Big Finish: 1, RTD: 0
Apr. 13th, 2009 07:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve11There was much new Doctor Who this weekend!
Regarding the Easter special on TV, I liked it, I suppose, but there really wasn't anything to it. It was a cute adventure, but I will be glad when the Doctor can get back to having a regular companion. Jewel Thief Chick (what was her name? Christina de Souza or something) was a bit much to take. She was like a walking plot device. Need a shovel? got it. Axe? No problem. Ancient stolen gold artifact? Got it! Seriously, I was disappointed that the cup in question wasn't an alien artifact that caused the wormhole problem to begin with.
Being American, I don't get what the big deal is with her being a Lady or whatever; to me it just made her seem like a spoiled, bored rich kid. I'd take Gwen (electrically charged mercenary thief) from Angel the Series or Max (genetically engineered cat burglar) from Dark Angel over this chick any day. Or, wait, oh yes, Bernice Summerfield! (ETA: Oh, wait, River Song was Benny, right? I think I meant Bev Tarrant. Or, well, just about anyone, really. And to wit: I've nothing against strong female characters, but I do have something against thievery for the fun/thrill of it. I hated Pierce Brosnan in that heist movie too-- Thomas Crowne? Same deal.)
I am ready for the post-RTD era. I mean, I get it, humans are great, life, family, chops and gravy, fantastic... but I'm ready for a new schtick, that has the Doctor being a little less of an idolized hero and a little less enamored with Earth. I want to see aliens and new worlds, be they allegorical, not a slice of London everyday life. Also I could've sworn that the crying blonde in this one was the same as the crying blonde in Midnight who got taken over. Also also, D was watching with me and was like, "Haven't I seen this before?", to which we realized he was thinking of the one and only Primeval episode we've seen even a part of, where this dog goes through a wormhole in a tunnel and a kid follows through and she ends up on a desert planet rife with deadly crab-like life-forms.
Anyway, that said, I did like the humor, I loved the scientist, and Captain Magumbo and UNIT, as well as the fly creatures (such a waste for them to die though!!) and I thought the sandray things were cool. Also, I was secretly hoping that Lady de Souza would turn out to be Iris Wildthyme. She had a flying double decker bus! And the way that the Doctor looked at her when he said, "You look Time Lord"-- maybe later she'll show up with a fob watch. Though if it is Iris, turning human appears to have done her a world of good! :)
"He'll knock four times"... Oh yeah, like we don't know who that is!
On the other hand, The Eight and Lucie chronicles in season 3 continue to impress the pants off me. Orbis was dark and sad and yet also completely insane-- only in audio can the Doctor spend six hundred years on a jellyfish planet. And Hothouse did a great job re-sparking the relationship between the Doctor and Lucie, whilst also putting them in imminent jeopardy from crazed environmentalists ("Let me go, you mentalist! You enviro. . . mentalist.", hah! Sheridan Smith is awesome). I just finished listening to The Beast of Orlok on my drive in this morning, and I loved it to pieces. Gothic horror mixed with fantasy mixed with Sci-fi and humor, and a fantastic guest cast (um, yeah, Miriam Margolyes blows Michelle Ryan out of the water with her total awesomeness as Frau Todd), with a twisty, turny, scary and imaginative tale. Top marks, Big Finish! And next week we get Wirrin!
So when is Paul McGann gonna get a stint on the new series, that's what I want to know.
Regarding the Easter special on TV, I liked it, I suppose, but there really wasn't anything to it. It was a cute adventure, but I will be glad when the Doctor can get back to having a regular companion. Jewel Thief Chick (what was her name? Christina de Souza or something) was a bit much to take. She was like a walking plot device. Need a shovel? got it. Axe? No problem. Ancient stolen gold artifact? Got it! Seriously, I was disappointed that the cup in question wasn't an alien artifact that caused the wormhole problem to begin with.
Being American, I don't get what the big deal is with her being a Lady or whatever; to me it just made her seem like a spoiled, bored rich kid. I'd take Gwen (electrically charged mercenary thief) from Angel the Series or Max (genetically engineered cat burglar) from Dark Angel over this chick any day. Or, wait, oh yes, Bernice Summerfield! (ETA: Oh, wait, River Song was Benny, right? I think I meant Bev Tarrant. Or, well, just about anyone, really. And to wit: I've nothing against strong female characters, but I do have something against thievery for the fun/thrill of it. I hated Pierce Brosnan in that heist movie too-- Thomas Crowne? Same deal.)
I am ready for the post-RTD era. I mean, I get it, humans are great, life, family, chops and gravy, fantastic... but I'm ready for a new schtick, that has the Doctor being a little less of an idolized hero and a little less enamored with Earth. I want to see aliens and new worlds, be they allegorical, not a slice of London everyday life. Also I could've sworn that the crying blonde in this one was the same as the crying blonde in Midnight who got taken over. Also also, D was watching with me and was like, "Haven't I seen this before?", to which we realized he was thinking of the one and only Primeval episode we've seen even a part of, where this dog goes through a wormhole in a tunnel and a kid follows through and she ends up on a desert planet rife with deadly crab-like life-forms.
Anyway, that said, I did like the humor, I loved the scientist, and Captain Magumbo and UNIT, as well as the fly creatures (such a waste for them to die though!!) and I thought the sandray things were cool. Also, I was secretly hoping that Lady de Souza would turn out to be Iris Wildthyme. She had a flying double decker bus! And the way that the Doctor looked at her when he said, "You look Time Lord"-- maybe later she'll show up with a fob watch. Though if it is Iris, turning human appears to have done her a world of good! :)
"He'll knock four times"... Oh yeah, like we don't know who that is!
On the other hand, The Eight and Lucie chronicles in season 3 continue to impress the pants off me. Orbis was dark and sad and yet also completely insane-- only in audio can the Doctor spend six hundred years on a jellyfish planet. And Hothouse did a great job re-sparking the relationship between the Doctor and Lucie, whilst also putting them in imminent jeopardy from crazed environmentalists ("Let me go, you mentalist! You enviro. . . mentalist.", hah! Sheridan Smith is awesome). I just finished listening to The Beast of Orlok on my drive in this morning, and I loved it to pieces. Gothic horror mixed with fantasy mixed with Sci-fi and humor, and a fantastic guest cast (um, yeah, Miriam Margolyes blows Michelle Ryan out of the water with her total awesomeness as Frau Todd), with a twisty, turny, scary and imaginative tale. Top marks, Big Finish! And next week we get Wirrin!
So when is Paul McGann gonna get a stint on the new series, that's what I want to know.
