- Doctor Who Makes an Over Nine Thousand! Joke
- 12 Jun 2010 08:00:02 pm
- Last edited by KermMartian on 13 Jun 2010 12:19:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
Well, I'll hope this is a general discussion of Doctor Who, Season 5 to date, but I had to get you interested with that topic. As per my promise, I shall deliver with the relevant lines from today's episode:
DOCTOR: Amy, what does the scanner say?
AMY: It's all nines!
CAUTION: SPOILERS. I'll try to keep them to a minimum, but no promises
Down to business. I know that many of you share my love of Doctor Who, and I know that many of you share my general opinions on Season 5 thus far, but I look forward to discussing and debating, including the quality of the plots, cinematography, etc so far, thoughts on the season arc and where it's going, and guesses about what exactly the deal with River Song is. I'll start by stating that I was a big fan of David Tennant as the Doctor. I felt he played the part with a good mix of gravity, humor, and drama when appropriate, with that quirky Doctor quality that's so important to the character. I liked Rose as a companion, I thought Martha did a good job, and I like Donna as well. My three favorite episodes in the first four seasons were, ironically, three of the episodes that were written by Stephen Moffat instead of Russel T. Davies: Blink, Silence in the Library, and Forest of the Dead.
My initial opinions of Season 5 under Moffat with Matt Smith as the Doctor #11 and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, the companion, was very poor. I thought the first episode was very odd and weak. I thought Matt Smith played the Doctor well but a bit too quirky, Amy Pond was too over-the-top, and the enemy (and non-enemies) were way too non-scientific and outright weird (flying eyes? What's that about?). The second episode was not much better, and I thought the third one was the worst of all. Without giving too much away, it seemed pretty obviously very very low-budget, was merely a vehicle to re-introduce the Daleks, and seemed to have a mind-bogglingly thin plot and method of preventing yet another explosion of the planet (convince him he's a REAL BOY!). Luckily, by the end of the fourth episode, I felt that there was a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, and as we went through the second of the two-parter reintroducing the Weeping Angels, encountered the excellent Venice episode, met Homo Reptilius, raced through the streets with Vincent Van Gogh, and most recently saw the Doctor do his best to act normal, I realized that Doctor Who was pulling itself out of the muck once again and building up a good head of steam. I felt that the fourth episode was the first to make any attempts to tie into Doctor Who canon before the beginning of the fifth season, which I think is important to keep the continuity and flow from Doctor to Doctor that's so vital to the show. River Song came back, an old enemy returned with some new tricks, and the fourth episode ended on a classic nail-biting cliffhanger. The fifth episode brought more hall-dashing along with a final elaboration and fascinating plot twist about the mysterious cracks in the walls.
Let's sidetrack and talk about these cracks, which so far have played the role of a sort-of enemy in several episodes, especially in episode 9, the second of the Homo Reptilia / mining episodes, in which a crack stole a rather important character. The cracks are among the first Doctor Who arcs from the new series to be addressed throughout the season. In Season 1, the Bad Wolf motif was subtly brought up in many episodes, from the callsign of the helicopter owned by the billionaire who invented broadband, to the Welsh name of a disastrous nuclear power plant project, to a phrase spoken by a nineteenth-century housemaid. The final reveal of Bad Wolf spraypainted in giant letters at the end of the penultimate episode of Season 1 was a powerful moment for me, and sent shivers down my spine, even on the second, third, and fifth viewing. Season 2's arc was of course Torchwood, a different kind of arc but still a well-hidden one, in the sense that in the Werewolf episode it was not clear that Queen Elizabeth's vendetta against the Doctor would bear any significance later in the series. Big bad Torchwood comes, Rose dies, tears fall, roll credits. In Season 3, we were supposed to notice all the VOTE SAXON posters with their checkmarks, then in the Professor Lazarus (how's that for an allegorical name) episode we were supposed to use our anagram skills and turn "Mister Saxon" into "Master No. Six" or something along those lines. Again, he appears, big reveal on the fact that he's been there all along, tragedy and redemption as they usually go in Doctor Who. I'd have to say that in Season 4, the arc was Rose Tyler, and it might actually have been the most powerful moment in the entire reintroduced series for me when we saw Rose for a few brief seconds at the end of Season 4, Episode 1, and the music shifts to a supremely ominous rendition of Rose's death theme from Season 2. Once again, I felt this arc was handled well and professionally, finally breaking into the spotlight in Turn Left with Donna's alternate timeline. Even the interstitial Season 4.5, the year of specials, had its arc in the form of "He Will Knock Four Times," with its heartbreaking realization at the end of The End of Time as to who exactly would knock four times, and why.
I feel the cracks have been much less of an arc, per se, and more of an in-your-face problem to be avoided and anxious about. They were handily explained away in the first episode, and I was indeed curious when they recurred in the second and third episodes. The fourth and fifth episodes together gave another explanation, and the ninth brought the revelation that chunks of an important prop were in the explosion of the cracks. Finally, at the end of episode 11, yesterday's episode, Amy's thought processes seemed to be the catalyst for increased crack activity. So what exactly is the deal? What's going to cause this massive time-rending explosion? What does Amy have to do with it, and why it the TARDIS going to be part of the explosion?
So let's discuss. We'll have to deal with Matt Smith's successes and failures as the Doctor. I hope we'll debate whether Amy is a floozy after Rose, Donna, and Martha, or something less negative. Talk about your thoughts on Stephen Moffat as the head writer after Russel T. Davies. Try to figure out who exactly River Song is.
