What a load of rubbish. As the Co-Pilot rightly said, so much of this episode was for pure effect and was lacking in subtlety, originality & inspiration. This was best exemplified by DT's 'just kill me then' speech in Hooverville. Poor Davo, he's been doing so well but even he, when confronted by such melodramatic dialouge, can't make it look behind it's shoulder so he can run away! Dalek Sec was abominable in every respect, the mask looked silly and it might as well have been Eric Roberts' head up the octopuses bum. He might actually have done a better job (gulp!) with this most awkward, wrong footed creation. EOTD, like the 1996 telemovie, is an uncomfortable mix of the Anglo and the American. The mix could work, but once again it's not given a chance because of the peddling of tired cliches and stereotypes. The faux-American elements just come over cheesy, grating and painfully forced. Tallulah being the prime example among many.
EOTD stumbles from set piece to set piece with lashings of 'shock' and 'awe'. Actually, there's not really much shock. It is painfully obvious from the start of each set piece which emotions we are going to be led by the nose to feel. If there is any uncertainty, as the Co-Pilot rightly says, the bombastic incidental music soon leaves little doubt. The dialouge was for the most part so ridiculously overblown and 'plotty' that moments that could potentially mine rich emotional and dramatic veins are laughed out of the loungeroom and out the back door in shame. Dalek Sec too, cow udder for a head (nice one CP), waxing emotional in a dodgy New York drawl? Funny for about two seconds until you realise this is meant to be serious, months were spent creating this tosh and that I expect so much more. The last ten minutes or so seem like an escalating joke among stoned teenagers...and then this could happen..ha ha...and then then that could happen...haha, that's f&*^king ridiculous, no no, how about this...The zenith of the stupidity was the chained Sec being led onto the stage S&M gimp style on his hands and knees. Unspeakable. Daleks as masters and slaves..ooh er!..Oh how they laughed and slapped their thighs in the Production Office!
Doctor Who is eating it's own tail, or maybe it's eating something else's tail? With it's Frankenstein referencing and Back To the Future aping, it seems to perpetually set itself up as the vaguely annoying, idolising geeky younger cousin to these things. Not even as an equal. Doctor Who shouldn't be bowing and scraping to the likes of Buffy or Back To The Future. Doctor Who should be setting it's own standards and needs to come up with new ideas, not fourth-hand rehashes. If it must reference other things, they should be more obscure and more subtly threaded into the story; analogies of tales from mythology, cult movies, it's own rich past even (rather than it's own wobbly previous season as the Co-Pilot pointed out). What is needed is elements with more to offer the story than what the Co-Pilot and I have derogitarily dubbed the 'fabulous effect'. The Simpsons finds a marvellous balance of the obscure and the obvious with its cultural and pop-cultural references. Doctor Who hasn't got the balance right yet.
Last week it looked as if we had a noble failure on our hands with this two parter. This week was so ridiculous that I can no longer give the nobility box a tick. I feel this story had the fractured clunkiness of lots of script editing (or adding) around it's flashy bits. All that said, I'm waving my pom poms for DT right alongside the Co-Pilot and I liked the fact that Laszlo remained half pig. Actually, I can't say that I want my 45 minutes back despite the dressing down I've dished out. Some shameful, twisted part of me still managed to enjoy this mess at some level. It certainly had some whizz bang. I think I should get a cat scan.
Love, Lucozer.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Devolution of the daleks
The worst Dalek story ever...the most 'Schlocktor Who' of all (New Earth and Runaway Bride might be jealous of this 'honour' but f**k them).
This is akin to a cartoon, from the terrible masks to the cardboard dialogue.
The case against:
Soloman was one of the few redeeming features in this debacle, but as he makes his stand against the Daleks one remembers the president from Rise of the Cybermen last year and feels disappointed at the obviousness of the recycling that is going on. New ideas please team.
