Comments | iainjclark: Doctor Who - Rise of the Cybermen

iainjclark

Doctor Who - Rise of the Cybermen

May 13, 2006 20:12

Hmmm.

( Spoilers for tonight's Doctor Who... )

reviews, television, doctor who

Comments 47

ajp May 13 2006, 13:19:35 UTC

All largely true but ... cybermen! Always fun...

Now where'd I put my gold bullets? :-)

white_hart May 13 2006, 13:23:13 UTC

How much bling do you think Rose wears? And is it likely to be real?

ajp May 13 2006, 13:24:07 UTC

:-) I hadn't thought of that.

iainjclark May 14 2006, 07:13:50 UTC

Somehow I like the idea of a Doctor Who monster that's allergic to bling.

pikelet May 13 2006, 13:33:11 UTC

Generally, I'm not impressed by any post-Troughton Cyberman stories. I really wasn't that impressed by tonight's, either :-/

fba May 13 2006, 13:37:17 UTC

Well yes. I reserve judgement until next week. Pacing was strange in this one - Moffat did the big two-parter much better...

pikelet May 13 2006, 13:55:12 UTC

I'm inclined to think things like the 'death' of the TARDIS and the character development given to Mickey are worthy of an episode to themselves, never mind having Cybermen and more bloody Rose!angst thrown into the mix as well. So yes, the pacing felt off, but that's because it felt like an odd little mishmash of things all glued together and called a single episode.

fba May 13 2006, 14:04:51 UTC

I think you are right - possibly there is just too much going on (and yet it doesn't actually feel like anything much happens).

Thread 34

mattia May 13 2006, 13:39:21 UTC

There was a...relentless romp of a story? I would've described it as a dull, unsinspired, quasi-plotless, utterly predictable setup for what's to come next week. Character moments were dull, world building was quite nice, zeppelins and cybermen AWESOME, but one line from Doccy Boy explaining the why of them does nothing that's even vaguely exciting for one - like me - who did not grow up with the Cybermen.

This was, quite frankly, sub-par on all levels except costuming and set design. Poor show.

iainjclark May 13 2006, 13:40:55 UTC

There was a...relentless romp of a story?

I didn't mean it in a good way...

mattia May 13 2006, 13:56:56 UTC

Ah, ok. That makes more sense now.

iainjclark May 13 2006, 14:04:43 UTC

It was akin to one of those Stargate season finales (if you sink so low as to watch that show) where it's all about the moving forward and events have no real impact.

(The comment has been removed)

iainjclark May 13 2006, 17:08:20 UTC

Oh yes.

abigail_n May 14 2006, 01:54:30 UTC

It's funny, I thought this episode was quite enjoyable - not great television by any stretch of the imagination, but a good, fun hour. It probably helps that I'm not as invested in the Cybermen as people here seem to be. I didn't go into this episode expecting them or a story that dealt with them - I went in expecting a plotty two-parter with lots of peril for our heroes. Thus far, I seem to be getting it ( ... )

despotliz May 14 2006, 02:48:23 UTC

My only real problem with the plot end was that the resistance scenes were too obviously Matrix-derived.

Someone who was round watching DW with us (and sadly I can't remember who) did shout "None more Matrix!" when we saw the resistance fighters, so you're not alone there.

iainjclark May 14 2006, 04:17:48 UTC

It was a faily obvious comparison, I think - not so much in basic concept but in the appearance of the lair.

iainjclark May 14 2006, 04:29:22 UTC

If I look back and catalgoue all the moments I enjoyed there were actually quite a lot. I think the problem for me is that they were just brief moments. While I don't mind a plot-led episode with character drama on the side, the main plot was just too thuddingly obvious, and the character drama felt tired ( ... )