tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47117047345301477712024-02-19T02:16:08.652+00:00That Doctor Who BlogA blog about Doctor Who, obviously. Most things posted here will probably lament Steven Moffat's involvement with the show since 2010.Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-50604631292706447752017-12-26T11:32:00.002+00:002017-12-26T11:32:42.154+00:00Twice Upon A Time
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Generally speaking plot isn't the most important thing to
a Doctor's final story. Nor is it the most important thing to a Christmas
episode. There's usually a hint of it though, something simple to keep the Big
Important Moments (such as <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>a showdown
with the chief baddie or the introduction of the new lead actor) hanging
together. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twice Upon A Time</i> is unusual
in that it foregoes plot entirely.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What we get instead of a plot is a disjointed mix of
obscure Moffat era references<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup> and one final attempt by a departing
showrunner to exert his will and vision over earlier eras of the programme. There
was no reason for the First Doctor to be in the episode beyond a very tenuous
crisis of conscious over regenerating idea that was never fully explained. It's
the sort of thing that could work nicely as an eight minute TARDIS set scene for
Children in Need<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup>. More is needed for an hour in prime time however,
even on Christmas Day. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The captain was a more excruciating addition. He was
there so Moffat could give his pal Mark Gatiss one final role, cramming in the
name Lethbridge-Stewart as he did it. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">These have been recurring complaints throughout Moffat's
time running the show. It's fitting that they're present in the episode that
closes his era. As is the case with that other Moffat staple of recycled ideas.
Specifically The Testimony being a time travelling organisation that pulls
people out of their timelines at the moment of death, an exact copy of the Teselecta
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Let's Kill Hitler</i>. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Meanwhile another classic Moffat trope (perhaps <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i> classic) of technology not fully
understanding the people it's interacting with and that causing problems could
be seen to be inverted here, with the Doctors not understanding the way the
Testimony shipped worked until the final fifteen minutes, and this lack of
understanding giving reason for the running about that was going on. It would
be nice to think this was a deliberate inclusion by Moffat, closing off the
idea by reversing it, but it was almost certainly just a coincidence. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's a shame for Capaldi to go out on such a weak
episode. The ingredients were there for something interesting. The idea of the
First and Twelfth Doctors meeting moments before they both regenerate could
have been interesting. The Testimony, a time travelling church that interviews
people before they die, could have been interesting. A database at the centre
of the universe is a bit bland, a bit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitchhikers</i>,
and has been done before, but still could have been interesting. You really
don't have to look that hard to see a version of this episode, ideas
reconfigured and the lead character given something to do, that's interesting
and contributes something to the legacy and canon of the show. That it falls so
short is deeply frustrating. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twice Upon a Time </i>is
the perfect exit for Moffat, a man who's spent the majority of his time in the
producer's chair disappointing and underwhelming. It's a poor exit for Peter
Capaldi. His acting capability could have made his one of the all time great
eras of the show. He just needed someone willing to write to his strengths and
he wound up with Steven Moffat. Capaldi's Doctor was the biggest waste of the
Moffat era.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That era is, thankfully, behind us now. At this point
it's impossible to know whether the Chris Chibnall will turn out to be good or
bad, but we do know it will be different. Right now that's what the show needs. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just ignore the fact that his first scene as showrunner<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup>
sets the stage for either a return to a UNIT family-esque setup, an
introductory episode that's similar in premise to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Eleventh Hour</i>, or calls on the amnesiac-Doctor-trapped-on-Earth
stories the EDAs did...</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup> Why was Rusty in this? Just why? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2 </span></sup>... or maybe a Big Finish audio.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup> Jodie Whittaker's first moments as the
Thirteenth Doctor were pretty much what you'd expect. She got to say something brief
and positive about having regenerated into a woman before demonstrating that
she doesn't have full control of her faculties (by this point a trope in new
Doctors that people fully expect to see), gently tapping what turned out to be
the flush-everything-out-into-space button to give us a tensionless cliffhanger.
It told us precisely nothing about how she'll play the part.</span></div>
<br />Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-2029645303253999572017-07-02T10:30:00.000+01:002017-07-02T10:30:12.556+01:00The Doctor Falls
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_XqFpiv12muwF-1B2aWOji6AKu6VHOz__e4ly9_SO82N3ANnwJ90pdFQLBwpZ_BxBGEHJ4muuNUs80160eRwEp8ol3_N3E5nYuMxCVu4zOejhdT8XSoERhW_ciFX-iBMw_BRDuljnDg/s1600/012+-+The+Doctor+Falls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_XqFpiv12muwF-1B2aWOji6AKu6VHOz__e4ly9_SO82N3ANnwJ90pdFQLBwpZ_BxBGEHJ4muuNUs80160eRwEp8ol3_N3E5nYuMxCVu4zOejhdT8XSoERhW_ciFX-iBMw_BRDuljnDg/s400/012+-+The+Doctor+Falls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week's episode, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">World
Enough and Time</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, was one of Moffat's best scripts in years. This episode
was the closing half of the story. Moffat has previously bungled a number of
second episodes. I didn't feel he would this time though, perhaps because there
was so much good work done in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">WEaT </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">that
he would have had to make a concerted effort to do so. Also because his four
central characters (the Doctor, Bill, the Master, and Missy) were being played
by such a talented bunch that it didn't seem feasible. Pleasantly, I was right.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is not to say this was a faultless piece of TV. It
was slow in places. Much of what was wrong with the episode can be attributed
to Steven Moffat's propensity to become overly dramatic. I mean, the episode
climaxed with the Doctor running through woodland gunning down an army of robots</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
That's a level of mindless, empty-headed action heroics not even Colin Baker
sunk to. His fetishisation of the Doctor was as prevalent as ever. His
fascination with writing companions who are borderline obsessed with the Doctor
threatened to be a problem but </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">just</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
avoided becoming one thanks to the trope playing out differently to usual and a
final excellent performance from Pearl Mackie.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But really, everything else was great. I've already
mentioned Pearl Mackie and she seems like the obvious place to start with
praise because this is the last time we're going to get to see her (at least
until she gets a Sarah Jane-esque return in 2047). Despite having slightly
leaden dialogue in places(due to her spending the majority of the episode as a
Cyberman) she gave what is amongst her best performances on the show, getting
past the by this point tedious obsessing over the Doctor to focus on the more
interesting material given to her. The anger at him having taken ten years to
save her, the brave acceptance her inevitable death, and her understanding of
the simple farmer stereotypes being fearful of her and allowing herself to be
further ostracized to make them more comfortable.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bill's ultimate fate could be seen as a cop out. I mean,
a character from twelve episodes ago appearing out of nowhere, with no hint
that this would happen, to inexplicably bring Bill back to life runs the risk
of undercutting everything she'd gone through across the previous couple of
hours of television. I think it </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">did</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
undercut things to an extent but not enough to be ruinous. Bill dying would
have been sad and moving but it would probably have been too much given the
fate of Missy and the Doctor's death coming in the next episode. Better to give
her a happy ending in which she finally got together with
the-one-that-got-away(-to-become-a-time-travelling-space-puddle) from </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Pilot</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and triggered the Doctor's
regeneration with a tear, which, y'know, she cried because she was sad her
friend had died. It's trite and schmaltzy but it worked as a believable reason
for Bill to abandon the Doctor. And this isn't a show that should shy away from
leaving its characters happy the majority of the time</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Michelle Gomez also gave a good final performance. Hers
was all about keeping us guessing as to Missy's true intentions. Which she handled
well, playing a suitable level of detachment from the Doctor and coyness with
the Master. It could be seen as disappointing that she didn't get to give us
one final rendition of the utterly crackers character she initially played but,
really, we've had that enough to satisfy. It was far more interesting to see
her as a Master finally ready to repent and work with the Doctor.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Her death scene was one of the best things she's gotten
to do on the show. She made the sacrifice of leaving with her previous self even
though she knew (because she'd lived it before) that it would mean her death.
That the Doctor was kept in the dark about this gives it that extra bit of
tragedy: he'll always think Missy escaping with the Master was an act of
selfishness instead of the sacrifice it was. It was also a good use of
established character traits and continuity (something that Moffat's era has
been light on), pivoting on what was seemingly the core motivation of John
Simm's Master: his need to win a victory over the Doctor,. This may have been something
introduced by RTD but it was paid off here. This was the way Simm's Master
always should have gone down, not stepping in to save Tennant's Doctor at the
last moment but trying to one-up his archenemy and get the last laugh.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of Simm, his was probably my favourite
performance in this episode. I mean, there was the humour of him knowingly
stroking his goatee as he talked about nostalgia and casually reapplying his
guyliner as a siege was about to kick off. That was great. But he was also
wonderfully, unrelentingly callous from start to finish, killing his own future
self just to deny the Doctor the satisfaction of having saved her. Taking his
three performances together I think his is probably the most fleshed out take
on the character since Delgado. That final shot of him, slumped on the floor of
a lift knowing he's about to die but cackling his head off anyway because he's
convinced he's denied the Doctor something, is a perfect send off for that
Master.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The supporting cast were... fine, I suppose. There were
no standout roles for anyone except the regulars. Even Nardole was clearly an
afterthought, understandable with so much continuity kicking about and far more
significant characters to write for (and out). I shan't miss Matt Lucas. I
still don't really understand, having seen the entire series, why his character
was brought back. He seemed superfluous most of the time. The handful of
contributions he made to the series' arc could have been handled in a couple of
guest appearances. Still, at least he wasn't Matthew Waterhouse.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Cybermen were... also fine, I suppose. After the
effort that was put into reinventing them as exploited, eternally tortured humans
in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">World Enough and Time</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> it was a bit
of a shame that they reverted to far more generic Stompy Killer Robots</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">™</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
this week. It's understandable though. There simply wasn't space in this
episode for them to be more. Their starring role was last week and I'm
perfectly happy with that. I do find it a bit odd that a species so keenly
obsessed with constant upgrading would assemble an invasion force that
prominently included old models though.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Which leaves me only Capaldi's Doctor to discuss. This
episode very much like a payoff for his time on the show. He got to be clever
and brave, choosing to stand and save innocents knowing he couldn't possibly
survive himself, which is obviously the endpoint this incarnation of the
character was always headed for after his 'Am I a good man?' beginnings. His 'Stand
with me!' speech to the Master and Missy, while well-delivered, ultimately felt
it was trying a little too hard. I've not doubt it will go down as one of the
Twelth Doctor's most remembered moments though, because it was so clearly
designed for modern "fandom." If this were his final episode he'd be
going out on a high.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But it's not, is it? He's got a Christmas collaboration
with the First Doctor to get through first. Which is something that could
either work quite well as a study on how the character has felt about
regeneration all this time or fall apart spectacularly in a blaze of continuity
porn and audience apathy. Which somehow feels like the perfect setup for Moffat's
final episode.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Look, I know Cybermen technically </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">aren't</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> robots. "Robots" was
just a better word for that sentence than "androids."</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> I could have done without her getting the
exact same fate as Clara though. Especially after she'd just been saved from
the exact same fate as Danny Pink. And the Brigadier.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-39272583456945223802017-06-25T10:30:00.000+01:002017-06-25T10:37:15.785+01:00World Enough and Time
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEies7fb77L4hXGgCD8sw76RGeBOynr6KJNyqqPVsjSP0K0JhnofqjIc178i8RlYn6Nh2xucVRep6XmA5F97lv6yetcDtS3oY-eui2BL-1i2qKc1KpGnN6-EM8KFNke1FHJSdhOBunmQ3C0/s1600/011+-+World+Enough+and+Time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEies7fb77L4hXGgCD8sw76RGeBOynr6KJNyqqPVsjSP0K0JhnofqjIc178i8RlYn6Nh2xucVRep6XmA5F97lv6yetcDtS3oY-eui2BL-1i2qKc1KpGnN6-EM8KFNke1FHJSdhOBunmQ3C0/s400/011+-+World+Enough+and+Time.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In some ways </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">World
Enough and Time</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> was a collection of Steven Moffat's greatest hits. The
toying with time travel</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, the two drastically different settings
that turn out to be linked</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, the friendship of the Doctor and the
Master-slash-Missy</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, a series regular transformed into something
less (or more, depending on your point of view) than human</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, and the
twist in the closing moments that turns everything we've just seen on its head</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
It was all familiar to anyone who's been watching the show for a while and
could have been boring or uninteresting. It wasn't. In fact it was the sort of
script I was hoping would be the standard under a Moffat showrunnership when it
was first announced he was replacing RTD way back in 2008. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moffat's strength as a Doctor Who writer has always been
thinking of an interesting central idea and working out how to showcase it to
its fullest within the show's time and budgetary constraints. Writing one story
a year under RTD allowed Moffat to stand out and ensured he didn't get burnt
out by producing too much. He was obviously never going to be able to keep the
same degree of inventiveness going across outside of a single story a year but
the hope I had (that I suspect a lot f others shared) was that he'd find a way
to make his approach work on a series level, using individual stories to
contribute to a larger whole that would become clear in the season finale. He
groped towards it with series five and the opening sequence of the finale that
saw callbacks to a number of events that had happened in earlier episodes. But
he dropped it after that and shifted his focus to the infinitely more tedious
idea that was the River Song plot and such plays for attention as "starting
with the finale."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">His time in charge has always felt like it's fallen short
of what it could be, like Moffat doesn't quite have the tools or ability needed
to make his approach to writing the show work outside of a single story a year.
That changed with this episode, as though he'd finally understood how to make
all his favourite subjects work on the season scale instead of the episode scale</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">6</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
just as he's leaving. It's a pity.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While I'm talking about Moffat as showrunner I'll make an
additional (infuriatingly) vague comment. Before he took over he was asked in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Doctor Who Magazine</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> if there were any
stories he planned to write that Davies had never allowed him to. His answer
was that he had an ambitious idea for the Cybermen that would alter the way
we'd see them forever. I know, typical Moffat hyperbole. Except that </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">WEAT</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> certainly seems like an ambitious
Cybermen story that has the potential to alter the way we see them forever.
I'll tentatively say this was worth waiting for and hope it's as good next week
as it was this week.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That's enough talking about the lead writer for now. Him
finally realising his potential as</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">showrunner after a years-long wait isn't why I liked this episode. It
was the ideas. A spaceship reversing out of a black hole, creating different
time zones moving at vastly different paces is the sort of thing that could
support an entire series. The way it was realised on-screen was very good,
making it clear what was going on but keeping things light with gags and
character moments (the latter mostly for Bill). Doing a Cybermen origin story
is a little cheeky but it made more sense than any other retroactive origin
story in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> that I can think
of</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">7</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. Casting them as damaged humans just looking for a way out of a savage,
broken society they were accidentally trapped in is a suitably tragic starting
point for them.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The idea of the Simm version of the Master winding up on
a stranded spaceship is an interesting one too. There's a strong chance we'll
find out how he escaped his duel with Rassilon in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The End of Time</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> but I really wouldn't mind if we never did. It's
not like it would be out of character for the Master to escape absolute certain
death and return to antagonise his bestie, is it? The dystopia of the ship's
bottom is a perfect fit for that incarnation of the character.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Which brings me smoothly to Simm's performance. It was
very good, although that he spent most of the episode playing a different
character and doing a funny accent meant we didn't get as much of his Master as
had been implied. The minute or two he spent as the Master at the close of the
episode were mostly entertaining because of the writing and the sense of
confusion that had been built up over the previous forty-five minutes but Simm
put the work in too. His glee at outwitting the Doctor was obvious, a nice
reference back to one of his centra motivations opposite the Tenth. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other Master got most of her good material towards
the beginning of the episode. The bulk of it was humorous and centred on Moffat
playing around with Missy knowingly tinkering with the tropes of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. There was weightier stuff
but not much. I suspect most of her more serious material is being saved for
next week as Missy and the Master seemed primed to have a discussion both about
their nature, whether or not they can help being "evil", and their
friendship with the Doctor, if it's ultimately worth it and if he's been a good
friend to them. As things stand now Simm's Master seems to be fully prepared to
embrace stark-staring madness and villainy for its own sake while Gomez's
Missy, having been mentored and tutored in the ways of hashtag heroics by the
Doctor, is our view into the character's more relatable, human side. Gomez
deserves some more substantial material as Missy before she leaves, and Simm's
Master works best when he's encouraged to chew the scenery. In hindsight
Moffat's been setting up the Master's nature as one of his pet projects for a
while, at least in part since Missy's introduction. That, along with Simm and
Gomez, should hopefully make the Master element of the story's closing half
compelling. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie were excellent. I
mean, that shouldn't be a surprise at this point. Despite having some duff scripts
on this show over the last few years Capaldi has never been less than totally watchable.
