Doctor Who.
I can't be bothered to talk about anything else really.
A word of warning: Some people love this, some people hate it. I'm in middle camp so chances are I will say something you disagree with if you watched it.
I really tried not to expect much for The Runaway Bride. Granted, I spent most of the day waiting for it but that's because Christmas TV tends to be a bit rubbish and I've always loved Doctor Who so of course I was going to be "excited". However, I still tried not to get my hopes up for something serious because:
1. It's a Christmas special.
2. It's Doctor Who - since when has the programme in all its history ever been deadly serious all the time?
3. It was written by Russell T Davies and his episodes tend to be a bit weak.
4. It's post-Rose Tyler so I was anticipating a lot of vomit-inducing angst.
5. As much as I love David Tennant, his behaviour as The Doctor sometimes flits all over the place enough to annoy even one of his admirers!
First I will deal with #5. I am always a little frightened to post praise for Tennant in doctorwho because it seems that there's a stereotype that if you like David's Doctor, you must fancy him...therefore you only watch Doctor Who because he's in it and your enjoyment is based solely on the presence of shots of his backside [there was one in The Runaway Bride in case you were wondering].
It's the same situation with my love for a certain band. I always have to scream: I actually do like their music you know! I just wouldn't kick a certain member out of my bed! With new Who, I always feel the need to clarify that I've been into Who a couple of years before the time Tennant was dressing in drag for an episode of Rab C Nesbitt and that I was a fan of Tennant for his acting before he was The Doctor anyway. It's just a pleasant bonus that he's attractive.
Anyway, I'm digressing. I thought David Tennant gave one of his better performances. Having seen him in a few other things, I sometimes lamented that he went into "plastic" mode a bit in his first series and only had two volume settings: quiet or loud. Then he'd come along and do something amazing like the confrontation with Anthony Head and I'd be thinking "there's the David Tennant I know!" - which would then be ruined by an "I'M NOT LISTENING!!!!" [The Idiot's Lantern] moment. In The Runaway Bride he toned it down. There were still some silly bits and some shouty bits...but he even made the "Oh Rose I miss you" moments watchable.
I think another plus for Tennant was that he worked better with a "companion" [I don't really class Donna as a companion, it's only one episode] who totally conflicts with his character. Catherine Tate wasn't as annoying as I was expecting. Sure, I hated the fact that her character was made out to be really thick and common but I liked how she wouldn't take any shit from The Doctor and challenged him. I think David's Doctor seemed better getting worked up and frustrated by Donna than when he was mooning over perfect MarySue!Rose.
I have very little to say about Lance. He makes me want to hate the episode. As far as I am concerned he was just a crap character serving little purpose but to be a plot device. His "relationship" with the Empress could be seen a mile off. I also detest the rather weak idea that plying someone with dangerous particles makes them some sort of super!key that can unlock magical molten cores of the planet Earth.
I don't like the scene where The Doctor takes Donna back to the formation of Earth and they see the spider ship form itself into the Earth's core. My Earth science is a little rusty but: How would anything survive down there anyway? Isn't it thousands and thousands of degrees in temperature? I know you shouldn't really ask questions with Who because it's Sci-Fi but sometimes I like things to be more realistic. When Donna opened the TARDIS doors into space, I exclaimed "HOW are they breathing?" before The Doctor explained it...but the explanation didn't satisfy me. I can't recall a Classic Series episode where such a thing was attempted, and I'm pretty sure it probably meant you'd die anyway. It's been ages since I went on a hardcore Classic Series binge so maybe I'm wrong.
As for Sarah Paris...I think "ham" just about sums it up. Aesthetically, she was quite acceptable. One of the things new Who has over the old is that they can obviously make monsters look more realistic. However, sometimes that is not the case [I think the Slitheen are terrible] - but the people who design these things managed alright with a giant spider. Obviously it's Christmas and they needed the villain to be a little hammy but I think it went a bit too far. It annoyed me that all she did was scream "MY CHIIIILDREN!!!" over and over when The Doctor initiated his arse-kicking. DO SOMETHING THEN? Stop whinging about it! Attack the man who caused it!
