I have decided that the thing that annoys me the most about doctor who is how strangely past people will react to future things.
Like, if the deal was they were super British and just accepted lasers or robots or whatever that would be fine. But instead they almost always kind of... Just ignore it or pretend they can't see it? Like in this past episode dudes with green lasers shoot up 1913 and the people are concerned about the murder, yes, but not the lasers. They hear them talking about being aliens and also other aliens but they never mention it afterward. It's really weird.
It's like they take it at face value for no reason other than for them to react to it would take up too much time in the narrative or make them do things the narrative doesn't want them to do.
I have decided that the thing that annoys me the most about doctor who is how strangely past people will react to future things.
Like, if the deal was they were super British and just accepted lasers or robots or whatever that would be fine. But instead they almost always kind of... Just ignore it or pretend they can't see it? Like in this past episode dudes with green lasers shoot up 1913 and the people are concerned about the murder, yes, but not the lasers. They hear them talking about being aliens and also other aliens but they never mention it afterward. It's really weird.
It's like they take it at face value for no reason other than for them to react to it would take up too much time in the narrative or make them do things the narrative doesn't want them to do.
It's a commonly held belief among absurdist science fiction/fantasy that the average person is only willing to acknowledge the things they believe to be impossible. They'll object strongly if something is merely improbable that it couldn't be possible, but in the face of the truly impossible, they just sort of shut down the part of their brain that questions things. Frankly, it's the only way absurdist fiction can work--if the background characters are as willing as the reader to suspend disbelief.
I actually loved her in it, I just think the episode had been built up way too much for me.
I still think it's a good episode I just don't think it's THE GREATEST HOUR OF WHO OF ALL TIME like everyone seemed to say about it.
Midnight was better.
oh then ok. I didn't think it was the best episode, I just really liked it. I already knew about the weeping angels and their whole deal, I just really liked how well they executed the jump cuts. I still don't really know how they did the ones where the person in the foreground covers up a statue and then they'll move and the statue will have moved without a cut.
Blink was a much bigger deal at the time because we'd only had small doses of Moffat. Now that everyone's a bit used to his writing style it doesn't jump out and grab you as much upon rewatching. Human Nature remains balls-out awesome though.
Yeah it's weird to look back on early Moffat episodes now that he's such a huge and not always great voice on the show (and certain others...)
but I remember being as pumped as humanly possible when i found out he was getting the reins from davies, and it was because he was writing disparate stuff that seemed pretty unique in the context of the show, and accomplished the unlikely task of actually making a doctor who monster kind of scary
So at the conclusion of season three I have decided that I don't really understand who Doctor Who is supposed to be. Like, they make this huge deal about even though this incarnation will kill people (like he does in the first episode), he's also rigidly pacifistic and goes out of his way to not hurt people and gets mad when people do hurt people.
But then as a direct consequence of his actions people almost always die. And the show never really seems to take him to task for that? In the John Smith episodes that's mentioned at the end but the character himself never really does anything about it or seems to realize the problem. And that was all so that he wouldn't need to deal with some evil, murdering aliens.
It just seems like this show asks big questions or half-realizes the extent to which its protagonist is basically a huge selfish jerk, but never really knows how to address it or to have the character talk about it at all. People rarely have extended conversations about anything important without being interrupted or giving non-answers. The closest they got was in the first season, where Rose goes off with the doctor and her family is like "hey this is a bad idea," and pretty soon after that she realizes "oh no this was a terrible idea." And instead of being wet blankets for the adventure, the family is proved right to a certain extent.
And I mean I feel like part of this is a cultural divide, because I think in an American show, this would probably have gone the other direction and addressed it too much or made too much of the drama. But it feels (to me) a very british thing to just have that stuff be left unsaid between characters. That can be pretty frustrating as a viewer, and I've noticed it in other British shows.
By the way I've just started watching Shada. They've got Tom Baker doing links for the unrecorded material. Right at the start of the first episode there's a shot where a grey-haired Baker wanders into the set and says "Oh, this is a museum! Do you know, I've always felt at home in museums!" and I was like whoooooooahhh.
Something else I've been meaning to comment on for a while: this magazine cover has got to be the worst DW-related image I've ever seen.
The editor of the magazine had a picture of himself badly photoshopped on to a promotional photo for "Asylum of the Daleks" so that it looks like he's romantically cradling Amy's unconscious body.
Something else I've been meaning to comment on for a while: this magazine cover has got to be the worst DW-related image I've ever seen.
