tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49550228744047754042024-02-06T19:47:29.787-07:00Gallifrey ExileWhere The Eye of Harmony Burns On...Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.comBlogger206125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-85266185611033888462021-12-11T20:36:00.005-07:002021-12-11T20:36:33.669-07:00Doctor Who Story Number 032: The Underwater Menace <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IlcMRwfslo-Mp_34wGuNXY1Oi5GM1alwk605gVNj18o7LekUWli1ogqfoueJuuBSwgsz5RpKXTEU2Dn5mvhTdzf3MQT-mfSGA-dybs8jB0XA5VrM-L1QfyTXm0_bdu7BBlgjyKN2wo4y/s606/Underwater+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="428" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IlcMRwfslo-Mp_34wGuNXY1Oi5GM1alwk605gVNj18o7LekUWli1ogqfoueJuuBSwgsz5RpKXTEU2Dn5mvhTdzf3MQT-mfSGA-dybs8jB0XA5VrM-L1QfyTXm0_bdu7BBlgjyKN2wo4y/s320/Underwater+1.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 032: </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE UNDERWATER MENACE</span></b></p><p>Author's Note: I had previously <a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2011/11/still-waters.html">reviewed <i>The Underwater Menace</i></a> when only one episode was known to exist. After a second episode was rediscovered in 2011 the story was rereleased with photographic stills filling in the still-missing Episodes 1 and 4. This review will replace the original.</p><p><i>The Underwater Menace</i> is a good idea for a Doctor Who story. We have a new Companion in Highlander Jamie McCrimmon and the rich setting of Atlantis. As such, the question is "What went wrong?" as <i>The Underwater Menace</i> is a muddled slog despite some good efforts.</p><p>The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) along with his Companions Ben (Michael Craze), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Jaime (Frazer Hines) find themselves in the city of Atlantis. As the Atlanteans begin preparing to rise from the ocean's depths, there is danger afoot. That danger comes from the crazed mad scientist Zaroff (Joseph First). He has promised to raise the continent to the surface, but to do that he has to destroy the Earth itself.</p><p>Polly is forever trying not to be turned into a Fish Person, another product of Zaroff's who serve as de facto slaves. They are needed to harvest the food as Zaroff has never found a proper preservation method, so the Atlanteans food spoils quickly and requires quick harvesting. Jaime and Ben, meanwhile, have to work in the mines but plan to escape along fellow lost travelers Sean (P.G. Stevens) and Jacko (Paul Anil).</p><p>It is up to the Doctor and his Companions to stop the crazed Zaroff from destroying the world and Atlantis, with help from Ramo (Tom Watson), a temple priest who believes their story. Will the Doctor manage to save them all?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic13vFq7FFFAcTCv9VoVxgazAhtBTxU-Aq676BzigO3S_hnCO-fX9szz5cSHw24MrI0e7i4U1JdZ2Jnq8OFTmLjKXUsaggwPMKw9iWy0qZNb5KL-AZgVua2Ely9zSy_XwO4DavxidJwKeO/s1280/Underwater+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic13vFq7FFFAcTCv9VoVxgazAhtBTxU-Aq676BzigO3S_hnCO-fX9szz5cSHw24MrI0e7i4U1JdZ2Jnq8OFTmLjKXUsaggwPMKw9iWy0qZNb5KL-AZgVua2Ely9zSy_XwO4DavxidJwKeO/s320/Underwater+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Given that half of <i>The Underwater Menace</i> is currently lost, perhaps we can cut it some slack. The fact that the BBC as a cost-cutting measure opted to have still pictures versus animated reconstructions also dampen the overall feel of the story. However, the lack of footage (and poor way the BBC went about reconstructing the story) are easy ways to excuse how bad <i>The Underwater Menace</i> ended up being.</p><p>At the top of <i>The Underwater Menace</i>'s failure is in our villain. Furst's Zaroff does not chew the scenery or even devour the scenery. He demolishes it wholesale in a performance that really fits to the "needs to be seen to be believed" cliche. Coming across like a crazed Paul Lukas his wild overacting is simply astonishing but not in a good way. His intense declaration of <b>"NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN STOP ME NOW!"</b> at the end of Episode Three is so unhinged as to transcend parody. It's a sad element that this is the last known surviving footage in <i>The Underwater Menac</i>e: a crazed, wild-eyed loon screaming at the top of his lungs.</p><p>To be fair, that is how Furst played Zaroff from the get-go. Say what you will about his bonkers mad scientist (and no, that isn't a repetition in terms), Furst goes into the role with unhinged abandon. It isn't until Episode Four where he finally sounds <i><b>slightly</b></i> less insane. If <i>The Underwater Menace</i> is to be believed, Zaroff was perfectly aware that the Earth's surface was going to be destroyed if he was successful.</p><p>He really lived out the REM song <i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)</span></i>. He insists that all scientists really aim to destroy the world, opening up the logic of knowing he was OK was dying to blow it all up. That makes his pleas to be saved at the end of Episode Four all the more bizarre. If he has a death wish that has no explanation other than "because I can", why is he so terrified of dying when the waters come rushing in?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp7XRRkQzB2XS91yA97IPUgPoqVB0oggGZbdWAaXnsFI9Taw2ESnmJObg2_MOmjSEiKcNnD0fEG8Ib9rr5aJ0-vPL6bjQeN3i0n7wgEYw6CbBuRnxiTRx1QjQSgHroPZ9tZmGqDpRUPiCb/s175/Underwater+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="175" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp7XRRkQzB2XS91yA97IPUgPoqVB0oggGZbdWAaXnsFI9Taw2ESnmJObg2_MOmjSEiKcNnD0fEG8Ib9rr5aJ0-vPL6bjQeN3i0n7wgEYw6CbBuRnxiTRx1QjQSgHroPZ9tZmGqDpRUPiCb/s0/Underwater+3.jpg" width="175" /></a></div><p>There's a great deal in <i>The Underwater Menace</i> that either does not make sense or just flounders (no pun intended). Exactly how does The Doctor know it is Zaroff that has made the Atlantean food? Where and what work of Zaroff does the Doctor know? Why is he dressed up like a Gypsy in an Atlantean market? How is there an Atlantean market?</p><p>Add to that what <i>The Underwater Menace</i> did to poor Polly. Forever screaming, she was nearly turned into a Fish Person, abducted, held prisoner and did some more screaming. I think Wills did the best she could but it must have been rather difficult to be relegated and shunted off in such a fashion.</p><p>Again, at least to a degree Polly's shoddy treatment is not writer Geoffrey Orme or director Julia Smith's fault. Hines' character of Jamie was added after <i>The Underwater Menace</i> had already been written, so he was hastily added in. That meant relegating the other Companions a bit to the sidelines. It also meant giving Hines lines that probably would have been spoken by either Wills or Craze. None of the actors are to blame for all this, but the end result is sad and jumbled.</p><p>Troughton, for his part, does appear to come into his own even in the gaudy outfits. He becomes a mix of wizard and schemer, attempting to stop a crazed man while bringing a touch of lightness to things. In Episode Four he says, "I have a plan. It might even work," making the line simultaneously amusing and serious. Troughton does well in this story, balancing the serious and silly very well.</p><p>However, he too could not save a script that had so many wheels spinning. The subplot about the Fish People, the miners and the worshipers of the Atlantean god Almo came and went. Important characters like Atlantean maiden Ara (Catherine Howe) came and went to where you forgot about them until they reappeared.</p><p>It is curious that despite seeing the wires the Fish People sequence is still on the whole fascinating. I give credit to <i>The Underwater Menace</i> for trying for something unique and visually arresting. The sets, especially at Almo's Temple are also quite impressive even if they reminded me of the First Doctor story <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2010/06/que-viva-mexico.html">The Aztecs</a></i>.</p><p>Ultimately though, silly costumes and especially the theatrical acting push <i>The Underwater Menace</i> down. A lot of potential was lost along with Episodes One and Four. <i>The Underwater Menace</i> is a story that simply did not rise above its negatives. </p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">3/10</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Story: <i>The Moonbase</i></span></b></p>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-31535301031866926792020-03-28T17:21:00.002-06:002020-03-28T17:21:50.015-06:00Doctor Who Story 034: The Macra Terror<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>STORY 034: THE MACRA TERROR</b></span></div>
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As of this writing no complete surviving episodes from the Second Doctor story <i>The Macra Terror </i>are known to exist. As such, we have the animated reconstruction of the four-part <i>Doctor Who</i> story and while it is unlikely that <i>The Macra Terror</i> will ever be found, the animated version does show that at heart, <i>Doctor Who</i> had a very inventive premise. <i>The Macra Terror</i> opted not to stick with a "pure" reconstruction to make it look as it would have when first broadcast, but instead opened it up to a more creative adaptation that elevates it.<br />
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The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his Companions Polly (Anneke Wills), Ben (Michael Craze) and Jamie (Frazer Hines) arrive in a seemingly happy and content Colony. The workers are not only happy but are encouraged in their happiness by their Controller, whom they see only via large-screen. Underneath this happy land full of content workers who know The Colony is always right, something sinister lies.<br />
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One of the formerly content, Medok (Terence Lodge) insists that there is an evil thing controlling all: The Macra, a name that is verboten in The Colony. The Doctor is the only one of the strangers to think Medok is not either insane or dangerous. His digging for the truth uncovers a shocking terror under the literal bowels of this world, but Ben has fallen under the Controller's control and turns informant and traitor.<br />
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As the Doctor, Polly and Jamie keep searching for the truth, with only the ruling Pilot (Peter Jeffrey) as a semi-ally, they must both find the truth while stopping the Security Chief Ola (Gertan Klauber) from stopping them. They discover the truth of what lies beneath: the Macra Terror.<br />
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<a href="https://www.thedigitalfix.com/img/6/2019/05/drwhomacrpic4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Doctor Who: The Macra Terror Blu-Ray Review|Teleivision @ The ..." border="0" height="180" src="https://www.thedigitalfix.com/img/6/2019/05/drwhomacrpic4.jpg" width="320" /></a>As we have no surviving episodes and only a few clips from <i>The Macra Terror</i>, it is hard to say how good or bad the performances are given that we have only their voices. However, judging from the voices I would argue that Wills was the weakest, forever whimpering and screaming. I cannot fault Wills alone in all this given that Ian Stuart Black's script gave her nothing to do but whimper and scream.<br />
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Much better were Craze and Hines. Craze unfortunately disappears for long stretches but when he is on screen struggling between his subconsciously-induced loyalty to The Colony and his loyalty to the Doctor and his fellow Companions he makes the most of it. Hines is made the action hero, particularly in Episode Three and Four where he must go in the "forbidden area" to find where the mines go down to. Hines is even allowed a brief moment of humor when he has to break out into an impromptu dance to try and get out of something.<br />
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One can question why in such a serious moment we had our Highlander break out into a jig but there it is.<br />
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Troughton fully owns the part, for his Doctor is a man full of confidence in his own abilities and not afraid of question authority. Despite being the oldest of the cast his character is closest to the feels of the late 1960's, forever making jokes at the leadership's expense. Whether it's answering Polly's inquiry with "Confusion is best left to the experts" or insisting "Bad laws were made to be broken", his Doctor is a rebel.<br />
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As he almost merrily destroys the method the Colony uses to subconsciously control the Colony workers, the Doctor tells everyone within earshot, "Better some damage than the loss of willpower".<br />
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<a href="https://images.thedigitalfix.com/img/6/2019/05/drwhomacraterrormain-1140x641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Doctor Who: The Macra Terror Blu-Ray Review|Teleivision @ The ..." border="0" height="179" src="https://images.thedigitalfix.com/img/6/2019/05/drwhomacraterrormain-1140x641.jpg" width="320" /></a><i>The Macra Terror</i> it appears draws heavily from H.G. Wells' <i>The Time Machine</i> and L. Frank Baum's <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> in its story of monstrous creatures secretly controlling a seemingly pleasant and benevolent society. The giant face of the Controller whom we find is really a broken old man terrorized into submission by the Macra can be seen as a "Wizard of Oz" type figure. The underground Macra essentially feeding off the controlled Colonists are similar if not exact to the Morlocks in Wells' story.<br />
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However, for my mind, The Macra Terror is closer to allegory, or perhaps this is what I got out of it. The benevolent society where "The Colony" and "The Controller" were never questioned, which were seen as the source of all good, where happy music piped in to cheer the joys of working for The Colony seems to be what a state like North Korea or the then-Soviet Union want/wanted their people to think. Like Communist states, the Colony appeared to be a place of joy and bounty when in reality it was a prison.<br />
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Those who spoke the name "Macra" were routinely sent to hospital for "correction" and if that failed, off to the pits. Even after Ben clearly sees the Macra and saves Polly from them, he later insists there was nothing there. This is close to a fascist police state with the veneer of happiness.<br />
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Granted, I may be drawing too much from the story, but it's hard not to imagine that <i>The Macra Terror</i> may not at least work as allegory on the evils of a seemingly idyllic but in reality a totalitarian state.<br />
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In terms of animation <i>The Macra Terror</i> outdoes the live-action surviving footage. For example, in the few surviving clips, Polly's ankle is what is attacked by the Macra. The chance for animation allows for a greater and more intense sequence where Polly is literally hanging upside down from the Macra's claws, screaming for her life. There are visually impressive feats, such as when we see through a clear chalkboard as the Doctor works out his calculations.<br />
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There are probably one or two questions <i>The Macra Terror</i> does not answer. How do these crab-like creatures communicate? How does Ben's mind control ease off so quickly. It almost feels as if the end came about rather quickly. However, all these are minor points.<br />
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I found <i>The Macra Terror</i> quite intelligent and well-animated, with an engaging story that works quite well. Some of the acting was not the best but on the whole there isn't much to be crabby about <i>The Macra Terror</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">9/10</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Story: <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2012/05/facing-loss.html" target="_blank">The Faceless Ones</a></i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-4444070781309322082019-06-13T14:55:00.004-06:002019-06-13T14:55:54.850-06:00The Woman Who Rang In the New Year: Resolution Review<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 287: RESOLUTION</span></b></div>
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This year, <i>Doctor Who</i> opted for a New Year's Day special versus a Christmas Day special. As I understand it, the reason for delaying the special a week was that they'd essentially run out of ideas of how to tie <em>Doctor Who</em> to Christmas.<br />
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I think the first part is correct, for <em>Resolution</em> had nothing to do with New Year's. In fact, it had nothing to do, and not even the return of the Daleks could make it worth anyone's time, sober or hung-over. <br />
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We start and end with voiceover, we begin in the 9th Century where a massive battle has defeated 'a great evil'. It is cut into three pieces and sent to three far corners: Anuta Island in the Pacific, Siberia in the cold, and Yorkshire because...reasons. Unfortunately the Yorkshire pudding fell flat as he is killed before burying the third piece. <br />
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Moving to New Year's Day 2019, archaeologists Lin (Charlotte Richie) and Mitch (Nikesh Patel) are excavating under the Sheffield City Hall when they find the Yorkshire pudding. The seemingly flirtatious couple take the object the bones hold and put it under lights. Said lights revive the third part and manages to summon the other two parts from the South Pacific and Russian tundra to form a whole. <br />
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<a data-cthref="/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt8758636%2Fmediaviewer%2Frm659191296&psig=AOvVaw3NGOOE0RcV-Vp1pNcJOAo1&ust=1560542323552838" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt8758636%2Fmediaviewer%2Frm659191296&psig=AOvVaw3NGOOE0RcV-Vp1pNcJOAo1&ust=1560542323552838" id="irc_mil" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;focus:irc.rl;irc.il;" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Image result for doctor who resolution (2019)" data-iml="1560457617749" height="179" id="irc_mi" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzBlZWQ3ZDItZWUyYy00MjRjLTg2NWUtYzZiNGIxNmQyNzc5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTMxMDY4NzA@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></a>Fortunately The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) along with Her 'fam' Graham (Bradley Walsh), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) are alerted and go there. Unbeknownst to them though, the squid-like creature Lin saw has attached itself to her. Eventually we learn that said creature is a Dalek out of its casing.<br />
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It's a mad race to stop Lin/Dalek from ravaging the Earth. We do have to pause every so often to deal with the domestic situation Ryan and Graham face: that of Ryan's father/Graham's stepson Aaron (Daniel Adegboyega), who has come to reconcile with his son. Eventually the Doctress defeats the newly-encased Dalek, Aaron, saved from getting sucked into a supernova by Ryan declines a hop on the TARDIS, Lin and Mitch can continue their thwarted romance and The Doctress and Her 'fam' can keep on traveling.<br />
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I cannot imagine why <em>Resolution</em> has such <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/doctor_who/51697" target="_blank">high positive reviews</a>. It was worse than bad. It was boring. Chris Chibnall seemed even more determined than usual to double-down on every bad decision he could think of and probably come with a few more to boot.<br />
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In particular is what he has done with The Doctor. She isn't 'wacky' but stupid, perpetually stupid. "Hi, Ryan's Dad", she first states when introduced to Aaron. This is something Matt Smith's Doctor would do, with diminishing results. However, for reasons only Chibnall may know he keeps having Her do that. Why can She not call him 'Aaron' or even 'Mr. Sinclair'. She keeps panicking when hearing a doorbell and keeps asking if it's an alarm.<br />
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Has She never heard a doorbell before? Is She <strong><u><em>that</em></u></strong> inept?<br />
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I cannot take Her seriously when She communicates with a terrorized Lin via a large old-style microphone. Did he or anyone at the <em>Doctor Who</em> production think this was remotely funny?<br />
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<a data-cthref="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwju_NmDpufiAhUPeawKHWx6CTEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Freelreviews.com%2Fdoctor-who-resolution-bluray-review&psig=AOvVaw3NGOOE0RcV-Vp1pNcJOAo1&ust=1560542323552838" data-ved="2ahUKEwju_NmDpufiAhUPeawKHWx6CTEQjRx6BAgBEAU" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwju_NmDpufiAhUPeawKHWx6CTEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Freelreviews.com%2Fdoctor-who-resolution-bluray-review&psig=AOvVaw3NGOOE0RcV-Vp1pNcJOAo1&ust=1560542323552838" id="irc_mil" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;focus:irc.rl;irc.il;" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Image result for doctor who resolution (2019)" data-iml="1560457754963" height="213" id="irc_mi" src="http://reelreviews.com/images/stories/2019/doctor-who-resolution-lg.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></a>Even the parts Chibnall imagined were funny were anything but. There's a brief bit where a family finds their Wi-Fi is cut off. "I suppose we'll have to have a conversation," the mother says despairingly. "WHAT?" the two boys reply. This is really, really dumb and nowhere near as funny as Chibnall thinks it is.<br />
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We even get some good old virtue signaling and political grandstanding that show <em>Doctor Who</em> has gone way off the deep end when it comes to placating the Social Justice Warrior mob it caters to. There's a 'funny' bit where She cannot get in touch with UNIT because of "financial disputes and subsequent funding withdrawal by the UK's major international partners". Why Chibnall decided <em>Resolution</em> was the best place to put in a snide Brexit comment I don't understand.<br />
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In the similar vein, why the Security Guard that Lin is forced to kill offers this strange woman he's never met and whom he should remove from the vicinity that he has a boyfriend is also just sad virtue signaling.<br />
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Over and over, <em>Resolution</em> makes the case that <em>Doctor Who</em> just is tired and deciding to be a more woke show with nothing to offer. Perhaps even that could be accepted if not for how bad things are.<br />
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"These are my serious tech skillz, and yes that is with a zed", The Doctress tells the Dalek. Not only is that an absurdly stupid statement, but is delivered so badly. <br />
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The plot is a mess, more a <em>Venom/The Mummy</em> ripoff than a serious story mixed in with bad domestic drama that stops the action cold. Moreover, who decided to have voiceover? Why sideline Walsh's Graham for much of the episode? Why did the score pound the 'tension' and slip into a bad 007 parody? Why introduce 'The Order of the Custodians', these fabled protectors of the separate monsters that never played a role in <em>Resolution</em>?<br />
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Also, 'Order of the Custodians' sounds like a janitorial union, and the idea that the South Pacific and Siberian custodians did not know what happened to the Sheffield one is laughable.<br />
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Personally, I would have preferred Lin and Mitch to be Companions and dump the boring and useless Ryan and Yaz. At least the other two had semblances of a personality.<br />
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There is a <em>Resolution</em> that I may keep: I resolve to not watch another <em>Doctor Who</em> episode because now it's just boring and pointless.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">1/10</span></strong>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-61747956721674760302019-06-12T10:31:00.002-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.054-06:00The Woman Who Won the Battle But Lost the War: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/kneelbeforeblog/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/09212222/vlcsnap-2018-12-09-21h17m38s534-620x310.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Related image" border="0" height="200" src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/kneelbeforeblog/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/09212222/vlcsnap-2018-12-09-21h17m38s534-620x310.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 286: THE BATTLE OF </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">RANSKOOR AV KOLOS</span></b></div>
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We now limp into the series/season finale of Her first season with <i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i>. You would not be faulted in thinking this was going to be a Greek history lesson given the title. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos is not so much bad as it is boring, with one ghastly decision after another that pretty much dooms it and calls the continuation of this nightmare into question.<br />
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On a mysterious planet, Andinio (Phyllis Logan) is encouraging another of her kind, Delph (Percell Ascott) to create something when a figure starts emerging to them.<br />
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Jump to the TARDIS, where The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) receives a distress signal from the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos. Being who She is, She goes and takes Her 'fam': Graham (Bradley Walsh), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) with Her.<br />
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Ranskoor Av Kolos, we are told, translates to 'Disintegrater of the Soul', which might have been a better title for this episode but I digress.<br />
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Once on the planet, they find Paltraki (Mark Addy), a shell-shocked pilot who was part of a rescue mission. We also see the return of Tzim-Sha (Samuel Oatley), whom we met in <i><a href="https://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-woman-who-fell-to-earth-review.html" target="_blank">The Woman Who Fell to Earth</a></i>. "Tim Shaw", mistaken for a god by a devout Andinio and a more reluctant Delph, wants an object Paltraki has in exchange for his crew: a case containing a circular object.<br />
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The Doctress now has to stop "Tim Shaw" and Graham, who has sworn revenge for the killing of Grace (which is something he's never mentioned until now, but whatever). We also see that "Tim Shaw" is going to try and conquer Earth and that those globes are actually planets.<br />
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As a side note, would this be considered an homage or ripoff of the Fourth Doctor story <i>The Pirate Planet</i>, but whatever.<br />
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The Doctress defeats "Tim Shaw"'s plans, Graham finds he's the better man and he and Ryan merely imprison "Tim Shaw" and free Andinio and Delph of the Ux.<br />
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Again, <i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i> is not so much bad as it boring. There are no stakes to be held, especially with the return of Tzim-Sha.<br />
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I felt it then and feel it now that ridiculing "Tim Shaw" in <i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i> was a terrible mistake. Mocking the villain defangs him/her, makes him/her less a threat and more a joke. For reasons I cannot fathom Chris Chibnall decided to double-down on "Tim Shaw" and bring him back.<br />
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There was no reason to bring him back. You might as well brought back Krasko from <i><a href="https://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-other-woman-who-ended-segregation.html" target="_blank">Rosa</a></i> or Robertson from <i><a href="https://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-woman-who-has-spiders-touch.html" target="_blank">Arachnids in the UK</a></i> back. They were more menacing despite being foolish. You cannot take a villain seriously if he's already been mocked, and She goes out of Her way to continue mocking "Tim Shaw". Not once would we take him seriously.<br />
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Not that we would take Her seriously either. I've given up on Whittaker's take on The Doctor: all 'quirky' and 'wacky' without an ounce of sense to Her. <i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i> showcases why she was all wrong and it has nothing to do with her gender. Whittaker's version of The Doctor goes from 'deadly serious' to fangirl in a switch. One moment She's going to take down "Tim Shaw", then immediately squeal about meeting an Ux.<br />
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How can anyone rally around a character that seems dead-set on being brain-dead?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*gtDSADE8X04RYSg7bkVvSA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the battle of ranskoor av kolos" border="0" height="212" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*gtDSADE8X04RYSg7bkVvSA.jpeg" width="320" /></a>The acting was not strong, though to be fair the actors really did not have much if anything to work with. Guest star Addy I think was miscast as this wounded warrior. He gave it as good a go as possible but his first appearance was nowhere near as tense as he and director Jamie Childs thought. Eventually Paltraki faded in terms of importance to where I forgot he was there.<br />
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Also, the name 'Paltraki' does not shake the idea that Chibnall came up with this episode while dining on souvlaki and chugging far too much ouzo.<br />
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The main cast was also bad, which is a terrible disappointment. I'm used to seeing Gill and Cole be bad. It's always a contest to see which one of them is worse and here Cole is the clear winner, with his Ryan being so blank and monotone as to be comatose. The disappointment was Walsh, who has been the only good thing on <i>Doctor Who</i> this series/season. His efforts to be the wrath of God fell almost hilariously flat. He never convinced me that he had a mad desire for revenge or was consumed by rage.<br />
