bookgazing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookgazing) wrote2012-11-05 08:57 pm
bookgazing) wrote2012-11-05 08:57 pm
Entry tags:
Dr Who - S7 So Far
My personal ranking of S7 Dr Who episodes so far from ‘Favouritest and made of sparkles’ to ‘WTF gedditawayfrom me’:
Spoilers for S7 ALL the way down
1.) ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ – Lovely! So lovely! Just what I wanted from an episode about dinosaurs on a spaceship! It’s one of those bats ‘historical’ episodes where we get kooky famous personalities played by actors hamming up character types, this time with bonus sexual tension. Then they threw in a triceratops that fetches like a dog :D *beaming*
Plus, look, genuinely dynamic Amy is here! *beams* again. She uses her experience and knowledge to press buttons and work the data files. She anaesthetises raptors. RAPTORS – HOW PERFECTLY FANNISH! She says strong things like she always does, but in this episode she’s allowed to back those words up with action. I loved it. I could watch it again right now :D
Let’s just ignore that at the end the Dr murders someone. That’s totally fine. I’m sure it isn’t an indication that his character development is getting ever darker and more dangerous. Look – Rupert Graves is in it. Everything is so much more fun with Rupert Graves!
2.) ‘A Town Called Mercy’ – I keep saying all over the internet that I think SF and westerns are a natural fit. And then Who goes and delivers a big, sloppy, one horse town with aliens bonanza. Oh you do love us after all. If there hadn’t been Dinosaurs! On a spaceship! this would easily have been my favourite episode. Yes, I’m saying that even though it was incredibly heavy handed about its political messaging. If I understand that an episode is really about how modern government has handled dictators recently, can we stop going over that poi- No? Ok.
I loved the friendship dynamic between Jex and Issac. Though I thought the program was stuck in the theoretical moral philosophy model of SF, refusing to engage with the complications of really living such a conundrum in favour of cleanly presenting both sides of a civilised argument I wouldn’t say that was maybe so much a failing as a choice. And I thought the moral problem at least had some depth and was central to the whole program. It wasn’t conveniently shunted aside to let the plot do cool things at least, which I think is often a problem with Who.
3.) ‘Angels Take Manhattan’ – A Moffat written episode that goes to show he’s having lots of fun laughing at his own self-referential jokes even if no one else is. Alright, alright, I’ll back up! But really, using the 'Dr' 'Dr Who?' shtick two episodes out of five is a bit much. Still, I did really like this episode. Who doesn’t love to see the weeping angels pop up again? They’re one of the best inventions of the new Who crew and they’re always terrifying, although I did expect to feel perhaps more concerned during an episode that takes place in the city with one of the biggest fuck off statues in the world.
I suppose I should feel terrible that the Ponds are gone, but I feel…idk less than sad. I suppose I feel a bit like I did after that ridiculous Tennant final episode, like the emotion and expectation had been built up to such a feverish point that the execution of the Ponds final hours was always going to disappoint unless something fairly spectacular happened. And, is it just me or is it is hard to care about Rory dying, no matter how much you try now that he’s died so many times?
I will always be happy to see River (and do like how the fact that we’ve seen her death episode already means we probably have little to fear for her) and don’t they just give her the best lines? I could have died of happiness when she said she was ‘texting a boy’ while communicating with the Dr. And the Dr really, really loves her – adorable. ‘One psychopath per Tardis’ works for me, but do keep coming back each series River! But oh dear, her comments on age and endings did depress me. It feels like a mid-life crisis being written into the script.
And I did enjoy seeing noir detective style combined with SF in this episode. I was really spoiled for SF mash ups in S7. Jurassic Park mixed with space, western SF, noir SF. Sigh. Delicious. I am easily pleased.
4.) ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ – This comes ahead of ‘Power of Three’ purely because I will take anything over dull, even bonkers plot logic and the destruction of an awesome character. There were some places where this was a lot of fun, but it was all under cut by that terrible end for me. And yes the ending was full of tragic dramatic power, the kind that was largely missing from the rest of the series and the kind of thing that the Who creative team usually consistently do so well. But they broke my heart with Oswin’s death and not in the satisfying way that I like.
While down in the doldrums there’s…
5.) ‘The Power of Three’ – Ugh wasn’t this dull in the end? It looked like it would be excellent, but ended up being such a disappointment. Weird and unknowable boxes turn up everywhere, looking so like the next big viral marketing craze that people took them into their homes only to find they turn sinister. Oooo. And Rory’s dad was a treat as he so diligently watched the cubes do…nothing. But in the end, the purpose of the boxes was boring, the explanation for their appearance felt thrown together and even the Dr saving the day was less than thrilling. I never felt like anything was in genuine peril and so I couldn’t really bring myself to care about the fate of anyone in the episode. They could have killed Amy and Rory right in this episode and I don’t expect I’d have noticed; their death would have been so coated in dull it would have entirely passed me by.
So we break and wait for the Christmas special/the introduction of the shiny new companion. It’s a Moffat episode but the Christmas specials are usually great stories so I shall have faith.