The editor of the magazine had a picture of himself badly photoshopped on to a promotional photo for "Asylum of the Daleks" so that it looks like he's romantically cradling Amy's unconscious body.
Ummm Butler I didn't give you permission to post my picture.
I actually loved her in it, I just think the episode had been built up way too much for me.
I still think it's a good episode I just don't think it's THE GREATEST HOUR OF WHO OF ALL TIME like everyone seemed to say about it.
Midnight was better.
oh then ok. I didn't think it was the best episode, I just really liked it. I already knew about the weeping angels and their whole deal, I just really liked how well they executed the jump cuts. I still don't really know how they did the ones where the person in the foreground covers up a statue and then they'll move and the statue will have moved without a cut.
I feel like the only person who didn't like Midnight very much. It was a cool concept, but RTD's love of extremely unlikeable side characters was grating when we're trapped in the room with them shouting the entire episode, and the Doctor was uncharacteristically inarticulate. I guess he didn't want to freak them out even more, but is "I'm clever" seriously the best reason you can come up with for why we should listen to you?
And I mean I feel like part of this is a cultural divide, because I think in an American show, this would probably have gone the other direction and addressed it too much or made too much of the drama. But it feels (to me) a very british thing to just have that stuff be left unsaid between characters. That can be pretty frustrating as a viewer, and I've noticed it in other British shows.
I get what you're saying, but I've always interpreted the show as being from the perspective of the Doctor, and he is not an entirely reliable narrator. He doesn't get called out on his hypocrisy very often because he has had a very long time to practice avoiding conversations he doesn't want to have and things he doesn't want to think about. I think it's more clear in S4 with the massive ego trips he has and the dialogue with Davros. He says that he wants to live life to the fullest, and that's true, but the real reason he's still running after 2000 years is that you can't run away from yourself.
Doctor Who is an extremely inconsistent show about an extremely inconsistent character featuring extremely inconsistent villains and running on extremely inconsistent internal logic. At a certain point you just have to give your body up to it. You can't, for instance, try and find a through line between William Hartnell's Doctor and David Tenant's, because there isn't one. They different characters called the same thing. This show doesn't make sense, it will never make sense, it never really has made sense. If you try and twist your mind in such a way that it makes sense you'll go nuts, you just have to say "oh ok we're doing that now rightio".
By the way I've just started watching Shada. They've got Tom Baker doing links for the unrecorded material. Right at the start of the first episode there's a shot where a grey-haired Baker wanders into the set and says "Oh, this is a museum! Do you know, I've always felt at home in museums!" and I was like whoooooooahhh.
The Curator has been around for a long time.
As soon as he turned up in the 50th, I was so excited. The VHS version of Shada suddenly fits into canon!
But then no one knew what I was talking about and no one got excited with me.
So at the conclusion of season three I have decided that I don't really understand who Doctor Who is supposed to be. Like, they make this huge deal about even though this incarnation will kill people (like he does in the first episode), he's also rigidly pacifistic and goes out of his way to not hurt people and gets mad when people do hurt people.
But then as a direct consequence of his actions people almost always die. And the show never really seems to take him to task for that? In the John Smith episodes that's mentioned at the end but the character himself never really does anything about it or seems to realize the problem. And that was all so that he wouldn't need to deal with some evil, murdering aliens.
It just seems like this show asks big questions or half-realizes the extent to which its protagonist is basically a huge selfish jerk, but never really knows how to address it or to have the character talk about it at all. People rarely have extended conversations about anything important without being interrupted or giving non-answers. The closest they got was in the first season, where Rose goes off with the doctor and her family is like "hey this is a bad idea," and pretty soon after that she realizes "oh no this was a terrible idea." And instead of being wet blankets for the adventure, the family is proved right to a certain extent.
I think the mental gymnastics where Who says one thing but acts another is a big part of the character.
He'd like to think by now he's a role model, someone to look up to as a beacon of hope. So he presents that alot in his confidence and desire for non-violent solutions. Regardless there's still plenty of times to remind us that the Doctor is actually a terrifying character who can't always get it right.
I love Gatiss' writing but we are now six for six on episodes written by white dudes. Here's hoping there's a bit more diversity in the writers for the seven episodes yet to be accounted for.
Seven for seven now. Gareth Roberts (The Lodger, Closing Time) has been confirmed as the writer for episode 6. He is awesome though.
