I can't decide whether you should live or die...
That song just has a habit of being absolutely spot-on perfect for bad evil Time Lord activity doesn't it? Mwah ha ha :D.
Most of yesterday was taken up with the epic bus-ride from London to Manchester, so Doctor Who really was the big event, although by that point I was knackered and cranky 'cos it's just that time of the month. But, whatever: I settled down at 7pm with GIANT BAG OF UTTERLY UN-NUTRITIOUS POPCORN and took notes, which can generally be summed up under the cut:
First off-- and in a bit of an aside-- how excited were the continuity announcers :)? If they were allowed to say it on BBC, I think the word SQUEE!!! would have been badied about :).
But sadly, the marathon wait and and universal CAPSLOCK fest wasn't entirely justified. Being the last special before the epic two-part Christmas finale, this episode would always be a set-up in one way or another, and it turned out to be just that, the actual plot of Waters of Mars taking a back seat to some dramatic and unexpected character development (decimation?) that means there's no chance I won't be watching on Christmas Day, even if it's just to scream expletives at the telly. 'Cos based on the next time trailer for The End of Time, it really could go either way.
Anyway; back to the ep.
Doesn't the Doctor always look a wee bit sad stepping out of the Tardis by himself? I mean, yeah, trawling the universe for kicks must be a pretty entertaining diversion, but as Rose Tyler once said: "better with two". Although I'm sure he was happy he got to wear his Sanctuary Base 7 spacesuit from The Satan Pit double bill again. I can't get over how big the DW season 5 special effects budget must be. I mean: look--it's a Mars landscape! Quite different to series one episode four and the 'space pig'. Although yes-- I do love the space pig :),
I kind of groaned a little when I saw how big the supporting cast were. I mean, I know in these specials an ensemble cast is kind of a must, otherwise the Doctor has no-one to bounce off of and the viewer has no-one to identify with; but it's difficult in a one episode story. Midnight pulled it off. Waters of Mars is not quite as successful. So really for the first half of the episode-- even though the monsters are genuinely pretty terrifying, and the characters likable enough-- the story feels like it's drowning in introductions. Match that with a literally explosive second half, and The Waters of Mars is a pretty uneven watch: twenty minutes in you're wondering whether you should go and decorate the living room, then for the last ten minutes you feel like you're being continually hit in the chest with a defibrilator.
That said, in amongst all the character padding and pointless comedy robots, there were some good classic DW moments, and from the moment the Maggie monster did that horrendous screaming noise, it was all full-throttle. Lots of running (and yes, at some point bikes would be a good idea). It reminded me of the film Sunshine, and the crew getting picked off one by one by this solar-demon thing that the audience hardly sees.
Throughout Waters the character deaths were well-handled, and the scene where the Doctor explains to Adelaide why he can't save them, before walking heavily away from the unfolding tragedy, was genuine, powerful stuff. David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan were electric throughout, squeezing emotion out of what could easily have been just a big special effects disaster sequence.
But then, of course, it all went a bit wrong; for the Laws of Time at least.
Well, I say wrong. Everyone knows a sequence that begins with a "I'm the last of the Time Lords'" VO montage is never going to end well... and it doesn't.
The Doctor's decision to throw aside the maxims of the Time Lords and do the thing he's warned against over and over again-- change history-- is an enormous one, and jaws were dropped all across the audience. But I don't think it's beyond the credibility of the Doctor's character. It was played absolutely believably by David Tennant, and didn't feel like an unconvincing character twist-- it felt like a painful, awful, horrendous decision that sees this larger-than-life, gooder-than-good Time Lord finally for once just be overtaken by his emotions and give in. It reminded me of what I said two weeks or so ago about the problems of having a flawless lead character. The Doctor is by no means flawless, but he is, most of the time, incessantly good. It's not boring (a character as eclectic as the Doctor finds it pretty difficult to be genuinely boring) but it does lead to predictable storylining. Taking your lead actor two episodes from the end of his tenure and imbuing his character with a pretty much instantaneous-- yet believable-- morality transplant sets up for a ground-breaking finale. Or at least, we hope so.