Do not get me started on how crap it is that "she used up all her energy" therefore can easily be killed. It's right up there with Padme "losing the will to live" in Star Wars as far as crap deaths for the sake of killing a character to further the plot are concerned. Also, the little girl who just stood there screaming while a deadly death ray approached her, whathefuck? Now, I know that I was obviously quite a "clever" little girl so maybe that's why I would know to RUN THE FUCK AWAY when something deadly is coming towards me...but I always thought flight or fight was an instinct, and that ANYONE regardless of intellect or AGE would just run!
The Doctor finally mentioned his homeworld by name. It made the old fan in me happy but it doesn't mean I'm going to think the episode was amazing just because of one little word. Still, it was nice that it hasn't been forgotten.
Also...the Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque CLAAAAAANG!BASH!!!!!THUNK! when Donna smacked into the wall was really irritating.
It also dragged so badly in the middle and at the end. I actually kept thinking I was BORED. I don't like it when Doctor Who bores me! I think an hour was probably too long for this one. That or they rushed all the bits that needed more time and filled endless minutes with things that could've been dealt with in a matter of seconds.
Anyway! I said I didn't totally hate it and now I'm in danger of listing all its faults! It did have some good points but I'm getting tired [I'm still drinking] so I'll just number them.
1. I mostly enjoyed it for what it was. A silly Christmas episode. I tried to ignore all the bits that annoyed me.
2. David Tennant seems to be settling down and has the potential to be a better Doctor rather than a hated one.
3. Emo!Doctor didn't dominate the screen. There were too many references to Rose for my liking but at least they weren't layed on too thickly.
4. The TARDIS car chase wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, still...I hope they don't do it again.
5. There were some funny one-liners and I don't think any of them contained a sexual innuendo or inferred sexual ambiguity. For a change.
6. Series 3 of new Who looks interesting from the trailer.
7. Donna turned The Doctor down and gave very good reasons. It was a breath of fresh air after Rose and her "he can do no wrong" attitude. Like so many other characters in series 1 and 2, someone was pointing out to The Doctor that his lifestyle choice isn't always the best. By "turned him down" I mean she refused to travel with him by the way.
I should really go to bed. I'm going to a rugby league friendly in the morning with my dad. I'm not tired, I was awake until 4am last night.
A word of warning: Some people love this, some people hate it. I'm in middle camp so chances are I will say something you disagree with if you watched it.
I really tried not to expect much for The Runaway Bride. Granted, I spent most of the day waiting for it but that's because Christmas TV tends to be a bit rubbish and I've always loved Doctor Who so of course I was going to be "excited". However, I still tried not to get my hopes up for something serious because:
1. It's a Christmas special.
2. It's Doctor Who - since when has the programme in all its history ever been deadly serious all the time?
3. It was written by Russell T Davies and his episodes tend to be a bit weak.
4. It's post-Rose Tyler so I was anticipating a lot of vomit-inducing angst.
5. As much as I love David Tennant, his behaviour as The Doctor sometimes flits all over the place enough to annoy even one of his admirers!
First I will deal with #5. I am always a little frightened to post praise for Tennant in doctorwho because it seems that there's a stereotype that if you like David's Doctor, you must fancy him...therefore you only watch Doctor Who because he's in it and your enjoyment is based solely on the presence of shots of his backside [there was one in The Runaway Bride in case you were wondering].
It's the same situation with my love for a certain band. I always have to scream: I actually do like their music you know! I just wouldn't kick a certain member out of my bed! With new Who, I always feel the need to clarify that I've been into Who a couple of years before the time Tennant was dressing in drag for an episode of Rab C Nesbitt and that I was a fan of Tennant for his acting before he was The Doctor anyway. It's just a pleasant bonus that he's attractive.
Anyway, I'm digressing. I thought David Tennant gave one of his better performances. Having seen him in a few other things, I sometimes lamented that he went into "plastic" mode a bit in his first series and only had two volume settings: quiet or loud. Then he'd come along and do something amazing like the confrontation with Anthony Head and I'd be thinking "there's the David Tennant I know!" - which would then be ruined by an "I'M NOT LISTENING!!!!" [The Idiot's Lantern] moment. In The Runaway Bride he toned it down. There were still some silly bits and some shouty bits...but he even made the "Oh Rose I miss you" moments watchable.
