Doctor Who Season 5 episodes 8 and 9

[rabid1st]

What is there left to say? Find out under this cut...but BEWARE OF SPOILERS...

Alas, poor Rory! I knew him, Horatio!

Not well, of course. It is impossible to know anyone very well in S5 New Who. They are muppets. Stick figures acting out shallow scenarios which we are quite obviously supposed to forget by next week. They are truly the people of Old School only much more annoying because they are shoved at us like baked mashed yams might be shoved at a helpless infant. See how Amy is challenging and adorable...admire Amy! Or she will do something else that comes out of nowhere and is ballsy. Amy continues to be a disturbing combination of bland and offensive. Rory lost much of his charm in the whining, and then there is the Doctor.

Well, he's not so bad. He's growing on me. He's not very impressive, but he did manage to actually seem dangerous once in the first episode.

I'm talking about the moment when he tells Ambrose not to use the weapons. Of course, we know that nobody listens to him...why should they, he's but a child. But for a moment there...I could feel a bit of seriousness come over old Matt. He was almost a Gallifreyan. Then it was gone and we were back to him breathlessly dashing about spouting nonsense and being upstaged. And the thing that makes it all so very frustrating is that if we had better actors, better direction and someone with half a brain in charge of things...this would have been a corking two parter. It had loads of potential. And lovely special effects to boot.

I am not a Silurian purist. I barely remember them truthfully...except I do think they did have a crappy Loch Ness Monster. Only maybe that was the Sea Devils...I don't know. I remember that the episode was pretty crappy. And Warriors of the Deep...definitely the Sea Devils...was admirable because one of the actors in a Sea Devil costume had his underwear showing as they marched by the camera. I don't mind suspending a bit of my believe but I would rather advanced monsters from below not wear Jockey brand undershirts and pants. That's just me, though, I imagine.

Here, though they were memorable. We have some nicely latexed scales, women warriors and very lovely corridors full of vines and moss and assorted critters in hibernation. The warrior class woke up cranky and apparently had no interest in listening to reason. That part was frankly the boring part. I liked some of the earlier, more atmospheric, bits in the graveyard and at the outpost. What I really wanted to do was go 1000 years into the future at the end and see how everyone was getting along...but we are off to Rio...or to see Vincent...whatever? It doesn't matter at all, because nothing does anymore. I can't help wishing that it was Amy who disappeared...but there's no chance of that...anymore than there is a chance we will just give up on feeding toddlers mashed yams.

For the record, I doubt Rory is really and truly gone, since this crack will be set right eventually. And what a marvelous device for avoiding anything "clingy" from happening. We wouldn't want anyone to be less than perky for more than two minutes, so no Rory to grieve...move the story right along and no dawdling.

Did anyone get the great big wall of irony that crashed down when the Doctor was trying to help Amy remember one person...after he stole all of those memories from Donna? Or what about how we were supposed to grieve when nobody else was going to do so? What about the irony of the two lovers finding a way to be together...and the Doctor embracing the woman and admiring her...though he was, of course, not faithful himself?

Well, I doubt that Moffat noticed the irony! I'm going to miss Rory...but not very much...because...well, I hardly knew him.

Rae

Comments

[mrs_roy.livejournal.com]

I've not seen the eps, probably won't bother watching when they come around, but I stick by the fact that 11 is so one dimensional he's not worth my time, and that Amy's reliance on the Doctor is wearing thin. In short - I just don't feel that they're delivering what little plot there is to work with. You might have to explain the eps to me .. otherwise I'm just going to look like a sad little Ten/Rose shipper who can't let go ;)

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

Rory was the only humanizing element thus far this lack-luster series. I know he'll be back. I mean, the engagement ring is still on the TARDIS and no doubt the Doctor will give Amy away when Wendy decides to grow up and leave Neverland.

