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mitchy at 07:37pm on 25/12/2008 under dr who christmas special 2008
mitchy at 07:37pm on 25/12/2008 under dr who christmas special 2008OK, I am very conflicted about this one. For a start, RTD wrote it and it has everything that pisses me off about his scripts. However, it also has one of the better female villains plus some killer lines. Gnng. It wasn't epic fail but it came perilously close.
The plot - the Doctor zaps into Dickensian London in 1852 or thereabouts. He hears someone calling for the Doctor and rushes to the scene only to find a woman who says he's not the doctor! Another dashing man arrives and she greets him. "Who are you?" our man asks. "I'm the Doctor! Just the Doctor! The one, the only and the best!"
It doesn't take our Doctor long to work out that rather than being another version of himself, this new version has undergone a traumatic event that's caused not only memory loss but somehow information about TennantDoctor has been transferred to Almost!Doctor. Thus Almost!Doctor has a sonic screwdriver, that's just an ordinary screwdriver that makes a noise when it hits things, hence "sonic". And Almost!Doctor's TARDIS is a hot air balloon - Tethered Ariel Release Developed in Style! It wasn't a bad concept and David Morrisey was superb as Almost!Doctor.
Long story short, it turns out this is all the fault of the Cybermen, some of whom slipped outta the Void and ended up back in time. They've recruited Miss Hartigan, superbly played by Dervla Kirwin, to assist in the rise of the CyberKing. Naturally their plans come to a nasty end courtesy of the Doctor and his TARDIS - the hot air balloon version :)
Good things: Miss Hartigan. The first scene that she really appears in is a stunningly shot spectacle in a graveyard. You have sober men in black mourning suits, the silver Cybermen, grey tombstones, falling snow.....and Miss Hartigan in a scarlet (and I do mean scarlet) dress, with a red umbrella. This lead to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
803am and myself getting rather carried away:-
[18:17] CommonComitatus: It's Mary Poppins!
[18:17] MitchFC: Oooh Mary never wore slut red
[18:17] MitchFC: although I'm sure she had a naughty side
[18:17] CommonComitatus: It wouldn't surprise me. She was played by the Devil.
[18:18] MitchFC: *snickers*
[18:18] CommonComitatus: It's like Evil!MaryPoppins.
[18:18] MitchFC: SatanPoppins!
[18:18] CommonComitatus: ROFL!
[18:19] CommonComitatus: If she whips out an all-holding handbag, I'll know this is not coincidental.
[18:20] CommonComitatus: Mercy, my ass. It's Mary.
[18:25] CommonComitatus: Mary Poppins has captured all the bankers, and will force them to give tuppences to the birds forever more.
[18:43] MitchFC: Cyberpoppins!
[18:43] MitchFC: She's practically perfect in every way!
[18:43] CommonComitatus: I TOLD YOU!!!
There were some killer lines, but sadly the reason they stood out was because the rest of the script was awful. RTD can write killer snark with one hand and then totally spoil it by nose-diving into mawkish sentimentality which is what he did for almost the entire last half of the show.
Fave lines:
Doctor, to two Cybermen who've sneaked up on him - "Do you have your legs on silent?"
Miss Hartigan, to the evil, traitorous Cyberleader - "You promised me I'd never be converted!"
Evil, traitorous Cyberleader - "That was designated a lie."
Miss Hartigan, to ETCL - "Have you no pity?"
ETCL - "Correct"
Despite some good lines, the Cybermen were pretty wussy this time around. Really, they're just lower-level Daleks. The ChewyCybermen (called Cybershades, apparently, mutant versions of cybermen and wookie, as far as I can tell), were....kinda silly. Too obviously men in shaggy monkey suits.
The mawkishness, aiieee, it burned! Burned! Turned out that Almost!Doctor not only got zapped while fighting Cybermen, but his wife was killed. Then! THEN! During the rescue of some children, he sees a boy he recognises as his own son, cueing up a heroic Tennant!Doctor rescue. There was a line of dialogue in this scene that had me and803am puking over our keyboards. Sadly, I can't recall it, it's already been blotted from my mind. Be glad.
Neither good or bad was the sheer level of slashiness in this ep. Trust me when I say the Dr Who part of fan fiction is about to explode. The Doctor being starry eyed over himself? Good lord, large chunks of the episode were practically fan fiction from the get go!
