Doctor Who 50th Anniversary
Nov. 24th, 2013 03:01 pm( Read more... )
Doctor Who
Apr. 2nd, 2013 12:14 pmI haven't seen most of the most recent seasons, but I watched the first episode of the new season at Eastercon.
I was glad I did; watching with a thousand other fans does bring out the good aspects[1]. The funny bits were funny and the emotional bits were emotional and the awesome bits were awesome.
However it shared the problem which exasperated me with most of the seasons since it was first brought back, that the general incoherence of the premise-of-the-week undermines any sense of success or failure. I want to be sucked in, worried about what's happening and panicked, hoping the doctor can fix it. But when I know everything will be resolved with thirty seconds of technobabble, or not, according to the needs of the plot, there's no point rooting for him :(
[1] I often have a similar experience listening to authors talk about their intentions with their book, that it can make me go "ah, I see what you were doing and it was really interesting" rather than "how on earth are so many things wrong with this book?" :)
I was glad I did; watching with a thousand other fans does bring out the good aspects[1]. The funny bits were funny and the emotional bits were emotional and the awesome bits were awesome.
However it shared the problem which exasperated me with most of the seasons since it was first brought back, that the general incoherence of the premise-of-the-week undermines any sense of success or failure. I want to be sucked in, worried about what's happening and panicked, hoping the doctor can fix it. But when I know everything will be resolved with thirty seconds of technobabble, or not, according to the needs of the plot, there's no point rooting for him :(
[1] I often have a similar experience listening to authors talk about their intentions with their book, that it can make me go "ah, I see what you were doing and it was really interesting" rather than "how on earth are so many things wrong with this book?" :)
Doctor Who: Time of Angels
Apr. 25th, 2010 02:37 amThis episode was really good. It packed a lot in without feeling rushed, it used time-travel in interesting ways, it felt serious and as if what happened actually mattered, it was genuinely scary at least some of the time, it was fun and several great characters had real chemistry between them, it was funny, it continued developing a great monster from previous episodes, and the plot didn't fall of the rails half way through.
Generally, my only criticisms would be small-ish things that could be improved, and things that could be even better. (I expect more flaws will occur to me later.) But I would note it does repeat a couple of ideas that New Who has used before to good effect: that's a natural thing to do, and works quite well, but they've reached the point where I'm definitely conscious of them.
Generally, my only criticisms would be small-ish things that could be improved, and things that could be even better. (I expect more flaws will occur to me later.) But I would note it does repeat a couple of ideas that New Who has used before to good effect: that's a natural thing to do, and works quite well, but they've reached the point where I'm definitely conscious of them.
Doctor who series finale
Jul. 12th, 2008 05:11 pmI really enjoyed the finale. I didn't think it was as good as the first half of the two-parter, but still very good. (As someone said, it can be easier to set up something insanely dramatic than to live up to it.) In fact, I looking back, I see every episode of season #4 was good (I think the weakest was the first, although in retrospect, I'm not sure, it was a bit flat, but it also had quite a few classic moments), as was every episode of season #1.
( spoilers )
( spoilers )
Doctor Who: the Stolen Earth
Jul. 4th, 2008 10:52 pmGeneral comments
I thought it was really, really good. It did a good job of tying together everything, but mostly not being stupid about it: every time some old friend popped up, it didn't feel obligatory, but rather awesome. I'm going to mention several times how much I like Harriet Jones still :)
I now really wish I'd seen it without any spoilers. Everyone I know is ever so good about avoiding them, but I chose to not watch it on Saturday and not worry about it too much, not knowing it was going to be good, so a few things slipped by:
( spoilers[1] )
I thought it was really, really good. It did a good job of tying together everything, but mostly not being stupid about it: every time some old friend popped up, it didn't feel obligatory, but rather awesome. I'm going to mention several times how much I like Harriet Jones still :)
I now really wish I'd seen it without any spoilers. Everyone I know is ever so good about avoiding them, but I chose to not watch it on Saturday and not worry about it too much, not knowing it was going to be good, so a few things slipped by:
( spoilers[1] )
Doctor Who: Silence in the Library
Jun. 2nd, 2008 12:10 amThis episode was very good. It was all of thought provoking, funny and creepy. Even Rilstone was positive about it :) (although my surprise was nothing to what Zero Punctuation had to say about Portal :)).