Posts
actually my train of thought is
hey it's the kid from love actually
also its jojen reed
Like, if the deal was they were super British and just accepted lasers or robots or whatever that would be fine. But instead they almost always kind of... Just ignore it or pretend they can't see it? Like in this past episode dudes with green lasers shoot up 1913 and the people are concerned about the murder, yes, but not the lasers. They hear them talking about being aliens and also other aliens but they never mention it afterward. It's really weird.
It's like they take it at face value for no reason other than for them to react to it would take up too much time in the narrative or make them do things the narrative doesn't want them to do.
It's a commonly held belief among absurdist science fiction/fantasy that the average person is only willing to acknowledge the things they believe to be impossible. They'll object strongly if something is merely improbable that it couldn't be possible, but in the face of the truly impossible, they just sort of shut down the part of their brain that questions things. Frankly, it's the only way absurdist fiction can work--if the background characters are as willing as the reader to suspend disbelief.
In the space of a single week we've lost Kate O'Mara (The Rani) and director Derek Martinus (The Tenth Planet, Spearhead From Space among others).
She wanted to come back, too!
It's on the internet so it must be true!
you're overrated
I still think it's a good episode I just don't think it's THE GREATEST HOUR OF WHO OF ALL TIME like everyone seemed to say about it.
Midnight was better.
oh then ok. I didn't think it was the best episode, I just really liked it. I already knew about the weeping angels and their whole deal, I just really liked how well they executed the jump cuts. I still don't really know how they did the ones where the person in the foreground covers up a statue and then they'll move and the statue will have moved without a cut.
It's actually my favorite episode of Who
but I remember being as pumped as humanly possible when i found out he was getting the reins from davies, and it was because he was writing disparate stuff that seemed pretty unique in the context of the show, and accomplished the unlikely task of actually making a doctor who monster kind of scary
It sort of felt like a test run for Amy's story- the girl who waited and all that.
It's not a fair criticism, but that's the way it felt to me
But then as a direct consequence of his actions people almost always die. And the show never really seems to take him to task for that? In the John Smith episodes that's mentioned at the end but the character himself never really does anything about it or seems to realize the problem. And that was all so that he wouldn't need to deal with some evil, murdering aliens.
It just seems like this show asks big questions or half-realizes the extent to which its protagonist is basically a huge selfish jerk, but never really knows how to address it or to have the character talk about it at all. People rarely have extended conversations about anything important without being interrupted or giving non-answers. The closest they got was in the first season, where Rose goes off with the doctor and her family is like "hey this is a bad idea," and pretty soon after that she realizes "oh no this was a terrible idea." And instead of being wet blankets for the adventure, the family is proved right to a certain extent.
The show doesn't address it as much as it should, but it is brought up as series 4 goes on.
The Waters of Mars, in particular, deals with some of that.
It is also a fantastic episode.
The editor of the magazine had a picture of himself badly photoshopped on to a promotional photo for "Asylum of the Daleks" so that it looks like he's romantically cradling Amy's unconscious body.
I feel like the only person who didn't like Midnight very much. It was a cool concept, but RTD's love of extremely unlikeable side characters was grating when we're trapped in the room with them shouting the entire episode, and the Doctor was uncharacteristically inarticulate. I guess he didn't want to freak them out even more, but is "I'm clever" seriously the best reason you can come up with for why we should listen to you? I get what you're saying, but I've always interpreted the show as being from the perspective of the Doctor, and he is not an entirely reliable narrator. He doesn't get called out on his hypocrisy very often because he has had a very long time to practice avoiding conversations he doesn't want to have and things he doesn't want to think about. I think it's more clear in S4 with the massive ego trips he has and the dialogue with Davros. He says that he wants to live life to the fullest, and that's true, but the real reason he's still running after 2000 years is that you can't run away from yourself.
The Curator has been around for a long time.
As soon as he turned up in the 50th, I was so excited. The VHS version of Shada suddenly fits into canon!
But then no one knew what I was talking about and no one got excited with me.
This is not the sort of thing I could honestly find surprising.
Cool, I guess? Until now he wasn't on my radar to be honest.
I think the mental gymnastics where Who says one thing but acts another is a big part of the character.
He'd like to think by now he's a role model, someone to look up to as a beacon of hope. So he presents that alot in his confidence and desire for non-violent solutions. Regardless there's still plenty of times to remind us that the Doctor is actually a terrifying character who can't always get it right.
Seven for seven now. Gareth Roberts (The Lodger, Closing Time) has been confirmed as the writer for episode 6. He is awesome though.