Weekly Who Round-up
May. 5th, 2013 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoftSo I think I inadvertedly have ended up as a columnist for a Tumblr blog that aims to examine Doctor Who from a feminist perspective? What can I say, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And possibly a good thing, that, since I'm apparently the only one who applied who was interested in writing for the classic series (oh Tumblr).
I already have some ideas for what to write, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to give them.
Now, for the weekly Who round-up:
The Roof of the World: Ah, the Five, Peri & Erimem audios. Also known as "ONE TIME LORD'S QUEST TO PLAY A GAME OF CRICKET WITHOUT THE END OF THE WORLD LOOMING OVER HIS HEAD". It's not much to hang in the Christmas tree; there are Eldritch abominations from the dawn of time and a stereotypically colonial general and... stuff. And pyramids in the Himalayas (I'm not even going to touch that with a ten-foot pole).
Medicinal Purposes: I, eugh. No. Please. This is one of few audios I've actually sat through and actively wished for it to end. It's way too long, awkwardly ableist at points and tries and fails to pull off some pseudo-moralistic bullshit about the relativity of evil that I'm not comfortable with the Doctor talking about. Which is a bit funny, considering Five said something almost opposite and equally terrible in aforementioned audio ("evil isn't a state of mind" - well it certainly isn't a force of nature either, dear).
Faith Stealer: WHOOPS BE PRAISED. I feel like this is the first Divergent audio I've honestly enjoyed; Scherzo and The Natural History of Fear are both great audios, wonderfully composed, but they're also pretty dark and serious while this was just... nice. It has an interesting setting, nice side characters and more humour than former audios; even the occasional moment of slapstick. Eight, Charley and C'rizz actually feel like friends, rather than people who travel together and have awful things happening to them. It doesn't do much with the theme of faith, but it doesn't really need to tbh; it's there to be enjoyed.
The Last: I'm not sure how to feel about this audio. On one hand, it's rather well-paced, long without feeling padded, it has a post-apocalyptic landscape and a mystery and... an ending I don't care much for at all. It felt like they wanted to say something that sounded deep, but it just didn't make much sense. Still, it's not the worst by far.
Fewer main range audios this week, as I've also been listening to the second season of Jago & Litefoot and The Last Post. Which, I would write more about if I had something substantial to say... except that The Last Post is full of Liz, and continuity references, and Three apparently keeping a schedule on when he can sneak in and steal lab equipment from UNIT, and all kinds of things I love. Basically: this audio was made for me and I screeched in delight when it was over.
There are trappings of an AWESOME episode in this, and I really did enjoy it, but it also felt... flat in some ways.
It's not the plot itself-- it's stellar enough, it's just that... it feels too slick, things fall into place too neatly. There's only 45 minutes to work with and it shows, lots of things that could've been further explored weren't; the religious-bordering-on-cult-ish theme (Doctor Who continues the grand tradition of hating religion, with few exceptions), the villain's obsession with physical perfection and how she connects it with spiritual purity/worthiness (and the supermodel minions that obey her)... as soon as Jenny finds the Doctor, the "mystery" bit is practically over and all they need to do is collect Clara and stop the villain of the week.
Basically, I feel like despite its strong parts, the collected whole is slightly underwhelming. And it does have strong parts! Vastra, Jenny and Strax are wonderful and hilarious-- I find them heaps more interesting than Clara, or even the Doctor at this point, I'm sorry to say.
For the first time in quite a while, we're also presented with three-dimensional one-off characters; Ada and her relationship with her mother is rightfully compelling as well as repelling, but they're also interesting characters in their own right (even though Mrs. Gillyflower is not as well realised as her daughter). There are distinct overtones of abuse, and the fact that Ada rejects her mother's emotional manipulation pleased me. Good going there, Gatiss.
(Meanwhile, her attachment to the Doctor is super-creepy in a way that's never really questioned, but you can't win them all.)
I didn't get the TomTom joke. In my defense, I am not British.
Apparently kissing people is a thing Eleven does now? Which is as it is, I suppose. I do like that Jenny got to slap him, because even if it's not a sexual thing kissing people without their consent is an iffy thing to do and the narrative should acknowledge that. The Doctor might not think anything of it, but humans (and especially women) might very well not be comfortable with having a Time Lord forcing himself upon them.
The ending is... weird. I appreciate that we get more of an insight in Clara's personal relationships, but it would've been nice if we'd seen any more of these two since The Bells of St. John in order to establish some sort of connection with them (also: what kind of children goes digging through archives on Victorian London, 70s paranormal experiments, and Soviet submarines? Who the hell even TOOK the photo on that submarine? Stupid, stupid. Let's not even talk about the likelihood of their father believing them if they told him their nanny was a time traveller).
TL;DR good, but not as good as it could have been. The decision to remove two-parters for this series is very strange, and I definitely think it suffers because of it.
Next week: Neil Gaiman! Writes Cybermen! Which means that we'll possibly get the first decent Cybermen episode in the new series...
I already have some ideas for what to write, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to give them.
Now, for the weekly Who round-up:
The Roof of the World: Ah, the Five, Peri & Erimem audios. Also known as "ONE TIME LORD'S QUEST TO PLAY A GAME OF CRICKET WITHOUT THE END OF THE WORLD LOOMING OVER HIS HEAD". It's not much to hang in the Christmas tree; there are Eldritch abominations from the dawn of time and a stereotypically colonial general and... stuff. And pyramids in the Himalayas (I'm not even going to touch that with a ten-foot pole).
