tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post6545071036459059823..comments2024-01-10T00:07:48.304+00:00Comments on Cathode Ray Tube: DOCTOR WHO: Series 6 - A Good Man Goes To War / ReviewFrank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-63492818762183949852011-06-11T16:34:18.338+01:002011-06-11T16:34:18.338+01:00This has certainly been a complex and confronting ...This has certainly been a complex and confronting episode, par for the course these days for Moffat. A standard series 5/6 story which is a d#mn shame but the title has me intrigued. With such a tricky writer (albeit one who seems to have a very small bag of tricks) I think the title may be something to consider: 'When a Good Man goes to War'. This being a two parter (at least!) have we yet to see who is the good man? Perhaps it will be crisis time for Rory to oppose the Doctor or find himself seated on the horns of another dilemma? Least these stories can provoke some interesting ideas.<br /><br />Another interesting thing to consider, who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall when Vastra is introduced to Jenny's parents for the first time?<br /><br />My preferences are definitely with the earlier series and it is interesting to see two of my favourite stories name checked, Dalek and Human Nature (and I forgot Midnight! Thanks Anon.) Sometimes a simpler story told well surpasses the more baroque offerings and Ardal O'Hanlon as a cat just nudges out Rory as centurion in my books. Won't be too upset though if we see more of the armour again. Imperious WIN.<br /><br />Small postick for anyone doing Doctor Who in the future. Can we have a moratorium on schemes, shenanigans, plots, contrivances, inescapable prisons, deathtraps, timewimeys and madcap fast-paced action involving the Doctor and his companions for a while. Possible exception is where the time travel is used a little more imaginatively than the timeline stuff. The Space Museum provided an excellent example of what can be done as did the one Slider episode I ever watched involving Time's Arrow, "As Time Goes By".<br /><br />Still, it's good to hear we may be getting back to the anonymous Doctor. I think a real test of today's writers would be to write some first class historical stories with no aliens, ghosts, screwdriver of sonicness etc. just good, solid drama. Something me and a friend have speculated about for a while. Won't happen but a man can dream... At least they may dial the angry, shouty, sexy, action, spy stuff down from an eleven to a six for a while.<br /><br />One thing about the modern writers, many times they seem to have lost the knack of writing good characters but on the other hand they come up with some very evocative names: Papal Mainframe, Nightmare Child, Skaro Degradations etc. they effectively counter TVs tendency to show the spectacle by providing some nourishment to the imagination. I've written a little myself and am too aware at how difficult it is to come up with really good names at times.<br /><br />Overall, I'd just stamped my big Meh stamp of indifference on this episode when they drop in the next title, "Let's Kill Hitler".<br /><br />/*sarcasm */ I take it all back, this is the best season ever! <br /><br />Excellent review again. I have neither the background nor experience for literary analysis at this (or perhaps any) depth, but I always feel 30 IQ points smarter after reading them.<br /><br />Reading am fun!Lurking Gruenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-68391087975253283812011-06-09T00:03:48.426+01:002011-06-09T00:03:48.426+01:00Maybe because it's because Moffat's other ...Maybe because it's because Moffat's other episodes have been to such a high standard, but I felt a bit disappointed in this one. It was almost as if he was trying to do way, way too much in this episode and stuff kind of got squeezed out the sides. <br /><br />Things like why had Kovarian assembled such a large army, and what had she said to them to convince the soldiers to practically die for this baby. Or Amy being switched out with the Flesh "before America" means it happened off camera so we, as viewers, can't look back on a particular scene and go ah ha, that's where it was. Moffat seems to have just given himself a really easy out with that too. Also Moffat giving Smith "I have big balls!" speeches in front on hordes of goons have become a bit of a crutch. I mean there were two in this episode.<br /><br />Also some of the supporting cast where given the bare minimum development. Why the focus on the Fat Thins gay guys if it ultimately came to nothing? Why did the Headless Monks choose that person in particular, what criteria did he fulfil?<br /><br />Big deal if Lorna Bucket, ahem, kicked the bucket, we barely got to know anything about her, except for some random encounter we never saw. Also poor Jenny barely had her name mentioned (it took me a bit to figure out she was the maid), and had me wondering if this was his daughter of the same name, only regenerated.<br /><br />Also, even though they hit us over the head with it, no way should the Doctor have been duped not once, but twice, by the Flesh-y Amy & Baby. <br /><br />Perhaps the worse though for me was the Cybermen being reduced to a sight gag (admittedly a pretty cool & bombastic one). Big bads of this calibre should have been saved for a truly epic and important episode, yet they look like a bunch of chumps. Plus it didn't help that the BBC went out of their way to spoil their appearance (and River Song's and the Sontaran).