Turn Left at Midnight
I've actually managed to be pretty productive this past week. Don't know what's got into me, but it feels rather good.
TV is a vast wasteland at the moment, but notes on the past two episodes of Doctor Who, both of which I thought were better than the last 4 or 5.
"Midnight" is a classic bottle show, and it feels very early 1960s Cold War paranoia - sadly, probably appropriate given the present state of world affairs. It was a combination of The Twilight Zone's "Terror at 20,000 Feet" and the mob mentality of some of The Outer LImits episodes - "The Zanti Misfits" kept coming to mind for some reason, though there's not a lot of narrative parallel, just the external threat.
Lesley Sharp was stunning, but that's not surprising. Donna was awesome in a very small part. Again, not surprising. What is surprising is that David Tennant was actually believable toward the end there. For the first time as the Doctor (and for one of the few times I've ever seen him act), he genuinely seemed to inhabit the part rather than "performing". Ironically, it was during a possession sequence! There's got to be a metaphor of some sort in there - his previous best performance was as John Smith. I hope the Doctor is starting to learn some lessons, because I don't think Ten is redeemable, but perhaps the Doctor can be saved.
"Turn Left" was slower paced than I was expecting, and it gave me time to wonder about the thing that kept bugging me (no pun intended)...
Has Billie Piper always had such buck teeth? They almost seem to be interfering with her ability to speak! This isn't a dig about attractiveness, seriously; it's a worry about dental health and that perhaps she's gotten too thin? BP said in an interview that she didn't know how to play Rose anymore, and I think that she's right. It's not just the accent, it's the mumbling, and the body language was all different as well. So I'm trying to figure out if the differences are because she's "Bad Wolf". I hope so, because frankly, "Rose" was a bitch with Donna.
Best part was Donna's reaction of going into the TARDIS. I loved that. From there to the end, Catherine Tate was glorious - this was, for her, what Dalek was for CE.
The beetle on the other hand was really lame.
I'm trying to decide whether the parallel with "Father's Day" is wonderful or lazy, but I guess it's part of all the "call backs".
I'm still not sure what I think of the episode. It was good, and Catherine Tate scaled new heights of amazing. I do like that they're working the "Bad Wolf" angle, and I liked it a lot better than Utopia, but it's hard to say at this point where it's all going to go!
My best hope is that Donna's "death" is now done and they can stop showering us with anvils. Let her be a heroine, along with Harriet.
TV is a vast wasteland at the moment, but notes on the past two episodes of Doctor Who, both of which I thought were better than the last 4 or 5.
"Midnight" is a classic bottle show, and it feels very early 1960s Cold War paranoia - sadly, probably appropriate given the present state of world affairs. It was a combination of The Twilight Zone's "Terror at 20,000 Feet" and the mob mentality of some of The Outer LImits episodes - "The Zanti Misfits" kept coming to mind for some reason, though there's not a lot of narrative parallel, just the external threat.
Lesley Sharp was stunning, but that's not surprising. Donna was awesome in a very small part. Again, not surprising. What is surprising is that David Tennant was actually believable toward the end there. For the first time as the Doctor (and for one of the few times I've ever seen him act), he genuinely seemed to inhabit the part rather than "performing". Ironically, it was during a possession sequence! There's got to be a metaphor of some sort in there - his previous best performance was as John Smith. I hope the Doctor is starting to learn some lessons, because I don't think Ten is redeemable, but perhaps the Doctor can be saved.
"Turn Left" was slower paced than I was expecting, and it gave me time to wonder about the thing that kept bugging me (no pun intended)...
Has Billie Piper always had such buck teeth? They almost seem to be interfering with her ability to speak! This isn't a dig about attractiveness, seriously; it's a worry about dental health and that perhaps she's gotten too thin? BP said in an interview that she didn't know how to play Rose anymore, and I think that she's right. It's not just the accent, it's the mumbling, and the body language was all different as well. So I'm trying to figure out if the differences are because she's "Bad Wolf". I hope so, because frankly, "Rose" was a bitch with Donna.
Best part was Donna's reaction of going into the TARDIS. I loved that. From there to the end, Catherine Tate was glorious - this was, for her, what Dalek was for CE.
The beetle on the other hand was really lame.
I'm trying to decide whether the parallel with "Father's Day" is wonderful or lazy, but I guess it's part of all the "call backs".
I'm still not sure what I think of the episode. It was good, and Catherine Tate scaled new heights of amazing. I do like that they're working the "Bad Wolf" angle, and I liked it a lot better than Utopia, but it's hard to say at this point where it's all going to go!
My best hope is that Donna's "death" is now done and they can stop showering us with anvils. Let her be a heroine, along with Harriet.