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Perhaps by this time he was just tired and decided it was not worth the effort to lift the series. Same goes for Segun Akinola's score, which once was subtle and effective but now has gone full-Murray Gold in beating the 'tension' into things. Walsh and Akinola were the polar opposites: one underplaying things, one overdoing things.<br />
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As for Whittaker, her scrunchy face acting and wild hysterics are now rote. Maybe a Female Doctor would have worked. Jodie Whittaker however shows that just because you got a woman in the role does not mean that <i><b><u>any</u></b></i> woman will do.<br />
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<i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i> was boring. I don't think anything actually happened, and unfortunately this episode was not worth being a series/season finale. It wasn't even worth being a regular episode.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>Resolution</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-40986157500172830142019-06-03T12:54:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.020-06:00The Woman Who Had A Frog In Her Throat: It Takes You Away Review<br />
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<a href="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/590x/secondary/Doctor-Who-Norway-1626731.jpg?r=1543776625054" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for it takes you away doctor who" border="0" height="236" src="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/590x/secondary/Doctor-Who-Norway-1626731.jpg?r=1543776625054" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 285: IT TAKES YOU AWAY</span></b></div>
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It's a sad thing when a talking frog is one of the less silly elements of what is meant as a science fiction/fantasy show, but <i>It Takes You Away</i> has such an awful inconsistent tone that one can only marvel at how comically bad it all is.<br />
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The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) and Her 'fam': Graham (Bradley Walsh), his step-grandson Ryan (Tosin Cole) and hanger-on Yaz (Mandip Gill) are in 2018 Norway (She learns this by eating the grass or dirt, I'm not sure which). No sooner can you say 'Jump' before She gets them on a mysterious adventure.<br />
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A rotting old house holds Hanne (Ellie Wallwork), a young blind girl who is afraid of the monsters laying siege. "It takes you away", she cries out. Her father, Erik, moved them to this remote area after his wife Trine's death, but now he has disappeared and Hanne thinks 'they' took him away. Ryan suggests Erik just ran off but the others will help find him.<br />
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There's a mirror that does not offer a reflection, which is really a portal to a parallel world. Here, She discovers with Graham and Yaz an antizone, a place that separates two worlds that should not connect. In the antizone is Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs (Kevin Eldon), an alien who guides them for a price. Ribbons puts them in danger with the Flesh Moths, but they end up eating him before they find Erik (Christian Rubek).<br />
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They also find Trine (Lisa Stokke), apparently very alive and well. Things grow more complicated when Graham finds Grace (Sharon D. Clarke) also in this universe. This however, is not real, and She realizes they are in a Solitract, a consciousness that affects whatever universe it is in.<br />
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As Hanne manages to outwit Ryan, placing them both in danger in the antizone, She realizes this universe will collapse upon itself. It takes courage for Graham and Erik to see their wives are not real, something Hanne realizes immediately as her blindness masks the Solitract's deception. In the end, the Solitract, taking the form of a talking frog, releases the Doctress. Erik, now reunited with Hanne, decides to go back to Oslo and Ryan calls Graham 'Granddad' for the first time ever.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://images1.houstonpress.com/imager/u/blog/11070064/dw-11.9.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for it takes you away doctor who frog" border="0" height="181" src="https://images1.houstonpress.com/imager/u/blog/11070064/dw-11.9.1.jpg" width="400" /></a>Again, Ed Hime's script I figure wants desperately to touch on the issues of grief and lost love, but a talking frog? Yes, I know the connection is Grace, who comments that she likes frogs, but the whole thing looks daft and ridiculous. I was laughing uncontrollably at what is meant to be a very serious, somber, moving moment. Whittaker's acting only made things more laughably bad, though to be fair there is probably no way any actor/actress could play a moving farewell scene with a talking tiny frog on a big white chair in a big white space.<br />
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That's the entire problem with <i>It Takes You Away</i>: it wants to be a quiet meditation on death, loss, grief and letting go but it keeps piling on the silly to where you can't take it seriously. It's so tonally bonkers as to be thoroughly unhinged.<br />
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Yes, the damn talking frog is the nadir of how wildly out-of-tune <i>It Takes You Away</i> is, but let's remember everything connected with "Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs".<br />
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The name can't be taken seriously. It's a debate as to which was the sillier part: 'Ribbons' or 'Of the Seven Stomachs'. Tim the Enchanter was more logical.<br />
The character was pointless, attempting to add menace and danger but ending up as time-filler. You could easily have cut "Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs" out of the plot without it affecting anything. You could easily have introduced the Flesh Moths without Ribbons.<br />
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Adding to Ribbons' unintended silliness is the literal red light he carries like a balloon. You almost expect everyone to burst out into <i><span style="color: blue;">99 Red Balloons</span></i>. When Ryan carries it, you half-expect it to literally 'take him away'.<br />
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<a href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--R4T9HYfp--/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_675,pg_1,q_80,w_1200/ajup94wv0rklkvmwzdei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for it takes you away doctor who frog" border="0" height="225" src="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--R4T9HYfp--/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_675,pg_1,q_80,w_1200/ajup94wv0rklkvmwzdei.jpg" width="400" /></a>About the only good things in <i>It Takes You Away</i> were Walsh and the showcasing of the parallel worlds. In the latter, the episode did well in visualizing the fake world as light and sunny to the real world's gloom and darkness.<br />
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Walsh's performance elevated the episode due in part to his character having an actual motivation: Grace's loss. He mined the exploration of Graham's grief and the shadow hope of finding Grace again. Graham is also the smartest of the Companions: at an earlier point he comments how he always brings a sandwich with him on their journeys, having learned from experience that they might go a long time without food.<br />
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Tosin was again totally blank as Ryan, Gill even more so. Whittaker was hopelessly hampered by the script, which is dead-set on shifting The Doctress from wacky to serious without losing the wacky. Her eating the grass, commenting about "The Woolly Rebellion" (a future movement where sheep will overthrow humanity), going on about how She had 7 grandmothers but "Number 5 was my favorite" then adding how Granny 5 "also thought Granny 2 was a secret agent for the Zygons".<br />
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Only when She becomes serious, telling a wavering Graham, "It's her or the world. You can't have both" that a rare spark of sense creeps in. Perhaps if <i>Doctor Who</i> had opted to make Her more serious and drop the Matt Smith wackiness we could have been won over to a Female Doctor. However, the show's determination to have Whittaker essentially do a parody imitation of Matt Smith and David Tennant at their worst dooms her.<br />
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There is no threat in <i>It Takes You Away</i>. There is no danger. There is a talking frog.<br />
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<i>It Takes You Away</i> is an embarrassment to everyone involved and a massive disservice to Bradley Walsh who did a smashing job exploring Graham's grief and loss.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">-5/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-69399393318930536892019-05-13T17:16:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.077-06:00The Woman Who Couldn't Cast A Spell: The Witchfinders Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmQyYWEwYzctZDExMC00NTA0LWI4MjctYmMwYTJiZDE0ZTJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODM2NzM1Mzk@._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the witchfinders doctor who" border="0" height="213" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmQyYWEwYzctZDExMC00NTA0LWI4MjctYmMwYTJiZDE0ZTJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODM2NzM1Mzk@._V1_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 284: THE WITCHFINDERS</span></b></div>
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Not since Witchiepoo chased after Freddy the Flute on <i>H.R. Pufnstuf</i> have witches been as both comical and bonkers as <i>The Witchfinders</i>. Ostensibly a historic episode, <i>The Witchfinders</i> seems more concerned with virtue-signaling than being entertaining, let alone good.<br />
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The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) and Her Companions Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) do not go to Queen Elizabeth I's coronation as intended. Instead, she comes to 1612 Lancashire and a witch-dunking.<br />
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Mistress Becka Savage (Siobhan Finneran) has condemned Old Mother Twiston (Tricia Kelly) as a witch. If she drowns she's innocent, if she floats she is to be executed. A Jacobean "heads you lose tails I win" bit but the Doctress is there to stop the insanity. Mistress Savage, mistaking Her for the Witchfinder General, takes her to her estate of Bilehurst.<br />
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There is something going bump in the night, but the appearance of King James (Alan Cumming) is not helping matters. He too believes there is witchcraft afoot, more so when everyone encounters Old Mother Twiston has risen from the dead. Even her granddaughter Willa (Tilly Steele) seems shocked and wavers on The Doctress being perhaps a witch Herself.<br />
<br />
Ultimately though, we find that there are otherworldly reasons for these acts of The Devil, ones involving Mistress Savage herself.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pajiba.com/assets_c/2018/11/doctor_who_witches-thumb-700x393-204532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for doctor who the witchfinders" border="0" height="179" src="http://www.pajiba.com/assets_c/2018/11/doctor_who_witches-thumb-700x393-204532.jpg" width="320" /></a><i>The Witchfinders</i> does not know where to find itself. I think there are many factors in this jumble of a story.<br />
<br />
Director Sallie Aprahamian and screenwriter Joy Wilkinson seemed more interested in making commentary than on a good old-fashioned horror romp. That would be all right save for the fact that The Witchfinders makes it rather overt that sexism was very strong in 17th Century Britain.<br />
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Take this bit from Mistress Savage as she describes to Her the recent troubles that have led to the witch-trials. "I have tried to be a benevolent leader but it is very difficult in these times, especially for a woman". This line not only seems rather forced in but sounds odd given that Mistress Savage is probably old enough to remember the reign of Elizabeth I. It seems doubly strange given that as a woman she seems fine in drowning other women and having a royal appointment.<br />
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Perhaps it is not a royal appointment given how King James is so delightfully camp and sexist. He quickly assumes that The Doctress is Graham's assistant because 'no Witchfinder General could be a woman'. One is almost surprised His Majesty didn't literally thump the Doctress with his newly-created Bible.<br />
<br />
Perhaps His Majesty is too distracted by the 'Nubian prince' Ryan to take much notice of how he doesn't think a woman can be in charge.<br />
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The most obvious bit of lecturing comes when King James and Mistress Savage both conclude She is a witch Herself. An exasperated Doctress comments "Honestly, if I were a bloke I could get on with the job and not have to waste time defending myself".<br />
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How soon She forgets...that the Third Doctor was accused of witchcraft in <i>The Daemons</i>. She also claims not being a big believer in Satan despite having met a Satan-like creature in <i>The Satan Pit</i>. The accusation of witchcraft, despite Her protests, has nothing to do with gender. Given the situation and script, a male Doctor would have been equally accused of being a witch.<br />
<br />
All these bits suggest that <i>The Witchfinders</i> was leaning more towards messaging than storytelling.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.thegallifreytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/doctor-who-witchfinders-graham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for doctor who the witchfinders" border="0" height="200" src="https://www.thegallifreytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/doctor-who-witchfinders-graham.jpg" width="320" /></a>Putting that aside, <i>The Witchfinders</i> also faces some other bad decisions. The shifts from deadly serious situations to comedy made things all the more jumbled. Whittaker for example could have played things straight but her inability to take things seriously hampered her. Granted not all that is her fault, but it seems so awful a thing to do with the character of The Doctress.<br />
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As she is being held back, with the dramatic music playing, She quickly goes for a comedy bit when asking to retrieve Her psychic paper. It's one thing to keep to the bad tradition of trying to make The Doctor 'quirky'. It's another to make it so deliberate. When talking about the Granny Zombie, She remarks that she has risen "Not to kill her, but to fill her". It's here where She pauses in self-delight. "Oh, check out my rhymes. Poetry under pressure".<br />
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Groan inducing.<br />
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The nadir is this bit. "I can buy this is the biggest-ever witch-hunt in England. Or I can buy it's an alien mud invasion. But both on the same day? I can't buy that!" Less than it's a woman delivering that line it is Whittaker delivering that line that makes it awful. She's trying too hard to make it comical, which is bad enough, but worse, she's trying to make it comical in what is meant as a serious moment.<br />
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It's a bad sign when you don't miss Her when she's off the screen. It's even worse when, even with goofy hat and all, you think Bradley Walsh would have made a better Doctor. Graham seemed to be the only sensible character around: investigating, realizing the dangers all about.<br />
<br />
As for the guest cast, I think Cumming's overtly camp manner as King James was a mistake because again you cannot suspend disbelief long enough for him to make James the 'sad and hurt little boy' bit. Finneran was saddled with a weak character as Mistress Savage, and had some unintentional moments of comedy too.<br />
<br />
Part of the reason things went witch-crazy involved Mistress Savage cutting down Old Mother Twiston's favorite tree (we discover that they were related). "It was spoiling my view of the hill," she said, giving the same answer Marvin the Martian gave for wanting to blow up the Earth.<br />
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I wish <i>The Witchfinders</i> had gone full <i>The Wicker Woman</i> on The Doctress.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/James_I_of_England_by_Daniel_Mytens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="553" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/James_I_of_England_by_Daniel_Mytens.jpg" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1566-1625</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>It Takes You Away</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-26669881841519558622019-04-28T10:58:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:42.994-06:00The Woman Who Went on Amazon: Kerblam! Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1170xauto/public/doctor-fez.jpg?timestamp=1542584577" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for kerblam" border="0" height="225" src="https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1170xauto/public/doctor-fez.jpg?timestamp=1542584577" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 283: KERBLAM!</span></b></div>
<br />
For better or worse, <i>Doctor Who</i> Series 11 is dead-set on coming up with thoroughly idiotic titles. We've had <i>Arachnids in the UK</i>, <i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> and the upcoming <i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i>. However, perhaps none of them are as stupidly titled as<i> Kerblam!</i>, complete with exclamation point. <i>Kerblam!</i> takes messaging to a strange and muddled level, deciding to take both sides and leaving the viewer with more than one eye-rolling moment.<br />
<br />
The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) is thrilled to receive a package from Kerblam, essentially Amazon in Space. The packing slip however has a simple message: "Help Me". With that, She takes her 'fam': Graham (Bradley Walsh), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) to Kerblam's plant on a distant planet.<br />
<br />
They soon split up and investigate on three different tracks. Yaz is on the main floor with Dan (Lee Mack), who has a daughter...so we know he'll soon bite the dust. Ryan and She are in the packing section where they meet eager and chipper Kira (Claudia Jessie). Graham, unceremoniously selected for 'Premium Maintenance' aka Janitorial, finds Charlie (Leo Flanagan).<br />
<br />
It's clear that Kira and Charlie are quite fond of each other. It's also clear that there's nefarious business going on. Who sent for help and what are the roles of both Head of Humans Judy Maddox (Julie Hesmondhalgh) and Mr. Slade (Callum Dixon)? The truth comes out with more deaths, deadly bubble wrap and the unmasking of the only person capable of such evil.<br />
<br />
Here's a hint: it's a straight white male.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/86/f3/4786f3f9e7a7a61e1a7466f32533520e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image result for mr slate" border="0" height="162" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/86/f3/4786f3f9e7a7a61e1a7466f32533520e.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Wrong Mr. Slate</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Kerblam!</i> has a very curious tone, simultaneously anti and pro-big business. Whether writer Pete McTighe intended it that way or not is unclear, but my guess is that he meant <i>Kerblam!</i> to bash the Amazon-type business model that is increasing profit at the expense of labor via automation. <i>Kerblam!</i> mentions that only 10% of the workforce is human and Charlie's motivation in his killing spree is to cause customers to blame the Delivery Bots so as to force more human workers.<br />
<br />
Leaving aside the economic issues, Charlie's actual dastardly plot ends up making <i>Kerblam!</i> pro-big business rather than anti-big business. Charlie is probably a People Power Protest Movement member though that is not overtly stated as I remember it. Once word gets out that the Bots were framed, I don't think his group or ideology will get much support. Moreover, the fact that Charlie seems curiously undisturbed by the fact that he is going to kill humans and has been killing humans does not suggest he actually cares about humans.<br />
<br />
I also should mention that the method of murder via popping bubble wrap is to me laughable. I know many <i>Doctor Who</i> fans express terror at the thought, but since I don't pop bubble wrap I would not be assassinated.<br />
<br />
<i>Kerblam!</i> also deals in awful cliches and even makes a very odd suggestion about Her. The new group is told that climbing on the conveyors is grounds for immediate termination. What are the odds therefore that at some point they will climb on the conveyors?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kerblam-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for kerblam" border="0" height="179" src="https://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kerblam-5.jpg" width="320" /></a>When they do, Charlie falling off while attempting to high-five Ryan should go down as one of <i>Doctor Who</i>'s most cringeworthy moments.<br />
<br />
This setup in <i>Kerblam!</i> is one I found extremely curious. The company examines each humanoid and places him/her according to the machine's results for level of abilities. The Doctress uses Her sonic to switch places with Graham by changing their results. While She is sent to Packages, Graham is sent to Maintenance.<br />
<br />
Therefore, if She had stayed where the machine had placed them, the machine found that She has the intellectual and dexterous level of a janitor. Again, leaving aside the rather snobbish suggestion that janitors/maintenance men are dumb the idea that She is somehow that low says more than perhaps <i>Doctor Who</i> wants to.<br />
<br />
Personally, not only do I find it a pretty apt description but one that could have been played for laughs.<br />
<br />
I actually thought well of the guest cast. Claudia Jessie reminded me a bit of Heather Burns' performance as "Miss Rhode Island" in <i>Miss Congeniality</i>, a generally sweet and upbeat person. It's a pity that <i>Kerblam!</i> decided to kerblam her. The scenes between Jessie and Flanagan were quite endearing even if we were not allowed a happy ending. Flanagan to be fair also managed to mostly switch between the sweet Charlie and the crazed human rights activist.<br />
<br />
<i>Kerblam!</i> manages to do something I genuinely thought impossible: make Ryan more boring than Yaz. Following last week's <i>Demons of the Punjab</i> this is the second time Tosin Cole appeared so remote and almost incapable of acting. His line delivery is more robotic than the Delivery Bots.<br />
<br />
Bradley Walsh is still the best thing about this series to where you wish he at least were the only Companion travelling with Her. Whittaker continues doing scrunchy-faces and bringing in the fez only reminds us that her portrayal of The Doctress is essentially a Matt Smith parody.<br />
<br />
The fez does not suit Her and reminds us that protests to the contrary, She is not The Doctor.<br />
<br />
<i>Kerblam!</i> has nothing going for it. It isn't clever or funny or witty or insightful.<br />
<br />
I don't want it, so I won't <i>Kerblam!</i> it.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">3/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>The Witchfinders</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-44632927720697433142019-04-27T10:54:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.032-06:00The Woman Who Faced Her Demons: Demons of the Punjab Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/590x/secondary/Doctor-Who-series-11-spoilers-Crying-floods-Viewers-in-tears-at-Demons-of-the-Punjab-1595697.jpg?r=1541969247798" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for demons of the punjab" border="0" height="213" src="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/590x/secondary/Doctor-Who-series-11-spoilers-Crying-floods-Viewers-in-tears-at-Demons-of-the-Punjab-1595697.jpg?r=1541969247798" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 282: DEMONS OF THE PUNJAB</span></b></div>
<br />
<i>Demons of the Punjab</i> was meant as another historical story, this time teaching about the Partition of India. Its heart is in the right place. Its execution leaves a great deal to be desired.<br />
<br />
Yazmin Khan (Mandip Gill), having attended her grandmother's birthday, wants to get a look at Nani as a young girl, in particular to find out the mystery of the broken watch she gifted Yaz. Albeit reluctantly, The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) takes her and the rest of her 'fam': Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) to 1947 India.<br />
<br />
Unbeknownst to Team TARDIS, they have come upon Umbreem (Amita Suman) and her fiancee Prem (Shane Zaza) at the best and worst time. The best because they are a day away from getting married. The worst because India is to be separated into two separate states: Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. Yaz is in for a few surprises: Prem is not her grandfather, and he is Hindu about to marry the Muslim Umbreem.<br />
<br />
If that all weren't enough, Prem's brother Manish (Hazma Jeetooa) is a fervent Hindu nationalist vehemently opposed to Muslims and India. We also have strange figures the very isolated group thinks of as demons, blamed for deaths. A little investigating reveals that these figures are Thijarians, an alien race who were once master assassins but now serve as witnesses to those who die alone.<br />
<br />
They inform Her that Prem is fated to die.<br />
<br />
The Doctress then performs the wedding, allowing Umbreem the boast of being the first woman married in Pakistan on Partition Day itself. It, however, is not meant to be, as Manish brings men to kill his own brother rather than have this 'satanic' union. Umbreem and her mother manage to escape and eventually go to Sheffield, which Nani Umbreem (Leena Dhingra) finds is not as exotic as she first thought but which has given her refuge and more importantly her family.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1200x680/public/2018/11/demons-punjab-doctor-who.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for demons of the punjab" border="0" height="181" src="https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1200x680/public/2018/11/demons-punjab-doctor-who.jpg" width="320" /></a>Vinay Patel's script as mentioned has good intentions and an actual plot rattling around it. However, I could not help thinking that it was in some ways a lost opportunity and in other ways a bit of a whitewashing of history.<br />
<br />
Partition was a pretty brutal and horrific situation. The exact number of deaths will never be known but they range from 200,000 to 2,000,000. While it might have seemed like a good idea to boil down Partition to this small group, the fact that it was so small is a major detriment. It makes Partition a very quiet situation, with no real tension.<br />
<br />
Perhaps worse, it suggests, however opaquely, that Partition was a once-sided matter. Manish was motivated by anti-Muslim feelings, but there is never a suggestion in <i>Demons of the Punjab</i> that Muslims were just as capable of brutality and killing as Hindus. Partition was a free-for-all, and by making only Manish and his Hindu partisans the villains it may lead some to think Muslims were the sole victims.<br />
<br />
Moreover, as <i>Demons of the Punjab</i> puts it, the actual plot makes little sense. Prem and Umbreem had known each other since childhood. This suggests that Manish as Prem's little brother must have also known Umbreem. His radicalism is just there. As he was the only person in walking distance who opposed the intermarriage, the stakes feel very low.<br />
<br />
I could not help think it might have been better if there had been a whole community of Hindus and Muslims where we see the growing fear, paranoia and hatred between certain members grow. That would have made the increasing dangers for our subcontinental Romeo and Juliet more palpable. I imagined a scenario where both sides blamed the other for the 'demons' until the Doctress convinced them that the Thijarians were a common threat that had to be met with a united front.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--IG9bY_HO--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/pkx31v1qbwd2jqx36vps.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for demons of the punjab" border="0" height="180" src="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--IG9bY_HO--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/pkx31v1qbwd2jqx36vps.png" width="320" /></a>Going into the Thijarians, it is now par for the course on <i>Doctor Who</i> to A) have the aliens be 'the last of their kind' and B) not be actual villains. They seemed superfluous to the story, essentially added to give <i>Demons of the Punjab</i> a sci-fi veneer. They could easily have been removed from the story without it affecting anything.<br />
<br />
Again, a wasted opportunity.<br />
<br />
As a side note, I was surprised that the Thijarians weren't Armenian.<br />
<br />
The performances could have been better. The guest cast save for both Umbreems seemed rather quiet and uninteresting. Of particular bad note were Jeetooa and Zaza as the feuding brothers. They seemed to have no real emotions, though both were rather fond of making speeches. The conflict between them seemed as intense as that of people arguing over how cold a bowl of porridge is.<br />
<br />
The main cast was also pretty bad save for Walsh who is the only Companion worth anything. His character at least realizes and understands the situations they face be it danger or loss and behaves like an actual human. It was an interesting decision to have a more Yaz-focused story given that she is a pretty dull, lifeless and useless character. Gill did better here than she has done before but not enough to make me care about her character.<br />
<br />
Cole was so detached the Thijarians had more emotion to everything. Congratulations to making Ryan more boring than Yaz.<br />
<br />
As for Whittaker, she does have a nasty habit of making a scrunchy-face whenever she appears to be thinking. She also has a very idiotic manner of thrusting her arm whenever using the sonic screwdriver, like a wand, as if She's afraid that She may be electrocuted while using it. Whittaker is just not that good of an actress to get past her manic Tennant/Smith mashup of a performance.<br />
<br />