I think another plus for Tennant was that he worked better with a "companion" [I don't really class Donna as a companion, it's only one episode] who totally conflicts with his character. Catherine Tate wasn't as annoying as I was expecting. Sure, I hated the fact that her character was made out to be really thick and common but I liked how she wouldn't take any shit from The Doctor and challenged him. I think David's Doctor seemed better getting worked up and frustrated by Donna than when he was mooning over perfect MarySue!Rose.
I have very little to say about Lance. He makes me want to hate the episode. As far as I am concerned he was just a crap character serving little purpose but to be a plot device. His "relationship" with the Empress could be seen a mile off. I also detest the rather weak idea that plying someone with dangerous particles makes them some sort of super!key that can unlock magical molten cores of the planet Earth.
I don't like the scene where The Doctor takes Donna back to the formation of Earth and they see the spider ship form itself into the Earth's core. My Earth science is a little rusty but: How would anything survive down there anyway? Isn't it thousands and thousands of degrees in temperature? I know you shouldn't really ask questions with Who because it's Sci-Fi but sometimes I like things to be more realistic. When Donna opened the TARDIS doors into space, I exclaimed "HOW are they breathing?" before The Doctor explained it...but the explanation didn't satisfy me. I can't recall a Classic Series episode where such a thing was attempted, and I'm pretty sure it probably meant you'd die anyway. It's been ages since I went on a hardcore Classic Series binge so maybe I'm wrong.
As for Sarah Paris...I think "ham" just about sums it up. Aesthetically, she was quite acceptable. One of the things new Who has over the old is that they can obviously make monsters look more realistic. However, sometimes that is not the case [I think the Slitheen are terrible] - but the people who design these things managed alright with a giant spider. Obviously it's Christmas and they needed the villain to be a little hammy but I think it went a bit too far. It annoyed me that all she did was scream "MY CHIIIILDREN!!!" over and over when The Doctor initiated his arse-kicking. DO SOMETHING THEN? Stop whinging about it! Attack the man who caused it!
Do not get me started on how crap it is that "she used up all her energy" therefore can easily be killed. It's right up there with Padme "losing the will to live" in Star Wars as far as crap deaths for the sake of killing a character to further the plot are concerned. Also, the little girl who just stood there screaming while a deadly death ray approached her, whathefuck? Now, I know that I was obviously quite a "clever" little girl so maybe that's why I would know to RUN THE FUCK AWAY when something deadly is coming towards me...but I always thought flight or fight was an instinct, and that ANYONE regardless of intellect or AGE would just run!
The Doctor finally mentioned his homeworld by name. It made the old fan in me happy but it doesn't mean I'm going to think the episode was amazing just because of one little word. Still, it was nice that it hasn't been forgotten.
Also...the Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque CLAAAAAANG!BASH!!!!!THUNK! when Donna smacked into the wall was really irritating.
It also dragged so badly in the middle and at the end. I actually kept thinking I was BORED. I don't like it when Doctor Who bores me! I think an hour was probably too long for this one. That or they rushed all the bits that needed more time and filled endless minutes with things that could've been dealt with in a matter of seconds.
Anyway! I said I didn't totally hate it and now I'm in danger of listing all its faults! It did have some good points but I'm getting tired [I'm still drinking] so I'll just number them.
1. I mostly enjoyed it for what it was. A silly Christmas episode. I tried to ignore all the bits that annoyed me.
2. David Tennant seems to be settling down and has the potential to be a better Doctor rather than a hated one.
3. Emo!Doctor didn't dominate the screen. There were too many references to Rose for my liking but at least they weren't layed on too thickly.
4. The TARDIS car chase wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, still...I hope they don't do it again.
5. There were some funny one-liners and I don't think any of them contained a sexual innuendo or inferred sexual ambiguity. For a change.
6. Series 3 of new Who looks interesting from the trailer.
7. Donna turned The Doctor down and gave very good reasons. It was a breath of fresh air after Rose and her "he can do no wrong" attitude. Like so many other characters in series 1 and 2, someone was pointing out to The Doctor that his lifestyle choice isn't always the best. By "turned him down" I mean she refused to travel with him by the way.
I should really go to bed. I'm going to a rugby league friendly in the morning with my dad. I'm not tired, I was awake until 4am last night.