Meanwhile Pearl Mackie has turned Bill into one of the show's all-time great
companions and done such good work that she should be in high demand whenever
she leaves the show. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yes there were things I could have done without in this
episode. This is the second time this season the Doctor's been shown
regenerating. It's not the ludicrous excess of season six, where just shy of
half of the episodes featured some element of the regeneration effect, but it's
still too much. It's possible, perhaps even likely, this is all going to tie
into Capaldi's exit. The Mondasian Cybermen being introduced in the First
Doctor's final story and Capaldi being so close to leaving, along with this
episode starting with him seemingly regenerating, invites comparisons and the drawing
of parallels</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">8</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. If this is all tied into Capaldi's exit the
regeneration becomes easier to overlook. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Essentially what I'm saying is that this episode was very
good. The best we've had in series ten. Possibly the best we've had since
Moffat took over, though that's a bigger claim and one I'd need to rewatch for things
before stating absolutely. But it's clearly up there amongst the best work
Moffat's done for </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. If he's
driven you away with his nonsense since 2010 come back for this.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> He's been doing this since </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Girl in the Fireplace</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> in 2006 and it
was particularly prominent during the Matt Smith series.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
Girl in the Fireplace </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">again. See also </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the Library two-parter where a little girl who
appeared to be living in suburban England had an alien planet, and the Doctor,
inside her head.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> This has been a recent development. It's a
rarity amongst Moffat tropes in that it's not designed to show how clever he is
and is more about exploring the backstory and nature of a supporting character.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> The most obvious example is Rory becoming a
plastic centurion. It's worth mentioning Danny Pink though, because he got
turned into a Cyberman too. Redoing exactly the same thing with Bill (albeit in
a far more effective manner) has to qualify as a new low even for Moffat,
right? He's not even tried to hide the fact that it's the same thing done
again.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Basically any of his two part stories. It's
not a criticism of his work. It's actually a good trick to be able to pull off
with modern </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> cliffhangers. But
that doesn't change the fact that it's something associated with Moffles more
than any other writer on the show.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">6</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> The key, unsurprisingly, was making better
use of characters. A big part of what made this episode work was the reveal of
the Master in a story alongside Missy. It works well because it's a returning
character interacting with a recurring character from the last few years.
Another element of this episode's success was the fate of Bill, who spent years
waiting for the Doctor at his request, only to die just before he arrived.
That's not something that would work without Bill having been such an engaging
character over the last couple of months.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">7</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Yes, that includes </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Genesis of the Daleks</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. It's good but not as good as its reputation
makes out. I'm also including </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Listen</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
Moffat's "secret origin" of the Doctor. But that was awful so it's
not really much of an accomplishment.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">8</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Never even mind those David Bradley rumours.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-10797479530417112622017-06-18T12:37:00.001+01:002017-06-18T12:37:12.383+01:00The Eaters of Light<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So here we are. Another mystery of the world solved by </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Turns out the Roman Empire's
Ninth Legion didn't simply disappear from records. No, they teamed up with a
Pict warrior and walked into a blue portal buried in a hill to fight
light-scoffing inter-dimensional tentacled dinosaurs. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Obviously</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This is an annoying habit of the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> has had going back years. Taking some real world
unexplained event and attaching some fantastical explanation to it. It's not
exactly a problem but it does always leave me feeling a bit unsatisfied. It's a
misunderstanding of the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
formula that works well: normal everyday things given a fantastiscal twist. It
doesn't work as well because things like the Roman army, Agatha Christie's
brief disappearance, and the great fire of London are not everyday things. They
are historical events, and so they hold a different place in viewers' minds. I
understand the reasoning behind doing episodes like this: it makes a good
subject for a forty-five minute story and the BBC will find it easier to market
with a clear hook. Still, it's still an approach I don't much care for.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Which isn't to say that there were no mysteries in this
story. The stuff created for the show, such as the inter-dimensional portals, the
specifics of the Picts' history defending the hill, and how ravens could talk, were
left unexplained. The absence of explanations for every little detail was very
nice. It partially, but not completely, made up for the appropriation of a
historical mystery for a forty-five minute sci-fi drama</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I liked most other things about the episode though. I can
mostly sum up what I liked by mentioning Rona Munro. I appreciated her not
feeling the need to go into tedious and unnecessary details about the fantasy
elements she introduced and she gave the Twelfth Doctor more good lines than
he's had outside of a Steven Mofffat script. The general approach to writing
him seemed to be more season eight than the lighter approach we've had since.
Which, as I said a week or two ago, is an approach that I think plays to the
actor's strengths and allows his Doctor to stand apart from his two immediate
predecessors. Capaldi responded with a typically excellent performance, one
that I think will probably be remembered as amongst his best. It certainly
strikes me as one of the best "non-big event"</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> episodes
he's had.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Bill was given material of equal quality. Whether she was
awkwardly letting down a (bisexual) Roman, bravely swallowing her fears and
rallying a group or soldiers, or displaying a passionate interest in European
history she (again) felt more like a real character than Clara or Amy ever did</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.
Pearl Mackie was as good as she has been all series. I feel like I need to reiterate
that it's almost a shame she was cast as a companion character, even one as
likeable and important to casting progression in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> as Bill, because she would have made a tremendous
replacement for Peter Capaldi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">T</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">he other elements of the show were a mixed bag. The
location filming took in some inspired views, which has to be considered a good
thing. The set designers had it a little tougher as they were stuck building
wooden huts and stone cairns. What they built looked convincing but dark rooms
made of wood are never going to impress anyone on this show. The design of the
light-eating locusts was good. Murray Gold got a bit carried away at points,
particularly when the Doctor was staring into the rift. I half expected the
camera to swing round to reveal he was staring at an orchestra the music was so
intrusive. It works well, but he needs to calm it down at points. But overall
his work was good too. It's never actively bad, just a little overbearing.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Basically, Rona Munro gave us a good episode from what I
feel is a flawed premise and everyone else on the team did their bit. I'll
refrain from talking about how a McCoy era writer has been invited back to the
show while Terrance Dicks, the script editor for the much celebrated Pertwee
era and the man who helped cast Tom baker, hasn't written a script for the show
in decades. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">All we need now is for Ben Aaronovich to make his
triumphant return to the show.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> I'll just note here that I fully expect for
this Real Life Mystery approach to be used in the future in an episode I end up
really enjoying. I'll forget my distaste for the approach then because I'm
contrary like that.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The big event approach is one of the main
reasons I think I've not enjoyed Moffat's time as showrunner as much as I might
have. But that's a thought for another time.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Want to leap to the defence of these two
companion characters? Name any of their interests outside of their friendships
with the Doctor and relationships with Rory and Danny. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Answers on a postcard...</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-18891471081051099212017-06-11T10:00:00.000+01:002017-06-11T10:00:02.134+01:00Empress of Mars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBlCd2bXsqFJ6qUh7FgxQNvV_3q5HPN8qFli_IzkyXHUNfKEcj-2ka0jayf4h-fcJYB68Emx6-igOOYjkgI7Q4Ax8Rzk6vFbM-0HNQOX9uOfp1HR0fSJ1MECECFiguUrSExIMpU1Kq-o/s1600/009+-+Empress+of+Mars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBlCd2bXsqFJ6qUh7FgxQNvV_3q5HPN8qFli_IzkyXHUNfKEcj-2ka0jayf4h-fcJYB68Emx6-igOOYjkgI7Q4Ax8Rzk6vFbM-0HNQOX9uOfp1HR0fSJ1MECECFiguUrSExIMpU1Kq-o/s400/009+-+Empress+of+Mars.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The obvious thing to focus on with </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Empress of Mars</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> is that it sounds great in synopsis. Victorian
soldiers on the red planet? Yes, excellent! Exactly the sort of thing </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> excels at, taking something
familiar and plonking it into a setting we've never seen it in and don't
associate it with. Space-faring, red tunic-ed, pith helmet-ed Victorian
soliders are wonderful as an image.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The trouble is that this is prime time television and it
needs to be more than just a wonderful image to be worth watching. And, sadly,
that's where things fall apart for</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
Empress</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Because it's written by Mark Gatiss. I don't dislike Gatiss's </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> work but he's not a writer that
makes you think he'll do anything worthwhile with an interesting concept like
Victorians claiming Mars for the Empire. He's more a "safe pair of hands
who can deliver a workable script on time and to budget" type. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> needs writers like that, because
it's difficult and expensive to make. It's just a shame that they sometimes get
paired up with ideas that warrant a little more flourish.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Gatiss brought an additional problem to this: his
adoration of the subject matter. To a large certain extent a love of the subject
you're writing about is a good thing. It comes across in the writing and generally
improves things because the writer is that extra bit invested. But a </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> script that sees Victorians
invading somewhere should really at least touch on the evils of imperialism,
even if that somewhere is Mars. It didn't need to be a focus. We didn't need
the Doctor laying into Victorian values. But some sort of acknowledgment of the
matter would have been nice, and we didn't get it because Gatiss is far too
invested in this era to knock it in that way.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The other object of his affection was the Ice Warriors. The
motivations for the two main Ice Warrior characters, Friday</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> and
Iraxxa</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, were all over the place. Friday started out the episode
having used the Brits to get back to Mars to uncover his people (which would
have left them stranded). He ended the episode disobeying the supreme leader of
his people, who was of royal blood which is totes super important to the proud
and noble Ice Warriors, to defend the Brits. This after they'd turned him into
their butler. Meanwhile Iraxxa went from wanting to revive her race (or at
least a hive's worth of it) to starting an interplanetary war within about two
minutes. They were there to serve the plot rather than be believable characters
in their own right. Kind of an odd thing for the Ice Warriors' biggest fan to
write.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I shan't even get into the entirely unnecessary and
utterly self-indulgent cameo from giant talking penis Alpha Centauri except to
say that it was Gatiss at his absolute worst.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">All of which makes it sound like this episode was bad.
That's not the case. Capaldi and Mackie did what they could with average
material. The supporting cast were good. The body-scrunching effect from the
Ice Warrior guns was great. The bookending of the "God save the
queen" message was a nice touch (if a little Moffat Lite). Nardole wasn't
in it much. It was for the most part a perfectly serviceable episode of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. It's just a shame it
couldn't achieve more when it had such a strong central image to work with.
Which is something I thought I'd stopped writing about series ten. Apparently I
haven't.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Strange that despite his clear and stated
love of the Ice Warriors Gatiss never bothered to establish this character's
actual name, sticking with the one given to him by British soldiers throughout.
See what I mean about him being that bit too invested in the Victorian era?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> You know she's alien because she has a
double X in her name. Nice one, Mark! Never change.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-3088677875919807762017-06-04T11:00:00.000+01:002017-06-04T11:00:04.675+01:00The Lie of the Land<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltJkwXUncq_vwuChwjwSroan1L64z8QarEY2YafDrey0joNsDts6fNckd6MZsbqVCDXQp18sLjWkk-_5O6wQNqp_vwCHo5wQRr63yJ8YRXMTp76xDfBFiLbxJhYq3MB0-ogTGmhTjR1U/s1600/008+-+The+Lie+of+the+Land.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltJkwXUncq_vwuChwjwSroan1L64z8QarEY2YafDrey0joNsDts6fNckd6MZsbqVCDXQp18sLjWkk-_5O6wQNqp_vwCHo5wQRr63yJ8YRXMTp76xDfBFiLbxJhYq3MB0-ogTGmhTjR1U/s400/008+-+The+Lie+of+the+Land.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The best thing about this week's episode of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Lie of the Land</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, was regular cast's performance. The
standout among them was Pearl Mackie. Bill was again placed at the centre of
the story and she gave another excellent performance. At this point surely she
has to be considered the best companion of the Moffat era</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">? She
feels like a real person where Amy, Rory and Clara did not. Part of this is
down to Moffat creating a character that doesn't seem designed to function
primarily in a sitcom, but the casing of Pearl Mackie is just as key in it. She
makes more of her opportunities to act (as opposed to just delivering funny
lines) than Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Jenna Coleman did.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Peter Capaldi had a probably the best material he's had
all series, certainly the best since </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
Pilot</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. His affection for Bill was highlighted and played perfectly. His friendship
with Missy was explored surprisingly efficiently considering she only appeared
in two scenes. The closing scene in which the Doctor was shown casually reading
with her</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was an insight into their comfort with each other.
Meanwhile his description of her as being almost as clever as him was a nice
way to bring out a little pomposity in the Doctor while also underlining that
Missy is not only intelligent but a potential threat. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Of course the most interesting thing for the Twelfth
Doctor in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Lie of the Land</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was
pretending he'd sided with the enemy. The fairly lengthy scene in which the
Doctor and Bill were reunited allowed Capaldi to get back to what his Doctor
was known for in his debut season: being unpredictable. As a characteristic it
was dropped after that season, probably because it would be hard to sustain
that approach indefinitely. Capaldi's Doctor has mellowed across his second and
third seasons. But that first season and the scene on the prison ship here
demonstrate that Number Twelve works best when his alien nature is emphasised
and you can't be sure of how he's going to react to any given situation. It
also has the pleasant side effect of contrasting him with the ultimately very
reliable Tenth and Eleventh Doctors</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, who were always very reliable
and predictable in terms of the route they'd take to save the day. The detached
and aloof aspect to Capaldi's Doctor side is something I wish had been reduced
rather than removed completely. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Maybe the biggest surprise of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">TLotL </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">was Nardole not being the irritant he has been up to this
point. I would still have preferred him not to be involved but Toby Whithouse found
a way to make him work, seeming less concerned with giving him things to do so
that he was freed up to function as the sidekick he is so clearly intended to
be. He also leaned into Nardole's geekish nature more than any other writer has
done, keeping him talking for a little longer than is comfortable about tedious
matters. In short, Whithouse seemed more at ease with casting Nardole as an full-on
nerd than anyone else and it worked well.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The sets, monsters, score, supporting cast, and so on?