Finally, I love how their wardrobe never causes anyone in 1947 rural Pakistan/India to question why these people are dressed as they are. Then again, they don't question what two whites and one black person are doing running around in 1947 rural Pakistan/India. I would have thought Graham was in greater danger from Manish than Umbreem, but there it is.<br />
<br />
The Indian-inspired score was nice.<br />
<br />
<i>Demons of the Punjab</i> is a bad history lesson because it is incomplete. It gives almost no context to how Partition came about, how it affected the population and suggests that it was one-sided. Again, there's a story, a good story, rattling about it somewhere. Pity they could not find it.<br />
<br />
"We can't a universe with no Yaz," She states, which a statement that has no sense to it. Why She has a fixation on Yaz we can only guess at, but I am perfectly fine living in a universe with no Yaz.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">5/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>KERBLAM!</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-90654637285478589512019-04-22T13:53:00.002-06:002019-06-12T10:36:24.347-06:00The Woman Who Met a Pregnant Man: The Tsuranga Conundrum Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Doctor_Who_Series_11_Episode_5_The_Tsuranga_Conundrum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="421" height="223" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Doctor_Who_Series_11_Episode_5_The_Tsuranga_Conundrum.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 281: THE TSURANGA CONUNDRUM</span></b></div>
<br />
I have returned to finish Her first series/season and the first episode is just so awful as to make one despair how things got to where they are. <i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> makes me think that <i>Doctor Who</i> showrunner Chris Chibnall is rather fond of oddball names. We've had <i>Arachnids in the UK</i>, this and future episodes titled <i>Kerblam!</i> (complete with exclamation point) and <i>The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos</i>, which oddly does not take place in Greece. <i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> really plays like a Doctor Who spoof, leaping on one bad decision after another to where you genuinely wonder if Chibnall is really working to get this series cancelled.<br />
<br />
The Doctress (Jodie Whittaker) along with Her 'Fam' Graham (Bradley Walsh), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) are on a junk asteroid when they encounter a sonic mine. Before you can say 'PTing' they find themselves on a hospital ship, the <i>Tsuranga</i>. Aboard the Tsuranga are two patients. There's Yoss (Jack Shalloo), a pregnant man. There's General Eve Cicero (Suzanne Packer), who is accompanied by her brother Durkas (Ben Bailey-Smith) and robot partner Ronan (David Shields).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/pting-sad-Tsuranga-570x322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the tsuranga conundrum" border="0" src="http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/pting-sad-Tsuranga-570x322.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>Before you can say 'PTing' the <i>Tsuranga</i> is under attack from a PTing, a tiny creature with a big appetite putting everyone in danger. Despite Her own pains The Doctress has to put things right. There are deaths and births until the PTing is discharged and the Tsuranga arrives to the main hospital in space.<br />
<br />
<i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> is a whole mess of a mess, simultaneously packed and empty. Chibnall, who wrote this, decided it would be easier to leap about logic with wild abandon rather than think his way out of predicaments.<br />
<br />
Take the opening for example. We start on this junk asteroid looking for...something. When we come across something that in theory should get them killed they then appear on the floating hospital because...reasons. To top that off, the TARDIS, left on that junk asteroid is quickly mentioned as the motivation for the Doctress to get off the <i>Tsuranga</i> but then the TARDIS is all but forgotten by the end.<br />
<br />
In other words, unless specific mention is made in the next episode, how exactly She recovered the TARDIS will forever be left unexplained.<br />
<br />
I figure that the PTing was created to sell toys. Either that or Chibnall is delusional if he thinks he can make something simultaneously cute and threatening. I burst out laughing the first time I saw it. I burst out laughing the last time I saw it. It was just so hilariously awful. It's here where I say 'bless the actors' for trying so hard, so terribly hard, to convince me that the PTing was some kind of dangerous threat.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://cdn.images.dailystar.co.uk/dynamic/117/photos/152000/620x/Doctor-Who-740560.jpg?r=5bdf73637ccfb" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Related image" border="0" height="213" src="https://cdn.images.dailystar.co.uk/dynamic/117/photos/152000/620x/Doctor-Who-740560.jpg?r=5bdf73637ccfb" width="320" /></a>It's a sad thing when you feel sorry for these actors having to work with such rubbish. It's sadder still when they have to work with director Jennifer Perrott. She seemed unable to settle on a tone: goofy one moment, 'deadly' serious the next, sometimes in the same scene. While part of the fault here lies in the script, other elements clearly under her control showed her as shockingly inept.<br />
<br />
Take for example what is meant as The Doctress' climatic speech about antimatter, itself an odd choice for such dramatic moments but whatever. For some reason known to no one Perrott opted to have a shot of Her hands waving about.<br />
<br />
Why she opted to have a shot of Her hands...<br />
<br />
Throughout <i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> Perrott opted to have lots of spinning camera work and a lot of cinematic flashes that end up nowhere and make things more confusing.<br />
<br />
Everything in <i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> was stunningly bad. The Pregnant Man was superfluous to the plot save perhaps as the gateway to introduce Ryan's parent issues. At least there is logic to The Pregnant Man: his species is one where males give birth to males and females to females. I'm not sure exactly how that would work among the Gifftans (do males impregnate males and females to females), but there it is.<br />
<br />
However, Yoss naming his child "Avocado Pear" in tribute to Ryan and Graham, meant for laughs, comes off as idiotic even insulting. I can see why Graham and Ryan worked with him: having Yaz and Yoss together would have been too confusing.<br />
<br />
The performances were equally bad. Whittaker seems clumsy, clunky and inept as The Doctress, all jumbling and frenetic. Man or woman this version of The Doctor is so unbearably dumb and inspires nothing but fear that She is in charge. To be fair at least Gill improved to where she had something to do but it's sad that Walsh was relegated to sitting with The Pregnant Man.<br />
<br />
I cannot feel for the guest cast because they were not on-screen long enough to have them do anything to make me feel anything for them. Lois Chimimba as Mabli the rookie nurse was good in her fear and slowly growing self-confidence in this crisis. However, whether Eve Cicero had 'Corton Fever' or 'Pilot's Heart' does not make me care.<br />
<br />
I did like the score, which had a very <i>Music From the Hearts of Space</i> feel.<br />
<br />
<i>The Tsuranga Conundrum</i> is rushed and hollow, with a laughable antagonist, bad efforts at jokes (the <i>Hamilton</i> comment was not funny, though hearing Durkas say "I'm a Cicero" reminded me of <i>Chicago</i>'s <i><span style="color: blue;">Cell Block Tango</span></i>).<br />
<br />
It's not a Conundrum. It's a Fiasco.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">-10/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>Demons of the Punjab</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-92191151633064371072018-10-30T13:06:00.001-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.110-06:00The Woman Who Has A Spider's Touch: Arachnids in the UK Review<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Arachnids-In-The-UK-promo-pics-a-7-570x321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for arachnids in the uk" border="0" height="225" src="http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Arachnids-In-The-UK-promo-pics-a-7-570x321.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>STORY 280: ARACHNIDS IN THE UK</b></span></div>
<br />
There is no going back.<br />
<br />
<i>Doctor Who</i> is dead to me.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Arachnids in the UK</i> is something that many NuWhovians will love. They would also love seeing toast dry if <i>Doctor Who</i> made a whole episode about it, probably adding something about how seeing the toast dry made them cry. <i>Arachnids in the UK</i> is heavy-handed and worse, boring, with a lead who has decided to do an impersonation rather than a performance.<br />
<br />
It's more cringe-inducing than the actual spiders.<br />
<br />
The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) has managed to get the TARDIS back to present-day Sheffield, where to all concerned, She and her 'Friends' Graham (Bradley Walsh), his step-grandson Ryan (Tosin Cole) and random bystander Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) have been gone for a mere half-hour. The Doctor signals She is rather lonely, so when Yaz invites Her over to tea, She eagerly jumps at the chance.<br />
<br />
Good thing too, as Yaz's family faces unknown dangers. Things are already bad for "Yaz's Mom", also known as Najia (Shobna Gulati). She has just been fired from her first day on the job managing a swanky new hotel run by billionaire Jack Robertson (Chris Noth). Robertson is alarmed about 'something' in the hotel, and this 'something' is unbeknownst to everyone, affecting the Khans too.<br />
<br />
Yaz's father believes there is some kind of conspiracy involving the Sheffield rubbish, and this leads them eventually to Robertson. Everyone but She recognizes him, with Her asking, "Is he Ed Sheeran?"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net/wp/wp-content/images/doctor-who-arachnids-in-the-uk-5-700x394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Related image" border="0" height="180" src="https://d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net/wp/wp-content/images/doctor-who-arachnids-in-the-uk-5-700x394.jpg" width="320" /></a>Robertson is EVIL with all caps. How do we know he's EVIL with all caps? Well, he's white, he's male, he's a capitalist, he's American, he let his poor assistant Kevin (William Meredith) get taken by the spiders and he likes to shoot guns. He may also be homophobic, for in the opening scene, he does not realize who Frankie (Jaleh Alp) is.<br />
<br />
"I'm your niece's wife," she remarks, before getting bumped off. Yet I digress.<br />
<br />
Anyway, She has tracked down the connection between the EVIL Robertson and the spiders. One of his myriad of companies is supposed to dispose of dead spiders which have been experiment on, but always cutting corners the company just dumps them in a rubbish heap, which happens to be right over the luxury hotel he's built.<br />
<br />
I leave it to you to answer why there's a luxury hotel in Sheffield, but there it is.<br />
<br />
The Doctress will not allow "Ed Sheeran" to kill the spiders. She also isn't keen on the idea that the EVIL Robertson fires "Yaz's Mum". "You can't fire Yaz's Mum and be President,", She declares. It takes a while for Her to realize "Yaz's Mum" has a name.<br />
<br />
So She won't let the EVIL Robertson shoot the spiders. So how to solve the problem? Why, by leading the spider's to the EVIL Robertson's panic room and apparently letting them starve to death there. It's a more humane way of doing it.<br />
<br />
There is one last problem: the giant mother spider in the ballroom. She would rather gas it unconscious I think, but the EVIL Robertson has a simpler solution: just shoot it. She is angry, but in the end, the three 'Friends' go off with Her.<br />
<br />
#TeamTARDIS<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1200x680/public/2018/10/doctor-who-arachnids.jpg?itok=n7p8wBx7" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for arachnids in the uk" border="0" height="180" src="https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1200x680/public/2018/10/doctor-who-arachnids.jpg?itok=n7p8wBx7" width="320" /></a>I gave Her and <i>Doctor Who</i> a chance. I sat through some simply frightful episodes like <i>Sleep No More</i> and <i>Closing Time</i>. I have endured the unendurable. I have suffered the insufferable.<br />
<br />
I just cannot and will not do it anymore.<br />
<br />
<i>Arachnids in the UK</i> is getting the typical glowing reviews and the squees from its group of sycophants, but for the life of me I do not understand how anyone could say this was actually good.<br />
<br />
Whittaker has had four episodes to make The Doctor her own. Four episodes to put her own stamp on the character, controversially changed from male to female "because it's time we had a Female Doctor". At this point, we've pretty much gone from beyond whether it was right or wrong to do so. Instead, we have moved to 'what kind of Doctor is she?'<br />
<br />
What Whittaker's Doctor is, is a pale impersonation of David Tennant and Matt Smith's version, a mere copycat to what we've seen before.<br />
<br />
The "Is he Ed Sheeran?" bit. The referring to Najia as "Yaz's Mum". That is something the Smith Doctor would do. Actually, that's something the Smith Doctor <i><b>has</b></i> done: in <i>Dinosaurs on a Spaceship</i>, the Doctor would consistently refer to Rory's dad Brian as "Mr. Pond", even after Mr. Williams shouted "I AM NOT A POND!" at him. Oblivious and clueless, Eleven blithely carried on.<br />
<br />
Here, we have exactly the same 'wacky' Doctor we've seen before. Her inability to 'have small talk', her unsure if She and Yaz "are seeing each other" (which I hope they don't do only because it would be more "Companion in love with Doctor" nonsense), Her at times needy, at times irrational manner, it all smacks of someone doing very bad Smith or Tennant cosplay.<br />
<br />
Whittaker has had enough time to make the Doctor her own, and it seems now so deranged to think that after they went through all that trouble to give 'little girls a heroine of their own', they end up keeping the character exactly as he was. She is a nonentity, no unique personality. It's just sad to see them waste so much potential for nothing.<br />
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Whittaker makes The Doctor look thoroughly stupid, and not just in the deliberately "wacky" moments. Her big plan was to stick the spiders in a small room and what: let them starve to death or have them eat each other? What about the spiders in Graham's house and near the Khans' flat?<br />
<br />
Chris Chibnall's script manages to make the worst of Mark Gatiss or Steven Moffat look like <i>Caves of Androzani</i> by comparison. The story is so daft it borders on comical. <br />
<br />
Perhaps this is why Noth decided to play his "I'm not Donald Trump but I really am Donald Trump" Jack Robertson with such a wild, over-the-top manner. His performance made look like he thought he was in a comedy, a spoof of science fiction/fantasy.<br />
<br />
Even that I could forgive, if not for the blatant politicking done here. Robertson is supposed to be plotting to run for President against Trump in 2020, as Robertson hates the 45th President. Yet he essentially is Trump, a wild caricature. From his "You're fired" line to running up to the giant spider waving his gun shouting, "I'm the future President of the United States. How's THIS for fire and fury?" this golden piece of dialogue, "What is wrong with you people?! What is wrong with this country?! Why don't you do what normal people do: get a gun, shoot things like a civilized person?!", Robertson is so blatant a caricature that even those of us who oppose Trump would say, "Dude, a bit much".<br />
<br />
As a side note, that "What is WRONG with you people?" bit is Chibnall's take on how "Americans" are so much more inferior to the British because Americans all have guns. There's a condescending, arrogant air to it all, and I say this as one who dislikes guns. Add to that, why would anyone vote for Robertson?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/7231998C-D09D-4717-8750-EE814EB9F167-e1540762027684-600x302.jpg?x70969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for arachnids in the uk" border="0" height="161" src="https://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/7231998C-D09D-4717-8750-EE814EB9F167-e1540762027684-600x302.jpg?x70969" width="320" /></a>Maybe Chibnall does not understand American politics, but Robertson is in no position to challenge Trump. He can't run as a Republican because he is too much like Trump. He can't run as a Democrat because he is too much like Trump. No independent has ever come close to winning, so how is Robertson going to do it?<br />
<br />
Gill's Yaz came across as surprisingly wimpy for someone who is supposed to be a police officer, and Tosin to be fair was better but not by much. Ryan's 'shadow puppet' bit was amusing, but his bringing in 'grime' music to lead the spiders?<br />
<br />
Out of all the cast, only Bradley Walsh had anything good. He is given something to do: explore Graham's grief over his late wife, and apart from seeing Grace's ghost it is the most rational moment in the whole sorry episode.<br />
<br />
I thought out of all the 'Team TARDIS', Graham had the most logical reason for leaving. I wish it were he and The Doctor who would be a team.<br />
<br />
There just was nothing in <i>Arachnids in the UK</i> that I thought was good. The plot drops things at convenience: what happened to the spiders in Graham's house and near the Khans' flat? what happened to semi-mad scientist Jade (Tanya Fear) or Robertson himself? The Doctor is unoriginal, a Smith clone one episode, a Tennant clone the next.<br />
<br />
The spiders were good.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">0/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: The Tsuranga Conundrum</span></b><br />
<br />Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-69616858834711849742018-10-22T17:23:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.087-06:00The (Other) Woman Who Ended Segregation: Rosa Review <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 279: ROSA</span></b></div>
<br />
Rosa Parks was an icon. She deserves better than <i>Rosa</i>, a story that while mercifully does not trivialize Mrs. Parks' defining moment of courage, does make her almost a side character.<br />
<br />
As if the others weren't already bad enough.<br />
<br />
13 (Jodie Whittaker) is attempting to take Her 'friends' Graham (Bradley Walsh), his step-grandson Ryan (Tosin Cole) and random person Yasmin Khan or Yaz (Mandip Gill) back to their time and place in Sheffield, but the TARDIS has a mind of its own. It insists on materializing in 1955 Alabama; here She detects traces of artron energy, the type of energy that the TARDIS or any time-travelling device emits.<br />
<br />
Why here, why now, and why does it center around a middle-aged black seamstress named Rosa Parks (Vinette Robinson)? Obviously, almost all of them know who Rosa Parks is, though Ryan is a bit confused.<br />
<br />
"First black female bus driver?", he suggests.<br />
<br />
Alabama is no place for Ryan or Yaz. Ryan is instantly slapped for touching a white woman when offering to return her glove, and Yaz is constantly called a 'Mexican'. This sparks them having to receive as much overt racism as they do in Sheffield, where later in Rosa they reflect that he gets stopped repeatedly by police more than his white mates and she is called a 'Paki' and a terrorist when she goes to mosque.<br />
<br />
As a side note, I am of Mexican descent, and Yaz would not convince me she was Mexican. Just saying...<br />
<br />
<a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.blogtorwho.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DW-Josh-Bowman-1.jpg?fit=1143%2C678&ssl=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for rosa doctor who" border="0" height="236" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.blogtorwho.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DW-Josh-Bowman-1.jpg?fit=1143%2C678&ssl=1" width="400" /></a>Anyway, Graham and Her use their own 'white privilege' to make sure Mrs. Parks' moment in history is assured. That won't be easy because of Krasko (Josh Bowman), a time-traveler from the future who looks like a <i>Grease</i> cosplayer.<br />
<br />
Costco is determined to stop Rosa Parks from getting on that bus, which in turn would stop her from refusing to give up her seat and thus, stop the American Civil Rights Movement.<br />
<br />
Crisco cannot kill her outright, as She learns that after being released from Stormcage Prison he had a neural restrictor that prevents him from doing harm.<br />
<br />
Why this alien from the 51st Century would be fixated on stopping Rosa Parks is unclear. Krispy Kreme does tell Ryan later on something about stopping "your kind" from getting above themselves, but Costco's overt racism is left unexplained. We don't know anything about his motivations but we need moral lessons, logic be damned.<br />
<br />
13 gives them tasks to do in order to make sure Mrs. Parks completes her moment in history. It involves stopping Krispy Kreme (which Ryan does by using Crisco's own device against him), Yaz sticking by Mrs. Parks and poor Graham ultimately doing what I expected him to do: be that 'white passenger' for whom Mrs. Parks refused to stand for.<br />
<br />
Everyone essentially congratulates themselves on making sure history stayed the course and She takes them, after giving them a rundown on Mrs. Parks' life post-bus, to Asteroid 284996, also known as 'Rosaparks'.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://images.immediate.co.uk/volatile/sites/3/2018/10/Doctor-Who-series-11-ep-3-1692a63.jpg?quality=90&lb=620,413&background=white" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for rosa doctor who" border="0" height="266" src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/volatile/sites/3/2018/10/Doctor-Who-series-11-ep-3-1692a63.jpg?quality=90&lb=620,413&background=white" width="400" /></a>After finishing <i>Rosa</i>, I genuinely could see cowriters Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman congratulating themselves for their episode. I know many people reported crying at it, though to be fair most NuWhovians cry after every episode, so that's not a big thing.<br />
<br />
These same NuWhovians also reported on how 'brave' and 'important' <i>Rosa</i> was. They are free to think that. <br />
<br />
My own take on it was that <i>Doctor Who</i> was doing a very weird take on <i>Back to the Future</i> or <i>Quantum Leap</i>, because this is not <i>Doctor Who</i>. It isn't even a good <i>Quantum Leap</i>.<br />
<br />
For those not old enough to remember, <i>Quantum Leap</i> was a show about a scientist who could travel in time within his own lifetime, almost always to help someone and/or keep a moment in history from altering. Along the way, he meets people who would become famous later in life. Dr. Sam Beckett, the main character on <i>Quantum Leap</i>, accidentally saved Dr. Heimlich by using the procedure he himself created and offered financial tips to a young Donald Trump.<br />
<br />
<i>Rosa</i> has that same feel, only it was both unoriginal and predictable, two things <i>Quantum Leap</i> was not. I know Chibnall, who is also <i>Doctor Who</i>'s current showrunner, wants the show to be more 'educational', and many online tout <i>Rosa</i> as being something to be shown in history classes.<br /><br />
If it were shown to mine, I imagine most of us would be bored.<br />
<br />
The primary issue with why <i>Rosa</i> is not good is that we know Mrs. Parks will end up on that bus. As such, there really is no suspense. Whatever roadblocks Crisco sets up are quickly dispensed, as is he. To its credit, <i>Rosa</i> at least did not have Her or the others 'inspire' Mrs. Parks, but as I predicted it did thrust them into being the cause with Graham.<br />
<br />
There is just so much wrong with <i>Rosa</i>. Whittaker has struggled with the part of The First Female Doctor, primarily because she cannot find herself able to get away from doing a David Tennant/Matt Smith impersonation.<br />
<br />
At one point She draws on the wall. Graham tells Her She can't do that. "You're not Bansky," he says. With a comical look She says, "Or am I?". This is something Tennant's Doctor would say, delivered in the same way Tennant would. Whittaker's Doctor is fast becoming annoying and grating. She's had three episodes to give us her own take on The Doctor, but she keeps slipping into 'forced wackiness'.<br />
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Cole's Ryan is so dim and colorless, where even his 'enthusiasm' at meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or zapping Krispy Kreme into who-knows-when comes across as emotionalless. At least here Gill's Yaz had something to do and didn't seem just like the third wheel.<br />
<br />
Bowman's Krasko was so undefined he will rank as one of the worst villains on <i>Doctor Who</i>--revived or original series. Robinson's Parks was slightly better but she had the worst Southern accent I've heard on <i>Doctor Who</i> since <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2011/07/dont-shoot-im-doctor.html" target="_blank">The Gunfighters</a></i>. Her Rosa Parks was almost incidental to <i>Rosa</i>, and I found her flat and uninteresting too.<br />
<br />
Granted, I was not alive at the time, but there felt something almost cartoonish about how everyone in Montgomery was so overtly racist. It had the subtlety of a sledgehammer, suggesting all white people were racists slapping random black men and stalking 'foreigners' left-right-and-center.<br />
<br />
The only good performance was Walsh, which is a surprise given that he is known mostly as a game show host (his show, <i>The Chase</i>, curiously airs opposite <i>Doctor Who</i>, making him the rare person to have two shows compete against each other). When interacting with the locals or dealing with 'Doc' to his sadness at being the 'white man who forced Mrs. Parks into history', Walsh manages to create moments of humor and pathos.<br />
<br />
<i>Rosa</i> also has a terrible disservice when it comes to the score. In the past, Segun Akinola's music was subtle and effective. Here, it looks like he was ordered to do his version of a Murray Gold score. Whenever we saw Rosa Parks, we heard "noble" music, all lofty trumpets. Whenever we saw Krasko, we heard "evil" music, a two-note number created by cellos or bass.<br />
<br />
Even worse, we were treated to <i><span style="color: blue;">Rise Up</span></i> from Andra Day as Mrs. Parks made her fateful decision. I don't think it's a bad song, but it does lay on the 'inspirational' bit far too thick. I also thin something more contemporary would have worked better, such as <i><span style="color: blue;">Move On Up A Little Higher</span></i> by Mahalia Jackson.<br />
<br />
<i>Rosa</i> is a disservice to Mrs. Parks. That everyone involved thought it was a tribute to her seems worse. Uninteresting villain, no tension or suspense, a bad cosplayer as The Doctor, flat Companions save the old guy, a bit heavy-handed and ultimately dull.<br />
<br />
Noble intentions do not make a good episode.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>1/10</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Next Episode: <i>Arachnids in the UK</i></b></span>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-5010713646297609342018-10-16T10:51:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.043-06:00The Woman Who Found A TARDIS: The Ghost Monument Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tardis/images/b/b1/Ghost_Monument.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20181014191653" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the ghost monument" border="0" height="193" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tardis/images/b/b1/Ghost_Monument.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20181014191653" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 278 : THE GHOST MONUMENT</span></b></div>
<br />
First, I have decided to try and put "The Woman Who..." in the title for every 13th Doctor story. Before you or anyone else start going on about 'sexism', I note that I did something similar with the 12th Doctor. <br />
<br />
Back then, after getting an alleged trilogy with <i>(Blank) of The Doctor</i> (<i>Name/Day/Time of The Doctor</i>), I decided to spoof them by titling every Capaldi story as <i>(Blank) of the Doctor</i>. <i>Robot of Sherwood</i> became <i>The Medieval Times of The Doctor</i>, <i>Kill the Moon</i> became <i>The Scrambled Eggs of The Doctor</i>, <i>The Return of Doctor Mysterio</i> became <i>The Cinematic Universe of The Doctor</i> and so forth.<br />
<br />
Given how She has been built up, I decided I could have some fun with Her too and thus, <i>The Woman Who Found a TARDIS</i> or <i>The Ghost Monument</i>.<br />
<br />
Now, as for the episode itself, I see we still have one problem: the Doctor Herself. It is not that She is a Woman. Rather, it's that She isn't very original. For all the hue & cry about The First Female Doctor, I simply cannot imagine why they want her to be a Tennant/Smith clone. <i>The Ghost Monument</i>, for all its virtues (and it does have them) is still struggling to find itself.<br />
<br />
Oh, and the new TARDIS is damn ugly!<br />
<br />
The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Her 'friends' Graham (Bradley Walsh), his step-grandson Ryan (Tosin Cole) and random person Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) survive being caught in deep space by two convenient spaceships that happen to be competing in the "Last-Ever Rally of the Twelve Galaxies".<br />
<br />
No, this isn't a variation on the Fifth Doctor story<i> Enlightenment</i>, thank you very much.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/18/41/768x384/landscape-1539184078-screen-shot-2018-10-10-at-40736-pm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the ghost monument" border="0" height="160" src="http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/18/41/768x384/landscape-1539184078-screen-shot-2018-10-10-at-40736-pm.jpg" width="320" /></a>They are separated, with Her and Yaz ending up with Epzo (Shaun Dooley), a Russell Crowe-type with a bad attitude and a rickety spaceship. "This thing should be on Antiques Roadshow", She at one point hollers. Graham and Ryan are on another ship captained by Angstrom (Susan Lynch), who thinks they are 'bonuses' in this race none of the others are aware of.<br />
<br />
They all finally land on the planet Desolation, where eventually they reunite. Epzo and Angstrom receive their final instructions from Ilin (Art Malik), the game-master who is <i><u><b>not</b></u></i> reminiscent of The Celestial Toymaker.<br />
<br />
Despite Epzo and Angstrom really wanting to work against each other to win the ultimate prize: bountiful wealth and security on a safe planet, She gets them to work together. They come upon an abandoned city and She is puzzled not just as to why Her TARDIS was not in the same place Her calculations placed it at. She also wants to know why this formerly lush world is now dead.<br />
