Whoverse Show Reviews
Missed doing them individually, so here's a quick round up:
Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride
I rather enjoyed it, but I did have a fever at the time. *wink*
Donna was annoying (as expected) but she was good for the Doctor at that moment because she helped to put Rose into perspective without having him wallow in emotion. Tart is good after sweet. Throwing him straight into a mystery was definitely the best way out of the Rose situation.
Supremely silly storyline, but with an interesting reflection of previous episodes. Nine took Rose to the end of the Earth to begin their time together and Ten goes to the birth of the Earth to begin his new life without her... one journey ends, one begins. Excellent blah blah, emotions, moving on, remembering Rose fondly but not getting bogged down by it, etc.
And parallel to that was a great story for the kids. I was watching it was my boyfriends niece and nephews... they were bouncing and cowering in all the right places. Wonderfully campy bad guy! Scary in some ways but just flat out fun in others. Heehee. Spiders go down the plughole! :D
We literally had ages 4 to 80+ in the room and everyone seemed to find something to enjoy about it. Total cliche but true.
Sarah Jane: Invasion of the Bane
Big Squishy Hammer of Morality (TM) time: Being a sheep and following the crowd is BAD FOR YOU. Commercialism is BAD.
Rather enjoyable. Obviously for kids and not much adult content. Loved the computer. Shame K9 was packed off in such a daft way. Captured the spirit of Doctor Who rather well, despite not having the central grounding that the figure of the Doctor provides. Sarah Jane though, unfortunately, came across as kinda stupid. Come on! Couldn't she have been portrayed with more intelligence/planning ability and less lurching from pillar to post? A strong female role model for young girls would be nice.
Torchwood: Out of Time
What a cool episode! Owen is a contrary one, isn't he? Loved the scene where he blathers on and on, then Diane just replies "I love you too." Class! Very insightful. He's just a prat, like the rest of us. Beautiful colors in this episode. Diane looked gorgeous the whole time. I want to look like that when I grow up (and have a team of make-up artists perminently following me around touching up the ol'' lippy). *wink*
BF's reaction: Good episode, but isn't this meant to be sci fi..?
So much good stuff:
# Gwen and Rhys having a tough time. Very angsty.
# The sex talk and Gwen's reactions to some touchy subjects.
# The whole Owen/Diane relationship. It had a joy to it that was lovely. OMG, this allegedly adult show finally had adult content!!
# Jack and John. Hey, a m/m relationship involving Jack where there was no flirting! But enough with the micky taking, it was nicely done and I was touched by the last scene in the car. Poor John. Poor Jack.
Torchwood: Combat
Fight Club meta commentary from Noel Clarke. I liked this ep. I think it achieved what it set out to whilst largely avoiding the Big Squishy Hammer of Morality (TM) that has plagued Whoverse stuff since RTD took it on and that success lies partiality in it's ambiguities. You could argue that it's just a Fight Club rip off but this is another one of those cases where I think that would be wrong. This ep actually took the idea of Fight Club and ran with it to a new place.
After Fight Club came out lots of sad middle class white men took away something of the wrong message and started up their own fight clubs. I see the "fight club" the gang uncovers as being one of those. Their leader fairly obviously wants to be Tyler Durden but, in reality, he's a just sick fuck who doesn't get it. He gets off on punching chained up weaker creatures, for goodness sake. Tyler wouldn't even sink to that. Tyler's fighting is all about metaphor; it's about purity, strength and equality for men... not picking on the weak. Owen gets it far more than he does. He knows that punching a chained up Weevil is wrong and you can see the horror on his face. He doesn't go into the ring to fight the Weevil. It's all a serious insight into Owen's psyche. He's a good man in many ways. He's just fucked up by a world in which he has no idea what he wants, where he fits and he just doesn't understand why it all hurts so much suddenly (i.e post Diane). He's fighting himself, which is exactly what Fight Club was about. Except that Fight Club was about wanting to feel something and throwing yourself into experiences for sensation. Owen rejects that scenario. Which was breathtaking!
This episode is what I wanted Torchwood to be. Adult. Dark. No easy answers. Not flawless, by any means, but I'd like more in this vein. Please.
Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness
This episode was great. The transitions between past and future were wonderfully well done. The production was superb on every level. The relationships were nicely handled. The real Jack Harkness was instantly appealing and that made our Jack falling for him very believable. I'm not really into the whole slash thing but those two just had so much chemistry that I'm amazed my TV set didn't explode. It was beautiful.
I love time shifty stuff, so this episode was bound to appeal to me. Good creepy bad guy. Hopefully recurring some more(?)
Owen/Ianto. Now that's chemistry! I was whooping when they started fighting (and I rarely whoop). I was also calling for them to get naked and find some jelly to roll around in. Has this show corrupted me..? Cheered when Ianto shot Owen, not because I wanted to see Owen shot (how is his behaviour really worse than Ianto's over Lisa?) but because I didn't think Ianto had the balls to do it. I thought he might see Owen's argument as good (because he's been there) and cave in. I think he finally understood why Jack was prepared to kill Lisa. Of course, Ianto's a better person than Jack... he went for the good wound to try and stop Owen. That impressed me too. Jack would probably have gone for the kill (as would Owen, as we saw next episode). It's just bad luck that Owen had already put things together. Killing him at that moment would have changed nothing.
Things:
# Bad Wolf graffiti. Nice.
# Two guys dancing/kissing on a dancefloor in 1941... Cute. Heartwrenching. Unrealistic. Stupid.
# Why didn't Tosh just leave the laptop for the team to find in the future..? She might not have been able to charge it and it would have been kinda old by the time they found it but the hard disk would have remained readable with their nifty Hub technology. To keep the storyline on track, the vital part of the equation could have been on the only corrupted part of the disk.
Torchwood: End of Days
They had me up until the graphic of the planet and the cracks. That's when it started falling apart for me. After that there were great moments but it never hung together quite right again. The CGI demon was a let down (although stunningly rendered). Although I'm hoping he's just the "gatekeeper" and that something more is actually coming after him. Maybe the another Satan-Persona like from The Impossible Planet? He was big dumb monster in some ways too (the spirit was just quicker). Something Bad Wolfy perhaps..?
Do you think the religious overtones were intentional? I mean the demon obviously was but Jack being betrayed, sacrificing himself, being resurrected after several days, forgiving his betrayer and then potentially ascending bodily to somewhere that's else..? Um...
Great bits:
# Rhys' death and Gwen in the aftermath. She can be bloody good sometimes.
# "It's the *almost whispered* fucking *louder and in absolute horror* It's the Black Death!" Nice delivery of what, when you think about it, is a rather silly line. He sold it with that half-whispered swearing.
# Owen's reactions in the hospital generally. Others have pointed out the factual inaccuracies of his medical bits but the acting is superb. Owen knows he's fucked up and seeing the consequences has really rattled him.
# The gang turning on Jack was very nicely done. People who've pointed out that it's a rip off of the Scoobies turning on Buffy have missed an important fact. This betrayal scene was done so much better. The Buffy one was annoying because it didn't entirely make sense and you knew to be siding with Buffy (because she's actually pretty much always right). This was riveting. You had no idea who to side with. It seemed that Jack was probably right and it was a trap but you couldn't be sure and it was touch and go all the way through about who was wavering and who wasn't and then Owen shot him! Not going for the good wound - like Ianto - but outright head shot - like Suzie! I can totally ignore similarities in idea if they are better done scenes. The acting was top drawer all round, the script was tight and it mostly made sense... except Ianto - I thought he'd come so far in being able to shoot Owen but he still fell for a little prompting off Lisa and that whole business about Jack "needing him" in the previous ep. I guess that the fact that they are all a bit wary of Jack's judgment calls (because he's made some weird ones) was as big a factor in their betrayal as the pushes to fix things that they'd received from their personal demons.
# After several days in a death-like state, Jack is suffering from rigor mortis... of the hair! How solid did it look when Gwen tenderly touched it?! And what was up with the gaping gown and the open body bag. Gwen you've really been trying EVERYTHING to wake him up, haven't you?!!