All fine (although the lighting seemed a little dim in the Missy scenes), I
particularly liked the Doctor's white prison room. But then that's to be
expected at this point. The team that makes this show has been doing so long
enough that a certain base quality in terms of presentation is all but assured.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Finally, this episode can't really be talked about without
mentioning oppressive police states and fake news. Obviously the world
presented in the show was an exaggerated take on right wing leanings going too
far but it should still be taken as the cautionary tale it was intended to be. It's
important that real world concerns get reflected in our escapist media because
it's all too easy to forget them, or for younger viewers to simply accept them
as "the way things have always been" (a particularly on-the-nose
warning this episode gave us numerous times). </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> is a very useful vehicle for exploring things like this
and it's nice to see it doing so.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Being the closing part of a loose trilogy meant </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Lie of the Land</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was always going to
struggle in some respects. It had to wrap things up started across the previous
two weeks by other writers and tell a self-contained story of its own in a
satisfying manner, with the additional wrinkle of reintroducing Missy. It also
had to tell its own self-contained story in a satisfying manner. It managed
these things and balanced them well to boot. It didn't excel at anything in
particular but it also didn't fall to pieces fifteen minutes in as it could
have. Chalk it up as a win, on average.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Not that that's saying a great deal.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Not that this approach is a problem. It worked
very well with Tennant for a couple of reasons: it hadn't been done with a
Doctor before and he had his Lonely God and Time Lord Victorious approaches
(elements of both being present from his first full episode) approaches that
could be implemented for variety. It worked less well for Smith because the
approach had become familiar during Tennant's years in the role and Tennant was
better at it to boot. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"></span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> "You read? You read </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">on</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> the show?"</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-25444670968084064732017-05-28T11:00:00.000+01:002017-05-28T11:00:11.154+01:00The Pyramid at the End of the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnxI6vXd_F5tjNJCVKzqKwd_KD9D6Ue3RFgXCuJJKF4AkdadalsA3g9kYkFGSBKghCTzZgoONLmddYghVXcD-BDAqnRGW0kGI5iprEnfxNPJ_cGxHoWppcTQmCVz8dNj40VXvbrStRic/s1600/007+-+The+Pyramid+at+the+End+of+the+World.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnxI6vXd_F5tjNJCVKzqKwd_KD9D6Ue3RFgXCuJJKF4AkdadalsA3g9kYkFGSBKghCTzZgoONLmddYghVXcD-BDAqnRGW0kGI5iprEnfxNPJ_cGxHoWppcTQmCVz8dNj40VXvbrStRic/s400/007+-+The+Pyramid+at+the+End+of+the+World.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">With </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Pyramid at
the End of the World</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> the tenth series of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> finally hit its stride. No qualifiers, no caveats. The
series' seventh episode got it right. There was a clear threat. There were
interesting ideas and impressive visuals. The Doctor got to be the hero and
save the day by being clever while people with guns were shown to be wrong (a
bit on the nose but it's what the show's been doing for a while now, and there
are far worse messages to send). There were significant roles for supporting
characters</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Really, the only complaint to be made is that this is a
story that should have been used for the Silence, who always seemed a bit
directionless despite clearly being Steven Moffat's idea of a recurring
Ultimate Threat</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">™</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The obvious thing to point to as to why this episode
worked is the importance placed on Bill. The enslaving of humanity to the monks
was entirely her fault. But it was something she chose, a decision she made for
a clear, understandable reason: she didn't want to see her friend die. Despite
knowing the consequences she opted to give up Earth and its inhabitants to save
the Doctor, having absolute faith in him being able to win them back. We're
often told about what a strong friendship</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor X and Companion Y have but it's rare to actually see evidence of
it on screen outside of hollow, throwaway comments that mean nothing in the
grand scheme of the show. It's great to see an episode that makes the
friendship between the Doctor and his companion such a significant and crucial
aspect.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Peal Mackie is the main reason this worked as well as it
did. Not to diminish Peter Capaldi's contribution because he was very good with
what he got to do, but what he got to do was the sort of thing his Doctor has
been doing since 2013. It was a tweaked take on established material given to
him because the writers knew what they'd get from him. The idea was not for him
to be the star of this episode, and that's fine. I'll also take a Doctor who
solves problems by thinking and acting (albeit in a technobabble way) over one
who resorts to the Matt Smith tough guy "look me up" routine.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Bill, for the second week in a row, was given a wide
variety of things to do and Pearl Mackie excelled at all of them. She was
endearing and a little awkward on her date, a combination of perplexed and
naive when confronting the Doctor on his utter refusal to accept the monks'
offer, and vulnerable in her final scene, saving her best friend (plus a load
of other stuff I'm forgetting - the point is she was really good). She even
managed to work in the gags she was given in a natural manner. Her performance
over the last two episodes makes me think she'd have been a better choice for
Capaldi's replacement than Capaldi's last companion</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I wasn't impressed by Peter Harness's previous </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> work (</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Zygon Invasion </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
Zygon Inversion episodes </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">in 2015) but he won me over here. Perhaps Moffat
had a greater hand in this script. Or maybe not having two episodes to play
with encouraged more focus. Or maybe it's that Pearl Mackie is a more capable
actor than Jenna Coleman, who was given a fair bit to do in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Invasion</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Inversion</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Whatever the reason, he's someone who warrants being on
Chris Chibnall's "invite back" list</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I hope series ten can sustain this quality across its
final five episodes, and that the Doctor can be given some weightier scenes
along the way. Peter Capaldi deserves to have a good run of dramatic episodes
to bring his time on the show to a close. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">P</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">erhaps best illustrated by humanity nearly
being wiped out by Tony Shales off </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Fresh
Meat</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"></span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Yeah, I know David Bradley's been rumoured as the co-star in Capaldi's swansong but he'd be playing the First Doctor.
Thinking of another Doctor as a companion seems utterly facetious. Though not
as facetious as casting someone as another Doctor and promoting them as the
companion.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> I wonder if such a list actually exists, and
if it does whether Pip Baker is on it.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-18934764008124231222017-05-21T10:29:00.000+01:002017-05-21T10:29:52.116+01:00Extremis<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOxaFycYaNXqmDNDe96dDftuYKGKR3mb4NIUCt4tNWlVtrjSo_NG4iTKN1SrAZ44JQALmLmdggtsXJMPvaET-w1ilcKxpVTnah-C57UsaHK44bsxqrybUn1Wx0VxKFF3M7HQefHUsdFE/s1600/006+-+Extremis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOxaFycYaNXqmDNDe96dDftuYKGKR3mb4NIUCt4tNWlVtrjSo_NG4iTKN1SrAZ44JQALmLmdggtsXJMPvaET-w1ilcKxpVTnah-C57UsaHK44bsxqrybUn1Wx0VxKFF3M7HQefHUsdFE/s400/006+-+Extremis.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I was fully prepared to really enjoy </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Extremis</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Preview interviews had Moffat gushing about how it was
mixing conspiracy theories, video games, and "puzzle box" plotting.
These being things I'm interested in I thought the episode would easily be my
most enjoyed of the series so far. And it was. But that was mostly because the
previous five episodes never really rose above average, and it wasn't anywhere
near as interesting as I thought it would be.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Part of this is my problem for setting expectations based
on things that have been said in interviews (and it should be noted that Moffat
has a particularly poor (or good, depending on how you look at it) record of
overplaying his hand when previewing episodes). Hearing the sources of
inspiration for the episode's writer got me to imagine a particular direction
for the episode.</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;"> </span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">There's nothing specific to mention here. I just
felt that the conspiracy would be cleverer, the video game inspiration more
overt. The puzzle box plotting was about as good as I expected it to be, to be
fair. Inevitably I was disappointed when what aired didn't meet my
expectations.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">While this is my problem it doesn't change the fact that
the episode wasn't terribly ambitious. Mentioning that conspiracy theories and
video games are sources of inspiration for a TV show invokes certain aesthetics
and themes. It would be a problem for any show. It's particularly troubling for
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> (essentially an anthology series)
because these are fresh sources of material that offer opportunities for doing
new and exciting ideas within the show. It feels wasteful not to fully delve
into these subjects, exploring and subverting their tropes and standard
approaches. A modern <i>Doctor Who</i> episode with a genuine conspiracy theory at the
centre could be amazing. What we got was anything but. Truth be told I can't
even articulate what I think the conspiracy theory was meant to be beyond
"some self-consciously mysterious humanoids have created a super-advanced
computer programme because they're invading the Earth." Does that even
qualify as a conspiracy?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The video game stuff was slightly better. What we got was
people committing suicide because they found out they were NPCs. Which is a
really interesting idea to explore in a fifty minute action-adventure drama.
Only it wasn't explored. It was an incidental detail there to up the stakes for
an aliens-invade-Earth story. Which on the one hand is a fair enough
explanation, but on the other hand is hardly </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> breaking new and exciting ground. The basic ideas were
there for this to be a bold, experimental and memorable episode. Instead it
felt like a reworked script from the Silence storyline, with the red robed
monks in place of the Roswellian Slendermen, Moffat doing his usual puzzle box
approach (which is his greatest strength as a <i>Doctor Who</i> writer so, y'know,
fine) with new ingredients. Ultimately that's really, really disheartening.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Even though the plot wasn't up to much it did serve it's
leads well. Pearl Mackie was given a greater range of things to do in this
episode than she has been in any other and she was excellent in every scene.
Peter Capaldi was given comparatively less to do but was still eminently
watchable. He even managed to make me postpone rolling my eyes at the Doctor
getting his sight back</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Matt Lucas as
a "badass" though? Yeah, I get the joke but it still made me cringe.
Meanwhile the scenes with Missy were a waste of perfectly good Michelle Gomez.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Extremis</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> has
been advertised as the opening part of a loose trilogy of episodes. All are to
feature the red robed monk characters introduced here. While they are, as
already noted, very similar in function to the Silents they do at least boast a
strong design and there's still time for them to turn into worthwhile enemies. I'd
say that the hints at dystopian futures and alternate histories across the next
two episodes sound good but that's the kind of thinking that led to my
disappointment in this underdeveloped waste. Let's just hope that the so-called
monk trilogy</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;"> </span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">as a whole does a better job of meeting its potential than
it's opening act did alone.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> In hindsight (not an intentional gag) the
Doctor losing his sight one week and being confronted by a book which makes
people kill themselves the next is a particularly Moffat thing to do. I'm
surprised the irony wasn't hammered home far more.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-69395227411551687792017-05-14T13:00:00.000+01:002017-05-14T13:00:03.182+01:00Oxygen
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLKNhyphenhyphenx1dF7fslfy7IuJcJOqW0rQWfbxOnsSFay0X6SLRig0gEOyAMzdaevJkZVQEv8VwfLBjRJ98requM5oAGdRqhXjKih8q7bzfp9SNUx6u1CXAr7fc-fodRw9GsDc-1oxofJpkiFg/s1600/005+-+Oxygen.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLKNhyphenhyphenx1dF7fslfy7IuJcJOqW0rQWfbxOnsSFay0X6SLRig0gEOyAMzdaevJkZVQEv8VwfLBjRJ98requM5oAGdRqhXjKih8q7bzfp9SNUx6u1CXAr7fc-fodRw9GsDc-1oxofJpkiFg/s400/005+-+Oxygen.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"I'm still blind!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The most melodramatic ending to a </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> episode ever? Possibly. It's certainly a contender.
Whether it wins that particular contest or not it renders the episode that led
up to the revelation as little more than a footnote: </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oxygen</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> will always be, first and foremost, the episode in which the
Twelfth Doctor went blind</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is a bit of a disservice to </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oxygen</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. The thing is, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oxygen</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
deserves it. It was a plodding, moralistic base under siege story. Nothing memorable
happened beyond that final, melodramatic line. The plodding nature could have
been fixed with another draft or two. Same goes for the sledgehammer subtlety
of the anti-capitalist message that cropped up in seemingly every other scene.
I mean, literally being charged for air, could it be anymore on the nose? The base
under siege approach just wasn't made interesting enough. It can work in Nu Who
(see </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">42</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mummy on the Orient Express</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(mosty) and, of course, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dalek</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, for examples of this). It just
didn't work here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oxygen</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
was primarily just a string of disappointments it did achieve at least one
thing of interest. It provided a good example of the different approaches
Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat take as showrunners</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A refresher: the pre-credits sequence featured a man and
woman</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> clambering about on the outside of a space station with the
woman telling the man that she wanted to have a baby with him when "all
this is over" before a problem with her suit's broadcasting equipment was
revealed, meaning he hadn't heard her. She was then murdered by two corpses in
space suits while the guy mended a generic prop in silence, turned round to
notice, and escaped.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's a sequence designed to achieve a few things.
Firstly, it's there to introduce one of the key plot points of the episode: air
being a valuable commodity that is rationed by the company funding things.
Second, it's meant to show us that, hey, these are real people leading real
lives out in the harshness of space. Finally, it's there to introduce the
monsters of the week, the aforementioned corpses in spacesuits.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It accomplishes all of this. But it does so in a hollow,
perfunctory manner that is striking. We're told, at several points throughout
the episode that the air is valuable on this space station because it has to be
paid for. We see the payment interface, we see signs reminding people not to
waste oxygen, the pre-credits sequence has the man tell the woman. But none of
the characters ever actually act like speaking should be avoided in the name of
saving oxygen. All those details are great and good bits of world building,
something I'm usually all over, but when the supporting cast witter on like the
supporting cast of any other episode it makes immersion difficult. If rationing
speech is going to be part of a </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
episode it should to be a central theme</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, something that dictates
how the episode is structured. Television relies on heavily on characters
talking to one another. If that ability is going to be taken away from them the
reason for it needs to be explored and the opportunity needs to be taken to
offer a unique experience in which they rely on other forms of communication.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But what really leapt out as something that warranted
comparison to the RTD era was the interaction between the two characters in the
pre-credits sequence. Having a child together is one of the most significant
things two people can do, and it's use here was clearly intended as a shorthand
for Real Living Couple With Functioning Emotions And Plans For The Future</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">™</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
It was then undercut with a joke from the woman about repeating her heartfelt
speech later, which is a very Moffat thing to do and also wonderfully highlights
what I was saying in the last paragraph about not being able to take oxygen
rationing as a serious thing within the episode. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There's no way to know for sure how Davies would have
handled this scene but it feels like a safe bet he'd have approached it
differently. There probably would have been general chitchat about the
banalities of life in place of "Hey, we're on the side of a space station,
let's have a baby soon!"The whole faulty radio aspect would probably have
been dropped or reworked so that there was at least some meaningful interaction
between the pair.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The man one likely
would have looked more emotionally distraught when he turned around to see the
corpse of his loved one staggering towards him. The scene towards the end of
the episode where the woman's corpse handed her oxygen supply over to her
still-living lover would either not have existed or would have been rejigged so
that the man shows some emotion at having his life saved in such a poetic way.
Or, possibly, it would have featured a tear rolling down the dead woman's cheek</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
I admit I would have preferred the former of these two.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Davies approach was to make supporting characters
feel like real people and focus on how things like killer spacesuits affected
them. Moffat understands the importance of supporting characters but doesn't go
to anywhere near the lengths to get us invested in them, which means we get a
watered down approach where small scale human worries and ambitions are fumbled
at but don't always feel fully formed. Yeah, Jamie Mathieson (who's been pretty
good with previous </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> work) wrote this
episode but that's neither here nor there: under RTD the sequences in question would
have received the rewrites needed to get the tone the episode needed them to
have. Oxygen highlighted the difference between the two showrunners in how they
go about writing the show. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think the fact that the relationship in question and
the episode as a whole were so flat shows that Moffat's just not especially
good when he's not overseeing "clever puzzle" episodes. He's
well-suited to big event episodes, probably better suited than Davies, but they
only come along every so often. Moffat's approach doesn't work well with more
standard episodes, and that's what he's overseeing the majority of the time.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A less pressing issue: why do space set episodes have to
be all grimy metal and shadows these days? </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
Girl in the Fireplace</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> (to take a random RTD era episode) takes place on a
spaceship but never falls into these traps of uninspired set design. Throughout
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fireplace </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">things are always tinted
blue or red or green, avoiding the bleak visuals of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oxygen</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. Could it be that the sets were deliberately subdued so as
to tie in with the fact that the Doctor goes blind, tacitly linking our
visionary experience to the one he has by the end of the episode? It's
certainly possible, but nothing in the episode backs that up. It also wouldn't
explain why space set capers have gradually shifted to this approach under
Moffat</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">6</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm sure the question we're all meant to be asking coming
out of this episode (besides the clearly </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">vital</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
"Who's in The Vault?") is: "How will the Doctor's blindness
impact the show?" But I wasn't given a reason to care, so I'm not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Assuming it's something that sticks for a
significant amount of time. Judging by the way the revelation was framed I
think it will stay at least through the next episode or two.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Yes, </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">this</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
again.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> They have names but truth be told every
character outside of the regulars was so tedious that I can't be bothered to
look them up. Deal with it.</span></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> Buffy managed an extended sequence of
absolute silence about fifteen years ago. Surely Doctor Who, a programme that
has far more tricks to employ to get to a scenario like that, is up to the task
now. Maybe it just needs a better lead writer</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">...</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> I've never said Davies was perfect and a
weeping corpse is right up his alley.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">6</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> This is something that can be tangibly
traced back over the last few years and seems to coincide with Matt Smith
leaving. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Kill the Moon</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sleep No More</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and now this story have
gotten incrementally more basic in their depiction of space. I understand that
it helps to emphasise the stark, unforgiving nature of a space setting but it
doesn't half make things boring to look at.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-44477224413642945922017-05-07T11:00:00.000+01:002017-05-07T11:00:02.287+01:00Knock Knock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRt98-eGX7R5Yss_JhKV5w1XpYm0ss9NUK54S6g6R6hsDG6e6bO8WVJjho0cBhIzd8psPRoWJHMpLnVRxeIRILJrDPIW90omlwp5Jo-65sAykeqHmF-6AT7ux_MPHayGRRGB5q9af3Vyc/s1600/004+-+Knock+Knock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRt98-eGX7R5Yss_JhKV5w1XpYm0ss9NUK54S6g6R6hsDG6e6bO8WVJjho0cBhIzd8psPRoWJHMpLnVRxeIRILJrDPIW90omlwp5Jo-65sAykeqHmF-6AT7ux_MPHayGRRGB5q9af3Vyc/s320/004+-+Knock+Knock.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Four episodes into a series of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> feels like a reasonable time to get a pretty standard approach.
