And because report cards are done, (and they've been bugging me for months, ever since they saw the Doctor on the wallpaper of my laptop) I'm showing them the Christmas Invasion today. We had to take a little break at lunch time (we're just at the point where the Doctor challenges the Sycorax leader to a duel) but the whole class clapped and cheered when the Doctor finally stepped out of the TARDIS on the Firetrap.

Hey, I'm a Canadian on UK Pace. I actually enjoyed The Runaway Bride, but I thought S&J is the better episode.

Getting the episodes one month before the US is nothing to when we had the shows about ten days behind the UK S1 episodes. I know hockey is important, but I'm still miffed by the CBC we got S2 so late after the original UK eps. Those episodes were all introduced by CE as well. I was out of town all yesterday so I missed out on the rewatching of S&J. It'll be interesting to see how everyone reacts because this will be my first time in a subforum having seen things ahead of the recaps.

Aww, I like Little Mosque on the Prairie too.

Slightly cheeky for me to contribute here, since I'm in the UK and we're nearly at the end of the Series. However, as I only recently saw Smith & Jones, I agree that Martha was pretty good in it. She made the same first observation I would ("If we're on the moon, how can we breathe?" and the same second one "I don't think opening the doors would make any difference - the hospital can't be airtight," - why would it be?). It was only later that disillusionament set in.

I missed last night's episodes, but have been watching them UK pace. Let me just say to those who are trying to get back into DW from the classic series... the last few episodes that have aired in the UK have been EXCELLENT. I'm glad that I can watch them again and support the corp too.

Anyway, for those who have been watching at UK pace and saw last night's Christmas Bride and Smith and Jones... Did you notice any cuts? I don't think there were any last time I watched this live, but since we were jerked around for Series 2, I haven't bothered following the CBC episodes until now.

It's too bad Torchwood is so delayed, but I don't think that it will significantly impact the viewing of DW. OK, so I have seen those too, but they are geared for an adult audience and DW is for kids, so RTD is unlikely to have too much of a link between the series.

I am so thankful to see this thread. I am picking up the canadian broadcast here in WA and I saw that my tivo recorded it and I didn't want to watch it until I was sure it was the first episode of S3. and IT IS. I am so excited i want to skip on out of the office.

Yeah, I didn't really recognize the name, but I kind of got the impression that she was fairly well-know across the pond. (Kind of like when Stargate SGI did an episode featuring Canadian actor Patrick McKenna.)

I'm with you. No way I could stand her on a full-time basis, but I wouldn't mind seeing a guest-spot somewhere down the line.

I'm still ticked at CBC's scheduling department, too. Especially since in this time zone, they cut out the first fifteen minutes of the Season 2 premiere to make room for the end of a CFL game (which actually ended about 8:01, with five mintues of crap and nine minutes of commercials). Granted, it's not as fast as the first season, but at least we're not a month behind the States this time. And if my math is right, we just might get the Christmas special around Christmastime again. :)

(And I miss the intros, too. I think they stopped doing it when the network stopped having stars of their shows host the night's shows.)

I thought Catherine Tate was pretty good in The Runaway Bride too (even if that was 6 months ago!). Sure she acted kind of pissy, but she had been abducted on her wedding day, met an alien who persisted in waving things in her face and discovered that her husband to be had set her up (to be eaten? House the eggs of the Spider Queen? I forget). Plenty of brides manage to be stressed on their wedding day without any apparent alien involvement!

As an aside, can somebody tell a lowly non-Canadian why CBC commercials make you go patriotic all over?

I've only seen DW episodes with CJH in them...so S3 should be fun for me, as I'll be able to see Jack again... ;-)

I was quite happy to read that it was a 'plasmavore' who was this weeks baddie...because I was sure the Doctor and Martha were saying 'plasmavole'...and I'm thinking WTF? How scary can a vole be? My cats killed dozens. ;-)

I'm looking forward to chatting about S3 as it happens for us.

Any ads in particular? :) (It could be that Canada Day is in a few weeks, and advertisers are gearing up.)

If you google Catherine Tate and David Tennant, you will find an excellent clip that parodies and compliments the Runaway Bride. I didn't get the whole "bovvered" thing until I saw that.
(There is also one with Daniel Craig that is cute too).

Canary Wharf wasn't blown up. The room with the wall was way up at the top of the tower and it was clearly still there when the Doctor walked away all emo after the battle was over.

LOL, well, personally... it's cause they are usually kind of lame so it feels like you've performed a civic duty by watching them. :) (Except the beer commercials... Canadian beer commercials are special.) But a few cheesy ads are a small price to pay to actually get to watch "Doctor Who" on my tv for a change.

I loved watching "The Runaway Bride" last night. I really did like the interactions between Donna and The Doctor. I'd like to see her come back again some time but I don't think she'd make a good fulltime companion. But a little visit every now and then would be a fun callback sometime.

Speaking of Little Mosque, the Mosque barrier episode is being rerun tonight at 8:30. It was one of my favourites.

The creator of the series started out first with a documentary called "Me Against the Mosque" that dealt with the issue of barriers separating men and women in mosques.

*considers a cross-over fan fic where the Doctor visits Mercy*

*imagines what Fred might have to say about aliens on "Wake up People!"* :D

They are indeed. I. Am. Canadian.