Why does the Doctor offer his life in a grandstanding moment? It seems that this, like much of this story, exists purely for effect. Subtlety is so much more the domain of Doctor Who and this kind of macho "I am a selfless hero ra ra ra" bollocks, undermines the wonder of the show and its protagonist. If that sounds po-faced and superior, well maybe it is.
Dalek Sec is truly awful. The actor seems intent on evoking the best-forgotten memory of John Lumic. His performance is uncooked, scurvy-inducing ham.
Other evocations of last seasons early Cybermen 'opus' are reflushed through the script - the idea of 'mining' humans, being one obvious example. Another being the re-pillaging of the Frankenstein mythology. Get some new ideas please team - you have the keys to the castle...
Murray Gold as usual fills the space with Hollywood cliches...for Christ's sake man, listen to Brian Eno for a bit...let the audience find the meaning of the scene for themselves...with your pizzicato stabs and outrageously butch choir...stop telling us how to feel!...for the most part we are intelligent viewers. We'll get there ourselves. In all faireness, even the great Dudley Simpson started to run out of ideas, having to write a score every week, so maybe this is a critisism pointed at your superiors Murray. Perhaps they should give you a break. You could write maybe a third of the season's scores (it is true than now and again you have written some absolutely lovely stuff) and bring in a couple of other musical tyros to have a go at the rest.
Ok so it's time to say a few good thing about this episode, because frankly I could go on and on about its flaws.
I never thought I would say this, but the best thing about Doctor Who at the moment (apart of course from the fact that it is on our screens at all - and for that I must praise you my favourite aunty, Russell T.) is David Tennant. David, I am falling in love with you big time. You look like a man constrained by crappy scripts. You look like a man who could do anything with the right material. Please don't leave yet....I am a converted cheerleader to your cause.
Other good stuff...the line: "You told us to imagine, and we have imagined your irrelevance" was a fabulous shaft of gold, where most else was dark.
Other random thoughts:
1) How many himbos can there be in one episode?
2) Did Paul (Showgirls, Basic Instinct) Verhoeven have a hand in this shite? If not, why were the production team trying to emulate his unbelievable drivel?
3) The story was so ridiculous and over the top that I found myself praying that a buxom swiss farm girl (sorry about the sexist stereotype, chums) would come down from the hills and start milking Dalek Sek's teats! Alas no such pleasure.
4) The crap sentimentalism of Tallulah, waxing lyrical about the wonders of New York left me laughing at the shallowness of it all. If you are going to set a story in New York, and go on about how fabulous it is, show us New York's wonders don't tell us in a CGI homage (City of Death lavished Paris upon us and we went away contented)
Anyway. This sucked. Thankfully the trailer for next week looked sexy as!
Kisses
The Co - Pilot
This is akin to a cartoon, from the terrible masks to the cardboard dialogue.
The case against:
Soloman was one of the few redeeming features in this debacle, but as he makes his stand against the Daleks one remembers the president from Rise of the Cybermen last year and feels disappointed at the obviousness of the recycling that is going on. New ideas please team.
Why does the Doctor offer his life in a grandstanding moment? It seems that this, like much of this story, exists purely for effect. Subtlety is so much more the domain of Doctor Who and this kind of macho "I am a selfless hero ra ra ra" bollocks, undermines the wonder of the show and its protagonist. If that sounds po-faced and superior, well maybe it is.
Dalek Sec is truly awful. The actor seems intent on evoking the best-forgotten memory of John Lumic. His performance is uncooked, scurvy-inducing ham.
Other evocations of last seasons early Cybermen 'opus' are reflushed through the script - the idea of 'mining' humans, being one obvious example. Another being the re-pillaging of the Frankenstein mythology. Get some new ideas please team - you have the keys to the castle...
Murray Gold as usual fills the space with Hollywood cliches...for Christ's sake man, listen to Brian Eno for a bit...let the audience find the meaning of the scene for themselves...with your pizzicato stabs and outrageously butch choir...stop telling us how to feel!...for the most part we are intelligent viewers. We'll get there ourselves. In all faireness, even the great Dudley Simpson started to run out of ideas, having to write a score every week, so maybe this is a critisism pointed at your superiors Murray. Perhaps they should give you a break. You could write maybe a third of the season's scores (it is true than now and again you have written some absolutely lovely stuff) and bring in a couple of other musical tyros to have a go at the rest.
