Friday, May 21, 2010

link: Pretty, Fizzy Paradise: Earth: Final Conflict Review: 1x01 Decision


It's been a long time since I posted anything here (and I owe you so many movie reviews and a few Classic Who reviews that are probably all lost to the ethers now), but H sent me this link, and it's pretty much what I always wanted this blog to be like. So enjoy!

Also, this blog will probably get absorbed into the main one, too, while the TV reviews will go up on the Examiner site, but somewhere I think I'll be getting back to whole season and Classic Reviews over the summer when my shows are off the air.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

review: the end of time, parts 1 and 2


I really hate to see MyFutureHusbandDavidTennant in pain. And he acts it so well. I wince every time and want to give him a cookie and a glass of juice and a hug.

Anyway.

The official review is over on Examiner, so here I'll just mention some personal things to add to it.

I'm annoyed that there wasn't more come-uppance. I mean, that was a huge emotional and mental break there at the end of Waters of Mars, and he said some pretty upsetting things, and then it was all 'crap-that-was-wrong-all-better-now-never-mind', all the emotional and plot-ly fall out in, like, three seconds and it's never mentioned again. I hope that the Moff mentions it. It's the exact point where he went too far, where he took things the wrong way and stopped being himself and started being a lunatic, started being the Master-- and then that just didn't matter at all when this ep started and the Master was back? Yeah, that's not good writing, not good continuity, and we expect better. I expect better. And I expect someone, some time before too long into the new series to come back to it and point out that, yeah, that was wrong, and he's still dealing with it, still trying to figure out how to make up for that-- another thing to haunt him and drive him toward good.

And I'm just annoyed that as soon as the Master comes back, he's all 'let's be best friends, okay?', and doesn't have to deal with the fact that he's now that much closer to what the Master is, and it's never once a temptation to go to the Dark Side there. I mean, the Master has Force Lightning. He's already a Sith Lord. And the Doctor never even had to be tempted by that?

Geek rage rising...

And there's been this niggling feeling in the back of my brain since these specials started-- since the last three eps of the last season, really-- that it's a super-extended huff from RTD. I mean, he seems upbeat in the interviews, and then he gives us episodes where everyone is off-character, and plot lines don't make sense, and the Doctor keeps being a jerk*, and then he takes it all away, packs up his toys and moves on. It feels... bitter. It feels done. And it feels final in a way that doesn't sit right in my head based on how amazing it's been up to this point. ::sigh:: But now it's over, and we can all let this stuff settle and forget the annoyances. We never need to watch these weird overblown last episodes again. And that's almost a relief (though still a bittersweet one, because I really will miss Ten and Tennant. Four was my Doctor; now Ten is, and always will be.)

I'm divided on the unfairness of it. On the one hand, this is a kid's show, and things should turn out fair and clean and happy-- or, at least seem to be so. On the other hand, it really IS unfair, and I don't want it to be. The fact that the Doctor himself keeps saying it's unfair just makes it seem that much more unfair.

And I'm still not happy with how Rose or Donna turned out, though I like the last glimpse of Rose that we had.

I think that woman who kept appearing to Wilf is more interesting if it's Future Old Donna, turned into a Time Lord the way Ace never got to be, or if it's Romana. It'd be awesome if it's Romana. There's the idea also that it's the Doctor's mom, which would be sweet, but I don't think we need that.


Things I'd like to see in the new series:
- More than just one episode where the Tardis is grounded-- that looked like some severe damage, and it'd be interesting to see the Doctor stuck on Earth, a little like how the Third Doctor was. Not permanently, just not immediately able to up and leave. Because he's so keen on avoiding connections, I'd like to see him trapped with the same people. And I want to see the new Tardis design happening in stages as he repairs things-- or, at least see a few options before he settles on one. Something new, please.

- They promised a broken Sonic Screwdriver. Which is pretty cool. It's a crutch; I like a Doctor who can fix things like Macguyver all up in this piece.

- New monsters! And if there are returns of old ones, please please please let them be something other than a flipping Cyberman or a Dalek-- and if they are a Cyberman or a Dalek, let there be something new to say about them that doesn't involve them trying to be hybridized with humans. I mean, come on.

- I'd love for this not to be the end of the Modern Companions. Last regeneration, we had Rose to carry us into the next series, but this is a new Doctor with a new companion and a new head writer, so who's carrying us over? I bet Moff could make Marfa more interesting. Especially now that she's married to Mickey, even though she was engaged to that cute doctor that she met in the Year That Never Was. And since I still have issues with Donna's story, I want her to come back and get some better handling. And there's always the chance that Rose and Other Doctor could come back, but I think that should wait a while. Let everyone breathe and move on a bit-- and then be a special episode in, say, two years, when it'll feel fresh again. And Sarah Jane still has a lot to do. The Doctor said so in her show.

- There was a lot of awesomeness mentioned in passing about how the Time War went down, and it'd be fun if some of that came through. Not too much, just a little at a time, say, the Abyss Child or whatever it was, just one every other season or so. Because I really like the idea that the TimeLords are entirely batshit crazy, and that they aren't really gone, just locked away and sectioned off where they can't hurt anyone anymore-- and that now they know there are ways to get through and come back.

- Jenny. She's not done by a long shot-- and she's not supposed to have happened. She's a loose end, and that makes for an interesting story.

- River Song. Especially if it turns out the way it looks like it would-- her being the Doctor's wife or something. Especially especially if it turns out that she's something else entirely unexpected, like his daughter or his sister or himself as a woman. Especially if she's not as human as she looks, and it doesn't matter what he looks like to us, because he looks the same to her because she's looking at what he actually is, not the body he's in. Or if the timeline has been changed by his regeneration, and now he has to relate to her on a different level. I just want her to be awesome and unexpected.

- Amy's from 1991. That's a long time ago. It'll be fin for her home time to be out of synch with ours, and it'll be fun for our time to be far in the future of her's, and I hope they deal with that.



* Jerkiness: I love you, Rose, but even though the plot point that made this make sense was cut, and you risked destroying the universe to come back to me, I'm still leaving you here back where you started. Here, it's a slightly-less-cool copy of me. I'm sure he'll be fine living in a house and getting a job.
Jerkiness: I am the Timelord victorious. I do what I want. Even when it makes my companions kill themselves.
Jerkiness: Don't let Donna remember anything, or it will melt her brain. Also, that's probably not true.
Jerkiness: You don't have to be all Master-ish anymore. We're the only two left, so you can travel with me for all times, like bros, and when I lock you up, I'll make sure to give you lots of space and to pull you out from under the floor boards and dust you off once in a while, like I do with the Crilitanes.
Jerkiness: You're great, Wilf, but you're not anything and I'm awesome, and I don't think I should have to die for you. Oops, I totally did anyway. Damn.