Dcotor Who - Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky
May. 6th, 2008 09:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteWe cheated and watched both parts of the latest Doctor Who adventure in one sitting. And after expecting a rather substandard effort (judging by the reactions I saw to part one), I was very pleasantly surprised to get a rather suspenseful and very well acted saga built on a somewhat average plots. Some thoughts...
- I think it's too soon to have Martha back, if only because I am really, really loving Donna. Yes, Martha without her Doctor puppy love is a much stronger character. Yes, she and Donna work well together. Yes, she and the Doctor mesh. But Donna and the Doctor have amazing (platonic) chemistry, and adding Martha for any length of time so soon could mess with that.
That said, Dr. Martha Jones of UNIT is a great character. Whoever decided to send her to UNIT was a genius. And speaking of UNIT...
- I loved the modern take on UNIT. New faces, new weapons, same skills and attitudes. Colonel Mace is a worthy successor to the Brigadier, just as likely to shoot first, just as likely to debate strategies with the Doctor, and just as likely to treat the Doctor with respect. (I loved the salutes.) The other members of UNIT were just as interesting, if sadly short-lived. Ross deserved better. And the bit with Col. Mace calling in the Valiant was something. (Oh, and I loved the reference to the Brigadier...pardon me, Sir Allistair.)
- I can take or leave Donna's mother. But her granddad is wonderful. Jackie was good, after a while, and I never warmed to Martha's family, so it's a welcome change to have someone in a companion's family who is supportive and who gets why you would run off with an alien in a blue box. Did anyone else miss that he was the newsstand clerk in the Christmas episode? We missed it entirely.
- As noted, the plot was not very interesting in itself. It's nothing we haven't seen before, in terms of the latest threat to Earth, in terms of the warrior race of aliens, or in terms of the boy genius gone bad. That the threat was genuinely chilling, that the Sontarans got my attention, and that Luke's fall and redemption worked anyway is a tribute to the actors and the director.
- The moment when all the world's nuclear powers (except Israel) come online was chilling. And when we get to North Korea, that one glimpse of Mace's face is very telling about just how bad things are.
- Speaking of Israel, seeing Donna's family sealing themselves in reminded me of the sealed rooms every home in Israel has had since the 1991 Gulf War. Which made the scene that much more chilling to me.
- This is the third time this season that aliens were planning to use Earth as a breeding ground or new home. First came the Adiposeans, then the creatures of stone in Pompeii, and now the Sontarans. Twice can be called lazy storytelling. Three times in four episodes? I have to wonder if this part of the bigger plot for the year. I almost hope so, because otherwise it's just another sign that sometimes Rusty isn't really trying that hard to tell different sorts of stories.
But all that is small potatoes compared to the trailer for the next episode. When we meet the Doctor's daughter. At last. Maybe, after 45 years, we will learn when Susan Foreman came from?
- I think it's too soon to have Martha back, if only because I am really, really loving Donna. Yes, Martha without her Doctor puppy love is a much stronger character. Yes, she and Donna work well together. Yes, she and the Doctor mesh. But Donna and the Doctor have amazing (platonic) chemistry, and adding Martha for any length of time so soon could mess with that.
That said, Dr. Martha Jones of UNIT is a great character. Whoever decided to send her to UNIT was a genius. And speaking of UNIT...
- I loved the modern take on UNIT. New faces, new weapons, same skills and attitudes. Colonel Mace is a worthy successor to the Brigadier, just as likely to shoot first, just as likely to debate strategies with the Doctor, and just as likely to treat the Doctor with respect. (I loved the salutes.) The other members of UNIT were just as interesting, if sadly short-lived. Ross deserved better. And the bit with Col. Mace calling in the Valiant was something. (Oh, and I loved the reference to the Brigadier...pardon me, Sir Allistair.)
- I can take or leave Donna's mother. But her granddad is wonderful. Jackie was good, after a while, and I never warmed to Martha's family, so it's a welcome change to have someone in a companion's family who is supportive and who gets why you would run off with an alien in a blue box. Did anyone else miss that he was the newsstand clerk in the Christmas episode? We missed it entirely.
- As noted, the plot was not very interesting in itself. It's nothing we haven't seen before, in terms of the latest threat to Earth, in terms of the warrior race of aliens, or in terms of the boy genius gone bad. That the threat was genuinely chilling, that the Sontarans got my attention, and that Luke's fall and redemption worked anyway is a tribute to the actors and the director.
- The moment when all the world's nuclear powers (except Israel) come online was chilling. And when we get to North Korea, that one glimpse of Mace's face is very telling about just how bad things are.
- Speaking of Israel, seeing Donna's family sealing themselves in reminded me of the sealed rooms every home in Israel has had since the 1991 Gulf War. Which made the scene that much more chilling to me.
- This is the third time this season that aliens were planning to use Earth as a breeding ground or new home. First came the Adiposeans, then the creatures of stone in Pompeii, and now the Sontarans. Twice can be called lazy storytelling. Three times in four episodes? I have to wonder if this part of the bigger plot for the year. I almost hope so, because otherwise it's just another sign that sometimes Rusty isn't really trying that hard to tell different sorts of stories.
But all that is small potatoes compared to the trailer for the next episode. When we meet the Doctor's daughter. At last. Maybe, after 45 years, we will learn when Susan Foreman came from?
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(no subject)
Date: May. 6th, 2008 01:54 pm (UTC)You're not the only one.
(no subject)
Date: May. 6th, 2008 02:00 pm (UTC)Coming at this from the perspective of someone whose first Dr Who exposure was the new series, I was gobsmacked by the reference to the Doctor's daughter. I'm hoping they do this well, as I'm really expecting it to go very wrong. I just don't trust these writers not to make the appearance into something hokey and stupid.
Maybe I'm just being overly cynical. Here's hoping everything works out well.
(no subject)
Date: May. 6th, 2008 02:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: May. 6th, 2008 02:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: May. 7th, 2008 12:20 am (UTC)The dish of the day. :) Look up the info on the actress playing the Doctor's Daughter.... She really is the Doctor's daughter.
(no subject)
Date: May. 8th, 2008 06:00 pm (UTC)This is the third time this season that aliens were planning to use Earth as a breeding ground or new home.
. . . Dude, you're right. Iiiinteresting.