There Are Explosive Kegs Between My Legs

[parma_violets]

Wondering whether to have a bottle of wine tonight. For some reason the start of summer gets me in a kind of "let the records show that the witness made the 'drinky-drinky' motion" kind of mood. I may as well get it out of my system. I mean, you're only young once. And a stitch in time saves nine, etc.

Rewatching series one of Doctor Who, I'm

Comments

Season 2/28 Spoilers Ahead

[parma_violets]

'The Satan Pit' is written by Matt Jones. I'm just sayin'...

I'm generally finding Season Whatever to be as enjoyable the second time round as I did the first time round. It's such a different show that I feel a bit uncomfortable comparing it to the Tom Baker years et al, but I do miss the kind of deranged experimentalism of, say, The Web Planet or Ghost Light. But I can't blame Davies for making it a less daring show - sadly, modern media is too consensus-driven to allow someone making a popular show to go out on a limb like that. This is why so much modern television is so shit.

Personally, out of the new series, I'm looking forward to the Mark Gatiss episode, the new Cyberman stuff, and 'Tooth and Claw', which has Queen Victoria and werewolves! Two great flavours that taste great together!

[demona_hw]

I hated the last two episodes before it was cool.

[baron_scarpia]

I was rewatching the series a couple of weeks ago, and I'm going to have to agree with you on Father's Day - it gets much better if you junk the sci-fi elements.

I still like The Long Game, though. Mainly because of Simon Pegg, admittedly. And of course it's better than Boomtown, but then so are many things...

[parma_violets]

Simon Pegg's delivery of "I represent a consortium of banksssssss" almost justifies the meaninglessness of the explanation.

[simian_jack]

At least Davies is doing fewer scripts next time, isn't he? That could mitigate some damage. He's the only S27 writer besides Cornell who doesn't know how to write for DW.

The more I think of it, the more I'm sure he must be using Farscape as his model more so than Buffy, without having a clue as to why Farscape worked (at least when it did work, which was more often than not). And I wonder he doesn't think he [i]is[/i] doing "new and daring". Wildly carrening between comedy and drama? Check. Somber Kodak moments within a story arc (standard for any genre show today)? Check. Insistence on low body humor? Check. It worked for the one show, so it mucst be the right flavor for all sci-fi - no?

No. The mistakes Davies keeps making are those of a writer who may enjoy science fiction but doesn't have a clue how to write it. And as happy as I am that the show is back, and as much as I like those character moments, I worry that it's in his hands.

And, god how I wish he'd add another flavor to his ersonal menu besides satire.

[parma_violets]

I think it's the science fiction that always lets him down, and I speak as someone who's always viewed Doctor Who as a fantasy-horror show pretending to be a sci-fi show and not really pulling it off. The problem is that Davies seems to think that writing in a non-realist genre means he can just make it up as he goes along, and that's not the case at all. Compare 'The Unquiet Dead' and 'Dalek' with 'Boom Town' or 'Rose' - the former group might be silly in a lot of ways, but they take place in a clearly-defined universe with their own rules and lists of things you can and can't do. The latter group just pulls things out of its arse.

I never really watched Farscape, so I'll take your word for it. Myself, I think that - with the exceptions of 'The End of the World' and 'Bad Wolf' - each Davies episode had at least one moment where the pacing went to pot, or the tone, or both at the same time

[simian_jack]

That first paragraph is spot on, all of it. DW never had to be more plausible than the plot or tone required, but the plot devices must follow an internal logic. That's why I worry about Davies' stewardship - bad enough he thinks that if it's sci-fi it doesn't need to be sensible as long as it's "wierd", but even with the other writers involved there's no consistent logic from one episode to the next. In Father's Day, the averted death of a single insignificant man lets loose some sort of ultra-dimensional time devourers, but the wholsale alteration of Earth's timeline revealed in The Long Game results in...what again? Nothing, no consequences at all. Where're the beasties? Better, where's the oversight? Who's the script editor, and what's he thinking/

[parma_violets]

A script editor, that's what they need! I mean, they had one, but I sometimes got the feeling that Davies' stewardship of the show - and perhaps understandable gratitude at the fact that he almost single-handedly revived the show - prevented them from vetoing some of his less impressive ideas.

I hate to make it sound like I dislike the new series - I've enjoyed revisiting it greatly, and am happy to have it as a permanent part of my DVd collection, while the experience of watching it with non-fans who are just happy to have something original and witty on Saturday nights has been beautiful and euphoric. Even the worst episode of the new series has something special and beautiful in it, and I don't know another current series that can make such a boast. It's just that whenever I watch Davies' episodes, I feel this irrational urge to get the red pen out.