Doctor Who
Apr. 8th, 2010 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackBad
It's still goofy at the expense of making sense. Since the fundamental problem is that it doesn't TRY to make sense when the opportunity to be silly or have impressive visuals comes along, it would be somewhat petty and irrelevant to carefully enumerate all the WAYS it doesn't make sense. But GUESS WHAT, I'm me, so WELCOME TO PETTY-AND-IRRELEVANT-VILLE!
1. Computer viruses don't work like that
2. Computer viruses don't work like that (yes, I know I wrote that twice, and yes I know they do in every other episode. "We've been doing it like that all along" isn't a defence against "it's stupid" unless the status quo is sufficiently consistent to base episodes on.)
3. Glowy things coming out of peoples heads instead of actual science
4. So, the aliens speak JUST enough Earth languages to broadcast a warning, but not enough to decypher a radio message saying "Over here! The guy with the dog is patient zero! I CLAIM MY FIVE POUNDS"
5. Why did the doctor narrowly save earth, and THEN read the aliens the riot act. How come they weren't (a) anglophne and (b) afraid of him BEFORE?
6. I loved little Amelia, but have to admit I'm not sure I could characterise her beyond "precocious, bold, unflappable and imaginative" which describes practically every other television child, so feel embarrassed to like her as a type, not necessarily as an individual.
7. When the doctor goes somewhere for "just five minutes" he should check a star atlas, work out the year, and then, if he's wrong, GO TO THE CORRECT TIME WITHOUT EXITING THE TARDIS AND GETTING TANGLED UP. (Yes I know they do in every other episode. "We've been doing it like that all along" isn't a defence against "it's stupid" unless the status quo is sufficiently consistent to base episodes on. This problem is closer to justified, as there's a fairly consistent rule that when the doctor arrives somewhere he'll stay there (unless its funny), but I still think it could be done better.)
Other random things:
1.
Good
1. I really liked little amelia, and quite liked big amelia. She was vibrant. She DID things, not just whine at the doctor!
2. I liked Matt Smith a lot too. He was way too goofy in the early episode, but the script obviously asked him to be, and I had the same objection to Tennant's first episode, and while Tennant was obviously always sometimes goofy, he could do everything else quite well as well. And at many times, when he had many excellent lines to deliver, I really enjoyed him. I'd like to see a doctor who is sometimes goofy, but sometimes thinks by thinking, not by shouting, but honestly think Smith is probably well capable of it.
3. There were many, many excellent lines. It was really funny, normally enjoyable, and occasionally interesting. As plot goes it was a wash out, but I know they CAN do both funny, enjoyable and interesting in an episode, I just hope they DO.
4. Many, many excellent lines. I know I said this before, but I repeated a negative point so want to repeat this one too.
5. The rest of the series looks pretty good.
Random thoughts
1. "The tardis column looks like a big glass dildo." Well, maybe it does. But it was somewhat repetitive to come back to the internet and find EVERYONE saying the same thing :)
2. Interestingly, when I first heard the guard saying "prisoner 0 has escaped" I assumed the guards were the bad guys. That may be intended, as it was supposed to be a shock prisoner zero was in the house, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a shock that prisoner zero is DANGEROUS or not. But it's interesting whether people expect the prisoner or the guard to be bad in a creepy situation. (Obviously it turns out both are.)
3. We live in the future: totalitatian regimes now zero-index their prisons rather than one-indexing :)
It's still goofy at the expense of making sense. Since the fundamental problem is that it doesn't TRY to make sense when the opportunity to be silly or have impressive visuals comes along, it would be somewhat petty and irrelevant to carefully enumerate all the WAYS it doesn't make sense. But GUESS WHAT, I'm me, so WELCOME TO PETTY-AND-IRRELEVANT-VILLE!
1. Computer viruses don't work like that
2. Computer viruses don't work like that (yes, I know I wrote that twice, and yes I know they do in every other episode. "We've been doing it like that all along" isn't a defence against "it's stupid" unless the status quo is sufficiently consistent to base episodes on.)
3. Glowy things coming out of peoples heads instead of actual science
4. So, the aliens speak JUST enough Earth languages to broadcast a warning, but not enough to decypher a radio message saying "Over here! The guy with the dog is patient zero! I CLAIM MY FIVE POUNDS"
5. Why did the doctor narrowly save earth, and THEN read the aliens the riot act. How come they weren't (a) anglophne and (b) afraid of him BEFORE?
6. I loved little Amelia, but have to admit I'm not sure I could characterise her beyond "precocious, bold, unflappable and imaginative" which describes practically every other television child, so feel embarrassed to like her as a type, not necessarily as an individual.