Ok so it's time to say a few good thing about this episode, because frankly I could go on and on about its flaws.
I never thought I would say this, but the best thing about Doctor Who at the moment (apart of course from the fact that it is on our screens at all - and for that I must praise you my favourite aunty, Russell T.) is David Tennant. David, I am falling in love with you big time. You look like a man constrained by crappy scripts. You look like a man who could do anything with the right material. Please don't leave yet....I am a converted cheerleader to your cause.
Other good stuff...the line: "You told us to imagine, and we have imagined your irrelevance" was a fabulous shaft of gold, where most else was dark.
Other random thoughts:
1) How many himbos can there be in one episode?
2) Did Paul (Showgirls, Basic Instinct) Verhoeven have a hand in this shite? If not, why were the production team trying to emulate his unbelievable drivel?
3) The story was so ridiculous and over the top that I found myself praying that a buxom swiss farm girl (sorry about the sexist stereotype, chums) would come down from the hills and start milking Dalek Sek's teats! Alas no such pleasure.
4) The crap sentimentalism of Tallulah, waxing lyrical about the wonders of New York left me laughing at the shallowness of it all. If you are going to set a story in New York, and go on about how fabulous it is, show us New York's wonders don't tell us in a CGI homage (City of Death lavished Paris upon us and we went away contented)
Anyway. This sucked. Thankfully the trailer for next week looked sexy as!
Kisses
The Co - Pilot
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Some afterthoughts from the Lucozer about DIM
Just a little afterthought about 'Daleks In Manhattan'. I've read that RTD gave Helen Raynor a shopping list of ingredients to weave into her script. I have just one question..WHY? It's not as if the elements given to her to twist her script around were essential to the overall story arc of the season. They are utterly frivolous, so why interfere? Frivolous elements are only acceptable if they are genuinely funny or entertaining. The pig men & the showgirls qualify on neither account. I agree with the Co-Pilot. Why pig men again? They looked ok at best & they've been done in a much more inspired fashion in 'Aliens Of London'.
If Helen Raynor is talented enough to be commissioned to write a two-parter for a multi-million dollar institution like Doctor Who (& I believe she is), she is good enough to come up with her own shopping bag of speccy moments & idiosyncratic elements. Having them imposed makes them seem even more obviously & painfully the uninspired 'tack-ins' they really are. Think of the gritty adventure we could be watching with just the shady businessman & the poor workers involved in the Dalek scheme. Dark & desolate. My kind of Doctor Who.
Addendum: After a second (& sober) viewing of DIM, I've revised a few of my opinions a little. I was perhaps a little too harsh on the actress playing Tallulah. 'Sassy broad with a heart-a-gold' is a thankless stereotype to have to breathe life into. Her accent falters & there are plenty of cringeworthy moments, but I'd prefer OTT to wooden & forgettable any day. She gives it a lot of energy & I hope she gets a chance to improve. I also feel that with Martha, it is not so much a problem of 'wobbly characterisation' as I said in my review, it's more that there hasn't been very much of it (relative to Rose) thus far.
With Rose, the 'Companion's Journey' schtick was laid on thick. All her emotions & reactions were explored in intricate detail. It was almost a 'Time Travel & its myriad mystical effects on you & yours: 101' for viewers. This was probably a necessary evil to entice new & 'inexperienced' viewers, but now the training wheels are off & viewers are expected to make the connections for themsleves. We can assume Martha is feeling many of the same things that Rose did without time being spent/ wasted having to spell them out so blatantly again. This is a great thing because the focus is back on the Doctor (just in time for Tennant's more assured performance) the monsters & the scares. The intricacies & nuances of Martha's personality can be revealed more subtly & with a greater sense of mystery because the framework building stuff has been dealt with through Rose. I'm looking forward to it.
