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TRoDM is a stickily saccharine loveletter to the Donner Superman movies. The rooftop date scene, half the "action" scenes, secret identity farce schtick scenes, etc. etc. etc. but with no Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. Since it slavishly recreates stuff that was done originally with more story time, a greater budget (even with the more primitive SFX), and way more charismatic casting this weird fanfiction episode always seemed pretty worthless to me. And Doctor Who still just can't quite pull off a full American story, and Superman is a pretty dang American thing at which to swing. I mean if you're got to modernize a Superman story AND shovel a completely different ethos like Who into it you've probably got to have less cartoonish worldbuilding and more interesting interactions between the story types. Otherwise you just get another Robot of Sherwood/Unicorn & The Wasp/Shakespeare Code celebrity cartoon episode with an even more watered-down off-brand celebrity with bonus diabetes from the Christmas sugar. ninjedit: all been said before I finished posting, but yeah.
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Jul 8, 2017 23:58
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Craptacular! posted:When she began echoing Bill I started having "Midnight" flashbacks and freaking out before remembering that this villain-thing had a really lame lead-in. This episode has a number of thematic flashbacks to previous episodes. Midnight's echolalia, The Waters of Mars' water monster, The Lodger's kidnapped crew, Journey's End mind wiping, The Caretaker's setting (too easy?), and um... The Chase's... time chase... thingy... etc., etc. The list goes on. And of course all that is in addition to Capaldi's love for old school Who referencing in general. Like the picture of Susan and the Movellan/Dalek battle. There are probably plenty more easy references but those are the ones that kind of stuck out most to me.
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Jul 15, 2017 13:43
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^^^ninjedit: I'm too slow. But yeah, chips. Man, you're just going to have to get used to Bill's hair being fabulous. And that's even with being woke enough to know that talking about black women's hair is inherently stupidly reductionary and rarely appropriate. Also you reminded me that Rose the episode is another pretty clear point of homage/reference, especially given the silly chips story as an almost direct callback (and to a lesser extent School Reunion, which had its own kind of chips thing for Rose the character). I'm not sure I see this episode nearly as much of a copy of Rose's plot as Lick The Toxx, but there are definite parallels. I think the differences are more important than the similarities though. Rose stumbles across Nine's world, monstrous invasion in full swing as a mostly hapless damsel-in-tightjeans. Bill has been trying to insinuate herself into Twelve's world when a fairly personal, if dangerous, alien tragedy strikes. Rose has all the horror invade her life and responds by abandoning it for the charming stranger who exudes adventure (and "romance", presumably). Bill is digging herself out of mediocrity by attempting to cadge an education while still living her life when the world is revealed to her as much bigger than she expected. Nine is hyper-prepared for anything, Twelve is hyper-aware of everything he doesn't know. Rose wants to experience all the universe has to offer no matter what, Bill strives for knowledge and self-fulfillment but without relishing danger for excitement's sake. The two episodes are both show on-ramps, but aside from both introducing a contemporary female companion, an alien threat, and the Doctor they aren't all that alike.
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Jul 15, 2017 18:48
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Big Mean Jerk posted:It's tempting to compare Brooker with Rod Serling given the similarity between BM and Twilight Zone, but Brooker is far more cynical than Serling ever was and that's primarily why I'd rather see him continue to do his own thing. Everyone assumes Serling was the world's greatest misanthrope, but he actually strongly believed in the overall good of humanity and could probably have turned in great optimistic morality plays for a show like Star Trek. Brooker's BM writing is far more acidic, with only San Junipero and Nosedive having even vaguely positive endings (and he didn't even write Nosedive, only the general outline). I can't see that writing style translating to a Saturday afternoon kid's show and I wouldn't even want him to try and adapt to it. In a more extreme way Joe Lidster's nihilistic misery porn writing for Big Finish (and one episode of Torchwood I guess) was decently tempered by the format change when he wrote for the significantly less-murdery Sarah Jane Adventures. SJA was a place where the darkness he thrives in had to link its way back to the lighter tone the characters and setting demanded or it would have come off as grossly disrespectful of the medium. And to his credit when they aired they weren't bad kid's show serials. It could be that having a more optimistic tone to aim for will give Brooker an opportunity to use his ironic comedy and technological theory-crafting skills to bring back the recently besmirtched art of Who dystopias. I mean if it counts, Monk-world suuuucked. What other dystopias are there in NuWho, The Girl Who Waited and Gridlock? I personally can imagine better-written tech for a Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky, a less ridiculous end-of-the-universe Utopia, or even dare I say a more media-savvy Bad Wolf. A Trump-branded Paradise Towers or Rupert Murdoch's Happiness Patrol Channel might be a bit too on the nose, but maybe...
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Aug 9, 2017 09:20
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In which we learn that trusting the Doctor is a rough business. Also that this season still loves doing the old switcheroo on previous episode motifs. Deep Breath anyone? Moffattm spacesuits? Although I gotta say, I HATE the "never see anything again" line. It's redundant and lamely melodramatic next to the actual "I'm still blind" stinger.
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Aug 16, 2017 06:17
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