carmen_lj | Doctor Who: 42 (Reply)

Well, it looked very shiny, but should have been a fair bit better than what it actually was. Course, the shallow stuff kept me happy, and that third plot-strand causes great squee, yes.

I am quite happy Martha is getting TARDIS kit now. Well done her. And new clothes! Also well done there.
It's nice of them to be clearly going with a consistent human future (the two New Earth stories, now this one's a companion piece to IP/SP) given how appallingly yarg old Who was at that. It's like they grabbed Terminus, took out the the camp bits, sorted out the lighting, and threw a lot of money at it. It's Alien-lite and it works terribly well, yes. (In facts, some of Terminus's sets were bought off those film dudes; originally they were Alien movie sets.)
The problem here is that in plot-beats it's a little too close to IP/SP without giving us anything that IP/SP did better. The scary ain't that scary, none of the characters here even touch Ida or Mr Jefferson - I'm not really bothered whether they live or die - granted, they've a single episode diadvantage, but when there are only three or four moments when I Give A Damn, something has gone the tiniest bit wrong, yes,
The real-time works alright, even if it leaves the plot all flimsy at best.
Skience! This season is very good with the whole The Doctor Is A Skientist, No Really, thing. Well done them. It makes me v happy when he uses his skills like so. I forgive the wankiness of the "dumbing down" comment re recreational maths, cause obv that be a reference to his ex-boyfriend and the Academy.
Speaking of teh ex. OMG! The dudes! The Saxon-croney dudes! THEY MADE ME VERY HAPPY. MAYBE I CANNOT EXPLAIN HOW MUCH I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FINALE, BUT I THINK MAYBE IT MIGHT BREAK ME QUITE A LOT.
Very glad the Captain, whose name I haven't the foggiest, was Sensible and Didn't Be Stubborn And Stupid. Well done her. I know they were *trying* with her character, but it just didn't work for me. Though I did love her suicide Quite A Bit. Very nice visuals, anyways.
I do love Quick & Constant killing off of guest characters, cause it's very late sixties/mid seventies Who.
And they are Off The Bloody Planet. Well done them. ALWAYS A PLUS.
"I can't lose her." Oh yeah, the Doctor/Martha love is great in this one. The silence and falling away in the escpae pod made me sad and yay and I don't care at its obviousness at all.
Babs/Ian great, man! That ending is very similar to the end of the The Daleks - Babs clearly interested in Ian but she's established an emotional bond with one of the guest dudes.
THE DOCTOR/MARTHA HUG AND HAPPINESS WAS FABULOUS AND GREAT AND MADE ME HAPPY AS WOAH. DUDE!
But, oh dear me, for the love of non-hammy acting WOULD THEY PLEASE NEVER EVER GIVE TENNANT TEN MINUTES OF SCRIPT EVER EVER AGAIN WHERE HE IS REQUIRED TO DO NOTHING BUT GURN. OH MY GOD.
We're talking Pertwee-on-crack levels of gurn here.
Really bad gurning.
I'll get over it IN A FEW YEARS TIME.
"I'm scared. I'm so scared," was the one bit I was okay with. Because seeing the Doctor that vulnerable is a rare and beautiful thing a bit. And at one point he was trying to tell her about regeneration, which was nice of him.
Really it be serving the arrogant git right though, given he was wanting to stare the thing in the eye earlier. YOU HAVE YOUR WISH DOCTOR.
"Burn with me, Martha" hopefully going to soon enter the ranks of cliche lines in fic hopefully pr0n, yes?
He's having a bit of an NA go at humanity. "Grab whatever's nearest and squeeze it dry." Yes, we are dreadfuls. STOP LANDING ON OUR PLANET THEN.
Is that sun alive, is it? Please, Doctor, tell us again. One more time. ARE WE MEANT TO BE SURPRISED? IS THAT WHY YOU KEEP TELLING US? Oh, dudes, it's a bad Star Trek plot revelation. I'm talking season two, Next Gen bad.
It's nice Martha's got that faith and love in the Doctor, and that dude (again, no idea about names, I assume they didn't bother mentioning them ever) has that faith in her. It ain't subtle, but I do like it lots.
Also assuming all the Doctor's strange emo is a bit of set-up for next week (which looks a bit fabulous.) Ten a bit judgy at getting possessed. Tut.