So overall, umm, I'll give this a B-. I'm not likely to want to re-watch it but it wasn't bad and there were some very good bits. But where it was bad....dear gods.....it sucked.
The plot - the Doctor zaps into Dickensian London in 1852 or thereabouts. He hears someone calling for the Doctor and rushes to the scene only to find a woman who says he's not the doctor! Another dashing man arrives and she greets him. "Who are you?" our man asks. "I'm the Doctor! Just the Doctor! The one, the only and the best!"
It doesn't take our Doctor long to work out that rather than being another version of himself, this new version has undergone a traumatic event that's caused not only memory loss but somehow information about TennantDoctor has been transferred to Almost!Doctor. Thus Almost!Doctor has a sonic screwdriver, that's just an ordinary screwdriver that makes a noise when it hits things, hence "sonic". And Almost!Doctor's TARDIS is a hot air balloon - Tethered Ariel Release Developed in Style! It wasn't a bad concept and David Morrisey was superb as Almost!Doctor.
Long story short, it turns out this is all the fault of the Cybermen, some of whom slipped outta the Void and ended up back in time. They've recruited Miss Hartigan, superbly played by Dervla Kirwin, to assist in the rise of the CyberKing. Naturally their plans come to a nasty end courtesy of the Doctor and his TARDIS - the hot air balloon version :)
Good things: Miss Hartigan. The first scene that she really appears in is a stunningly shot spectacle in a graveyard. You have sober men in black mourning suits, the silver Cybermen, grey tombstones, falling snow.....and Miss Hartigan in a scarlet (and I do mean scarlet) dress, with a red umbrella. This lead to
803am and myself getting rather carried away:-[18:17] CommonComitatus: It's Mary Poppins!
[18:17] MitchFC: Oooh Mary never wore slut red
[18:17] MitchFC: although I'm sure she had a naughty side
[18:17] CommonComitatus: It wouldn't surprise me. She was played by the Devil.
[18:18] MitchFC: *snickers*
[18:18] CommonComitatus: It's like Evil!MaryPoppins.
[18:18] MitchFC: SatanPoppins!
[18:18] CommonComitatus: ROFL!
[18:19] CommonComitatus: If she whips out an all-holding handbag, I'll know this is not coincidental.
[18:20] CommonComitatus: Mercy, my ass. It's Mary.
[18:25] CommonComitatus: Mary Poppins has captured all the bankers, and will force them to give tuppences to the birds forever more.
[18:43] MitchFC: Cyberpoppins!
[18:43] MitchFC: She's practically perfect in every way!
[18:43] CommonComitatus: I TOLD YOU!!!
There were some killer lines, but sadly the reason they stood out was because the rest of the script was awful. RTD can write killer snark with one hand and then totally spoil it by nose-diving into mawkish sentimentality which is what he did for almost the entire last half of the show.
Fave lines:
Doctor, to two Cybermen who've sneaked up on him - "Do you have your legs on silent?"
Miss Hartigan, to the evil, traitorous Cyberleader - "You promised me I'd never be converted!"
Evil, traitorous Cyberleader - "That was designated a lie."
Miss Hartigan, to ETCL - "Have you no pity?"
ETCL - "Correct"
Despite some good lines, the Cybermen were pretty wussy this time around. Really, they're just lower-level Daleks. The ChewyCybermen (called Cybershades, apparently, mutant versions of cybermen and wookie, as far as I can tell), were....kinda silly. Too obviously men in shaggy monkey suits.
The mawkishness, aiieee, it burned! Burned! Turned out that Almost!Doctor not only got zapped while fighting Cybermen, but his wife was killed. Then! THEN! During the rescue of some children, he sees a boy he recognises as his own son, cueing up a heroic Tennant!Doctor rescue. There was a line of dialogue in this scene that had me and
803am puking over our keyboards. Sadly, I can't recall it, it's already been blotted from my mind. Be glad.Neither good or bad was the sheer level of slashiness in this ep. Trust me when I say the Dr Who part of fan fiction is about to explode. The Doctor being starry eyed over himself? Good lord, large chunks of the episode were practically fan fiction from the get go!
So overall, umm, I'll give this a B-. I'm not likely to want to re-watch it but it wasn't bad and there were some very good bits. But where it was bad....dear gods.....it sucked.
amused
(no subject)
It was ok, but way too over the top with the slushy crap at the end. Although I was wondering if Rosita was going to become the new companion for a little while.
(no subject)