catching up on being a fanboy
Ted and I watched the last episodes of season 1 Dr. Who yesterday evening. Having never previously seen Dr. Who, and having heard pretty much across the board rave reviews, I have to say the show lived up to my expectations.
First off, I did know enough about Dr. Who to think it was right bastardly of Christopher Eccleston to only do one season, even before I had any emotional attachment to him. Now I think it's twice as bastardly, because I adored him. (I said, when we were done with the show, "I'd run off with the Doctor to explore the universe," and Ted said, "Of course you would. He's got a big nose and he's skinny." Which, well, YEAH, but that wasn't what I meant!)
There was lots and lots of talk about the "Everybody lives," scene, when the show aired. I donno if it's because I hadn't seen any other Who, or because I'd heard all about the scene (though I didn't realize it was coming until about halfway through the episode), but it wasn't nearly as effective in the watching as it was in hearing people talk about it. I thought the "Father's Day" episode was much, much more powerful. Ted and I were all, "We're not gonna cry! We're not gonna cry! SNIIIIF!"
It was most of the way through "The Empty Child", or possibly into "The Doctor Dances" that I realized that the Captain Jack character must in fact be the actual same character in "Torchwood", which, since I had no idea what "Torchwood" was about (Ted filled me in, at least vaguely), came as a revelation to me. I thought it must just be the same actor. I liked Jack. What a flyboy. And what awesome casting. He's unreal, he looks so flyboy. *laugh*
I woulda thought that in "Dalek", the Dalek saying, "You would make a good Dalek," to the Doctor would stop him cold. I liked that episode very much; I like the Rose character a lot. (Man, the poor Doctor. "I said space travel, you said no. I said time travel..." Waugh. Not that that's that episode, just ... nice bit of characterization there.)
I did expect the Dalek in that episode to end up somehow being the propagator of the Daleks in the season finale, and am not entirely convinced they shoulda done it the way they did. However, I really *liked* the season finale very much; I liked the moment Rose and the Doctor shared in both seeing time and space the same way. Just for a moment. That was quite wonderful. I also liked her bringing Jack back to life; it harkened back to the, "Life is easy," comment from "The Doctor Dances", and I thought that was awesome. And I thought her compassion, in the Dalek episode and then in the final episodes, was very much the strength of the character, and I kinda wondered if all the incarnations of the Doctor need a human along (I know they've all *got* one along) for that reason.
I was a little cranky about the Bad Wolf suddenly showing up all over the place (it felt like bad storytelling, a case of "Oh crap, the Doctor is leaving, we've got to retcon stuff into place to give us a reason to reincarnate him!"), until they did the flashbacks that showed us where the Bad Wolf had been used time and again. I forgave them a lot with the Dickens episode and even more with the kid spraypainting "Bad Wolf" on the side of the TARDIS, so, okay. They knew what they were doing from the start. I'm mollified.
The green monsters in people suits episodes spent way too much time unzipping, giggling and farting, in that order, but the payoff with the 3rd episode was really quite nice. Poor Mickey. Such a decent guy, and so totally unable to compete with the Doctor.
Speaking of Mickey: talk about Things You Wouldn't See On American TV. This struck me when I watched "Love Actually" and again in watching Doctor Who. They do not just randomly and casually and meaninglessly cast black men across from white women in American tv or film. Yay for the Brits. :)
So now I'm kinda wondering if I want to go back and watch older Who, 'cause I enjoyed this series so much. Presumably I should turn to nhw's guidance as to what I *should* watch, if I do this. :)
Started watching S3 Dead Zone tonight. Some heart-stabby goodness there, though I frequently want to kill the Sarah character for being a twit. But Anthony Michael Hall, yay grown-up-geeks :)
Rumor has it that first season Beauty and the Beast will be out on DVD in February. I've placed a pre-order. Let's see if it actually comes through. :)
Ok, fanboy out. :)
First off, I did know enough about Dr. Who to think it was right bastardly of Christopher Eccleston to only do one season, even before I had any emotional attachment to him. Now I think it's twice as bastardly, because I adored him. (I said, when we were done with the show, "I'd run off with the Doctor to explore the universe," and Ted said, "Of course you would. He's got a big nose and he's skinny." Which, well, YEAH, but that wasn't what I meant!)
There was lots and lots of talk about the "Everybody lives," scene, when the show aired. I donno if it's because I hadn't seen any other Who, or because I'd heard all about the scene (though I didn't realize it was coming until about halfway through the episode), but it wasn't nearly as effective in the watching as it was in hearing people talk about it. I thought the "Father's Day" episode was much, much more powerful. Ted and I were all, "We're not gonna cry! We're not gonna cry! SNIIIIF!"
It was most of the way through "The Empty Child", or possibly into "The Doctor Dances" that I realized that the Captain Jack character must in fact be the actual same character in "Torchwood", which, since I had no idea what "Torchwood" was about (Ted filled me in, at least vaguely), came as a revelation to me. I thought it must just be the same actor. I liked Jack. What a flyboy. And what awesome casting. He's unreal, he looks so flyboy. *laugh*
I woulda thought that in "Dalek", the Dalek saying, "You would make a good Dalek," to the Doctor would stop him cold. I liked that episode very much; I like the Rose character a lot. (Man, the poor Doctor. "I said space travel, you said no. I said time travel..." Waugh. Not that that's that episode, just ... nice bit of characterization there.)
I did expect the Dalek in that episode to end up somehow being the propagator of the Daleks in the season finale, and am not entirely convinced they shoulda done it the way they did. However, I really *liked* the season finale very much; I liked the moment Rose and the Doctor shared in both seeing time and space the same way. Just for a moment. That was quite wonderful. I also liked her bringing Jack back to life; it harkened back to the, "Life is easy," comment from "The Doctor Dances", and I thought that was awesome. And I thought her compassion, in the Dalek episode and then in the final episodes, was very much the strength of the character, and I kinda wondered if all the incarnations of the Doctor need a human along (I know they've all *got* one along) for that reason.
I was a little cranky about the Bad Wolf suddenly showing up all over the place (it felt like bad storytelling, a case of "Oh crap, the Doctor is leaving, we've got to retcon stuff into place to give us a reason to reincarnate him!"), until they did the flashbacks that showed us where the Bad Wolf had been used time and again. I forgave them a lot with the Dickens episode and even more with the kid spraypainting "Bad Wolf" on the side of the TARDIS, so, okay. They knew what they were doing from the start. I'm mollified.
The green monsters in people suits episodes spent way too much time unzipping, giggling and farting, in that order, but the payoff with the 3rd episode was really quite nice. Poor Mickey. Such a decent guy, and so totally unable to compete with the Doctor.
Speaking of Mickey: talk about Things You Wouldn't See On American TV. This struck me when I watched "Love Actually" and again in watching Doctor Who. They do not just randomly and casually and meaninglessly cast black men across from white women in American tv or film. Yay for the Brits. :)
So now I'm kinda wondering if I want to go back and watch older Who, 'cause I enjoyed this series so much. Presumably I should turn to nhw's guidance as to what I *should* watch, if I do this. :)
Started watching S3 Dead Zone tonight. Some heart-stabby goodness there, though I frequently want to kill the Sarah character for being a twit. But Anthony Michael Hall, yay grown-up-geeks :)
Rumor has it that first season Beauty and the Beast will be out on DVD in February. I've placed a pre-order. Let's see if it actually comes through. :)
Ok, fanboy out. :)