GorunNova

What the hell was with 'micropetrol'! Petroleum is petroleum... unless, despite the name, micropetrol has nothing to do with petroleum. I mean, technically -gasoline- is micropetrol, as it typically has shorter hydrocarbon chains than raw rock oil... ::) Saying micropetrol is like saying microelectricity, or microwater. Anyways, it wasn't a terrible episode. I think that the alien itself had something to do with their actions, because it takes a little more than a half hour for people to degenerate into murderous savages (unless the alien was doing some mental manipulation - if it can dominate the Doctor like that, what chance do the humans have?) If that 'exotronic' light is as bloody damaging as they suggest, why wasn't the hostess flash fried when the door opened? Air seals != radiation seals. :/ The characters acted like on / off switches, toggling between normal and hysterically crazy / homicidal. >_<

Poor Mr. Utube... who would have thought that Viacom would have it in for a lowly Japanese grocery clerk? I mean, he doesn't even -own- a computer! /tongue in cheek. Seriously, though... the most they can really do to YouTube is get a few videos taken down. I seriously doubt Viacom will win this one unless the courts in the US are complete pawns. A large chunk of the clips are probably so short they'd probably be protected under non-profit free use. Besides, most YouTube clips are so ugly that only the desperate would use them as a substitute for the real thing. Even if they managed to get something to stick, it would probably only be some ruling that would have Google directly pass on information about the poster so that Viacom can hit the infringer directly. *sigh* Privacy and anonymity? Who needs that these days? ::)

My point was... it's hard to accept that carbon nanotubes are as dangerous as asbestos when the only study that says so involved injecting varying length quantities of the tubes directly into the test subjects abdomens. You sure as hell don't have to inject asbestos into peoples' abdomens to make them sick, and nanotubes are typically not implemented in forms where they'll become airborne very easily. Also, keep in mind that asbestos flakes into powder and becomes airborne with very little effort, but plastics reinforced with nanotubes do NOT.

Heh... keep in mind that in that study the nanotubes were injected into the mice... so far, tests involving inhalation of carbon nanotubes by mice shows a minor infection that disappears in a month or two (or so that article also states). i.e. it could be dangerous to inject those things directly into our lungs (through the chest, with a needle!), but who's going to do that? Yes, this requires more study... but in situations more realistic than just injecting stuff deep inside mice and waiting for bad things to happen. More extensive tests of inhalation would be a lot more useful than that direct injection study. -_-'

Sure, you're free... free to choose who gets to screw you over. I love how companies in the US pretend to fully support the capitalistic ideal of a free market, and work together behind everyone's backs to price fix and create effective monopolies. How can you 'choose with your dollar' when every single provider screws you over in exactly the same way to line their own pockets?

One explanation for the UNIT thing is that they might have become independent of the UN since the Third Doctor's days and thus took a new name... but of course, that's just conjecture. Of course, it could also be because the UN isn't exactly looked on by a lot of people as being at all effective these days... and may be a political comment on the part of the writers. ^^' As for the Sontaran height... well, given that they were supposed to have originated on a high gravity planet, their short, stocky size is understandable... as well as having a lot of strength. The height difference is more exaggerated in the new series, though... If I'm not mistaken, they were sometimes shorter and sometimes taller in the old one. ^^' The clone bit IS a highly efficient way to create a mass number of troops, and it's not as if they don't have individuality. They have their own names, personally adopted titles, voices, can tell each other apart, etc. etc. so it's obvious there is individuality there and that it's encouraged to some degree, if only to get some inter-Sontaran friendly competition going. "How do you tell each other apart?" "We say the same of humans." ... pretty much covers it, cliché as it is. The evil genius kid in this episode does seem rather slow... but people can be smart in some ways and idiotic in others. That's not exactly uncommon in real life, much less in fiction where those things normally get exaggerated. I liked this episode more than many of the others this season. The Sontarans were consistent at the very least, and that scores points with me. Can't wait to see the finale of this story. ^^ It'd be cool if they managed to work in the Rutans somehow, but something tells me a snowball has a better chance in hell than having THAT happen.

For the Troughton to Pertwee one, I think it DOES count. There are suggestions later in the series that the Time Lords made use of him for various dirty deeds before wiping his memory of it, tweaking his brain to forget time/space mechanics, and regenerate... so there's no telling how long he went in his second form. Even ignoring that, forcing a regeneration wouldn't be much of a punishment if it didn't count. ^^' Anyways, didn't Rassilon set the regeneration limit so as to try and prevent the stagnation that eventually happened anyways? (i.e. unlike the Sisterhood...) I wonder if Rassilon is even canon in the new series anymore? ^^' This wasn't so bad an episode. What is it about creatures with tentacle-mouths that associates them with brains? Brains all around! ^^ (Illithid for tea, anyone?) As for the Ood... the outer brain doesn't make all that much sense. On a harsh, winter planet, you'd think that evolving a mostly unprotected exterior brain would be a rather... unproductive adaption. "Oh, yeah! It's freezing and cold on this planet, so why don't we take something as vulnerable as brain tissue and externalize it so it gets exposed to all that harsh cold and wind! That's going to improve our survival rate, right?" Of course, that's scientific nitpicking. ^^'

Data dying? I'd say it was Brent Spiner NOT wanting to reprise the role ever again, period. Honestly... I can't think of a Star Trek movie I really liked. They all seemed more like cheesy spin-offs than actual Trek stories, with some far cheesier than others, and Nemesis was chock full of retcon. >_< 'Why didn't we ever hear about Remans before, despite often heavy discussion about Romulans and their home world throughout Trek? Umm....'

Heh... if Rose and Jack ever met. Jack: "You made me immortal, you IDIOT!" *chases after her with gun*

I'm amazed nobody mentioned the stupid 'I can't draw breath' thing from the end of this episode. The guy talks, which obviously requires being able to suck in and blow out air, and yet cannot do it to do mouth-to-mouth? -_-' Other than that bit of blatant brain damage, I did rather like this episode.

Thinking on this episode, wouldn't it be interesting if this meddling he did in saving that family ended up causing problems for the Doctor later on this season? "Next up: The Doctor vs. Roman Consul Aulus Hostilius Mancinus. Will Thessaly fall to uncovered Silurian technology, or can the Doctor avert disaster?" (yeah, right. ::) )

It started terribly, but overall it was a pretty good episode. They really have to mention something about what that 'Shadow Proclamation' is all about, given they've been mentioning it all through the new series. Who made it? What are the terms of it? Why is it so bloody binding for otherwise evil aliens? Sorry, but Tate's lines were generic companion-speak. You could insert ANY of the previous new series companions in there and they'd probably say mostly the same, probably word for word. Seriously, It sounded like they were still writing for previous companions. Gar... this episode had all the historical accuracy of a prehistoric diesel engine... but that's no surprise. Doctor Who has never been known for it's historical accuracy. ;)

I think that's why I'm a big fan of the Big Finish audios... they aren't.

Whee... tons of spoiler buttons showing the same spoiler. ^^ When this episode started, I felt... dread. Yeah, I prefer more serious Doctor Who epsiodes. I'm biased. I admit it. ^^' Why do we have these buttons when spoilers are standard operation in these threads, anyways? :/

COBOL, hands down. *checks calendar* Damn... three days off. ^^' Seriously, though... C++. I want to say Ruby or D, but the first is sometimes less than speedy and the second is... experimental.