<br />
She also wants to get to 'the ghost monument', which is really the TARDIS. Her "Friends" go along, as they really don't have an option, but if they reach the TARDIS, that should get them all home.<br />
<br />
In this desolated city, they face many dangers: killer robots and killer floating cloths. She also discovers why Desolation is as it is: their scientists were forced to work to engineer new methods of death. "We gave them our minds and they made us Creators of Death", She reads, forced to by the Stenza, one of whom we met last time.<br />
<br />
As a side note, am I the only one who thinks 'Creators of Death' would make for a great title?<br />
<br />
She manages to show that indeed 'brains beat bullets', but the floating killer cloths also tell Her about 'The Timeless Child', something apparently connected with Her that even She does not know.<br />
<br />
As they reach the finish, Epzo and Angstrom seem on the cusp of fighting it out to win, until She comes up with a compromise.<br />
<br />
Before Ilin, they declare themselves joint winners. Ilin is aghast at such an idea, but they bully him into declaring for the first time ever dual champions. He then promptly spirits them away, leaving the others stranded. She feels like a failure, until the TARDIS materializes. "Come to Daddy...I mean Mommy...I mean..." She says, and soon She enters Her newly-redecorated TARDIS, and it's off for another adventure.<br />
<br />
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Perhaps my dislike of <i>The Ghost Monument</i> has to do with the TARDIS itself. I thought it was the ugliest thing I have seen, well, apart from both the Sixth and Thirteenth Doctor's costumes. It's all dark and remarkably empty, with little light.<br />
<br />
Of greater concern is Whittaker. Here, let me see if I can explain this well. <br />
<br />
It is not that she is a woman that causes me concern. Contrary to popular belief, I have never objected to a Female Doctor if it could be shown it was done for story purposes. That, however, was not the primary reason we were given a Female Doctor. The primary reason was that 'it was about time we had a Female Doctor...for representation, equality, little girls to have heroines of their own'. I never thought this was a good reason to have a Female Doctor, and to be honest those who supported this reasoning have been overtly hostile to any objections.<br />
<br />
Be that as it may I wish Whittaker or writer/showrunner Chris Chibnall would stop her from playing The Doctor as 'quirky'. She needs to make The Doctor Her own, not do a variation of David Tennant or Matt Smith's version. Whittaker's Doctor seems terribly frenetic, spouting lines in a rapid-fire manner and worse, saying the dumbest things.<br />
<br />
Take this exchange between Her and Graham after She offers to lend him some shades. "I can't remember whether I borrowed them from Audrey Hepburn or Pythagoras". Graham, sensibly, says that Pythagoras didn't have shades, to which She replies more to Herself than to him, "Obviously never saw Pythagoras with a hangover".<br />
<br />
That line, apart from being too jokey for things, is something I could hear Smith's Doctor saying. Part of me understands wanting to move away from the crotchety old man Capaldi was going into, but at least he was markedly different than the childlike Smith or swoon-worthy Tennant.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net/wp/wp-content/images/doctor-who-s11ep2-0-e1539568668138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the ghost monument" border="0" height="200" src="https://d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net/wp/wp-content/images/doctor-who-s11ep2-0-e1539568668138.jpg" width="400" /></a>I think Whittaker can be a great Doctor. There, I've said it. I think she has the capacity to not only make the role her own but convince me that she <i><b>IS</b></i> The Doctor. She, however, isn't going to do it by merely imitating the popular Doctors from days gone by.<br />
<br />
There is nothing wrong with being a bit 'quirky'. There is something wrong when all you give is 'quirky'.<br />
<br />
Whittaker has moments of this, such as when she berates Ryan for trying to use weapons to win or when coming to conclusions about what happened on Desolation. There is potential for her to own the part and be The Doctor. She just needs to get away from doing impersonations, otherwise the gender change would have been for nothing.<br />
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Malik was underused and Dooley was doing some kind of Russell Crowe gravelly, angry man. Chibnall's script gave us a touch of backstory with a tale of what would be child abuse, which was good in terms of acting and story. Lynch's Angstrom was better to where you wanted her to win, but only because she seemed to have a more fleshed out character.<br />
<br />
Of the Companions, I'm liking Walsh's Graham, who seems the most sensible of the lot. He does what good Companions do: he asks questions and actually questions The Doctor, not willing to defer so quickly. Gill's Yaz might just as well been taken hostage for all she did. She was wildly underused to where she was superfluous to <i>The Ghost Monument</i>, though that should be expected when you have three Companions. Cole's Ryan is somewhere in the middle: coming across as somewhat dumb but at least willing to take action.<br />
<br />
As I reflect on <i>The Ghost Monument,</i> I think I like it more than I first thought. The story went by fast and Segun Akinola's score is quite good: subtle and effective. There is some good word-play in it. When asked if anyone's confused, Yaz says "Pretty confused", Ryan says "Proper confused" and Graham says "Way beyond confused". <br />
<br />
There are issues that concern me. The 'Timeless Child' and Stenza bits suggest a story arc despite the insistence that there would be none and that each would be a stand-alone story. The lack of screentime for both Gill and Malik. Whittaker's take on the Doctor as more an impersonation of Smith and Tennant than her own creation.<br />
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It is still early and there is room for improvement, but I hope they do up the game, otherwise we're going to get the same thing we've seen before.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">5/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>Rosa</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-64853563186634068532018-10-08T13:25:00.002-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.065-06:00The Woman Who Fell to Earth: A Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="about:invalid#zClosurez" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the woman who fell to earth" border="0" 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" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 277: THE WOMAN WHO </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">FELL TO EARTH</span></b></div>
<br />
After all the <i>Sturm und Drang</i> about having The First Female Doctor, the controversy and division and name-calling, we finally have the first story with Her in the lead. <i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i>, despite the 'innovation' of The First Female Doctor, is remarkably rote and routine.<br />
<br />
Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) is a young man with dyspraxia, a neurological disorder affecting coordination. This makes it hard for him to ride a bicycle, but his grandmother Grace (Sharon D. Clarke) and her husband Graham (Bradley Walsh) do their best to encourage him. In his anger he tosses the bike off a cliff, leading Grace to shout, "RYAN SINCLAIR, DON'T YOU DARE!"<br />
<br />
A little poetry never hurt anyone.<br />
<br />
As she and Graham leave on a train, Ryan goes to retrieve his bike, and there comes upon a strange set of floating figures. Touching one brings an object not unlike a genie's bottle which is cold to the touch. He calls the police and the rather disinterested Sheffield PD sends probationary police constable Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill). Ryan and Yaz know each other from when they were in school, and both are concerned about this object.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, there are more important things. Graham and Grace's train finds itself attacked by something, leaving them and another passenger, Karl Wright (Johnny Dixon), under threat by something. Fortunately, this is when a crazed female crashes onto the train with not a scratch. She does not remember who she is, but she knows she was less than half an hour ago a white-haired Scotsman.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/18/39/1600x800/landscape-1537970104-16317303-low-res-doctor-who-series-11-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the woman who fell to earth" border="0" height="160" src="http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/18/39/1600x800/landscape-1537970104-16317303-low-res-doctor-who-series-11-1.jpg" width="320" /></a>She quickly takes charge of things while still in the fits of something physically. The object has something to do with things, but by now that object has been spirited away by Rahul (Amit Shah), who blames whatever is inside for his sister's disappearance. A thing from another world emerges and kills Rahul.<br />
<br />
The others find this Predator/Power Ranger-type being and also discover what attacked the train. They also find, thanks to the frantic woman with them, that the creature, Tzin-Sha (Samuel Oatley) is a Stenza Warrior. He has been sent to Earth to perform a hunt with no weapons or help to prove himself worthy of leadership.<br />
<br />
However, "Tim Shaw" as The Woman Who Fell to Earth keeps calling him, is essentially cheating. She also isn't about to let Karl be killed. It's a race to track Karl and save him and the human race from "Tim Shaw", a quest that will finally awake who She is. She is The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), who does not want to commit violence but will use force if needed.<br />
<br />
The fight to save Karl and force "Tim Shaw" to return to his home-world costs many lives, including Grace.<br />
<br />
Ryan ends his summation of his beloved Nan on his YouTube blog, and there is a crack in his dislike of his step-grandfather, who genuinely mourns his wife. His mourning is amplified by the fact that he and Grace fell in love three years earlier when she was a nurse and he was fighting against the cancer that is in remission.<br />
<br />
The Doctor, having created a sonic screwdriver, now manages to create a device that will allow Her to search for Her spacecraft, the TARDIS, which was lost when She fell to Earth. She bids her 'Friends' goodbye, but ends up in space with them, floating to all their surprise.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/2018/10/doctor_who_the_woman_who_fell_to_earth_sonic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the woman who fell to earth" border="0" height="213" src="http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/2018/10/doctor_who_the_woman_who_fell_to_earth_sonic.jpg" width="320" /></a><i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i> could easily have been <i>The Man Who Fell to Earth</i> (apologies to the late and much-missed David Bowie). This role could easily have been played by a man without it being anything out-of-the-ordinary.<br />
<br />
Perhaps that is what <i>Doctor Who</i> showrunner/<i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i> writer Chris Chibnall wanted, to demonstrate that a Woman could play the part of The Doctor.<br />
<br />
This whole idea about a Female Doctor is as tangled as the coils Tzim-Sha used. I don't want to get into a long speech about all this. I will say that I have never objected to a Female Doctor or ever opposed a Female Doctor. What I opposed was the reasoning behind a Female Doctor: for 'representation', for 'equality', so 'little girls can have a heroine', and worse, 'because it's TIME we had a Female Doctor'. <br />
<br />
If we had this change just to have a Female Doctor, if we had this change for some sense of justice, it is a weak reason.<br />
<br />
The rationale behind a Female Doctor weakens when you look at Whittaker's performance. She did not play a Female Doctor. She didn't even play The Doctor. She played someone playing a David Tennant/Matt Smith version of The Doctor. Whittaker's debut was similar to how the Ninth Doctor played his debut story in <i>Rose</i>, the Tenth Doctor played his debut story in <i>The Christmas Invasion</i> and the Eleventh Doctor played his debut story in <i>The Eleventh Hour</i>.<br />
<br />
In short, I did not see Whittaker's Doctor. I only saw a variation of a theme I've seen before.<br />
<br />
I did not accept Whittaker as 'The Doctor', but neither did I reject her outright. I do not see Her as 'The Doctor', at least not yet, not while She is all hyperactive and goofy. She did have some good moments, particularly when at the crane facing off against "Tim Shaw". It went alright but again, nothing that really stood out.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Woman-Who-Fell-to-Earth-Promo-Pics-batch-b-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the woman who fell to earth" border="0" height="180" src="http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Woman-Who-Fell-to-Earth-Promo-Pics-batch-b-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Part of it is not Whittaker's fault. <i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i> has so much wrong with it. There's the repeat of past debut stories: Doctor comes into present-day Britain just as Earth is facing an alien invasion with the new Companions finding themselves wrapped up in it. Curiously, only <i>Deep Breath</i> changed the formula somewhat by changing the time to the Victorian era, but that was to integrate the so-called Paternoster Gang into the proceedings.<br />
<br />
There are leaps of logic. How did She survive such a massive fall onto a train with nary a scratch. "Long story," She says, then it is never mentioned again. How Rahul not only found the transport but managed to bring it is left to our imagination. The tooth-stealing looked like a rip-off from <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2018/09/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review.html" target="_blank">Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom</a></i>.<br />
<br />
The villain was shockingly weak and boring, again, nothing we have not seen before on <i>Doctor Who</i>. From the pompous pronouncements to Her dismissive "Tim Shaw" (at least I think it was meant to be dismissive), he was probably the weakest part of the story.<br />
<br />
There are elements of other stories. Ryan's video log might be on the same channel as Elton's vlog from <i>Love & Monsters</i>. Yaz is the second 'policewoman' The Doctor has encountered after Amy Pond in <i>The Eleventh Hour</i>. Grace is not the first relative of a 'Friend' to die.<br />
<br />
There's the 'Friends', who are not all that interesting. The scene between Gill and Tosin when they see each other for the first time in years is particularly painful. Walsh, surprisingly, was better as this retired bus driver. He seemed to have a better handle on both Graham's crankiness (constantly asking about the DNA bombs within them, a good idea left unexplored) and his genuine grief for Grace.<br />
<br />
I think we could have done with Graham as Her only Companion, or at least him and Ryan, for Yasmin at the moment seems superfluous.<br />
<br />
<i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i> had some positives. Segun Akinola's score was pretty consistent in making things eerie and suspenseful. More importantly, it did not overwhelm the story though perhaps having a little lightness, especially when She has a 'funny line' might have helped the mood.<br />
<br />
Ultimately though, despite the wild praise She is getting and the applause for having The First Female Doctor, <i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i> was essentially same-old, same-old.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.0news.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Doctor-Who-The-Woman-Who-Fell-To-Earth-review-Jodie-Whittaker-delivers-blockbuster-performance-as-BBC-sends-out-statement-to-Netflix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image result for the woman who fell to earth" border="0" height="266" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.0news.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Doctor-Who-The-Woman-Who-Fell-To-Earth-review-Jodie-Whittaker-delivers-blockbuster-performance-as-BBC-sends-out-statement-to-Netflix.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">It's STILL an ugly costume!</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">3/10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <i>The Ghost Monument</i></span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-38929547068399129232018-10-06T11:45:00.000-06:002019-06-12T10:32:43.009-06:00Thoughts on Why I Oppose The Thirteenth Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In approximately 24 hours, Jodie Whittaker will make Her official debut as the Thirteenth Doctor on <i>Doctor Who</i>, becoming the first Woman to play the part.<br />
<br />
It might surprise people that I do not oppose a Female Doctor per se.<br />
<br />
I oppose the reasons we've been given, and therein lies the issue.<br />
<br />
If we had a Female Doctor for genuine story purposes then I do not see an issue. However, let's be honest with each other: 'plot' was not the given reason we had this change.<br />
<br />
The reason we got this change was simple: a group of fans of the revived series (herein referred to as 'NuWho'), along with a very activist press, decided that having a male play this role for over 50 years on television, film and audio was a sign of overt sexism. As such, they declared that "it is time" to have a Female Doctor for the sake of equality.<br />
<br />
Little girls needed a Female Doctor so they could see Females on television. They, in the minds of these fans and activists, could never enjoy the show with males in the title role, despite having done so for well over half a century (ten years if you count NuWho only).<br />
<br />
This change was not done because the series needed to have a Female lead. It was done as a response to those Social Justice Warriors who believe that there was something intrinsically wrong with men playing this particular role.<br />
<br />
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I genuinely do not know when having a male play a part that was written as male became such a crisis that it required a revamping to where Women needed to take that part. It seems curious to me that females have been dressing as the many incarnations of The Doctor with little to no issue until now. If these same cosplayers now say that they needed a Female Doctor so they could dress up as Her at a convention, I would say that their priorities seem a little askew.<br />
<br />
Oh, I've heard all the comments: that somehow I'm afraid of women, that I'm opposed to equality, that I cannot accept a Female being in charge, that <i>Doctor Who</i> has long-established gender swaps, that no one objected when said gender-swaps were done before.<br />
<br />
Sorry, but those arguments fall dead thanks to the production team itself.<br />
<br />
When Whittaker was announced, she declared that she was excited to take on the role "as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human...". Note that her first thought was 'as a feminist'. Why begin with such a statement, unless the actor in question sees her casting as a political statement?<br />
<br />
Whittaker, in the beginning, did offer an olive branch to those who saw her casting as a politically-motivated decision or at least one to keep with the British Broadcasting Corporation's 'Gender Equity Policy'. "I want to tell fans not to be scared by my gender".<br />
<br />
I could argue that 'scared' is a curious word to use, just as 'feminist' is a curious word to use if your casting had no ulterior motives, but at least she acknowledged that her casting would not be universally praised.<br />
<br />
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Sadly, since her initial statements Whittaker now has taken a more antagonistic tone, slightly pompous and as dismissive as when woke male feminist Chris Hardwick from The Nerdist ridiculed those who opposed the gender swaps as essentially pathetic losers "who've never screwed anything".<br />
<br />
As a side note, Hardwick is the type to say "Believe All Women" when it comes to accusations of sexual assault/harassment, until <i><b><u>he</u></b></i> becomes the one accused, then his fans who nod like bobbleheads at every pronouncement he makes can call that particular woman everything from a 'bitter ex' to a total 'psycho bitch'. Go figure.<br />
<br />
Whittaker for example has said that "it's a mistake to think that the only heroes are white men", so therefore we needed her to be cast in the role of The Doctor so 'little girls and boys could see that heroes can be male and female'. <br />
<br />
I'm not that much older than Whittaker, but I grew up watching or went on later to watch such shows as <i>The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, Dark Angel, La Femme Nikita, The X-Files, The Sarah Jane Adventures</i> and <i>Star Trek: Voyager</i>.<br />
<br />
Each, from what I remember, had female leads, all of them strong and more than able to stand on her own. One can make the argument that Agent Scully from <i>The X-Files</i> was a costar and not the actual lead, but she was just as important a part of the series as Agent Fox Mulder.<br />
<br />
I also know that the same fans whom Hardwick ridicules as ignorant for not agreeing with him also think highly of such females as Sarah Connor from the <i>Terminator</i> franchise, Ripley from the <i>Alien</i> series, The Bride from <i>Kill Bill</i>, Katniss from <i>The Hunger Games</i> and both Black Widow and Agent Carter from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<br />
<br />
Add to that Supergirl, Lara Croft, Jyn Erso and Rey from the recent <i>Star Wars</i> films and despite what Whittaker genuinely believes, the world was not starved for positive female action/science-fiction leads.<br />
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<br />
Again and again I point out that these same 'sexist' fans who are lectured to about how they cannot accept a female lead on <i>Doctor Who</i> due to misogyny or sexism consistently rank the Doctor's former Companion of Romana as among the Best of All Time.<br />
<br />
If <i>Doctor Who</i> was really interested in having a positive female lead/role model, the solution was simplicity itself: bring back the character of Romana for a guest appearance/story arc on <i>Doctor Who</i>, then spin her off for her own adventures. You would have the best of both worlds: a female-led show that kept to Canon AND had a show with a ready-made fan base.<br />
<br />
A theoretical <i>Romana: The New Adventures</i> would have had many male fans watching with it having nothing to do with 'eye-candy'. It instead would be due to the respect and admiration many Classic <i>Who</i> fans have for the character, one based on her intelligence, elegance and heart.<br />
<br />
However, Romana was never going to be brought back for the main reason that incoming <i>Doctor Who</i> showrunner Chris Chibnall wanted a Female Doctor from the word 'go'.<br />
<br />
It is highly amusing to see all those who tell me 'the best actor was cast and it just happened to be a woman' now scramble to make sense of this line of thought when Chibnall has openly said he always wanted a Female Doctor and that it was a condition of him taking the showrunner position. Essentially, the fix was always in, giving more credence to the idea that the casting of a Female Doctor was motivated by purely sociopolitical reasons.<br />
<br />
As a side note, there could never be a <i>Romana: The New Adventures</i> for the sole reason that NuWhovians, the main target audience of the show now, have never heard of the character. As such, they would have no point of reference.<br />
<br />
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Then there's the whole 'gender-swapping regenerations are long-established on <i>Doctor Who</i>'. "Long-established" is a curious term, given that the concept was first introduced in 2011 with <i>The Doctor's Wife</i>. Since then, we've seen two gender-swapping Time Lords: The Master into The Mistress or 'Missy' and The General from an old white man to a not-so-old black woman.<br />
<br />
As a side note, it's curious that when The General in <i>Hell Bent</i> regenerated into a woman, she made surprisingly misandry remarks, talking about how 'unnatural' it was when she was a man and complaining about coping with so much ego. <br />
<br />
It is curious that all these gender-swapping regenerations have been, as of this writing, in one direction: male-to-female. We have yet to have a female Time Lord regenerate into a man. Until such a time as we see that, I won't accept that this 'long-established' routine was not the opening steps to have this ultimate move to a Female Doctor.<br />
<br />
I have not seen every Doctor Who story, but in the Classic series, I cannot recall a time when gender-swapping was common or even possible, let alone mentioned as de rigueur among Time Lords. In fact, the opposite was believed. A general theory about Time Lord regenerations held that Female Time Lords were better able to control or even manipulate their regenerations because they were exclusively Female.<br />
<br />
Romana's transformations in <i>Destiny of the Daleks</i>, along with a comment by the Female Time Lord villain The Rani about how she 'at least could choose her appearance' in <i>Time & The Rani</i> if memory serves correct lent credence to that theory.<br />
<br />
Then again, that was Classic <i>Doctor Who</i>, which for many NuWho fans, is irrelevant to the show they watch and sob over. <br />
<br />
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Circling back to the main point of this essay, everything about the casting of Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor points to this being motivated by the desire to curry favor with SJWs and to promote an agenda versus actually serving the series.<br />
<br />
There's the trailer where The Doctor literally breaks a glass ceiling. There's her first line of dialogue upon seeing Herself for the first time, "Ah, Brilliant", which I misheard as "Oh, Berlin".<br />
<br />
That last one is a puzzle: after being a male for thousands of years and eleven regenerations, The Doctor's first reaction to seeing himself as a Woman for the first time ever is "Ah, Brilliant". It isn't genuine shock? It isn't surprise? Instead, it's to remark how 'brilliant' it is?<br />
<br />
Again, I'm not buying that.<br />
<br />
I've had my say. I am not opposed to a Female Doctor, and I will give Jodie Whittaker and the new production team a chance. This is important given that Chris Chibnall now gets his chance to recreate the show in his image.<br />
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I figure few NuWho fans know that when <i>Doctor Who</i> was first on the air, none other than Chris Chibnall appeared on the show <i>Open Air</i> in 1986, where and when at age sixteen years old he questioned then-<i>Doctor Who</i> showrunner John Nathan-Turner and writers Pip & Jane Baker on the abysmal nature of that season/series.<br />
<br />
I can imagine Chibnall at that age saying to himself, 'I can do much better than they can'. Now, thirty-plus years later, he has his chance. He can remake <i>Doctor Who</i> in his own image, and I think he is damn well going to try.<br />
<br />
He has declared there will be no returning monsters/characters from the series, Classic or NuWho. He has a reworked musical theme. He also gets the historic note of having the First Female Doctor, something never done before and which Chibnall insisted be a condition of him accepting the showrunner position.<br />
<br />
He essentially is doing a second soft reboot to the series (the first soft reboot a mere two series/seasons ago with the intentionally-named <i>The Pilot</i>). The show has been struggling creatively and ratings-wise. The YA spin-off <i>Class</i> flopped big-time. Despite the much-vaunted <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/worldwide/2017/doctor-who-china" target="_blank">Memorandum of Understanding</a> with the Chinese Shanghai Media Group Pictures company, <i>Doctor Who</i> is not guaranteed to be produced for five more seasons/series.<br />
<br />
It is barely hanging on, with diminished interest among the general public. The decision to cast a Female Doctor has divided the fanbase, some swearing off the show forever and Chibnall, Whittaker and various media outlets showing contempt for these fans.<br />
<br />
Chibnall, Whittaker, these media outlets and those who cheer them on insist that those who left either in disgust or boredom with the show will be replaced with those who think it is all wonderful. Some of the more optimistic insist that ratings will increase.<br />
<br />
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I do not believe any bump that Series/Season 12 gets from the First Female Doctor will hold. I do not believe that those who celebrate The First Female Doctor will stay longer than three episodes at most. For them, it was never about the show itself. It was about making a statement, and now that that statement has been made, they will move on.<br />
<br />
Once the novelty wears off, will <i>Doctor Who</i> Series/Season 12 get more viewers and hold the ones that stayed, let alone win over those who left? Chibnall, Whittaker and Hardwick don't want those who left to return. They've made that clear.<br />
<br />
The question now is, 'will the ratings increase?' I believe initially they will, but I hold that the ratings for Episode 6 will be the measure of whether <i>Doctor Who</i> survives beyond an unlucky Series 13. By then, the show will be more than half done, the Female Doctor no longer a newsworthy event. If they remain flat or worse, go down, the show will not survive to let Whittaker regenerate into...a Black Doctor? An Indian Doctor? An Indian Woman Doctor?<br />
<br />
If they manage to survive to a 14th Doctor, they cannot go back to a white male lest they be accused of re-instituting the bigotry Whittaker's Doctor was meant to abolish. They then open themselves to accusations that having a black male or a woman of color Doctor is a stunt, something that those who opposed a Female Doctor in the first place said it was.<br />
<br />
I expect reviews for <i>The Woman Who Fell to Earth</i>, Whittaker's debut story, to be rhapsodic no matter how good or bad the episode is. Who knows: maybe I will end up liking it. Reviews for this episode will be irrelevant. Ratings will tell the real story, and even then, it is the ratings for Episode 6 which I believe will reveal the state of <i>Doctor Who</i>.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, while I wish the show well, I cannot muster much enthusiasm for the way Chris Chibnall wants to live out his teenage fantasies about how he knows better when it comes to <i>Doctor Who</i>.Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-89796360331409772902018-09-24T14:56:00.003-06:002018-09-24T14:56:44.071-06:00The Doctor Is Out: Why 'Doctor Who' Is Not My Doctor Who<br />
