Doctor Who - Beast Below & Victory of the Daleks thoughts...
So then...
(spoilers for both episodes below the cut)
I didn't post my thoughts last week on the Beast Below, mainly because I needed to think about the episode. There were things I really liked about it - I loved the pseudo-Bioshock feel set. I loved the idea of the entire nation on a spaceship (with Scotland saying screw it... clearly they called Scotty and got their own damn ship up earlier). I liked Liz 10. And okay... the whole space whale thing while a bit silly and hokey, yeah, okay. No problems, though. Kids show and all that. Yadda yadda yadda.
BUT - the smilers made no sense, other than to spin around and look angry. Amy's taped message out of nowhere made no sense to me (she made it when, exactly?), and the Doctor's complete nasty SNAP at Amy? Shocked me out of the episode. Really did. I had major problems with the Doctor in this one. Major "what the HELL is going on?!?" problems. Which, had they been explained, then I would have been fine. But no - he just gets to act like an asshole with no reason.
Bottom line - this ep needed work, IMHO. It had potential, but it needed some more editing. I'm not sure where I put it in the rankings of episodes, but it's down near the bottom, due to my visceral reaction to it.
Victory of the Daleks - I haven't watched the Confidential yet, so forgive me if this has been answered - but did they film in the War Rooms? It looked pretty damn close to the real ones (which Erich and I toured when we were in London in 2008). Granted, Erich figures that the BBC probably does have some standard Cabinet War Rooms setpieces/props in stock anyway - so I imagine they could probably put something together pretty easily.
Still - very well done there.
The camo Daleks, complete with utility belt and flag lapel cracked me up. The Skittles "taste the rainbow" variety of new Daleks cracked me up even more. I LOVE the new styling - they look awesome. :)
Spitfires in Space = awesome. I was expecting some Independence Day-esque sacrifice against the Dalek beam. Glad it didn't go in that direction.
As I'm not too familiar with personifications of Churchill, I have no idea how well the actor did - I'll leave that alone. :)
"Hey... Paisley!" Quite.
"Turn that Light Out!" Is that the same guy from Harry Potter? He sure as hell sounded like it.
I liked the story. I'll admit - the Dalek episodes are not my favorites of the new series (with the exception of "Dalek" and "Doomsday"). I tend to dread them, honestly. This one was pretty good. Still not in my favorites, but a good, solid enjoyable episode.
And next week... can. not. wait. I may have to wait until it's dark so I can scare myself silly.
(spoilers for both episodes below the cut)
I didn't post my thoughts last week on the Beast Below, mainly because I needed to think about the episode. There were things I really liked about it - I loved the pseudo-Bioshock feel set. I loved the idea of the entire nation on a spaceship (with Scotland saying screw it... clearly they called Scotty and got their own damn ship up earlier). I liked Liz 10. And okay... the whole space whale thing while a bit silly and hokey, yeah, okay. No problems, though. Kids show and all that. Yadda yadda yadda.
BUT - the smilers made no sense, other than to spin around and look angry. Amy's taped message out of nowhere made no sense to me (she made it when, exactly?), and the Doctor's complete nasty SNAP at Amy? Shocked me out of the episode. Really did. I had major problems with the Doctor in this one. Major "what the HELL is going on?!?" problems. Which, had they been explained, then I would have been fine. But no - he just gets to act like an asshole with no reason.
Bottom line - this ep needed work, IMHO. It had potential, but it needed some more editing. I'm not sure where I put it in the rankings of episodes, but it's down near the bottom, due to my visceral reaction to it.
Victory of the Daleks - I haven't watched the Confidential yet, so forgive me if this has been answered - but did they film in the War Rooms? It looked pretty damn close to the real ones (which Erich and I toured when we were in London in 2008). Granted, Erich figures that the BBC probably does have some standard Cabinet War Rooms setpieces/props in stock anyway - so I imagine they could probably put something together pretty easily.
Still - very well done there.
The camo Daleks, complete with utility belt and flag lapel cracked me up. The Skittles "taste the rainbow" variety of new Daleks cracked me up even more. I LOVE the new styling - they look awesome. :)
Spitfires in Space = awesome. I was expecting some Independence Day-esque sacrifice against the Dalek beam. Glad it didn't go in that direction.
As I'm not too familiar with personifications of Churchill, I have no idea how well the actor did - I'll leave that alone. :)
"Hey... Paisley!" Quite.
"Turn that Light Out!" Is that the same guy from Harry Potter? He sure as hell sounded like it.
I liked the story. I'll admit - the Dalek episodes are not my favorites of the new series (with the exception of "Dalek" and "Doomsday"). I tend to dread them, honestly. This one was pretty good. Still not in my favorites, but a good, solid enjoyable episode.
And next week... can. not. wait. I may have to wait until it's dark so I can scare myself silly.