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I wish I'd made the effort to watch this without seeing any spoilers, I thought it was good. It was funny, and I loved Caecilius and his family (although the humorous humanising comparisons to present day were sometimes over the top). It's the sort of boisterous romp that the doctor seems to do well.

And it followed it up with some decent drama. The death of pompeii wasn't overdone, but felt very real, I really sympathised with Donna and I was so very glad the doctor was able to save Caecilius after all.

And I liked the aliens: they were pretty impressive, and the idea of turning to stone quite well done.

A few nitpicks

I loved the running joke about contemporary latin coming out as Celtic (or at least sounding it to the romans there who maybe don't know any). And Donna just saying "I said X in latin!" was fun. However, I felt it'd be better if they just bare-faced the language issue out. If they left out the technobabble they could have kept all of the jokes which would be enough to make some fun of the problem.

But putting in the explanation just draws attention to it. The doctor is impulsive and sometimes secretive, so maybe he doesn't want to examine the issue now, but he constantly pokes things (witness putting together the sonic screwdrivers) so is it possible he never before thought to examine the translation and see how it works?

And they just had to draw attention to it by having the doctor make a pun on "sun" and "son" when swapping witty philosophical banter with the Augar. What the hell was that translated into in latin? Or can the Tardis just drop in the impression of something witty without actual words? But that seems a gigantic can of worms, if so how long before it's translating philosophical positions from one set of cultures mores to another? At some point, it stops being communication and starts being an echo chamber.

Date: 2008-04-13 08:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] robhu.livejournal.com
Would it be too bad to say you're expecting a level of consistency between what is funny and what makes sense that Doctor Who really isn't about?

Not that it's bad to write about it of course...

Date: 2008-04-15 01:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com
LOL. I think my point is more that I'm not _expecting_ it, I just think that assuming they're not going to _do_ it, they shouldn't build up towards it and try to pretend they are.

And yes, I mainly just enjoy thinking about stuff (big shock :)); although maybe there's some worth in letting this go :)

Date: 2008-04-14 11:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] naath.livejournal.com
Caecilius should have been shown in a garden dammit! (I *loved* that it was Caecilius).

My Mum was visiting Pompeii last week... I wonder if she saw this ep.

Date: 2008-04-15 01:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com
:)

I have a new cartoon (waiting for my drawing ability).

Frame 1: "The premise"
Stick-figure doctor leans out of stick-figure Tardis: Hi
Stick-figure daughter: Help! An rock-based alien life-form has encompassed me and is slowly turning me into rock.

Frame 2: "The pay-off"

Stick-figure doctor: Ah! Caecilia est in Horta!
Stick figure horta: Om nom nom.

Frame 3: "The action"

Stick-figure Vesuvius. "A big volcano was there too."

:)

Date: 2008-04-15 01:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] naath.livejournal.com
Argh! bilingual puns.

Date: 2008-04-15 06:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com
:)

Somehow "bilingual puns" sounds sophisticated. But whenever you actually hear one, it's appalling. (Maybe it sounds more sophisticated if the entire thing is in a foreign or pseudo-foreign language?)

Date: 2008-04-16 09:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] naath.livejournal.com
"Weil ein eie genug est" (pardon my atrocious spelling) - still not actually sophisticated.

Date: 2008-04-16 04:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com
The _other_ problem with bilingual puns is that puns tax human translators to the limit; the subtlety is still beyond automatic translation. So although I did a year or two of german at school, I still don't follow that one :)

Date: 2008-04-16 04:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] naath.livejournal.com
Ah, er, there's a joke about what *French* people like for breakfast...

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