So, nuWho.

[avevale_intelligencer]

Um.

If there is sequential and linear physiological time, then there is time. If there is time, then the earth moves, the sun appears to rise and set, and it is not always 5:02 on the 22nd of whenever. If there is no sequential and linear physiological time, then the story we have just watched could never have started, let alone gone on.

If time itself requires that the Doctor die, then it (being an impersonal force of nature) is not going to be fooled by a robot. If time itself does not require that the Doctor die, then all that melodrama and there's-no-other-waying was unnecessary. And if an impersonal force of nature can be fooled by a robot, then nothing makes any sense at all. It's the Father's Day nonsense all over again.

So, two crashing, jarring, mind-mangling absurdities right at the heart of this culminatory episode and therefore at the heart of the entire season.

Apart from that, I've seen a good deal of waffle about post-modernism and such, but all I saw here was the usual panto-style "let's bring everyone back on stage for the big finale" that Davies started and Moffat has turned into a formula. The only thing that's missing is the marching-in-place singalong, Which is all very fine and large, but Doctor Who used to tell stories. And yes, sometimes they were nonsensical, but never, not ever, never did they show as much contempt for the audience's intelligence as this lot.

And sadly, the audience isn't noticing.

Comments

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought of that. In fact, I haven't thought of Edmund Cooper for years (must dig him out and re-read, especially The Overman Culture). I thought he was just trying to make a big flashy sparkly picture with lots of bits that people like, such as steam trains and balloons. And that certainly worked for me. If there had been a sensical explanation for why London was that way, I would have been far more intrigued and interested.