The Age Of Steel

[parma_violets]

So the reason for my absence on Tinternets recently has been my more pressing duty at a birthday party in Cambridge for me, Roger and Hester. A full write-up is coming later, but for now here's my review of 'The Age of Steel'.

Comments

[momentsmusicaux]

'the single most disturbing image in Who history...'

Not... no... the face of Mary Whitehouse!!!!!!!!!

[parma_violets]

I have a pet theory that John Beyer owns the face of Mary Whitehouse, and he prances around naked with his penis in between his legs wearing it at night like Buffalo Bill.

[trav28]

I psoted this reply before in a prev comm about the cybercontroller's "silver settee" looking like a booby prize from Sale of the Century.

"Now...you could have won this wonderful draylon settee complete with its own cybercontroller".

Marvellous. It was just a like the reveal from a gameshow.

Cyber horror - yes, if the cybermen were less robotic and mechanical, this could have worked. They should have kept the flexible "spacesuits"/bodysuits of old as you could still imagine bits of human rotting away inside, all preserved with "copyrighted chemicals".

*shudders*

[parma_violets]

Hahaha! Yeah, now you mention it, it did look like they were giving the Cyber Controller away as a prize for anyone who could guess how Mickey was going to be written out of the series. (Most of us, surely?)

I think I said last week that I would have loved some conceptually retro Cybermen, just to make that point about them being dead humans. Actually, I think the original audio had Hartnell-era Cybermen on the cover.

[demona_hw]

The more I think about it the mroe uncomfortable I am with the resolution of the cyberman threat. On a purely utilitarian calculation, you can see why the lives of the cybermen were considered less important than the lives of the rest of the humans. But I'm not sure the Doctor is a utilitarian in that sense: the whole of the last season was building up to the moment when he refused to kill the Daleks and the humans together, even if it safeguarded the rest of the universe.

The Cybermen didn't just die: they died in mental and emotional torment, and at core they were still human. The fact that the Doctor was sorry didn't quite seem good enough: normally he would find another way. Okay, so the humans already turned into Cybermen weren't coming back, but he gave them back their humanity just long enough to torture them.

I hope that that was deliberate character progression which we'll be coming back to, because otherwise it just seems callous.

[parma_violets]

The whole scene didn't really make much sense - I have yet to meet someone whose head explodes when they get too emotional, for example. But you're right, it was cruel. If Colin Baker did it, we'd still be hearing fannish grumbles about it to this day.

[cpt_buggernuts]

'Insult them for being captured, despite the fact that he's just got captured himself? Really classy.'

I'll be honest I didn't read anywhere near as much insult into that line as you seem to have. It seemed to me more like the slightly weary grumbling line the doctor had frequently dispensed before when finding his companions captured. (I'd have to re-watch some things to make sure I'm not being muddled, but I'm sure I remember Pertwee and both BakerDocs coming out with similar reactions).

My main complaint was that it seemed so soapy and cliched compared to last week.

Also, what demona_hw

Also also. (Unrelated to Dr Who, but as part of my ongoing internet campaign) I'm very sorry about all the vomit.

[parma_violets]

I did wonder whether my extreme dislike for Doctor Ten was making me misinterpret some fairly harmless moments, but I really can't imagine any other Doctor except maybe Six saying something like that. A harmless little quip about how often they seem to get captured or knocked unconscious is one thing - we watched The Brain of Morbius on Sunday, and that has a doozy - but he seemed so sarcastic and bitter about Pete and Rose not doing his job for him.

I did think it might have overstepped the mark to accuse the Doctor of deliberate cruelty in only using his Time Lord Magic Beans once the Cybermen threatened him, rather than to save the President or Jackie. That's not really because the Doctor doesn't care, it's because Tom MacRae is not a very good writer.

Did you read his DWM interview a few months back? He actually used the phrase "I'm very good at networking", and boasted about having script-doctored a Paris Hilton movie.

[violetcreme]

I usually have something to say about Who episodes but this left me...eh, whatev. I do agree that it felt like a missed opportunity to really chill us, and whilst I liked some of the direction and Billie Piper was just excellent at the end I found it rather dull. It shouldn't have been dull, the 'monsters' had such potential. Huh.

As for BloodyTennant, just *how* is he going down so well in Whodom ? he's so dreadful. Hammy is not the word. This was probably one of his worst outings, bless him.

[jakiri]

He's not too bad. He's trying, poor lad, and given the main problem with Ainley's Master was the direction, it may well be that here as well.

[parma_violets]

Tennant most reminds me of early Seventh Doctor, which was also a direction problem. If he pulls it out of the bag in later seasons, I'll recant happily, but his performance is mostly making me think the main qualification for working on this new series is to be very good friends with Russell T Davies.

[violetcreme]

Well for me, given that playing the Doctor has to be the dream job of several thousand jobbing actors, it's one of the highest profile shows on British television and offers a huge range of acting possibilities - I want more than him 'trying'. I'd agree the directors aren't helping by telling him to give a different performance, but it seems to me Tennant doesn't possess an ounce of understated natural acting talent and instead relies on the same brand of over acting and facial contortions you can see in any ametuer dramatics perfromance.

Just my humble opinion, of course. :)