<br /><br />Positives though, and so nice to see that Rory grew a set and manned up. Also Neve McIntosh, Dan Starkey & Catrin Stewart were all wonderful as was Kingston & Barber. Plus the fight scenes were really cool, and some nice lines in there as well. And I would totally watch a Vastra/Jenny spin-off.<br /><br />But I just don't see WHY they had go with a mid-season break, especially as last week's cliffhanger was more exciting & unexpected. (The clues for River Song were there, and I kicked myself for not connecting the dots). Moffat said it was for "narrative reasons" and that he will incorporate the real-time (3 months?) break into the stories, but it just sees odd given The Doctor is flying solo. When I heard initially about the break and then the spoiler that Amy was pregnant I had guessed that would be the cliffhanger and when we returned she would be all fat, but obviously not.<br /><br />I should be clear that I didn't hate the episode. I don't know if it was Moffat on cruise control or being too over-ambitious for it to work, but it was a little underwhelming especially given the build.<br /><br />Terrific and insightful review though. And sorry that this post got a bit long (and for any spelling errors, it's late!)Paul Cnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-53714147162368736602011-06-08T23:07:21.964+01:002011-06-08T23:07:21.964+01:00Thanks Jo! Agree wholeheartedly.Thanks Jo! Agree wholeheartedly.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-42724488233326310752011-06-08T18:36:19.439+01:002011-06-08T18:36:19.439+01:00Frank, just dropping you a note to thank you, once...Frank, just dropping you a note to thank you, once again, for your thoughtful and enlightening reviews.<br /><br />Having said that, I do wish that people would just kick back and enjoy the new series for what it is. Yes, it has all that history which plenty of people are in love with but, equally, the rebooted series is making new fans of our children, children who might be interested enough to go back and watch the old series, read the books, enjoy what we enjoyed all over again. In my book, that's priceless. <br /><br />At the end of the day, in my opinion, there's usually enough in a series, if not an episode, to keep a die-hard fan watching and the Moff doesn't poo all over the old series in the way that RTD did, even though some of the stories are less fantastic.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18408707293147281784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-38103783787140503632011-06-07T23:17:40.173+01:002011-06-07T23:17:40.173+01:00Alexander - Organised religion does not have the m...Alexander - Organised religion does not have the monopoly on good. I'd rather see the story as a questioning of those aspects of organised religion that have engaged in wars in the name of their beliefs. <br /><br />If one positions the Doctor as a Christ-like figure then does it not follow that the future Church is merely an allusion to all the holy conflicts waged in Christ's name? Look at Saint Justine and Saint Thomas Aquinas and their criteria for a Christian 'just war'. And let's not forget the Crusades too, sanctioned by the Papacy, which I think Moffat is directly referring to here. When River tells the Doctor that all this is because of him then she's underlining this aspect of the story. <br /><br />Perhaps it's putting adults in the position of explaining to children about the less palatable aspects of organised religion? Something they see everyday on the news, no doubt?Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-58615309013683295052011-06-07T17:59:55.438+01:002011-06-07T17:59:55.438+01:00In Doctor Who, "A Good Man Goes To War",...In Doctor Who, "A Good Man Goes To War", 4 June 2011, "the Church", headed by a "papal mainframe", is portrayed in the future as an evil entity and enemy of the Doctor. The antipathy displayed between the Doctor and the said future "Church" was apparent in episodes last year. However, the inimical relationship is now characterised as full-blown. <br /> <br />This has all the appearance of a blatant attempt by a particular mindset operating within the BBC to affect children's relationship to the Christian church (which in many cases includes their own parents) through setting it up in opposition to a much loved character. Trying to explain why the Church should be evil in the future puts Christian adults in an impossible position. This is not family viewing but an undermining of family cohesion. <br /> <br />Parents should not be forced into the position of refusing to allow children to watch Doctor Who because "the Church" is portrayed as ultimately evil in the future.Alexandernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-13796404372479790052011-06-07T13:06:15.168+01:002011-06-07T13:06:15.168+01:00Liberator - The whole business of 'epic' o...Liberator - The whole business of 'epic' or 'event' telly started back in the 1990s. It is the way television tends to be made now. Remember RTD saying he wanted 'Doctor Who' to be all about big pictures and have the thrill of event shows like 'X Factor' and 'BGT'? Whether we like it or not, that's the way 'Doctor Who' has been fashioned since 2005. Of course, it means that a lot of it is just empty spectacle but at least we do get episodes like 'Blink' or 'Human Nature'. <br /><br />I think what's happening has to be partly attributed to Moffat. A lot of the interpersonal realtionships - particularly between men and women - are typical Moffat tropes. The weakening of the Doctor as a male authority figure is a Moffat trope - see 'Coupling' and 'Press Gang' for examples of that. So a lot of the dynamics between characters are very much in his style. <br /><br />Have a look at Piers Britton's new book 'TARDISbound' for a superb examination of how RTD 'heterosexualised' the Doctor and the attempts by Moffat to try and reverse this trend (the casting of Smith is integral to this).Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-74955769865018149672011-06-07T13:01:58.020+01:002011-06-07T13:01:58.020+01:00Hello Frank,
My name is Anna and I’ve been readin...Hello Frank,<br /><br />My name is Anna and I’ve been reading your Doctor Who reviews for a while now. I’ve decided to delurk to thank you for your excellent work. When a new episode is out the first review I read is yours because I think that you are always able to offer a unique insight into the show. You did a very good job with your review of A good man goes to war because you pointed out some aspects of the story which I hadn’t noticed and so I got to re-evaluate at least some parts of the story, which has been a total disappointment to me. <br /><br />There are some aspects that really bug me, and I would like to point them out. I’m all for Dark Doctor stories, that’s why I loved so much last year’s Dream Lord, but I think that there’s too much of a contrast between last year’s fairytale Doctor and this year’s warrior. Was nobody else bothered by the fact that he destroyed a whole Cybermen fleet without batting an eye? And how did he do it, exactly? With his sonic screwdriver? And the way he chanted Colonel Run-Away... I would be more impressed if this were the first time his hubris got the best of him, but it happens to him periodically (The Waters of Mars, The End of Time) and he doesn’t learn anything from it, ever. He doesn’t remember that it always costs more lives than it saves. This is not the Doctor I love. I think that Doctor Who is at its best with minimalist storylines. Midnight is my favourite episode from the RTD era, and last year I loved Amy’s Choice and The Lodger more than any other episode. The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang didn’t make a whole lot of sense logically, but I think that they were internally consistent and they made sense emotionally. This year we are treated with a mess that doesn’t satisfy neither on an emotional lever nor on a logical one. River is Amy and Rory's daughter, so? Everybody on the internet had guessed it! The only ones who hadn't were the ones who didn't like the idea, like me, so what is the big reveal? Timey-wimey stuff, yes, so it shouldn’t be so surprising to meet someone from the future who is also your daughter. The only part of this storyline that could be interesting, that is the fact that Rory and Amy will not see their daughter grow up, has been completely ignored. I really don’t like the way this reveal will influence Amy and Rory's role in the series. Are they going to become the Doctor’s in-laws? <br /><br />But the thing that really bugged me and put me off the episode immediately was Amy’s speech to her child: "He’s the last of his kind, looks young but has lived hundreds of years and he's known as the Last Centurion". Sorry, what? Since when Amy started calling Rory the last centurion? How could she know that he would come to her rescue dressed as such? And why should he be known as the Last Centurion? It’s an extremely incongruous way of talking about someone, and the only purpose of this speech was to make the audience shit themselves thinking that the Doctor was the baby’s father. Also, when the Doctor says "It's mine", you can see from Rory's face that he's afraid he's talking about the baby. These parts serve no purpose and are there just to screw with our minds. I’ve had enough of this. I think that it’s ridiculous that this baby has Time Lord DNA because she was conceived in the TARDIS while in-flight. Really? How did Eye-patch Lady and her posse know that? What I get form the episode is that they got wind that Amy was pregnant (wonder who told them since real Amy hadn’t told anyone yet) and decided to kidnap her and see if her baby had any viable properties. So they risked enraging the Doctor, this deadly warrior they hate and fear so much, just for a chance that they could raise their own Time Lord baby to fight him? It’s just unbelievable. And why do they hate the Doctor so much anyway? I’m afraid that Moffat, like the Doctor, has started believing his own hype, and this is the result.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-77516898099362685032011-06-07T12:27:50.715+01:002011-06-07T12:27:50.715+01:00David - I agree. It has been an uneven series thus...David - I agree. It has been an uneven series thus far. Like you, I think I did prefer Series 5 as it felt much more contained as a story over 13 episodes.