7. When the doctor goes somewhere for "just five minutes" he should check a star atlas, work out the year, and then, if he's wrong, GO TO THE CORRECT TIME WITHOUT EXITING THE TARDIS AND GETTING TANGLED UP. (Yes I know they do in every other episode. "We've been doing it like that all along" isn't a defence against "it's stupid" unless the status quo is sufficiently consistent to base episodes on. This problem is closer to justified, as there's a fairly consistent rule that when the doctor arrives somewhere he'll stay there (unless its funny), but I still think it could be done better.)
Other random things:
1.
Good
1. I really liked little amelia, and quite liked big amelia. She was vibrant. She DID things, not just whine at the doctor!
2. I liked Matt Smith a lot too. He was way too goofy in the early episode, but the script obviously asked him to be, and I had the same objection to Tennant's first episode, and while Tennant was obviously always sometimes goofy, he could do everything else quite well as well. And at many times, when he had many excellent lines to deliver, I really enjoyed him. I'd like to see a doctor who is sometimes goofy, but sometimes thinks by thinking, not by shouting, but honestly think Smith is probably well capable of it.
3. There were many, many excellent lines. It was really funny, normally enjoyable, and occasionally interesting. As plot goes it was a wash out, but I know they CAN do both funny, enjoyable and interesting in an episode, I just hope they DO.
4. Many, many excellent lines. I know I said this before, but I repeated a negative point so want to repeat this one too.
5. The rest of the series looks pretty good.
Random thoughts
1. "The tardis column looks like a big glass dildo." Well, maybe it does. But it was somewhat repetitive to come back to the internet and find EVERYONE saying the same thing :)
2. Interestingly, when I first heard the guard saying "prisoner 0 has escaped" I assumed the guards were the bad guys. That may be intended, as it was supposed to be a shock prisoner zero was in the house, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a shock that prisoner zero is DANGEROUS or not. But it's interesting whether people expect the prisoner or the guard to be bad in a creepy situation. (Obviously it turns out both are.)
3. We live in the future: totalitatian regimes now zero-index their prisons rather than one-indexing :)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 03:17 pm (UTC)And of course viruses work like that. I've seen Independence Day!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 03:34 pm (UTC)the Dr actually prefers to wander out somewhere not knowing where he is than check star maps
That's a good rationale for it, and indeed, in general, I definitely agree: the doctor is the sort of person who would LIKE to go wherever the time currents take him, and fix the world (tm) when he gets there. I approve and like this.
But if it's crushing the faith of a little girl, or taking someone away from their family and lying about being able to get them back before their family think they're dead, then it's justified by all turning out ok in the end, but by any objective standard that's insanely cruel if it's easily averted. It's like someone who says "well, I'm silly, and if you're stupid enough to take me for what I say instead of what I obviously mean, it's your own fault". Which is often good because someone discovers the galaxy, but often bad as well!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 03:48 pm (UTC)It's just that, if you're LOOKING for things that, if they happened in the real world, wouldn't make any sense, you see prime examples.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 03:54 pm (UTC):) I know what you mean, but it actually annoys me that Independence Day is always singled out for this. As far as I can tell, from one or two watchings, in independence day:
1. The scientist spends six months studying a crashed alien fighter and attempting to read information off the computer.
2. A fighter pilot runs up and says "quick, we need a virus to infiltrate the mother system"
3. The scientist pulls together the stuff he's written overnight and whips up something appropriate. Maybe it's more of a trojan than a virus, or simply a malicious and surreptitious program, but honestly that's a fairly small point -- lots of people would call such a program a virus in real life.
So he had six months to understand the computer system, design a hardware interface and learn it well. What did he design a hardware interface to the alien system TO? His laptop -- obviously, that's what people use to interface with all sorts of tech.
If my reading is accurate, that's actually really plausible. It's plausible that someone really good could learn a foreign system in six months of intensive study, and that once understanding it, write an appropriate "open the bay doors" program on the spot.
If my reading is accurate, it's much much better than every other film, so I'm not sure why it gets the hate. I don't know if I misunderstood something obvious.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 04:09 pm (UTC)I actually thoroughly enjoyed the movie at the time. I think I saw it twice in the cinema, for the sheer ridiculous fun of it.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-03 01:40 pm (UTC)I mean, it's still dumbed down, but as far as I can see no more so than every other film that features a computer ever, whereas people always seem to portray it as a lightning rod of stupidity, as if they'd connected a mac and an alien mothership WITHOUT any prior chance to study the tech.