The Doctor Who Thing . . . I get it now.
After much encouragement from my f-list, I decided to give Doctor Who another try, and Netflix told me I was on episode 7 of series 1. I noticed this one, "The Long Game," was written by Russel T. Davies, so it should hold the weight of a Joss-penned episode of Buffy, right?
Well, I get it now. And I got it the moment Simon Pegg walked onto the screen.
This was a classic sci-fi adventure about a dystopian future (there were some Matrix-y echoes in the plot with the whole human race deluded while being controlled), and I found the commentary on modern media to be brilliant, if given in the heavy-handed mode of a villain's monologue about how evil he is. That, I guess, is to be expected of a show meant to be accessible enough for children, but the deep subject matter still is a very strong selling point.
Adam is now officially the Jason Stackhouse of the series, btw: a good-looking idiot without a clue. Though I like Jason more.
And I get now why RTD is a BFD.
Episode 8, "Father's Day," was remarkably un-schmaltzy for an episode about Rose's daddy issues, while still having a good heart - a lot of that owed to Billie Piper's performance and the musical theme that echoed "Someday My Prince Will Come" as if played on a music box. It felt like your average nostalgic 80's flashback episode, though, where half the fun is in the clothing and musical choices. And Doctor Who got Rick Roll'd.
The most interesting bit to me, giving insight to the Doctor, was the scene where he asked the couple getting married how they met, and deciding based on the simple, ordinaryness of their meeting that he'd try to save them. I suppose it speaks to the lonely isolation of the Doctor, which is something I've heard a lot about through fandom osmosis, though this is the first I've seen it plainly displayed.
Rose's speech to her father about what a good dad he was recalled, to me, Giles' speech to Buffy in "Lie to Me," about the necessary fictions we tell ourselves to get through the day. I do like how her father didn't believe her, and how that was what helped him figure out how to fix the time paradox thingy.
Up next is "The Empty Child," with John Barrowman, so I take it this is when Captain Jack shows up, wows the crowd, and is then given his own series where he makes out with JM a lot. See? Fandom osmosis. I'm gonna get back to watching now.
Well, I get it now. And I got it the moment Simon Pegg walked onto the screen.
This was a classic sci-fi adventure about a dystopian future (there were some Matrix-y echoes in the plot with the whole human race deluded while being controlled), and I found the commentary on modern media to be brilliant, if given in the heavy-handed mode of a villain's monologue about how evil he is. That, I guess, is to be expected of a show meant to be accessible enough for children, but the deep subject matter still is a very strong selling point.
Adam is now officially the Jason Stackhouse of the series, btw: a good-looking idiot without a clue. Though I like Jason more.
And I get now why RTD is a BFD.
Episode 8, "Father's Day," was remarkably un-schmaltzy for an episode about Rose's daddy issues, while still having a good heart - a lot of that owed to Billie Piper's performance and the musical theme that echoed "Someday My Prince Will Come" as if played on a music box. It felt like your average nostalgic 80's flashback episode, though, where half the fun is in the clothing and musical choices. And Doctor Who got Rick Roll'd.
The most interesting bit to me, giving insight to the Doctor, was the scene where he asked the couple getting married how they met, and deciding based on the simple, ordinaryness of their meeting that he'd try to save them. I suppose it speaks to the lonely isolation of the Doctor, which is something I've heard a lot about through fandom osmosis, though this is the first I've seen it plainly displayed.
Rose's speech to her father about what a good dad he was recalled, to me, Giles' speech to Buffy in "Lie to Me," about the necessary fictions we tell ourselves to get through the day. I do like how her father didn't believe her, and how that was what helped him figure out how to fix the time paradox thingy.
Up next is "The Empty Child," with John Barrowman, so I take it this is when Captain Jack shows up, wows the crowd, and is then given his own series where he makes out with JM a lot. See? Fandom osmosis. I'm gonna get back to watching now.