Despite being able to go anywhere and play in various television genres </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> has a bag of tricks it goes
to fairly often. You need a format, even a hazily defined one, in order to make
the big finales and episodes that play against expectations have an impact. You
can't play against expectations if there are no expectations for a routine
episode, after all.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This isn't an inherently bad thing. Just because
something is adhering to a familiar format doesn't mean it can't do anything
new, and generally TV shows develop and stick to formats because they work.
Which is to say that </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Knock Knock</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
wasn't a bad episode because it was a standard outing for </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">New Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. It wasn't, actually, a bad episode at all. It's just that
it wasn't a particularly good one either.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This is frustrating. There were a number of little things
in this that could have been brought together in an interesting way. The Doctor
taking a vaguely McCoy era approach to letting the companion wonder off into
trouble. A child desperate to keep a parent alive, even if it means a bit of
human sacrifice. A house that eats people. Giant woodlice that can convert
matter</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> who have infested a woman and kept her alive for sixty years.
These were all good concepts, they just suffered from being strung together in a
rather understated, by-the-number fashion.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Nothing was underdeveloped. It all hung together well
enough as a plot and cohesive design and direction. But things could have gone
further (or at least the things unique to this episode could have done, it's
not fair to say the Twelfth Doctor could have gone further in his treatment of
Bill because we don't know what's coming with them in future episodes). For
example, if there's a walking, talking human (as opposed to a still prop) made
of wood in your script that's probably going to be the most visually impressive
thing in your episode. I understand she was confined to a lone set for an
explanatory scene because of the nature of her character and to reduce the
hassles of filming her but the episode could have been more interesting had she
been the one stalking the students through the house instead of CG woodlice.
Increasing her part and changing the nature of her role would have meant
increasing the hassle of getting the actress in and out of what was probably an
infuriating costume and makeup, I get that. But this could have been gotten
around, in part, by shooting her in shadow, perhaps creating a prop to use in
places. Or, y'know, by not showing her at all and implying her presence with
creaks and knocks. It was meant to be a creepy episode about a haunted house. A
wooden ghost that can't be reasoned with fits into that genre far better than
giant insects.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That's not a major complaint. It's more an observation of
how existing elements of the episode could have been reworked in a more
interesting way. Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie were both very good. I haven't
gone back and made comparisons but it certainly felt like each gave their best
performance of the series so far. Poirot was good as the Most Significant Guest
Character, even if it is weird that writer Mike Bartlett went out of his way
not to give the character a name despite that character's own mother also being
in the episode. You'd think she'd use her own son's name, right? I suspect Bartlett
just liked having a character with a title, the Landlord, instead of a name
because this is a show that has a strong tradition of such characters</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Knock Knock</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
could have been more than the sum of its parts had it set out to be. But it
didn't so it wasn't. This was standard </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor
Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, which is what it set out to be. I suspect that's what the next episode
is going for too. In which case, fine. Three generic approaches in a row isn't
the worst thing in the world if all three succeed (and while </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Knock Knock </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> are both take standard approaches they're different
standard approaches, with next week's </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Oxygen</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
looking like it will be another</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">). But at some point this series is
going to need to aspire to more, because it would be a shame for a promising
Doctor-companion combo to get stuck in mediocrity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> By implication they can also restore
consciousness and memory, which is even more incredible when you think about
it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Time for a bit of baseless Moffat-hating
speculation: maybe Moffles suggested not naming the character in the hopes of
people picking over previews and suggesting he was a rogue Time Lord or
a(nother) new incarnation of the Master or Chibnall's future Doctor or
something. It's exactly the sort of thing he'd do. He's not been referring to
the monks we'll be seeing in a few episodes time as "meddlers" for
nothing, you know.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Specifically base under siege.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-23387669972976487532017-04-30T12:00:00.000+01:002017-04-30T12:00:25.342+01:00Thin Ice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWmzsi194W5LUxuQd47SPClF8EWfBPD1YjEo8_XdAW4D7_YhRRaKLuNKqBL17Ob2uRpdUcs9s0c-tGYQFjteP-jCtgJaTHGNH7xtjRyajWbMrPnwA-ry-KLsfgI5GtmVmxoIha1dbUpoQ/s1600/003+-+Thin+Ice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWmzsi194W5LUxuQd47SPClF8EWfBPD1YjEo8_XdAW4D7_YhRRaKLuNKqBL17Ob2uRpdUcs9s0c-tGYQFjteP-jCtgJaTHGNH7xtjRyajWbMrPnwA-ry-KLsfgI5GtmVmxoIha1dbUpoQ/s320/003+-+Thin+Ice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was
written by Sarah Dollard, whose only previous contribution to the show was the
excellent </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Face the Raven</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. This wasn't
as good as her first contribution to the show but that's hardly a big surprise:
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Face the Raven</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was one of the better
episodes of season nine and succeeded largely on the strength of its central
ideas. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> suffered mainly from
having less good central ideas. And really, the idea of secret (and
delightfully albeit inexplicably Dickensian) streets hidden in London that
house homeless aliens was so good, such a perfect fit for </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, that it's going to be a while before an idea of equal
quality turns up again. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Dollard was again tasked with finding an interesting spin
on London. The idea of making use of the great frost fairs, held on a frozen
Thames, was a good one. Having the plot centre on a giant fish chained up at
the bottom of the river and being force-fed people for not entirely clear
reasons was... a less good idea. It could have worked well but, ultimately, it
didn't. Another draft was needed to make it as clear as possible what this
giant fish was doing under the Thames, how it had gotten there, and (the big
one) what the ramifications of its release were expected to be. These things
were touched on but left a little hazy and undefined. Hazy and undefined can
work in </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, but more in terms
of, for example, something or someone's origins and less in terms of the nature
of the threat the Doctor and his companion face. We need to know what's at
stake and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> never quite got
there.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thankfully it succeeded in other areas. Like its tackling
of race issues. A number of non-white faces cropped up as supporting cast and
extras, and the lead human villain (the guy who's family had imprisoned a giant
fish) was an open racist. Linking a TV baddie to something like racism, which
is something that still hasn't been purged from modern society, is a good thing
and sends the right message. It's not something Doctor Who as a show can do
every week but it is something it can touch on more often than it does</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.
Really, it's the approach I wanted when talking about the overloading of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><a href="http://thatdoctorwhoblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/smile.html" target="_blank">Smile</a></span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> last week.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">There was other positive stuff too. Good material for
Capaldi's Doctor, which there hadn't exactly been an abundance of in the
previous two episodes of the series. A return to well made, convincing sets
after the aberration that was </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Smile</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.
An attempt at tackling the butterfly effect in a fun, playful, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">-compatible way. Although that
last one is a little frustrating as the way in which it was brought up and
dropped as a concept within the first fifteen minutes of the episode makes me
suspect it was more prominent in previous drafts and got edited down for time
or to let other themes come through. It seems like the sort of thing Dollard's
style would mesh particularly well with. Maybe Chibnall will have her back to
do a forty-five minute episode of the potential perils of stamping on insects. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The other interesting thing to talk about now that </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> has aired is how the opening
three episodes of season ten parallel the opening three episodes of season one.
This isn't some arbitrary comparison, each trio follows the same basic pattern:
a contemporary Earth story in which the Doctor meets a new companion, a future
story in which the new companion is confronted with the mortality of the planet
they take for granted, and a historical story where the companion learns that
the future isn't guaranteed to take the shape you expect just because you've
seen it. This is a formula RTD used on every one of the seasons he produced
(with minor tweaks and changes here and there) while Moffat used it at the
start of his first year in charge and has stayed clear since</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. It's
interesting that he finally came back to it for his final, maybe a tacit admission
that it's a stronger approach than, say, starting with a two-parter and calling
it the finale or something stupid like that. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I don't think it worked as well here as it did in season
one, and that's mostly down to </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Smile</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
being a weaker episode than </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The End of
the World</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Comparing </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Rose</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><a href="http://thatdoctorwhoblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-pilot.html" target="_blank">The Pilot</a></span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> feels unfair in many ways as </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Rose</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was tasked with relaunching the
entire show, introducing basic concepts which are taken for granted now, along
with two leads and a supporting character. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
Pilot</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> only had to introduce a new companion, both the Doctor and the lone
supporting character of long term consequence (Matt Lucas as Nardole) were know
to us. Shunting these burdens to the side both episodes have their strengths
but it's </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Rose</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> that's the more
enjoyable of the two, not least because it has a more interesting visual threat
in villainous shop dummies, something </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
Pilot's</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> screeching puddle couldn't touch. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Unquiet Dead</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> fee the most similar.
Both take place during winter in the 1800s. Both tackle social issues (racism
for </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Pilot</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, asylum seeking for </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Unquiet Dead</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">). Both go for a fairly
standard </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Doctor Who</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> plot, mostly to
ease in new viewers and give them an idea of what a "standard"
episode of the show will look like. Really, the biggest difference (aside from
advances in production techniques) is that </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Unquiet</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
is a celebrity historical, a trope the show has largely moved away from under
Moffat</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">What do these comparisons mean? Not much, in the grand
scheme of things. I mostly just thought the parallels were worth noting. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Thin Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> was a good enough episode, a welcome
improvement on last week, and an episode that accomplished everything it set
out to. Perhaps most importantly it was further evidence that Sarah Dollard is
a writer we should want to see back once Chibnall's in the producer's chair. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> In fact the last time I remember this being
broached by the series was 2007's </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
Shakespeare Code</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> when the Doctor told Martha to "walk around like you
own the place, works for me." Which, let's be honest, was a bit of a cop
out.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> I could veer off into a whole spiel about
how this nicely encapsulates the differences between Moffat and Davies but I
won't because it would be boring and out of place.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> It's interesting to note that Moffat did do
a celebrity historical during his first season, having the Eleventh Doctor and
Amy meet Vincent Van Gogh. Again I'll refrain from comparing the two but it's
clear ol' Moffles was using the Davies formula during his first season in
charge and I'll be interested to see if that continues across his last.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-72549962449363311372017-04-23T10:46:00.001+01:002017-04-23T10:46:43.961+01:00Smile<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXXk3wGjCxTDfXmCc1uZGWJD6A6BoqLTkakKddDP6so-Q0kiS8dimZC8HCADbQUwv4drjmJF1MQGugd-bjVbFNxn580-e8X0Q9UPesj6jeJuTWHfyrGyU6fR_G5DtdAAfsH_eUl0GFLs/s1600/002+-+Smile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXXk3wGjCxTDfXmCc1uZGWJD6A6BoqLTkakKddDP6so-Q0kiS8dimZC8HCADbQUwv4drjmJF1MQGugd-bjVbFNxn580-e8X0Q9UPesj6jeJuTWHfyrGyU6fR_G5DtdAAfsH_eUl0GFLs/s400/002+-+Smile.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It struck me the moment <i>Smile</i> ended that it was a strong
contender for the least enjoyable episode of Capaldi era <i>Doctor Who</i>. I'd like
to definitively state that it's the worst but with things like <i>Robot of
Sherwood</i>, <i>Time Heist</i>, and the Zygon two-parter out there it's not a statement
you make lightly. It's a shame that an actor of his calibre has been so
consistently wasted. But he has been. We just need to accept it and move on, I
suppose.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The central problem of this episode was that it was dull.
That's a word I used to describe the previous episode. Perhaps there's a theme
developing (hopefully not an intentional one). What made <i>Smile</i> dull was that it
centred on ideas that have been done on the show before, and often. An empty
colony city. Nanotechnology that's become hostile to humanity. A companion
finding out that Earth will ultimately be evacuated and destroyed, making them
Sad. Slavery being A Very Bad Thing</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">™</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. It's all well-trod ground for <i>Doctor
Who</i>.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Not that that </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">has</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
to be a problem. All of those things are worth repeating, but only there's
something new to say or a new idea or concept to link them in with. It's not
enough to dash off the same checklist of arbitrary points as has been dashed
off every other time the topics have been tackled. Or, if that's not possible</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">,
then at least avoid piling so many well worn subjects into one episode. Space
them out a bit and tackle them across the series. So much familiarity makes for
very boring viewing with nothing new being said. Most importantly, don't
explore these things in a script that seemingly goes out of its way to keep
viewers unengaged.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Nobody mentioned this to Frank Cottrell-Boyce or Steven
Moffat, the men responsible for, respectively, writing and polishing</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
this script. The basic plot was that a ship had been sent to terraform a planet
and-or setup a base of operations for a human colony but the robots servants
went rogue and started killing the advance crew that had tagged along. We were
shown the robots going rogue in the pre-credits sequence so were never in any
doubt they were the reason the base was deserted, yet it took a while for the
Doctor and Bill to discover this for themselves before sending further time
investigating the whys and wherefores of what had happened. Which meant the
first forty minutes dragged as the pair ponderously gained all the information
they needed, most of which the audience had known all along. Particularly
annoying when it was obvious the creepy emoji-faced robots were behind
everything, because who else was it going to be?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Mentioning the emoji-faced robots is a nice segue into the
broader ways in which this episode felt like a failure. The bright white utopian
cityscape looked the part but once inside the Doctor and Bill went from airy,
open rooms to green-lit corridors to brown greenhouses seemingly within seconds
of one another. It didn't feel like they were walking through one place. The
original Earth spacecraft at the centre of the city felt out of place too but
that was intentional, and frankly it should have been even more different than
it was so it's a location that fails in a different way. The emoji-bots were
neither comically non-threatening nor surprisingly sinister and moved with all
the grace of oft forgotten <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCK5pipHeZY" target="_blank">80's companion Kamelion</a></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.
They were only ever going to work as one of those two extremes, the middle
ground approach doomed them from the start. The interplay between the Doctor
and Bill had its moments but overall didn't feel as good as it did in <i>The
Pilot</i>. And as good as they appeared to be together last week asking them to
carry over half an hour of the episode with no supporting cast seemed like a
big ask in Bill's second ever story. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Lastly, there was that problematic resolution. It was
technobabble heavy and came down to the Doctor pushing a button. That's never
ideal but it doesn't have to be a problem. If the stakes are clear and sufficient
tension has been introduced then it's an acceptable way of tying up a filler
episode (and this was clearly a filler episode). But the stakes weren't clear
here and the only tension came from Murray Gold's blaring soundtrack. On top of
that the Doctor knowingly wiped the recent memories of an entire
technology-based species and "restored their factory settings."
That's a pretty oppressive approach. With more time or emotional engagement it
could have been played in an almost <i>Genesis of the Daleks</i> "Do I have the
right?" fashion but that would have fallen flat with a species we don't
know as vicious killers and with the build-up of the first forty-five minutes. A
negotiation sequence, which could have happened mostly off-screen, would have been
an improvement</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Considering the miniscule supporting cast</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> and
reliance on location filming I suspect this was one of the season's cheaper
episodes. If it was then this was the wrong slot for it. The Doctor and Bill
shouldn't be alone for that long unless they have something substantial to talk
about, and getting-to-know-one-another chat doesn't qualify there. Not having
the budget on screen to gawp at just one week into a new series isn't a good idea
either.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I enjoyed two things in <i>Smile</i>. The reference to the door
the Doctor's agreed to stay on Earth to guard and the final moments where they
arrived on a frozen Thames and were confronted by an elephant. Those were minor
things and not enough to balance out the bulk of the story being boring twaddle
that never really got going and featured some of the least ambitious locations,
sets, and designs of the past twelve years. It felt rushed, and that's a worry
when it's episode two of a twelve episode run.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Not that that would ever be the case but
whatever.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> At least, Moffat is alleged to do this.
