Doctor Who again
I got a bit overexcited in the last post - Christmas special won't be on ABC until the end of the month.
Two things immediately came to mind:
1. The moment I realised that he wasn't really the next Doctor I thought "Trust New Who to give me a cop-out like that." Cop-out's too negative a word, really, because it's not even a criticism; I like plots that work like that. It just seems a very new-series thing to do.
2. The new series of Doctor Who seems to have a thing about bigger-and-better, new-and-improved villains. First we had the single Dalek in Dalek, but by the end of the first series an army of Daleks wasn't enough; we had to have the Emperor Dalek. Then came the Cult of Skarro, Dalek Khan the prophet and the resurrected Davros. Similar thing here with the Cybermen, upping the ante with new armour designs (black faces, transparent heads), a Cyberking and giant steampunk mecha Cyberman. All things that I like individually, but I wonder whether the trend can be sustained in the long run. It also takes away from the scariness of the average Dalek or Cyberman if you keep putting in bigger, scarier, more ultimate versions. Dalek showed how terrifying just one individual is, and much as I like the crazy out-there stuff, I'd like to see more restrained, scary storylines with some of the recurring nasties.
3. Actually, I do have more things to say. This episode sort of confirmed something that had been niggling me: that Rose did partly stuff things up by travelling across the Void again, in that it let the Cybermen back out. Presumably the Daleks could be roaming around somewhere in this dimension's time and space as well. Rose was trying to save the world in coming back, of course, but since there was this whole big reason that she wasn't supposed to return in the first place, it bugged me that there was no talk of the consequences before.
4. This did sort of confirm for me that Tennant's time is about up. I like him, but his portrayal of the Doctor seems stuck on this somewhat-angsty, loner-ish register, and I think it'll take a new actor to move beyond that.
5. GIANT MECHA STEAMPUNK STOMPY CYBERSHIP YES. ALSO TARDIS-BALLOON.
Watch out, tomorrow I could be talking about cricket.
Two things immediately came to mind:
1. The moment I realised that he wasn't really the next Doctor I thought "Trust New Who to give me a cop-out like that." Cop-out's too negative a word, really, because it's not even a criticism; I like plots that work like that. It just seems a very new-series thing to do.
2. The new series of Doctor Who seems to have a thing about bigger-and-better, new-and-improved villains. First we had the single Dalek in Dalek, but by the end of the first series an army of Daleks wasn't enough; we had to have the Emperor Dalek. Then came the Cult of Skarro, Dalek Khan the prophet and the resurrected Davros. Similar thing here with the Cybermen, upping the ante with new armour designs (black faces, transparent heads), a Cyberking and giant steampunk mecha Cyberman. All things that I like individually, but I wonder whether the trend can be sustained in the long run. It also takes away from the scariness of the average Dalek or Cyberman if you keep putting in bigger, scarier, more ultimate versions. Dalek showed how terrifying just one individual is, and much as I like the crazy out-there stuff, I'd like to see more restrained, scary storylines with some of the recurring nasties.
3. Actually, I do have more things to say. This episode sort of confirmed something that had been niggling me: that Rose did partly stuff things up by travelling across the Void again, in that it let the Cybermen back out. Presumably the Daleks could be roaming around somewhere in this dimension's time and space as well. Rose was trying to save the world in coming back, of course, but since there was this whole big reason that she wasn't supposed to return in the first place, it bugged me that there was no talk of the consequences before.
4. This did sort of confirm for me that Tennant's time is about up. I like him, but his portrayal of the Doctor seems stuck on this somewhat-angsty, loner-ish register, and I think it'll take a new actor to move beyond that.
5. GIANT MECHA STEAMPUNK STOMPY CYBERSHIP YES. ALSO TARDIS-BALLOON.
Watch out, tomorrow I could be talking about cricket.