Doctor Who - The Idiot's Lantern

[raven]

Last night, I decided that as I don't have much to do this week, I should not set my alarm for the morning and see what happened. Many, many hours of sheer oblivion later, I woke up mid-grey-afternoon to the sound of animal protesters and wind and rain doing their worst on attic windows. It was getting on for three when I peeled myself out of bed, having been there for nearly fourteen hours. This is what this is and what it does to me; my mind and body are utterly, utterly exhausted. I barely had time to do anything very much - although I did finish reading the Communist Manifesto - before it was time for Doctor Who, and my meeting a very happy-and-bouncy foulds outside college.

The Idiot's Lantern. Yes. I think I was disappointed. No, I was disappointed. That wasn't a bad episode, per se, and it had good bits, but not enough. It was just very, very unmemorable. It did have one bit of sheer genius, though: the street in question was called Florizel Street. A nice bit of meta there, which amused me no end - "Florizel Street" was the original title for Coronation Street (heh), only got rejected for sounding too much like a type of disinfectant. Hee.

And yes, that's it for my "good stuff" list. (Edited to add: No, I also liked the Doctor as the king of Belgium! "Your Majesty!") Originally, Tommy was going on my list. Nice idea, a supporting character who's a sweet boy trying to escape a repressive family (and there are a few subtle hints - the suggestion of him as a "mummy's boy" and that sinister side-note about "you know what they say about them" - which I rather like), and he is a very nice character. He's just the kind of person the Doctor likes, who's brave by himself - look at him, going off to try and save his gran! - even before the Doctor arrives. I liked him.

Yes, I liked him until he made that rather silly speech about fighting fascism, which stretched the bounds of credibility a bit. Better if he'd just run off with the Doctor, I think. His mum, I liked all the way through, but particularly when she says, happily, "The sound of something ending." Yes, indeed. Her husband, the real baddie of the episode - aliens? what aliens? - was too much of a caricature for my liking. The moustache was probably the final straw there. I didn't like him as a villain.

The faceless people were scary, but there was no explanation for them! Why should having your brain wiped result in having your face removed? And why, pray, did the thing, the Wire (and who the hell is that, beyond generic escaped alien?) need to wipe people's brains to live? If it was surviving off electrical energy, the electrical energy in the wires and the lightbulbs wouldn't do? I don't like it.

Something about the Doctor bothered me throughout this episode. First of all I thought it was the quiff. Then I realised it was indeed the quiff but for more than just its instrinsic quiffness - it's because with it, sans overcoat and in the pinstripes, he looked far, far too much like Barty Crouch Jnr. And the senseless anger sort of played into that. The Doctor channelling River ("No power in the 'verse can stop me!") did not sit well with me at all. There's a very real sense there that it didn't matter until Rose was taken. Why does the Doctor - this Doctor, who isn't Nine and has a very different set of emotional fuckuppery - need to be so dependent on Rose? Why does it take Rose to get him shrieking at people? And why does he shriek so much at people in this episode? I didn't like it, it didn't seem right.

There were moments, of course. Rose's unexpected knowledge of patriotic lore was fun, as was the revelation that Jackie dated a sailor ("I bet she did!"). I really liked the old footage of the coronation, and the fifties feel, which I'm sure was too brightly coloured, but still, it was nicely done. But I didn't like the meta attempt to render the actual episode in the style of a fifties serial. The caricature-ish supporting characters, the Twilight Zone posturing - no, they didn't work, because we're supposed to take the story seriously. They can't have both - it can't be an overblown parody and a serious story at the same time. (It even ended with the national anthem! Huh.)

Tommy and the Doctor going "shopping" was very much fun. So, surprisingly, was the the Doctor climbing the tower of Alexandra Palace. (Claire and I went to see Placebo there last month. Much fun.) Echoes of Logopolis? Better effects than Logopolis, definitely. But I didn't like the silly alien in the box. It made no sense, dammit! There was a certain perverse logic in the alien getting taped over - that I did like. I also liked Tommy's reunion with his gran, and the Doctor's with Rose. No, I did! It was subtle, it didn't have syrupy dialogue, it was nice.

Although - no mention at all of Mickey. Argh. Why is it always as if the previous episode hasn't happened? It's bugging me.