<br /><br />There is still a lot to like in this episode but as I said in the review it's pretty much Moffat on auto-pilot. That's the whole point of looking at the narrative structure in the review because it pretty much matches what he did on 'The Pandorica Opens'. Lots of incidental scenes/characters before you get to the plot - here at about half an hour in - to broker a sense of the epic. <br /><br />And many of the themes of the fallible Doctor are, as you, Liberator and Steve point out, not new. I'm hoping it is going to play out as a way of making the Doctor more anonymous. How much longer can everyone in the universe know about him and or love/hate him. Let's not forget we still 6 more episodes to go and this feels like a sub-plot that will be taken forward to the end of the year.<br /><br />River. Well any big reveal like this is going to throw into question the whole relationship with Rory and Amy. However, this may constitute a reviewing of Series 5 episodes that feature her. Hopefully, Moffat will have left some clues behind. Mind you, I suspect he's winging it a bit because even he didn't know who she was until Series 5. He lies. Just like RTD does. And that of course then makes the relationships between River and Amy look terribly false. It'll be interesting to see how he climbs out of this hole.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-76748241277690419122011-06-07T06:36:06.245+01:002011-06-07T06:36:06.245+01:00Good review, as always. This episode made me reali...Good review, as always. This episode made me realize why I've found this series so uneven - like the rest of the series so far (and Moffat's two parter opening) I've found much to love and much to be frustrated by. Which has been hard because, despite its flaws, on balance I loved series 5 so much more than this one.<br /><br />The bad: the overly-meta misdirects about the Doctor being Melody's father, over-egging the pudding with one-off scenes and characters one after the other before getting to the plot halfway through, the over-hyping of the Doctor's darkest hour (really? I mean the man's committed genocides), the ridiculousness of River Song being Amy and Rory's daughter - she couldn't keep her emotions about the Doctor hidden from him, so how did she keep her feelings toward her parents so completely concealed? It makes River's character too unbelievable for me, because now I can never trust any of her apparent emotions. Where before she was hints about the future, having her own prescient emotions toward others, now I just see her as completely unreadable.<br /><br />But it was also at times a rollicking good fun. Many of the one-off characters were quite wonderful, the speech about Colonel Runaway was brilliant, especially as Matt Smith begins with his normal, half-absentminded Doctor smile, making it all the more unsettling to see there's something so dark underneath all the play. The Headless Monks were delightfully Headless Horseman like. That's an American legend (and one that I found terrifying as a kid) - so I don't know if it was an intentional reference or not, but I picked up on those echoes quite strongly. Surprised you didn't mention it actually!<br /><br />But this strange being pulled in both ways at once, both upset and enjoying it, is something I've just had to get used to with this series.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for sharing the reviews. I joined up with Gallifrey Base this season and now regret it - just going to go back to reading your more interesting take on the episodes.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14005260344579507716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-6626241592187357462011-06-07T03:41:43.010+01:002011-06-07T03:41:43.010+01:00@Steve: And I thought I was the only one!
@Frank:...@Steve: And I thought I was the only one!<br /><br />@Frank: I'm not on an anti-Moffat trip. Press Gang is one of the best TV shows of all time. Blink is one of my favourite new series episodes. The Empty Child's only crime was that it was dull as dishwater, and the library one had a lot to like.<br /><br />I suspect many of the failings of the new series are down to the way TV is made these days - Coronation Street too, in parallel to Doctor Who, is now really succumbing to what I suspect is TV executives demanding BIGGER! LOUDER! MORE!KAOShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17052487697044714767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-40864325364706573572011-06-07T00:36:56.197+01:002011-06-07T00:36:56.197+01:00"like The Pandorica Opens, we then get a coll..."like The Pandorica Opens, we then get a collection of monsters popping up out of thin air to finish off the job (and any semblance of rationality in the episode)" <br /><br />It's often been said before,but Doctor Who fans in the 1980s used to criticse JNT & co. for featuring too many unnecessary elements from past stories...yet<br />DW fans Segal, RTD and Moffat all made DW stories which the same criticism can be made!<br /><br />I enjoyed "A Good Man Goes to War",<br />but it didn't feel like the show at<br />its best. I don't feel this script<br />played to Matt and Alex's strengths<br />as actors,it felt disjointed, and it didn't form a coherent whole.<br /><br />As the "The Shadow Line" showed a few weeks ago, there can few things more terrifying to a parent<br />than having his/her child stolen from them and placed in danger, but I feel we didn't see this<br />nightmarish situation impact on Amy<br />and Rory (perhaps Moffat & co. thought it would be too dark for the family audience, especially given some of this year's stories have been criticised for being too<br />scary for children).