jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2012-07-12 06:14 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2012-07-12 06:14 pm
Entry tags:
100 Reviews: 19
I’m feeling like today night be a day for more than one review for some reason, so I started early. I may or may not get to a second one, but I wanted to option. And this one is a shorter review.
Doctor Who: 1x07: The Long Game
This episode has always been, and remains, my least favorite episode of season 1. And most of that’s because this episode is an episode that’s trying to be about too many things so it ends up being about basically nothing. Well that and really not being about the Doctor and Rose which is what I watch for.
The episode is about Adam’s failure as a companion, about Cathica’s eye opening, about the media domination of society, about setting up for the finale, about quirky future society and technology, but not about really exploring that world/.
One of the problems with both this and Dalek is that Rose and Adam are never really given a reason to want anything to do with each other. It’s a joke that he’s Rose’s boyfriend, but we’re never shown any truth to it, I don’t buy that they even like each other much less have any kind of connection. I don’t even buy that Rose is hot for him. Basically I see no reason why he’s even here.
This is also the one episode this season where I truly feel Rose is written as a generic companion character rather than herself. There’s a couple moments where RTD remembered well enough how to write the Doctor/Rose dynamic that the acting could fill in the rest, but anything else where Rose is herself seems to be pretty much all the acting more than the writing, and most of the time Rose is just written blandly.
Which is not to say that the Doctor is super in character this episode. The Doctor is written pretty generically this episode too. He fills his usual role in the story, but there’s no actual character to it.
ALSO it’s the one episode where the implication seems to be that Rose isn’t qualified to be the Doctor’s equal. But that goes hand in hand with being written as a generic companion, because generic companion mode is not equal to the Doctor, generic companion is there to ask generic questions and give the audience a voice/POV. But the weirdest part of it here is that in places she’s written to be filling the Doctor role (Adam effectively being HER companion rather than the Doctor’s) only to show her as not qualified to actually fill that role (or pick her own companions).
Which isn’t to say I don’t find the Doctor and Rose adorable at the beginning where he’s coaching her how to seem impressive in front of Adam; come on, it’s entirely possible he does this sort of thing himself in order to seem impressive. Because Rose is still learning this kind of stuff anyway, it’s just when the episode is being about other things aside from her journey there’s no room to give her room to grow.
The only moment that I felt was really Rose’s was when the Doctor tells her she ought to go back downstairs and she says “Tough” and walks on ahead of him. THAT’S Rose, not afraid to rush in where Time Lords fear to tread. But that’s a very small moment that gets lost in an episode that isn’t really about that.
I also just find Cathica boring; not annoying just filling a very predictable role in the story. The Editor does nothing for me either. And while I like Suki/Eva I don’t feel like she was given enough exploration (and some kind of contradictory direction) to give the episode many points for the idea of her character. But most of my complaints about the episode have to deal with the lack of characterization for the leads and Adam’s lack of purpose.
In fact Adam’s actions, and the Doctor’s reaction to it, really cause issues with what happens in Father’s Day; not inexplicable issues, but issues. It would have been even more so if they’d left in the original piece about Adam wanting to get information so he could help his sick father (either monetarily or some future discovery). So on that hand I’m glad that cut that idea, but on the other it would have given him more of an actual character.
However, now that the show has caught up with 2012, do think we might see Adam again? Of some reference to Van Statton? If RTD were still running this show I wouldn’t be surprised (not a lot anyway), but I doubt it of Moffat. That’s a plot thread that COULD be explored but doesn’t seem terribly likely.
Next time:
I might do Father’s Day just because I need a good DW ep after this, but I might do TVD too.
Standard link to make suggestions.
Doctor Who: 1x07: The Long Game
This episode has always been, and remains, my least favorite episode of season 1. And most of that’s because this episode is an episode that’s trying to be about too many things so it ends up being about basically nothing. Well that and really not being about the Doctor and Rose which is what I watch for.
The episode is about Adam’s failure as a companion, about Cathica’s eye opening, about the media domination of society, about setting up for the finale, about quirky future society and technology, but not about really exploring that world/.
One of the problems with both this and Dalek is that Rose and Adam are never really given a reason to want anything to do with each other. It’s a joke that he’s Rose’s boyfriend, but we’re never shown any truth to it, I don’t buy that they even like each other much less have any kind of connection. I don’t even buy that Rose is hot for him. Basically I see no reason why he’s even here.
This is also the one episode this season where I truly feel Rose is written as a generic companion character rather than herself. There’s a couple moments where RTD remembered well enough how to write the Doctor/Rose dynamic that the acting could fill in the rest, but anything else where Rose is herself seems to be pretty much all the acting more than the writing, and most of the time Rose is just written blandly.
Which is not to say that the Doctor is super in character this episode. The Doctor is written pretty generically this episode too. He fills his usual role in the story, but there’s no actual character to it.
ALSO it’s the one episode where the implication seems to be that Rose isn’t qualified to be the Doctor’s equal. But that goes hand in hand with being written as a generic companion, because generic companion mode is not equal to the Doctor, generic companion is there to ask generic questions and give the audience a voice/POV. But the weirdest part of it here is that in places she’s written to be filling the Doctor role (Adam effectively being HER companion rather than the Doctor’s) only to show her as not qualified to actually fill that role (or pick her own companions).
Which isn’t to say I don’t find the Doctor and Rose adorable at the beginning where he’s coaching her how to seem impressive in front of Adam; come on, it’s entirely possible he does this sort of thing himself in order to seem impressive. Because Rose is still learning this kind of stuff anyway, it’s just when the episode is being about other things aside from her journey there’s no room to give her room to grow.
The only moment that I felt was really Rose’s was when the Doctor tells her she ought to go back downstairs and she says “Tough” and walks on ahead of him. THAT’S Rose, not afraid to rush in where Time Lords fear to tread. But that’s a very small moment that gets lost in an episode that isn’t really about that.
I also just find Cathica boring; not annoying just filling a very predictable role in the story. The Editor does nothing for me either. And while I like Suki/Eva I don’t feel like she was given enough exploration (and some kind of contradictory direction) to give the episode many points for the idea of her character. But most of my complaints about the episode have to deal with the lack of characterization for the leads and Adam’s lack of purpose.
In fact Adam’s actions, and the Doctor’s reaction to it, really cause issues with what happens in Father’s Day; not inexplicable issues, but issues. It would have been even more so if they’d left in the original piece about Adam wanting to get information so he could help his sick father (either monetarily or some future discovery). So on that hand I’m glad that cut that idea, but on the other it would have given him more of an actual character.
However, now that the show has caught up with 2012, do think we might see Adam again? Of some reference to Van Statton? If RTD were still running this show I wouldn’t be surprised (not a lot anyway), but I doubt it of Moffat. That’s a plot thread that COULD be explored but doesn’t seem terribly likely.
Next time:
I might do Father’s Day just because I need a good DW ep after this, but I might do TVD too.
Standard link to make suggestions.