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gategrrlI watched Dr Who out of step: I couldn't get to it until Tuesday morning, after the kids and the Guy went off to school and work (respectively). It's the final episode of the season, and my six year old is begging us to get the DVDs, so Dr Who is doing *something* right. There were more hits than misses this season. This episode wasn't on the same level as Blink, but then, I don't know how many episodes of other shows are on that level, either.
This, the concluding episode of a three ep arc, was pretty darned entertaining. It brought together threads from earlier Dr Who episodes (unfortunately from one I hadn't seen, the one from the end of the Universe, and Utopia) but that was okay. The secondary villians were creepy, once we found out what/who they were, and that the simple reason they killed their ancestors was because they *liked* it (rather echoing a Torchwood episode featuring a town in Wales that murdered and ate people just because they *liked* it) made it chilling. They were just like their leader, the Master, only strangely innocent, whereas the Master...whackadoo psychotic all the way.
It was fun seeing John Simms in a role other than Sam Tyler, really pulling out all the stops. Did he overdo it? I have no precious incarnation of the Master to compare him with. I can only say that within the context of THIS series of Dr Who, with David Tennant in it, that no, the Master was not over the top. But to be terribly honest, I think he would have contrasted with Eccleston even better. Tennant's Doctor has his tremendously dark moments, too, but Eccleston's Doctor savored the dark edges and hemmed them into his characterization. The Master, evil though he is, psychotic though he is, has no darknesses to compare to the ones in the Doctor's soul. Why? Well, when you have something as single minded as a Dalek tell you that you'd make a good Dalek, that's beyond chilling. The Master is what the Doctor *would* be if he didn't work at his streak of compassion, and even then, you have to wonder if the only thing that saves the Doctor is his belief in humans.
Anyhow. I wondered what was up with the Master's Wife (the disbelief the Doctor expressed in the previous episode at her status makes me believe that it never crossed his mind that he could have *married*, say, Rose). The Master's Wife was weak, holding onto things, needing help to walk during the entire episode, which made me wonder what was up with her. It was interesting that her trip to the far flung future of the end of the universe crushed her soul and dampened her mind to the point she didn't care in the least what happened to current day humanity was, sadly, very human. I had to wonder what the Master whispered into her ear while she saw the future.
Martha Jones was wonderful in this, and yeah, I didn't mind the Peter Pan/Tinkerbell approach, since it did make sense within the context of the story and the set-up, and it explained why she went to places like Japan and so forth, spreading the word like a wandering mendicant, or perhaps saint. And it was great to see her stand up for herself, after she stood up for an entire world. She saved the Doctor in many ways this season, in ways that I don't remember Rose being given the opportunity to save the Doctor.
So, yes, I liked this episode of Dr Who. It gave the kind of spectacle that's fun to see once in a while, and it makes me look forward to the next season of the show. Although, without Martha as the Doctor's sidekick, I dunno.
Since she's going to Torchwood, I can only hope that Gwen's presence is going to go way down,
This, the concluding episode of a three ep arc, was pretty darned entertaining. It brought together threads from earlier Dr Who episodes (unfortunately from one I hadn't seen, the one from the end of the Universe, and Utopia) but that was okay. The secondary villians were creepy, once we found out what/who they were, and that the simple reason they killed their ancestors was because they *liked* it (rather echoing a Torchwood episode featuring a town in Wales that murdered and ate people just because they *liked* it) made it chilling. They were just like their leader, the Master, only strangely innocent, whereas the Master...whackadoo psychotic all the way.
It was fun seeing John Simms in a role other than Sam Tyler, really pulling out all the stops. Did he overdo it? I have no precious incarnation of the Master to compare him with. I can only say that within the context of THIS series of Dr Who, with David Tennant in it, that no, the Master was not over the top. But to be terribly honest, I think he would have contrasted with Eccleston even better. Tennant's Doctor has his tremendously dark moments, too, but Eccleston's Doctor savored the dark edges and hemmed them into his characterization. The Master, evil though he is, psychotic though he is, has no darknesses to compare to the ones in the Doctor's soul. Why? Well, when you have something as single minded as a Dalek tell you that you'd make a good Dalek, that's beyond chilling. The Master is what the Doctor *would* be if he didn't work at his streak of compassion, and even then, you have to wonder if the only thing that saves the Doctor is his belief in humans.
Anyhow. I wondered what was up with the Master's Wife (the disbelief the Doctor expressed in the previous episode at her status makes me believe that it never crossed his mind that he could have *married*, say, Rose). The Master's Wife was weak, holding onto things, needing help to walk during the entire episode, which made me wonder what was up with her. It was interesting that her trip to the far flung future of the end of the universe crushed her soul and dampened her mind to the point she didn't care in the least what happened to current day humanity was, sadly, very human. I had to wonder what the Master whispered into her ear while she saw the future.
Martha Jones was wonderful in this, and yeah, I didn't mind the Peter Pan/Tinkerbell approach, since it did make sense within the context of the story and the set-up, and it explained why she went to places like Japan and so forth, spreading the word like a wandering mendicant, or perhaps saint. And it was great to see her stand up for herself, after she stood up for an entire world. She saved the Doctor in many ways this season, in ways that I don't remember Rose being given the opportunity to save the Doctor.
So, yes, I liked this episode of Dr Who. It gave the kind of spectacle that's fun to see once in a while, and it makes me look forward to the next season of the show. Although, without Martha as the Doctor's sidekick, I dunno.
Since she's going to Torchwood, I can only hope that Gwen's presence is going to go way down,