<br /><br />Still, I liked the Silurian duo<br />the Sontaran, and the gorgeous Lorna Bucket, and the SFX were good. I'd give it 3/5.Vector-Victorhttp://anorakzoneforum.informe.com/forum/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-31247175824479632912011-06-06T19:26:53.225+01:002011-06-06T19:26:53.225+01:00"Did you chose to describe it as "menipp..."Did you chose to describe it as "menippean" because you couldn't have justified treating it to a piece of serious literary criticism if you'd called it what it was: "all over the bloody place"?"<br /><br />That's really beneath you, Steven.<br /><br />If you want that sort of review then Gallifrey Base is the place to be. <br /><br />I don't need to justify the episode using the forms of literary criticism I choose to use, thanks. I am certainly not saying, in debating such ideas, that these episodes are without fault. <br /><br />I always aim to give balanced reviews and find the positives, even if something's well below par. I'm not just using concepts like 'menippea' and the Man/Superman ideas to cover up what you see as Moffat's deficiencies when those ideas are clearly central to the script. <br /><br />I do understand why you and Liberator don't like what is happening to the Doctor. But since when has the Doctor been as pure as the driven snow? He's not the innocent you claim him to be. He does have a lot of blood on his hands.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-59300597811846811052011-06-06T14:19:49.385+01:002011-06-06T14:19:49.385+01:00Liberator Emigre Eire has it right. Much as it may...Liberator Emigre Eire has it right. Much as it may provide grist to your own mill, Frank, of Miltonian imagery and man and superman thingummies, some of us don't reckon that the writers have the right to turn this children's character into a posturing prick in order to explore ideas of fallibility. <br /><br />We have one showrunner giving us a Doctor who behaves like the worst pub bore in bragging about all the women he's shagged. Now we have another showrunner giving us a Doctor who sets out to humiliate people just because he can. I can well imagine the post-2005 fan revelling in all that Colonel Runaway taunting but I despised the Doctor at that point as a snide little shit.<br /><br />They should do that with their own characters but not with a character they're briefly holding in trust.<br /><br />Did you chose to describe it as "menippean" because you couldn't have justified treating it to a piece of serious literary criticism if you'd called it what it was: "all over the bloody place"?Steve Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15992098012803570361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-73483073789291443912011-06-06T13:53:10.725+01:002011-06-06T13:53:10.725+01:00***There's a suggestion here that "conver...***There's a suggestion here that "conversion" is not just the beheading of chosen ones to join the order but also a deliberate mechanism of power to enforce the likes of Fat One into a compulsory non-gay existence.***<br /><br />I think you're scraping the barrel there, Francis. Didn't see any such suggestion.Steve Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15992098012803570361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-20585257596278663532011-06-06T13:46:00.806+01:002011-06-06T13:46:00.806+01:00Your reviews are excellent, Frank, and provide the...Your reviews are excellent, Frank, and provide the most thoughtful analysis around (even if I don't agree with your positive take on it) and are always my first port of call (even last year, when I gave up watching). <br /><br />With regards to John Doyle's comment, it makes no difference, because the damage is already done. And frankly, I'm sick of this kind of writing that believes you can do absolutely anything - kill anyone, destroy the whole universe - then press some magic reset button and pretend it never happened. On a practical level, it removes all the drama, because you're left thinking nothing that's bad (say, Rory dying) matters, because it'll somehow undone later.KAOShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17052487697044714767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-87114787536872386472011-06-06T11:58:54.371+01:002011-06-06T11:58:54.371+01:00Liberator - You may be interested in John Doyle...Liberator - You may be interested in John Doyle's comment about Moffat returning the Doctor to a more anonymous state by next year. Perhaps there is a method to this madness after all?<br /><br />On the classic Who front, I do have an option to collect the essays and write some new ones with the current publisher of The Pandorica Opens. However, it has not been discussed yet so I can't assume that it's definite. When I've signed the contract I'll let you know!<br /><br />To be honest, I'm also quite interested in doing another Matt Smith book as the reviews for this series have gone down very well.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-84408678592641870622011-06-06T11:55:18.094+01:002011-06-06T11:55:18.094+01:00Hi, John
