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January 12th, 2020 70 comments

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What Did You Think of Orphan 55?

Now that the third episode of series 12 has aired what did you think? Was it everything you had hoped for or not what you expected.

The Doctor and her friends discover that the luxury resort where they are holidaying is hiding a number of deadly secrets. What are the ferocious monsters attacking Tranquillity Spa?




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70 comments

  • Exterminator

    January 13th, 2020 - 11:41am

    Booboo, could you turn on the reply to comments feature for the ‘what did you think of the episode posts’ please? Part of the enjoyment of leaving a comment for me is reading any replies, plus I’d like to be able to leave a reply on other members comments.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • booboo

      January 13th, 2020 - 1:04pm

      @Exterminator, we took it away because a handful of people used every post to push their opinions, either way onto others and things got out of hand, we were very close this year to sticking with merchandise and just posting the mains news, i will ask Luke what he thinks.

    • Exterminator

      January 13th, 2020 - 10:16pm

      Thank you for putting replies on again Booboo and Luke, I understand this is subject to things staying civilised.

  • Tim M

    January 13th, 2020 - 10:03am

    ‘Orphan 55’ was still better than ‘ The Tsuranga Conundrum ‘ . Which is the worst Doctor Who story ever televised in my opinion. I’d rather watch ‘The Twin Dilemma’ than most of the Jodie Whitaker episodes.

    Reply
    • Pats86

      January 13th, 2020 - 8:07pm

      At this rate ‘The Twin Dilemma ‘ is going to be part of the ‘golden era’ of Doctor Who.

    • Tim M

      January 13th, 2020 - 11:47pm

      I’m looking forward to Doctor Who Magazine doing another poll on all the stories so far televised. I’m certain many of Jodie Whitaker’s would be in the bottom half of such a poll, and ‘The Twin Dilemma’ no longer in last place.

  • prototype dalek

    January 13th, 2020 - 9:44am

    The creatures remind of a cross between Alien and the creatures from The Time Machine 2002.

    Adding to that, the plot certainly reminded me of The Time Machine 2002, going to earth in the future, creatures killing the more humanoid residents, finding out it was earth by an old sign and the Dregs also end up being our future selves.

    Reply
    • Exterminator

      January 16th, 2020 - 11:19am

      At first I thought the monsters were the return of the Weevils from Torchwood as they look pretty similar with the way the teeth stick out and same shaped head.

      It would’ve been good to see the Weevils again.

      I agree, the “oh no it’s was Earth all along!” thing has been done to death, all that was missing was for them to find the Statue of Liberty half buried.

  • Jordan Scott

    January 13th, 2020 - 1:34am

    Opening two parter was a promising start. But that was abysmal, awful piece of television. What possessed them to being back the guy who wrote the frog in the chair episode? That was also terrible. Back to series 11 levels of bad I see.. Shame really

    Reply
  • Doctor Mysterio

    January 13th, 2020 - 12:26am

    I’ve just sat through this episode and I have to say it has undone all of the good will that has been afforded to series 12 by the opening two parter.
    It was a complete disappointment and so poorly written that I’m left wondering whether the writer has ever even watched Doctor Who before? (If they did it was probably around the time of Time Flight back in the eighties.) But that wasn’t my only concern. Did no script editor get a chance to look at this prior to filming? Was the editor harbouring some sort of grudge against the production team? Where exactly was Chris Chibnall on this. Had he teleported off on holiday?
    It was rushed, preachy, non sensical, poorly scripted, irratically directed, scored badly, very poorly edited… Was there a mix of directors on this episode? It was just all over the place.
    It wasted a great location, a good cast and even what should have been an effective monster.
    And the brilliant James Buckley must have seen how Lenny Henry was treated in the last story and now feel very short changed (especially so soon after that live special!) and as for the rest of the cast you again end up wondering why we still need three companions. I’d enjoy it more if Graham and the Doctor dropped the kids of at home and went on without them.
    Spoliers now: The ‘big reveal’ that it was Earth all along was a complete surprise to no one, and the message at the end was not anywhere near as effective as a floating carrier bag on the Blue Planet yet they felt the need to ram that message home where absolutely no message was needed.
    You have to scratch your head really at why the beeb are trying to kill of their cash cow.
    There was some good news though – for Colin Baker, of all people. This was the worst episode since The Rings Of Akhatem, so for that reason, The Twin Dilema is now two places off the bottom rather than one.