Again, David Tennant plays the discordant, terrifying emotions of the Doctor's last few minutes on Mars pitch perfectly, really giving us the feel that even as he swishes around saving the day haloed in brilliance and glory, he has that manic, crazy look in his eyes like he knows this is suicide, this is horrendous, he shouldn't be doing this: but he's made his decision. RTD calls it "the death throes of a dying man", and that's a perfect description.
Then of course there's that awful thirty seconds or so where the episode goes all Return of the King and you think it's going to end with the explosion of the space base and cut to the credits, where I think I may have actually screamed at the telly in agony.
But it doesn't end. Thirty seconds later, the Tardis materialises on earth, with the Doctor and the remainder of the crew on board, in the middle of snowy London town.
And this is where I start to have a problem with the Doctor's characterisation-- because coming out of the last scene, I would expect some of the Doctor's horror to have spilled over; I would expect some wild-eyed crazy. But stepping out of the Tardis here he's altogether too composed, and smug, and arrogant. And yeah, that is terrifying, but, y'know, where did the Doctor go? Sure, there's a sense that maybe he's forcing it; that he's trying to make himself believe that what he's done is ok-- yeah, denial is fun, we all enjoy it when we've spent some time being unbelievably stupid-- however, in this case there's not much to say that isn't just wishful thinking, and I'm not sure I'm too happy with that.
Props to Lindsay Duncan here for being just generally outstanding with David in her last scene, as she speaks as the voice of humanity, appalled and horrified by the Time Lord 'victorious' in front of her. There's a real sense here that she's the companion he should've listened to, and that she's been ignored, and totally betrayed. She is the voice of Donna and Martha and Rose, and when she kills herself, it's entirely believable, and it's exactly what any of these other companions would've done in the past. That is terrifying.
Luckily, this sacrifice is enough to shake the Doctor out of his megalomaniac power stance. His reaction to Adelaide's suicide is much closer to how I think the Doctor would view what he's done--that's the kind of terror I was expecting; that's the Doctor all over, and there's that great overwhelming 'he's in a shed-load of sh*t now' type of feeling. Yes, the random, non-corporeal Ood was a bit tacky-- floating in front of the Doctor's eyes like some silent, mutated Ghost of Christmas Past-- but we'll let it slide for now. Actually, it has similar ominous overtones of the spectre that haunted the Fourth Doctor around throughout Logopolis before he regenerated. But anyway, this vision sends the Doctor rushing back into the Tardis, terrified of what he's done and convinced he's about to die. As he stands at the controls he hears the mournful clanging of the cloister bell (another Keeper of Traakan flashback), and reverts entirely back to type-- he does a runner.
It's an intriguing setup for the next two episodes. At the end of it all I felt like I'd been heartily slapped about the head for ten minutes and, in all honesty, I don't know how to feel about it. Certainly, it adds a new dimension to the Master's return. Before all this, the only real option was to bring everyone's favourite maniacal Time Lord back, but simply bigger and badder than last time, which is nearly impossible and has the potential to completely overun DT in his swansong. Now however, Waters has shifted the paradigm and cast them both into completely new roles. It can't be a straightforward good vs. bad anymore, can it? Because the Doctor has spent the last half hour pretty much being the Master... History has been changed-- and without a big red magical reset button in sight :D.
I find it interesting, because it shows exactly how-- on a bad day-- the Doctor and the Master are inches away from being each other. It reminds us of their history, that at some point they were best friends and there must be some reason why they were both exiled from Gallifray. It sets up a big epic Time Lord showdown, and I can't help but be happy about that :D.
However, from the trailer for The End of Time, I think it's going to be touch or go whether it goes for epic win like Last of the Time Lords or epic fail like Journey's End. Certainly, it looks like no stops have remained un-pulled... But RTD has a tendency of getting carried away and ruining things. I'm pinning my hopes on the sensibilities of my two favourote actors keeping it grounded and pulling it through to shiny shiny glory.
Apparently Children in Need on Friday will be showing an exclusive clip from the finale, so yay :). Maybe I'll get a better idea of it then *crosses fingers for awesomeness*. I'll let you now.
Anyway, i'd better go off and peruse the End of Time trailer for unexpected crumbs of information :D and stick ominous flash-cards around the living-room as I try desperately to finish my latest Jellybabies scene.
xxx
P.S. If we manage to get through the two finale episods without any lines about the Doctor preferring blondes, I will be totally impressed with RTD's self-control :). And maybe a tad disappointed.
