![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerThis is actually displacement activity, or avoidance behaviour, or whatever the phrase is for something you do when you are really angry and can't do anything about it. The Countess made a discovery last night that gutted us both and rather spoiled the rest of the day, and I'm trying not to go splodey all over everywhere about it till I can get it resolved.
So anyway. NuWho with Kylie. You can imagine what I thought of that idea when it was reported, so I'm happy to be able to say that Ms Minogue was one of the better aspects of the episode. She played her part very well, as someone with considerable acting experience might be expected to, and quite straight. It's a pity that her inclusion was such a screamingly blatant piece of stunt casting that tentacled creatures on Zeta Reticuli IX are currently asking each other what that phrase means. But then, stunt casting has been at the heart of NuWho from the very beginning.
And so to the story, and from the embarrassed, embarrassing shuffle away from the puerile, ludicrous end-of-season "cliffhanger" (proof if proof were needed that RTD has no idea what he's writing when he's writing it and doesn't care) to the lame and equally embarrassed ending, as fake as the fake (again) snow, this is, well, shall we say not the triumphant renascence of classic-Who-as-it-should-have-been that I can't seem to give up hoping for. No, this is NuWho to the core. Glossy, flashy, full of sound and fury and dramatic, surging music (actually, the music is continuing to get better, with the notable exception of the charmless, derivative and amateurish song in the middle, the equivalent of those paintings that show up in B movies that are supposed to be "great art" and are actually whatever the art director could knock up over the weekend: I know a hundred people who could have done better) and rotten at its heart.
So determined is RTD to remind us yet once again that the Doctor is merely mortal that everyone he specifically promises to save dies, and the only survivors from the ship are an obnoxious yuppie-type who ends up profiting from the deaths of thousands, and a Little Man who got on board by lying about his qualifications and who happens to have grossly overestimated his (forged) petty cash. Oh yes, and one of the crew who despite being shot by the captain early on is Feeling Much Better tee em by the end and able to stand ramrod straight and salute the Doctor as he teleports out with the aforementioned LM (thus aiding and abetting a fugitive from justice, but let's not worry about that, it's Christmas).
And then there are the Van Hoffs. It seems that Being Fat And Harmless And Dressing Funny Will Get You not only Laughed At and Bullied but also Killed. As someone who ticks all those boxes, I don't frightfully care for this being the message passed on to the kids. "If you could choose who lives and who dies," says the LM towards the end, "you'd be a monster." Well, RTD as the writer can choose who lives and who dies, and yes, that about sums it up. Of course, an effective hero could maybe tip the odds a bit for some, but then RTD has never actually liked the Doctor enough to make him an effective hero.
And shall we talk about how the companion saves the day while the Doctor stands around like a lemon mouthing "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" yet again? And then how she doesn't have the sense to jump out of a fork lift truck that is quite clearly stopped dead at one moment when the baddie is already falling to his doom, and so falls to her doom as well, thus ensuring no interruption to Ms Minogue's musical career and the inevitable return of the standard RTD companion in the form of Catherine Tate's Donna? (Sample Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn-style witty repartee from the season trailer:
Doctor: "I just need a mate!"
Donna: "You're not mating with me, sunshine."
Ah, yes, as dry as a dry martini. Doused in supermarket own brand cream soda.)
Oh, and the robot angels are crap as well, a sad parody of the true creepiness that was Robots Of Death. I know they were probably desperate to find something to replace the thoroughly outworn robot Santas, but have they forgotten Blink already? Or is this repeated symbolism some symptom of a deeper malady? What have the writers got against angels? I think we should be told.
Disappointed? Not really, since my expectations weren't that high to begin with. Will I be watching the new season? Sadly, probably, yes. Hope refuses to die.
So anyway. NuWho with Kylie. You can imagine what I thought of that idea when it was reported, so I'm happy to be able to say that Ms Minogue was one of the better aspects of the episode. She played her part very well, as someone with considerable acting experience might be expected to, and quite straight. It's a pity that her inclusion was such a screamingly blatant piece of stunt casting that tentacled creatures on Zeta Reticuli IX are currently asking each other what that phrase means. But then, stunt casting has been at the heart of NuWho from the very beginning.
And so to the story, and from the embarrassed, embarrassing shuffle away from the puerile, ludicrous end-of-season "cliffhanger" (proof if proof were needed that RTD has no idea what he's writing when he's writing it and doesn't care) to the lame and equally embarrassed ending, as fake as the fake (again) snow, this is, well, shall we say not the triumphant renascence of classic-Who-as-it-should-have-been that I can't seem to give up hoping for. No, this is NuWho to the core. Glossy, flashy, full of sound and fury and dramatic, surging music (actually, the music is continuing to get better, with the notable exception of the charmless, derivative and amateurish song in the middle, the equivalent of those paintings that show up in B movies that are supposed to be "great art" and are actually whatever the art director could knock up over the weekend: I know a hundred people who could have done better) and rotten at its heart.
So determined is RTD to remind us yet once again that the Doctor is merely mortal that everyone he specifically promises to save dies, and the only survivors from the ship are an obnoxious yuppie-type who ends up profiting from the deaths of thousands, and a Little Man who got on board by lying about his qualifications and who happens to have grossly overestimated his (forged) petty cash. Oh yes, and one of the crew who despite being shot by the captain early on is Feeling Much Better tee em by the end and able to stand ramrod straight and salute the Doctor as he teleports out with the aforementioned LM (thus aiding and abetting a fugitive from justice, but let's not worry about that, it's Christmas).
And then there are the Van Hoffs. It seems that Being Fat And Harmless And Dressing Funny Will Get You not only Laughed At and Bullied but also Killed. As someone who ticks all those boxes, I don't frightfully care for this being the message passed on to the kids. "If you could choose who lives and who dies," says the LM towards the end, "you'd be a monster." Well, RTD as the writer can choose who lives and who dies, and yes, that about sums it up. Of course, an effective hero could maybe tip the odds a bit for some, but then RTD has never actually liked the Doctor enough to make him an effective hero.
And shall we talk about how the companion saves the day while the Doctor stands around like a lemon mouthing "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" yet again? And then how she doesn't have the sense to jump out of a fork lift truck that is quite clearly stopped dead at one moment when the baddie is already falling to his doom, and so falls to her doom as well, thus ensuring no interruption to Ms Minogue's musical career and the inevitable return of the standard RTD companion in the form of Catherine Tate's Donna? (Sample Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn-style witty repartee from the season trailer:
Doctor: "I just need a mate!"
Donna: "You're not mating with me, sunshine."
Ah, yes, as dry as a dry martini. Doused in supermarket own brand cream soda.)
Oh, and the robot angels are crap as well, a sad parody of the true creepiness that was Robots Of Death. I know they were probably desperate to find something to replace the thoroughly outworn robot Santas, but have they forgotten Blink already? Or is this repeated symbolism some symptom of a deeper malady? What have the writers got against angels? I think we should be told.
Disappointed? Not really, since my expectations weren't that high to begin with. Will I be watching the new season? Sadly, probably, yes. Hope refuses to die.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 10:37 am (UTC)*word*.
We may be looking for different things in nuWho, but we both know carp when we see it.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 11:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 11:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 03:13 pm (UTC)As for the Queen wearing curlers in bed...! :(
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-27 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-27 11:58 pm (UTC)EDIT: having looked at his reaction, I don't think I need worry. He's obviously not at home to critics of NuWho. So I guess I'm safe. Sigh.