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      January 13th, 2020 - 9:31pm

      All the episodes are scored badly. The music is the same. It’s just the same tune. Segun Akinola really isnt a good composer. Bring back Murray Gold. Iconic pieces of music. The only memorable tracks this year are 13’s theme, Spyfall had some better music, and the theme for the Daleks, which was just so bland, basic and boring as. I do wonder why he was chosen by Chibnall…

  • Gordon

    January 13th, 2020 - 12:11am

    Well i didn’t hate ep 3. It just felt a whole hodgepodge of ideas blended together all of which I’d seen done better in the classic series. Also could have been done with an extra 15 minutes to give time for everything to breathe. Not a problem with the end speech itself but I felt it was a little tacked on. People say the speech was preachy but looking at the classic era the doctor especially pertwee was just as preachy. Also I never want to hear the name BENNI ever again! On the plus side Ryan finally got something interesting to do. The monster was fine and actually scary. Given it an average but might change my mind on a rewatch

    Reply
  • Savo79

    January 12th, 2020 - 11:35pm

    I don’t understand how a flagship BBC programme that generates licenses and sales all over the world is getting scripts this bad. Where are the science fiction writers? How about just competent writers. Sunbeds, really. I’d still like to see an environmental episode with the autons and a world choking on plastic. I always thought any doctor who was better than none but I’m no longer sure. Only positive I could see was less use of the magic wand, I mean sonic wand. Maybe big finish could send over some scripts.

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      January 13th, 2020 - 9:35pm

      And it’s so popular. People are dying to work on this show but they can’t. There’s so much talent out there which hasn’t been discovered yet because it’s a hard industry to get into. It’s a shame that people have got in charge of the show and running it how they want, into the ground, pushing their political agenda in everyone’s faces and lecturing and condescending us. Why are Been letting them get away with it? Because it meets the agenda too. Impartiality much.

  • The Living Shadow

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:57pm

    Dreadful. I am in disbelief. I was so delighted when I heard rumours about a Global Warming episode. So much opportunity to make something really poignant and profound. I am lost for words.

    Jodie and Brad were fab, Tosin and but it felt like all the actors were told to speak really fast. Am I going mad? I couldn’t understand. Itwaslikethescriptwaswrittenwithnospaces,sothelinedeliverywasverycondensed!

    The old woman and Bella were terrible, detestable and annoying. The monsters made me worried about the budget because of how stilted their movements were. I could go on. I feel like this won’t be my last comment on this episode as I am sure to have horrible flashbacks of some of the other abhorrent things in the episode.

    I need to rewatch the previous 2 episodes so I can still feel positive about this series. At least I enjoyed 2/3 episodes so far this series! And I really enjoyed Ed Hime’s last contribution to Doctor Who (‘It Takes You Away’)!

    Reply
  • The Prydonian

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:39pm

    Oh god. I can’t even be bothered to explain why I thought it was poor. Many have touched on why it was. What happened to building mystery and tension ? Pretty dreadful as JW is just terrible

    Reply
    • The Moffat Paradox

      January 15th, 2020 - 4:28pm

      And Doctor Freedom on YouTube will defend just about anything.under the current regime.

  • Obsie

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:36pm

    Precisely what this episode had, the Dregs. Scraped from what may have almost been a story back in the 80’s when the show was already heading towards cancellation. The “monster of the week” seemed to be a relation of the Magma Beast from “Caves of Androzani”. Also, left over furs from the film version of “Cats” don’t help making a character plausible, along with other characters who sport green hair. Overall deeply disappointed, if the show goes on much more like this, then I will be watching through my fingers but not in a good way.

