Belated reaction post
Apr. 30th, 2013 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoftBig Finish (non-spoilery, as always):
The Mutant Phase: For a Dalek story, this isn't actually so bad; it attempts to do something a little bit different, introducing an even greater threat than the Daleks that avoids playing the COSMIC POWER!1 card. Unfortunately, it all kind of runs out in the sand when nothing interesting is made of the characters and a timey-wimey plot is introduced (which makes so little sense Five and Nyssa have to lampshade it, ffs).
Sword of Orion: It is... a Cybermen story. It is a Cybermen story where the Cybermen are actually inconsequential, the majority of the characters are unsympathetic, and it just drags on for way too long with very little meat on its bones. The first part has Eight and Charley in an alien market, which is a bit fun, but after that it goes downhill pretty fast. Also it has a recurring theme that gets old quickly.
Charley is also pretty fucking liberal for someone who grew up in the 20s/30s, because god forbid we have any actual interesting character development, right?
Nekromanteia: I feel like this actually had some interesting concepts going for it and could've been a decent story, but there's something that keeps it back. Perhaps it's because I get the feeling they were trying too hard to be dark and gritty; even if you ignore the deeply unsympathetic minor characters, there's violence, cannibalism, attempted rape and Peri being drugged, stripped and prepared for sacrifice (and the majority of the characters subjected to this are female, which leaves a bitter taste). Also, the cast is separated for most of the story, which takes some of the enjoyment of character interaction out of it.
The Dark Flame: The basic plot of this is super-generic and not much to write home about. But it has Seven, Ace and Benny, and banter, and sometimes characterisation wins out over plot; in this case, I enjoyed it.
Creatures of Beauty: I liked this. I'm not sure if I was expecting anything else, but I did enjoy it. The set-up is rather different; stories where the Doctor and companions are primarily observers are rare, and the conclusion to the conflict is interesting. The fact that it's not set in chronological order is a bit confusing, though, and it has a twist ending that I can understand if people actually hate (I'm a bit surprised I don't, tbh, because usually I don't go in for that kind of endings).
The Axis of Insanity: A bit surprised I found this as enjoyable as I did, tbh; maybe I'm just a sucker for the Alice in Wonderland pastiche. But the plot is okay, Peri and Erimem are in shape (better shape than in Nekromanteia at least) and the villain certainly has a lot of personality (for better or worse; I personally didn't mind, but others might). It's only about 85 minutes long, too, so it doesn't drag. Pretty solid fun.
Also, Five gets a speech about the Time Lords at the end that actually paints them in a positive light, which is interesting in its novelty.
LIVE-34: I have a weakness for stories that push the boundaries of their respective medium, so this sits right with me; it's written completely as news broadcasts, quite effectively setting up an isolationist totalitarian society that our heroes are trying to overthrow, but told from an outside perspective. It does take away one of the most important aspects of any story, that is: the character interaction. But I think it's a testament to how well-written it is that it works anyway (and seeing how the characters relate to events and situations from the outside is interesting in its own way). The conclusion feels a bit like an anti-climax, but that might be unfair.
And this week's episode (spoilery, as always):
The title of the episode makes me disappointed we didn't get any PREHISTORIC WONDERLANDS in there (not really). We did get to see the pool, though (it has clearly evolved since the days when Leela splashed around in it).
Visually, this episode has a lot of things going for it, but... that's pretty much the only thing it has going for it.
Idk, maybe it's because everyone has their own idea of how amazing the TARDIS can be, but I was expecting something that was actually a bit different, a bit magic and less "running around in corridors chased by the monster of the week". I have a HUGE THING about haunted house-stories, and perhaps I was unfairly expecting it to be more like that; something more quiet and introspective.
(See: the house as a template for a person's inner life and the threat a manifestation of fear, insecurity, personal issues; secrets go well with ghosts in the attic).
The thing is, you could literally have a story about the Doctor and the companion getting lost in the TARDIS and that could be interesting - a proper bottle episode, rather than lots of explosions and corridors. It doesn't help that the minor characters of the week are completely inconsequential; not only could a decent plot function without them, but they add nothing either. They have no voices, there's no character depth and the emotional aspect of their interaction is a joke. Like I said last week: if you can't be arsed to write proper minor characters, at least you could do us a favour and refrain from trying to give them more screentime/unnecessary subplots than they're worth.
Why is the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS? Did the Doctor get tired of stopping off in Cardiff and make a new one himself? If so, how? WHAT IS CONTINUITY? (Answer: Doctor Who has none).
I have a lot of Thoughts concerning this entire "name of the Doctor" business that I should really write down some day, but the gist of it is that I think it's rubbish, for a variety of reasons. BUT if you're going to make it out to be this epic important ~*secret*~, why... is it written in a book? Well, okay, the Time Lords might have known it, whatev. But why is that book CONSPICUOUSLY ON DISPLAY IN THE TARDIS LIBRARY? Also, I thought it was established in A Good Man Goes to War that the TARDIS doesn't translate Gallifreyan...
(Maybe it doesn't say his name? I can't remember what Clara says in the actual episode now, but some of the fan speculation on the season finale I've seen pose that maybe we won't actually find out the Doctor's name, but the reason he calls himself the Doctor, which-- this could still be terrible, but sounds more reasonable than the former.)
And anything interesting our protagonists might've learnt from this is conveniently undone at the end. Wow.
TL;DR go watch The Edge of Destruction instead if you want a TARDIS bottle episode.
Next week has... more Mark Gatiss. But! It also has Madame Vastra and Jenny and Strax, so I'm looking forward to it.
Also, it's the 30th of April today, which means a timely re-watch of The Daemons is due! But probably tomorrow.