And lastly, the thing that really, really got to me (and foulds, as it later turned out), was the end. Here's Tommy, strong sweet Tommy, back with his adored gran and his loving mum, on a beautiful sunny day with the coronation party on the street, and what does Rose advise him to do? Go after his stupid, dangerous, abusive father whom he's finally got rid of! And not go and say goodbye, part on decent terms - carry his suitcase and go with him! What? It makes no sense!

So I didn't like it much, no. At least next week's looks much better.

Now, washing. And more communism. But mostly laundry.

Comments

[liliths-nymph.livejournal.com]

i completely agree with all of this, and the ending really bothered me aswell as the dependance on rose.

[icepixie]

*very carefully avoids everything about DW*

This is what this is and what it does to me; my mind and body are utterly, utterly exhausted.

After having had three sinus infections last year, I know exactly what you mean. The first one cropped up just after the seven-hour flight back to England after my two weeks at home over Christmas. I got in to Exeter sometime in the late afternoon, and I went to bed at 8 PM, not to wake up until 2 PM the next day. I thought it was just jetlag, but the usual headache that comes with a sinus infection came knocking, and yeah. Ugh. At least all of mine have been able to be cleared up with antibiotics so far

Feel better soon!

[foulds.livejournal.com]

I was not bouncy. You'll be hearing from my lawyers.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Above all, the ending bothered me. Why should this sweet little boy pay for Rose's daddy issues?

LJ Stalker boings in to say:

[tmpe5t.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for communism...
Anyway, yes. I wondered how they would follow last week's. And they completely ignored it.
"Wah wah wah, alternate Cybermum, dead dad who doesn't want me, Mickey leaves the universe, story-arc set up for massive season finale (probably)-. Oh scooter! Whheee!!"

It's like that simpsons where Homer befriends Flanders. Still, Rose had nice shoes; Scooters suck though- he should have rode a Triumph and worn a biker jacket...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*says nothing about it at all*

Thank you! I'm hoping that this will go soon, especially after this week, but it's probably true that my lifestyle of too little sleep and food is what stops me from throwing it off.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, of course. You weren't bouncy at all. You were the walking embodiment of cynicism and depression.

Re: LJ Stalker boings in to say:

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I liked the Vespa! My dad had one of them when he was growing up. The Doctor would manage to come off as dorky even on a Triumph. *g*

[foulds.livejournal.com]

((Was I really that bouncy?))

[tau_sigma]

Yes, the ending to that families subplot irritated me too. I suppose the only consolation is, was his father really abusive? Stupid, yes, controlling, chauvenistic and utterly selfish, but we didn't actually see him hitting anyone.

And the alien! I want to know more, dammit. Yes, why couldn't it use normal electricity, how the hell did people survive once they'd been eaten, why were their faces taken (although I think the Doctor's gorging speech alluded to that being simple greed and carelessness, perhaps?), where did 'the wire' come from? Why was it executed? What were the rest of its race like?

...yes, I want to know too much. *g*

Strangely, I'm not so much looking forward to next weeks. Partly, perhaps, because it involves black holes, which I just know will require me to stick my fingers in my ears and sing 'la la la' until the bad Physics goes away. Ah well. It should be good enough nonetheless, it's Doctor Who after all. :)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

The more I look, the more arguments against 'The Idiot's Lantern' there are; and I thought I'd already come up with various bad points. There are so many bright ideas in it, but they don't come together - and I'm glad it's not just me who found it too colourful.

Re: LJ Stalker boings in to say:

[tmpe5t.livejournal.com]

So did my dad He was a mod... I think he was always appalled he managed to spawn a rocker... :-D

[parma-violets.livejournal.com]

Something I always wonder about films and TV shows set in 1950s Britain - was it always that brown back then? I didn't mind the colours - it seemed far better to me than something like Pierrepoint, which appeared to have been filmed through a used teabag.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You were very happy. :) Hopefully you still are?

[pinkishmew.livejournal.com]

Something about the Doctor and Rose didn't really sit right - the way they behaved - but I just loved this episode. Overall, with Doctor Who, I'm just prepared to say - "It's a tv series! It's about a time-travelling, body-changing alien, and he's not the same all the time and Tennant seems to SHOUT VERY LOUDLY rather than actually expressing anger, but still I love it. I just love it."