Oh & the incidental chanting music just before Dalek Sec's 'reveal' was diabolically inept & over the top. There were 3 pained groans in unison in my loungeroom. Never a good sign. Til next time.....
Lucozer.
If Helen Raynor is talented enough to be commissioned to write a two-parter for a multi-million dollar institution like Doctor Who (& I believe she is), she is good enough to come up with her own shopping bag of speccy moments & idiosyncratic elements. Having them imposed makes them seem even more obviously & painfully the uninspired 'tack-ins' they really are. Think of the gritty adventure we could be watching with just the shady businessman & the poor workers involved in the Dalek scheme. Dark & desolate. My kind of Doctor Who.
Addendum: After a second (& sober) viewing of DIM, I've revised a few of my opinions a little. I was perhaps a little too harsh on the actress playing Tallulah. 'Sassy broad with a heart-a-gold' is a thankless stereotype to have to breathe life into. Her accent falters & there are plenty of cringeworthy moments, but I'd prefer OTT to wooden & forgettable any day. She gives it a lot of energy & I hope she gets a chance to improve. I also feel that with Martha, it is not so much a problem of 'wobbly characterisation' as I said in my review, it's more that there hasn't been very much of it (relative to Rose) thus far.
With Rose, the 'Companion's Journey' schtick was laid on thick. All her emotions & reactions were explored in intricate detail. It was almost a 'Time Travel & its myriad mystical effects on you & yours: 101' for viewers. This was probably a necessary evil to entice new & 'inexperienced' viewers, but now the training wheels are off & viewers are expected to make the connections for themsleves. We can assume Martha is feeling many of the same things that Rose did without time being spent/ wasted having to spell them out so blatantly again. This is a great thing because the focus is back on the Doctor (just in time for Tennant's more assured performance) the monsters & the scares. The intricacies & nuances of Martha's personality can be revealed more subtly & with a greater sense of mystery because the framework building stuff has been dealt with through Rose. I'm looking forward to it.
Oh & the incidental chanting music just before Dalek Sec's 'reveal' was diabolically inept & over the top. There were 3 pained groans in unison in my loungeroom. Never a good sign. Til next time.....
Lucozer.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Lucozer Does Manhattan!
Hmm, not quite sure what to say, my reviews usually start with a confident flurry. I should say our reviews are always written immediately after viewing the episode to give them a feverish freshness & to capture the 'bubble & squeak' of the moment. A moment that has usually been aided by quite a few potent beverages. I'm stalling. Well, to start with the easy things...Tennant was once again very solid & has been far superior this season compared to last. Freema struggled valiantly & put in a good showing despite the continuing trend of worryingly wobbly characterisation for Martha. We should have a better sense of her by the end of episode 4. All the attraction to the Doctor talk comes across as stilted & a little tired. We've (over)done frustrated sexual tension with Rose; just f*%k or shut up about it! Let's get on with marvellous monsters & fabulous shocks!
It all looked grand & polished, but there was just something lacking. That 'lack' was ably aided by the woeful performance of the vapid blonde playing Tallulah W&%khead. She 'performs' a truly atrocious wafer-thin stereotype. I hope she gets bumped off quick smart. The Daleks 'reveal' was completely lacking in tension & suspense, but I guess the director thought 'why bother' when the bloody thing was lumbered with a subtle & mysterious title like 'Daleks In Manhattan'! They should have taken a leaf out of the 'Earthshock' book of "whooaa, f%@k!!". Perhaps the internet has neutered the possibility of such a peerless shock ever happening again. Very sad. The Dalek dialouge, although never grimace inducing, had the uneasy & somewhat forced quality that seems unavoidable when the writer has been given the troublesome mandate of shoehorning the plot around a 'glitzy' set peice; in this case Dalek Sec's 'shocking' 'Extreme Makeover' 'reveal'. Half Dalek, half human! Joe Public will lap it up! ...screamed the production team memo no doubt. Well I didn't lap it up folks, but I liked it enough to watch next week with hope for improvement. Maybe I'd give this the edge over 'Shakespeare Code', but only just & it's a lagging third for the season.
