Reaction Post: "The Long Game"
As usual, I'm a bit behind. I'm SORRY! I'm planning on watching "Father's Day" tomorrow, though. Really this time!
( I think one of the problems I had with watching 'The Long Game' is that I don't really like 'The Long Game' very much. )
( I think one of the problems I had with watching 'The Long Game' is that I don't really like 'The Long Game' very much. )
To be fair to him, he did write most of S1, didn't he? I admire him a lot overall because he *does* write incredibly well-crafted characters with real arcs that stay true to their journeys instead of just following a trite cliche. He's also written a lot of my favourite episodes. Sometimes I think the larger pictures gets away from him a bit - like "The Long Game," "Gridlock," and "The Last of the Time Lords." But I'm not sure anyone else would have been able to write "Doomsday" with the amount of emotion RTD packed into it. And I think you *do* get used to hand-waving away a LOT of things when you're a DW fan. :D
Here, they just know something's up, not what it is, or how dangerous it is. I'll admit, "Werewolves! Whee!" was a bit much for me when people had been shredded.
It's interesting how different people see things, isn't it? I don't think I ever would have thought twice about the Doctor and Rose's behaviour in T&C if it hadn't been for fandom. It could be because the Ten/Rose dynamic is my favourite thing ever, but I find it hard to blame them for having so much fun together. I'd say it's miles above the Doctor's colder, more revengeful attitude in S3.
It still bugs me. It doesn't fit his sense of guilt and responsibility, and it's really the only time we see him do something like that.
But the Doctor *always* takes off, doesn't he? He never sticks around, not after the Slitheen attacked the Earth, not after the Dalek in Utah. I mean, he even leaves Jack behind in tPoTW. I think this one just sticks out because it ended up being such a MASSIVE screw-up.
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Yep. That's why I included that in the ones that (on the whole) do work ;-) I do recognize, however, that he's much stronger at character work than he is at structure - AoL/WWIII is a great example. I think people forget how great those episodes are in character development because of the Slitheen (who aren't as bad as the director made them, I think). And I think he did some stellar work in Love & Monsters...and then there was that one joke that just pretty much ruined the whole thing for a lot of people (still, I think Jackie's "left behind" speech is the best scene in the entirety of S2. I give him credit for thinking big; but he's messy.
t's interesting how different people see things, isn't it?
Certainly. I know you love Ten/Rose and are squicked by Nine/Rose - I have exactly the opposite reaction. I do find them too much, and kind of desperate.
the Doctor *always* takes off, doesn't he? He never sticks around, not after the Slitheen attacked the Earth, not after the Dalek in Utah. I mean, he even leaves Jack behind in tPoTW. I think this one just sticks out because it ended up being such a MASSIVE screw-up.
I think it's the "degree" issue again. After the Slitheen, Harriet was there to take charge; after the Dalek, Goddard seemed to have everything in hand (go, the women!). This one, Cathica could have been in charge, but she doesn't have the strength or authority or sense of direction of the other two, so there's a sense that he's leaving them still with steaming bits of Jagrafess on the floor, which seemed...odd, even on first go to me.
The thing with Jack in POTW...well, we didn't really know for 2 years what that was, and I still think it reeks of RTD trying to be "deep" and overreaching his own characters there. It was an interesting idea, but it didn't work for me. (Unless the Doctor were already suffering from regeneration sequence and had his synapses scrambled, which was my original interpretation.)
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