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<br />
This is a sad tale, a tale of divorce: my divorce from <i>Doctor Who</i> 2.0 (generally known as NuWho). It's one I have shared with others, but now I put this out so that everyone know why I have, very sadly and painfully, come to see that the current version of <i>Doctor Who</i> is <i>Doctor Who</i> in name only and has nothing to do with the 1963-1989 series that I so loved.<br />
<br />
When <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2010/05/in-full-bloom.html" target="_blank">Rose</a></i> premiered in 2005, I was very excited. At long last, <i>Doctor Who</i> returns! I know some either didn't want it to return or wanted it to return to its previous format, but I was not concerned about that. I was just happy that a show I loved as a kid on PBS was coming back.<br />
<br />
I cajoled a friend who had BBC America to let me watch it, and at the time, I was not disappointed. <i>Rose</i> was not the greatest episode, but I enjoyed it, as I did the first season for the most part.<br />
<br />
When Christopher Eccleston left and David Tennant took his place, my enjoyment and delight in <i>Doctor Who</i>, along with my firm acceptance of it being Canon to the original series (Classic <i>Who</i>) continued unabated. I had essentially become a fanboy.<br />
<br />
EVERY episode was THE GREATEST EPISODE EVER!<br />
<br />
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Then came <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-worst-doctor-who-of-all-time-of-all.html" target="_blank">Love & Monsters</a></i>, and <i>Doctor Who</i> died.<br />
<br />
The plot was idiotic.<br />
The characters were awful.<br />
The monster was both idiotic and ugly.<br />
The oral sex joke was obscene.<br />
<br />
<i>Love & Monsters</i>, simply put, horrified me in a way I had never been horrified before. It shocked me, not just in its awfulness but in its nastiness, even hatred towards <i>Doctor Who</i> fans. Far from being a 'love letter' to the fanbase, <i>Love & Monsters</i> delighted in ridiculing them, portraying them as virtual losers.<br />
<br />
For the first time in my <i>Doctor Who-</i>watching experience, I was figuratively and literally disgusted. I'd seen some bad Classic <i>Who</i> episodes such as <i>Timelash</i> and <i>Delta & The Bannermen</i>, but they were more clumsy than downright grotesque as <i>Love & Monsters</i> was.<br />
<br />
I was stunned, shocked, and moreover, fiercely jolted from my unquestioning fandom. It was a genuine shock, but in a sense a good one in that from that moment on, I no longer accepted or delighted in everything NuWho. I began to reevaluate whether my support and enjoyment of what had come between <i>Rose</i> and <i>Love & Monsters</i> was more a result of sensibility than sense.<br />
<br />
<i>Love & Monsters</i>, I've often said, was so horrifying that I refused to watch <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-only-thing-we-have-to-fear-is-more.html" target="_blank">Fear Her</a></i> because its trailer was part of <i>Love & Monsters</i>, and while I stumbled into <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-monster-mash-up.html" target="_blank">Army of Ghosts/Doomsday</a></i>, essentially I quit watching <i>Doctor Who</i> at that moment.<br />
<br />
It didn't help that the fabled meeting of the Daleks and the Cybermen was a letdown, but that's for another day.<br />
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When I learned that David Tennant was leaving and being replaced by Matt Smith, I decided to give <i>Doctor Who</i> a second chance. It has nothing to do with Smith himself. I just decided that perhaps enough time had passed for me to metaphorically 'heal' from the horror of <i>Love & Monsters</i> to where I could essentially start fresh.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it was a case of 'fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me', but the pattern repeated itself.<br />
<br />
I thought Smith was instantly successful as The Doctor in <a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2010/04/apple-day-brings-doctor-to-stay.html" target="_blank">his debut episode</a> and that things were starting to go right. I was not as enthusiastic and cheering as I had been prior to <i>Love & Monsters</i>, but I thought things were going to get better.<br />
<br />
I was sadly and quickly proved mistaken.<br />
<br />
Elements of his first series/season didn't shock me, but made me slowly dislike Smith's Doctor, a dislike that grew to downright detesting.<br />
<br />
He was billed as 'childlike', but I found him a perpetual idiot, incapable of understanding the most rudimentary things. <br />
<br />
It didn't help that we had the suggestion that one of his Companions, Amy Pond, essentially tried to rape the Doctor and that his other Companion, Rory (Pond) Williams kept dying more often than <i>South Park</i>'s Kenny.<br />
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<br />
Jumping into the series with Smith's Doctor was also my first introduction to River Song, and I instantly hated her. Perhaps she was wonderful in <i>Silence in The Library/Forest of The Dead</i>, but in <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2010/05/weep-me-river.html" target="_blank">The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone</a></i>, I found her smug, arrogant, obnoxious, unpleasant. I also found something that later <i>Doctor Who</i> episodes confirmed.<br />
<br />
For all intents and purposes, she was the actual star of the show to where The Doctor was almost a guest character. <br />
<br />
River Song is the worst type of character. She is a catchphrase machine ("Hello, Sweetie" and "Spoilers" now spouted out like it's Scripture). She is shown repeatedly as superior to the main character. Many times was River Song shown as smarter and more capable than The Doctor, which in turn diminished him as a character.<br />
<br />
The nadir of all this is in the first story I saw with Song in it: <i>The Time of Angels</i>, where she infamously lands the TARDIS without its iconic 'whooshing' sound. This character then smugly turns to our lead character and retorts, "It's not supposed to make that noise. <i><b>YOU</b></i> leave the parking brake on".<br />
<br />
This genuinely angered me for a few reasons. One: that 'whooshing' sound was part of <i>Doctor Who</i>, so having this interloper say that somehow it wasn't rubbed me the wrong way. Two: it showed The Doctor as a total buffoon as well as one who acquiesces to this insignificant person. Three: it elevated Song to a higher level than she merited. Four: all other Time Lords' TARDIS made that sound, so it was really just stupid.<br />
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As <i>Doctor Who</i> continued, I kept watching despite my growing dislike towards it bordering on hatred. I don't think it was 'hate-watching'. It was a genuine hope that things would get better.<br />
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They didn't.<br />
<br />
When Smith left the series, I was hopeful that his successor, Peter Capaldi, would bring about an improvement. Certainly, his casting was a change: gone were the pretty boys that girls (mostly) could 'squee' about. He was also going to be a 'darker' version of The Doctor, someone who was going to be less the pleasant boyfriend or bumbling schoolteacher we'd had.<br />
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Promises, Promises...<br />
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It's hard to believe in a 'dark Doctor' when you see him fighting Robin Hood with spoons or worse, see him ride into a cheap version of Medieval Times on a tank while shredding on his electric guitar. Frankly, I cringe at that memory.<br />
<br />
I sat watching this in perhaps not disbelief but in utter dismay, wondering where the promise and potential for this show went.<br />
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By this time, I would say I was no longer a fan. I watched in the same way one watches a train wreck: fascinated at how disastrous it all is and more fascinated that so many both viewers and production team genuinely thought this was somehow brilliant.<br />
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It wasn't that there weren't good things within the Capaldi Era. Certain episodes like <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-mural-project-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">Flatline</a></i> and the unfortunately-titled <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-mummy-dearest-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">Mummy on the Orient Express</a></i> were flashes of brilliance and harked back to Classic <i>Who</i>. However, those were few and far between.<br />
<br />
We had to endure such horrors as <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-scrambled-eggs-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">Kill the Moon</a></i> (or as I call it, <i>Kill the Egg</i>), <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-clean-up-crew-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">The Caretaker</a></i>, <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-medieval-times-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">Robot of Sherwood</a></i> (the one where he meets a fictional character, Robin Hood, as if he were an actual historical figure),<i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-deep-dark-woods-of-doctor.html" target="_blank"> In the Forest of the Night</a></i> and <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-sleep-crust-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">Sleep No More</a></i> among so many awful moments. <br />
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The last two were so awful that my bete noire Kyle Anderson at The Nerdist, who usually shills for every <i>Doctor Who</i> episode as if each one were on some <i>Citizen Kane</i>-level of brilliance, found pretty appalling.<br />
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And now we come to The Thirteenth Doctor.<br />
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Ever since <i>Doctor Who</i> decided to swap the gender of the renegade Time Lord known as The Master into The Mistress or 'Missy', it was only a matter of time before we got a Female Doctor. The transition was part 'testing the waters' and part 'establishing possibility'.<br />
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'Missy' was a terrible character because She was no different from the previous version of The Master. Essentially, She was a crazed Mary Poppins who was more annoying than genius.<br />
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However, the reason we got 'Missy' apart from some kind of 'shock/twist' with regards to The Master that was anything but a 'shock' or a 'twist' is to show that Time Lords can switch gender.<br />
<br />
Let's put some things out here. There is nothing wrong with a Female Doctor if it were for actual story reasons. However, in a case of 'The Doctor doth protest too much', the transition is not being done for any other purpose than a cold sociopolitical motivation.<br />
<br />
Each of the transitions for Time Lords that have been seen have been in one direction: male-to-female. The Master-Mistress. The General from old white guy to not-so-old black woman. The Doctor.<br />
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Even worse, in Capaldi's last episodes, he has to recite this pompous speech about how Time Lords are 'beyond gender'. Virtue-signaling par excellence.<br />
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A stronger case for gender-swaps would be made if we saw a female-to-male regeneration. However, we have yet to see that, and it is unlikely that we will see that. If we had the Classic <i>Who</i> villain The Rani, a female Time Lord, regenerate to The Rajah, then you could say that it is 'more common'. If we had the Doctor's former Companion, the Time Lord Romana, return and become 'Roman', then perhaps we could accept the gender-swaps.<br />
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However, we didn't, and I don't expect we ever will. Simply put, Missy and The General were part of a plan to retool the show to be more about 'social justice' than about a time traveler's adventures.<br />
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In another post, I will expand on thoughts regarding a Female Doctor, but for now I can say that while I will watch, and while I do wish Jodie Whittaker the best, I find that this show is no longer connected with the <i>Doctor Who</i> that ran from <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2010/01/in-beginning.html" target="_blank">An Unearthly Child</a></i> to <i>Survival</i>.<br />
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It's a whole other show that merely uses the name 'Doctor Who'. <br />
<br />
It has the trappings of the old <i>Doctor Who</i>: two-hearted alien from Gallifrey who travels through time and space in a time machine known as The TARDIS, who has 'Companions' with whom he travels with and can change appearance.<br />
<br />
However, it rarely if ever makes reference to what came before <i>Rose</i>. The BBC is promoting the new Doctor with '13 Days of <i>Doctor Who</i>', but despite its name this marathon will have only NuWho episodes. A true '13 Days of <i>Doctor Who</i>' could have one day devoted to 'the best of' each Doctor before 2005 (<i>The Aztecs, Tomb of the Cybermen, Inferno, Genesis of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani, Vengeance on Varos, The Curse of Fenric</i>) along with selected episodes of NuWho.<br />
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Instead, under new showrunner Chris Chibnall, this version seems determined to remove all aspects of what came before.<br />
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Worse, it seems equally determined to purge fans like me, who stuck with the show during its 'wilderness years' and who kept watching even after I found the quality sinking.<br />
<br />
It does this by calling me 'sexist' for objecting to the reasons behind a Female Doctor. Note I said <i>'the reasons behind</i> a Female Doctor', not 'a Female Doctor' itself. If an effort to convince me that this was not only natural but done for non-SJW reasons had been made, I could have come around.<br />
<br />
Instead, I along with others was mocked, insulted, trashed, dismissed and harangued.<br />
<br />
I had already had problems with <i>Doctor Who</i>: bad stories, unpleasant characters, a lack of quality. The sole <i>Doctor Who</i> spinoff I saw, <i><a href="http://rickssecretarchives.blogspot.com/2010/01/class-series-one.html" target="_blank">Class</a></i>, was not helpful (done in, in part, by again appealing to some social justice agenda rather than focusing on telling good stories). This change did not help in winning me over, not because I think a Female Doctor is a terrible idea, but because the motives behind it are so blatant.<br />
<br />
I will watch the Whittaker version, but at this point, I do so not as a fan but as a disinterested party.<br />
<br />
<i>Doctor Who</i> 2.0 is simply not for me anymore. I used to love this version. However, I find that I part in very bittersweet sorrow. Truth be told, I probably would have quietly left even if they had brought in another male for the part. The fact that the Doctor was made into a Woman in and of itself is not the killer.<br />
<br />
It is that they hold their virtue signalling and 'moral superiority' over everything else.<br />
<br />
I'm too disillusioned to work up enthusiasm anymore.<br />
<br />
I used to care, but things have changed.Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-4787441003796531382018-02-25T12:53:00.004-07:002018-02-25T12:54:34.499-07:00Doctor Who Story 030: The Power of The Daleks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 030: THE POWER OF </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE DALEKS</span></b></div>
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<i>The Power of the Daleks</i> is not known to have any existing prints as of this writing, which is a great tragedy as it is the first story of Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor. This is perhaps one of the most important stories in <i>Doctor Who</i>, as it would allow for that transition between actors that would be later known as 'regeneration'. Now we have the animated reconstruction of <i>The Power of The Dalek</i>s, and we see that it is a brilliant debut story, if perhaps at six episodes, a bit long.<br />
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Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) are shocked to find a strange new man in front of them. Polly is convinced this new man whom they saw change before their eyes is 'The Doctor', but Ben is not. The Doctor (Troughton) is acting strangely, wearing funny hats and playing a recorder. He also insists on going to explore where they've landed, and soon they find themselves thrust into a murder mystery.<br />
<br />
The Doctor finds a dead body, whom he finds is 'The Examiner', sent to examine something. He has no problem removing the dead man's badge, and is soon struck from behind. Guards pick up Ben and Polly, and the three are taken to meet with Governor Hensell (Peter Bathurst). The travelers discover they are on Vulcan, probably named for the high amount of high heat activity going on, and everyone on Vulcan is supposed to give the Examiner complete access.<br />
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However, one person is not eager for interruptions: Lesterson (Robert James), conducting his very careful experiments. It isn't long until The Doctor discovers what Lesterson's experiments are for. It is to revive strange objects he has found in a lost spaceship.<br />
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The Doctor introduces Ben and Polly to the Daleks.<br />
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The Doctor pleads with everyone on Vulcan to destroy these creatures, but Lesterson is convinced they will help in the mining on Vulcan. He is especially convinced of that since he 'gave them life' and because the primary Dalek says to them, "I Am Your Servant".<br />
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If all that wasn't enough, there is revolution and coups going on around Vulcan. Deputy Governor Quinn (Nicholas Hawtrey) is suspected of murder and attempted murder, but the travelers don't believe it. Polly is abducted to try and keep her quiet, and Ben is later taken when Lesterson's assistant Janley (Pamela Ann Davey) is discovered to be majorly involved with the rebels.<br />
<br />
The rebels, however, are being manipulated by acting Deputy Governor Bragen (Bernard Archer), who is playing both sides in an effort to take total control of Vulcan. Lesterson is oblivious to all this, but his focus on reviving the Daleks is causing greater danger. He agrees to give the Daleks all the materiel they want, ostensibly to help revive them but really to help create more Daleks.<br />
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With this new Dalek army arising, they will let the humans fight each other and then take Vulcan, exterminating all the surviving humans foolish enough to think they could either use the Daleks or think they would ally with them.<br />
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The Doctor now desperately tries to destroy the Daleks and save his Companions. He gets help from an unlikely source: Lesterson, who has discovered the Daleks' duplicity which has driven him mad. Hensell is assassinated by Bragen and the 'revolution' has begun. Bragen's plan was to use the revolution to seize power, then eliminate the rebels once their usefulness ended. The Daleks were a last-minute addition to his plan, but the Daleks in turn took the opportunity to play both sides against the other.<br />
<br />
The Doctor manages to destroy the Daleks by overloading their power source, with help from Valmar (Richard Kane). a rebel mole who sees how they've all been played. With the traitors killed and the Daleks apparently exterminated themselves, the Doctor and his Companions leave before they are seen.<br />
<br />
There is one Dalek, however, who appears to have survived.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tardis/images/1/1c/The_Power_of_the_Daleks_Trailer_2_-_Doctor_Who/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20161018192906" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for the power of the daleks" border="0" height="179" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tardis/images/1/1c/The_Power_of_the_Daleks_Trailer_2_-_Doctor_Who/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20161018192906" width="320" /></a><i>The Power of the Daleks</i> was an incredibly intelligent way to begin the Second Doctor's tenure as it attract viewers to perhaps the show's greatest villains. Who else but The Doctor could face off against the Daleks, making their first appearance since <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2011/06/best-laid-plans-of-daleks-men-go.html" target="_blank">The Daleks' Master Plan</a></i>?<br />
<br />
The fact that the Daleks appear to recognize the Second Doctor as THE Doctor helps.<br />
<br />
The animated reconstruction I think also helps to show how epic this story was. At the end of Episode Four, where we see the massive number of Daleks appearing and their assembly line-like creation, it is both chilling and a sign of how the production values at the time could be expanded.<br />
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In the surviving clips from <i>The Power of the Daleks</i>, we can clearly see that most of 'the Daleks' were really cutouts or toys, but the animation allows for a larger scope. Even the sight of a Dalek outside its metal casing is still quite effective.<br />
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It's a bit hard to judge performances given the circumstances, but the audio suggests that Troughton was indeed a very worthy successor to William Hartnell, whom he was replacing. He was still sort of feeling his way around the role, his incessant recorder playing and goofy hat sometimes diminishing his stature. However, he also was very strong and authoritative when he was pursuing his own goals.<br />
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Troughton showed the deviousness and intelligence of this apparent clown, such as when he keeps trying to make his glass of water 'ring' while locked up. This is driving his next-cellmate Quinn crazy, but it is clear why the Doctor is doing it: he realizes the locks are triggered by a specific decibel, and the water is his way of trying to find the exact level to free themselves.<br />
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Craze and Wills had a slightly harder time, as they as the audience identification had to work to make their shock and eventual acceptance of this new figure as The Doctor as smooth as possible. David Whitaker's script was wise in having them essentially play two sides of this debate. Polly is more readily accepting that this new man is The Doctor, while Ben holds out for a longer period of time.<br />
<br />
I do think that it was a mistake to have Troughton's Doctor refer to himself in the third person. In the beginning, he says things like 'where does The Doctor keep his diary?' and things like that where he says 'The Doctor' rather than "I". Eventually this was dropped and perhaps it was to make this all more mysterious but it made things a bit bumpy in accepting him when he didn't appear to accept himself.<br />
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Moreover, there was never a definitive moment when the Doctor just said "I Am The Doctor", and I think perhaps we could have had a scene where the Companion's doubts, especially Ben's, were addressed. Granted, all this was new in 1966, so we do cut them some slack.<br />
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The other performances were quite good. Of particular note is James as Lesterson, who goes from crazy about the Daleks to just plain crazy. His shift from seeing himself as the 'resurrector' of the Daleks to seeing them as the new order that would wipe out the humans is in turns frightening and sad. Archer's power-mad Bragin is also quite strong, a man who is unmasked as evil.<br />
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Hawtrey's Quinn may have been a bit more noble than I would have liked, but it is still a good performance, as was Davy's Janley. Maybe it's a sign of the times, but I would have cast Davy as maybe Lesterson or Bragin, to see what a woman could do with a role that wasn't an 'assistant'.<br />
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Whitaker's script also did something that might not have been intentional. The Daleks are a variation on Nazi ideology: their will to power, their plans for 'extermination' and belief in their total superiority and the destruction of their 'inferiors'. What was new here is that Bragin and his troops had on very fascist-looking uniforms. I don't know if they meant to echo collaborators who surrender to the Nazi/Daleks, but it was a smart move.<br />
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As for the animation itself, it mostly worked. Whenever they were animating non-humans, it was astonishing and beautiful.<br />
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I should note I saw the black-and-white version, not color.<br />
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As stated, the sight of the Daleks, or when we see shadows and the various rooms, is so well-rendered. The transitions from the Dalek eye to a round window in Episode Four is also extremely effective.<br />
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It is when we see the humans that we see the work is almost ghastly. Of particular note is the animation for Michael Craze's Ben. His chin is massive and it looks nothing like Craze. Craze's face looks almost ghoulish. Wills' illustration was slightly better, as was Troughton's. However, for the most part the animated faces had little expression, giving the odd effect of looking as if they were not reacting.<br />
<br />
Moreover, the movements were more in line with paper cutouts than of anything truly animated. The animation for another Troughton story, <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2012/11/who-knew-cybermen-were-so-animated.html" target="_blank">The Invasion</a></i>, was more realistic with the human characters. Yet I digress.<br />
<br />
In terms of the overall story, I still think <i>The Power of the Daleks</i> was an episode too long, especially given that the Dalek attack was one to two episodes when I would have liked to have seen more. I think Episodes One and Two could have been compiled into one, but I confess never being a fan of stories that over four episodes with a few exceptions such as <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-fire-this-and-next-time.html" target="_blank">Inferno</a></i> or <i>The Daemons</i>. Still, <i>The Power of the Daleks </i>is one of the best debuts for any Doctor, and a fine way to begin the Second Doctor's tenure.<br />
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In Episode Five, a Dalek asks Bragin after he's killed the Governor, 'Why do human beings kill human beings?' It's sad that Daleks appear to have more sense in not destroying their own than we do*.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">9/10</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Available Story: <a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2011/11/still-waters.html" target="_blank"><i>The Underwater Menace</i></a></span></b><br />
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*Unless there is an animation reconstruction of <i>The Highlanders</i> in the future, where we meet future Companion Jamie McCrimmon, we move on to the earliest Second Doctor story to have a complete episode. Note that the linked review for <i>The Underwater Menace</i> was before a second episode was rediscovered in 2011. A review for the reconstructed <i>The Underwater Menace</i> is forthcoming.Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-75202157619713480592018-01-02T13:45:00.001-07:002018-02-25T11:27:15.972-07:00The Long Goodbye of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 276: TWICE UPON A TIME</span></b></div>
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Well, that was nothing.<br />
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<em>Twice Upon A Time</em>, the final story for the 12th Doctor, was fifteen minutes of story fitted into ninety-odd minutes of running time. There was not much point to it, especially since it was a regeneration story. It did take a lot of time trashing the legacy of the First Doctor and it had a lot of 'everybody lives' which fits into Steven Moffat's worldview. For all the Sturm und Drang <i>Twice Upon a Time</i> had, it was all just...nothing.<br />
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The 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is refusing to regenerate, but then he comes across a strange figure. It's none other than The First Doctor (David Bradley), who himself is refusing to regenerate as he wanders away from the events of his final story, <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2014/01/ice-station-cybermen.html" target="_blank">The Tenth Planet</a></i>. Into this mix comes a World War I figure known as 'The Captain' (Mark Gatiss), shocked to find himself in the South Pole in 1986.<br />
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The Captain was about to either kill or be killed in 1914 Ypres, but then time freezes and he finds himself having been taken out of time, which is something to do with the Doctors refusing to regenerate. All of them now meet 'The Testimony', a glass figure that insists The Captain be returned to his exact moment of death. An exchange is offered: The Captain for a chance to see 'her' again. That her is Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie), but the 12th Doctor is a.) suspicious that it is the Real Bill and b.) won't let The Captain die.<br />
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Escaping 'The Testimony' the four go to the First Doctor's own TARDIS (the 12th Doctor's now in the hands of The Testimony), and we get quips from the First Doctor about women, the 12th working to not have his former self say sexist things, and Bill telling us she's a lesbian once again (six out of thirteen episodes by my count where she mentions her sexual orientation). <br />
<br />
We also arrive at The Weapon Forges of Villengard, where the 12th searches for information about The Testimony and The Captain.<br />
<br />
Here, we meet up with Rusty, the Dalek the 12th crawled into in <a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-fantastic-voyage-of-doctor.html" target="_blank">a previous adventure</a>. We find that The Testimony is really part of The Testimony Foundation, which swoops people just before they die, collects all their memories, and sends them back to die, so in a sense they don't die.<br />
<br />
Seriously, Moffat has to see a psychiatrist about his issues with Death (and How to Avoid It).<br />
<br />