D'you know now that you mention it, ...Hi, John<br /><br />D'you know now that you mention it, I think I read or heard something along those lines. <br /><br />If that is Moffat's plan then good for him because I think the 'lonely God' stuff has really become a bit worn thin now. I think it is time he returned to a mysterious state.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-35816304285314786342011-06-06T02:15:57.456+01:002011-06-06T02:15:57.456+01:00Furthering this discussion of the Doctor's fam...Furthering this discussion of the Doctor's fame/infamy and its consequences, didn't the Moff recently disclose that this is indeed a central theme of the season, and that he aims to (somehow) return the Doctor to a more anonymous state (by next season?). I know I read something to this effect online recently.<br /><br />Nice review as ever, Frank. I love the "Character Options free association" line; so true. And yet this was a hugely enjoyable episode in a season which I find to be consistently stronger than last year's, so far.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14748935712654653071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-18660189693640667202011-06-06T01:32:30.427+01:002011-06-06T01:32:30.427+01:00There was a lot to dislike about RTD's era, bu...There was a lot to dislike about RTD's era, but there was a lot of positives too.<br /><br />I guess the direction Moffatt's taken the show in just ain't for me!<br /><br />On a more positive note, Frank, I wondered if you had plans to publish your excellent essays on proper (hehe) Doctor Who, either as collections by Doctor or once you'd done all of the original series? I for one would buy it!KAOShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17052487697044714767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-71841935617074606232011-06-06T01:10:04.868+01:002011-06-06T01:10:04.868+01:00Yes, but then the entire revival since 2005 must b...Yes, but then the entire revival since 2005 must be a disappointment to you because the legend of The Oncoming Storm and the Doctor's 'celebrity' has been part and parcel of the series since RTD brought it back. It's pretty much writ large as a consequence of the Time War itself. <br /><br />Besides, it's pretty logical to assume that after 900 years of travelling the Doctor is bound to be well known and as a consequence feared and loved in equal measure by an awful lot of beings.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-16944877734484374282011-06-06T01:02:23.693+01:002011-06-06T01:02:23.693+01:00Indeed, Melody is one of the many narrators here. ...Indeed, Melody is one of the many narrators here. I loved that shot of her looking over Amy's shoulder at Kovarian as she appeared in the wall. And she talks to the Doctor right from the start too. <br /><br />If this review ever becomes a chapter for a book then Melody's role will be part of the overall analysis of this.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-25608361541637483262011-06-06T00:39:44.558+01:002011-06-06T00:39:44.558+01:00I know, but that being the point of it doesn't...I know, but that being the point of it doesn't make it right in the first place. That's simply not, and never has been, part of the Doctor's make-up. It's crass and it totally undermines the Doctor's character.<br /><br />In fact, it's the kind of deluded ranting the villains do.<br /><br />Hartnell and Pertwe were arrogant, of course, but they'd never have resorted to this sort of lazy boasting. Even the idea of the Doctor being some sort of intergalactic celebrity is tacky and uninspiring. <br /><br />Never mind Disney's Junior Doctor Who - what we've got now is Peter Andre In Space.<br /><br />I mean where do you go with an idea like that - if the Doctor's known by EVERYONE EVERYWHERE, and is feared by EVERYONE EVERYWHERE, throughout ALL TIME. It's self-defeating, incestuous grandstanding.<br /><br />I come away from every episode angry and frustrated, and a little bit heartbroken, at the scale of the damage being done to the series' integrity.KAOShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17052487697044714767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-35022094250090244302011-06-06T00:00:41.055+01:002011-06-06T00:00:41.055+01:00Considered review as always, Frank. As for multipl...Considered review as always, Frank. As for multiple narrators, I thought it was a great idea to give baby Melody this status too, from the Doctor's translations of her observations to the heart-wrenching sight of Madame Kovarian's hatch sliding open on the wall.Matthew Kilburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16994266455623606284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-24021989032585283752011-06-05T23:11:57.602+01:002011-06-05T23:11:57.602+01:00Yes, but the point here is that self-aggrandising ...Yes, but the point here is that self-aggrandising gets you into a whole heap of trouble and possibly leads to your death. It's supposed to be a nauseous idea for the Doctor to have such hubris. The whole episode is 'pride comes before a fall' really.<br /><br />Besides, Tennant's Doctor met the same fate. His aspiration to be a God-like Time Lord scuppered his chances. Hartnell and Pertwee were also very arrogant versions of the Doctor too, don't forget. <br /><br />It's doing a lot of things it's always done. And Moffat is not the first 'Doctor Who' writer to ransack 'Star Wars' for inspiration.Frank Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com