Doctor Who and Torchwood thoughts
Sep. 4th, 2011 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lesmisloonyOkay, so I haven't been completely silent about my preference for RTD over Moffat, but in general I'm pretty relaxed about the changeover. Yeah, I miss RTD's characters and self-contained episodes, but a lot of people are really enjoying the new era and that's cool.
This weekend when I got back from Carowinds, there was a new episode of Doctor Who and a new episode of Torchwood waiting for me.
I watched Dr Who first. My expectations were kinda high: the few things I accidentally saw before I watched the episode indicated that it was a pretty good one and pretty scary. However, I felt completely detatched from the story as I was watching it. I incredulously questioned everything and caught myself wanting to check facebook or tumblr in another tab. When Amy and Rory were in the dollhouse, I irritably pointed out that this plot was ripped right out of an old episode of the Twilight Zone. Then when it was all over I was kinda confused and annoyed. Why were those dolls creeping through the house? What was the point of them going after people? And once they got Amy, instead of being like OH NOEZ AMY THIS IS SO CREEPY I just went "Oh well duh, now we know they're all gonna be fine." I'm also bored with this obsession with the Doctor dying. The Doctor is not gonna die. He's the Doctor. There will be a Twelve and probably a Thirteen. Duh. I don't buy this line of thinking at all. I'm just kinda impatient to see how they fix it.
And that's interesting, because I'm the same person who almost cried when, in another episode written by Mark Gatiss, Rose's face was eaten by a campy television set. I didn't go "Oh, well now I know everyone will be fine," I went "OH GOD NO ROSE OH MY GOD DOCTAHH" and I was mortified. I'm the same person who writhed and winced and clutched a pillow throughout "42" because I was TERRIFIED for the Doctor. Of course he wasn't going to die, but that wasn't my concern when I saw him flailing around on the floor moaning "Burn with me."
I wish I could understand what it is that changed. I think maybe it's the new format, with the overall series' plot arc taking more importance than the monster of the week. I feel like so much happens in each episode, yet when it ends I'm not sure what I just watched. I liked being able to say "the Slitheen one!" or "the ATMOS one!" and I liked each episode following the normal formula of starting out with intrigue, building up until everything has gone wrong, and then bam it all gets fixed through a sequence that involves great scoring by Murray Gold. Then there's the part at the end where everybody basks in how awesome time travel is and how great the Doctor is and all is well. That was a show I had no trouble keeping up with. I also always loved the series finale bit where you suddenly realized that RTD knew all along what the Big Bad was going to be and had been hinting at it since episode one. I loved being able to trust the writers' to know where the story was going before they began it.
I no longer quite trust Moffat after the Mels thing. I mean, I liked the idea of Mels and I liked the flashback sequence and her character, but she was so retconned into the storyline that I can't accept her as fact. If only there had been some mention of her, or if he had gotten an actress who actually was visible in the wedding scenes, or something! Anything! Plus there's so much to keep up with--the Silence which is now no longer what those aliens were in the first episode, the kid in the astronaut suit, who River killed, how they're going to not have the Doctor die... I just feel like every episode is a mess of a hundred ideas. It's like on Project Runway when Tim Gunn tells them to "edit, edit, edit!" Even Let's Kill Hitler, which I loved, was a huge unnecessary conglomeration of those shapeshifting robots, the tiny people driving them, Nazis, Hitler, and River Song/Mels. So much happens. I can list every episode of series' 1-4 in order without even thinking too hard and quote key scenes from each one, but after The Eleventh Hour it all starts to kind of blur into a whole bunch of crazy. I love Matt Smith's version of the Doctor, I love Rory, and I've grown to love River Song. Amy is kind of blah--at first she was like Martha's obsession with the Doctor plus Donna's attitude plus Jack's flirtiness, but now she's just kind of... there. I like Karen Gillan as a person though based on the Confidentials.
Anyway, so I watched Doctor Who and I was overall frustrated by it.
And then I watched Torchwood.
OH TORCHWOOD. Even when we aren't getting monster-of-the-week plots, my reaction to RTD's show is immediately different. I see characters I love--even Rex and Esther, who are new--and I find myself totally wrapped up in the plot and I'm sitting here gasping and screaming "OH SHIT OH SHIT SHIT SHIT NO!" and when the episode ends I lament having to wait for the next one. I'm proud when my characters are clever and heart-broken when they're thwarted. I cheer for snappy one-liners and want to scream at the villains.
In Amadeus, the Emperor Joseph II wrinkles his nose at Mozart's masterful operas and tells him that there are too many notes. He says he prefers Salieri, who knows how to end with a bang so the audience knows when to clap. Maybe I'm just like Joseph II and Stephen Moffat is making too many demands on the royal ear.
Well, there it is.
This weekend when I got back from Carowinds, there was a new episode of Doctor Who and a new episode of Torchwood waiting for me.