There's not much indication that he does, at least not to the extent of his
predecessor. You could see this as Moffat giving the writers he commissions
more freedom. You could see it as a lack of desire to have an increased sense
of unity across any given series. Or maybe just plain laziness.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Even if you adhere to the Capaldi's Doctor
is a harsher Doctor school of thought wiping memories and setting back the
evolution of an entire species seems savage for any Doctor</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Two speaking parts in the opening scene, two
more in the main episode, and a gaggle of extras.</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Except maybe, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">maybe</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, season twenty-two Colin Baker.</span>Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-2812931648840130862017-04-16T11:43:00.000+01:002017-05-28T16:45:33.261+01:00The Pilot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqWuQHoWLvaioiM54x9vLri4TrCzvimgs_AKG9mSVY26rb6PaT0jZJ7DpJxE3pC6iiwC6CJMd6_rq-Yp2QB51PcQERaFbOLbRNylK0FchymJ8NYrJfnTECDncBalXWps5Sg7v5sikZHVw/s1600/001+-+The+Pilot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqWuQHoWLvaioiM54x9vLri4TrCzvimgs_AKG9mSVY26rb6PaT0jZJ7DpJxE3pC6iiwC6CJMd6_rq-Yp2QB51PcQERaFbOLbRNylK0FchymJ8NYrJfnTECDncBalXWps5Sg7v5sikZHVw/s400/001+-+The+Pilot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This new series of <i>Doctor Who</i>, the thirty-sixth overall
and the tenth since the 2005 revival, was marketed as a good place for new
viewers to start watching. I hope not many people bothered because it was
inaccessible, poorly paced</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">and dull.
These are obviously things you'd never want a television programme to be, but
it's particularly troublesome for an episode intended to act as a an exciting
launching point and reason to tune in again.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">An ideal introductory episode of (modern) <i>Doctor Who</i>
should be easy to follow, light on continuity, and introduce a relatable viewpoint
character meeting the Doctor and falling out of their world into the universe.
<i>The Pilot</i> achieved none of this. The story wasn't complex but it did require
full attention, not good when you should really just be enjoying watching the
two leads (and, in this instance, Matt Lucas for some reason) interacting with
one another. Flitting to Australia, a quarry planet in the future, and a Dalek
war served to show what the TARDIS does, but it was tied into a tedious chase
sequence with a seemingly unstoppable enemy</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. This was far from this
episode's worst offence though, so whatevs. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Continuity was heavy. I'm not talking about little nods
for fans to catch here, they're generally alright as long as they're subtle.
I'm talking about the bigger problems like infodumping a bunch of stuff about
the Doctor's history and reducing the show's most iconic enemies to a
non-threat that can be dealt with by Matt Lucas and a sonic screwdriver. For
those new viewers that were encouraged to watch it would have just been
extraneous information, the sort of off-putting sci-fi nonsense that drives
people away instead of enticing them back.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It was new companion Bill's introduction that was main
reason this episode felt more miss than hit. Instead of finding the world of
<i>Doctor Who</i> seeping into her ordinary, relatable life and leading her to stumble
across the Doctor (see <i>Rose</i> and <i>The Eleventh Hour</i> for examples of how to do
this right) this episode literally started with Bill being interviewed by the
Doctor and then being made his companion in all but name. Not only was it a subdued
start</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> it robbed us of the chance to see Bill's journey into the
Doctor's world. Why Moffat would pass up the chance to do this in his last go
around in the producer's chair is genuinely baffling. It's a technique that
can't really be used effectively on any other major TV show and works perfectly
as an introduction device.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">But it wasn't all bad. Bill was likeable, Pearl Mackie
showing all the range she needed to for her debut performance in the role. The teases for what's to come (why the Doctor was living in a university and that potentially-Time-Lord-made gate in a basement) were fun. The evil
puddle's motivation being that its human host was in love was something a
little different for <i>Doctor Who</i> (though, sadly, not quite different enough</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";">).</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Peter Capaldi was as good as ever at taking
borderline cringe-worthy dialogue and pedestrian plotting and giving us
something worth watching. And the final shot of the "coming soon"
trailer was of John Simm's Master. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">There's potential for Bill to be a good companion and
Capaldi to go out on a high. You just have to squint to see it.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">***</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> I won't dwell on the fact that the enemy
here is the latest in a long line of Steven Moffat creations that fall into the
alien-technology-that-thinks-it's-doing-something-right-but-isn't-because-it-doesn't-properly-understand-humans
category.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> See the above footnote.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Not necessarily a bad thing, admittedly.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-83629932786769210382015-12-27T14:39:00.002+00:002015-12-27T14:39:51.559+00:00The Husbands of River Song<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtjz-hYrfOCZdFqVhZMqzN3Y07zaArrmqWb0uoM-cahqTzhAIJDiLdDMhBV-tRBy3u4dkBmsZLQwcyySJYcMCOGLVZUzPMK0GUszyg_RuTJ4goks4UT47qQBs63KX8_kn6d2UQlmByR0/s1600/013+-+The+Husbands+of+River+Song.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtjz-hYrfOCZdFqVhZMqzN3Y07zaArrmqWb0uoM-cahqTzhAIJDiLdDMhBV-tRBy3u4dkBmsZLQwcyySJYcMCOGLVZUzPMK0GUszyg_RuTJ4goks4UT47qQBs63KX8_kn6d2UQlmByR0/s320/013+-+The+Husbands+of+River+Song.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Husbands of River Song was basically Steven Moffat
doing Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It
certainly makes a nice change of pace from his usual approach to the Christmas specials,
where he gives a standard episode plot or idea some generic Christmas lip
service. It also makes a nice change of pace from his general approach of
either writing about time travel or aping Robert Holmes (or both, of course). It
was Moffat's best Christmas special<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup>. He kept things simple, aimed
for fun (he even managed to hit it a few times), and didn't shy away from
mentioning Christmas. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although that's not to say it some sort of flawless
masterpiece. It wasn't. This paled in comparison to even the worst RTD era
Crimbo spectacular. For my money that's The Next Doctor, though whichever one
you pick as least good it's going to be better than this. Even if you're really
into Douglas Adams this episode probably wasn't better than
Insert-Name-of-Your-Least-Favourite-Davies-Era-Special-Here because it wasn't
enough like Hitchhikers Guide to be satisfying. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other thing that could save this episode for some
people is the presence of River Song. The thing is, most people aren't going to
be into River Song to that extent. She's a recurring character whose last
appearance came two and a half years ago, in The Name of the Doctor. The show
should hopefully have attracted a few new viewers by then, but no concessions
were made to them. There was no explanation for who River was or why we should
care about her. Even people who follow the show enough to remember her could
probably have done with a refresher on her history<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup>.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The episode's central problem is that it assumes
everyone's familiar with River's convoluted character arc and is happy to see
her back. Which isn't true. I've nothing against the character or Alex Kingston
but I'd be perfectly happy if neither appeared in the show again. Self aware
jokes about flow charts are fine and fun. The final scenes all revolving around
things not mentioned since Silence in the Library (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seven</i> years ago), with no explanations on offer for anyone who
didn't follow the references, was too much. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In fact I don't think it would be a stretch to say that anyone who's come to
the show since Capaldi joined, and there have to be some people who that's true
for, would have been nothing but confused for large chunks of this story. Even
when her relationship to the Doctor was revealed there was still a that stuff
with the sonic screwdriver, and the Doctor's haircut and suit setting up
Silence in the Library to contend with. This sort of approach is the reason
Moffat needs to leave the show. He's a fine writer when he's producing one story
a year but his approach to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">running</i> the
show is close to being actively harmful at this point. Give it to Mark Gatiss
or Jamie Mathieson or Chris 'Chibbers' Chibnall or Sarah Dollard. The next
series really needs to see Moffat bowing out gracefully.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dragging things back to The Husbands of River Song... the
show's other main guest stars were Greg Davies, best known as angry teacher Mr
Gilbert on The Inbetweeners, and Matt Lucas, best known as one of the lads off
Little Britain. Greg Davies played a megalomaniac king detached from his body
for the first half of the episode and was very good. In fact Hydroflax could
have been a really bad character had they not had someone as good at producing
the yucks as Davies. Matt Lucas wasn't afforded such a memorable role. He
wasn't especially good, but nor was he especially bad. He was simply there. His
part could have gone to a compete unknown and no one would have batted an
eyelid.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I said in pretty much every review of series nine, Capaldi
and the set design team were very good. Capaldi did a great job, elevating
generic lines about River Song continuity into something watchable. Not for the
first time I'm pleased we had him in the show over Matt Smith (although this is
one of the few examples of an episode of Doctor Who that could not be rework to
feature any other Doctor). The design team gave us a nice model shot towards the
start (Hydroflax's spaceship), subtly reused Trap Street from Face the Raven as
an alien world, and did a pair of nice spaceship interiors (although technically
one may well have been a location shoot). They made it easier to gloss over the
fact that this was an excuse for Moffat to revisit River Song as a concept <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">again</i>, something he swore he assured us
he was going to stop doing after her previous appearance in 2013 (see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKihwCJBOfg" target="_blank">here</a> for one of many possible examples of that). Didn't stick to that, did he?</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup> I'd like to point out it had staggeringly
low expectations to meet though, so this shouldn't be taken as any sort of worthwhile
achievement.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup> Here I'm taking about people who watch every
week, or most weeks, but don't obsess every details of the show. Despite Moff's
assertions to the contrary they still make up the bulk of the programme's
viewership.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-79180352430854478422015-12-06T13:00:00.000+00:002015-12-06T13:00:15.958+00:00Hell Bent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljrAsomTXbME5yvFMKS4HS7EkUlaZBXWmbZ3wDsNg_zjJcM4PzZkblTqBf3JC03ZM7dKa1K9qXH4_57JaC1KBzCzhOuKRTqPaMO0tcOw_U_J1ZaXGFljmllVUdZ_AhIIJeDNEvHLeVkM/s1600/012+-+Hell+Bent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljrAsomTXbME5yvFMKS4HS7EkUlaZBXWmbZ3wDsNg_zjJcM4PzZkblTqBf3JC03ZM7dKa1K9qXH4_57JaC1KBzCzhOuKRTqPaMO0tcOw_U_J1ZaXGFljmllVUdZ_AhIIJeDNEvHLeVkM/s320/012+-+Hell+Bent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm not going to say this was the worst season finale
Steven Moffat's ever written but that's mostly because The Name of the Doctor
exists. This was not a suitable end for what's been a pretty good season
overall. It wasn't that it was badly made or acted, or badly written for that
matter. It's that it was trying too hard to hard to be a big, epic story and in
doing so it got too wrapped up in its own self-importance.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was Big Steve's first proper go at tinkering with
Gallifrey, something that was always going to end badly. Because Gallifrey
stories can't be done without heavy use of continuity and Moffat doesn't really
do well with that. He makes continuity the focus instead of using it sparingly
to embellish his stories. The answer, generally speaking, is not to do
Gallifrey stories in the first place unless under very specific circumstances.
The lone Gallifrey story of the Davies era (The End of Time) worked because
we'd have five years to build up to it and it was used as the backdrop for the
exit of arguably the most popular lead actor in the show's history in David
Tennant<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup>. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moffat played all the expected cards: Rassilon, the
Matrix, Ohila, Ashildr, Clara not being dead, soldiers siding with the Doctor, lines
of dialogue echoing the show's past. The only real surprise was the omission of
Missy. He threw in everything he could to make this a "classic"
story. In doing so he made it too busy and ensured that it could only ever be
seen in the light he wanted by people who adore continuity references above anything
else (and it's worth pointing out he frequently makes out in interviews that
those are the kinds of people the show should not be aimed at). He also made a
hash of explaining what the plot was. Even if you got all of the references to
the programme's past such a bad job was done of explaining what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">exactly</i> was going on that I'm convinced
nobody could have watched this and understood it on a single viewing. The Time
Lords wanted information on the hybrid, but we didn't learn why it had suddenly
become important. We didn't really get a satisfactory answer on why Clara <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had </i>to die as scheduled, which hasn't
exactly been an issue at any other time during the Moffat era.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Maybe the intention is for this to work with repeated
viewings. Maybe this is designed as something that's watched over and over
again, likely in conjunction with Face the Raven and Heaven Sent. To an extent
that's okay. That's how a lot of people watch television now. On Demand
services and DVD boxed sets being what they are it's actually sensible to take
this approach on occasion. But it shouldn't be done at the expense of people who
are going to watch once on a Saturday evening. Doing so is alienating. It's
that approach that saw the show falter under JNT in the 80's. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hell Bent was intended as Moffat's Deadly Assassin. His
definitive take on the grandest aspects of the show's continuity and mythology,
Gallifrey and the Time Lords. He's entirely missed that the reason The Deadly
Assassin works as well as it does is because Robert Holmes was trying to avoid
playing on mythology and continuity, playing against what they'd been up until
that point and using them as the basis for something completely new. The lone
new bit of lore we got here, the Cloister Wraiths (dead Time Lords used as
anti-virus technology to protect the Matrix against people poking around inside
it), were a nice idea and worthy of being the focus of their own story as
opposed to a throwaway aspect of something larger. They weren't enough to
justify the episode as a whole though.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I know what the argument will be in favour of Moffat
using Gallifrey here: it was the backdrop for the exit of Clara. But the thing
with Clara is, no matter how much you may like her and feel that she's a great
character and that Jenna Coleman is very good, she isn't the Doctor. Gallifrey
being brought back to bring about the exit of any character except the Doctor
will always feel too much, because the Doctor, as the one constant throughout
the show's ongoing narrative, is the show's most important character and as
such the only one who truly warrants such high stakes for an exit. And even
then it should be a rarity.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This isn't to knock Coleman, Clara or the exit. I liked
all three. Coleman left showing what a versatile performance she can give, with
only Peter Capaldi matching her (obviously). Clara got to leave to a greatest
hits performance, grounding the Doctor, being noble, and demonstrating her
yearning for adventure. She's never felt especially developed as a character
but everything we've learn about her was used and tied up nicely here.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The nature of her exit was an example of Moffat's keenness
to evoke the shows early years (something we've seen many times, from the
understandable inclusion of the Hartnell Doctor in The Day of the Doctor to his
less understandable inclusion on a library card in Vampires of Venice). Clara
left her home planet in a TARDIS (which was for some reason trapped in the
shape of an American diner), in the company of an immortal, and ostensibly on
the run from the Time Lords. The mirroring with An Unearthly Child is
infuriating in its obviousness but it carries its own kind of charm. I'm sure
there are kids who would have watched this and enjoyed that farewell for Clara
and (presumably) Ashildr). The real strength was her finally getting a successful
Doctor-ish moment, surviving a memory wipe where the Doctor didn't and having
one final conversation in which she knew more than him before leaving. It
worked all the better for the initial framing of her being the one who couldn't
remember, a rare example of Moffat's tricksiness being a worthwhile endeavour.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There were other performances worth mentioning. Donald
Sumpter was perfectly cast as Rassilon, power mad and desperate to retain
control. If you can't get a "big" name like Timothy Dalton casting a
man in his seventies is the next best thing. The silent woman who attended to
the Doctor while he stayed at the barn was good too, showing good comedy <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>timing and giving character to an otherwise
forgettable part. But it was the Female General who I liked the most. She seemed
like a promising new character in her post-regeneration scene but was presented
as glorified muscle for Ohila for the rest of her time on screen. It's a shame
she wasn't given more to do. She'd make a good semi-regular villain based on
what we saw here.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of Ohila, Clare Higgins gave one of the worst
performances in New Who's ten year history. It's easy to see why she's previously
been relegated to pre-credits sequences, webisodes and YouTube uploads. She is
not good at acting. Had she not happened to be cast in The Brain of Morbius she
would not be lucky enough to be in this position now. She's getting work
because of the showrunner's love of pointless continuity references. Although,
to be fair, she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> playing a
character who became a villain for absolutely no discernible reason halfway
through the episode.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hell Bent is a needlessly complicated episode that
focuses far too much on continuity and far too little on plot. It ends series
nine on a bad note but it gets the departure of Clara right and as that's the
central purpose of it it's hard to deem it a complete failure. </span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup> If you're of a certain age you're going to
be thinking that Tom Baker was more popular. I'm not saying he wasn't but
Tennant is easily his counterpart in the rebooted series, the guy who helped
the show attain the international appeal that's so integral to its continued existence
now.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-50324752211092068952015-11-29T12:13:00.001+00:002015-11-29T12:13:38.177+00:00Heaven Sent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5H5FQAwlcubuLbk7gPjQoG5EYBgaY1F8xMN1vF7FYNkb_ntCDGWj6mh2gIgg6ljZuQ4puJTFKl5ZX7Oo2efYx0DDKvmh1NhyphenhyphenJaobc31kKcIJM9MV6GQm_PikFOax07WcuGzi6_de68Wk/s1600/011+-+Heaven+Sent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5H5FQAwlcubuLbk7gPjQoG5EYBgaY1F8xMN1vF7FYNkb_ntCDGWj6mh2gIgg6ljZuQ4puJTFKl5ZX7Oo2efYx0DDKvmh1NhyphenhyphenJaobc31kKcIJM9MV6GQm_PikFOax07WcuGzi6_de68Wk/s320/011+-+Heaven+Sent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The most obvious thing to note about Heaven Sent is that
it's the first time ever the lead actor has had the entire show to themselves
(minus a brief appearance from Jenna Coleman and a child actor at the end).
