ed_rex | (no subject)

Yes, I have full-time internet access again, and yes, I owe you Gentle Readers a personal update, but that will have to wait just a little longer. Meanwhile, the second of this year's Doctor Who specials has aired and, yes, I feel compelled to comment upon it. There may be spoilers ahead.)

From the good, a reminder of the better or,
Thank you for the memories, Russel T. Davies

As Russell T. Davies's reign over the revived version of the iconic British television series, Doctor Who comes to a slow end with this year's four specials, and we fans wait to find out what a new creative director and a new actor in the title role will bring us, the Easter special, "Planet of the Dead," could not help but make me consider just how good Russell's period has been, particularly the heart-breaking second series, whose climax — even after multiple viewings, still makes me weep.

But I get ahead of myself.

"Planet of the Dead" is unlikely to make anybody weep, or even sniffle. During his four-episode swan-song, Davies seems to be quite properly giving us "only" stand-alone episodes (though with hints of the Doctor's "death" to come), old-fashioned Doctor Who adventures and on that level "Planet of the Dead" was a very good episode indeed. After all, with a cat-suited jewel-thief, UNIT, an alien world, rather original, Earth-threatening monsters and a scientist in love, what's not to like?

Riding the #200 London double-decker bus while investigating some sort of wormhole, The Doctor finds himself suddenly transported — along with the bus and all half-dozen of its passengers — to a desert planet with three suns (not one of which see, presumably for budgetary reasons), a dangerous mystery (the fate of the Earth hangs, yet again, in the balance!) and a remarkably well-prepared aristocrat, the Lady Christina de Souza, who plays this episodes companion.

I won't bore (or spoil) you with details. The episode is fast-paced, funny and exciting enough — were I still ten, I would probably have found it thrilling.

Which brings me back to the beginning, and just what a happy gift that second series was. Basically, the emotional depths of the Rose cycle spoiled me, left me expecting the exceptional, rather than appreciating it for the near-miracle combination of children's adventure and heart-breaking romance it was.

All that said, I'm glad Davies is taking his leave; an eternal series like Doctor Who, like the title character himself, needs periodic injections of new blood.

* * *

On an entirely different note, one of you (yes, I mean you, beable!) said you enjoyed the episode, "except for what seemed to be a spectacular RaceFail..." I'm still waiting for the follow-up since (and at risk of once again making a fool of myself, I don't see it.

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My Doctor Who issues aren't even that elaborate (that one falls into my "Doctor Who/Star Trek Science" suspension of disbelieve.

Most of my items for #5 have to do with inconsistencies in established character behaviour and/or plot devices applied inconsistently because they can't be bothered explaining things.

One of my Doctor Who examples is the first episode when Rose goes and meets the fanboy collecting Doctor references on the internet. Now Rose has seen the Doctor but this guy never has, and given the large number of Doctor's is doesn't make sense that all of his sightings would have been only of the 9th Doctor. Especially given that UNIT isn't exactly a secret organization and Torchwood is the most unsecret secret society I have ever seen (well that's not true, but it's very open-secretish - at least in cities where it operates).

There was also the "when the Doctor tells Mickey to log into the Unit public website using only the word buffalo over and over again". That would have worked in the 1970's maybe, but nowadays anybody and their script kiddy would have hacked unit if they actually had such a silly thing as a passwordless dictionary word login accessible from their public website.

Hell, Livejournal won't let you set your account to buffalo unless you throw some numbers or punctuation into it!

My Doctor Who issues aren't even that elaborate (that one falls into my "Doctor Who/Star Trek Science" suspension of disbelieve.

Not for me; after all, it wouldn't have been hard to throw in a line of dialogue noting that the anti-grav devices also conveniently provide an air-tight force-field or something (which still leaves the problem of providing her with extra oxygen or something. Maybe your way is best after all).

...given the large number of Doctor's is doesn't make sense that all of his sightings would have been only of the 9th Doctor...

As a desperate last-ditch defence, I'll note that the fanboy did say something about believing "the title" was passed on from father to son, which I inferred meant he had pictures of other Doctors in his possession.

But yeah, "buffalo" all the way down makes for improbably shitty security protocols on UNIT's part, no question.

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