The Faceless Ones episode 5 discussion:
H: So did everybody enjoy hearing Frazer Hines real voice this week? That would be Jamie.
P: Yes.
K: Weird.
E: He he.
R: They’ve switched him back to shop demonstration.
SG: How come he lost his accent but Polly didn’t?
H: Because Polly already had a posh accent.
SG: She still had the same voice but the others didn’t.
R: Apparently the aliens are all posh.
P: That makes sense when you watch a movie and it’s playing in Spain, and then the aliens will speak Spanish. The same here, when you’re in England they’ll speak Englandish.
H: Englandish?
P: From England. The accent they use in England.
K: British?
H: The BBC received pronunciation accent.
P: That.
SG: The English are still keeping the Scottish down.
H: Yeah, Crossland lost his accent the moment he became the Director.
K: It was alien accent.
Sp: So they wasted no time with the plot dump on this one, did they? “Oh crap, it’s episode five and we’ve only got one more to go! Quick, spill everything!” “Okay.”
E: I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that.
H: They kind of built up to it.
R: “Yes, we need to change shape, because now in our natural form we are too ugly to breed.”
Sp: They built up to it, but he caved awfully quick.
K: Yeah, I thought so too.
Sp: “Oh, no! They’re going to twiddle my knobs!”
H: You saw what happened when he twiddled Pinto’s knobs.
R: No, we didn’t.
H: There wasn’t a picture, but the dialog someone said that the fake Pinto’s body disappeared.
SG: It wasn’t just that it plot dumped. He totally became a traitor and was helping them out with all sorts of things.
K: He didn’t have to tell them that he could change forms again.
Sp: The Doctor found the switch on the armband for plot.
H: Once again, it’s almost as if these Chameleons are not malevolent at heart. The explanation in the episode that there was an explosion and they were all dying and needed originals to survive says a lot about their motivations.
Sp: So do all the freeze pens and ray guns. Stop trying to make the bad guys sympathetic, you hippy!
H: Hey, we have a really low body count in this story.
K: First guy died in the first 5 minutes!
H: Four people have died in the course of this story, one of whom was the fake nurse Pinto killed by the fake Meadows.
K: Bummer for the fake people. But Meadows is still, nevertheless, a traitor.
P: But he’s doing it because he knows if he doesn’t help he’ll be destroyed utterly.
H: Or at least he believes that.
MS: But either way he’ll be destroyed.
K: The Doctor doesn’t usually kill people.
H: Except when he does.
P: It’s like the prime directive in Star Trek. It’s abused occasionally.
R: We can’t violate the prime directive, except if we’re talking about it we’re probably going to.
SG: I think it was more the prime suggestion.
M: No, it was a prime. But then they took the derivative of it and it disappeared.
R: Meanwhile, in another fandom.
M: It’s all one big squabbling fandom.
<bad jokes are made>
Sp: For the love of god, say something about the episode.
R: I love the fact that right after Blade made the comment about humans being only as intelligent as animals on their planet we cut to the shot of Jamie crawling out of a hiding place going “ook ook.”
H: I actually interpreted that differently. Us seeing that Jamie is more intelligent than Blade thinks because he managed to hide. I think it’s the one they were going for.
R: Nonetheless the picture of Jamie has him going “ook ook.” I accept your version as the correct one, but was amused by the implication in the recon. And once again Office Assistant Jean totally rocks! “Stop that man!” Kicks chair. Kathump.
P: I was surprised to see the Inspector is the Director.
K: Well, the Inspector’s doppelganger is the Director.
P: The capture of Jamie after he saw the people who were reduced seem to be unnatural compared to the rest of the episode for me.
H: What do you mean by unnatural?
P: In previous times it was always the threat of death, they’re going to capture and kill somebody. And now they’ve swapped to capture and keep.
K: They’re already on the ship. He can’t escape and tell people their plan.
P: But even in this episode the ray-gun is used on the cop, and not capture him. It just seemed like a change of tactic. It stood out to me. I was also kind of alarmed to see the scene where the jet just pointed straight down into the atmosphere and I was thinking “3, 2, 1, wings rip off!”
K: It wasn’t a real jet though.
P: But they were still using real physics. Also, the Doctor and the nurse sure stuck to the role really fast, and I appreciated that scene.
K: I liked that scene too.
P: Also I think this is the first time that the enemy knows that the Doctor is a time traveler, thanks to Jamie.
H: Actually, a couple of other stories leap to mind.
P: That’s all my notes.
H: Okay. So, final thoughts?
MS: <he hides>
H: Do you have anything to say?
MS: <thumbs up>
H: Okay.
MS: I leave you now. <disappears behind the sofa>
E: I don’t really have much to say, although I did very much like this episode. Poor Jamie. I was rooting for him and then he went and got caught.
SG: I still that the Director is going to turn out to be Old Man Carruthers when they pull his mask off in the last episode.
Sp: And he would have gotten away with those fifty-thousand kids if it wasn’t for that meddling Doctor.
P: And that dog. Wait, not yet.
R: Yeah, don’t talk about Polly that way.
Sp: Why would we? She hasn’t been in three episodes.
K: Are Ben and Polly gone forever? <sad face>
P: No, they have a small part.
<groans>
M: There are no small parts, only small actors.
<applause>
M: Thank you thank you, my work is done here.
Sp: Well, we’re racing to a conclusion. The Doctor is his usual devious self. Lots of good strategy. The Commissar is still my favorite character.
H: The Commandant.
Sp: Ah huh. The action is falling. And so am I. <disappears behind sofa.>
K: The plane didn’t fall, however.
Sp: I leave you now.
H: Like father like son. Think about it, won’t you.
M: I think more like son like father.
MS: Yeah, he just copies me.
R: Getting my notes back up. “Thunderbirds are GOOOOOOO!”
Sp: I didn’t think Jamie’s acting was that wooden.
<general laughter>
R: I thought the animation of the spaceship was very cute, but also got across the quality level one would expect from that era. Also I was figuring that, when the finally find the missing originals, they will all have been hidden in the lost luggage office.
<general laughter>
R: And for my final, Final Thought. “Polly, then Ben, and now Jamie. I’ll never be able to form my Boy Band now!”
M: Polly? Am I missing something?
SG: See what happens when you don’t show up?
K: I really like Samantha.
H: She hardly had anything to do in this episode.
K: But she’s still cool and interesting.
MS: I think I know why those guys that were faceless were there take stuff from the seats. The teenagers were shrunk. So the shrunk teenagers were still in the seats. So they could just pick them up.
K: Nice catching up after missing last week, Mini-Spoo. Other thoughts? The Doctor’s teeth were unfortunate in some of those screen caps.
Sp: Yes.
K: Fun story. I am enjoying this one.
H: I also enjoy the story, obviously. I don’t have a lot to say this week.
R: Because what more need be said.
MS: Anybody who wants to say something say it now.
H: Thanks Mini-Spoo. I hope you guys will be here for next week. And the climax.
MS: So next week is the Daleks?
Sp: No, in two weeks.
MS: YES!!!
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