I hope Moffat has gotten an earful of the criticism of this series and stops resting on his "Blink" laurels which have long since faded. I'm no fan of his, but I know he's capable of better writing than the dreck we've been spoonfed.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Rory was humanizing. Especially at the start when he was quite likable, in sharp contrast to the Doctor and Amy. Well, they weren't horrid in the first episode...but Rory was great. I loved his meltdown over the Doctor calling the aliens back after they'd left. Far funnier than Amy oogling the Doctor's bare backside. And, if only I felt that anyone knew anyone, I would have enjoyed Rory taking the Doctor to task a few times. But sadly, it is hard to take this Doctor to task and make it meaningful...since he's so banal.

Rae

[saku-teiki.livejournal.com]

I audibly groaned every time Amy said "I dressed for Rio!" or "Oi! Don't be so clingy" to Rory. She hurts my brain. I thoroughly enjoy her hair colour (as I wish I were a Weasley, myself, but hair dye in Weasley orange is VERY hard to come by), but I just can NOT connect with her. For some reason, I got Rory. Me and Rory were buds!

Oh yes, I've started referring to my boyfriend as a 9-year-old whenever he does something related to dinosaurs or kiddie cereal. I think Rory would make a good babysitter for Amy and Eleven. xD

I miss Rose. And she's been gone for years.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I admired Amy's hair, too! And you know what? That's really something for me. I very rarely notice things like hair or makeup, because usually I am too interested in the storyline. But none of that matters anymore...yeah, yeah, there's a crack and it's sucking people into oblivion. YAWN!

But as Amy was lying there under glass...blissfully not talking for a moment...I found myself going..."Oh, look at her hair. Hmmm! Was it always that long?"

And me and Rory might have become buds. I would rather him as companion than Amy. At least, Rory is somewhat interesting, though he doesn't look as legging in a short skirt or whatever the heck that was that Amy was wearing for Rio! And it is good that we all agree the Doctor is 9 and Amy is still 7 emotionally and mentally...but I wish this tedious season would get to the point of it all. And hopefully that is the TARDIS blown to smithereens at the outset so this season never existed. Only, we probably won't be able to forget it immediately. But I do imagine it will fade from the collective memory pretty rapidly.

Rae

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

Still think it could turn out that the whole series is happening in Amy's head - in which case Moff's palms must be sweating a little over a couple of other high-profile shows that have gone down that route. Main reason I back this theory is it's the one thing RTD wouldn't let anybody do in the show when he was the boss.

It's a very high-risk strategy though - they'll have lost a few viewers by then.

And yes, I did think of Donna, and what a good fic that would have made if Ten had been in it. But Eleven is so opaque I can't write about him at all - it would be like trying to climb a sheet of ice without crampons.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

But Eleven is so opaque I can't write about him at all - it would be like trying to climb a sheet of ice without crampons.

For me as well, after the first episode aired, my mind was full of him meeting up with Ten2/Rose and Amy being THEIR granddaughter and I had some lovely subtle maturity for Eleven...but sadly...he has gone all shallow and emotionally 9 on me. There's nothing there to cling to and make interesting. And that's the whole problem with this season in a nutshell.

It isn't bad when you compare it to Old School...but as I used to say...we fans made up a lot of stuff in our head about Old School motivations and character development. I mean, Romana and Four didn't really have a "relationship" in the canon, beyond Romana sort of irritating him and then coming around to his way of looking at the universe. Pretty much that sums up most of the companion/Doctor relationships of Old School.

And RTD rather honored that...with the exception of Rose...and had people start out irritating the Doctor and then all sides came around to mutual admiration. I think basically, Moff is just lazy. He wants us to admire the Doctor and be thrilled and delighted by Amy but he doesn't want to put any of the work into the writing that would MAKE us feel those emotions. Instead, he just tells us that we are thrilled and delighted and the Doctor is the greatest thing ever.

