Doctor Who: Season Three concludes

[scarlettina]

Got together last night with markbourne, E, ironymaiden, and C to watch the last three episodes of Doctor Who season three, those being "Utopia," "The Sound of Drums," and "Last of the Time Lords." There are things I loved and things I loathed about each episode. Long, and lotsa notes here.

Comments

[ironymaiden]

depth in what we see on screen, beyond the words in the script, comes out of good directing. giving Saxon's wife a story? directing. wordless exchanges? directing. choices about things like positioning, timing, physical contact, and whose face we watch? directing. the assumption that the actors are the sole interpreters gets up my nose.

[scarlettina]

Up to a certain point, I will agree with you, but there's a point at which it's up to the actor. He's the one that has to interpret all that. I'll give you a collaboration, sure. But the actor must get some credit.

[ironymaiden]

exactly. some, not all.

[gryphonrose]

That's a fair and reasoned response to those three eps. I can't say I agree with everything--I enjoyed some bits you didn't, like the way the Master has really, truly, finally lost his mind, and I adored Martha--but you make good sense.

Everyone I know hated Doctor the House Elf. And yes, the Christ bit (or, as I put it, the Obi-wan Doctor) was very heavyhanded. The concept was okay, though.

I'm REALLY hoping Jack returns to his old self (the one we saw again here) for Torchwood Season Two. Between that and Martha we could actually get a good series there.

I'm also dreading the new Companion, since I disliked her the first time around. But we'll see.

[scarlettina]

...like the way the Master has really, truly, finally lost his mind

I think the problem, for me at least, is that as a newer viewer, I have only a little bit of a sense of the Master's history, and if I didn't have background from a fan with an almost religious fervor for the show, I'd be lost. And honestly? I have to believe that there are more effective ways to show that a character has lost his mind. If the Master was to the Doctor as Moriarty was to Holmes, then another answer could have been found.

I always dug the lonely god bit; conceptually, yes, it was good. But we agree about the heavy-handedness. Just irritated me.

With regard to Martha, I wanted to like her, but I don't feel like she was given uch in the way of depth. Her defining characteristics seemed to be brains she only rarely got to use, an incurable (and inexplicable) crush on the Doctor, gorgeous eyes, and not much else. I was frustrated by her, but mostly, I was just a little bored. Which is unfortunate

[gryphonrose]

Ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one who describes her as a harridan. It's an underused word, in my opinion. :)

[kradical]

Rumor has it that Davies may be leaving the show. I can't say I'll be sorry to see him go.

Really? I'm surprised to see you say that, since I was under the impression that you liked this show. Davies isn't just a guy who writes scripts, he's the show-runner and the one who's responsible for the show, after all....

[scarlettina]

I love how Davies resurrected the show and a lot of the concepting, yes, but every time he writes a script I get irritated at plot holes and logic that doesn't work. Okay, so maybe I'd mind if he left the show, but I wouldn't mind him getting kicked so far upstairs that he never writes an episode again.

[kradical]

Well, he's already as far "upstairs" as you can get on the show.

Davies will certainly outlive his usefulness eventually. When he came on board the old series, John Nathan-Turner was a creative shot in the arm to the series that it really needed, but after time, his touch proved, shall we say, less magical. *wry grin*

But he's also an exec in the same mode as Joss Whedon and Aaron Sorkin and Ron Moore: he's always going to be writing.

[scarlettina]

Well, the guy needs an editor in a serious way, someone to ask him the questions that no one is asking him. I always feel like his scripts are a bunch of good ideas strung together really haphazardly. My druthers? Give me more Steven Moffatt (sp?) and Paul Cornell and waaaaay less Russell Davies in the writing department.

[kradical]

Why would the TARDIS end up in the exact place where the Master was hiding?

You're only complaining about this now? Why would the TARDIS wind up in the exact place where witches were about to destroy the world in Shakespeare's time? Or when the Gelf were about to destroy the world in Dickens's time? Or when Queen Victoria was going to be eaten by werewolves? Or when New New York was being taken over by zombies? Or when Satan was taking over that ship near the black hole? And so on. That's the show's primary conceit -- it's like asking why Jack Bauer would always get involved in all-day crises.... *chuckle*

[scarlettina]

Okay, okay, fair enough. ::grin:: I usually write it off by thinking that maybe the TARDIS is drawn rto trouble or something like that. I don't know why it bugged me this time around, but it did. It ain't rational, but then I never claimed to be.

[kradical]

Rationality, I have found, is terribly overrated...... *chuckle*

[gryphonrose]

Actually, I think it makes perfect sense for the Tardis to wind up there. It's telepathic, and it feels the Doctor's pain at being the last Time Lord. So it takes him to the one place where he won't be alone. Plus there's the matter of the Paradox Machine, which is created from the Tardis itself, so it may been drawn to that place for several reasons. And of course it was trying to shake Jake, and literally went to the end of the universe to do it.

[twilight2000]

Doctor Who: Season Three concludes

*snerk* -- for some of us, it's just STARTING :> (not reading, not reading, not reading) -- I'm looking forward to it ;>

[scarlettina]

Well, I'm looking forward to reading about your reactions. :-)

[scarlettina]

And it occurs to me now, I'm especially looking forward to your reactions to "Human Nature/Family of Blood." Like "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances," I think it'll take the Hugo. And rightfully so.