(no subject)
4.02 - The Fires of Pompeii
Now, this is much more like it (not that I didn't like last week's, I did, but this was excellent).
An1 historical episode, which Who has always (well, almost always) excelled at, but on a scale to rival almost any other production in the world (even if they did have to borrow the Cinecittà Studios set from HBO's "Rome" to do it). While watching it, I was wondering what purple_pen was making of it all; was she watching it going "Squeeeeeee!!!" or was she watching it with pained gaze through her fingers going "Oh Gods, they've got that wrong, that is aobut 100 years too early, that is Byzantine, not Roman, and as for that...". From her review, I think the former. :)
This was a well-paced episode; fast (almost breakneck) but it kept the pace up well, barely a let-up, and yet it managed to maintain atmosphere and drama. The imminent eruption of Vesuvius was an ever-present threat, but strictly back-seat until the end. The alien menace (there had to be one) was rather well done, I thought; The Pyruvile - half Golem, half Balrog (I'm just wondering how much of WETA Digital the FX department have pilfered for this series). Their design was excellent, seemed well-rendered (it might have appeared different in HD, I'm not sure) and apart from a couple in long shots their movement was reasonably fluid.
"You fought it with a water pistol? I bloody love you!" Right, that's that out of the way, let's file it away down the back of some dusty archive room and never speak of it again. ;) Blimey, Donna had a bit of a baptism of fire, didn't she? (Bdddddmm-tschhh!) Whisked away to historyville, mistaken for a Celt (what was it, the pale skin and red hair?), "I am Spartacus", gets into local garb (nice purple, that Caecillius bloke must have been doing pretty damn well out of the Marble trade to afford to give that to a visitor), has a go at the local bigwig, gets captured and tied up (Oh, she's a proper Who companion now!), gets the "I can see all of time" speech (surely it's about time the Doctor took half an hour in front of a word processor and typed out an FAQ?) and gets raised to Household Godhood. Not bad for a first adventure.
And I have to admit, I am quite liking the character of Donna. I stick by my claim last week that she's more like Jo Grant - maybe not the shiniest penny in the bank, but she's got a good heart, she's not afraid to pester the Doctor when she thinks he's doing something wrong (or not doing something right), and she at least tries to understand what makes the Doctor tick, even if she really hasn't a clue. And going on the strength of this episode, she's far more of a humanising factor to the Doctor than Rose or Martha were.
Christopher Eccleston's Doctor would have hated her. :)
I have to admit, when Evelina showed Donna her "mark", that was when I sat up and did a double take. I'm sure I wasn't the only person watching it that was thinking "Hold on - 'her', stone face, arm turning to stone - surely it can't be Eldrad?" As it turned out, it wasn't. Which is good, because it's always nice to be original; but also bad, because how cool would it have been if it was Eldrad (or another of her species)?
Pyruvilia - that's the second planet that's been declared "lost" in as many episodes. Why are planets being "lost", and how? Is this something to do with why The Blonde Girl was at the end of last week's episode? Is The Blonde Girl the "she" that was referred to, or is it someone else, or even just a red herring? And just what is on Donna's back? Is she growing a boil? Is it a Keeper? Does she have a tattoo encoded with the secret location of Gallifrey?
1: Should that actually be an an there, or just an a. I've never been too sure on this, as I always received conflicting guidance on this from my English teachers.
So far, this series is shaping up nicely, with some lovely little hints of what is to come. I only hope that it can deliver come the end.
Now, this is much more like it (not that I didn't like last week's, I did, but this was excellent).
An1 historical episode, which Who has always (well, almost always) excelled at, but on a scale to rival almost any other production in the world (even if they did have to borrow the Cinecittà Studios set from HBO's "Rome" to do it). While watching it, I was wondering what purple_pen was making of it all; was she watching it going "Squeeeeeee!!!" or was she watching it with pained gaze through her fingers going "Oh Gods, they've got that wrong, that is aobut 100 years too early, that is Byzantine, not Roman, and as for that...". From her review, I think the former. :)
This was a well-paced episode; fast (almost breakneck) but it kept the pace up well, barely a let-up, and yet it managed to maintain atmosphere and drama. The imminent eruption of Vesuvius was an ever-present threat, but strictly back-seat until the end. The alien menace (there had to be one) was rather well done, I thought; The Pyruvile - half Golem, half Balrog (I'm just wondering how much of WETA Digital the FX department have pilfered for this series). Their design was excellent, seemed well-rendered (it might have appeared different in HD, I'm not sure) and apart from a couple in long shots their movement was reasonably fluid.
"You fought it with a water pistol? I bloody love you!" Right, that's that out of the way, let's file it away down the back of some dusty archive room and never speak of it again. ;) Blimey, Donna had a bit of a baptism of fire, didn't she? (Bdddddmm-tschhh!) Whisked away to historyville, mistaken for a Celt (what was it, the pale skin and red hair?), "I am Spartacus", gets into local garb (nice purple, that Caecillius bloke must have been doing pretty damn well out of the Marble trade to afford to give that to a visitor), has a go at the local bigwig, gets captured and tied up (Oh, she's a proper Who companion now!), gets the "I can see all of time" speech (surely it's about time the Doctor took half an hour in front of a word processor and typed out an FAQ?) and gets raised to Household Godhood. Not bad for a first adventure.
And I have to admit, I am quite liking the character of Donna. I stick by my claim last week that she's more like Jo Grant - maybe not the shiniest penny in the bank, but she's got a good heart, she's not afraid to pester the Doctor when she thinks he's doing something wrong (or not doing something right), and she at least tries to understand what makes the Doctor tick, even if she really hasn't a clue. And going on the strength of this episode, she's far more of a humanising factor to the Doctor than Rose or Martha were.
Christopher Eccleston's Doctor would have hated her. :)
I have to admit, when Evelina showed Donna her "mark", that was when I sat up and did a double take. I'm sure I wasn't the only person watching it that was thinking "Hold on - 'her', stone face, arm turning to stone - surely it can't be Eldrad?" As it turned out, it wasn't. Which is good, because it's always nice to be original; but also bad, because how cool would it have been if it was Eldrad (or another of her species)?
Pyruvilia - that's the second planet that's been declared "lost" in as many episodes. Why are planets being "lost", and how? Is this something to do with why The Blonde Girl was at the end of last week's episode? Is The Blonde Girl the "she" that was referred to, or is it someone else, or even just a red herring? And just what is on Donna's back? Is she growing a boil? Is it a Keeper? Does she have a tattoo encoded with the secret location of Gallifrey?
1: Should that actually be an an there, or just an a. I've never been too sure on this, as I always received conflicting guidance on this from my English teachers.
So far, this series is shaping up nicely, with some lovely little hints of what is to come. I only hope that it can deliver come the end.