Seeing that the Testimony is not malevolent, the two Doctors decide they will regenerate and return the Captain a couple of hours after he got swept up into this mess. As a last request, he asks them to 'look in' on his family. His family? The Lethbridge-Stewarts, of course, for Captain Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart is (presumably) the grandfather or great-grandfather of The Brigadier.<br />
<br />
However, as it happens, Captain Lethbridge-Stewart does not die (that old 'avoid Death at all cost, logic be damned). As he is about to shoot and get shot by a German soldier in No Man's Land, we hear the first verses of <i><span style="color: blue;">Heilige Nacht</span></i>, and the British soldiers begin singing the English version, <i><span style="color: blue;">Silent Night</span></i>. They've arrived at the Christmas Armistice, the one-day peace moment in World War I.<br />
<br />
With that, the First Doctor goes back to regenerate into the Second, the 12th gives a long speech to his TARDIS and he finally regenerates into The Woman (Jodie Whittaker), who looks at herself and says "Ah, Brilliant", even if I heard Her say in her Yorkshire accent, "Ah, Berlin". Hitting a button, the TARDIS promptly tosses Her out of the TARDIS...<br />
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<i>Twice Upon a Time </i>should satisfy NuWhovians whose only knowledge of Classic <i>Doctor Who</i> comes from the new series. It has everything they love about NuWho: big pompous speeches, big tearful moments, no one dying, a bad musical score and massive points of illogic.<br />
<br />
Take for example the entire plot. First, the Testimony made much to-do about The Captain being taken out of his moment of death. They seemed pretty adamant about him returning to the exact moment of his death. However, in the end, for all the fuss and the 'he has to die at this exact time and place', Moffat couldn't let him die. The Captain lives through this, so what was the point of The Testimony being insistent that he be returned to that precise moment if he didn't die then?<br />
<br />
One presumes The Testimony knows exactly when The Captain will die, so they knew he wouldn't die December 25, 1914. He may die the next day, and it would have lent <i>Twice Upon a Time</i> more pathos if he had died just before the Christmas Armistice began. Moffat, however, couldn't do it.<br />
<br />
In his seven years as showrunner, he has gone out of his way to introduce the idea of Death only to back out of it again and again. In <i>Twice Upon a Time</i>, he's up to form, but no one ever calls him on how it renders his plots illogical and his efforts at moving moments moot. Why should I care or worry if I know everyone is going to live?<br />
<br />
Further, tying The Captain to The Brigadier is pathetic fan service, but what fan is he genuinely serving? Most NuWhovians have only the sketchiest idea who The Brig is: they probably still see the poor man flying about as a Cyberman. The Classic <i>Who</i> fans who know who The Brigadier is are probably either outraged that Gatiss has to tie himself into Classic <i>Who</i> or are so bored by the predictability of it all.<br />
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Nothing in <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2012/07/fear-factor.html" target="_blank">The Web of Fear</a></i>, the debut story for then-Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, or <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2012/11/who-knew-cybermen-were-so-animated.html" target="_blank">The Invasion</a></i>, where he is now Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, suggests that The Doctor knew the Lethbridge-Stewarts or had any connection to them. NuWhovians won't care or bother to look that up: for them, NuWho is gospel and cannot be questioned. This idea of making The Captain an ancestor of The Flying Cyber-Brigadier is nothing more than Moffat and Gatiss working out their own fanboy/egocentric fantasies, making sure they are essentially part of the larger <i>Doctor Who</i> mythos.<br />
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If one thinks about it, it's a wonder why anyone would think <i>Twice Upon a Time</i> would have NuWhovians watch any William Hartnell stories given what a wretched portrait of the First Doctor the story painted. It was so disheartening and sad and infuriating to see how Moffat, Gatiss, and everyone involved with <i>Twice Upon a Time</i> went out of their way to make The First Doctor into some kind of raging sexist male chauvinist pig.<br />
<br />
The First Doctor was never someone to think that women were inferior to him, only good for cleaning. He was very respectful of his Companions male and female. Barbara Wright, one of his first Companions, openly challenged him. He would never have asked Security Agent Sara Kingdom to 'do some cleaning up', and he never suggested that Polly, one of his last Companions, was only good to keep house.<br />
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It's a clear case of confusing the times with the man and character, but <i>Twice Upon a Time</i> went beyond disrespectful to Hartnell's memory and legacy as the First Doctor.<br />
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There are so many ghastly moments where Moffat went out of his way to thrash the First Doctor. "I am The Doctor and this is my...nurse," he tells the Captain while pointing to the 12th, adding that he knows it seems improbable because the 12th is a man. Nothing in the First Doctor's tenure ever suggested he thought men could not be 'nurses' or any other position.<br />
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More 'greatest hits' from The Faux-First:<br />
<br />
"Older gentlemen, like women, can be put to use".<br />
"In fact this whole place could do with a good dusting. Obviously, Polly isn't around anymore".<br />
"Well, he clearly misses you," addressing Bill. "That ship of his is in dire need of a good spring cleaning".<br />
""Well, aren't all ladies made of glass, in a way?"<br />
<br />
Perhaps the lowest point is when he overhears Bill call the 12th 'an arse'. "If I hear any more language like that from you, young lady, you're in for a jolly good smacked bottom".<br />
<br />
There is no way in Hell the First would <b><i><u>ever</u></i></b> tell any woman or person that he would 'smack their bottom' for any reason. Moffat is misquoting something the Doctor said in <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2010/07/girl-youll-be-woman-soon.html" target="_blank">The Dalek Invasion of Earth</a></i>, but in that instance, he was telling his granddaughter that bit about 'a smacked bottom'. There's a wild difference between telling one's grandchild and a perfect stranger that you are going to smack them on the behind.<br />
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This is taking a quote completely out of context, but it's the lowest point of the smearing of someone who didn't deserve this kind of treatment.<br />
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It's more the shame as I thought Bradley gave a good performance as The First Doctor if not hobbled by the dreadful dialogue he had to say. There were moments when I could see the First Doctor there, but they sadly were brief. Gatiss was unimpressive as 'The Captain', and Mackie was there just to remind us, again, that Bill is a lesbian.<br />
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Many NuWhovians shed tears when Clara and Nardole showed up, but for what they added it was a big 'who cares'.<br />
<br />
As for Capaldi, I think no one will remember anything about his performance save his big farewell speech. Is it now tradition for Doctors to be bombastic in their farewell stories?<br />
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<br />
Finally, let us turn to Her. I think Her first line, "Ah Berlin", I mean, "Ah, Brilliant", is to suggest that being a man all these thousands of years was dreadful. Remember, when the 10th regenerated to the 11th, he seemed genuinely shocked that he was 'a girl'. Now, we're all supposed to say that when he regenerated into She, it is 'brilliant' and something She has always wanted.<br />
<br />
Somewhere in the fact that She was essentially tossed out of the TARDIS is a metaphor.<br />
<br />
Many NuWhovians are praising Whittaker's one line, "Ah Berlin" as iconic, brilliant, what have you. Some even think She'll outdo Tom Baker's seven-year tenure as The Doctor. Honestly, I'd be surprised if She lasted two years...before the BBC cancels <i>Doctor Who</i>.<br />
<br />
It's not a slam on Whittaker or her acting abilities. It's a slam on Chris Chibnall and the BBC for deciding that for the sake of 'equality' and because 'it's "time" we had a Female Doctor', a change was made to placate people who for the most part don't watch the show.<br />
<br />
I predict Her debut story now won't get the massive jump I thought it was as The First Female Doctor, and that lousy stories, the bane of <i>Doctor Who</i> 2.0, will further sink a series in dire straits. The fans who were pushed out won't come back, the ones who swore they'd watch because of Her won't actually watch past the third episode, and those who do decide to won't make up the numbers.<br />
<br />
<i>Twice Upon a Time</i> is a bore, with a lot of smashing of established <i>Who</i> Canon. Despite seeing the back of Steven Moffat and Murray Gold (whose music is again so tone-deaf, adding cutesy comic music to scenes that do not need it), <i>Doctor Who</i> failed and is about to take a massive fall.<br />
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Be Careful What You Wish For.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Story: Ah Berlin</span></b>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-61627617528157322992017-09-27T18:16:00.000-06:002017-09-27T18:16:30.463-06:00Aragon vs. Anderson: Listen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Now that I have a few minutes free, I thought I'd go back to one of my great passions...bashing The Whorist (or as it's generally known, The Nerdist), in particular their </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Doctor Who</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> reviews by one Kyle Anderson.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Mr. Anderson (now doesn't that sound sinister) in my view, has rarely if ever met a </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Doctor Who</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">post-</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Rose</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> story that he hasn't </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><em><u>loved</u></em></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">. I don't mean liked. I mean </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><em><u>L-O-V-E-D</u></em></strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">, to where that particular episode is the Best </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Doctor Who</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> Episode of All Time...until the next episode when THAT becomes the Best </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Doctor Who</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> Episode of All Time. It's gotten to be almost a point of parody to see how Anderson rarely finds fault with a </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Doctor Who</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> episode. I don't mean just to nitpick on a few things. I mean give a bona-fide negative review. Even I, someone who has been vociferous in my condemnation for many NuWho episodes, do admit when I see a good one (like </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-mural-project-of-doctor.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #cc6611;">Flatline</span></a></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> or </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-mummy-dearest-of-doctor.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #cc6611;">Mummy on the Orient Express</span></a></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">). Anderson, however, will almost always find something to wax rhapsodic about, even on something as atrocious as </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-deep-dark-woods-of-doctor.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #cc6611;">In the Forest of the Night</span></a></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I was intrigued by this, so a little research was required. I went as far back as I could regarding Anderson's </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Doctor Who</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> reviews, and the earliest one I could find was the Series/Season Six opener, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Impossible Astronaut</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">. What I've done is taken Kyle Anderson's review verbatim, and offered my own 'translation' to the text to see what Anderson is, in my view, really saying. I also throw in my own thoughts as to what is being said.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I hope this will be a fun and informative journey into the strange mind of the Functioning Nerd.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I present Part 34 of The Nerdist as Whore: </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="color: #cc6611;"><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-monster-under-bed-of-doctor.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #cc6611;">Listen</span></a></span></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">. My 'translations' are in red.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">President
Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: red;"><b>TECHNICALLY, President Roosevelt said "the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself", but in this case, I'm not going to split hairs, as quotes are often misquoted. </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That appears
to be what was zipping around Steven Moffat’s brain when he wrote this week’s
Doctor Who episode, “Listen,” directed by Douglas Mackinnon. It’s an episode
all about being too afraid to function, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s an episode all about being too afraid to
function…as a rational, logical episode.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">or possibly
to realize the truth of what’s going on, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Something <i>Doctor
Who</i> abandoned long ago.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and one that
raises a lot of questions it doesn’t answer, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And will not only <i><u>never</u></i> answer, but leave a wild and outlandish continuity
error so brazenly irredeemable that not even our sycophantic Disfunctional Nerd
can possibly answer without going into mental contortions to try and make a
completely illogical plot thread work on any rational and/or coherent level.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and answers
questions we didn’t know we’d asked (but were glad we did). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This episode
boasts a very small cast, but very big ideas, a lot of creepiness, and a lot of
“probably”s that are PROBABLY true. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They are ‘probablies’ (yes, it’s not a word but I
think you change “y” to “-ies” to make something plural) because to use
‘probably’ is an easy and convenient way to explain away plot points and whole
stories that in retrospect, won’t make any sense. By saying ‘probably’, you have an escape
clause where you don’t have to tie yourself down to a particular point or plot
idea in <i>Listen</i> that another episode,
say, <i>Death in Heaven</i> or <i>Face the Raven</i>, will contradict or
render impossible</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every
series, I think, needs a good ol’ creepy ghosty scary episode and, (<a href="http://nerdist.com/doctor-whos-8th-season-gets-a-hide-of-its-own-with-listen/">as AliciaLutes aptly pointed out</a>),</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> “Listen” had a lot of Series 7’s “Hide” all over it, and that’s not at all a
bad thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From <a href="http://nerdist.com/doctor-who-review-hide/">Anderson’s <i>Hide</i> review</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I adored this episode, easily my favorite of this
half-series, and possibly for the whole series, but we’ll have to see about
that. It had everything I love about <i>Doctor Who</i> and did something
different. Sure, the end went a little soft, but it never got stupid or
implausible, which is truly commendable. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going
to go watch it again”. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s no surprise Anderson thinks having a lot of <i>Hide</i> isn’t a bad thing. It’s so rare when he thinks anything <i>Doctor Who</i>-related is a bad thing. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Honestly, in your heart of hearts, could the
closing paragraph from his <i>Hide</i>
review have come from just about <i><u>ANY</u></i>
Kyle Anderson <i>Doctor Who</i>-reviewed
story?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Listen”
begins with the Doctor talking to himself, something we know he does and have
seen him do quite a lot; this time, however, he ponders WHY he does it,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why ask why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My guess is because there is no one he can talk
to, with Wilson, I mean, Handles, gone and Clara a Part-Time Companion, though I'm sure Anderson wouldn't mind if Jenna Coleman were his...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">and if
possibly he isn’t talking to himself and that when people think they’re talking
to themselves they’re actually talking to a thing that’s hiding just out of
sight, something that follows everyone around at all times. That’s a pretty
terrifying thought, but certainly one most if not all of us have had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">That’s why
we’re afraid of the night, or of spooky old houses, or of forests,</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can you imagine how scary <i>In the Forest of the Night</i> must be then? In fairness, it was, though perhaps not the way Anderson might want to think, but now we're getting ahead of ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">or of
etcetera – because MAYBE someone or something else is there with you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Probably it
isn’t, but maybe it is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><span style="color: red;">OR IS IT?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moffat’s made a lot of generally mundane things quite
scary (like statues, silence, the dark, robots…errr), but now he’s actually
decided to make nothing scary. NOTHING, the concept. It’s terrifying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ladies and Gentlemen, The Most Terrifying Show In
History:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Clara,
meanwhile, has finally gone on her date with Danny Pink, and boy howdy does it
not go well.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jenna Coleman in <i>My Dinner with Danny.</i><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Danny’s very
touchy about having been a soldier, and doesn’t appreciate any kind of
offhanded comment about his having killed people in the line of duty, nor does
she appreciate being lumped in with all the other people who do make stupid
jokes like that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Far be it for me to be ‘highly critical when
needed’, but if I were accused of war crimes in the guise of jokes while on a
date, I’d be a bit touchy too. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From my
vantage point, I’d say Clara was shockingly insensitive, even condescending,
towards Danny. Here though, I figure it is reflective of Moffat's (and perhaps, Anderson's) worldview of those in the military. I figure in the U.K., you
don’t get people coming up to those in uniform and saying to them, “Thank you
for your service”. After all, all those
serving in the military are all war criminals, and generally stupid as well. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What was it Almost-President John Kerry said:
unable to get into college so they’re ‘stuck in Iraq (read: the military)’. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My sneaking suspicion is that Moffat genuinely feels the same as our almost Commander-in-Chief: only those with little to no education actually serve in the armed forces. This version of The Doctor certainly thinks so. Why else would he go on about how former soldier Danny Pink couldn't possibly be a maths teacher and had to be a P.E. teacher? There is a horrid elitism behind Moffat, The Doctor and Clara's thinking, one that seeps in and finds form in the dialogue. I've long argued that a writer's dialogue, consciously or not, presents his/her worldview through the stories and dialogue. The whole 'The Doctor hates soldiers' thread, I think, reflects both Moffat and the <i>Doctor Who</i> production staff's mindset.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b>We could go over again about the Doctor's deep affection and respect for The Brigadier, the epitome of the military, but why? Most NuWhovians have the vaguest idea of who The Brigadier was.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m sure Anderson would like to be touch-feely
with Coleman, but now I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s all a
bit of a mess, so she’s more than happy (or less than willing to argue too
hard) when she returns home to find the Doctor and the TARDIS waiting for her
in her room. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bless The Doctor: the only man who can be waiting
for Clara in her bedroom and not think about going to bed with her. Anderson, on the other hand…<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He tells her
his hypothesis and asks if she’s ever had the dream (or not a dream) where you
think someone’s in your room, so you sit up quickly and then something grabs
your ankle from under your bed. According to him, <i>everyone</i> has. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">THERE ARE MONSTERS UNDER ALL OUR BEDS!</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That seemed
like a flawed premise to me, but by time you get to the end of the episode, we
find out it IS a flawed premise, but one with a reason behind it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s a flawed premise, but one with a reason
behind it. Ah…is it me, or is Anderson's argument a trifle convenient and eager to cover up something that might not have sat right with him?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In order to
get some empirical evidence, the Doctor has Clara plug herself into the TARDIS’
psychic goo flanges to go back to a time she remembers it happening in her own
past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">She’s not
supposed to get distracted but she can’t stop thinking about Danny, and they
end up in Gloucester in the ’90s in front of a children’s home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">She’s never
been here, but immediately she sees why her mind brought them all: a little boy
in the window, named Rupert Pink, afraid of being alone.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Already the tangles are getting very knotty. The TARDIS is connected to Clara’s time-stream,
but it’s Rupert/Danny Pink’s past we go to.
Already, we’re getting the suggestion that Clara and Danny’s time-streams
are connected, but as we will see, it ain’t necessarily so. Perhaps here I can be a little more flexible, and maybe just thinking of someone will lead you to their past rather than their own. However, would this not mean that either Clara or the TARDIS had knowledge of Danny's past? How else could Clara get to Danny's exact childhood? If I didn't know something about the past of someone I know, how would I be able to go to find it?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I just find something here slightly amiss, but I can trust others to guide me if they can find the way.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She goes up
to see him and make him feel better while the Doctor asks the caretaker (under
the guise of being an inspector) whether strange or creepy things happen. The building’s
always creepy at night, isn’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clara tells
Rupert there’s nothing to be afraid of, because the only thing under the bed is
her, once she goes there. She beckons Rupert (who IS Danny, let’s face it) to
come under with her…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OH MY! We’re going from knotty to naughty. Rupert 'Danny' Pink in <i>Lolita: The Boy's Turn</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">then
something sits on the bed. Luckily, the Doctor’s there as well and whatever it
is on the bed is hiding under the bedspread. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'Whatever' is on the bed. Indeed, this is one of those pesky little
aspects to <i>Listen</i> that people consistently ignore because…THE FEELS!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Doctor
then gives Rupert a very lovely pep talk about fear being a super power that
scary things just don’t have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Be Not Afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was
such a great moment for the Twelfth Doctor and one of Capaldi’s defining scenes
so far. He’s been nothing but great in these kinds of scenes and I just think
he’s shaping up to be a wonderful, complex, and actually quite easy to like
Doctor, despite the “darkness” we’ve seen within him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OK, I’ll give him that: Capaldi has been better
than his material. However, given that this Doctor fought off Robin Hood with a
spoon, I find the ‘darkness’ claim a trifle dubious.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The three
stand looking out the window while the Doctor tells the thing to leave. He
thinks that if something had a “perfect” ability to hide, for someone to look
at it would be catastrophic, so better safe than sorry. Now, this PROBABLY was
just another boy in the home playing a prank, but can anyone be sure? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, let’s look at this particular situation. From
all appearances, there <i><u>was</u></i>
something alien in Rupert’s bed (and no, that isn’t a Jenna Coleman joke). What weird creature was lurking under the
covers? Though whatever was there disappears quickly, the quick look did not look human. So, was it human or was it otherworldly? </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, <i>Listen</i> never answers that, and we’ll never get an answer to this
particular curiosity because it’s a plot device, a way to get Rupert to ‘be
scared’ but which leaves a viewer who actually thinks things through hopelessly
frustrated. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’ll be left forever hanging, because either
answer (it was an alien or it wasn’t) will have no logical basis can be drawn
on the evidence. If it was alien, we’ll
never know what it was, how it got there, why it was there. If it wasn’t, then that is the best costume
for an orphan ever made.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It's a needless mystery, but one that Moffat needed because a.) he needed to make an episode last a certain amount of time, b.) he had to hammer in his point, and c.) 'analytical critics' like Kyle Anderson will rarely if ever question anything.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clara gives
him a toy from a box of soldiers which she calls the boss, the one who goes
into a battle without a weapon because he’s the bravest (while Mackinnon
focuses on the Doctor in the background…great moment) and the time travelers
leave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OK, I’ll concede that too: that was a good, subtle
commentary on The Doctor.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clara gets
the Doctor to take her back to the restaurant, just moments after she left and
things with Danny seem to be going well again, until she lets slip that she
knows his name is Rupert. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jenna Coleman in <i>My Dinner with Rupert</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have a question at this juncture. Clara didn't know Rupert/Danny was in a children's home (read: orphanage) prior to her journey to the past, but she still managed to get to his childhood because she was thinking of him. Now, after essentially popping back into their disastrous dinner, she lets out something that shocking to him? Again, something here is still amiss. What could it be?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He doesn’t
like being lied to, but she can’t even make up a story because someone in a
space suit is beckoning her back to the TARDIS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This signals the first part of the story ran out
of steam, so we need something wild to put us in the second part.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s not the
Doctor, it’s someone who looks AMAZINGLY like Danny. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMAZINGLY!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s Orson
Pink, a time traveler from 100 years in the future. The Doctor found him
through searching Clara’s time stream again (clearly something’s going on
between the Oswalds and the Pinks). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guess again, oh Highly Analytical Critic. Guess again. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Listen</i> is tying itself into Gorgon knots that not even our Andy will be able to untangle. </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He’s been
stranded on the Last Planet in the Universe, a desolate rock with nothing, no
life, no sounds, no anything. And yet, even though there is truly nothing out
there, Orson has been terrified of the night because he thinks something might
actually be out there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is he afraid of the dark?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Doctor
has Orson and Clara wait in the TARDIS while he opens the lock and lets
whatever’s out there in. But he gets his head knocked and almost gets sucked
out the airlock, but Orson saves him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t want to sound too picky here, but Anderson
uses ‘but’ twice in the same sentence. I
was taught that one doesn’t begin a sentence with ‘but’, but it seems that
sentence is a bit off structurally. Any
grammarians are free to pipe in.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the
Doctor unconscious and something outside (or maybe it’s just the air settling),
Clara uses the psychic circuits to take them somewhere else. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">They arrive
in a barn or stable and she follows the sound of a small child crying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She assumes
it’s Rupert again, or Orson, but when people arrive, she hides under the bed.
