Who?
So I've finally started watching the new series of Doctor Who. No, not new in the Matt Smith sense; new in the overall sense. I haven't watched any Who since the no-longer-mentioned Paul McGann made-for-TV movie, so I'm starting fresh with the Christopher Eccleston run.
I know, I know, terrible nerd, can't believe you don't sleep with the DVDs under your pillow and so on. But I'm too disorganised to watch broadcast TV on a regular schedule, and too lazy to bother downloading shows to watch at my leisure. It's been on my to-borrow-from-the-local-DVD-library-that-I-want-to-support list for ages, and finally we're getting around to it (well, N. has seen them already, but she humours me).
Thus far I've watched the first six episodes, half the season, and I have one main question.
...this gets better, right?
I know, I know, heresy, string him up by his balls and so on. But honestly, so far this has ranged from alright, with occasional sparks of something better, down to fucking dreadful kill-your-television bollocks. That was episode 6, 'Dalek', in which the last surviving Dalek is both the ultimate murderwank destroyer and a sad puppy who only want sunshine and love and syrupy background music OH FUCK OFF.
So much of the show thus far has seemed bizarrely tongue-in-cheek, like it's a sci-fi show that wants to keep winking to the audience that hey, isn't this shit daft, I know right, but let's just laugh at the silly explosions and the fat people who fart a lot. Yes, fart gags, that's how I like in my TV for grown-ups. All the clever lampshading and recurring motifs and pop culture references do is keep reminding me that this is a TV show, one that rarely lets you immerse yourself for more than a moment or two before yanking you back down with a slick, empty joke.
And don't get me started on some of the flabby, repetitive direction. Apparently the main thing people do when confronted with danger in this show is stand and stare at it for several minutes, sometimes while cutting to seperate scenes where people do the same thing. No running away, no fighting back, just paralysed helplessness and crying out for someone else to do something. Cut to someone else staring. Cut back to paralsyis. To staring. To paralysis. Eventually someone makes a decision, performs a pissweak stunt or reveals a wobbly CGI monster, and the show moves on. This kind of idiot suspense pads out several episodes, including the pilot, and as you can tell it's giving me the shits.
Look, I get that my memories of Old Who are filtered through being 15 and loving any shit with aliens and death with it, but the impression I still carry of much of that material is that the creators knew the limitations they were working under and did their best to produce good work within them. It was, on the whole, a show that aimed higher than the popular perception of the kids watching it and treated them like adults, to a degree. So far the modern show seems just the opposite; obstentiably aimed at adults, what with the violence and talk of sex and pop culture references, but aiming below that audience in an attempt to either be an all-ages show or just to let grown-ups feel like teenagers because someone on the telly in an alien fright wig said bum.
Ahem.
Having said all that, Eccleston is a decent Doctor, for all that the scripts just call for him to shout and gurn most of the time. And I quite like Billie Piper's Rose, even though the helplessness forced upon her means that she spends most episodes calling for help. I'm intrigued by the hints of overplot, I thought the third episode with Charles Dickens had some merit, and I'm told that Stephen Moffat's episodes are a lot more engaging and intelligent.
But still. I expected more. I hope at some point I get it.
--
I also find myself unimpressed with the much-vaunted Doctor Who RPG, which marries largely standard design ideas with undisciplined (if enthusiastic) writing and sloppy, imprecise editing.
But that's flamebait for another time, perhaps.
I know, I know, terrible nerd, can't believe you don't sleep with the DVDs under your pillow and so on. But I'm too disorganised to watch broadcast TV on a regular schedule, and too lazy to bother downloading shows to watch at my leisure. It's been on my to-borrow-from-the-local-DVD-library-that-I-want-to-support list for ages, and finally we're getting around to it (well, N. has seen them already, but she humours me).
Thus far I've watched the first six episodes, half the season, and I have one main question.
...this gets better, right?
I know, I know, heresy, string him up by his balls and so on. But honestly, so far this has ranged from alright, with occasional sparks of something better, down to fucking dreadful kill-your-television bollocks. That was episode 6, 'Dalek', in which the last surviving Dalek is both the ultimate murderwank destroyer and a sad puppy who only want sunshine and love and syrupy background music OH FUCK OFF.
So much of the show thus far has seemed bizarrely tongue-in-cheek, like it's a sci-fi show that wants to keep winking to the audience that hey, isn't this shit daft, I know right, but let's just laugh at the silly explosions and the fat people who fart a lot. Yes, fart gags, that's how I like in my TV for grown-ups. All the clever lampshading and recurring motifs and pop culture references do is keep reminding me that this is a TV show, one that rarely lets you immerse yourself for more than a moment or two before yanking you back down with a slick, empty joke.
And don't get me started on some of the flabby, repetitive direction. Apparently the main thing people do when confronted with danger in this show is stand and stare at it for several minutes, sometimes while cutting to seperate scenes where people do the same thing. No running away, no fighting back, just paralysed helplessness and crying out for someone else to do something. Cut to someone else staring. Cut back to paralsyis. To staring. To paralysis. Eventually someone makes a decision, performs a pissweak stunt or reveals a wobbly CGI monster, and the show moves on. This kind of idiot suspense pads out several episodes, including the pilot, and as you can tell it's giving me the shits.
Look, I get that my memories of Old Who are filtered through being 15 and loving any shit with aliens and death with it, but the impression I still carry of much of that material is that the creators knew the limitations they were working under and did their best to produce good work within them. It was, on the whole, a show that aimed higher than the popular perception of the kids watching it and treated them like adults, to a degree. So far the modern show seems just the opposite; obstentiably aimed at adults, what with the violence and talk of sex and pop culture references, but aiming below that audience in an attempt to either be an all-ages show or just to let grown-ups feel like teenagers because someone on the telly in an alien fright wig said bum.
Ahem.
Having said all that, Eccleston is a decent Doctor, for all that the scripts just call for him to shout and gurn most of the time. And I quite like Billie Piper's Rose, even though the helplessness forced upon her means that she spends most episodes calling for help. I'm intrigued by the hints of overplot, I thought the third episode with Charles Dickens had some merit, and I'm told that Stephen Moffat's episodes are a lot more engaging and intelligent.
But still. I expected more. I hope at some point I get it.
--
I also find myself unimpressed with the much-vaunted Doctor Who RPG, which marries largely standard design ideas with undisciplined (if enthusiastic) writing and sloppy, imprecise editing.
But that's flamebait for another time, perhaps.