    Reply
  • R1ch1e

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:35pm

    It was great, if a little preachy. But I dont let that kind if thing get to me. I really enjoyed it

    Reply
  • RORY DOCTOR RIVER POND

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:30pm

    I thought it was alright, but the whole mother daughter subplot was so random and not actually necessary. The whole ‘this is what will happen’ I feel like was fine, but this has been done a lot before and we had a similar warning last week. They tried to cram a lot in again, much like Chibnall last week but I think they just got away with it. I do think this was probably better than a lot of Series 11, even though I still think the three companions are very dull… they don’t really do much just like last week.

    Reply
  • Time Maker

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:30pm

    My Top 5 favourite Parts of Orphan 55

    * I felt The Doctor was far more in control of the situation, knowing what to do and ready to face the challenges and save as many lives as possible. and showed some more of the timelords unique mind tampering powers. and her explanation of the virus while it affected Ryan in the same way was hilarious.

    * Design of the Dregs was beautifully grotesque the props team have really hit the nail on the head with these ones!

    * The reveal that Orphan 55 is actually Earth and The Dregs are mutated humans was both a surprise and a worrying possibility as something similar could well happen if global warming isn’t tackled.

    * The Design of Hyph3n with a 3 was quirky and cute, hope we learn more about her species in the future.

    * I felt The Doctor had some of the best lines in this Episode such as “If I had crayons and half a can of Spam I could build you from scratch.” and she makes a good point, people are capable of great things if we put our minds to it. too many people just sit back and do nothing to help and if it keeps going on the world will one day end up as a wasteland.

    The flaws in this episode was there were too many characters with their own problems that had not enough time to properly explore The old couple and their late marriage, The bomb loving girl and her trigger happy mother and the dim father and his clever son. If the episode was in two parts it would have given more time to flesh out their own character reasons.

    Reply
  • Doctor Stu

    January 12th, 2020 - 10:11pm

    The monsters looked good but that was it tbh. The rest was like some series 1 Sarah Jane adventure episode but with a cringely delivered preachy message and Jodie’s trademark over enunciation of every word. Yikes that was poor, shame I thought we were getting off to a good start

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    January 12th, 2020 - 9:52pm

    If we had not sat through last seasons party political broadcast for the liberal elite party, then this would have been bearable.

    It’s a story that’s been done time and time again by sci-fi writers. DW just swapped the Cold War for Climate Change.

    Still loving 13 and Graham. Still not convinced on the acting abilities of the other 2 companions.

    Reply
  • Mick C

    January 12th, 2020 - 9:51pm

    Terrible and I can’t agree at all with the comments about how good the Monsters where, reminds me of Monsters from the 60-70s Dr Who. Stilted slow moving Monsters that were about as scary as new born Puppies. The only effect used to try and scare people is a close up of their Head, typical old school Sci Fi which stoped impressing me by the early 80s, i have come to expect far better in 2020. Barf’s offspring certainly gave me a laugh though.
    Goes totally against Canon, how do you end up with the Doctor not knowing about Earths ecosystems falling apart like this.
    The writing was absolutely dreadful, first time i did not like Graeme’s. Character and the first time ever on Dr Who the companions seemed blasé about people and think, thank Heavens that person sacrificed themselves so that i could live and not really care about people dying
    By a large margin the worst rankings i have seen on this sites viewer poll which even in season 11 was still in the 60-70% range for likes. Just 36% likes, 30% dislikes and the remainder on the fence.
    0.5/10 and thats being nice.

    Reply
  • Judooning

    January 12th, 2020 - 9:44pm

    I really want a Dreg as a figurine or 5″ action figure for sure! What a design!
    I like to think of them being related to the Hoix from series 2. A sort of natural human mutation.
    Genuinely scary

    Reply
  • Simon W

    January 12th, 2020 - 9:43pm

    Just got the BBC’s questionnaire on this episode and they put on the page how u rate the characters 2 from next weeks story – Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. so funny they are getting the questionnaire wrong now. Lol. I thought it was a good story how the Earth would look like if we don’t change our ways.

