The Next Doctor
Jan. 2nd, 2009 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meddowOh dear. That was bad. Normally I don't mind RTDs batshit ideas because they're usually quite fun and he tends to restrict them to one or two an episode. But this was just unrestrained batshit and the bits in between, such as the humour and the emotional story of Morrissey!Doctor, just didn't seem to work well enough to make me forgive it or add any kind of cohesion to the mess.
Okay, on second viewing the above assessment was a bit harsh. There actually was quite a few good ideas floating about this episode. While everything to do with the Cybermen was just dreadful, the Morressey!Doctor storyline could have made for a good episode if it was kept to a restrained Human Nature style episode. Or any episode without the Christmas cheese factor piled on the top. Actually, I think it would have made for a really good Doctor!Lite episode if the emotional drama had been focused on. The realisation could have been done without the Doctor. I also liked the idea of the Doctor being the companion for once. However, we had at most five minutes of it, which was really not long enough.
But moving on from the ideas and onto the actual episode:
The Good
The TARDIS – both of them. I just loved the hot air balloon. It was just a bit ridiculous, but not to the point where it made me groan like many other things in the episode. And the bigger on the inside scene at the end with David Morrissey and his characters childish glee was the highlight of the episode.
David Morrissey and Dervla Kirwan – if they hadn't been putting the performances they had been in this episode, it could have been a whole lot worse. DM was particularly good, I thought, in that final TARDIS scene and the scene in which he finds his kid. Whereas DK managed play the villain without resorting overdoing it and seemed to be having fun. To be honest, David Tennant failed to be noticed by me this episode. It wasn't that he was bad, it's just that nothing he did struck me except maybe for the final scene, which even then wasn't remarkable.
Seeing all Ten Doctors. YAY!
The subtle Donna mention – I don't want her to be whacked over our heads like Rose was back in the day, but I also didn't want her to go unmentioned in this episode. That mention hit just the right balance. Plus it was also and Rose and Martha mention.
The Bad
The subtle Donna mention – the objective part of me wants it to be subtle, but the unashamed Donna fan wants a bit of Runaway Bride style mourning. You know, some Christmas party flashbacks or a 'her name was Donna'. Rose got it in TRB. Martha got something similar in PiC. I don't care if I sound like a bratty batshit fan, I'm still upset about what happened with Donna and I want some blatant Doctor misery to match mine.
Everything to do with the Cybermen – I think the Cybermen are one of the scariest monsters in Doctor Who if used correctly. Don't believe me? Listen to Spare Parts. However, the new series seems to have making them laughable high on its agenda and this episode is by far the worst offender. First there's those weird Cyber-monkey things which seem to serve no purpose whatsoever other than to undermine the classic metal look, which is important, because metal is cold and unfeeling. Fur is warm – it just sends out the wrong message. Plus, they looked like a bloke in a gorilla suit. And then there was that ridiculous giant robot, which…no. Just no. They're a Doctor Who villain, not a Power Rangers villain. (Says the person who's loves Robot. But that’s totally different. Really *Crickets chirp*)
The bit where they decided to convert Miss Ratigan was chilling for a moment, if only because it reminded me of the fate of one of the characters The Time of the Daleks which I found massively disturbing. But then there was a giant robot and cheese and any effect was lost.
The Cheese. The Cheese. Oh, God the Cheese – It's a Christmas episode. Some cheese is expected. But this year it just seemed some much worse than pervious years. I think it was a result of the direction, which seemed a bit weird all through the episode.
The WTF
What the hell was going on with Miss Hartigan? First of all, there was the whole lip-service to feminism, only to have the Doctor come along and do his thing and have her no better than any other female character to cross this show and destroy her, and then it's her scream, not her brain that saves the day. And while she has the brain to take over the Cybermen, she still refers to herself as a 'King'. Is RTD deliberately trying to piss off the fans who are quite rightly calling him out on some of the issues he has with female characters?
I was seeing variations on Donna's storyline everywhere in season two of SJA, but it occurred twice in this episode as well. Morrissey!Doctor had the Doctor's mind imprinted on his, Ms Hartigan became all powerful when she combined the cybermen's knowledge with her human mind. Erm. Was this reflection intended, or has the Whoniverse been temporarily imprinted with the sad fate of Donna Noble? Or have I just gone a little insane?
Finally, I was indifferent to Rosita, who struck me as rather generic, but I think that genericness may have been an intended.