It's the sort of thing that can be done every so often, a tweak to the format
to keep things interesting. It doesn't hurt to alter the audience's
expectations either<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup>.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It worked largely because of Peter Capaldi. Chris
Eccleston could have done this but there was no way the programme could have
been so experimental in its first series. David Tennant could have done this
too, although his Doctor was written more to bounce off of other people and to
enjoy showing off. And even his time on the show may have felt a little early
to try it. Matt Smith could not have handled this, which makes me think that
Moffat's had this story in his head for a while but waited until he had a lead
actor who could do it justice<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup>. I'm finding myself thinking that
more the more I watch Capaldi and see the things he's given to do.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The episode ended up as a fifty-five minute example of
why Peter Capaldi was cast as the Twelfth Doctor. He showed his impressive
range. He showed his instinct for making interesting choices for how to play
things. He showed his expressive body language and facial movements. Whether he
was stepping out of the teleporter at the start (and the end) of the episode
and placing his feet to suggest frailty and innocence or giving a knowing
glance to the camera as he delivered the line "I'm nothing without an
audience" he was pitching things perfectly. He gave a performance that was
so nuanced and focused that he pretty much made it so that he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> to be considered the best actor to
have taken the lead role of New Who. Because nobody else has had the chance to
show their ability in this way before. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Steven Moffat deserves credit too. Because he provided
Capaldi with a script that let him be intelligent, funny, scared, angry and a
bunch of other things. He also gave us his best new monster for a while, the originally-unnamed
shuffling presence (later disappointingly named as the Veil) that hounded the
Doctor through an otherwise empty castle. A faceless, unstoppable horror that
can only be stopped with fresh truths is a very clever, very Doctor Who, very
Steven Moffat idea. The same goes for the setting of a castle which can
rearrange itself. That's not a new idea, of course, but it's something that's a
good fit for this show and feels like it should have been seen more. It was the
setting and the constant threat of the Veil that gave the episode a sense of
urgency, something for Capaldi to react against in the absence of a proper
supporting cast.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Moffat's other triumph was explaining how the Doctor
copes with dangerous situations. He stays calm and imagines himself in the
safety of the TARDIS, slowing things down and letting himself concentrate and
think. It gave us a glimpse inside the Doctor's head but in a way that didn't
reveal too much of the character and retained some of his much-needed mystery.
It also made good use of the TARDIS set, an enormous expense that hasn't had
much screen time this series. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of which, the production team deserve a mention
at this point. They found a great location for the castle, created some good
props to make it seem appropriately unknowable<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup>, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and put together an effective costume for the
Veil. Interesting things were done with the lighting as the TARDIS "came
back online" too. Everyone seemed to be working towards making this a
memorable episode and they accomplished that goal.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The episode wasn't without its faults though. At the same
time as he was doing his best writing yet for Capaldi's Doctor Moffat was also
pumping out another looped timeline plot. These and the not dissimilar time paradoxes
are amongst his most overused tropes. He's been using them since Blink and
hasn't been sparing about it. Series six was bookended by this approach for
example. It's reached the point now where it's to be expected. The moment I saw
a gnarled, bloody hand pulling a lever at the beginning of the episode I knew
it would turn out to be Capaldi because that's precisely the sort of thing
Moffat does. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other failure<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup> was that it was the Time
Lords behind it all. On one hand, that's okay. The Time Lords have been built
up since the reboot as an unknowable, god-like race whom the Doctor both misses
and never wants to see return. They're an interesting concept to introduce to
New Who<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup> for these reasons and it feels appropriate for them to
return ten years on from the revival. And the reveal that the castle was inside
the confession dial was a very nice touch, being unexpected and a nod towards
the race's knack for bigger-on-the-inside technology.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the other hand it was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i> going to be the Time Lords and Moffat didn't even try to
hide it. A token attempt at not making it obvious would have been nice. Their
return has been inevitable since they were brought back in The Day of the
Doctor and it's an ill-fated decision. The Time Lords have always worked best
when presented as a corrupt society of paranoid schemers desperate to cling to
life and left mostly off-screen. The majority of JNT's term as producer bears
me out on this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trailer shows that
we're going to see guns and armour. Lots of guns and armour. Using the Time
Lords as Imperial storm trooper surrogates does them no favours but it's not a
part of this episode, so it's not the problem that another time loop plot is.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This isn't the sort of episode that could be done every
series, or even with every Doctor, but as a one off it absolutely works. The
right actor got to do it.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup> By "the audience" I mean the
portion of people who watch Doctor Who without gorging themselves on previews
and spoilers first, because they're the ones who (probably) didn't' know this
single-hander was coming, and I imagine it would have worked better without
that foreknowledge.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup> Although I may be giving Moffles too much
credit. Maybe Smith's era was shaped the way it was because he simply couldn't
wait to write all those "clever" time travel plots and explain The
Mystery of River Song™.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup> Yeah it was mostly big clockwork cogs, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> big clockwork cogs!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span></sup> Aside from the script raising questions like
"Why did the Veil touching the Doctor's face burn one side of the face but
not the other, and why did it scorch the Doctor's clothes?"</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">5</span></sup> Well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">re</i>introduce,
technically. RTD beat Moffat to it by several years, although it feels like
Moffat intends to have the Time Lords return on a more permanent basis where
Davies was happy to use them as a one-off, the ultimate threat in his
Buffy-inspired Ever Bigger and Badder Big Bads approach to series finales.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-60689993063301397582015-11-22T12:39:00.001+00:002015-11-22T12:39:12.745+00:00Face the Raven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRnzb6sv1CTEtilL0hTWIOTllcO1cmaj2fL4ViPuEixSCqzJVkSxHTarq3zDzWPRAdqbXYaHlgPe4lgtAJGfnyBeOImW3yo3UDu6ejfRKgnL64ZVA3QROjYoQHBU9b7DWzPe5rXFEuEI/s1600/010+-+Face+the+Raven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRnzb6sv1CTEtilL0hTWIOTllcO1cmaj2fL4ViPuEixSCqzJVkSxHTarq3zDzWPRAdqbXYaHlgPe4lgtAJGfnyBeOImW3yo3UDu6ejfRKgnL64ZVA3QROjYoQHBU9b7DWzPe5rXFEuEI/s320/010+-+Face+the+Raven.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This episode feels like it should have come about a lot
sooner. Not because of the series arc stuff it included but because of its
urban fantasy trappings. It's a genre that's been growing in popularity since
before the show was revived in 2005, making it something the show was always
going to touch on. More importantly it feels like a natural fit for Doctor Who.
It's not a coincidence that former Who writers Ben Aaronovitch and Paul Cornell
have found success in this genre or that one of its most prominent figures in
Neil Gaiman has been brought in to write for the show. It's trappings and
tropes are a good fit for a programme that can lends itself to magical realism.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It's possible I liked the episode disproportionately
because of its use of urban fantasy. Not that the writing was bad. It wasn't.
In fact I felt that the pre-credits teaser scene was one of the best we've had
this season, the regulars were written impeccably, and the opening stretch in
which we were introduced to trap streets and the concept of aliens using them
as hiding places was excellent. The idea of a raven that flew <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">into</i> people branded with a tattoo that
counted down to zero was a good one and the returning Ashildr was written the
same sort of moral greyness and magnetism that made her stand out in The Woman
Who Lived. Rigsy was better here than in Flatline, for the record, although he's
a far less important or interesting character.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was the world building that I liked. Because that's
what I always like, in anything. But that doesn't necessarily make a good
episode of Doctor Who and I'm having trouble picking out anything before the
climax scenes that stood out to the same degree. I think the episode got an
easier ride from me than most because it was doing something different to the
rest of the Moffat era and making use of something obvious. And because it had
a fantastic set that perfectly fit the tone of the genre and the needs of the
episode. It felt like what it was meant to be, a magical Victorian street squirreled
away in the middle of London. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But ultimately it's not any of this that this episode
will be remembered for, no matter how worthwhile it may have been. This episode
will be remembered for the death of Clara. And, in fairness, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> a good death scene. Clara has been
written as becoming increasingly Doctor-esque across her time on the show. It's
not always worked and it's sometimes outright misfired but there's enough
material of Clara emulating the Doctor's behaviour and behaving as he would (or
thinks he would) that you can take her actions here, thinking she's found a
workaround for the rules of the raven always killing its victims by taking the
tattoo target from Rigsy, as completely in character. And it's a fitting end, a
companion who's overestimated their own ability and similarity (or lack
thereof) to the show's lead character and paid the price for it. If only
Earthshock had included as much thought as this Adric may be better remembered.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi handle what we were are left
to assume was their final scene together as those characters well. Capaldi went
from snarling rage with Ashildr to sorrow and awkwardness when saying goodbye
to Clara. It demonstrated the range the man has, something which could be made
use of far more often. Meanwhile Coleman played Clara coming to terms with her
impending death and the Doctor's inability to help her with dignified
acceptance and bravery, giving the character the ending I imagine most viewers
will feel she absolutely deserved. For what it's worth I've never felt that
engaged by Clara. Her origin as a Big Mystery™ and relationship with the boring
Danny Pink left me cold. But she's worked this series and this was a memorable
exit.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Assuming of course that it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> an exit from the show. There are two episodes left to air. Next
week's has been announced as a solo outing for Peter Capaldi, which should shut
up my requests to give him more to do. You can't ask for more than giving him
an entire episode to himself. But Coleman has been confirmed for the following
week. There's also the fact that Steven Moffat has never been shy about
bringing back characters that are absolutely-definitely-positively-dead-totally-forever.
It happened several times with Rory, it was Amy's final send-off, and we have
River Song coming back at Christmas in a story set after her death and upload
to a magical super computer on the planet Library. That we know characters can
so easily return after death under Moffat does blunt the loss of Clara
slightly, but we can still enjoy her death scene in isolation. I suspect it
will be easier to accept when we know how her time on the show plays out in
Heaven Sent and Hell Bent. I suspect the Doctor will track down one of the
"splinters" Clara created in The Name of the Doctor (my views on that
episode <a href="http://thatdoctorwhoblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-name.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and have a somewhat one-sided chat with
them before a final reveal that those splinters can all remember being Clara
(or something equally daft and underwhelming). And on the subject of
predictions I'll be amazed if we don't find out that Missy and the Daleks (and
possibly Davros) is (are) behind the trap sprung on the Doctor in this episode.
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sarah Dollard is welcome back any time.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-71016837623779383062015-11-15T10:56:00.003+00:002015-11-15T10:56:48.759+00:00Sleep No More<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBJS3NY7snx06FFJHpZnJOc0VzUU8JxHOgg6XHv-ZN0aOTzIU25VKH2kziZq0cxTqMVTUpDCmOvrpRTtGW9sOA4zSXli-q9wVXKO48FGaegBcb7AZuvOGO0N_wXjteYYj6WD8dDZ2E4M/s1600/009+-+Sleep+No+More.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBJS3NY7snx06FFJHpZnJOc0VzUU8JxHOgg6XHv-ZN0aOTzIU25VKH2kziZq0cxTqMVTUpDCmOvrpRTtGW9sOA4zSXli-q9wVXKO48FGaegBcb7AZuvOGO0N_wXjteYYj6WD8dDZ2E4M/s320/009+-+Sleep+No+More.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In promotional material for Sleep No More writer Mark
Gatiss talked about how he'd had the idea for years and felt it was one of the
better things he'd ever written. Steven Moffat opted for his typical approach
of understatement and merely opined that it was Gatiss's Best Episode of
Anything Ever. This meant that expectations were pretty high. In an unusual
twist they were met. Well, mostly.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gatiss's usual method is to ape the Pertwee era. It's
easy to see the stylistic influence in all of his previous Doctor Who scripts.
A fair number of them, more than is comfortable really, are all too easy to
imagine with Jon Pertwee in the starring role. The only change you'd really
need to make for that would be more mentions of polarity and greater frequency
of the phrase "my dear." </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sleep No More broke from this tradition, with Gatiss
tackling a future setting for the first time (worth mentioning this was
relatively uncommon for Pertwee), aiming for the Creepy, Scary Episode, and
writing a script that was far from the technical norm for the show. It was a
welcome and successful change and shows that Gatiss <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> write interesting scripts when he's given the chance. And when
he has an idea that lends itself to it.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The episode was very, very good for the first half an
hour or so. Gatiss presented us with a varied cast and dropped in plenty of
hints about the wider world they inhabited (something I always appreciate in
Doctor Who). The central conceit of the Morpehus pods, machines which allow you
sleep for just a few seconds and exit feeling completely refreshed, were
introduced naturally and explained well. What easily have been a boring scene
was kept lively and engaging, not something we should necessarily have expected
from Gatiss given his track record. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">His greatest achievement was writing the entire episode
to be filmed from POV and security footage. The real work here would have been
done by the crew actually making the episode of course, but it all started with
Gatiss getting it right with his writing. It was something that could have gone
very wrong. He writes a mean bit of Victoriana and can drop a Silurians
reference like nobody's business but this script was more adventurous than
anything else he's contributed to the programme before, or anything else I've seen
him credited with. Overall it was probably his best script for Doctor Who.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is not to say Sleep No More is flawless. It isn't.