They talk about how he’ll never be a good soldier if he keeps crying, nor a
good Time Lord. WHAAAAAAA?!?!? Clara has somehow gone to the Doctor’s childhood
on Gallifrey (which doesn’t REALLY make sense given that Gallifrey is hidden
somewhere in another universe, but I’m willing to overlook that). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://www.joebrower.com/PHILE_PILE/PIX/FR/Casablanca_Renault-SHOCKED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.joebrower.com/PHILE_PILE/PIX/FR/Casablanca_Renault-SHOCKED.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>SHOCKED that Kyle Anderson would be willing<br />to overlook something which doesn't<br />REALLY make sense</strong><strong>!</strong></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am curious though, is the TARDIS still stuck
looking up Clara’s timeline, because if it is, it’s doing a damn lousy
job. It’s taken her to Danny/Rupert’s
past, the future of someone named Orson Pink, and now The Doctor’s. Either she’s related to ALL three of them, or
there a major malfunction somewhere in all this.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She realizes
it’s her being there that causes the Doctor to fear the dark, and dreaming, and
being alone. She tells him it’s a dream, gives him the same speech as he gave
young Rupert, and then says a line Hartnell says in “An Unearthly Child” all
the way back in 1963 – “Fear makes companions of us all.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I take great umbrage at the use of this line because it is taking the line
completely out of context. He said that in response to his Companion Barbara’s
comment in the story. It wasn’t meant or intended as
some grand philosophical statement, but as a reply.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I get that Moffat was nodding to the original
series, but the ‘fear makes companions of us all’ bit is stretching
things. Further, I am mistrustful of
Anderson’s cheering on something that doesn’t quite fit just because it sounds
nice. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Also, how does The Doctor NOT remember Clara, whom
he’s essentially met twice before meeting her multiple times when she was split
through time to save him, again and again? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We also see
a glimpse of the War Doctor walking with the Moment back to this very stable,
clearly a place where he felt safe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because we needed the “War” Doctor (or as I call
him, the real Ninth Doctor) shoehorned in to please Moffat’s ego.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Listen” is
a truly wonderful episode that only makes sense once the whole thing is
completed, like the best of Moffat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">“Listen” is a truly wonderful episode that only makes sense once the whole thing is completed, like the best of Moffat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">“Listen” is a truly wonderful episode that only makes sense once the whole thing is completed, like the best of Moffat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">“Listen” is a truly wonderful episode that only makes sense once the whole thing is completed, like the best of Moffat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">“Listen” is a truly wonderful episode that only makes sense once the whole thing is completed, like the best of Moffat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything
we thought was scary actually WAS the “probably” we all tell ourselves to make
us feel better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I CAN'T BREATHE...I need a few minutes. Oh, Kyle, even for you you've gone overboard. You transcend ass-kissing into straight-up rimming.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was
another little boy under the comforter; it was just a dream about someone under
your bed;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>It Was All A Dream. What is this: </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Doctor Who</i><b> or </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Dallas</i><b>?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">it was just
the Doctor being scared of being alone and in the dark. It was all there. So
often, <i>Doctor Who</i> takes things every little kid fears and says, yes, it
actually is something scary; here, Moffat tells the audience that being scared
is normal and it doesn’t always point to a real danger, that being afraid is a
badge of honor and can help you become brave, and that admitting you’re afraid
can be the bravest thing of all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Such a
lovely episode.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><span style="color: red;">Something tells me that Kyle Anderson liked Listen. What say you?</span></b></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="http://www.joebrower.com/PHILE_PILE/PIX/FR/Casablanca_Renault-SHOCKED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.joebrower.com/PHILE_PILE/PIX/FR/Casablanca_Renault-SHOCKED.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>SHOCKED that Kyle Anderson liked a </strong></span><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em>Doctor Who</em> episode!</span><br /></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oh, and I
didn’t mention yet this time out: Jenna Coleman is SO FRIGGING GOOD!</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, and he didn’t mention yet this time out: Jenna
Coleman is SO FRIGGING HOT!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My God,
they’ve just been giving her cracking things to do and she’s been delivering to
the Nth degree. She’s great great great. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I so look
forward to see where the Danny/Clara storyline goes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nowhere, Fast. Let me play psychic to his psycho, but the Danny/Clara storyline will end up being a rubbish heap of total nonsense that Kyle Anderson will insist is a hallmark of genius.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">but mostly I
look forward to where she goes as a character, because right now she’s easily
my favorite companion of the new series. Yeah, I said it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="http://www.joebrower.com/PHILE_PILE/PIX/FR/Casablanca_Renault-SHOCKED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #888888; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.joebrower.com/PHILE_PILE/PIX/FR/Casablanca_Renault-SHOCKED.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">SHOCKED that Clara is his favorite</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Companion of the new series! <br />SHOCKED I SAY!</span></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Next week, we have a heist… in a bank… having to do
with time… and a weird Not-Ree-Yees alien creature and Keeley Hawes looking
stern librarian. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b><span style="color: red;">I can genuinely say I have no idea what he's talking about at this point, though to be fair I rarely can make genuine sense out of Anderson's cheerleading, as muddled as most <i>Doctor Who</i> episodes are nowadays.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Time Heist” is next week, written by Moffat and Stephen
Thompson and directed again by Mackinnon. Have a gander!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And let’s talk about “Listen” below! Did you like it
as much as I did?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That, my dear Kyle, is impossible.
No one can like a <i>Doctor Who</i>
episode more than you. Then again, no
one gets paid to like them more than you.
Yeah, I said it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-39975574352555732962017-07-15T21:38:00.001-06:002017-07-15T21:38:18.180-06:00The Cyber Attack of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 275.2: THE DOCTOR FALLS</span></strong></div>
<br />
Well, perhaps a better title would have been <em>The Masters Fall</em>, since for some reason the last two people to play our renegade Time Lord were the de facto stars of <em>The Doctor Falls</em>. Our last episode of Series/Season Ten was like so many Season/Series finales of <em>Doctor Who</em>: big, overblown, with mad Masters, flying Cybermen, and crying Cybermen.<br />
<br />
Maybe in retrospect, it should have been called <em>Death in Heaven Revisited</em>.<br />
<br />
The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is holding off regeneration as much and as long as he can, because in the end he'd rather not change. Before all that, though, The Doctor, along with his Companion Nardole (Matt Lucas) and his late Companion-now-Cyberman Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) have moved up to higher levels aboard the ship carrying humans. It was a daring escape from The Master (John Simm) and his regenerated form, The Mistress (Michelle Gomez), better known as Missy. <br />
<br />
It was a strange escape as Nardole comes to the rescue from the invading Cybermen army. They are programmed to go after all humans, so the Masters will be immune, or so they think. The Doctor, however, during the confusion from last episode, has instead issued new programming: to go after all those with two hearts. With that, all their lives are at risk. <br /><br />It looks like Missy is struggling between being reformed and being her old transgendered self, as she literally knocks it off with 'the ex'. Now at least temporarily away from the Cybermen, the Doctor and Nardole are awaiting them to come up. Bill, however, still sees herself as human, even though she is a Mondasian Cyberman, whose appearance terrifies the children.<br />
<br />
It is a race to get to the TARDIS and hopefully save the children, but no easy task as The Master continues to play at a long game.<br />
<br />
Why The Doctor and Nardole, or any of the few adults with the children don't bother to lock up the Master/Mistress but keep the harmless Bill shut up in a barn we will never know.<br />
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<br />
It's now time for a battle between the survivors and the evolving Cybermen, but still Mass-Miss can't let go of being evil, or so it appears. The Mistress can't remember any of this even though technically it should be in her/his past, something to do with their timelines being out of sync.<br />
<br />
How that wasn't a problem for the Second and Third Doctors to remember in <em>The Five Doctors</em> when they had met before in <em>The Three Doctors</em> is something that, again, we will never know.<br />
<br />
The Mistress decides that she will be good, and that means killing The Master. She stabs him in the back, which will cause him to regenerate, ostensibly to her. The Master, not to be outdone, shoots The Mistress in the back with his laser screwdriver in full force, which means she will not regenerate and thus, it's the End of The Mass-Miss.<br />
<br />
As a side note, maybe it should get a point just for that.<br />
<br />
The Doctor gets Nardole to spirit the children to safety and manages to defeat the incoming Cybermen, but at the cost of his life. Cyber-Bill saves him, and now finds herself reunited with Heather (Stephanie Hyam), the lesbian puddle she first encountered in <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-gay-companion-of-doctor.html">The Pilot</a></em>. Bill's tears have brought them together, and now Bill is like Heather. They go off together to travel the stars, taking the time to place the Doctor in the TARDIS.<br />
<br />
The Doctor continues to suppress his regeneration, but he can't hold it off forever. Perhaps he might not have to, as a strange figure emerges from the snow. The Doctor tells the figure he's The Doctor, but the figure dismisses it. "You may be A Doctor, but I'm THE Doctor. The original, you might say," to reveal none other than the First Doctor (David Bradley).<br />
<br />
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<br />
Now, I find the appearance of The First Doctor to be most amusing, but not perhaps in the way one might think. Bradley played William Hartnell in <em>An Adventure in Time and Space</em>, about the creation of <em>Doctor Who</em>. I would find it endlessly amusing if Capaldi's Doctor ended up on the <em>Doctor Who</em> set in 1963-66 and discovered that he was talking to William Hartnell, not The First Doctor, and he discovers that a whole show was built around him without his knowledge.<br />
<br />
That way, we could have Bradley <em><strong>playing</strong></em> Hartnell <strong><em>playing</em></strong> The First Doctor rather than having Bradley play The First Doctor. Otherwise, you can't explain to me why Bradley wasn't hired to play the First Doctor and have other actors play the Second and Third Doctors (I think Sean Pertwee would have been keen on playing his father's most famous role as a tribute) in <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2013/12/impossible-things-are-happening-every.html">The Day of The Doctor</a></em>, making it a genuine 50th Anniversary Special rather than the Eighth Anniversary fest it ended up being.<br />
<br />
No case can now be made to have not included any of the Doctors in <em>The Day of The Doctor</em> apart from Tennant, and especially having created that abomination known as "The War Doctor". I'm going to go on a bit of a rant against those called The Nerds on a Couch, who lectured me about how my not accepting "The War Doctor" and calling him The Real Ninth Doctor was wrong because, parroting <em>The Doctor Falls</em>' writer Steven Moffat, 'he didn't call himself The Doctor, hence he somehow doesn't count in the numerical order'.<br />
<br />
Fine, have it their own way, but it doesn't mean I have to accept it.<br />
<br />
Leaving that aside, <em>The Doctor Falls</em> is more nonsense that passes for genius. <br />
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<br />
A lot we've seen before: The Master created the Cybermen, Cybermen who can fly. Even the Mondasian Cybermen, who exhibited no aviator abilities in their debut story, <em><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2014/01/ice-station-cybermen.html">The Tenth Planet</a></em>, now can rocket through various levels of the spaceship.<br />
<br />
One Cyberman, however, can resist being made into a virtual machine. Last time, it was the dopey Danny Pink crying to save Clara. This time it's the not-dopey Bill Potts, who still gets to live a life with Heather, whom she didn't even date if I remember correctly.<br />
<br />
As a side note, does anyone else think that it's kind of cruel to Bill's long-suffering foster mother to never see Bill again? Bill didn't even have the courage to come out to her non-blood relative.<br />
<br />
That ending, which I'm sure made many a NuWhovian cry, is also reminiscent of last series/season's ending <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-immortal-beloved-of-doctor.html">Hell Bent</a></em>, where Clara, one heartbeat away from death, got to travel the universe in her own makeshift TARDIS with the immortal Me. <br />
<br />
It's as if Moffat can't be bothered to come up with anything truly original. He essentially plagiarizes himself, and everyone applauds him for it.<br />
<br />
My sense is that Simm is just there for decorative purposes, as The Master really doesn't do much apart from dance with himself and perform the oddest version of suicide. For a nice chunk of The Doctor Falls, he isn't even the main foil. That would be Gomez' Mistress, who sadly never convinced me she even struggled to be good.<br />
<br />
It's a curious thing, isn't it: how The Doctors and The Masters really never changed. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors were pretty much the same, and The Master/Mistress were too. There didn't seem to be much point to either in the end.<br />
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<br />
It's good to know that Pearl Mackie will go down as one of <em>Doctor Who</em>'s better Companions. I'd say that she might be among the best NuWho Companions, her mix of strength, intelligence, and vulnerability a welcome tonic from the bossy know-it-alls Amy and Clara. <br />
<br />
It's also good to know that Peter Capaldi will go down as one of <em>Doctor Who</em>'s better Doctors, and both were far better than some of the sorry material they had to work with. Capaldi's performance in <em>The Doctor Falls</em> also was excellent: his mix of intelligence, regret, hope, fear, and anger all combined to make him a strong figure but one who still was struggling to do good against almost impossible odds.<br />
<br />
A lot seemed anticlimactic: Heather just popping up to whisk Bill away, the Masters killing each other, The Doctor able to suppress his regeneration for days on end (which makes me wonder how he managed that, but I leave it up to other people to explain such things).<br />
<br />
I also leave it up to other people to explain whether <em>The Doctor Falls</em> somehow alters <em>The Tenth Planet</em>, or if a lot of <em>The Doctor Falls</em> was a repeat or variation of other Series/Season finales. <br />
<br />
As I look at <em>The Doctor Falls</em>, all I can say is 'he can't get up'.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">2/10</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <em>The Doctors</em></span></strong>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-37162200272005125722017-07-12T18:19:00.001-06:002017-07-15T21:43:03.534-06:00The Master Plans of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 275.1: WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME</span></b><br />
<br />
As we wrap up the final series/season of Peter Capaldi's turn as The Doctor, <i>World Enough and Time</i> informs us of a few things.<br />
<br />
The Doctor's name may indeed be 'Doctor Who'.<br />
The Doctor may have once been a woman.<br />
Steven Moffat essentially created the Cybermen.<br />
<br />
And those are just a few tasty tidbits from <i>World Enough and Time</i>, a reminder of two things: that when <i>Doctor Who</i> slides, it slides hard, and the Steven Moffat created everything: the Daleks, the Master, and now the Cybermen.<br />
<br />
The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) wants to give The Mistress aka Missy (Michelle Gomez) a chance to be a good girl. This chance comes when he sends her, along with his Companions Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) to respond to a distress signal on a ship. Missy being Missy, she can't get things quite right. She pops out of the TARDIS saying, "Hello, I'm Doctor Who", then proceeds to insult Bill and Nardole by calling them among other things, "Thing One and The Other One" and "Exposition and Comic Relief".<br />
<br />
In fairness, that is what Bill and Nardole are, but is it wise to draw so obvious a point?<br />
<br />
This ship is attempting to pull out of a black hole. Things, however, are not going well in that the back of the ship is going at a faster rate than the the front of the ship, where they are at. That is why it appears that there are thousands of people there when the original crew was only fifty. Those now coming to the top are coming after humans, but none of them nor Jorj (Oliver Lansley) are human.<br />
<br />
Bill is though, and Jorj shoots her dead, as humans are the ones the others are after. Bill, however, is revived and repaired and even upgraded into a rudimentary Cyberman, with only the chest device. As time goes by faster for her than for The Doctor, The Mistress, and Nardole, she watches them figure things out while she works for and with Razor, a cleaner with a vaguely Russian or Slavic accent.<br />
<br />
Bill also sees that many of the 'patients' at the Hospital are in terrible agony but not quite human. She can hear them on their machines calling out 'Pain' and 'Kill me'. She pushes on, waiting for The Doctor to rescue her. <br />
<br />
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<br />
All the more the pity, for we find that Bill is in much greater danger than she or any of them can imagine. It revolves around Operation Exodus, the efforts to escape from the dangers of the lower levels. <br />
<br />
Razor, far from being a friend, turns out to be a foe, and a dangerous one at that. By the time everyone else reaches the bottom, we find that Razor is actually The Master (John Simm), returned from I haven't the foggiest notion.<br />
<br />
The Master and The Mistress: Together Again At Last...For the Very First Time. Missy tried to change, but found it was simply too hard to do so. She joins forces with 'the ex', and now they are in cahoots, leaving the Doctor and Nardole shocked. Even more shocking is when they find themselves facing a Mondasian Cyberman, and that that Mondasian Cyberman is none other than Bill Potts transformed.<br />
<br />
Bill-in-Cyberman form holds out her hand, saying "I waited for you", before we see a tear slide down from outside her.<br />
<br />
How <i>World Enough and Time</i> and the second part of this two-part finale, <i>The Doctor Falls</i>, squares with the story of the Mondas Cybermen from the First Doctor story <i><a href="http://www.rickstexanreviews.com/2014/01/ice-station-cybermen.html">The Tenth Planet</a></i> remains to be seen. However, my sense is that Moffat clearly wanted to connect the Cybermen to himself. The line the Master says about witnessing 'the Genesis of the Cybermen' just struck me as very odd.<br />
<br />
It struck me also as very self-serving, attempting to connect the distant past to the present through Moffat. It was Moffat who came up with the idea of <a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2013/05/whos-in-name.html">having Clara tell the First Doctor which TARDIS to steal</a>. It was Moffat who came up with the idea of <a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-monster-under-bed-of-doctor.html">having Clara also inspire the Doctor as a child</a> that fear of what was beneath the bed. It was Moffat who came up with the idea of the Doctor's great 'love', Rover Song. <br />
<br />
That being the case, why shouldn't Moffat also take credit for bringing about the Cybermen?<br />
<br />
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<br />
There are some cringe-inducing moments in <i>World Enough and Time</i> that I think too many are willing to overlook. The Mistress dabs. Nardole wants a selfie. The Master adopts a Slavic accent that borders on parody.<br />
<br />
Leaving aside those naked appeals to Millennials that instantly date the episode (can you imagine the Third Doctor or The Master doing The Hustle?), I wonder about the logic of Gomez's interpretation of The Mistress.<br />
<br />
This version apparently doesn't know or understand how The Doctor or his Companions work. If we go back into his early days when interacting with the Third Doctor, you could see in Roger Delgado's work as The Master that he understood perfectly how people behaved. In fact, part of the Master's appeal whenever hoodwinking others, apart from he used hypnosis, was that he used his charm.<br />
<br />
Now, Moffat has made The Master/Mistress into this unhinged, irrational being. I suppose because he went a little mad from childhood one could cut him some slack, but then we have to go back and wonder how as a child he went crazy, as an adult he became extremely rational, then at the Time War he went bonkers again.<br />
<br />
Well, I won't beat this bit too much, but there are other elements that have me a bit nonplussed.<br />
<br />
The Doctor at one point claims he doesn't remember if The Master or even himself was a man or a woman when they met at the Academy. That strikes me as idiotic. I'd like to know in what scenario the Doctor was ever a woman before Hartnell. I'd also like to know how the Doctor claiming that The Mistress was "the only person I've ever meet whose even remotely like me?"<br />
<br />
What does he mean by that? In terms of being the only Time Lord? I'm sure Romana would have something to say about that. In terms of being involved in other worlds? Again too, if we go back to The War Chief or The Meddling Monk, he can hardly make that kind of claim.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
Finally, the whole 'Doctor Who' bit has been beaten by Moffat beyond death. It's a fixation for him, and so illogical. The Doctor has never, to my memory, called himself 'Doctor Who' as if 'Who' was his name. Yes, there have been times in the past when he and the show had some fun with 'Doctor Who', but I don't think he's ever called himself 'Doctor Who', let alone introduced himself as 'Doctor Who'. Others point out that in the credits he was billed as 'Doctor Who', but I think that's a rather tenuous claim that the credits equal the actual name, which has been kept stubbornly a mystery.<br />
<br />
Part of it I think stems from Moffat's idea that his is the right one, and part of it stems from his ability to mock those who disagree with him.<br />
<br />
In terms of the episode itself, I give credit that <i>World Enough and Time</i> echoed some horror film in the <i>Cure for Wellness</i> style: all the grays and dark looks of a world of terror. It did have a very creepy feel to it.<br />
<br />
Still, so much of it wasn't to my liking. Simm coming back will have to open up questions of continuity, though in this case I'm hampered by the fact I haven't seen most of the Tennant Era do to the horror that was <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-worst-doctor-who-of-all-time-of-all.html">Love & Monsters</a></i>. I don't think he added much if anything other than 'oh, look, it's The Master'.<br />
<br />
It was interesting that <i>World Enough and Time</i> went back and further back in the story, starting with the tease of the Doctor in the throes of regeneration, then to the arrival on the ship with Missy channeling her 'oh, I'm crazy and funny' shtick, then further back to getting Bill and Nardole to do this test-run.<br />
<br />
As much as I may have thought it bad, there were good things in it. There's the aforementioned cinematography, and Pearl Mackie's performance. She has become one of NuWho's best Companions, and deserved a better fate than she got, especially when you compare it to Clara's eternal sendoff. Her fears, her hopes, and her sadness all came shining through.<br />
<br />
I watched <i>World Enough and Time</i> with very little interest and a strange puzzlement as to why so many praise it. I look at this first part as nothing more than Steven Moffat deciding it was better for him to write his fanfic as Canon than in giving either Peter Capaldi or Pearl Mackie a proper finale.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">4/10</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Next Episode: <i><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-cyber-attack-of-doctor.html">The Doctor Falls</a></i></b></span>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-89880085067446202592017-07-06T19:08:00.001-06:002017-07-15T16:40:39.054-06:00The Scottish Sojourn of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 274: THE EATERS OF LIGHT</span></strong></div>
<br />
<em>The Eaters of Light</em> brought back Rona Munro, whose last <em>Doctor Who</em> story was the last <em>Doctor Who</em> story of the Classic Era: the ironically-named <em>Survival</em>. She now has the distinction of being the first and so far only writer to write for both the original and revived series. As such, I think <em>The Eaters of Light</em> is a throwback to the original series, one that might have fit in perfectly within that time. <em>The Eaters of Light</em>, in fact, is more proof that Series 10 has been better than what we've seen in the past. While not perfect, <em>The Eaters of Light</em> has more pluses than minuses.<br />
<br />
Bill (Pearl Mackie) is now an expert and enthusiast on Roman history, particularly of the Roman invasion of Britannia. She gets the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) to take her to Scotland, where she theorizes that the legendary lost Ninth Legion will be found. They take Nardole (Matt Lucas) with them. She knows that the Ninth are there, or at least their remains, but the Doctor is not convinced.<br />
<br />
Soon, they are split up, and Bill literally falls in with the surviving members of the Ninth Legion, while the Doctor and Nardole are taken by the Pict children who defeated and slaughtered the rest of the Ninth. They do share a common enemy: strange creatures that are devouring people, leaving them husks.<br />
<br />
The Doctor investigates and finds that these are locust attracted to light, feeding off it. What he thinks are mere seconds to him he finds have been days of him lost in the chamber where the Pict people go once a generation to be Gatekeepers. Soon, the Doctor establishes that the current Gatekeeper, a girl named Kar (Rebecca Benson) allowed one of them to escape so as to defeat the invading Roman army, but now unless they get the locust back, he will start devouring everything with a light source, up to and including the Sun.<br />
<br />
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Bill, meanwhile, is still with the last of the Ninth, young boys who fled in terror and fear they are cowards. Their leader, Lucius (Brian Vernel) appears to fancy Bill, but upon being told by her that she's a lesbian, he is none too fazed. After all, he admits to being bisexual and that one of his soldiers is gay himself. While fleeing the locust, they find the Pict, the Doctor, and the Noodle, I mean, Nardole.<br />
<br />
They must put aside their differences to defeat this creature, but how will they defeat it? First, with some music, they draw it into the cairn where the other creatures are attempting to enter. Next, the Doctor opts to sacrifice himself so that he can continue fighting them, his regenerative abilities allowing for a longer lifetime to fight them.<br />
<br />
This none of them want, particularly Bill. Kar and Lucius join forces in overwhelming the Doctor, who is knocked down. Bill tells him he's wrong, and Kar, Lucius, and the remaining members of the Ninth Legion enter the portal to do battle against the Eaters of Light for time and eternity.<br />
<br />
There are things about <em>The Eaters of Light</em> I didn't care for, in particular how the transgender Master (Michelle Gomez) was fitted in there. I figure Munro pretty much had to include her. I also saw that Nardole continues to be unnecessary: he could have easily been removed from <em>The Eaters of Light</em> without impeding the story much, if at all. <br />
<br />
It is curious though that the main things I didn't like about <em>The Eaters of Light</em> are things that Rona Munro had nothing to do with. Just about everything else I did enjoy tremendously.<br />
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<br />
Well, there was one thing that left me a bit puzzled: the sex talk between Bill, Lucius, and the other Ninth Legionnaires. I don't think Bill mentioning her lesbianism was forced or as part of a way to bring in some agenda into the show. We forget that in Roman times, homosexuality was more open, where people could have all sorts of liaisons and few thought much of it. Now, the Romans, despite their lack of shock over same-sex relationships, themselves did not have same-sex marriages and apart from people of dubious reputation, like Emperor Nero, confined marriage itself to opposite sex regardless of actual attraction.<br />
<br />
Yet I digress.<br />
<br />
It's not the homosexuality of Bill or bisexuality of Lucius that makes me question the inclusion of it in <em>The Eaters of Light</em>. It's the idea that a man, even a bisexual one, automatically finds the first woman he's seen in a while as a sexual being. If <em>The Eaters of Light</em> had been along the lines of a Classic <em>Who</em> story, I think they would have worked well together, but there wouldn't have been talk of romance or sex among them, even if homosexuality were more open then than it is now. I favor having no sex talk at all, but as it stands, Bill mentioning that she prefers females for sexual activities, in the context of the episode, wasn't outrageous or irrational.<br />
<br />
In short, I'm not up in arms about it, but wonder if I might be wrong and there might be an agenda behind it all. After all, BBC America during the episode aired a promotional spot about 'Love' that featured only same-sex relationships from their shows: <em>Doctor Who, Orphan Black</em> and <em>Class</em>. <br />
<br />