At the end of the day, I felt the episode felt a bit tired and strained. The humour just wasn't as funny as it had been through season four and it was the worst episode I think the show's produced since 42. Maybe it was the result of it coming on top of Journey's End and the crew was spent.
Okay, on second viewing the above assessment was a bit harsh. There actually was quite a few good ideas floating about this episode. While everything to do with the Cybermen was just dreadful, the Morressey!Doctor storyline could have made for a good episode if it was kept to a restrained Human Nature style episode. Or any episode without the Christmas cheese factor piled on the top. Actually, I think it would have made for a really good Doctor!Lite episode if the emotional drama had been focused on. The realisation could have been done without the Doctor. I also liked the idea of the Doctor being the companion for once. However, we had at most five minutes of it, which was really not long enough.
But moving on from the ideas and onto the actual episode:
The Good
The TARDIS – both of them. I just loved the hot air balloon. It was just a bit ridiculous, but not to the point where it made me groan like many other things in the episode. And the bigger on the inside scene at the end with David Morrissey and his characters childish glee was the highlight of the episode.
David Morrissey and Dervla Kirwan – if they hadn't been putting the performances they had been in this episode, it could have been a whole lot worse. DM was particularly good, I thought, in that final TARDIS scene and the scene in which he finds his kid. Whereas DK managed play the villain without resorting overdoing it and seemed to be having fun. To be honest, David Tennant failed to be noticed by me this episode. It wasn't that he was bad, it's just that nothing he did struck me except maybe for the final scene, which even then wasn't remarkable.
Seeing all Ten Doctors. YAY!
The subtle Donna mention – I don't want her to be whacked over our heads like Rose was back in the day, but I also didn't want her to go unmentioned in this episode. That mention hit just the right balance. Plus it was also and Rose and Martha mention.
The Bad
The subtle Donna mention – the objective part of me wants it to be subtle, but the unashamed Donna fan wants a bit of Runaway Bride style mourning. You know, some Christmas party flashbacks or a 'her name was Donna'. Rose got it in TRB. Martha got something similar in PiC. I don't care if I sound like a bratty batshit fan, I'm still upset about what happened with Donna and I want some blatant Doctor misery to match mine.
Everything to do with the Cybermen – I think the Cybermen are one of the scariest monsters in Doctor Who if used correctly. Don't believe me? Listen to Spare Parts. However, the new series seems to have making them laughable high on its agenda and this episode is by far the worst offender. First there's those weird Cyber-monkey things which seem to serve no purpose whatsoever other than to undermine the classic metal look, which is important, because metal is cold and unfeeling. Fur is warm – it just sends out the wrong message. Plus, they looked like a bloke in a gorilla suit. And then there was that ridiculous giant robot, which…no. Just no. They're a Doctor Who villain, not a Power Rangers villain. (Says the person who's loves Robot. But that’s totally different. Really *Crickets chirp*)
The bit where they decided to convert Miss Ratigan was chilling for a moment, if only because it reminded me of the fate of one of the characters The Time of the Daleks which I found massively disturbing. But then there was a giant robot and cheese and any effect was lost.
The Cheese. The Cheese. Oh, God the Cheese – It's a Christmas episode. Some cheese is expected. But this year it just seemed some much worse than pervious years. I think it was a result of the direction, which seemed a bit weird all through the episode.
The WTF
What the hell was going on with Miss Hartigan? First of all, there was the whole lip-service to feminism, only to have the Doctor come along and do his thing and have her no better than any other female character to cross this show and destroy her, and then it's her scream, not her brain that saves the day. And while she has the brain to take over the Cybermen, she still refers to herself as a 'King'. Is RTD deliberately trying to piss off the fans who are quite rightly calling him out on some of the issues he has with female characters?
I was seeing variations on Donna's storyline everywhere in season two of SJA, but it occurred twice in this episode as well. Morrissey!Doctor had the Doctor's mind imprinted on his, Ms Hartigan became all powerful when she combined the cybermen's knowledge with her human mind. Erm. Was this reflection intended, or has the Whoniverse been temporarily imprinted with the sad fate of Donna Noble? Or have I just gone a little insane?
Finally, I was indifferent to Rosita, who struck me as rather generic, but I think that genericness may have been an intended.
At the end of the day, I felt the episode felt a bit tired and strained. The humour just wasn't as funny as it had been through season four and it was the worst episode I think the show's produced since 42. Maybe it was the result of it coming on top of Journey's End and the crew was spent.
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Date: 2009-01-03 01:09 am (UTC)And I was a bit surprised after watching the episode to find that most people liked it. *Shrugs* That's how it goes.