Now, what was I watching earlier today that made me spit my coffee all over the room when the characters referred to themselves as Smith and Jones....

Hey soynutty, I'm from WA too! Living in the Toronto area, but raised in WA. What neck of the woods are you in (general area fine). I was in SW.

Hey, there's some new content on the CBC website already....Though why they would have their version of the Fear Factor appear after the episode airs, I don't quite know....

I like to say I still live in Seattle but really I am just south of it in Kent. When I lived in Detroit I made quite a few trips to Toronto, also a fine area.

Just to share:

Here are the original BBC webpages for The Runaway Bride and Smith and Jones. The site is UK pace, of course, so spoilery but the individual episode pages give you cool things like podcasts, wallpaper galleries, behind the scenes footage and trailers etc that are episode specific.

Oh, and the mini-TWoPers that are the Fear Forecasters are a definte must to read, too.

Thanks for the link! Those kids are hilarious. Dad was pretty funny too though, "summer vacation?"

This is going to be fun, watching the episodes before TWoP's recaps come up. Last season, didn't the CBC fall behind by almost a month at one point?


soynutty, I understand what you mean. Kent is a nice area too though. I lived nearby for a few months. Heck, I lived in every corner of the state, and then some, before I was five years old. We got moved around a lot by the BPA.

Well, quite a few of them are very cheesy and on low-profile time slots (i.e. midnight when TRB aired), you tend to see the same ones over and over and over and over again. On the whole, Canadian ads are actually pretty good, but CBC mostly airs the cheesiest most uber-Canadian ones. Or runs "FEEL THE CANADIAN LOVE, CANADA" ads for their in-house productions.

And I too love Little Mosque on the Prairie, so much better than fricking Corner Gas (why is it that the only 2 Canadian sitcoms that people actually, you know, WATCH are about Toronto ex-pats and culture clashes in small town Saskatchewan?)

On a more Whovian note, the GTA TWoPers need to make some kind of pilgrimage downtown where we hit up the Silver Snail for DW merch, then walk down the street to the CBC building to cajole them into airing the episodes closer to the UK.

I could go for this. When shall we set it up? Then again, right now I'm just happy that we aren't 10 days to three weeks behind the US.


Well, my two cents actually gives you options (and accept that these are from an "outsider"). 1) Culture clash is funny. 2) There is more to Canada than just Toronto, much to Toronto's surprise. 3) It makes people laugh to say Saskatchewan.

Well I think it has to do with the fact is most Canadians apparently hate Toronto, so they won't watch anything that takes place here, and Vancouver has been used as various US cities so much (even more than Toronto, that no one can see it as Vancouver.

Discussing Canadian TV...

I also like Rumours which is set in Montreal. I had thought Naked Josh was an OK drama then found out AFTER it had been cancelled that it was intended to be a comedy. Uh Guys, comedies are supposed to be funny. Even when the jokes fall flat you still have to make an effort to have jokes.

Back to Doctor Who...

While I like David Tennant I notice an extremely strong resemblance to another movie star.

Oh my, Aunty Mib, that is awesome!

Cruel Aunty Mib but ever so funny. :)

Which Rumours, the Quebec version, or the remake by Moses Znaimer? 'Cause I missed the remake but it's restarting on CBC, so I'm going to try and watch it, I thought the guy was kinda cute. Plus, Jennifer Dale as an results-oriented leader that'll set her subordinates against each other? I was so there for Once a Thief, I'll definitely have seconds.

Back to Who, Smith & Jones is still one of my favourites of this season, the Judoon are great antagonists, and I loved how the actress playing Ms. Finnegan talked about destroying the Earth with that edge of glee in her voice. Plus, straws are now creepy.

GTA TWoPers should come to the monthly DWIN Toronto Tavern. :) First Thursday of every month at the Paupers Pub at Bloor and Bathurst.

I've only been to one myself, but people were very nice. When I mentioned that I had never seen the TVM, I was immediately handed a copy. :)

Oooh, that's within walking distance of my apartment. I'll go to one if some other TWoPers go too! Or maybe I can get my Doctor Who obsessed friend who works for BBC America (and is thus loaded down with Who schwag all the time) to come too!

Three other Canadian shows I like/liked: The Eleventh Hour, Slings and Arrows, and Kenny vs Spenny. Erm, I support my home and native land!

KatherineO I can work with that. i fear being mocked because i've only seen new Who

Most old School fans are smart enough to realize that the best defense against another hiatus for the show is the growth of the fanbase and are therefore quite welcoming of New Who fans.

We all have to start somewhere. :)

I just read something on Space's Doctor Who thread that said Doctor Who's being preempted July 2 for the Under 20 World Cup Soccer.


*grumble*grumble*whine*

I suppose it's better than being pre-empted for Eurovision. :(

I've seen the schedule, and yup, we're being pre-empted for Congo vs. Austria on July 2.

On the plus side ::selfish note here::, I'll be driving back to TO from QC with my mom, aunt, and uncle, so now I don't have to worry about missing it. Still, it would have been nice to have to worry about missing it.


Sounds like a great excuse to ride the subway again to me. July 5, right?


AngleMan, we can sit together. I've only seen new Who too. This is, of course, assuming I can talk the trying man into it.

I believe so, keeptrying. But I notice the DWIN website hasn't been updated. Oh well, I suppose the worst that could happen is it turns into just a meeting of TWoPers. :)