Sea Devils And Die: GeroniMoffat's Doctor Who In The 2010s

More with the yay- than nay-sayers on this one, though the latter have some valid points. Curtis gave the Doc some good lines, and I admit I got a little teary at Vincent in the gallery.

Oh, and I have an odd hunch that next week's might turn out to be surprisingly good.

I like the use of the screwdriver as a tricorder, which they seem to be doing a lot this year.

Appreciated the deliberate comedy bits of contrasting how gingerly the Doctor who treat each painting when Van Gogh himself would casually toss them around.

Also, one thing that i have noticed since really getting into the show is an appreciation of a sense of economy. All you need is just to shoot Matt Smith running around some cobblestone streets or in a cathedral to tell an interesting story.

Plus, the idea that Van Gogh wasn't completely mad, that he was dismayed at monsters that were actually there, is a good one. Didn't like the sense of "oh god we're going into music video mode" at the end, but whaddaya gunna do. The scene of the three of them lying in a field was excellent, if nothing else for the thematic joining of up of two people who had greatly different ideas of what the Universe actually was and how they saw it than most people, and both guys' perceptions greatly differed from each other.

The Doctor and Nighy complimenting each other's bow-ties was cute.

I like the use of the screwdriver as a tricorder, which they seem to be doing a lot this year.

haaaaaate this

nb loved when he pulled a great big slingshot out of his inside pocket in Hungry Earth, great for the absurdity AND him having SOMETHING ELSE useful in his jacket instead of tricordering it with A SCREWDRIVER

rather loved the "only going to use this to screw in screws" in Vincent along these lines

i didn't really notice the music video mode at the end, but my sister HATED it. she pointed out that most (all?) of the time they've used contemporary songs in the past (Toxic, Voodoo Child, Mr. Blue Sky) it's because someone is actually playing the song in the episode.

Yeah the sonic screwdriver has mostly been a bit rubbish and inadequate this series, which I quite like.

I really didn't feel the ending of this. A) wasn't it kind of out of character for the doctor? How would he know it wouldn't change (art) history)? II) it just seemed like a klutzy saccharine attempt to sweeten what was and is a real and heartbreaking tragedy; and 3) gah, the music, come back Murray Gold all is forgiven (not really).

I didn't even really notice the music at the end because I was all swept up in the "aww, this isn't changing anything but it's lovely for Vincent to know he's not all underappreciated".

And, yes, I think next week will be good, the <SPOILER FOR ANYONE WHO DIDN'T WATCH THE TRAILER> "I'm your new lodger" <END SPOIILER> line sets up some Being Human type japes, and I'm fine with Corden being in it as an actor because he's not writing "I am Smithy, I am grate and funny" lines for himself or anything (see also every pre-Runaway Bride defence of Catherine Tate ever).

Well, every episode has seen them fixing the problem that brought them to time X, but also creating another problem (crack/anomalous painting dedication/Rory etc) so I really don't see what the objections are to something that's clearly a THING this series.

Appreciated the deliberate comedy bits of contrasting how gingerly the Doctor who treat each painting when Van Gogh himself would casually toss them around.

It was a highly ginger episode. I haven't seen too much of this series but haven't much enjoyed what I have seen. Thought this particular episode was mince, though the guy playing Vince was obv. born for the role! Yes, Amy is very cute and all that but she is just too annoying, her voice is even beginning to annoy me.

... objected to the idea of Vincent Van Gogh being described as the greatest artist who ever lived, for starters!

Thinking back on that episode it really did feel like Curtis's sole frame of reference was a handful of Rusty-era episodes on DVD. This series has been mercifully short on slush so far so hopefully this is just an aberration.

Still have total faith that the Moffatt-penned finale will be awesome.

Oh right, this was written by Richard Curtis, no wonder it blew

That explains Bill Nighy then.

Sherlockian deductive abilities to the fore, there

see if you can guess what my deductive abilities are telling me now

that you've been persuaded that a quiet classic-style historical would be a lovely change of pace?

Thinking back on that episode it really did feel like Curtis's sole frame of reference was a handful of Rusty-era episodes on DVD.

Was this a leftover from RTD-era, rewritten to squeeze in Moffarc continuity? Does feel a bit like it, though way way more relaxed than any Rusty 45 minutes. (It was nice having the rub alium resolved in half an hour and knowing the rest would be a gentler epilogue.)

Curtis commissioned and produced Moffat's first Who telly though, Curse Of Fatal Death.

It started out ok - there were some cute lines and decent ideas - but it was just so schmaltzy. As soon as that foul Athlete song came on the episode was sunk beyond redemption. I thought bringing Vincent forward in time was really corny, and while the Starry Night bit could have been sweet, so much slush had been piled on I was completely put off. Nighy's speech about the greatness of Van Gogh sounded like something out of a exhibition catalogue or even a documentary - it didn't sound like real dialogue. It felt patronising, as if the viewer had to be told how great the art was and we weren't allowed to make our own mind up. Kids can tell Van Gogh is wonderful. Rubbish CGI turkey monster. And Tony Curran was ridiculously hammy. I quite liked his hamminess at times, but it felt incongruous, especially next to Matt Smith's nicely understated performance.
I dunno what it is with Richard Curtis. Co-writes a classic sitcom then completely turns to shit. Did the Devil rescind Curtis and Elton's crossroads pact?