I watched Dr Who first. My expectations were kinda high: the few things I accidentally saw before I watched the episode indicated that it was a pretty good one and pretty scary. However, I felt completely detatched from the story as I was watching it. I incredulously questioned everything and caught myself wanting to check facebook or tumblr in another tab. When Amy and Rory were in the dollhouse, I irritably pointed out that this plot was ripped right out of an old episode of the Twilight Zone. Then when it was all over I was kinda confused and annoyed. Why were those dolls creeping through the house? What was the point of them going after people? And once they got Amy, instead of being like OH NOEZ AMY THIS IS SO CREEPY I just went "Oh well duh, now we know they're all gonna be fine." I'm also bored with this obsession with the Doctor dying. The Doctor is not gonna die. He's the Doctor. There will be a Twelve and probably a Thirteen. Duh. I don't buy this line of thinking at all. I'm just kinda impatient to see how they fix it.
And that's interesting, because I'm the same person who almost cried when, in another episode written by Mark Gatiss, Rose's face was eaten by a campy television set. I didn't go "Oh, well now I know everyone will be fine," I went "OH GOD NO ROSE OH MY GOD DOCTAHH" and I was mortified. I'm the same person who writhed and winced and clutched a pillow throughout "42" because I was TERRIFIED for the Doctor. Of course he wasn't going to die, but that wasn't my concern when I saw him flailing around on the floor moaning "Burn with me."
I wish I could understand what it is that changed. I think maybe it's the new format, with the overall series' plot arc taking more importance than the monster of the week. I feel like so much happens in each episode, yet when it ends I'm not sure what I just watched. I liked being able to say "the Slitheen one!" or "the ATMOS one!" and I liked each episode following the normal formula of starting out with intrigue, building up until everything has gone wrong, and then bam it all gets fixed through a sequence that involves great scoring by Murray Gold. Then there's the part at the end where everybody basks in how awesome time travel is and how great the Doctor is and all is well. That was a show I had no trouble keeping up with. I also always loved the series finale bit where you suddenly realized that RTD knew all along what the Big Bad was going to be and had been hinting at it since episode one. I loved being able to trust the writers' to know where the story was going before they began it.
I no longer quite trust Moffat after the Mels thing. I mean, I liked the idea of Mels and I liked the flashback sequence and her character, but she was so retconned into the storyline that I can't accept her as fact. If only there had been some mention of her, or if he had gotten an actress who actually was visible in the wedding scenes, or something! Anything! Plus there's so much to keep up with--the Silence which is now no longer what those aliens were in the first episode, the kid in the astronaut suit, who River killed, how they're going to not have the Doctor die... I just feel like every episode is a mess of a hundred ideas. It's like on Project Runway when Tim Gunn tells them to "edit, edit, edit!" Even Let's Kill Hitler, which I loved, was a huge unnecessary conglomeration of those shapeshifting robots, the tiny people driving them, Nazis, Hitler, and River Song/Mels. So much happens. I can list every episode of series' 1-4 in order without even thinking too hard and quote key scenes from each one, but after The Eleventh Hour it all starts to kind of blur into a whole bunch of crazy. I love Matt Smith's version of the Doctor, I love Rory, and I've grown to love River Song. Amy is kind of blah--at first she was like Martha's obsession with the Doctor plus Donna's attitude plus Jack's flirtiness, but now she's just kind of... there. I like Karen Gillan as a person though based on the Confidentials.
Anyway, so I watched Doctor Who and I was overall frustrated by it.
And then I watched Torchwood.
OH TORCHWOOD. Even when we aren't getting monster-of-the-week plots, my reaction to RTD's show is immediately different. I see characters I love--even Rex and Esther, who are new--and I find myself totally wrapped up in the plot and I'm sitting here gasping and screaming "OH SHIT OH SHIT SHIT SHIT NO!" and when the episode ends I lament having to wait for the next one. I'm proud when my characters are clever and heart-broken when they're thwarted. I cheer for snappy one-liners and want to scream at the villains.
In Amadeus, the Emperor Joseph II wrinkles his nose at Mozart's masterful operas and tells him that there are too many notes. He says he prefers Salieri, who knows how to end with a bang so the audience knows when to clap. Maybe I'm just like Joseph II and Stephen Moffat is making too many demands on the royal ear.
Well, there it is.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-05 12:09 am (UTC)I loved LKH. I thought that it was absolutely fantastic and that it was paced exactly right. What bothered me, though, was the fact that Moffat kept throwing in random things, like Mels and the robot-controlled-by-tiny-people and HITLER and the Doctor almost dying AGAINNNNN. If Moffat had just stuck to one of those, then the episode would have been awesome. It just got a bit confusing, since it was hard to tell what the "enemy" was - the tiny people in the robot, or River killing the Doctor. Hmmm. And 32 minutes? Really? Though, the scene with the Doctor in the TARDIS talking to the Amelia Pond hologram thingy was quite good...I actually cried a little.
Also, I wonder what the Doctor whispered to River before he "died". Maybe his name? Maybe "I love you"? What are your thoughts?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-05 09:59 am (UTC)I really, really hope the next episode will be as good as it sounds or else I'm going to be really, really grumpy about it. We all know Doctor isn't going to die and it frustrates me how everybody is like "meh, his ganger died". If it really was his ganger, I'm officially done with watching until the show gets better.
And yeah, they should've at least MENTION Mels. She basically didn't exist before this episode and everything seemed rushed.
I wish we could get another episode like Doctor's Wife. That was some good stuff and hints about what's going to happen didn't seem so obvious.