DOCTOR: Amy, what does the scanner say?
AMY: It's all nines!
CAUTION: SPOILERS. I'll try to keep them to a minimum, but no promises
Down to business. I know that many of you share my love of Doctor Who, and I know that many of you share my general opinions on Season 5 thus far, but I look forward to discussing and debating, including the quality of the plots, cinematography, etc so far, thoughts on the season arc and where it's going, and guesses about what exactly the deal with River Song is. I'll start by stating that I was a big fan of David Tennant as the Doctor. I felt he played the part with a good mix of gravity, humor, and drama when appropriate, with that quirky Doctor quality that's so important to the character. I liked Rose as a companion, I thought Martha did a good job, and I like Donna as well. My three favorite episodes in the first four seasons were, ironically, three of the episodes that were written by Stephen Moffat instead of Russel T. Davies: Blink, Silence in the Library, and Forest of the Dead.
My initial opinions of Season 5 under Moffat with Matt Smith as the Doctor #11 and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, the companion, was very poor. I thought the first episode was very odd and weak. I thought Matt Smith played the Doctor well but a bit too quirky, Amy Pond was too over-the-top, and the enemy (and non-enemies) were way too non-scientific and outright weird (flying eyes? What's that about?). The second episode was not much better, and I thought the third one was the worst of all. Without giving too much away, it seemed pretty obviously very very low-budget, was merely a vehicle to re-introduce the Daleks, and seemed to have a mind-bogglingly thin plot and method of preventing yet another explosion of the planet (convince him he's a REAL BOY!). Luckily, by the end of the fourth episode, I felt that there was a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, and as we went through the second of the two-parter reintroducing the Weeping Angels, encountered the excellent Venice episode, met Homo Reptilius, raced through the streets with Vincent Van Gogh, and most recently saw the Doctor do his best to act normal, I realized that Doctor Who was pulling itself out of the muck once again and building up a good head of steam. I felt that the fourth episode was the first to make any attempts to tie into Doctor Who canon before the beginning of the fifth season, which I think is important to keep the continuity and flow from Doctor to Doctor that's so vital to the show. River Song came back, an old enemy returned with some new tricks, and the fourth episode ended on a classic nail-biting cliffhanger. The fifth episode brought more hall-dashing along with a final elaboration and fascinating plot twist about the mysterious cracks in the walls.
Let's sidetrack and talk about these cracks, which so far have played the role of a sort-of enemy in several episodes, especially in episode 9, the second of the Homo Reptilia / mining episodes, in which a crack stole a rather important character. The cracks are among the first Doctor Who arcs from the new series to be addressed throughout the season. In Season 1, the Bad Wolf motif was subtly brought up in many episodes, from the callsign of the helicopter owned by the billionaire who invented broadband, to the Welsh name of a disastrous nuclear power plant project, to a phrase spoken by a nineteenth-century housemaid. The final reveal of Bad Wolf spraypainted in giant letters at the end of the penultimate episode of Season 1 was a powerful moment for me, and sent shivers down my spine, even on the second, third, and fifth viewing. Season 2's arc was of course Torchwood, a different kind of arc but still a well-hidden one, in the sense that in the Werewolf episode it was not clear that Queen Elizabeth's vendetta against the Doctor would bear any significance later in the series. Big bad Torchwood comes, Rose dies, tears fall, roll credits. In Season 3, we were supposed to notice all the VOTE SAXON posters with their checkmarks, then in the Professor Lazarus (how's that for an allegorical name) episode we were supposed to use our anagram skills and turn "Mister Saxon" into "Master No. Six" or something along those lines. Again, he appears, big reveal on the fact that he's been there all along, tragedy and redemption as they usually go in Doctor Who. I'd have to say that in Season 4, the arc was Rose Tyler, and it might actually have been the most powerful moment in the entire reintroduced series for me when we saw Rose for a few brief seconds at the end of Season 4, Episode 1, and the music shifts to a supremely ominous rendition of Rose's death theme from Season 2. Once again, I felt this arc was handled well and professionally, finally breaking into the spotlight in Turn Left with Donna's alternate timeline. Even the interstitial Season 4.5, the year of specials, had its arc in the form of "He Will Knock Four Times," with its heartbreaking realization at the end of The End of Time as to who exactly would knock four times, and why.
I feel the cracks have been much less of an arc, per se, and more of an in-your-face problem to be avoided and anxious about. They were handily explained away in the first episode, and I was indeed curious when they recurred in the second and third episodes. The fourth and fifth episodes together gave another explanation, and the ninth brought the revelation that chunks of an important prop were in the explosion of the cracks. Finally, at the end of episode 11, yesterday's episode, Amy's thought processes seemed to be the catalyst for increased crack activity. So what exactly is the deal? What's going to cause this massive time-rending explosion? What does Amy have to do with it, and why it the TARDIS going to be part of the explosion?
So let's discuss. We'll have to deal with Matt Smith's successes and failures as the Doctor. I hope we'll debate whether Amy is a floozy after Rose, Donna, and Martha, or something less negative. Talk about your thoughts on Stephen Moffat as the head writer after Russel T. Davies. Try to figure out who exactly River Song is.
And thoughts on the piece of the TARDIS that the Doctor found? What about the fact that the second floor of The Boarder's house was described as "an attempt at a TARDIS" or something along those lines? 
