More Doctor Who and Torchwood
Went to Steve's last night, wherein we watched some Doctor Who and some Torchwood! I feel like doing as versipellis does, so I'm putting each individual impression under LJ cuts.
I'd watched Voyage of the Damned before on YouTube, because it wasn't available via Netflix. The others hadn't really bothered, alas, but I got the Series 4 DVD set and brought it with me last night. The episode was good, if not emotionally taxing - Max Capricorn is sort of a jokey-feeling villain, especially as many of his mannerisms reflect those of Doctor Evil. There's not much else to say, I guess; I'm kind of bummed that no female passengers survived, Alonso is hella-cute and I would shag him any day of the week, and I hadn't even noticed that Wilf was the one at the newspaper stand before! (Granted, I hadn't seen Wilf yet when I'd first watched the episode...)
This episode felt more like a horror movie than an episode of Doctor Who. I'm not really complaining, I love intense episodes of any particular TV series (and the fact that it was "horror" without being gory is always welcome), but following up on Voyage of the Damned, I left feeling even more drained. I love how the humans looked as water parasites; I've adjusted to the "monsters" of the series looking less humanoid. The black teeth and the calcified skin of the jaw just really freaked me the fuck out. This episode is the first we really see of the Doctor becoming unraveled due to losing Donna and Rose, but I felt like the transition from "I've got to stay out of this I've got to stay out of this I've got to stay out of this oh God I've got to stay out of this" to "I'm the closest thing to God there is short of God himself!" felt a mite ham-handed. Yeah, it wasn't terrible, but I would have figured the Doctor was smart enough to keep from altering a "fixed point in history" just because he felt like it, especially when Adelaide had accepted the fact that her death meant the future of mankind. I associate the Doctor's poor choice with how the Daleks had manipulated human history so the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire had turned into an era of xenophobia and lies.
The fact that Adelaide had the nerve to shoot herself following her rescue was both fantastic and exhausting. She understood what surviving the Bowie Base One incident implied, and I'm proud that she made the right choice, but man.
Also, I couldn't help but think at how uncomfortable the make-up was for the water monsters. To be soaking wet for God knows how many hours of the day? I'd probably break out in a rash...
After that, we decided to watch more Torchwood (because it was too early to go home and I was bored, and the only other person who had been interested in the series from our first attempt at watching the show wanted to keep going).
So, I want to go on the record and say I absolutely loved Ianto from the moment I saw him in Doctor Who, and learning how the character had started (as Torchwood's coffee boy) made him that much more endearing to me. At the same time, I never expected Ianto to have an episode dedicated to him so early on in the series. Man, can Gareth David-Lloyd act, I was seriously caught off-guard. At the same time, experiencing his loss and sorrow and desperation - following the Waters of Mars - put me in a state of nigh-catatonia.
Also, I call shenanigans on the "sexy half-naked Cyberman" concept. I wouldn't have minded if some of the Cyberman armor looked more akin to - you know - Cyberman armor, rather than a sexy retrofuture bikini, but I felt like Lisa was dressed as she was to drive the point home that yes, she was part Cyberman and part woman.
Despite being absolutely thrashed by what we'd watched so far, we decided to try one last episode of Torchwood. And God dammit it kept pulling the emotion strings like a motherfucker. I loved watching the pedophile get what was coming to him (maybe too much? Pedophiles are probably the only people on the planet I believe should be taken out back and shot as soon as they're found guilty), but that one sequence in the market where he started horking up flower petals got my fear of suffocation up in a knot.
One thing I don't quite go for is why the fairies murdered Estelle. She hadn't done anything to attack or protect Jasmine; I was left with the feeling that she died only because Peter Hammond wanted to prove how EBIL the Fairies were. Also, I was frustrated that Estelle deliberately ignored Jack so she could get her cat...and then Jack's emotional break-down after finding Estelle dead...aurghrtrhtrehgwrget. That last scene in particular was very poignant, but after two Doctor Whos and an episode of Torchwood that already beat me up, it was the nail in the coffin. I couldn't watch any more after that.
(Also, I have a soft spot for senior citizens, and the thought of any (innocent) old person getting harmed is really squicky for me. Like, even in games like Grand Theft Auto and Saint's Row, I make a concentrated effort to not murder/mug/maim old people. I also do my best to not run them over, but the cops aren't going to take exception to that if they're hot on my ass.)
The father's conversion from "concerned-if-not-cynical step-father" to "angry-abusive-scary step-father" felt very sudden, and I didn't believe he deserved to die (another ham-handed attempt at how the fairies are EBIL, though not as bad as Estelle's murder). Then there was the poor wife, losing her husband and daughter at the same time! And Jack was there at the very end, morally ambiguous but sure he'd made the right decision, and, oy.