And I'm posting here because nobody ever replies to my reviews.
Ok, I just got a reply. Now I feel slighty stupid. But you have 13, so you win! :P [laughs]

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course. I judge DW by high standards, because it can be very, very good. When it isn't, I'm peeved, but that doesn't mean it's bad. I mean, even this episode that I profess to not liking still had half a dozen sweet moments. *nodnod*

I have lots! *g* But I have lots because I crosspost links to my DW reviews to new_who!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I didn't really mean physically abusive; the constant verbal abuse probably wasn't doing the kid any good. I just didn't like it. It seemed odd.

No, not too much! I think those were all perfectly reasonable questions to ask. It didn't really think things through, this episode.

Black holes give me squee. I can't help it! Did you ever watch SG-1? (I may have asked you this before!) It has a classic black hole episode that actually has some pretty decent science in it. I'm sure DW will probably blame it all on pink elephants or something. *g*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Life On Mars, which is set twenty years later, is filmed as even browner. I don't know how accurate this is, but I'd say it wasn't far off; they weren't that far off wartime frugality, after all.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

That's it, yes. Lots of good ideas - Tommy! Aliens feeding off electrical energy! the Doctor on a SCOOTER! - but they don't coalesce.

(In other news, I am the proud owner of a brand new Tides of Time! I'm very much looking forward to sitting down with it some time soon.)

[pinkishmew.livejournal.com]

:) Very true. I am not part of the DW fandom, or in newwho or time_and_chips or anything. Hehe. I do have comment-jealousy. [giggles] Oh, it's all so silly.

I suppose it's because Doctor Who really has to be viewed only through Doctor Who glasses. It isn't anything else. And it does have strange, cheesy moments, and it's about finding a threat, evading the threat and removing the threat, so it can get samey. After 43 years. [laughs] I'm not suggesting you don't realise any of that, by the way, I'm just - stating it. :) I think it's a really good thing that nothing seems to be like this programme. To me, there is still something inherently (sweetly) crap about it, despite all its greatness.

(And I have come to realise that I type as I would speak, which is why there can be random dashes and dotdotdots - I don't tend to think before I write. Apologies if this makes for strange reading.)

[gwynnega]

I thought of Logopolis too!

I agree with most of your comments. Definitely my least favorite ep of the season, though there were things I liked about it...

[icepixie]

Ooooh, I know that lifestyle. Well, more of the too little sleep than the too little food, but yeah, I know what you mean. Do you have a break coming up soon?

And since I'm here, and I've had a chance to see the ep:

In part, I agree with you about the caricature-ish characters not really working. And I definitely agree with you about the weirdness of the ending; I was really expecting the Doctor to say, "Rose, quit working out your daddy issues with other people. This kid's dad is bad for him," because whoa, that is not a good situation to be in. And carrying the suitcase? The fuck? It would have been a good moment for Rose if someone had mentioned that not every dad is worthy of the pedestal she puts hers on.

Beyond that, though...the unexplained logistics behind the Wire-alien's desire for human brainwaves didn't bother me. Then again, I saw pretty early on that this particular episode was one to which my mantra from Alias, "Drink more, think less," would be very well-suited. ;) And even if it should have been grimmer and browner for historical accuracy (I wondered about that too), I absolutely loved the colorful design of this episode, and all of the outside shots.

I think this episode was one that skewed toward the lower end of the "all ages" demographic, for sure. *g*

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

The Doctor channelling River ("No power in the 'verse can stop me!") did not sit well with me at all.

Okay, I actually didn't mind that line this time because it reminded me of Five in "Caves of Androzani." So I forgave him for that bit.

And the social history aspects of this episode were just too bloody sledgehammmer-like for me. Is it because that's all I've been doing for the past couple years? It hurt, almost as much as the Doctor's gods-awful hair.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

*googles*

Dave Gibbons and Steve Dillon? Shiny.

(Oh God, I am such a geek)

[ionlylurkhere.livejournal.com]

(and there are a few subtle hints - the suggestion of him as a "mummy's boy" and that sinister side-note about "you know what they say about them" - which I rather like)

Except that the stupid Fascist! speech kills the subtlety with the "tell you who to fall in love with" bit.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Yes, it really does. *groan*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Nothing hurts as much as the hair. *sighs* But the social history was very, very bad. They can do it much better than that! There were arguments over The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, but they couldn't be accused of sledgehammerness the way this one could.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Heee, Logopolis! It was a really nice nod, and there were things to like, but... yeah. Not a great one.