Come on then, share, what do you think of S7 so far? How do you feel the closer partnership with America worked out? And most importantly, did you cry at the end? Feel free to be morbid and rank the companion departures in measures of tears :P
Spoilers for S7 ALL the way down
1.) ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ – Lovely! So lovely! Just what I wanted from an episode about dinosaurs on a spaceship! It’s one of those bats ‘historical’ episodes where we get kooky famous personalities played by actors hamming up character types, this time with bonus sexual tension. Then they threw in a triceratops that fetches like a dog :D *beaming*
Plus, look, genuinely dynamic Amy is here! *beams* again. She uses her experience and knowledge to press buttons and work the data files. She anaesthetises raptors. RAPTORS – HOW PERFECTLY FANNISH! She says strong things like she always does, but in this episode she’s allowed to back those words up with action. I loved it. I could watch it again right now :D
Let’s just ignore that at the end the Dr murders someone. That’s totally fine. I’m sure it isn’t an indication that his character development is getting ever darker and more dangerous. Look – Rupert Graves is in it. Everything is so much more fun with Rupert Graves!
2.) ‘A Town Called Mercy’ – I keep saying all over the internet that I think SF and westerns are a natural fit. And then Who goes and delivers a big, sloppy, one horse town with aliens bonanza. Oh you do love us after all. If there hadn’t been Dinosaurs! On a spaceship! this would easily have been my favourite episode. Yes, I’m saying that even though it was incredibly heavy handed about its political messaging. If I understand that an episode is really about how modern government has handled dictators recently, can we stop going over that poi- No? Ok.
I loved the friendship dynamic between Jex and Issac. Though I thought the program was stuck in the theoretical moral philosophy model of SF, refusing to engage with the complications of really living such a conundrum in favour of cleanly presenting both sides of a civilised argument I wouldn’t say that was maybe so much a failing as a choice. And I thought the moral problem at least had some depth and was central to the whole program. It wasn’t conveniently shunted aside to let the plot do cool things at least, which I think is often a problem with Who.
3.) ‘Angels Take Manhattan’ – A Moffat written episode that goes to show he’s having lots of fun laughing at his own self-referential jokes even if no one else is. Alright, alright, I’ll back up! But really, using the 'Dr' 'Dr Who?' shtick two episodes out of five is a bit much. Still, I did really like this episode. Who doesn’t love to see the weeping angels pop up again? They’re one of the best inventions of the new Who crew and they’re always terrifying, although I did expect to feel perhaps more concerned during an episode that takes place in the city with one of the biggest fuck off statues in the world.
I suppose I should feel terrible that the Ponds are gone, but I feel…idk less than sad. I suppose I feel a bit like I did after that ridiculous Tennant final episode, like the emotion and expectation had been built up to such a feverish point that the execution of the Ponds final hours was always going to disappoint unless something fairly spectacular happened. And, is it just me or is it is hard to care about Rory dying, no matter how much you try now that he’s died so many times?
I will always be happy to see River (and do like how the fact that we’ve seen her death episode already means we probably have little to fear for her) and don’t they just give her the best lines? I could have died of happiness when she said she was ‘texting a boy’ while communicating with the Dr. And the Dr really, really loves her – adorable. ‘One psychopath per Tardis’ works for me, but do keep coming back each series River! But oh dear, her comments on age and endings did depress me. It feels like a mid-life crisis being written into the script.
And I did enjoy seeing noir detective style combined with SF in this episode. I was really spoiled for SF mash ups in S7. Jurassic Park mixed with space, western SF, noir SF. Sigh. Delicious. I am easily pleased.
4.) ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ – This comes ahead of ‘Power of Three’ purely because I will take anything over dull, even bonkers plot logic and the destruction of an awesome character. There were some places where this was a lot of fun, but it was all under cut by that terrible end for me. And yes the ending was full of tragic dramatic power, the kind that was largely missing from the rest of the series and the kind of thing that the Who creative team usually consistently do so well. But they broke my heart with Oswin’s death and not in the satisfying way that I like.
While down in the doldrums there’s…
5.) ‘The Power of Three’ – Ugh wasn’t this dull in the end? It looked like it would be excellent, but ended up being such a disappointment. Weird and unknowable boxes turn up everywhere, looking so like the next big viral marketing craze that people took them into their homes only to find they turn sinister. Oooo. And Rory’s dad was a treat as he so diligently watched the cubes do…nothing. But in the end, the purpose of the boxes was boring, the explanation for their appearance felt thrown together and even the Dr saving the day was less than thrilling. I never felt like anything was in genuine peril and so I couldn’t really bring myself to care about the fate of anyone in the episode. They could have killed Amy and Rory right in this episode and I don’t expect I’d have noticed; their death would have been so coated in dull it would have entirely passed me by.
So we break and wait for the Christmas special/the introduction of the shiny new companion. It’s a Moffat episode but the Christmas specials are usually great stories so I shall have faith.
Come on then, share, what do you think of S7 so far? How do you feel the closer partnership with America worked out? And most importantly, did you cry at the end? Feel free to be morbid and rank the companion departures in measures of tears :P
no subject
no subject
Season 7
(Anonymous) 2012-11-09 11:51 am (UTC)(link)Really looking forward to the Christmas special. I've only started watching Doctor Who at the beginning of this year, so I'll watch a Special live for the first time.
Alex
thesleeplessreader.com
Re: Season 7
Oh Christmas specials are always so barmy but generally in a fab way. The KJ special is one my my favs so far.