Despite how draining the Torchwood eps were, I still really enjoy it and plan to keep watching. I just hope there's a teeeeeeensy tiny break in the drama.
I'd watched Voyage of the Damned before on YouTube, because it wasn't available via Netflix. The others hadn't really bothered, alas, but I got the Series 4 DVD set and brought it with me last night. The episode was good, if not emotionally taxing - Max Capricorn is sort of a jokey-feeling villain, especially as many of his mannerisms reflect those of Doctor Evil. There's not much else to say, I guess; I'm kind of bummed that no female passengers survived, Alonso is hella-cute and I would shag him any day of the week, and I hadn't even noticed that Wilf was the one at the newspaper stand before! (Granted, I hadn't seen Wilf yet when I'd first watched the episode...)
This episode felt more like a horror movie than an episode of Doctor Who. I'm not really complaining, I love intense episodes of any particular TV series (and the fact that it was "horror" without being gory is always welcome), but following up on Voyage of the Damned, I left feeling even more drained. I love how the humans looked as water parasites; I've adjusted to the "monsters" of the series looking less humanoid. The black teeth and the calcified skin of the jaw just really freaked me the fuck out. This episode is the first we really see of the Doctor becoming unraveled due to losing Donna and Rose, but I felt like the transition from "I've got to stay out of this I've got to stay out of this I've got to stay out of this oh God I've got to stay out of this" to "I'm the closest thing to God there is short of God himself!" felt a mite ham-handed. Yeah, it wasn't terrible, but I would have figured the Doctor was smart enough to keep from altering a "fixed point in history" just because he felt like it, especially when Adelaide had accepted the fact that her death meant the future of mankind. I associate the Doctor's poor choice with how the Daleks had manipulated human history so the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire had turned into an era of xenophobia and lies.
The fact that Adelaide had the nerve to shoot herself following her rescue was both fantastic and exhausting. She understood what surviving the Bowie Base One incident implied, and I'm proud that she made the right choice, but man.
Also, I couldn't help but think at how uncomfortable the make-up was for the water monsters. To be soaking wet for God knows how many hours of the day? I'd probably break out in a rash...
After that, we decided to watch more Torchwood (because it was too early to go home and I was bored, and the only other person who had been interested in the series from our first attempt at watching the show wanted to keep going).
So, I want to go on the record and say I absolutely loved Ianto from the moment I saw him in Doctor Who, and learning how the character had started (as Torchwood's coffee boy) made him that much more endearing to me. At the same time, I never expected Ianto to have an episode dedicated to him so early on in the series. Man, can Gareth David-Lloyd act, I was seriously caught off-guard. At the same time, experiencing his loss and sorrow and desperation - following the Waters of Mars - put me in a state of nigh-catatonia.
Also, I call shenanigans on the "sexy half-naked Cyberman" concept. I wouldn't have minded if some of the Cyberman armor looked more akin to - you know - Cyberman armor, rather than a sexy retrofuture bikini, but I felt like Lisa was dressed as she was to drive the point home that yes, she was part Cyberman and part woman.
Despite being absolutely thrashed by what we'd watched so far, we decided to try one last episode of Torchwood. And God dammit it kept pulling the emotion strings like a motherfucker. I loved watching the pedophile get what was coming to him (maybe too much? Pedophiles are probably the only people on the planet I believe should be taken out back and shot as soon as they're found guilty), but that one sequence in the market where he started horking up flower petals got my fear of suffocation up in a knot.
One thing I don't quite go for is why the fairies murdered Estelle. She hadn't done anything to attack or protect Jasmine; I was left with the feeling that she died only because Peter Hammond wanted to prove how EBIL the Fairies were. Also, I was frustrated that Estelle deliberately ignored Jack so she could get her cat...and then Jack's emotional break-down after finding Estelle dead...aurghrtrhtrehgwrget. That last scene in particular was very poignant, but after two Doctor Whos and an episode of Torchwood that already beat me up, it was the nail in the coffin. I couldn't watch any more after that.
(Also, I have a soft spot for senior citizens, and the thought of any (innocent) old person getting harmed is really squicky for me. Like, even in games like Grand Theft Auto and Saint's Row, I make a concentrated effort to not murder/mug/maim old people. I also do my best to not run them over, but the cops aren't going to take exception to that if they're hot on my ass.)
The father's conversion from "concerned-if-not-cynical step-father" to "angry-abusive-scary step-father" felt very sudden, and I didn't believe he deserved to die (another ham-handed attempt at how the fairies are EBIL, though not as bad as Estelle's murder). Then there was the poor wife, losing her husband and daughter at the same time! And Jack was there at the very end, morally ambiguous but sure he'd made the right decision, and, oy.
Despite how draining the Torchwood eps were, I still really enjoy it and plan to keep watching. I just hope there's a teeeeeeensy tiny break in the drama.