Cheers, a disconcerted Lucozer.
It all looked grand & polished, but there was just something lacking. That 'lack' was ably aided by the woeful performance of the vapid blonde playing Tallulah W&%khead. She 'performs' a truly atrocious wafer-thin stereotype. I hope she gets bumped off quick smart. The Daleks 'reveal' was completely lacking in tension & suspense, but I guess the director thought 'why bother' when the bloody thing was lumbered with a subtle & mysterious title like 'Daleks In Manhattan'! They should have taken a leaf out of the 'Earthshock' book of "whooaa, f%@k!!". Perhaps the internet has neutered the possibility of such a peerless shock ever happening again. Very sad. The Dalek dialouge, although never grimace inducing, had the uneasy & somewhat forced quality that seems unavoidable when the writer has been given the troublesome mandate of shoehorning the plot around a 'glitzy' set peice; in this case Dalek Sec's 'shocking' 'Extreme Makeover' 'reveal'. Half Dalek, half human! Joe Public will lap it up! ...screamed the production team memo no doubt. Well I didn't lap it up folks, but I liked it enough to watch next week with hope for improvement. Maybe I'd give this the edge over 'Shakespeare Code', but only just & it's a lagging third for the season.
Cheers, a disconcerted Lucozer.
Daleks in Womanhattan by the Co-Pilot
Daleks in Manhattan is a grim episode touching on themes of genetic engineering, racial purity (it is a Dalek story) and class segregations. Though it appears on the surface to have a lot going for it - not the least of which is the flashy setting and of course the return of the Daleks, it is ultimately an uninvolving and disappointing episode. Firstly, I just did not get into the showgirl stuff - which seemed to be there solely to generate laughs based on exaggerations and cliches - T.Davies templates. The pig 'experiments' seemed to again be there just for effect - we are given no explanations as to why pigs were chosen for modification - particularly as they have already been used by the Slitheen for similar reasons...why not genetically modified sheep, ducks or even cabbages ??? I am not really a fan of the new series Daleks either - perhaps it's just personal taste, but there is something about Nick Briggs's performance that irks me...his Dalek voicing somehow seems too passionate and over-played.
For me Daleks in Manhattan suffers from many of the same problems as its Cybermen counterpart 2 parter from last season - a thin plot weighed down by charicatures, and interspersed with images of horror that are not carried off with enough panache to be classic Who moments. Fingers crossed things will be better next week.
To end on a positive note, great to say that the David Tennant renaissance continues.
See you next time.
Love
The Skonnon Co-Pilot
For me Daleks in Manhattan suffers from many of the same problems as its Cybermen counterpart 2 parter from last season - a thin plot weighed down by charicatures, and interspersed with images of horror that are not carried off with enough panache to be classic Who moments. Fingers crossed things will be better next week.
To end on a positive note, great to say that the David Tennant renaissance continues.
See you next time.
Love
The Skonnon Co-Pilot
Saturday, April 21, 2007
DOCTOR WHO 2005/2006 - LUCOZER'S RATINGS
Hi folks,
The Co-Pilot & I would've dearly loved to have had our blog & myspace up & running as we witnessed the glitzy debut of the new series back in 2005 & as we nervously navigated the sterling peaks & slovenly troughs of the series thus far. Alas, our thoughts could only travel as far as across the loungeroom to each other & some like minded fellows during the first two seasons. Now that we may have some fresh ears for our thoughts to rattle in, I want to do a quick catch up. A very brief status check on our estimation of the stories so far...a score out of ten for each with a ONE LINE review!
Here's mine, The Co-Pilot's to follow soon....
2005
Rose - 6 / 10 (shallow & worrying)
End Of The World - 8 / 10 (above par intergalactic mardi gras)
Unquiet Dead - 8.5 / 10 (stylish fright in the dead of night)
Aliens Of London - 7 / 10 ("how about it love?")