The final fifteen minutes are filled with twists, so much so that it's not
entirely clear on a first viewing what lead baddie Rassmussen's motivations are
by the end, or how he's set about trying to achieve them. Or, for that matter,
what monsters of the week the Sandmen want beyond mindless destruction (and
really, if you're going to have your monsters speak and have motivations to
begin with more is required than this). The fact that Rassmussen is written as
a gloating madman by the end can be overlooked, because it's not like the show
has ever shied away from them before and Reece Shearsmith is good (though not
mindblowing) with the role, but his devolution into a man who wants to unleash
a plague of sentient dust on the world for no reason can't be. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It felt as though Gatiss had worked very hard on that
first half an hour and struggled to tie everything together in a satisfying,
logical manner. What the episode needed was a final draft to tighten it up and
an editor (that would be Steven Moffat) good enough to give Gatiss a bit of
help. A proper reason for Rassmussen to behave as he did, a better explanation
for the Sandmen (and specifically an explanation for how they were blind when being made out of bits of dust we'd been told could all see), and a cleverer reveal regarding the dust watching and
recording everything we were seeing and this could have been in contention for
the highly valued title of A Classic Story. But extra drafts and editorial aid are
things that just don't happen much in the Moffat era. His bad time management,
something the show's erratic schedule and his work on spiritual sister show Sherlock
demonstrate to be an issue, is the cause here. Sleep No More is just the latest
victim.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of which means this episode sits somewhere around the
middle on the ranking list of this series. It was better than the Flood and
Zygon two-parters but not as good as the opening Dalek story or The Girl Who
Died and The Woman Who Lived. I suppose it's a good thing we had Capaldi in the
lead role. Had Matt Smith gurned his way through this I think I'd feel
differently how good it is.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-86060491195707876102015-11-08T11:00:00.002+00:002015-11-08T11:00:29.920+00:00The Zygon Inversion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtTaLXcRfLObNRJJER6ixey-p3rZu0FpMObSU11k0EiWxY9vINZfW9lxm9dAt-45bexen5u2qDoOk2n6P8Gjld1VuvH68nislTFNeXHxdHXmtx__WRTC6-alcAoAcgWndbeT8_rJ2XJ-A/s1600/008+-+The+Zygon+Inversion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtTaLXcRfLObNRJJER6ixey-p3rZu0FpMObSU11k0EiWxY9vINZfW9lxm9dAt-45bexen5u2qDoOk2n6P8Gjld1VuvH68nislTFNeXHxdHXmtx__WRTC6-alcAoAcgWndbeT8_rJ2XJ-A/s320/008+-+The+Zygon+Inversion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Zygon Inversion was about as good as it was going to
be considering it had such a weak opening half (last week's Zygon Invasion). That
is to say it was not very good at all. The desire to create a tense, creeping
atmosphere misfired. This was likely attributable either to Peter Harness not
being a good enough writer or the show simply not lending itself well to the
thriller genre. Or, very possibly, both.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The whole thing felt off. It was slow to get going and
chugged towards an obvious and clichéd climax in which the Doctor talked Kate
Stewart (representing humanity) and Bonnie the Zygon (representing the rebel
Zygons) into calming down and seeking peace over war and destruction. This was
a fine message and obviously one that the character and the show should be
seeking and propagating but the scene fell flat. Capaldi and Coleman (who was pulling
double duty as Bonnie) were both very good while Jemma Redgrave (Stewart) was a
little bland, but performances weren't the problem. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The problem was the Doctor's speech. It was very clearly
written as the centrepiece of the episode and a Big Character Moment, something
that was meant to make people take notice and add to lists of Capaldi's
greatest moments in the role. I didn't think it was very good. I thought it was
trite and forced and had very little substance to it. It was written less as a
man trying to kep control of a dangerous situation and more as a speech we
should be impressed by. And when you have a scene like that, that's very much
the crux of the episode, having it fall flat and feel lightweight obviously
reflects badly on the entire thing. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On top of this the episode just didn't feel very good. Too
much time was dedicated to resolving (and partially rewriting, never a good
thing) the cliffhanger and establishing the rules of the Zygon-human link that
were "needed" for the plot's resolution. Effort that should have gone
into giving people interesting lines or understandable motives (the rebel
Zygons wanted a war just because, is that really the best that could be dreamt
up?) instead went into tricking the audience into Moffat-esque alleged
cleverness. Things happened rarely and didn't amount to much when they did.
What we got in between were dry attempts at humour, character and mystery. We
also saw Mysterious Boxes make a return to the show after previously featuring
heavily in The Power of Three and The Day of the Doctor, establishing
themselves on the Moffat Tropes List. And the Black Archive was a huge wasted opportunity. It could have been packed with background props. The closest we got was the head of one of the robot warriors from The Girl Who Died.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was nothing to like here. Not even Evil Clara was
fun. Last week's brief appearance was exciting. Given more time she quickly
degenerated into a generic baddie. And to make things worse she simply turned
good at the end of the episode and was accepted as the new secondary Osgood,
with nobody batting an eye even though she had been a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rebel leader trying to start a war</i>. Ingrid Oliver was good at
least, but that's not much consolation.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was the worst episode of the current series.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-44093343076431397682015-11-01T09:10:00.000+00:002015-11-01T09:10:13.621+00:00The Zygon Invasion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu93CG8ScI2xNE3Rm1FZDIwTrLQHsE2-X6dvcerktYq99EiHJl7faFtVtg6UM1NVJgTSSjV6BtjK0slENzZHAXvNnKBZ7jM8BVF3k-pH1Y7Fg021mlqlFRLuBFnTMErjeVOOHNNu1SEnU/s1600/007+-+The+Zygon+Invasion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu93CG8ScI2xNE3Rm1FZDIwTrLQHsE2-X6dvcerktYq99EiHJl7faFtVtg6UM1NVJgTSSjV6BtjK0slENzZHAXvNnKBZ7jM8BVF3k-pH1Y7Fg021mlqlFRLuBFnTMErjeVOOHNNu1SEnU/s320/007+-+The+Zygon+Invasion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Zygon Invasion was poorly paced, had an uninspiring
guest cast, and failed in its attempt to be a gritty thriller. It featured
allusions to asylum seekers and terrorism which seem out of place in Doctor
Who. It's a show with a broad scope and I think it probably could, at a push,
tackle these themes, but it didn't manage it here. At least not well. The
Invasion of the Body Snatchers premise was overly familiar and nothing new was
done with it. The sets were surprisingly lifeless. No, not even the needless
portrait of William Hartnell in the UNIT safe house could help.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn't like this episode. I wanted to, because I think
this series has been an improvement of Capaldi's first. I want him to have a
good tenure with the role. I wanted to see his reunion with Rebecca Front play
out in a knowing, entertaining fashion. I wanted to enjoy the Zygons. For the
first ten or fifteen minutes I thought I was going to like it. Everything
seemed to be moving in the right direction with the Mysterious Kidnap™ of
Osgood, the subplot of Cara helping a kid whose parents were clearly Zygons,
the Doctor doing some detective work (something Capaldi should get to do more
of, perhaps instead of being written as a man having a mid-life crisis with a
guitar), and things happening in places that weren't Britain. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But then it all became dull and tedious and any sense of
humour that had been present evaporated. The most positive things I can say are
that Peter Capaldi was good (and deserves better), the location used for
Turmezistan was very nice (particularly the church doors), and Evil Clara is my
Favourite Clara. That's really all I have to say on the episode.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But I'm not going to end there. Because this episode was
broadcast on October 31st. That's Halloween, just to be clear. That a show that
prominently features aliens and monsters and strange goings on on a weekly
basis did not make use of an episode falling on Halloween seems strange. Especially
when you consider than after fifty-two years of existence we've yet to get a
Doctor Who take on the holiday. And we get an annual Christmas-themed episode,
something which is far harder to wrap Doctor Who around.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It doesn't matter that this season is all about two
parters. The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived showed better than perhaps
any other two part story that episodes can be linked yet have entirely
different settings. We could have had a Halloween themed episode followed by
something more normal next week. Or, y'know, they could have simply kept the
spookiness floating about for a week. It would 't have hurt. It's not as if
three years of scarier than average stories did Tom Baker any harm.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That's my biggest complaint about this episode really:
that it exists instead of something that would have made far more sense.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-45859261004025700762015-10-25T12:31:00.000+00:002015-10-25T12:31:03.726+00:00The Woman Who Lived<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXr6cusv01xeJoEioROAp2LScsbUOsr4CIW3MWpmYpeJxWvkE8OKnIcVPi78L5zHa7zyOmp_rdG4bl5BytM-vuL3AX-LG99_ltaBmGMEUA8Zp0Dl-xdgemCv2Nd-kl5b2K9y1dGo1FWM/s1600/006+-+The+Woman+Who+Lived.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvXr6cusv01xeJoEioROAp2LScsbUOsr4CIW3MWpmYpeJxWvkE8OKnIcVPi78L5zHa7zyOmp_rdG4bl5BytM-vuL3AX-LG99_ltaBmGMEUA8Zp0Dl-xdgemCv2Nd-kl5b2K9y1dGo1FWM/s320/006+-+The+Woman+Who+Lived.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in The Witch's Familiar Davros talked about a
Gallifreyan legend of a hybrid. The Doctor did not react well to this. This was
in an episode in which Davros had tried to create half-Dalek, half-Time Lord
hybrids (y'know, because Davros's defining characteristic in the new series is
that he comes up with this kind of mental plans). That didn't work, so we were
left to mull over the topic of the hybrid. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thankfully it's not Steven Moffat's take on the half
human nonsense from McGann's TV Movie. That's something that seemed like a
worrying possibility for a while. It would have been spectacularly poor. I mean
season twenty-two levels of poor. Thankfully The Woman Who Lived seemed to make
it clear that the hybrid in question was not, in fact, the Doctor or a new
breed of Dalek or something else based on years-old continuity. It was Ashildr
from The Girl Who Died.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the end of The Girl Who Died Ashildr was made immortal
using a modified bit of tech from enemies of the week the Mire. That made her a
human-Mire hybrid. This episode made it clear that she is to be taken as A
Problem™ for the Doctor. Which could have been boring. Thanks to an engaging
script from Catherine Tregenna, excellent work from Peter Capaldi and Maisie
Williams (as well as, perhaps bizarrely, Rufus Hound), and the decision not to
try and squeeze Clara into the episode it wasn't. It was a well-judged piece of
writing that included just enough of a plot (an invasion orchestrated by a
duplicitous, fire-breathing space lion wearing a metal headband) to keep things
interesting in between stretches of what the episode was really about, the
Doctor confronting his decision to make someone immortal.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tregenna pitched things perfectly. After starting out
with an amusing sequence in which the Doctor stumbled into a heist she gave us
around fifteen minutes of the Doctor and "Me", the character having
abandoned the named Ashildr centuries earlier, discussing their differing
experiences of living lives so long that they are forced to watch loved ones
grow old and die. Or, perhaps, their ability to forget and repress these
experiences. These scenes were deftly handled, avoiding heavy-handedness but
carrying the emotional heft required to make them work. It became clear across
the course of the episode that Ashildr or Me or The Knightmare (srsly, pick a
name, guys) was less unhappy with the "curse of immortality" (good
because that trope is played out) and more the fact that the Doctor has
lumbered her with the slow path through history, forcing to live every day in
full and in order as he grants himself the freedom of time and space. Implicit
in this was the unspoken accusation that the Doctor has made it easier for
himself and isn't interested in lessening her burden. 'You trapped me in my
life!' exclaims Me at one point. It's a good line but it would be more accurate
to state that the Doctor's trapped her in history.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Me clearly isn't framed as a baddie in the style of Missy
or Davros. She's given a great deal of sympathy. Meanwhile much is made of the
Doctor's poor judgment and while it's not dwelt on there's that callous refusal
to take her into the future and let her live the life she wants. His inaction
is forcing her to lead a life she doesn't want and can't escape and was trapped
in by him. But we are also left in no doubt that this is a woman who could
become terrifyingly bad. Her willingness to kill is shown several times, most
notably when she's keen to shoot her way out of a burglary job and when she
sacrifices Sam Swift to open the rift she needs to escape the planet. It's a
disregard for life that's a staple of recurring villains in the show. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is clearly something Moffat has been moving towards
for a while, the Doctor creating his own enemy. Had he handled it himself I
don't think it would have been as good as it has been across these last two
episodes. But in handing the job over to Catherine Tregenna and Jamie Mathieson
he's let writers who will focus on the character, rather than the idea of the
character, come to the fore. This is how he should run the show all the time.
The closing flourish of Clara turning up to show the Doctor a selfie with Me
(or whatever modern pseudonym she's taken) looking on pointedly from the
background is clearly an addition he would have added or requested but the bulk
of the episode feels unlike something he'd have written himself. This is for
the better, because Moffat's authorial voice has been oppressive at points over
the last five years.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That closing shot gives us a tantalising glimpse of where
this series will end up. With Jenna Coleman's departure confirmed it seems safe
to assume that the modern day incarnation of Me will be responsible for her
death, talking as she did about how she'd keep an eye on the Doctor and
exhibiting jealousy at the fact that Clara was taken with him on his continued
journey. That would tie into the theme of the Doctor creating his own enemy in
The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived and the debate about compassion in
the Doctor and Davros scenes from The Witch's Familiar. Everything points
towards Clara dying as a result of Me's actions, forcing the Doctor to admit
that his act of compassion in saving her was ultimately wrong. There will be
more to it than that, of course, but it's looking like the richest season arc
of the Moffat era right now, and if it turns out to be true this episode will
be a pivotal part of it. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All this plus a reference to the Terileleptils. What's
not to like?</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-514927419821307392015-10-18T18:08:00.001+01:002015-10-18T18:08:43.154+01:00The Girl Who Died<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPChSHvNKBoEHozF-kaVXQVBXs6WnX3Lc1Vgt0RIrnw443HuRWWtE4xCGOBk_TAxArS9kgLhKttmbH8CK16sdAbz9Z-mXfYGW8mZjML9BDX4ebglWNUBQfM9SbN5PV12IZN8WUowv6xw/s1600/005+-+The+Girl+Who+Died.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPChSHvNKBoEHozF-kaVXQVBXs6WnX3Lc1Vgt0RIrnw443HuRWWtE4xCGOBk_TAxArS9kgLhKttmbH8CK16sdAbz9Z-mXfYGW8mZjML9BDX4ebglWNUBQfM9SbN5PV12IZN8WUowv6xw/s320/005+-+The+Girl+Who+Died.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Girl Who Died was the sort of Doctor Who story I
like. We were presented with a series of scenes in which the Doctor and Clara
were introduced to a world and got some amusing lines to deliver, things got
fleshed out, and there was a closing sequence that made sense both on the
episode's own terms and in terms of the mechanics of the show at large. When
done right that's always a great approach for Doctor Who (though obviously it
can work with any companion and not Clara specifically). </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was the series of twists towards the start that really
stood out to me. The Doctor pretended to be Odin. A nice little thing in itself
because it's the sort of thing many other incarnations of the character may
have tried. Then a giant faced appeared in the clouds and claimed to be the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> Odin. An amusing, well-placed
conceit within the episode which instantly raised questions for the audience. From
there the fittest, strongest people in the village (including Clara and Ashildr,
played by biggest name guest actor Maisie Williams, because of course) were
beamed onto a space ship by some giant alien robots and slaughtered for
boring-but-sensible-within-the-confines-of-the-show reasons. Clara and Ashildr
escaped because they were always going to and then the second phase of the
episode began: the Doctor helping the remaining villagers to prepare for a
battle Clara had stupidly (but handily for a TV show that has to feature
#conflict) provoked the alien into a battle.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After that it settled down into a well written episode .
We got some scenes that were determined to make us care about the guest cast
and for the most part they did. Far more impressive was the material given to
Capaldi. He got to play everything from courage to angst and was given
excellent dialogue to do so, a refreshing change from the by-the-numbers
material he's mostly gotten in the part (I think I remember this being a
strength in last year's Flatline, also by Jamie Mathieson). Clara being split
off for the brief sojourn to the ship made sense too, and gave her something to
do after weeks of her being sidelined.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was also nice to see the design work back on track
after a severe wobble with the Fisher King in Before the Flood. Fake Odin was
pretty much written and performed as a generic baddie but he was made to look
enough like a futuristic Viking that it didn't matter. He looked like what he
was meant to be, an alien (or possibly an alien AI, I didn't follow that bit
closely enough) trying to pass themselves (or itself) off as a god using a
basic understanding of human mythology. I wouldn't be surprised to find out
that someone took inspiration from Lost Vikings 2 for that (and I'd be more
surprised still if more than one person reading this understood that reference
without the assistance of Google). The robot henchmen were better still. They
were big and bulky and intimidating with rivets and bolts that you don't see in
Doctor Who designs often. They looked convincingly alien and warrant a return.
I could have done without the removal of their headpieces to reveal squealing
flesh heads though. They were more appealing when they appeared to be some sort
of enchanted clay-metal robot warriors.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In fact the episode's only weakness was something that
was likely intended to be one of its highlights. The topic of where the
Doctor's face came from was tackled more substantially than it has been since
Capaldi's debut episode Deep Breath. This is something aimed at people like me,
people who know and rewatch and study the show. But I didn't care. I didn't
care because it's been handled poorly within the show. I could have been
convinced that it mattered pretty easily. It is, after all, famously a theory
that Russell T Davies cooked up as his own private fan theory then passed on to
Moffat, who decided it was so good he'd include it in the show. That's my kind
of thing! But it was so bland, not to mention wholly unnecessary, that I couldn't
bring myself care. The Doctor chose the face of Caecilius, the man he saved
from a burning Pompeii, to remind himself that he saves people. So what? </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It raises more questions than it answers. How did he do
this when he's seemingly had no control over his appearance before? How does
John Frobisher, also played by Capaldi, factor into this? Why didn't the Doctor
do it when he changed from the Tenth Doctor, who saved Caecilius, into the
Eleventh? If the Eleventh chose the face to remind himself that he's a good man
who saves people because he'd just run into the War Doctor and been reminded of
some apparently horrible things he did and was having a crisis of confidence or
something<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then why didn't he make a more
recent or relevant selection? Does Moffat really expect anyone who's not
invested in this show more than the average viewer to understand the sudden
appearance of David Tennant and Catherine Tate in scenes from an episode that
first aired seven years ago? Maybe there's more to come on this. If so, good.