Medicinal Purposes: I, eugh. No. Please. This is one of few audios I've actually sat through and actively wished for it to end. It's way too long, awkwardly ableist at points and tries and fails to pull off some pseudo-moralistic bullshit about the relativity of evil that I'm not comfortable with the Doctor talking about. Which is a bit funny, considering Five said something almost opposite and equally terrible in aforementioned audio ("evil isn't a state of mind" - well it certainly isn't a force of nature either, dear).
Faith Stealer: WHOOPS BE PRAISED. I feel like this is the first Divergent audio I've honestly enjoyed; Scherzo and The Natural History of Fear are both great audios, wonderfully composed, but they're also pretty dark and serious while this was just... nice. It has an interesting setting, nice side characters and more humour than former audios; even the occasional moment of slapstick. Eight, Charley and C'rizz actually feel like friends, rather than people who travel together and have awful things happening to them. It doesn't do much with the theme of faith, but it doesn't really need to tbh; it's there to be enjoyed.
The Last: I'm not sure how to feel about this audio. On one hand, it's rather well-paced, long without feeling padded, it has a post-apocalyptic landscape and a mystery and... an ending I don't care much for at all. It felt like they wanted to say something that sounded deep, but it just didn't make much sense. Still, it's not the worst by far.
Fewer main range audios this week, as I've also been listening to the second season of Jago & Litefoot and The Last Post. Which, I would write more about if I had something substantial to say... except that The Last Post is full of Liz, and continuity references, and Three apparently keeping a schedule on when he can sneak in and steal lab equipment from UNIT, and all kinds of things I love. Basically: this audio was made for me and I screeched in delight when it was over.
There are trappings of an AWESOME episode in this, and I really did enjoy it, but it also felt... flat in some ways.
It's not the plot itself-- it's stellar enough, it's just that... it feels too slick, things fall into place too neatly. There's only 45 minutes to work with and it shows, lots of things that could've been further explored weren't; the religious-bordering-on-cult-ish theme (Doctor Who continues the grand tradition of hating religion, with few exceptions), the villain's obsession with physical perfection and how she connects it with spiritual purity/worthiness (and the supermodel minions that obey her)... as soon as Jenny finds the Doctor, the "mystery" bit is practically over and all they need to do is collect Clara and stop the villain of the week.
Basically, I feel like despite its strong parts, the collected whole is slightly underwhelming. And it does have strong parts! Vastra, Jenny and Strax are wonderful and hilarious-- I find them heaps more interesting than Clara, or even the Doctor at this point, I'm sorry to say.
For the first time in quite a while, we're also presented with three-dimensional one-off characters; Ada and her relationship with her mother is rightfully compelling as well as repelling, but they're also interesting characters in their own right (even though Mrs. Gillyflower is not as well realised as her daughter). There are distinct overtones of abuse, and the fact that Ada rejects her mother's emotional manipulation pleased me. Good going there, Gatiss.
(Meanwhile, her attachment to the Doctor is super-creepy in a way that's never really questioned, but you can't win them all.)
I didn't get the TomTom joke. In my defense, I am not British.
Apparently kissing people is a thing Eleven does now? Which is as it is, I suppose. I do like that Jenny got to slap him, because even if it's not a sexual thing kissing people without their consent is an iffy thing to do and the narrative should acknowledge that. The Doctor might not think anything of it, but humans (and especially women) might very well not be comfortable with having a Time Lord forcing himself upon them.
The ending is... weird. I appreciate that we get more of an insight in Clara's personal relationships, but it would've been nice if we'd seen any more of these two since The Bells of St. John in order to establish some sort of connection with them (also: what kind of children goes digging through archives on Victorian London, 70s paranormal experiments, and Soviet submarines? Who the hell even TOOK the photo on that submarine? Stupid, stupid. Let's not even talk about the likelihood of their father believing them if they told him their nanny was a time traveller).
TL;DR good, but not as good as it could have been. The decision to remove two-parters for this series is very strange, and I definitely think it suffers because of it.
Next week: Neil Gaiman! Writes Cybermen! Which means that we'll possibly get the first decent Cybermen episode in the new series...
no subject
Date: 2013-05-05 08:20 pm (UTC)why does six admire burke and hare? and why does evelyn have to finish teh audio by agreeing with him? aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh (my analysis of these episodes must unfortunately be limited to wordless expressions of agony, since i am so angry at them that i don't want to talk about what actually happens).
and the last... paul mcgann can't even be bothered to do acting this week. charley's dying, but she's accepting it with such good grace that he can't be bothered to be sad about it. god, it's just... awful.
the divergent universe is sucky. but at least... SOON IT WILL BE TIME FOR CAEDRORIA.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-05 08:35 pm (UTC)YES there's so much about Medicinal Purposes that's just-- at some point I think I started feeling offended on Colin Baker's behalf because so many things felt wrong coming out of his mouth. And I mean, there's quite a difference between acknowledging that terrible things can have good consequences (this is true) and actively expressing admiration for the perpetrators of said terrible things (which doesn't make sense and isn't something the Doctor should be doing, I think). And whether the good things make the bad things worth it is a philosophical nut that will never be cracked because there's no objective truth. "Aaaaagh" is the best word for it all.
I think it says something about me and my general attitude towards the Divergent arc that I don't even tend to see the characters as characters anymore, just... people that shit happens to. Which is why Faith Stealer was such a positive surprise, I think.
Caerdroia is about the only thing I look forward to about going to uni tomorrow (what did I do on public transport before I discovered Big Finish? We just don't know).
no subject
Date: 2013-05-05 09:03 pm (UTC)but for serious - it is awesome :D