WW3 - 5.5 / 10 ("not tonight dear!")
Dalek - 8 /10 (flashy but flawed)
Long Game - 6 / 10 (I already told you Rose, it's a wrecksuckocrapwhataboretous!)
Father's Day - 9 /10 (a 45 minute symphony of heart string plucking)
Empty Child - 9.5 / 10 (Dr Who!!!)
Doctor Dances - 9 /10 (menacing & masterful)
Boomtown - 6.5 / 10 (a fruity fart secretly enjoyed)
Bad Wolf - 9.5 / 10 (well tickle me fabulous!!)
Parting Of The Ways - 9 / 10 (Russell to a T. Davies!)
Christmas Invasion - 7.5 / 10 (luke warm egg nog)
2006
New Earth - 4.5 / 10 (a dry wretch from an empty stomach)
Tooth & Claw - 8 / 10 (there's life in the old queen yet!)
School Reunion - 7 / 10 (not MY Sarah Jane I'm afraid)
Girl In The Fireplace - 8.5 / 10 (intriguing & polished)
Age Of Steel - 7 / 10 (age of pig-iron maybe..or tinsel perhaps?)
Rise Of The Cybermen - 7 / 10 (moody moments, but not my Cybermen)
Idiot's Lantern - 6 / 10 (promising concept unfathomably ballsed up)
Impossible Planet - 8 / 10 (oooh!...a flash package on my doorstep!)
Satan Pit - 7.5 / 10 (vaguely disappointing contents of said package)
Love & Monsters - 6 / 10 ("lonely icing seeks cake, no time wasters please!")
Fear Her - 6 / 10 (see 'Idiot's Lantern')
Army Of Ghosts - 8.5 / 10 (brain setting...9 year old...Whooaw!!!)
Doomsday - 8.5 / 10 (ok ok...maybe just ONE more Iced Vo-Vo)
Runaway Bride - 6 / 10 (...for worse)
That's the lot then....
Love, The Lucozer....
The Co-Pilot & I would've dearly loved to have had our blog & myspace up & running as we witnessed the glitzy debut of the new series back in 2005 & as we nervously navigated the sterling peaks & slovenly troughs of the series thus far. Alas, our thoughts could only travel as far as across the loungeroom to each other & some like minded fellows during the first two seasons. Now that we may have some fresh ears for our thoughts to rattle in, I want to do a quick catch up. A very brief status check on our estimation of the stories so far...a score out of ten for each with a ONE LINE review!
Here's mine, The Co-Pilot's to follow soon....
2005
Rose - 6 / 10 (shallow & worrying)
End Of The World - 8 / 10 (above par intergalactic mardi gras)
Unquiet Dead - 8.5 / 10 (stylish fright in the dead of night)
Aliens Of London - 7 / 10 ("how about it love?")
WW3 - 5.5 / 10 ("not tonight dear!")
Dalek - 8 /10 (flashy but flawed)
Long Game - 6 / 10 (I already told you Rose, it's a wrecksuckocrapwhataboretous!)
Father's Day - 9 /10 (a 45 minute symphony of heart string plucking)
Empty Child - 9.5 / 10 (Dr Who!!!)
Doctor Dances - 9 /10 (menacing & masterful)
Boomtown - 6.5 / 10 (a fruity fart secretly enjoyed)
Bad Wolf - 9.5 / 10 (well tickle me fabulous!!)
Parting Of The Ways - 9 / 10 (Russell to a T. Davies!)
Christmas Invasion - 7.5 / 10 (luke warm egg nog)
2006
New Earth - 4.5 / 10 (a dry wretch from an empty stomach)
Tooth & Claw - 8 / 10 (there's life in the old queen yet!)
School Reunion - 7 / 10 (not MY Sarah Jane I'm afraid)
Girl In The Fireplace - 8.5 / 10 (intriguing & polished)
Age Of Steel - 7 / 10 (age of pig-iron maybe..or tinsel perhaps?)