    Reply
  • The Ergon

    January 12th, 2020 - 9:03pm

    The dog woman reminded me of John Candy in Spaceballs.

    Reply
    • Simon W

      January 14th, 2020 - 9:03pm

      John Candy’s character was called Barf. as well had a cameo from John Hurt’s character Kane from the Alien film.

  • Tim M

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:56pm

    I’m surprised Chibnall didn’t ask Greta Thunberg for a cameo appearance in Orphan 55.

    Reply
  • Dalek Eye Stalk

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:51pm

    Average at best. Orphan 55 had good monster effects but the acting was mixed, and the dialogue poor. All that preachy stuff from the Doctor at the end was excruciatingly tacky. This is a show now talking down to it’s audience. Where’s my Benny..

    Reply
  • The Temporal Jelly Baby

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:36pm

    Let’s start with the positives.

    There’s some fantastic set design in this episode, and the Dregs are brilliantly realised. There are also some fairly tense moments throughout, and the landscape shots all look very good from an aesthetics perspective. However…

    The fundamental flaw here is that Ed Hime was trying to fit in way too much material for one 50 minutes long episode. It should have been done in 2 parts. He tried to juggle the little subplots with the other characters, yet barely caught a single ball. As a result, it all felt shallow, incomplete and just ‘meh’.

    I disagree with the ‘PC agenda’ criticism though (since when is caring for the planet too politically correct anyway?). I actually thought that was one of the redeeming features of the episode, and Jodie’s monologue at the end is pretty good in my opinion. The problem is, the message is attached to a weak story (for the above reasons) which undermines the impact it should’ve had.

    Overall, underwhelming. Ed Hime’s series 11 story is definitely better. I give ‘Orphan 55’ a score of 5.1/10.

    Reply
  • Trenzalore

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:19pm

    While I found the look of the episode and monsters great, it all felt a little shallow for me. For example certain aspects felt very forced as if to liven it up like the earth reveal, the old couple and the daughter-mum thing all of which didn’t make me feel anything and I must say I rolled my eyes when I saw the writing cos I guessed what was coming. Furthermore it felt a tad preachy and in-your-face with the global warming thing which isn’t likely to persuade those who need persuading and who the message was aimed at. Finally it just felt very basic, as do a lot of these ‘filler’ episodes that can be found in any doctor who series and by series 12 I can just tell when its gonna be one of those episodes and this was one, what could be going wrong is the writers think more action will liven it up but I feel better dialogue is the way to go, dialogue that would allow the actors to act and for better drama because currently the best dialogue is usually a monologue by the doctor near the end and thats getting a little old for me now. But it was fine production wise so I’d give 5/10.

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:09pm

    Ah the human race. The biggest monster of all

    Reply
  • Rikki Krystal

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:08pm

    Bbc pc agenda again,
    can we go back to just sci-fi
    sick of being preached by bbc

    Reply
  • Andy R

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:08pm

    I was looking forward to this episode.. good location.. interesting cast.. new monster. But it was a jumble of plots and felt like they kept running out of ideas. It got very preachy and not in a subtle way either. The plot twists made little sense and just padded out the run time. Didn’t care who lived or died and Ryan’s gf started out realistic but went one dimensional. As my brother sadly put it -Awful 55

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:08pm

    Sorry I found it average with some poor acting

    Reply
  • When The Doctor Was Me

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:03pm

    It was never going to be as big and crazy as last weeks. But this just felt incredibly average, with a bit of a preach at the end. The way it cut off The Doctor for the Dregs roar was a strange way to end it to. Hmm nothing great but equally nothing horrendous.

    5/10

    Looking forward to next weeks.

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:03pm

    Anyone notice the 4 beeps on the doctor oxygen tank in the same rhythm relating to the master? Then it went to a different rhythm. Episode was really good I thought

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    January 12th, 2020 - 8:00pm

    Brilliant. One of the best who episodes. And what a monster!

    Reply

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