Doctor Who - Fear Her
Jun. 24th, 2006 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenOkay! That, I liked rather a lot. (Spoilers for next week's episode and for the big massive spoiler that everyone knows.)
I will admit I'm a little behind on my Who reviews. Okay, hideously late. I didn't like The Satan Pit much, and I liked Love & Monsters more than most people, but they get their proper reviews later. This one first. I missed the first five minutes due to um, forgetting - but I am home, and can just switch on the telly rather than running in a hat around searching for one. Anyway, I tuned in mid-credits. I didn't think I'd like this much when it first began, and the switch from the Doctor's sweetly enthuiastic rambling about edible ball bearings into an almost artificially sinister set of missing children posters. I mean, I didn't think the momentous change in tone was backed up by what we saw on screen. And then the suburban families all start arguing and I thought it was going to be another Idiot's Lantern.
Actually, I still do think that. Quiet suburban street? Check. Important national occasion requiring flags hanging out of windows? Check. Odd things happening to scattered people and atmosphere of suspicion? Check. But this one was different because it was, um, well, good. I specifically liked:
-the setting. London, 2012 - a tad gimmicky, but still a nice touch, because they never do the traditional time-traveller things.
-the grandmother. An indomitable old lady, to be sure.
-Kel the tarmac obsessive. I LOVED him. And I love him pushing the car and getting excited over potholes. Heee.
-the details over colours. Chloe's room is very bright even without the drawings, and the light is slightly yellowish - it gives a cartoony feel to the whole set-up.
-Rose gets attacked by a giant cartoon scribble! Heee! More seriously, I like the scene that follows in the TARDIS, and the awkward floundering over the Doctor's empathy with the Isolus; he's lonely, Rose doesn't seem to get it, and yes Susan was his biological granddaughter!
-Chloe's mum. I loved her. I loved that she sings the kookaburra song, and that she cares so much for her daughter. Her characterisation is simple but complex at the same time.
-further attention to detail on the part of the Beeb - I never conceal my love for them mocking up their own BBC News 24 reports! Also, this is 2012 and it's not that different from 2006 - but Chloe's laptop has a TV tuner. Again, I like the detail.
-Rose. Throughout this episode, Rose is awesome. She's pointing, not holding the Doctor's hand, and she laughs and doesn't get smug and silly when he grabs onto it. She figures out where the pod is, she finds an axe and bloody well breaks that door down, she gets the Isolus pod into the torch. She is wonderful.
-So is the BBC commentator, who changes from exultant to angst-ridden in about thirty seconds: "This is terrible, terrible..." (Also he loses Bob. Poor BBC commentator and poor Bob.)
-Slight quibble - why are there still people out cheering when the torch goes past? Aren't they worried that 80,000 people have just disappeared?
-Kel again! Council axes, vans, and roads all pale before him. "Not a council spaceship." Snerk.
-the Doctor and the torch - cheesy, but redeemed by the now-bemused BBC commentator. And the Doctor and the flames is a very nice shot.
-the Doctor's edible ball bearings. I found that scene sweet, not cloying. Yay for bearable Doctor/Rose!
And last of all, I think it's ridiculous that they're leaving it this late to foreshadow Rose's leaving, but now they're doing it, I like it. I like the awkward silence that underscores the stark firework lights over their faces; I like the reprise of the very same words the Doctor used in The Christmas Invasion.
And I liked the teaser very much. Maybe Rose will die after all? Maybe not. But there's so much in that I want to see more about - Jackie's ghosts, the beast's message for Rose, the Cybermen! Looks to be awesome. (And could Mickey be coming back, even for a while?)
Also: this is the last chance for the Face of Boe to reappear. I hope he does. And yay for Torchwood being evil, 'cause, well, we knew they would be.
Brief bit of pimping before I leave you: sign-ups for the Tenth Doctor ficathon are still open. Go on, you know you want to.
I will admit I'm a little behind on my Who reviews. Okay, hideously late. I didn't like The Satan Pit much, and I liked Love & Monsters more than most people, but they get their proper reviews later. This one first. I missed the first five minutes due to um, forgetting - but I am home, and can just switch on the telly rather than running in a hat around searching for one. Anyway, I tuned in mid-credits. I didn't think I'd like this much when it first began, and the switch from the Doctor's sweetly enthuiastic rambling about edible ball bearings into an almost artificially sinister set of missing children posters. I mean, I didn't think the momentous change in tone was backed up by what we saw on screen. And then the suburban families all start arguing and I thought it was going to be another Idiot's Lantern.
Actually, I still do think that. Quiet suburban street? Check. Important national occasion requiring flags hanging out of windows? Check. Odd things happening to scattered people and atmosphere of suspicion? Check. But this one was different because it was, um, well, good. I specifically liked:
-the setting. London, 2012 - a tad gimmicky, but still a nice touch, because they never do the traditional time-traveller things.
-the grandmother. An indomitable old lady, to be sure.
-Kel the tarmac obsessive. I LOVED him. And I love him pushing the car and getting excited over potholes. Heee.
-the details over colours. Chloe's room is very bright even without the drawings, and the light is slightly yellowish - it gives a cartoony feel to the whole set-up.
-Rose gets attacked by a giant cartoon scribble! Heee! More seriously, I like the scene that follows in the TARDIS, and the awkward floundering over the Doctor's empathy with the Isolus; he's lonely, Rose doesn't seem to get it, and yes Susan was his biological granddaughter!
-Chloe's mum. I loved her. I loved that she sings the kookaburra song, and that she cares so much for her daughter. Her characterisation is simple but complex at the same time.
-further attention to detail on the part of the Beeb - I never conceal my love for them mocking up their own BBC News 24 reports! Also, this is 2012 and it's not that different from 2006 - but Chloe's laptop has a TV tuner. Again, I like the detail.
-Rose. Throughout this episode, Rose is awesome. She's pointing, not holding the Doctor's hand, and she laughs and doesn't get smug and silly when he grabs onto it. She figures out where the pod is, she finds an axe and bloody well breaks that door down, she gets the Isolus pod into the torch. She is wonderful.
-So is the BBC commentator, who changes from exultant to angst-ridden in about thirty seconds: "This is terrible, terrible..." (Also he loses Bob. Poor BBC commentator and poor Bob.)
-Slight quibble - why are there still people out cheering when the torch goes past? Aren't they worried that 80,000 people have just disappeared?
-Kel again! Council axes, vans, and roads all pale before him. "Not a council spaceship." Snerk.
-the Doctor and the torch - cheesy, but redeemed by the now-bemused BBC commentator. And the Doctor and the flames is a very nice shot.
-the Doctor's edible ball bearings. I found that scene sweet, not cloying. Yay for bearable Doctor/Rose!
And last of all, I think it's ridiculous that they're leaving it this late to foreshadow Rose's leaving, but now they're doing it, I like it. I like the awkward silence that underscores the stark firework lights over their faces; I like the reprise of the very same words the Doctor used in The Christmas Invasion.
And I liked the teaser very much. Maybe Rose will die after all? Maybe not. But there's so much in that I want to see more about - Jackie's ghosts, the beast's message for Rose, the Cybermen! Looks to be awesome. (And could Mickey be coming back, even for a while?)
Also: this is the last chance for the Face of Boe to reappear. I hope he does. And yay for Torchwood being evil, 'cause, well, we knew they would be.
Brief bit of pimping before I leave you: sign-ups for the Tenth Doctor ficathon are still open. Go on, you know you want to.
