Rise Of The Ascension Of The Cybermen
Just watched tonight's Who!
And, wow. That's the second week in a row where my reaction, primarily, is a surprised and delighted "Now, that's proper Doctor Who!" Which it absolutely was. Genuinely scary, tense, and intriguing, with decent guest characters, a villain who doesn't even have to do very much to feel like a great villain, a good science-fictiony feel, some nice stuff for Graham (who is always so adorable) and Yaz, and some good Whovian themes about scrappy humans clinging to hope in the face of destruction. Also, once again, the Doctor being very much what I was wishing for her to be all through the last season. And a bonus Master appearance at the end! Plus, apparently gazillions of Cybermen emerging from suspended animation is a repeated trope that I never get tired of, and even enjoy anticipating.
Of course, there are so many things that are still mysterious. Where does Brendan fit in? My thought when we first saw him was that he somehow becomes the Lone Cyberman, which for all I know may be the case, but there is certainly more going on with him than that. (Him falling off the cliff and failing to stay dead, by the way, reminded me that we first heard about the Lone Cyberman from Jack and left me wondering if there is a connection there. Somehow.) Where does Gallifrey fit in? My first thought there is that they're going to tell us that Gallifrey was founded by humans fleeing the Cybermen, somehow, but... I kind of don't think so? How does Ruth and all this stuff about the Timeless Child fit in? Presumably we're going to get some answers next week. I just really, really hope they don't turn out to be dumb enough to make all of this less great in retrospect. You have no idea how much I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for that.
A few other thoughts...
I spent a fair amount of the beginning of this episode wondering whether the near-destruction of humanity by the Cybermen here is something that happened because of the Doctor's actions last ep, as a change to history, or if it was something that had always happened. I think, though, that this was already part of the timeline (perhaps these are just the Cyber Wars referred to in Classic Who), and the Lone Cyberman went back to Villa Whatsis, got the McGuffin, then traveled back in hopes of using it to bring the Cybermen back from their own near-destruction. Might have been nice if they were just a little clearer about that, though.
I can't quite take the floating, laser-zapping Cyber heads seriously. They look too silly. I think this sort of thing looked a lot better when The Orville did it.
Once again, the Doctor is showing very real effects from her final experiences as Capaldi, which is wonderful. The Doctor has tried to send companions away to safety many, many times, but there's a desperate edge to it here that we don't usually see, but which makes absolutely perfect sense. Aww, seeing what happened to Bill really, really messed her up. *sniffle*
This entry was originally posted at https://astrogirl.dreamwidth.org/975201.html. Comment here or there, whichever you like.
And, wow. That's the second week in a row where my reaction, primarily, is a surprised and delighted "Now, that's proper Doctor Who!" Which it absolutely was. Genuinely scary, tense, and intriguing, with decent guest characters, a villain who doesn't even have to do very much to feel like a great villain, a good science-fictiony feel, some nice stuff for Graham (who is always so adorable) and Yaz, and some good Whovian themes about scrappy humans clinging to hope in the face of destruction. Also, once again, the Doctor being very much what I was wishing for her to be all through the last season. And a bonus Master appearance at the end! Plus, apparently gazillions of Cybermen emerging from suspended animation is a repeated trope that I never get tired of, and even enjoy anticipating.
Of course, there are so many things that are still mysterious. Where does Brendan fit in? My thought when we first saw him was that he somehow becomes the Lone Cyberman, which for all I know may be the case, but there is certainly more going on with him than that. (Him falling off the cliff and failing to stay dead, by the way, reminded me that we first heard about the Lone Cyberman from Jack and left me wondering if there is a connection there. Somehow.) Where does Gallifrey fit in? My first thought there is that they're going to tell us that Gallifrey was founded by humans fleeing the Cybermen, somehow, but... I kind of don't think so? How does Ruth and all this stuff about the Timeless Child fit in? Presumably we're going to get some answers next week. I just really, really hope they don't turn out to be dumb enough to make all of this less great in retrospect. You have no idea how much I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for that.
A few other thoughts...
I spent a fair amount of the beginning of this episode wondering whether the near-destruction of humanity by the Cybermen here is something that happened because of the Doctor's actions last ep, as a change to history, or if it was something that had always happened. I think, though, that this was already part of the timeline (perhaps these are just the Cyber Wars referred to in Classic Who), and the Lone Cyberman went back to Villa Whatsis, got the McGuffin, then traveled back in hopes of using it to bring the Cybermen back from their own near-destruction. Might have been nice if they were just a little clearer about that, though.
I can't quite take the floating, laser-zapping Cyber heads seriously. They look too silly. I think this sort of thing looked a lot better when The Orville did it.
Once again, the Doctor is showing very real effects from her final experiences as Capaldi, which is wonderful. The Doctor has tried to send companions away to safety many, many times, but there's a desperate edge to it here that we don't usually see, but which makes absolutely perfect sense. Aww, seeing what happened to Bill really, really messed her up. *sniffle*
This entry was originally posted at https://astrogirl.dreamwidth.org/975201.html. Comment here or there, whichever you like.