Debate: Does Dr Who needs a 'no peril at all' episode?

The Timelord Buds Of May

Another reason for my disappointment was how poorly it compared to all the art shenanigans in City of Death...

Debate: Does Dr Who needs a 'no peril at all' episode?

― Jarlrmai, Monday, 7 June 2010 13:57 (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The Timelord Buds Of May

― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 7 June 2010 14:02 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

last of the summer time

Last of the Summer Timey Wimey, surely.

(Two) Heartbeat

December to May

The Vicar of Wibbley.

Gallifrey and Juno

George and Mild Dread

"Venice in Mild Peril" coming soon.

Two Hearts In The Grave

Only Fools And Tardises

http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/torchwood_new_series/ just thought I'd drop this here.

i know things about this :)

So it is for real, then? I assumed Torchwood was dead in the water.

Late to this one, enjoyed it, also nearly blubbed near the end (soft touch for that sort of thing though). Liked the whole 'is this how time goes?' and Dr's impatience bit - suggests he's actually not much of an artist himself, the painstaking element of him is missing. Parallel between chicken and VG bound things together a bit (definitely supposed to look like a chicken - the attack with all the chickens in VG's yard. All felt quite well proportioned, nicely done. Thought it was a quite good take on artistic vision actually - doctor saying he could never see things as amazing as VG was quite nice. 'Best artist of ALL TIME' thing grated slightly, but 'Most popular great artist' later on, felt more otm.

No way would they get rid of Torchwood, handy franchise innit.

I wish it had been about Pirosmani instead

Best artist of ALL TIME' thing grated slightly,

Yeah. I'm no art historian, but doesn't Picasso have considerably more claim to the title?

Wasn't the rationale that van Gogh was an artist EVERYONE would have heard of? Picasso may be more famous but I don't see a particular story come to mind, plus dude was a major bastard to women so... meh.

Oh yeah, Van Gogh is a way more obvious guy to do a story about... Was just annoyed by all the hyperbole.

I don't know if it's me just being drunk but the incoherence of the show's position w/r/t messing about with time is ... confusing. Sometimes it's ok to change things, sometimes it's not, sometimes there are butterfly-effect-type repercussions, sometimes it doesn't make any difference ... while they were treating Van Gogh to a nice visit to the museum I was thinking 'well that's all very nice and a kind thing to do, but aren't you risking changing all sorts of events down the road?' And of course it turns out to be not a big deal. I know that incoherence is kind of baked into the show, and maybe I'm just being King Nerd but I'm getting brain whiplash. I know that it's Who and that I really should just relax, but man.

Really enjoyed the ep despite the monster being completely pointless and the music video stuff. The art direction was ace and I loved the guy who played Van Gogh, thought he was fantastic. I love the Doctor treating Amy to all sorts of things to make her feel better about a tragedy she has no idea happened.

Wellp, we all learned a little about Van Gogh haven't we kids?

I don't know if it's me just being drunk but the incoherence of the show's position w/r/t messing about with time is ... confusing.

afacr the entire business was explained this season as 'the doctor can physically feel it when something in time isn't right' - i.e. if it's going to make a difference to the 'correct' flow of time he'd be able to tell (which is a slight alteration on the RTD era's 'some things in time are fixed').

They definitely mentioned fixed points in time somewhere in this series, maybe in WW2? But given that they have already destroyed the Daleks and Timelords throughout time and space, and Tom Baker put the development of the Daleks back several hundred/thousand years way before that, they've always been able to rewrite time.

Essentially the fixed points = actual real-world history that can't be changed - ie no "why don't they go back and assassinate Hitler?"

lol @ this RTD quote re: Torchwood S4:

It's not going to be 'Lost' and take 20 years to find out what's going on. It's going to have a most remarkable conclusion after 10 episodes.

like i'm as pissed off about Lost as anybody, but let's not throw stones when we live in a house made out of the worst finales ever.

I think the last series of Torchwood, the week-long one, was up there with the very very best of nu-Who and possibly better than it.

like i'm as pissed off about Lost as anybody, but let's not throw stones when we live in a house made out of the worst finales ever.

The thing about the Lost finale is that I kept thinking about how it was as mawkish and cheesy as RTD's last DW finale.

RTD would've had Mr Friendly dressed as an uber-camp angel tho

Children Of Earth was pretty great altho most of the supporting one-off characters were quite crap (not Capaldi obv)

Children Of Earth was great because it felt more like OLD Who than nu-Who! It was no Blink or Fireplace, but 100-1,000,000x better than anything else Rusty wrote for Who. Except maybe Rose.

Did you not like Midnite, Kit?

it was easily the second best thing Rusty wrote for the show, but suffered awfully from his usual lack of actually thinking through his scenarios. the character stakes were really unearned, and the peril fell apart internally several times, IIRC starting from him wanting us to be unsettled by them first spotting something black and shadowing leaping about in the distance, and then expecting us to be freaked out by something invisible attacking them.

haven't ever rewatched it though, so I may not rc.