Most of yesterday was taken up with the epic bus-ride from London to Manchester, so Doctor Who really was the big event, although by that point I was knackered and cranky 'cos it's just that time of the month. But, whatever: I settled down at 7pm with GIANT BAG OF UTTERLY UN-NUTRITIOUS POPCORN and took notes, which can generally be summed up under the cut:
First off-- and in a bit of an aside-- how excited were the continuity announcers :)? If they were allowed to say it on BBC, I think the word SQUEE!!! would have been badied about :).
But sadly, the marathon wait and and universal CAPSLOCK fest wasn't entirely justified. Being the last special before the epic two-part Christmas finale, this episode would always be a set-up in one way or another, and it turned out to be just that, the actual plot of Waters of Mars taking a back seat to some dramatic and unexpected character development (decimation?) that means there's no chance I won't be watching on Christmas Day, even if it's just to scream expletives at the telly. 'Cos based on the next time trailer for The End of Time, it really could go either way.
Anyway; back to the ep.
Doesn't the Doctor always look a wee bit sad stepping out of the Tardis by himself? I mean, yeah, trawling the universe for kicks must be a pretty entertaining diversion, but as Rose Tyler once said: "better with two". Although I'm sure he was happy he got to wear his Sanctuary Base 7 spacesuit from The Satan Pit double bill again. I can't get over how big the DW season 5 special effects budget must be. I mean: look--it's a Mars landscape! Quite different to series one episode four and the 'space pig'. Although yes-- I do love the space pig :),
I kind of groaned a little when I saw how big the supporting cast were. I mean, I know in these specials an ensemble cast is kind of a must, otherwise the Doctor has no-one to bounce off of and the viewer has no-one to identify with; but it's difficult in a one episode story. Midnight pulled it off. Waters of Mars is not quite as successful. So really for the first half of the episode-- even though the monsters are genuinely pretty terrifying, and the characters likable enough-- the story feels like it's drowning in introductions. Match that with a literally explosive second half, and The Waters of Mars is a pretty uneven watch: twenty minutes in you're wondering whether you should go and decorate the living room, then for the last ten minutes you feel like you're being continually hit in the chest with a defibrilator.
That said, in amongst all the character padding and pointless comedy robots, there were some good classic DW moments, and from the moment the Maggie monster did that horrendous screaming noise, it was all full-throttle. Lots of running (and yes, at some point bikes would be a good idea). It reminded me of the film Sunshine, and the crew getting picked off one by one by this solar-demon thing that the audience hardly sees.
Throughout Waters the character deaths were well-handled, and the scene where the Doctor explains to Adelaide why he can't save them, before walking heavily away from the unfolding tragedy, was genuine, powerful stuff. David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan were electric throughout, squeezing emotion out of what could easily have been just a big special effects disaster sequence.
But then, of course, it all went a bit wrong; for the Laws of Time at least.
Well, I say wrong. Everyone knows a sequence that begins with a "I'm the last of the Time Lords'" VO montage is never going to end well... and it doesn't.
The Doctor's decision to throw aside the maxims of the Time Lords and do the thing he's warned against over and over again-- change history-- is an enormous one, and jaws were dropped all across the audience. But I don't think it's beyond the credibility of the Doctor's character. It was played absolutely believably by David Tennant, and didn't feel like an unconvincing character twist-- it felt like a painful, awful, horrendous decision that sees this larger-than-life, gooder-than-good Time Lord finally for once just be overtaken by his emotions and give in. It reminded me of what I said two weeks or so ago about the problems of having a flawless lead character. The Doctor is by no means flawless, but he is, most of the time, incessantly good. It's not boring (a character as eclectic as the Doctor finds it pretty difficult to be genuinely boring) but it does lead to predictable storylining. Taking your lead actor two episodes from the end of his tenure and imbuing his character with a pretty much instantaneous-- yet believable-- morality transplant sets up for a ground-breaking finale. Or at least, we hope so.
Again, David Tennant plays the discordant, terrifying emotions of the Doctor's last few minutes on Mars pitch perfectly, really giving us the feel that even as he swishes around saving the day haloed in brilliance and glory, he has that manic, crazy look in his eyes like he knows this is suicide, this is horrendous, he shouldn't be doing this: but he's made his decision. RTD calls it "the death throes of a dying man", and that's a perfect description.