Right now it looks like another example of Moffat building something up in
interviews that turns out to be wholly underwhelming once it appears in the
show.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the predictable struggle against the bad guy worked
out in favour of the overmatched villagers (funny that) we got the episode's
final twist, the Doctor saving Ashildr with technomagic and making her
immortal. This was a nice final flourish and kept the revelation of how two
episodes (this and next week's The Woman Who Lived) written by two different
people and not appearing to be a two part tale fit together. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was easily the best episode since The Magician's
Apprentice and possibly the best of the series so far (I'd need rewatches to
decide for sure). It featured enough surprises, dealt out its revelations well,
and contained enough strong design work that it was a joy to watch. If this was
the average level of quality I think the show would be all the better for it. </span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-77303819756851283602015-10-11T13:46:00.000+01:002015-10-11T13:46:41.430+01:00Before the Flood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_J3zfy2I4DHvudTSxIbwg3fvy_cJpl8hHtItavVHva1STcCnfJ5V8tH8b9viRzrcH_1Fa3SqVvjfcNq2roSBSNTyalC2a4F1eFNaHafb6avuL03pT3caumuuFZ2oBPgxRXz5jx6B_Boc/s1600/004+-+Before+the+Flood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_J3zfy2I4DHvudTSxIbwg3fvy_cJpl8hHtItavVHva1STcCnfJ5V8tH8b9viRzrcH_1Fa3SqVvjfcNq2roSBSNTyalC2a4F1eFNaHafb6avuL03pT3caumuuFZ2oBPgxRXz5jx6B_Boc/s320/004+-+Before+the+Flood.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ahhhhhh so it was all about free will versus determinism.
How disappointing. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not that it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had</i>
to be disappointing (which is in no way a clever, or an attempt at clever, joke).
That's actually a rather interesting subject for a programme prominently
featuring a time machine to tackle. The trouble is that paradoxes and time
travel as plot device have been massively overdone by the show over the last
five years, leaving it an all too familiar topic now, and one that a writer
like Toby Whithouse doesn't have the chops to broach in interesting enough ways.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But even if Moffat hadn't run those ideas into the ground
this episode wouldn't have been great. It dealt with its chosen paradoxes in a
convoluted manner, spending too much time trying to be clever than clearly
establishing what the paradox was and where the Doctor's ability to change
things (or lack of it) lay. Things may have been better had this been a single
part story. That would have forced Whithouse to concentrate on the twists he
felt compelled to hang his story around and be tighter with what he gave his
swollen cast to do.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That said this was an improvement on the story's opening
half, last week's Under the Lake. The biggest weaknesses here were the scenes
with Clara and the guest stars running around in the base had no point to them.
Well, not in terms of plot at least, they existed only to keep Clara in the
episode. Ducking in and out of safe zones to rescue phones and guest cast
members placed into peril for no reason? That's not something anybody needed. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There's also a rare criticism of the production team (a
wonderfully all-encompassing, broad term) to be had. The Fisher King. Despite
having one of the richest, most evocative names (which wasn't capitalised on)
in the show's history The Fisher King was given possibly the most Power Rangers
design in the history of Doctor Who. At first it seemed like the director
realised the shortcomings of the suit and wisely decided to shoot it only in
shadows. But then we were treated to shots of the thing chatting to the Doctor
and wandering about in broad daylight. I accept that bad monster designs happen
from time to time but the show should be at a point now where it knows when to
cut its losses and work around something that's not turned out well. This was
clearly one of those times but nobody seemed to realise it. Also the King's
"mouth" had a bit of a Vervoid look to it and we all know what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they</i> look like.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There were glimpses of goodness to be had here though.
The abandoned Russian town with a big dam sitting ominously on the horizon was
a cracking visual (shame they didn't do anything interesting with it). Prentis
the Tivolian undertaker was a far more engaging character than I'd expected. It
was interesting to see his desire for subjugation played with such open
pervertedness, a contrast to the repressed portrayal David Walliams went with
when he was cast as a similar character in 2011's God Complex. Even the idea of
Doctor Who tackling ghosts remained interesting for part of this episode, until
they went with spelling out the nature of them (electromagnetic echoes created
by The Fisher King, whatevs) instead of leaving things open ended. A lack of
definitive answer can work nicely, as The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit
so nicely demonstrated years ago. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In short Toby Whithouse gave us two workmanlike scripts,
the production team turned out a shonky monster but did themselves proud on
finding a location and creating some (absolutely pointless) Russian trappings,
and the episode was ultimately about an argument that's been done to death
already and didn't actually play out fully here. There have been better
episodes.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-29822512867816171802015-10-04T16:17:00.003+01:002015-10-04T16:17:46.279+01:00Under the Lake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KWi4h_2GPWgbsHoDZGOZCw8051MNQ_XowlXodohzNvauXIhSQtb7z90cvpZ_rjLWqwMNWK7VH5VF6L5P62FGFY7sTffAbc1wWAHx1zYC0rPgPPbm-BkvEAVlrqhKTgX2jFjGy3qga3o/s1600/003+-+Under+the+Lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_KWi4h_2GPWgbsHoDZGOZCw8051MNQ_XowlXodohzNvauXIhSQtb7z90cvpZ_rjLWqwMNWK7VH5VF6L5P62FGFY7sTffAbc1wWAHx1zYC0rPgPPbm-BkvEAVlrqhKTgX2jFjGy3qga3o/s320/003+-+Under+the+Lake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Under the Lake was a more traditional episode of Doctor
Who than either The Magician's Apprentice or The Witch's Familiar. With the
eye-catching two part opener of series nine out of the way it was free to be,
not having the pressure of incorporating returning villains or hooking people
in for a twelve week run. This could have been a good thing, a celebration of
the show's more successful tropes and storytelling devices. That would have
been apt given that it's been ten years since the show's revival. Unfortunately
it was given to Toby Whithouse, the writer with perhaps the most alarming hit
and miss rate in all of New Who.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whithouse's previous work on the show has run the gamut
on quality and engagement. He started off with the inoffensive but also
uninspiring School Reunion. In fairness that was a bit of a JNT-style shopping
list in which Whithouse was tasked with reintroducing Sarah Jane Smith and K9
and utilising the then-underdeveloped Mickey in addition to giving us
forty-five minutes of thrills 'n' spills but it's still noticeable that
Whithouse never wrote for the show again while RTD was in charge.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A fair counter argument to that would be that he had
something of a hit on his hands during the Davies eras. Being Human, the
dramedy about a werewolf, a ghost and a vampire living together and sharing
some good times and lols while also hiding their true nature from Joe Public. And
okay, that was a popular series which took up a lot of time and could easily be
the only reason he didn't return to Doctor Who sooner. But it was wrapping up
when he wrote his first script under Moffat, and the later series of Being
Human demonstrate my point as well as looking solely at his Who work does:
Whithouse is a writer of inconsistent quality. Seriously, watch the first half
of series one and the last half of series five. The difference is astonishing.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Under Moffat Whithosue has penned The Vampires of Venice (better
than School Reunion but still a little band), The God Complex (one of the very
best episodes Matt Smith's era produced), and A Town Called Mercy (one of the
worst). Giving him a two part series was a gamble. His track record indicated
that he'd either write something very dull or really quite engaging and good. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was the former. Tasked with writing a ghost story
Whithouse went to great lengths to play to some of the most well established ghost
tropes, writing his spectres to phase through (most) solid objects, only come
out at night, hover, and be generally inhuman and creepy. None of this was a
bad idea. It made sense to write stereotypical ghosts given that this was
Doctor Who Does Ghosts but he could, and should, have done unexpected things
with our expectations. There were glimpses of something good, the computer
controlled day-night mode, the ghosts wanting to kill to "amplify their
signal and get attention", and the hints dropped about the spaceship were
all very promising, but the episode never really felt that it accomplished
anything beyond successfully reaching its cliffhanger and setting up the
concluding half. I've discussed before how two part stories have to be viewed
as a whole, making opening parts tricky to look at in isolation, but the way
they're essentially written to essentially be two single part stories connected
by a theme should ensure that each part is satisfying in its own right. This
wasn't.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There's also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>
cliffhanger. The Doctor going back in time to find out what happened when the
ship crashed. That's just yet more time travel as a plot device stuff that the
Moffat era is already far too heavy on. It's okay occasionally but if the
Doctor simply nips off in his time machine o sort things out in every episode
then it eventually leaves people asking why he's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> doing it in other episodes. And there's no easy answer to that
beyond "Well that would make the episode rather boring or short or
both." </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The cliffhanger also showed as the ghost of the Doctor.
Which is just utterly boring because it takes a lot of drama out of the story's
central threat and the episode as a whole. We know now that anyone who becomes
a ghost can also stop being a ghost, because we know the Doctor as played by
Peter Capaldi not in ghost makeup, is fine later in the series. Perhaps
Whithouse will find a way to pay off everything he set up, and in fairness I
think there's a lot he included that will seem far more obvious come Before the
Flood, but it's not a definite thing. And it won't make Under the Lake any more
tolerable as a piece of television.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4711704734530147771.post-87451013579987920972015-09-27T18:14:00.000+01:002015-09-27T18:15:57.000+01:00The Witch's Familiar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2EUVQJKhJbQtrXkwh28vDxohNmOOuxzCOEagNTV1thQLjn2lj2hxOebFRnDoVlOx5sVJ1cJg7qKV3jvBF2fhXuiI49_l2q-QEQVp4XcawnA2KFscutt_-NJ7HTlVi9uxug8zV_hRJyY/s1600/002+-+The+Witch%2527s+Familiar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2EUVQJKhJbQtrXkwh28vDxohNmOOuxzCOEagNTV1thQLjn2lj2hxOebFRnDoVlOx5sVJ1cJg7qKV3jvBF2fhXuiI49_l2q-QEQVp4XcawnA2KFscutt_-NJ7HTlVi9uxug8zV_hRJyY/s320/002+-+The+Witch%2527s+Familiar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I really wanted to like The Witch's Familiar. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The opening half of the story, The Magician's Apprentice,
had been a rapidly moving bit of fun that fleshed out Moffat's take on the
Doctor Who universe and made good use of both its leading man and its two
biggest guest stars. This episode was never going to be that because the modern
approach to writing two part stories is (sensibly) to leave the first half with
a cliffhanger that changes the way the plot as a whole is approached by the
audience, giving the second episode its own identity. That didn't mean it
needed to be the frustrating, underwhelming and continuity-happy mess it was.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Which isn't to say there weren't good things in The
Witch's Familiar. Julian Bleach and Michelle Gomez were both excellent, as was
Peter Capaldi. Jenna Coleman, getting to do more than stride around being the inexplicable
uber-boss of UNIT, was good too. The clever use of a limited number of sets<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup>
was impressive if you're into that kind of thing (I am). The emphasis on
conversations helped to disguise that we were actually getting a relatively
cheap episode only one week into the new series. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Said conversations are actually my biggest gripe about
the story. The basic idea, pairing the Doctor with Davros and Clara with Missy,
was a good one. It gave the two regular characters new people to play off and
the chance to tackle topics and roles they wouldn't get to take on with each
other. This also benefited Gomez, who'll presumably be a semi-regular
throughout Capaldi's tenure and will get more scenes with him in the future,
and Bleach, who, as a character far less likely to return in the foreseeable
future, absolutely should have spent the majority of his time on-screen with
the show's lead character.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The execution let the idea down. This isn't a complaint
about Missy's plan being to trap Clara inside a Dalek and have the Doctor kill
her. That fit perfectly with everything we know about her and of her previous
incarnations, dating all the way back to Delgado's Master. It's not a complaint
about Davros's plan being to steal regeneration energy from the Doctor to
revitalise the entire Dalek race either. While that was daft it was no more
ridiculous than any of the other plots involving him. Let's not forgot that his
last story saw him attempting to bring about "the destruction of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">REALITY
ITSELF-UH!</i></b>" Davros and Missy are characters that have absurd
plans. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where the pairings failed was in Moffat not doing anything
interesting with them. And the worst part here is that he clearly thinks he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> do something interesting with them.
If he didn't these episodes would have been rewritten until they were better.
Coleman and Gomez were landed with a load of expositional tosh about Daleks
never dying and being pasted on the walls of sewers and the lengthy sequence of
Clara discovering that she couldn't express her personality after she'd been
placed into a Dalek. The former took up too much time considering the
simplicity of it while the personality stuff felt like a waste. Being denied
the right or ability to express will is a big theme and could have been played
with far more. Coleman was great with what she was given on this, really
getting across her frustration, panic and eventually fear, but it felt like a
theme that should have been developed more rather than being a small part of a ninety
minute story. The rest of their scenes were mostly about Missy proving she knew
the Doctor more than Clara, which had already been sufficiently covered the
week before. Jokes about pointy sticks weren't enough to paper over these gaps.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Doctor and Davros stuff was better but that was at
least in part because Moffat was channelling one of the most famous scenes in
the show's history, the confrontation between Davros and the Fourth Doctor in
Genesis of the Daleks. Steven Moffat is a clever, talented writer (for all my
bashing of him I do recognise he's a clever, talented writer) but his strength
is not in emotional exchanges like this. Someone like Russell T Davies could have
done something marvellous with the Doctor and Davros debating the merits of their
respective compassionate and aggressive approaches to dealing with others. Moffat
couldn't, because his strength lies in plot twists, disguising exposition and
creating cool visuals. Are we really expected to believe that the Doctor,
believing Clara to be dead, would share a laugh and a joke with the creator of
the most dangerous race in the universe? I can believe he'd have helped cure
Davros, because he's a good, kind and compassion man (the point of the scenes)
but laughing with him over nothing was too much to accept and a mistake I can't
imagine RTD making. Once Davros's plan became apparent and he started ranting
things improved (and for the record this was my favourite stuff from Bleach
even though I enjoyed his more sombre, restrained performance) but that was
only the last ten minutes or so and we'd seen it before. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last failing the pairings gave us was a lack of a
satisfying meeting between Missy and Davros. What could have been a great mad
versus mad scene was instead cut down to a couple of lines from Missy in the
midst of the episode's action-packed climax. Having seen Bleach's previous
performance in the role and writing Missy's introductory story last series it's
baffling as to why Moffles didn't capitalise on this meeting and give the two
something to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do </i>together.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Other complaints are relatively minor. The sonic
sunglasses are daft. Moffat's continual hammering at continuity (Missy has a
daughter, reminders about Gallifrey returning, all those additions to Dalek
lore and all the other extraneous references) were annoying. What I assume were
references to the Faction Paradox series that most people reading this won't
have ever heard of<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup>, irritating because it's Moffat either being
snide or blatantly raiding ideas (again). The Daleks renewal essentially being meaningless,
additionally annoying because Moffat has never bothered to pick up on the Progenitor
device thread from Victory of the Daleks<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup>. The reduced role of
Colony Sarff, the best new element MOffat's given the series in a very long
time. Daleks saying "Mercy" being such a big deal when they've said
it before. The title making even less sense than last week.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ultimately the most interesting thing I took from the
script was the tease of Missy teaming up with the Daleks in her final line of
the episode. Which indicates that, sadly, series nine will be business as usual
for Moffat's Who. A great pity after the promise of last week.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">***</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup> There were three: the Dalek Supreme's
control room, Davros's lair, and the sewers.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup> Last week it was the almost too enigmatic
line "There's just The War" and this week we had mentions of The
Enemy, both in the young Davros scenes.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup> Using the Progenitor device as Davros's way
of revitalising the Dalek race would have been far more satisfying than having
a talking snake dangling from the roof.</span></div>
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879783732371115178noreply@blogger.com0