The Mutant Phase: For a Dalek story, this isn't actually so bad; it attempts to do something a little bit different, introducing an even greater threat than the Daleks that avoids playing the COSMIC POWER!1 card. Unfortunately, it all kind of runs out in the sand when nothing interesting is made of the characters and a timey-wimey plot is introduced (which makes so little sense Five and Nyssa have to lampshade it, ffs).
Sword of Orion: It is... a Cybermen story. It is a Cybermen story where the Cybermen are actually inconsequential, the majority of the characters are unsympathetic, and it just drags on for way too long with very little meat on its bones. The first part has Eight and Charley in an alien market, which is a bit fun, but after that it goes downhill pretty fast. Also it has a recurring theme that gets old quickly.
Charley is also pretty fucking liberal for someone who grew up in the 20s/30s, because god forbid we have any actual interesting character development, right?
Nekromanteia: I feel like this actually had some interesting concepts going for it and could've been a decent story, but there's something that keeps it back. Perhaps it's because I get the feeling they were trying too hard to be dark and gritty; even if you ignore the deeply unsympathetic minor characters, there's violence, cannibalism, attempted rape and Peri being drugged, stripped and prepared for sacrifice (and the majority of the characters subjected to this are female, which leaves a bitter taste). Also, the cast is separated for most of the story, which takes some of the enjoyment of character interaction out of it.
The Dark Flame: The basic plot of this is super-generic and not much to write home about. But it has Seven, Ace and Benny, and banter, and sometimes characterisation wins out over plot; in this case, I enjoyed it.
Creatures of Beauty: I liked this. I'm not sure if I was expecting anything else, but I did enjoy it. The set-up is rather different; stories where the Doctor and companions are primarily observers are rare, and the conclusion to the conflict is interesting. The fact that it's not set in chronological order is a bit confusing, though, and it has a twist ending that I can understand if people actually hate (I'm a bit surprised I don't, tbh, because usually I don't go in for that kind of endings).
The Axis of Insanity: A bit surprised I found this as enjoyable as I did, tbh; maybe I'm just a sucker for the Alice in Wonderland pastiche. But the plot is okay, Peri and Erimem are in shape (better shape than in Nekromanteia at least) and the villain certainly has a lot of personality (for better or worse; I personally didn't mind, but others might). It's only about 85 minutes long, too, so it doesn't drag. Pretty solid fun.
Also, Five gets a speech about the Time Lords at the end that actually paints them in a positive light, which is interesting in its novelty.
LIVE-34: I have a weakness for stories that push the boundaries of their respective medium, so this sits right with me; it's written completely as news broadcasts, quite effectively setting up an isolationist totalitarian society that our heroes are trying to overthrow, but told from an outside perspective. It does take away one of the most important aspects of any story, that is: the character interaction. But I think it's a testament to how well-written it is that it works anyway (and seeing how the characters relate to events and situations from the outside is interesting in its own way). The conclusion feels a bit like an anti-climax, but that might be unfair.
And this week's episode (spoilery, as always):
The title of the episode makes me disappointed we didn't get any PREHISTORIC WONDERLANDS in there (not really). We did get to see the pool, though (it has clearly evolved since the days when Leela splashed around in it).
Visually, this episode has a lot of things going for it, but... that's pretty much the only thing it has going for it.
Idk, maybe it's because everyone has their own idea of how amazing the TARDIS can be, but I was expecting something that was actually a bit different, a bit magic and less "running around in corridors chased by the monster of the week". I have a HUGE THING about haunted house-stories, and perhaps I was unfairly expecting it to be more like that; something more quiet and introspective.
(See: the house as a template for a person's inner life and the threat a manifestation of fear, insecurity, personal issues; secrets go well with ghosts in the attic).
The thing is, you could literally have a story about the Doctor and the companion getting lost in the TARDIS and that could be interesting - a proper bottle episode, rather than lots of explosions and corridors. It doesn't help that the minor characters of the week are completely inconsequential; not only could a decent plot function without them, but they add nothing either. They have no voices, there's no character depth and the emotional aspect of their interaction is a joke. Like I said last week: if you can't be arsed to write proper minor characters, at least you could do us a favour and refrain from trying to give them more screentime/unnecessary subplots than they're worth.
Why is the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS? Did the Doctor get tired of stopping off in Cardiff and make a new one himself? If so, how? WHAT IS CONTINUITY? (Answer: Doctor Who has none).
I have a lot of Thoughts concerning this entire "name of the Doctor" business that I should really write down some day, but the gist of it is that I think it's rubbish, for a variety of reasons. BUT if you're going to make it out to be this epic important ~*secret*~, why... is it written in a book? Well, okay, the Time Lords might have known it, whatev. But why is that book CONSPICUOUSLY ON DISPLAY IN THE TARDIS LIBRARY? Also, I thought it was established in A Good Man Goes to War that the TARDIS doesn't translate Gallifreyan...
(Maybe it doesn't say his name? I can't remember what Clara says in the actual episode now, but some of the fan speculation on the season finale I've seen pose that maybe we won't actually find out the Doctor's name, but the reason he calls himself the Doctor, which-- this could still be terrible, but sounds more reasonable than the former.)
And anything interesting our protagonists might've learnt from this is conveniently undone at the end. Wow.
TL;DR go watch The Edge of Destruction instead if you want a TARDIS bottle episode.
Next week has... more Mark Gatiss. But! It also has Madame Vastra and Jenny and Strax, so I'm looking forward to it.
Also, it's the 30th of April today, which means a timely re-watch of The Daemons is due! But probably tomorrow.
