today's been a whoapalooza
So, Doctor Who. LOTS of Doctor Who today; the American premiere and all that (which meant, of course, an all-day marathon and a "let's get the slow Americans on the same page as the rest of us" retrospective special), and "Victory of the Daleks".
"Victory of the Daleks" was entertaining. Not much else, but entertaining. I know a lot of people aren't fans of Mark Gatiss' writing, but...hell, I liked "The Unquiet Dead"! Zombies, Dickens, Gwyneth, the Gelth, Rose and the Doctor really at odds for the first time, Rose trying to help but getting taken down a bit by Gwyneth...the only thing that's really cringeworthy is the whole "fan" exchange between the Doctor and Dickens.
ANYWAY. There wasn't much depth to VotD, that's for sure. It's mostly the Doctor and Churchill talking at each other, with a bit of Laser Space Battles, and Amy hovering around in the background until her Big Save-the-World-with-Empathy moment. I've heard a few comments on the internets about the story being better as a two-parter; I do think there are some things that needed more fleshing out (how about a subplot where Amy can be useful?) but I'm not the the overall plot would support two episodes.
If there is one thing I unequivocally Did Not Like, it was the new multicolored Daleks. It's hard for a mutated creature inside a small tank to be properly fear-inducing if the tank in question is a friendly shade of yellow.
But I was entertained. If nothing else, this episode had the Doctor beating a Dalek with a crowbar and attempting to bluff his way out of trouble with a Jammie Dodger.
And at the end...is Amy the new Charley Pollard? (If she is, do I get a new-series-compliant version of "Zagreus" with Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven? Please oh please oh - actually, it'd be impossible to do, but EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN COME ON.) Actually, my current crack theory is that Amy is indeed intrinsically tied to the cracks in the universe, and the brief shot at the end of "The Eleventh Hour" where Little Amelia is pouting in the garden until she hears the TARDIS, is the Doctor coming back to pick her up, thus opening up a new leg in the Trousers of Time and consigning the rest of S5 to "Never Actually Happened" land.
What? I said it was crack.
Also, I was quite put out that the "Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide" thing aired before the BBCA premiere didn't get into any of the show pre-2005. That's not very ultimate, people.
"Victory of the Daleks" was entertaining. Not much else, but entertaining. I know a lot of people aren't fans of Mark Gatiss' writing, but...hell, I liked "The Unquiet Dead"! Zombies, Dickens, Gwyneth, the Gelth, Rose and the Doctor really at odds for the first time, Rose trying to help but getting taken down a bit by Gwyneth...the only thing that's really cringeworthy is the whole "fan" exchange between the Doctor and Dickens.
ANYWAY. There wasn't much depth to VotD, that's for sure. It's mostly the Doctor and Churchill talking at each other, with a bit of Laser Space Battles, and Amy hovering around in the background until her Big Save-the-World-with-Empathy moment. I've heard a few comments on the internets about the story being better as a two-parter; I do think there are some things that needed more fleshing out (how about a subplot where Amy can be useful?) but I'm not the the overall plot would support two episodes.
If there is one thing I unequivocally Did Not Like, it was the new multicolored Daleks. It's hard for a mutated creature inside a small tank to be properly fear-inducing if the tank in question is a friendly shade of yellow.
But I was entertained. If nothing else, this episode had the Doctor beating a Dalek with a crowbar and attempting to bluff his way out of trouble with a Jammie Dodger.
And at the end...is Amy the new Charley Pollard? (If she is, do I get a new-series-compliant version of "Zagreus" with Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven? Please oh please oh - actually, it'd be impossible to do, but EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN COME ON.) Actually, my current crack theory is that Amy is indeed intrinsically tied to the cracks in the universe, and the brief shot at the end of "The Eleventh Hour" where Little Amelia is pouting in the garden until she hears the TARDIS, is the Doctor coming back to pick her up, thus opening up a new leg in the Trousers of Time and consigning the rest of S5 to "Never Actually Happened" land.
What? I said it was crack.
Also, I was quite put out that the "Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide" thing aired before the BBCA premiere didn't get into any of the show pre-2005. That's not very ultimate, people.