Doctor Who 7x02 knee-jerk reaction post
With any and all spoilers, safely concealed
Okay. First of all. YAY. I actually sort of loved this episode. Chibnall haters to the left. This was a very sort of formula ep, yes, but it was great fun. Bickering robots, freakin dinosaurs, old aliens we were familiar with (in a story that MADE SENSE, OMG), but didn't have to actually BE there. All three Ponds being awesome. New companions(ish) ripe for the ficcing (I won't, but someone will, they were interesting! Yay interesting!).
And I don't know, maybe it's my big crush on Karen Gillan, but I'm really liking Amy more and more. I was indifferent at first, and almost leaning towards not loving so much (not too far) early on, came firmly onto the like side a while ago, but I think I love her. Obvs. I love Rory. And unexpected Rory's dad ftw!
(okay, not exactly unexpected, I did see the whole pre-titles sequence of this episode a few months ago)
Okay, so, speaking of... my only critiques...
1. As I just said, we saw the opening scenes to this at Comic Con. And then, I wasn't sure if it was actually the sequence that was going to air or if it was clips from the episode. It was that disjointed. It still felt that way upon seeing it again. As such, I think THIS would have made a really good 'drop us right back into wacky action' first episode of the series. As it happened, it felt a little too all over the place. I mostly got over it, though.
2. I'm not sure when their on again/off again companions thing became official, but it doesn't really work for me. In my brain, I mean. It doesn't really make sense. It's a year here, and month here, a bunch of time there. We have no concept of Earth's time line anymore. There was always a sort of Earth!current going on, and now there isn't. (When did this episode even take place on Earth, I mean the earth the spaceship was heading towards?) If the Doctor is all over the place, how and why did/does he choose WHEN to pick up the Ponds? How does that work with all the stuff we learned in Pond Life? Eh, I don't even know. That's not my big critique, just my general 'this is confusing and keeps me from attaching to stuff' sort of gripe.
3. The big thing is... um, the Doctor killed Solomon. Totally on purpose. I know he needed to get the signal onto his ship and away from Earth, but... I mean, he's offered worse criminals reprieve before. Or, you know, always. Why not pop him on the TARDIS, drop him off somewhere he can't do much harm? Or even send him somewhere where he can pay for his crimes (some justice from his own place/time?). I mean... it seemed like a REALLY odd decision for the Doctor to make that is just glossed over. I really expected Solomon to somehow get away. I'm scratching my head over this one. It's a big one.
Eensy bonus gripe. Doesn't taking Neffie out of history cause some... problems?
Bonus thing I loved. Tricey! Poor Tricey.
Thing I'm not sure of. Did Brian go a'travelin with the Doctor? Is that what that postcard meant?
Karen G. is so pretty.
I still do not have an Amy icon. What is this madness?
That is all.
Okay. First of all. YAY. I actually sort of loved this episode. Chibnall haters to the left. This was a very sort of formula ep, yes, but it was great fun. Bickering robots, freakin dinosaurs, old aliens we were familiar with (in a story that MADE SENSE, OMG), but didn't have to actually BE there. All three Ponds being awesome. New companions(ish) ripe for the ficcing (I won't, but someone will, they were interesting! Yay interesting!).
And I don't know, maybe it's my big crush on Karen Gillan, but I'm really liking Amy more and more. I was indifferent at first, and almost leaning towards not loving so much (not too far) early on, came firmly onto the like side a while ago, but I think I love her. Obvs. I love Rory. And unexpected Rory's dad ftw!
(okay, not exactly unexpected, I did see the whole pre-titles sequence of this episode a few months ago)
Okay, so, speaking of... my only critiques...
1. As I just said, we saw the opening scenes to this at Comic Con. And then, I wasn't sure if it was actually the sequence that was going to air or if it was clips from the episode. It was that disjointed. It still felt that way upon seeing it again. As such, I think THIS would have made a really good 'drop us right back into wacky action' first episode of the series. As it happened, it felt a little too all over the place. I mostly got over it, though.
2. I'm not sure when their on again/off again companions thing became official, but it doesn't really work for me. In my brain, I mean. It doesn't really make sense. It's a year here, and month here, a bunch of time there. We have no concept of Earth's time line anymore. There was always a sort of Earth!current going on, and now there isn't. (When did this episode even take place on Earth, I mean the earth the spaceship was heading towards?) If the Doctor is all over the place, how and why did/does he choose WHEN to pick up the Ponds? How does that work with all the stuff we learned in Pond Life? Eh, I don't even know. That's not my big critique, just my general 'this is confusing and keeps me from attaching to stuff' sort of gripe.
3. The big thing is... um, the Doctor killed Solomon. Totally on purpose. I know he needed to get the signal onto his ship and away from Earth, but... I mean, he's offered worse criminals reprieve before. Or, you know, always. Why not pop him on the TARDIS, drop him off somewhere he can't do much harm? Or even send him somewhere where he can pay for his crimes (some justice from his own place/time?). I mean... it seemed like a REALLY odd decision for the Doctor to make that is just glossed over. I really expected Solomon to somehow get away. I'm scratching my head over this one. It's a big one.
Eensy bonus gripe. Doesn't taking Neffie out of history cause some... problems?
Bonus thing I loved. Tricey! Poor Tricey.
Thing I'm not sure of. Did Brian go a'travelin with the Doctor? Is that what that postcard meant?
Karen G. is so pretty.
I still do not have an Amy icon. What is this madness?
That is all.