( Spoilers )
( Spoilers )
Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the wasp
May. 19th, 2008 12:02 pmI really enjoyed this episode. I can't even be bothered to find nitpicks. It was fun and funny -- the best moment was the miming scene.
Wikipedia says the writer bore in mind advice from Douglas Adams, "a danger one runs is that the moment you have anything in the script that's clearly meant to be funny in some way, everybody thinks 'oh well we can do silly voices and silly walks and so on', and I think that's exactly the wrong way to do it", which rang very true to me. It was very funny, but it did try to be serious for the characters, rather than just slapping a laugh track on, which always works best for me.
Nitpicks
The backstory and science were stupid. But there was nothing specific I could be bothered to demolish at length.
Wikipedia says the writer bore in mind advice from Douglas Adams, "a danger one runs is that the moment you have anything in the script that's clearly meant to be funny in some way, everybody thinks 'oh well we can do silly voices and silly walks and so on', and I think that's exactly the wrong way to do it", which rang very true to me. It was very funny, but it did try to be serious for the characters, rather than just slapping a laugh track on, which always works best for me.
Nitpicks
The backstory and science were stupid. But there was nothing specific I could be bothered to demolish at length.
The Doctor's Daughter
May. 12th, 2008 04:56 pmI enjoyed The Doctor's Daughter, though I didn't find it as excellent as the other recent episodes.
( spoilers )
( spoilers )
Good things
I really liked this episode as well. I'll need to rewatch them if I'm to decide if they're real classics, but I've very much enjoyed all the episodes this season, (except parts of the first), and really look forward to the next one.
Notable moments:
( Read more... )
I really liked this episode as well. I'll need to rewatch them if I'm to decide if they're real classics, but I've very much enjoyed all the episodes this season, (except parts of the first), and really look forward to the next one.
Notable moments:
( Read more... )
Would procedures would you follow as UNIT (special alien hunting army task force) to avoid having people get nobbled? If you pretend you might at any moment meet a shape-changer, or a mind-dominating effect, what could you do to try to decrease the single-point-of-failure-ness[1]?
Eg. Passwords and things don't work against telepaths, but do against shape-changers. They have to simple enough to remember under fire, and complex enough that you can't find the right challenge simply by walking up to one guy, seeing what he says, eating his face, and saying that to everyone else.
Eg. You need to be especially careful of top brass with lots of authority.
Eg. If you can manage any surveillance, say guards carrying real-time video uplinks, that's probably good, so you can see when they go offline or meet something dangerous and die without reporting. But you must be careful not to rely on this so much you're in trouble when it's subverted.
[1] Of course, an organised opponent could probably still do something, it might even be a plan for interesting watching, if they first must find a weak spot where people are sloppy, lure someone away to create a single point of failure, and then take over the remainer quickly.
Eg. Passwords and things don't work against telepaths, but do against shape-changers. They have to simple enough to remember under fire, and complex enough that you can't find the right challenge simply by walking up to one guy, seeing what he says, eating his face, and saying that to everyone else.
Eg. You need to be especially careful of top brass with lots of authority.
Eg. If you can manage any surveillance, say guards carrying real-time video uplinks, that's probably good, so you can see when they go offline or meet something dangerous and die without reporting. But you must be careful not to rely on this so much you're in trouble when it's subverted.
[1] Of course, an organised opponent could probably still do something, it might even be a plan for interesting watching, if they first must find a weak spot where people are sloppy, lure someone away to create a single point of failure, and then take over the remainer quickly.