Rise Of The Cybermen - 7 / 10 (moody moments, but not my Cybermen)
Idiot's Lantern - 6 / 10 (promising concept unfathomably ballsed up)
Impossible Planet - 8 / 10 (oooh!...a flash package on my doorstep!)
Satan Pit - 7.5 / 10 (vaguely disappointing contents of said package)
Love & Monsters - 6 / 10 ("lonely icing seeks cake, no time wasters please!")
Fear Her - 6 / 10 (see 'Idiot's Lantern')
Army Of Ghosts - 8.5 / 10 (brain setting...9 year old...Whooaw!!!)
Doomsday - 8.5 / 10 (ok ok...maybe just ONE more Iced Vo-Vo)
Runaway Bride - 6 / 10 (...for worse)
That's the lot then....
Love, The Lucozer....
Sunday, April 15, 2007
GRIDLOCK - Lucozer dons a smock!
**SPOILER WARNING**
I wasn't holding out a lot of hope for 'Gridlock'; the Cat People, New Earth, a traffic jam? Not ingredients for glory I would have thought. On the contrary, I'm glad to say this was more than the sum of its parts. After an awkward first few minutes during which I settled in for the expected disappointment, I found myself increasingly engrossed & impressed. The special effects were a vast improvement on Gridlock's sister story from season 2 & the concept was a whole lot stronger; a city in trouble locks down into survival mode to protect it's people. I'm even prepared to overlook the ludicrous idea of people being stuck in cramped cars for years & not 'going postal' because RTD's brush strokes are so offhandedly confident. We're not really allowed too much time for nit picky plot poking. Never let common sense get in the way of a fab romp!
Apart from the frivolous & "fabulous" use of the Macra, there was little to fault. Where were the glaring & embarrassing flaws?. The scenes with the Face of Boe were well executed. Tennant has a lovely rapport with the Face. Hats & all other extraneous garments off to you RTD! You had the Co-Pilot & I in raptures & stitches with the lovely quip 'Don't you go dying on me you big old face'. Fabulous in the most fabulous way! Freema recovered quite well from a flat spot last week & Tennant is slowly but surely becoming the Doctor I've longed to take to my Bosom & then hold aloft.
Despite having to make a few leaps of logic (quite easy after several drinks - I'm even struggling to remember what I had to leap!) 'Gridlock' is far more credible & involving than 'Shakespeare Code'. Next week can't come soon enough.
I wasn't holding out a lot of hope for 'Gridlock'; the Cat People, New Earth, a traffic jam? Not ingredients for glory I would have thought. On the contrary, I'm glad to say this was more than the sum of its parts. After an awkward first few minutes during which I settled in for the expected disappointment, I found myself increasingly engrossed & impressed. The special effects were a vast improvement on Gridlock's sister story from season 2 & the concept was a whole lot stronger; a city in trouble locks down into survival mode to protect it's people. I'm even prepared to overlook the ludicrous idea of people being stuck in cramped cars for years & not 'going postal' because RTD's brush strokes are so offhandedly confident. We're not really allowed too much time for nit picky plot poking. Never let common sense get in the way of a fab romp!
Apart from the frivolous & "fabulous" use of the Macra, there was little to fault. Where were the glaring & embarrassing flaws?. The scenes with the Face of Boe were well executed. Tennant has a lovely rapport with the Face. Hats & all other extraneous garments off to you RTD! You had the Co-Pilot & I in raptures & stitches with the lovely quip 'Don't you go dying on me you big old face'. Fabulous in the most fabulous way! Freema recovered quite well from a flat spot last week & Tennant is slowly but surely becoming the Doctor I've longed to take to my Bosom & then hold aloft.
Despite having to make a few leaps of logic (quite easy after several drinks - I'm even struggling to remember what I had to leap!) 'Gridlock' is far more credible & involving than 'Shakespeare Code'. Next week can't come soon enough.
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