After a stellar opening episode, Moffat and crew stumbled on their second outing. The episode started with great promise: England floating in space, children being terrified by weird, 3-faced mechanical creatures in fortune teller boxes (apparently called smilers), an evil looking blonde girl reciting a Freddy-esque poem, a secretive woman in a V for Vendetta costume.
The Doctor says he should have never have come here. He saves the worlds. He makes the decisions. He finds the answers. He gets to chose for everyone and no one is allowed to chose for him. And the best answer he can come up with is make the beast brain dead. Idiot. Arrogant idiot. It made the Doctor ugly. While I didn't like it, I did understand it. Drama to build on...
...but the problem with the episode was cohesion, like a Jello mold that didn't set. It tasted okay, but it just wasn't Jello. Maybe it was the porcelain face mask that sent the episode spiraling downward. Sophie Okonedo's Liz 10 was all over the place. Hannah Sharp's Mandy felt like a 6th finger, serving no real purpose after getting the Doctor hooked. Karen Gillian and Matt Smith seemed to have lost what little chemistry they'd developed during the first episode. Star Whale was... hello, is anyone at home in the art department?
I hold out hope for the next episode, which involves WWII and Daleks.
Oh, and the crack was there.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Eleventh Doctor
Matt Smith steps into the role of the Doctor with ease. His first challenge: Save the world in 20 minutes, or 12 years if you really want to be technical.
Suffering a rocky regeneration, the Doctor's TARDIS crashes in the backyard of young Amelia Pond, who is scared of nothing, but the crack in her wall. The Doctor, his head still not clear from the regeneration, recognizes it's a crack in the universe, but not just any old crack. This one is the escape route for a very dangerous prisoner. His attention, split by concern for his damaged TARDIS, promises to be back to help in 5 minutes. He makes a lasting impression on young Amelia Pond, becoming the fantastic imaginary friend, The Raggedy Doctor, packed away into a suitcase of childhood dreams. Twelve years have passed in the Doctor's 5 minutes and Prisoner Zero is still on the loose. The Atraxi prison guards are threatening to destroy earth if Prisoner Zero is not apprehended (we humans get no respect.) Locked out of the TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver broken, things appear grim, but the Doctor is the Doctor for a reason, solutions from ether are a speciality.
There are some really fun things in this first episode, referencing multiple rooms in the TARDIS, the Doctor's reaction to bacon, and bow ties. The new opening was visually stunning, but I'm not quite as thrilled with the revamped theme song. I'll give it a couple of weeks before I start skipping the opening.
Cracks in the walls/cracks in the universe is a brilliant concept and I think we can expect to see a series of events building out from Prisoner Zero- the beginning of the end (key dramatic music.) It sparks the imagination and I expect to be seeing more 'cracks' hiding in shots during the season.
The Doctor, as always, is brilliant even if the solution was a bit silly. The whole I'm-the-Doctor-do-what-I-say fixing of the clocks was implausible (really, he couldn't control a UNIT Captain in Planet of the Dead and he's going to bend multiple megalomaniacs to his will in 30 seconds?) and unnecessary at the end when the companion saves the day. Don't get me wrong, I love when the Doctor pulls the superior race card, I can only hope in future episodes the card is better played.
The nuances that Matt Smith brings to this regeneration are subtle and certain. His Doctor spins from commanding to awkward, serious to playful, concerned to thoughtless with an ease that is believable. He owns this episode, the only time I felt he was equally matched was when playing opposite the lovely Caitlin Blackwood.
Karen Gillan, playing Amy Pond all grown up and sexy, was completely out-acted by preteen Blackwood, whose performance in the whole defined the character of Amy Pond. I feel I should like this character more than I do right now and perhaps, she'll grow on me. Amelia Pond, as a child, was infinitely sure that magic exists and that adventure is a wondrous thing to be leapt into eagerly and without hesitation, she retains that in the grown up Amy.
I have 2 criticisms with the show. Both actors seem almost too young to be taken seriously, but as the person who wholly swallowed the crystal-giant-eyeball-maybe-spaceships-but-what-if-that's-what-Atraxi-really-look-like thingies, I can let that go. What I can't get past is the whole Doctor remembering scene... what the hell was that. The click-click-click antics reminded me of a cheesy version of the Bionic Woman. Like the Doctor figuring out he's not da man, this was a definite misstep not to be repeated.
P.S. The Doctor told the Atraxi to run. What's he going to do to them anyway? Spank them? Now that would be interesting.
Suffering a rocky regeneration, the Doctor's TARDIS crashes in the backyard of young Amelia Pond, who is scared of nothing, but the crack in her wall. The Doctor, his head still not clear from the regeneration, recognizes it's a crack in the universe, but not just any old crack. This one is the escape route for a very dangerous prisoner. His attention, split by concern for his damaged TARDIS, promises to be back to help in 5 minutes. He makes a lasting impression on young Amelia Pond, becoming the fantastic imaginary friend, The Raggedy Doctor, packed away into a suitcase of childhood dreams. Twelve years have passed in the Doctor's 5 minutes and Prisoner Zero is still on the loose. The Atraxi prison guards are threatening to destroy earth if Prisoner Zero is not apprehended (we humans get no respect.) Locked out of the TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver broken, things appear grim, but the Doctor is the Doctor for a reason, solutions from ether are a speciality.
There are some really fun things in this first episode, referencing multiple rooms in the TARDIS, the Doctor's reaction to bacon, and bow ties. The new opening was visually stunning, but I'm not quite as thrilled with the revamped theme song. I'll give it a couple of weeks before I start skipping the opening.
Cracks in the walls/cracks in the universe is a brilliant concept and I think we can expect to see a series of events building out from Prisoner Zero- the beginning of the end (key dramatic music.) It sparks the imagination and I expect to be seeing more 'cracks' hiding in shots during the season.
The Doctor, as always, is brilliant even if the solution was a bit silly. The whole I'm-the-Doctor-do-what-I-say fixing of the clocks was implausible (really, he couldn't control a UNIT Captain in Planet of the Dead and he's going to bend multiple megalomaniacs to his will in 30 seconds?) and unnecessary at the end when the companion saves the day. Don't get me wrong, I love when the Doctor pulls the superior race card, I can only hope in future episodes the card is better played.
The nuances that Matt Smith brings to this regeneration are subtle and certain. His Doctor spins from commanding to awkward, serious to playful, concerned to thoughtless with an ease that is believable. He owns this episode, the only time I felt he was equally matched was when playing opposite the lovely Caitlin Blackwood.
Karen Gillan, playing Amy Pond all grown up and sexy, was completely out-acted by preteen Blackwood, whose performance in the whole defined the character of Amy Pond. I feel I should like this character more than I do right now and perhaps, she'll grow on me. Amelia Pond, as a child, was infinitely sure that magic exists and that adventure is a wondrous thing to be leapt into eagerly and without hesitation, she retains that in the grown up Amy.
I have 2 criticisms with the show. Both actors seem almost too young to be taken seriously, but as the person who wholly swallowed the crystal-giant-eyeball-maybe-spaceships-but-what-if-that's-what-Atraxi-really-look-like thingies, I can let that go. What I can't get past is the whole Doctor remembering scene... what the hell was that. The click-click-click antics reminded me of a cheesy version of the Bionic Woman. Like the Doctor figuring out he's not da man, this was a definite misstep not to be repeated.
P.S. The Doctor told the Atraxi to run. What's he going to do to them anyway? Spank them? Now that would be interesting.
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