# TARDIS!!!! *does happy dance and starts theorizing in her head*
Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride
I rather enjoyed it, but I did have a fever at the time. *wink*
Donna was annoying (as expected) but she was good for the Doctor at that moment because she helped to put Rose into perspective without having him wallow in emotion. Tart is good after sweet. Throwing him straight into a mystery was definitely the best way out of the Rose situation.
Supremely silly storyline, but with an interesting reflection of previous episodes. Nine took Rose to the end of the Earth to begin their time together and Ten goes to the birth of the Earth to begin his new life without her... one journey ends, one begins. Excellent blah blah, emotions, moving on, remembering Rose fondly but not getting bogged down by it, etc.
And parallel to that was a great story for the kids. I was watching it was my boyfriends niece and nephews... they were bouncing and cowering in all the right places. Wonderfully campy bad guy! Scary in some ways but just flat out fun in others. Heehee. Spiders go down the plughole! :D
We literally had ages 4 to 80+ in the room and everyone seemed to find something to enjoy about it. Total cliche but true.
Sarah Jane: Invasion of the Bane
Big Squishy Hammer of Morality (TM) time: Being a sheep and following the crowd is BAD FOR YOU. Commercialism is BAD.
Rather enjoyable. Obviously for kids and not much adult content. Loved the computer. Shame K9 was packed off in such a daft way. Captured the spirit of Doctor Who rather well, despite not having the central grounding that the figure of the Doctor provides. Sarah Jane though, unfortunately, came across as kinda stupid. Come on! Couldn't she have been portrayed with more intelligence/planning ability and less lurching from pillar to post? A strong female role model for young girls would be nice.
Torchwood: Out of Time
What a cool episode! Owen is a contrary one, isn't he? Loved the scene where he blathers on and on, then Diane just replies "I love you too." Class! Very insightful. He's just a prat, like the rest of us. Beautiful colors in this episode. Diane looked gorgeous the whole time. I want to look like that when I grow up (and have a team of make-up artists perminently following me around touching up the ol'' lippy). *wink*
BF's reaction: Good episode, but isn't this meant to be sci fi..?
So much good stuff:
# Gwen and Rhys having a tough time. Very angsty.
# The sex talk and Gwen's reactions to some touchy subjects.
# The whole Owen/Diane relationship. It had a joy to it that was lovely. OMG, this allegedly adult show finally had adult content!!
# Jack and John. Hey, a m/m relationship involving Jack where there was no flirting! But enough with the micky taking, it was nicely done and I was touched by the last scene in the car. Poor John. Poor Jack.
Torchwood: Combat
Fight Club meta commentary from Noel Clarke. I liked this ep. I think it achieved what it set out to whilst largely avoiding the Big Squishy Hammer of Morality (TM) that has plagued Whoverse stuff since RTD took it on and that success lies partiality in it's ambiguities. You could argue that it's just a Fight Club rip off but this is another one of those cases where I think that would be wrong. This ep actually took the idea of Fight Club and ran with it to a new place.
After Fight Club came out lots of sad middle class white men took away something of the wrong message and started up their own fight clubs. I see the "fight club" the gang uncovers as being one of those. Their leader fairly obviously wants to be Tyler Durden but, in reality, he's a just sick fuck who doesn't get it. He gets off on punching chained up weaker creatures, for goodness sake. Tyler wouldn't even sink to that. Tyler's fighting is all about metaphor; it's about purity, strength and equality for men... not picking on the weak. Owen gets it far more than he does. He knows that punching a chained up Weevil is wrong and you can see the horror on his face. He doesn't go into the ring to fight the Weevil. It's all a serious insight into Owen's psyche. He's a good man in many ways. He's just fucked up by a world in which he has no idea what he wants, where he fits and he just doesn't understand why it all hurts so much suddenly (i.e post Diane). He's fighting himself, which is exactly what Fight Club was about. Except that Fight Club was about wanting to feel something and throwing yourself into experiences for sensation. Owen rejects that scenario. Which was breathtaking!
This episode is what I wanted Torchwood to be. Adult. Dark. No easy answers. Not flawless, by any means, but I'd like more in this vein. Please.
Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness
This episode was great. The transitions between past and future were wonderfully well done. The production was superb on every level. The relationships were nicely handled. The real Jack Harkness was instantly appealing and that made our Jack falling for him very believable. I'm not really into the whole slash thing but those two just had so much chemistry that I'm amazed my TV set didn't explode. It was beautiful.
I love time shifty stuff, so this episode was bound to appeal to me. Good creepy bad guy. Hopefully recurring some more(?)
Owen/Ianto. Now that's chemistry! I was whooping when they started fighting (and I rarely whoop). I was also calling for them to get naked and find some jelly to roll around in. Has this show corrupted me..? Cheered when Ianto shot Owen, not because I wanted to see Owen shot (how is his behaviour really worse than Ianto's over Lisa?) but because I didn't think Ianto had the balls to do it. I thought he might see Owen's argument as good (because he's been there) and cave in. I think he finally understood why Jack was prepared to kill Lisa. Of course, Ianto's a better person than Jack... he went for the good wound to try and stop Owen. That impressed me too. Jack would probably have gone for the kill (as would Owen, as we saw next episode). It's just bad luck that Owen had already put things together. Killing him at that moment would have changed nothing.
Things:
# Bad Wolf graffiti. Nice.
# Two guys dancing/kissing on a dancefloor in 1941... Cute. Heartwrenching. Unrealistic. Stupid.
# Why didn't Tosh just leave the laptop for the team to find in the future..? She might not have been able to charge it and it would have been kinda old by the time they found it but the hard disk would have remained readable with their nifty Hub technology. To keep the storyline on track, the vital part of the equation could have been on the only corrupted part of the disk.
Torchwood: End of Days
They had me up until the graphic of the planet and the cracks. That's when it started falling apart for me. After that there were great moments but it never hung together quite right again. The CGI demon was a let down (although stunningly rendered). Although I'm hoping he's just the "gatekeeper" and that something more is actually coming after him. Maybe the another Satan-Persona like from The Impossible Planet? He was big dumb monster in some ways too (the spirit was just quicker). Something Bad Wolfy perhaps..?
Do you think the religious overtones were intentional? I mean the demon obviously was but Jack being betrayed, sacrificing himself, being resurrected after several days, forgiving his betrayer and then potentially ascending bodily to somewhere that's else..? Um...
Great bits:
# Rhys' death and Gwen in the aftermath. She can be bloody good sometimes.
# "It's the *almost whispered* fucking *louder and in absolute horror* It's the Black Death!" Nice delivery of what, when you think about it, is a rather silly line. He sold it with that half-whispered swearing.
# Owen's reactions in the hospital generally. Others have pointed out the factual inaccuracies of his medical bits but the acting is superb. Owen knows he's fucked up and seeing the consequences has really rattled him.
# The gang turning on Jack was very nicely done. People who've pointed out that it's a rip off of the Scoobies turning on Buffy have missed an important fact. This betrayal scene was done so much better. The Buffy one was annoying because it didn't entirely make sense and you knew to be siding with Buffy (because she's actually pretty much always right). This was riveting. You had no idea who to side with. It seemed that Jack was probably right and it was a trap but you couldn't be sure and it was touch and go all the way through about who was wavering and who wasn't and then Owen shot him! Not going for the good wound - like Ianto - but outright head shot - like Suzie! I can totally ignore similarities in idea if they are better done scenes. The acting was top drawer all round, the script was tight and it mostly made sense... except Ianto - I thought he'd come so far in being able to shoot Owen but he still fell for a little prompting off Lisa and that whole business about Jack "needing him" in the previous ep. I guess that the fact that they are all a bit wary of Jack's judgment calls (because he's made some weird ones) was as big a factor in their betrayal as the pushes to fix things that they'd received from their personal demons.
# After several days in a death-like state, Jack is suffering from rigor mortis... of the hair! How solid did it look when Gwen tenderly touched it?! And what was up with the gaping gown and the open body bag. Gwen you've really been trying EVERYTHING to wake him up, haven't you?!!
# TARDIS!!!! *does happy dance and starts theorizing in her head*