Doctor Who: 3.8 "Human Nature"
Short review: I am really not sure I liked that one. I definitely didn't like it as much as the rest of fandom did.
Long review:
It's a bit unfair judging this one, I suppose, as the story's only half-done and "Human Nature" isn't a standalone episode by any measure. That said, the first half-hour was excruciatingly dull, Joan Redfern is a crashing bore which makes John Smith's courtship of her extremely tedious, and I got my fill of "let's watch the lead character be a total asshole" by watching Torchwood. Probably the only saving grace was Martha, who continued her trend of being extremely awesome by talking to the TARDIS, becoming a Woman of Action when necessary, and slapping the Doctor.
I suppose my problem with this is twofold: a) "Human Nature" is one of those character studies where the good character is replaced with an assnugget so the production team can go "Look, he might have been this bad! Aren't you glad the Doctor is so smart/enlightened/colorblind/etc??" and b) large plots of the plot exist only because that's the way it was in the book -- which starred an entirely different Doctor and companion who had entirely different motivations so a lot of the logic is gone.
Point A. I suppose I have to reluctantly give the production crew points for acknowledging that casual racism, sexism and classism were part of Edwardian society. That said, it's just no fun spending 45 minutes watching the adventures of "John Smith, Professional Git" [hat tip to platypus]. There's also more than a touch of assholery in the way this plan was conceived. The Doctor had the time to record an extensive list of Things You Need To Know While I'm Human, Martha, but he couldn't make any more consideration for what might happen to her other than "you'll just have to fit in somehow"? Earth's his favorite bloody planet, he knows the score here, which means he should also know that there are precious few time periods where a black woman would comfortably fit in. Two months as a maid in an Edwardian-era boys' school may be best-case scenario. (Also, as ionlylurkhere says in one of nostalgia_lj's reactionposts, "I've also decided that the books and a whole bunch of other unseen adventures come between the end of 42 and the beginning of this one, because otherwise Martha's spent longer as a maid in 1913 than travelling in the TARDIS and that annoys me." Amen.) Imagine if the TARDIS had decided that the best place for the Doctor to hide was in Georgia in 1860. Or 1960.
Which leads to Point B. Why the hell is an Edwardian-era boys' school the best place to hide as a human? The best place to hide is London 2007*. 14 million people in the Home Counties -- that's a lot of sniffing for the Family of Blood to do. Martha goes back to her normal life, Smith lets a flat for three months, everyone's happy. The Seventh Doctor wanted to experience the human condition, and a school's a good place to do that, but the logic got lost in the transition of Doctors. Also, why does the watch have to stay with Smith? He's in no condition to keep an eye on it -- he doesn't even know it's there. Martha's the one who's supposed to keep an eye on it and open it if anything goes wrong, so it needs to stay with her or -- shock! -- in the TARDIS. That way it would be far more resistant to being thieved by klepto slightly-telepathic schoolboys. (To be fair, the book explains that the "Pod" can't be left in the TARDIS because it would screw up the TARDIS's systems. This explanation is missing from the episode as produced, though.)
* all right, technically he can't stay in London 2007 because it's Election Day, meaning Saxon has something nefarious up his sleeve, plus Martha's mum hates him, but he'd do all right in London 2008 or so. It's a big city. He could live in Surrey or somewhere and as long as he stayed away from Acton, everything would be great.
The old school references -- drawings of past Doctors, Smith's parents being named Sydney (Newman) and Verity (Lambert) -- did make me squee a little. But that was pretty much it.
Specs count: NONE. I am unhappy.
Saxon count: None
Next week: The shocking conclusion. Let's hope it can pull the first half out of the crapper.
I want my 45 minutes back.
eta: Oh, and don't get me started on all the bollocks about Rose. Emo drawings of her. Rose's Theme wound through the episode. BOLLOCKS.
Long review:
It's a bit unfair judging this one, I suppose, as the story's only half-done and "Human Nature" isn't a standalone episode by any measure. That said, the first half-hour was excruciatingly dull, Joan Redfern is a crashing bore which makes John Smith's courtship of her extremely tedious, and I got my fill of "let's watch the lead character be a total asshole" by watching Torchwood. Probably the only saving grace was Martha, who continued her trend of being extremely awesome by talking to the TARDIS, becoming a Woman of Action when necessary, and slapping the Doctor.
I suppose my problem with this is twofold: a) "Human Nature" is one of those character studies where the good character is replaced with an assnugget so the production team can go "Look, he might have been this bad! Aren't you glad the Doctor is so smart/enlightened/colorblind/etc??" and b) large plots of the plot exist only because that's the way it was in the book -- which starred an entirely different Doctor and companion who had entirely different motivations so a lot of the logic is gone.
Point A. I suppose I have to reluctantly give the production crew points for acknowledging that casual racism, sexism and classism were part of Edwardian society. That said, it's just no fun spending 45 minutes watching the adventures of "John Smith, Professional Git" [hat tip to platypus]. There's also more than a touch of assholery in the way this plan was conceived. The Doctor had the time to record an extensive list of Things You Need To Know While I'm Human, Martha, but he couldn't make any more consideration for what might happen to her other than "you'll just have to fit in somehow"? Earth's his favorite bloody planet, he knows the score here, which means he should also know that there are precious few time periods where a black woman would comfortably fit in. Two months as a maid in an Edwardian-era boys' school may be best-case scenario. (Also, as ionlylurkhere says in one of nostalgia_lj's reactionposts, "I've also decided that the books and a whole bunch of other unseen adventures come between the end of 42 and the beginning of this one, because otherwise Martha's spent longer as a maid in 1913 than travelling in the TARDIS and that annoys me." Amen.) Imagine if the TARDIS had decided that the best place for the Doctor to hide was in Georgia in 1860. Or 1960.
Which leads to Point B. Why the hell is an Edwardian-era boys' school the best place to hide as a human? The best place to hide is London 2007*. 14 million people in the Home Counties -- that's a lot of sniffing for the Family of Blood to do. Martha goes back to her normal life, Smith lets a flat for three months, everyone's happy. The Seventh Doctor wanted to experience the human condition, and a school's a good place to do that, but the logic got lost in the transition of Doctors. Also, why does the watch have to stay with Smith? He's in no condition to keep an eye on it -- he doesn't even know it's there. Martha's the one who's supposed to keep an eye on it and open it if anything goes wrong, so it needs to stay with her or -- shock! -- in the TARDIS. That way it would be far more resistant to being thieved by klepto slightly-telepathic schoolboys. (To be fair, the book explains that the "Pod" can't be left in the TARDIS because it would screw up the TARDIS's systems. This explanation is missing from the episode as produced, though.)
* all right, technically he can't stay in London 2007 because it's Election Day, meaning Saxon has something nefarious up his sleeve, plus Martha's mum hates him, but he'd do all right in London 2008 or so. It's a big city. He could live in Surrey or somewhere and as long as he stayed away from Acton, everything would be great.
The old school references -- drawings of past Doctors, Smith's parents being named Sydney (Newman) and Verity (Lambert) -- did make me squee a little. But that was pretty much it.
Specs count: NONE. I am unhappy.
Saxon count: None
Next week: The shocking conclusion. Let's hope it can pull the first half out of the crapper.
I want my 45 minutes back.
eta: Oh, and don't get me started on all the bollocks about Rose. Emo drawings of her. Rose's Theme wound through the episode. BOLLOCKS.