A fascinating episode: some nice interplay, some interesting back references and a nice touch that even the dumbest viewer worked out where the Doctor had seen the villain before, before the Doctor did.
As for Peter Capaldi, he may be fine but following Matt Smith is a tall order. Will he be a Tom Baker following Jon Pertwee (in other words a triumph) or a Peter Davison following Tom Baker (in other words a disappointment). I suppose in a triumph of timey wimeyness, he could be a Matt Smith replacing David Tennant (could we be that lucky again?
But then again, and this might stop me watching the new series, he could be Patrick Troughton replacing William Hartnell (oh God no...)
Time will tell and now to hit the Doctor Who forums... Or shall I wait until after the Bank Holiday weekend?
I finally saw this last night. Capaldi is the Doctor, or will be once he settles into his skin, literally and figuratively. (Is it wrong that I get a Troughton vibe, but in a good way? Maybe it was just a well-played awkwardness experiencing the new body and assimilating the memories and all that. We'll see.) I pretty much figured he would be, but you never can tell with idiot actors and TV writers. I liked what was really the sub-plot of the repair droids, on its own, but OMFG was it the most ham-fisted, clumsy metaphor. How long did it take Moffatt to write this episode? It felt like the lowest form of fan-fiction.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, we then had the lazy non sequitur of the female homosexual kiss. Even RT Davies did that one better. Moffatt obviously tried to look for an excuse to show it in the context of the plot (how many times did we hear, "Oy, we're married"?), but he couldn't be bothered to work it out so just threw in the oxygen sharing. He couldn't think of a kiss before they went into action or something? That would be, you know, normal. It was pretty obvious it was there simply to rub in people's faces rather than the result of a good writer considering character and plot. Typical BBC.
I don't care about the homosexual angle. They make a cute couple, and when it was revealed in a previous episode it didn't really feel like the BBC deliberately infusing an ideology. It may very well have been, but it didn't feel like I was being bludgeoned with it. This was different. I object to being patronized and the assumption that I'm too stupid to notice.
In general, I've really liked what Moffatt's done with the series. Risky occasionally, because it can go horribly awry and stupid, but almost kind of grown-up angles on the concept of the Doctor, which is good for adults watching what is ultimately a children's show. Perhaps it helped having a young-looking, but angular Doctor dealing with repercussions of being centuries old. But this was lazy and insulting on more than one level.
PS: Still like Strax, don't care what anyone says.