A good example of this is when Eleven tells the kid that monsters are scared of him. By the time Nine or Ten got around to saying that line...we would all believe it. Here, it is just something that we and the kid are supposed to accept at face value. It rings false, especially when it turns out the Eleven is even more ineffectual in a crisis than Nine or Ten. Actually, I always felt that while he might be out of it for a bit...it really wasn't a good idea to mess with Nine or Ten. With Eleven, as I've said about Amy...I can see the writers coming up with ideas...but not the Doctor.

Rae

[saku-teiki.livejournal.com]

Maybe the TARDIS explodes and we go back to the lovely organic one of the previous season (instead of this fun bits-and-bobs seventies one). Not that I don't like this one too, I just prefer the older one.

Rory wasn't dressed for Rio, was he? I mean, he had his Back to the Future lifevest on. Was he wearing shorts? Obviously his clothes aren't as important as Amy's (to me, anyway).

[saku-teiki.livejournal.com]

Point in case: Rory is not dressed for Rio. He is dressed in his usual outfit. Therefore, Amy is also dressed in her usual outfit. Besides, couldn't they have ended up in Rio in the winter? Not very smart, Amy. WEAR LAYERS. Bah.



Stretchy, yay!

Actually, here is a great example...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

...of the lack of character development. Amy is important. Rory is not. I feel that there would have been much more comedy and therefore much more pathos later...had Rory been the one "dressed for Rio." He could have had long shorts and a yellow shirt with pineapples and flowers on it. And then he wouldn't have been mistaken for a policemen. Or would he? And then he would have had to say that he "dressed for Rio" and the people would have been as confused as he was.

The idea that he and his police box were somehow the police...seemed a very odd conclusion to draw in any case. So why not push the envelope on the ridiculous. Amy dressing for Rio really would have gone completely unnoticed if they hadn't kept mentioning it. She looked to me like she always does...lots of leg and some really ugly jumper over too short shorts.

But, as I know, we are supposed to find Amy fascinating and captivating and to notice her skirt is now shorts or whatever and to find her immature shouting amusing. It is all so very tedious. I just want someone on this show to exhibit some level of real emotional connection to their characters. Even Rory, bless him, is rather disconnected.

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched Who in ages, but I must ask... what have you got against mashed yams?

Sweet potatoes with butter and s&p are a wonderful thing. :)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I am afraid we do not see eye-to-eye on the sweet potato. I can't stand them. And I see many a young child making a "EWWWW!" face when offered them on a spoon.

But, to each her own. I am reminded of Murdoch...or rather his assistant Constable George Crabtree...who said, and I quote, "[Microwaved] Yams would be delicious."

Rae

[thisficklemob.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't say I'd be enthusiastic about pureed yams from a jar, but microwaved sweet potatoes are good. :)

[onlyoot.livejournal.com]

The only Loch ness monster I remember was the Skaresan and that was controlled by the zygons. Tom Baker story, pretty good.

I quite like Matt. But I feel he needs time to grow a bit. I didnt like David straight away either. I feel Matt has moments where you go, okay thats pure Doctor. But sometimes I feel hes hampered by the writing or direction. But I do like him. I feel Rory is lost way too early. Its hard to feel for him. And we havent got much depth on Amy either. Saying that, I do want to see wheer this Arc is going but alas, next ep will be a stand-alone too.

oh and spoiler for people who havent seen the eps yet.

Did you notice the ring was still in existence? The box fell off the console.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did notice that! I honestly feel that traveling in the TARDIS will probably protect Rory and he's just been relocated somewhere.

I also feel that the explosion at the beginning of all this is the explosion in question...the question is what does THAT mean? We sort of hand wave over the whole idea of the TARDIS exploding when the Doctor regenerates. That doesn't happen. So, why did it happen there?

But probably some sort of failsafe kicked in because the Doctor was regenerating when the whole thing happened and the TARDIS has done something out of the ordinary.

I'm not really very interested in the Arc because I just don't find it very compelling. I suppose I should now that Rory has been consumed. But the thing is...as I keep saying...and you say here...I can't really connect with the players...so I don't really care what happens to them.

Rae