Then of course there's that awful thirty seconds or so where the episode goes all Return of the King and you think it's going to end with the explosion of the space base and cut to the credits, where I think I may have actually screamed at the telly in agony.
But it doesn't end. Thirty seconds later, the Tardis materialises on earth, with the Doctor and the remainder of the crew on board, in the middle of snowy London town.
And this is where I start to have a problem with the Doctor's characterisation-- because coming out of the last scene, I would expect some of the Doctor's horror to have spilled over; I would expect some wild-eyed crazy. But stepping out of the Tardis here he's altogether too composed, and smug, and arrogant. And yeah, that is terrifying, but, y'know, where did the Doctor go? Sure, there's a sense that maybe he's forcing it; that he's trying to make himself believe that what he's done is ok-- yeah, denial is fun, we all enjoy it when we've spent some time being unbelievably stupid-- however, in this case there's not much to say that isn't just wishful thinking, and I'm not sure I'm too happy with that.
Props to Lindsay Duncan here for being just generally outstanding with David in her last scene, as she speaks as the voice of humanity, appalled and horrified by the Time Lord 'victorious' in front of her. There's a real sense here that she's the companion he should've listened to, and that she's been ignored, and totally betrayed. She is the voice of Donna and Martha and Rose, and when she kills herself, it's entirely believable, and it's exactly what any of these other companions would've done in the past. That is terrifying.
Luckily, this sacrifice is enough to shake the Doctor out of his megalomaniac power stance. His reaction to Adelaide's suicide is much closer to how I think the Doctor would view what he's done--that's the kind of terror I was expecting; that's the Doctor all over, and there's that great overwhelming 'he's in a shed-load of sh*t now' type of feeling. Yes, the random, non-corporeal Ood was a bit tacky-- floating in front of the Doctor's eyes like some silent, mutated Ghost of Christmas Past-- but we'll let it slide for now. Actually, it has similar ominous overtones of the spectre that haunted the Fourth Doctor around throughout Logopolis before he regenerated. But anyway, this vision sends the Doctor rushing back into the Tardis, terrified of what he's done and convinced he's about to die. As he stands at the controls he hears the mournful clanging of the cloister bell (another Keeper of Traakan flashback), and reverts entirely back to type-- he does a runner.
It's an intriguing setup for the next two episodes. At the end of it all I felt like I'd been heartily slapped about the head for ten minutes and, in all honesty, I don't know how to feel about it. Certainly, it adds a new dimension to the Master's return. Before all this, the only real option was to bring everyone's favourite maniacal Time Lord back, but simply bigger and badder than last time, which is nearly impossible and has the potential to completely overun DT in his swansong. Now however, Waters has shifted the paradigm and cast them both into completely new roles. It can't be a straightforward good vs. bad anymore, can it? Because the Doctor has spent the last half hour pretty much being the Master... History has been changed-- and without a big red magical reset button in sight :D.
I find it interesting, because it shows exactly how-- on a bad day-- the Doctor and the Master are inches away from being each other. It reminds us of their history, that at some point they were best friends and there must be some reason why they were both exiled from Gallifray. It sets up a big epic Time Lord showdown, and I can't help but be happy about that :D.
However, from the trailer for The End of Time, I think it's going to be touch or go whether it goes for epic win like Last of the Time Lords or epic fail like Journey's End. Certainly, it looks like no stops have remained un-pulled... But RTD has a tendency of getting carried away and ruining things. I'm pinning my hopes on the sensibilities of my two favourote actors keeping it grounded and pulling it through to shiny shiny glory.
Apparently Children in Need on Friday will be showing an exclusive clip from the finale, so yay :). Maybe I'll get a better idea of it then *crosses fingers for awesomeness*. I'll let you now.
Anyway, i'd better go off and peruse the End of Time trailer for unexpected crumbs of information :D and stick ominous flash-cards around the living-room as I try desperately to finish my latest Jellybabies scene.
xxx
P.S. If we manage to get through the two finale episods without any lines about the Doctor preferring blondes, I will be totally impressed with RTD's self-control :). And maybe a tad disappointed.