No mention of heterosexual love, which is more prevalent. Curious that.<br />
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In terms of story, while the actual Eaters of Light weren't a great menace, they were menacing enough. Again, if this had been made back when <em>Doctor Who</em> ran thirty minute episodes, it probably would have been a three or four-part story. The story holds up logically and gives the performances a chance to really showcase their abilities.<br />
<br />
I think Pearl Mackie has done a sensational job as the Companion Bill: her mix of smarts and sensitivity a welcome tonic from the egoism of Clara and weepiness of Rose. Here, she finds the logic, on her own, on how she is able to understand what these disparate groups are saying. She hears English, the Romans hear Latin, and the Picts hear Celtic, so it is wonderful to see her think this through.<br />
<br />
Granted, one wonders why she didn't think of this before, but we're not going to go into hysterics about it.<br />
<br />
Capaldi showcases too why he would have ranked as one of the great Doctors if not for the lousy stories he's had to do. Here, his willingness to sacrifice himself, his ability to take charge, to be dismissive of a child threatening him all work to make him a heroic figure with intelligence.<br />
<br />
I also liked Benson and Vernel as Kar and Lucius respectively. They worked well together and separately, both in their way showing they were in many ways too young for the burdens they had to carry. It almost makes one sad to see them go and fight forever, though as warriors it isn't a surprise.<br />
<br />
Lucas is still the odd man out, and read 'odd' in whatever way you want. He wasn't necessary to the story and it went well without him.<br />
<br />
Sometimes the humor seemed really dumb (such as when the Doctor claimed to have been a Vestal Virgin Second Class, a bit like Clarence in <em>It's A Wonderful Life</em>). Still, apart from a few things like weak humor and maybe a bit of a rushed ending, <em>The Eaters of Light</em> is another strong episode in a Series that has really been a marked improvement over the last few.<br />
<br />
Lead, Kindly Light...<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>8/10</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Next Story: <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-master-plans-of-doctor.html">World Enough and Time</a></em></strong></span>Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-77422313882333532072017-07-05T08:33:00.001-06:002017-07-15T16:41:15.936-06:00The Martian Chronicles of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 273: EMPRESS OF MARS</span></strong></div>
<br />
Some people, it appears, are easy to please. <em>Empress of Mars</em> has received glowing reviews. <em>Doctor Who</em> fans that I know were completely enraptured by it, and hold it up as some great moment in DW history. I'm not sure why since <em>Empress of Mars</em> is a retread of what we've seen before: structurally and story-wise. Mark Gatiss, who believes himself a genius, basically took the same ideas of his last Ice Warriors story, <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2013/04/that-sinking-feeling.html">Cold War</a></em>, and opted to use them again, this time with even less positive results.<br />
<br />
<em>Empress of Mars</em> is pretty standard plot-wise: The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and his Companions Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) go to NASA and see a message on the surface of Mars: God Save the Queen.<br />
<br />
They go to Mars and find living underground a group of Victorian soldiers, led by Colonel Godsacre (Anthony Calf). His second in command, Captain Catchlove (Ferdinand Kingsley) is hostile to a lot of what the Colonel wants, though both tell the Doctor and Bill that they came to Mars for a specific reason. In South Africa, they found Friday (Richard Ashton), an Ice Warrior who is 'the last of his kind', and in return for helping him get back to Mars, Friday would get them Martian treasure.<br />
<br />
There was none, and supplies and morale are low. Fortunately, with the help of a giant laser named Gargantua, they uncover a tomb: that of Empress Iraxxa (Adele Lynch). Despite the Doctor's warning against digging more into the tomb, rogue soldiers go in and try to steal treasure, awakening Iraxxa. <br />
<br />
Well, she goes on attack, the Doctor negotiates something of a truce but Catchlove wants to strike. Godsacre doesn't and orders no action against the awakened Empress, but Catchlove leads a coup where he reveals Godsacre was hanged for desertion but survives.<br />
<br />
Iraxxa awakens her Ice Warriors, they begin fighting, Godsacre locks up Bill and The Doctor. Nardole is written out of the script via going to the TARDIS, which conveniently drives itself away and is sent to Earth.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, Godsacre kills Catchlove to stop the war, Iraxxa accepts him as a noble warrior, the war is averted and the Ice Warriors are welcomed by Alpha Centauri (92-year-old Ysanne Churchman, returning to do a cameo as the character she voiced in the Third Doctor stories <em>The Curse of Peladon</em> and its sequel, <em>The Monster of Peladon</em>). The Doctor, Bill, and Godsacre are the ones who made the message. As for Nardole, he manages to come back, thanks to Missy (Michelle Gomez), whom in desperation Nardole got to pilot the TARDIS to Mars.<br />
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If you see <em>Cold War</em> and then see <em>Empress of Mars</em>, you'll note several similarities between them to where if both weren't written by Mark Gatiss, you'd thought the latter plagiarized the former. <br />
<br />
In both, the TARDIS disappears by itself, leaving the Doctor and his female Companion stuck.<br />
<br />
In both, the second-in-command is more aggressive in fighting the Ice Warriors than the actual commander, who advises caution.<br />
<br />
In both, a soldier breaks into where the frozen Ice Warrior is and awakens it.<br />
<br />
In both, the main Ice Warrior communicates to other Ice Warriors to come to his/her aid.<br />
<br />
In both, the female Companion speaks directly to the main Ice Warrior to help him/her stop the fighting.<br />
<br />
In both, the Ice Warriors and humans are mistrustful to the point of fighting.<br />
<br />
In both, it is professional military people fighting the Ice Warriors (Soviet sailors in <em>Cold War</em>, Victorian soldiers in <em>Empress of Mars</em>).<br />
<br />
In both, the humans have a doomsday-like device that can kill everyone (nuclear weapons in <em>Cold War</em>, the Gargantua laser in <em>Empress of Mars</em>).<br />
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Not only is <em>Empress of Mars</em> derivative of <em>Cold War</em>, but in terms of actual story it is so boring because we've seen it all before.<br />
<br />
Nobody listens to The Doctor, who is locked up.<br />
The Doctor quotes <em>Star Wars</em> (saying, "I have a bad feeling about this").<br />
The Doctor is unaware of the movie <em>The Terminator</em> (just as he was unaware of the movie <em>Alien</em> in <em>Last Christmas</em>).<br />
<br />
In what I think is an inconsistency, the Tenth Doctor was drenched in pop culture (he after all, cried reading the end of <em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</em>), but the Twelfth has no idea what <em>Alien</em> or <em>The Terminator</em> are (though, oddly, he does know about <em>Frozen</em>). <br />
<br />
Go figure.<br />
<br />
<em>Empress of Mars</em> has nothing going for it apart from Churchman's cameo, which to be fair would excite only Classic <em>Who</em> fans, NuWho fans having no reference point as to what that one-eyed funny-sounding thing was. <br />
<br />
Gatiss could find no way of integrating the Nardole character into the story, so he was essentially written out of it in the clumsiest way. Kingsley's villainous Captain Catchlove was a cartoonish villain who only needed to twirl his mustache to complete his Snidely Whiplash impersonation,<br />
<br />
As a side note, giving the characters the names 'Catchlove' and 'Godsacre' has to be some sort of in-joke with Gatiss.<br />
<br />
The entire opening of NASA and the TARDIS Three finding the message was unnecessary (they could have just landed on Mars and encountered the Victorians, then end it by leaving their patriotic message).<br />
<br />
I'm sure Gatiss, who is convinced of his own genius, wanted to tell a story about colonialism/imperialism versus freedom fighters, whether the Doctor would sympathize with those invading or those being invaded.<br />
<br />
It's all just too bad that he put in a standard story that looks almost as if it came from a template.<br />
<br />
I don't think I've ever been as bored watching something as I was with <em>Empress of Mars</em>. You knew were everything was going: you knew a soldier was going to break in and try to steal, just like you knew once that happened, the Ice Queen-Empress would awaken, you knew the Captain would overthrow the Colonel (the warmonger overtaking the pacifist). You knew no one would listen to The Doctor.<br />
<br />
Again, I don't understand why so many praise it (100% positive rating for it on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/doctor_who/s10/e09">Rotten Tomatoes</a>). Had no idea there were that many Alpha Centauri fans out there.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">1/10</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Story: <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-scottish-sojourn-of-doctor.html">The Eaters of Light</a></em></span></strong><br />
<br />Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-31450950944081807542017-07-03T16:39:00.002-06:002017-07-15T16:41:52.205-06:00The Fake News of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>STORY 272 PART 3: </strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>THE LIE OF THE LAND</strong></span></div>
<br />
Last time, we had a really great <em>Doctor Who</em> episode, the middle part of The Monks Trilogy. With <em>The Lie of the Land</em>, we found an episode only <a href="http://nerdist.com/doctor-who-takes-on-abuse-of-power-and-fake-news/">Kyle Anderson at The Nerdist</a> could love.<br />
<br />
In short, one that started out great only to see it degenerate starting right at the fake regeneration, never recovering and being as close to a shameless mess as we've seen in a while. <i>The Lie of the Land</i> perhaps could never have gone up, which makes the end result all the more sad given its great potential.<br />
<br />
Picking up from <a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-hysterical-blindness-of-doctor.html">the last episode</a>, The Monks appear to have taken over the world. They take credit for advancing humanity for all time, which does bring to mind that The Monks might be a variation of The Silence, but I digress. In truth, they have been on Earth for about six months, but very few remember. Those who do find themselves arrested under the Memory Crimes Act of 1975. <br />
<br />
One of those who do remember the world pre-Monk is Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie), who is still searching for The Doctor (Peter Capaldi). In a sense, it's easy to find him, for he appears to be broadcasting pro-Monk messages from some secret lair. Bill refuses to believe that the Doctor has changed, and works to keep her own memories alive by thinking of her late mother, whom she's never met.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, Nardole (Matt Lucas) has found her in this strange world, and now smuggles her to The Doctor. The Doctor tells her he's given humanity enough chances, and now he has indeed joined the Monks. She still refuses to believe it, and to show her desperation, she shoots the Doctor.<br />
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<br />
The Doctor appears to begin regenerating, and then it all falls apart. It was all a big rouse to see if Bill was under the Monks control. Now finding that she wasn't, and emotionally torturing her in the process, it's time for the Doctor to come out of hiding and bring an end to the Monks' tyranny.<br />
<br />
In order to overthrow the Monks, we have to go down to The Vault and get Missy (Michelle Gomez), formerly known as The Master. She tells them that they are able to control humanity via the vast monuments to themselves, which act as de facto telepathic broadcast signals. The only way to break the signals and stop feeding humanity false information is to destroy the one who first gave consent for them to conquer Earth.<br />
<br />
That would be Bill.<br />
<br />
Bill and the Doctor don't want to go that route, so they decide to raid the Monks Central Control to broadcast an alternative message: that of Truth. Some of the Doctor's troops do still struggle with what is true and what is not, and attempt to destroy the mission but fail. Once in the Central Command, the Doctor attempts to link with the Main Monk, but the Main Monk is too strong. Bill now sees she must sacrifice herself.<br />
<br />
While linking herself out, images and thoughts of her mother come to her, and the Monks begin broadcasting that. The Doctor sees that Bill's love for her Mum keep them from broadcasting lies, and soon all humanity realizes what is going on and begin to strike back at the Monks. The Monks race off in their giant pyramid, and later, humanity has no recollection of what had occurred.<br />
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<br />
Would that the rest of be so lucky. It is almost a <i>Doctor Who</i> cliche to see that 'love saves the universe'. Of all the ways to defeat the Monks, you would think that thinking about one's mother would do it. How often are we going to endure another 'Companion cries and Universe is saved' story?<br />
<br />
There were so many good ideas running in <i>The Lie of the Land</i>: free will vs. predestination, the power to control people through false history, the struggle between Truth and Deception. There was also a good, strong sense of foreboding, with Murray Gold's music being subtle, the performances being sharp. To see it all collapse under a lot of forced humor and terrible ideas makes it all the more hard to handle.<br />
<br />
Since when can the Doctor fake a regeneration? Even if it was possible, the fact the Doctor seems more pleased with his antics than even remotely sorry that he put Bill through all this is shocking. What if Bill had decided to shoot herself or Nardole instead of The Doctor?<br />
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The whole thing brought to mind the Michael Douglas film <i>The Game</i>, about a man who is put through an elaborate series of circumstances as a way of 'having a good time'. I found the film so ludicrous and implausible, and I get the same sense with <i>The Lie of the Land</i>.<br />
<br />
There are also other points that bring it all down. The Monks aren't that big of a threat, despite their grotesque appearance. Soon as a few people start complaining, they run off in their pyramid. Makes them rather weak and pathetic conquerors. <br />
<br />
Don't The Monks control where the Doctor broadcasts his pro-Monks messages? Isn't he in some sort of prison as he becomes the Time Lord Haw-Haw? Don't they know he's gone rogue?<br />
<br />
We also should ask how was it anyone vaguely remembered the Truth. Bill yes, because she was the one who consented, but how do others still manage to break free, even temporarily, from the spell of The Monks?<br />
<br />
Finally, I am still not impressed by Missy's relevance in <i>The Lie of the Land</i>, or indeed in any of the Series. Gomez wasn't bad as the Master attempting to change his/her ways, but I don't believe she/he can be good. It all looks like crocodile tears to me. <br />
<br />
For the part up to where the Doctor fakes his regeneration, things are going well: the music is subtle and tense, the performances and story all adding to the sense of foreboding and danger. Once the Doctor basically says "Surprise! I was faking all along!", <i>The Lie of the Land</i> appears almost comic and zany. <br />
<br />
And again, how does he manage to fake a regeneration? It would have been nice if Bill had shot him again, and see how manages that trick.<br />
<br />
It all seems like such a letdown after the strong <i>The Pyramid at the End of the World</i>, a rush to finish off The Monks with little fuss to where they were almost irrelevant. <br />
<br />
The Monks Trilogy is ended, and I wish they wouldn't have been so meddlesome. <br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">4/10</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Story: <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-martian-chronicles-of-doctor.html">The Empress of Mars</a></em></span></strong><br />
<br />Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-59180732669114807322017-06-23T12:01:00.000-06:002017-07-15T16:42:16.946-06:00The Hysterical Blindness of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>STORY 272 PART 2: </strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>THE PYRAMID AT THE </strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>END OF THE WORLD</strong></span></div>
<br />
As this is the second part of The Monks Trilogy, the three will be judged with one grade. However, I think <em>The Pyramid at the End of the World</em> is a surprisingly strong episode, packing in its hour running time a lot of thrills, chills, heart and leaving with an interesting cliffhanger.<br />
<br />
Whether said cliffhanger will have a positive resolution is yet to be seen.<br />
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The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) despite all logic, is still able to disguise his blindness from everyone. Only Nardole (Matt Lucas) is privy to his secret. It again comes at the worst time since the United Nations is calling upon The President of Earth for help. In far-off Turmezistan, an ancient pyramid has just popped out of nowhere, and is between three large armies (the Americans, the Chinese, and the Russians). This is an emergency, so much so that it requires Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) to have her real date with Penny (Ronke Adekoluejo) interrupted again!<br />
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Bill is whisked off with the Doctor and Nardole to Turmezistan, where he finds the Monks, those slow, whispering, skeletal beings from <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-secret-archives-of-doctor.html">Extremis</a></em> popping up again. Unlike other would-be conquerors of Earth, they won't take over the world unless they are asked. It won't be easy saying no, as The Monks are able to see the future, and they give everyone a glimpse of what is to come. It's a frightening future, one with death and destruction all around.<br />
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Talk about far-fetched, but I digress.<br />
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Clocks worldwide are now in sync with the Doomsday Clock, pushing the world closer and closer to midnight. The Doctor stubbornly tells them not to surrender, but soon they do. The Monks can see their motives are impure, as they are not surrendering out of love but out of fear or strategy. As a result, they get vaporized.<br />
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Meanwhile, back in the UK, two scientists: Erica (Rachel Denning) and Douglas (Tony Gardner) are going about their lives and work when something goes horribly wrong. Douglas, slightly hung over or ill (I wasn't sure exactly which) causes an accident that releases a bacteria that kills all human life. Douglas is disintegrated as he has no protective suit, while Erica does her best to get everyone out and contain the crisis.<br />
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The Monks continue asking for surrender, but nothing doing. The Doctor soon hits upon the idea that they are watching something specific that will bring about Doomsday, and finds the lab about to release Enzyme EC31. He takes Nardole with him there and attempts with Erica to stop it from being released. He does this by setting up an explosion that will neutralize the bacteria, but there are a couple of hiccups.<br />
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First, Nardole is overcome by the bacteria which doesn't kill him but leaves him incapacitated. Second, the lock the Doctor's in is a combination lock immune from the sonic screwdriver. Unable to see the lock to release himself, the Doctor finally admits he's blind to Bill, who is still with the Monks. Terrified of the whole situation, she surrenders on behalf of Earth on the condition they restore the Doctor's sight.<br />
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The accept the surrender as this consent comes from love (her love of The Doctor), but she calls out to him to 'get her planet back'. Now the Monks have conquered Earth.<br />
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One aspect of <em>The Pyramid at the End of the World</em> was quite positive, and that was Denning. She was pretty cool and collected as Erica, a whip-smart scientist who also cared about her coworker. She would make a good Companion or at least returning guest star, her confidence and scientific professionalism mixed with rational fear but not panic at the growing crisis.<br />
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In fact, there was a lot of good acting all around in <em>Pyramid</em>. Again, to my mind it stretches believability that no one noticed that the Doctor was blind but Capaldi overall gave a strong performance, particularly early on when he's in a meditative mood while playing his electric guitar. Mackie continues to grow as one of the better if not best NuWho Companions, with Bill really being nothing more than an ordinary person caught up in these shocking situations. She is caring and bright, and aware of all the risks surrounding her.<br />
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The great part of <em>Pyramid</em> is the tension about how to surrender. They've thrown everything they can at the Monks, but nothing doing. The episode keeps ratcheting up problems, and then comes up with plausible solutions, only to have a last-minute complication muck it all up. <br />
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Another positive element was in how Murray Gold's score was subtle, working with the episode to be menacing without drawing attention to itself or being its usual bombastic music.<br />
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There were things I wasn't too keen on. As much as <em>Pyramid</em> wanted to be menacing I wasn't feeling it, probably because the Monks are monsters we've seen in other versions (still can't shake the idea they are kin to The Silence). The whole 'interrupted date' thing was a bit much, and I get the sense that this isn't the first time we've seen a Companion sacrifice something to save The Doctor.<br />
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Still, relatively minor points, as <em>The Pyramid at the End of the World</em> created a strong story that is built on logic, is well-acted, and creates a strong problem to overcome.<br />
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"Fear is temporary, love is slavery," the Doctor says when others consider surrendering. I'm not sure I entirely agree, but I can see where one would think that. <em>The Pyramid at the End of the World</em> shows that when Doctor Who works, it works remarkably well. <br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">8/10</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-fake-news-of-doctor.html">The Lie of the Land</a></em></span></strong><br />
<br />Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4955022874404775404.post-1427998702413885192017-06-22T19:10:00.003-06:002017-07-15T16:43:00.172-06:00The Secret Archives of The Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">STORY 272 PART 1: EXTREMIS</span></strong></div>
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With <em>Extremis, Doctor Who</em> is embarking on a rare three-episode story, generally dubbed The Monks Trilogy. Extremis has many positives, and if it had aired a few seasons ago would have ranked higher. It's unfortunate, however, that much of it is reminiscent of what has come before, which dilutes its positives.<br />
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The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is still blind from the effects of <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-communist-manifesto-of-doctor.html">Oxygen</a></em>, though only Nardole (Matt Lucas) knows this. It's at perhaps the worst time possible for the Vatican of all places to ask for The Doctor's help.<br />
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Inside their Hereticum, the secret archives of the Vatican's Secret Archives where they hold the most blasphemous books, is one called <em>Veritas</em>. The <em>Veritas</em> was written in an unknown language, just recently interpreted, but every person who has read it commits suicide within twenty-four hours of reading it. Now, the Doctor, along with Nardole and Bill (Pearl Mackie) will go into the Hereticum to translate the <em>Veritas</em> and uncover what is its deadly secret.<br />
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This comes at a bad time for Bill, who is on a date with Penny (Ronke Adekoluejo), but it's not a real date since Bill, despite her "I'm a proud and open lesbian" manner, still hasn't told her foster mother Moira (Jennifer Hennessey) that she's a lesbian.<br />
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As a side note, does anyone else think it's a bit strange that a woman I believe in her twenties is still living with her foster mother?<br />
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In any case, it's a bad lesbian date when the Pope barges in from one's bedroom shouting in Italian (and again as a side note, the last three Popes have been Polish, German, and Spanish, none of whom spoke Italian as a first language, so why is the Pope speaking Italian when we haven't had an Italian Pope in almost forty years?). Bill isn't happy about the intrusion, but she goes to the Vatican to help in the mystery.<br />
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It isn't long before the Doctor, rigging up a device that will give him temporary sight and who manages to keep everyone clueless about his blindness despite the sunglasses and having to have Nardole explain everything to him, finds the <em>Veritas</em>. To their surprise, there is a light that guides all except the sightless Doctor away. Nardole and Bill are surprised to find themselves first in the Pentagon, and then at CERN, a lab which has received the translated <em>Veritas</em> via e-mail.<br />
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It is now that Bill and Nardole make a shocking discovery. What they thought was a portal created by aliens is really a simulation. Nardole disintegrates, leaving Bill to try and find The Doctor. The Doctor, for his part, encounters The Monks: skeletal beings who whisper their menace and take hold of the <em>Veritas</em>, as part of their plan for world conquest. Bill goes through another portal and finds herself in the Oval Office, where the President has committed suicide and the Doctor is waiting.<br />
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Here, Bill learns the truth of the Veritas: this Test of Shadows details the plans for a demon to simulate realities, and those within those simulations, discovering that they are not real, decide to kill themselves. That explains why at CERN, every time Bill and Nardole were asked for a 'random' number, they would say the same number: their world, indeed every world, was not real.<br />
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Bill herself disintegrates, asking for the Doctor's help. The Doctor confronts a Monk, and tells him that he knows this is all a simulation, but he's e-mailed himself all the information, and is ready to fight them. To fight them, of course, means he needs the help of The Mistress (formerly known as The Master), and he goes to Missy (Michelle Gomez), whom he has locked up in The Vault for a thousand years, as throughout Extremis we saw what should have been his/her execution, but the Doctor instead has managed to spare her/his life.<br />
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<em>Extremis</em> is a mix of <em>The Matrix</em> (this world is not real but computer-generated), <em>The Ring</em> or <em>Ringu</em> (a person will die after seeing something), and The Silence from Series 5 (shadowy figures who speak softly, walk menacingly, and are our newest threats for world conquest). Perhaps this mishmash of things we've seen before both on and outside Doctor Who is what makes me less enthusiastic.<br />
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To a point, it comes down to timing. Had The Monks been the Series 5 villains, we still would have or should have had comparisons to <em>The Matrix/The Ring</em>, but we wouldn't have yet another 'religious order' bent on world domination. It's all gotten a bit boring and repetitive, down to making the fictitious Pope Benedict IX very clearly a woman. <br />
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I'm not exactly sure why writer Steven Moffat opted to choose Benedict IX, who if Wikipedia is to be believed was one of the most scandalous figures to ever be Bishop of Rome, even for his time, or why he decided not to hit upon the more legendary but better-known 'Pope Joan'. It is easy to speculate, but it does seem a strange choice when he could have created a wholly fictional pontiff on which to bestow the title Popess. <br />
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In any case, the entire storyline of the Vatican and the Veritas in retrospect seems almost funny: female Popes that the Vatican knew about and even had portraits of, buried within the grounds of Vatican City, with an Italian-speaking Pope. What is more amusing is that no one was none the wiser of the blindness of The Doctor, or that anyone even asked or questioned it. That does seem a bit too farfetched.<br />
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Be that as it may, <em>Extremis</em> wasn't a horrible episode if I go along with the idea that all this was a simulation. I wasn't sold on the idea of The Doctor saving The Mistress or Nardole popping up to try and stop the execution. I certainly wasn't buying Gomez's performance of a 'repentant' Master, and wondered whether it might have been better to have built a whole episode around that instead of intercutting it with the Vatican storyline.<br />
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I actually wanted The Master/Mistress dead, so I wasn't cheering her on to be spared. It also does make one wonder why so much mystery about what was in The Vault when there was speculation it was The Mistress all along.<br />
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There was a lot of good in <em>Extremis</em>. Mackie continues to make Bill a strong Companion: loyal, determined to live life, intelligent, and even amusing (her comparing the Hereticum, also known as The Library of Blasphemy, with Harry Potter was a nice touch, albeit one that will date the series). Capaldi was equally strong as The Doctor: his attempts to keep going despite his blindness made the Doctor both vulnerable and a bit stubborn. Murray Gold kept the score subtle and noninvasive, and we got some good twists and turns (albeit again, ones that weren't that big of a shock).<br />
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I didn't dislike <em>Extremis</em>. I actually liked it a bit. If it weren't for the fact we've seen a lot of this before (and dragging The Mistress into it) it might have ranked higher. Still, <em>Extremis</em> was not bad, and given that Series 10 has been stronger than in the past, that is saying quite a bit.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">6/10</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Next Episode: <em><a href="http://gallifreyexile.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-hysterical-blindness-of-doctor.html">The Pyramids at the End of the World</a></em></span></strong><br />
<br />Rickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16611922269342141654noreply@blogger.com0