locker_monster (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
locker_monster) wrote2019-01-01 08:20 pm
locker_monster) wrote2019-01-01 08:20 pm
Entry tags:
"Is that your intruder alert or mine?"
Happy New Year! Or, I suppose as we shall call it now, Happy Who Year!
So, any episode that's over an hour doesn't have opening credits? I like having the opening credits. I don't care if it pauses the story. You need the iconic theme music to kick everything off. But anyway... So, the first New Year's special. Was it any good?
As someone who doesn't particularly love Daleks, it was kind of neat to see them again. It's always good fun when a new Doctor gets to face off against them. But this episode was... slow. Here's this upgraded Dalek that wants to destroy Earth but it takes like half of the episode before the Doctor gets to talk to it and it's even longer before she lays eyes on it. Compare this episode to, say, "Dalek" (which has similar stakes), and there's clearly more going on in "Dalek" even if the entire episode is set within one underground bunker. A Companion is in peril, there's a kind of ticking clock with the levels being shut off, and the Dalek itself comes off as a scary killing machine. "Resolution" needed more of that. There was momentum, but only just enough to keep the story moving (yes, the Dalek had missiles in this episode, but the gun is way more menacing). Specials are meant to be bigger than the average episode. I'm fine with the regular season being a bit slower, but you have to add some pizazz when it comes to the bigger stuff. Chibnall has applied Broadchurch pacing to Doctor Who and it doesn't alway work.
Oh, I know what else bothered me with this episode. The trailer and the opening made a big deal out of the three Custodians splitting up the body of this ancient evil. I totally thought we were getting this big globetrotting story and the Doctor was going to have to track down the other pieces of the body before other people could piece them together. Nope. The Dalek was completely intact in one piece that was buried. Then what the hell was in the other sacks!?!? The rest of the casing? Chibnall missed a golden opportunity to have the Doctor travelling to other New Year's Days all over the Earth.
On the other hand, there was some lovely personal stuff with Ryan and his dad. I didn't expect a resolution of that story line, but I guess the clue was in the episode title. Thirteen usually doesn't snub people, but her cool disapproval of Ryan's dad worked here. She's become fiercely protective of her friends and she only wants the best for them. Graham starts off similarly stand-offish, but typical Graham, he warms up to Aaron. And while the scenes between Graham and Aaron were nice, I do wish it was Ryan who had been left behind. Sure, he gets to talk with his dad at the coffee shop, but they needed to spend more time together for the ending to have more oomph. Or, Aaron needed to spend more time with Team TARDIS just to show that he's not as bad as he seems. I can only assume Aaron will make another appearance next season.
But they did destroy a Dalek with pieces from a microwave oven, which seems completely ridiculous, but it wouldn't be Doctor Who without a bit of crazy science.
Random: Oh, there goes Chibnall, starting off the episode with two characters you like so you feel bad when something terrible happens to one of them. I'm glad Lin didn't die. It's funny how they hand wave away why Dalek is so powerful. "Oh yeah, it's just a scout, even though we've never heard about these kinds of Daleks before, and scouts have these extra skills because why the hell not ." The bit where the Doctor tries to phone UNIT and gets some call centre instead was fun. I wouldn't have minded seeing Kate. But UNIT is disbanded now? That sucks. But has it really been that long since a full scale alien invasion? I guess the last proper one was the Cybermen invasion in "Death in Heaven". Hmm, that was 2014 so it has been a few years. I would seriously love an episode where Kate meets Thirteen. Junkyard makeover for the Dalek was... interesting. Makes sense, though. The Dalek only has Earth materials to work with. Graham being super miffed that the Doctor and Ryan and Yaz left without him was great. I felt a little bad for him, too. It's just odd that Ryan or Yaz didn't say anything. The bit with the Internet and Wi-Fi shutting off for all of the UK was a strange aside, but it made me laugh. Oh god, we have to make conversation with actual human beings. :-D
I would love more references to the show's past going forward. You've reeled in the new viewers so now you can be a bit more out there with the stories. And if you include more references, it might convince the new viewers to go back and check out some of Classic Who.
Well, that's it for Doctor Who for 2019. 2020 can't come soon enough.
So, any episode that's over an hour doesn't have opening credits? I like having the opening credits. I don't care if it pauses the story. You need the iconic theme music to kick everything off. But anyway... So, the first New Year's special. Was it any good?
As someone who doesn't particularly love Daleks, it was kind of neat to see them again. It's always good fun when a new Doctor gets to face off against them. But this episode was... slow. Here's this upgraded Dalek that wants to destroy Earth but it takes like half of the episode before the Doctor gets to talk to it and it's even longer before she lays eyes on it. Compare this episode to, say, "Dalek" (which has similar stakes), and there's clearly more going on in "Dalek" even if the entire episode is set within one underground bunker. A Companion is in peril, there's a kind of ticking clock with the levels being shut off, and the Dalek itself comes off as a scary killing machine. "Resolution" needed more of that. There was momentum, but only just enough to keep the story moving (yes, the Dalek had missiles in this episode, but the gun is way more menacing). Specials are meant to be bigger than the average episode. I'm fine with the regular season being a bit slower, but you have to add some pizazz when it comes to the bigger stuff. Chibnall has applied Broadchurch pacing to Doctor Who and it doesn't alway work.
Oh, I know what else bothered me with this episode. The trailer and the opening made a big deal out of the three Custodians splitting up the body of this ancient evil. I totally thought we were getting this big globetrotting story and the Doctor was going to have to track down the other pieces of the body before other people could piece them together. Nope. The Dalek was completely intact in one piece that was buried. Then what the hell was in the other sacks!?!? The rest of the casing? Chibnall missed a golden opportunity to have the Doctor travelling to other New Year's Days all over the Earth.
On the other hand, there was some lovely personal stuff with Ryan and his dad. I didn't expect a resolution of that story line, but I guess the clue was in the episode title. Thirteen usually doesn't snub people, but her cool disapproval of Ryan's dad worked here. She's become fiercely protective of her friends and she only wants the best for them. Graham starts off similarly stand-offish, but typical Graham, he warms up to Aaron. And while the scenes between Graham and Aaron were nice, I do wish it was Ryan who had been left behind. Sure, he gets to talk with his dad at the coffee shop, but they needed to spend more time together for the ending to have more oomph. Or, Aaron needed to spend more time with Team TARDIS just to show that he's not as bad as he seems. I can only assume Aaron will make another appearance next season.
But they did destroy a Dalek with pieces from a microwave oven, which seems completely ridiculous, but it wouldn't be Doctor Who without a bit of crazy science.
Random: Oh, there goes Chibnall, starting off the episode with two characters you like so you feel bad when something terrible happens to one of them. I'm glad Lin didn't die. It's funny how they hand wave away why Dalek is so powerful. "Oh yeah, it's just a scout, even though we've never heard about these kinds of Daleks before, and scouts have these extra skills because why the hell not ." The bit where the Doctor tries to phone UNIT and gets some call centre instead was fun. I wouldn't have minded seeing Kate. But UNIT is disbanded now? That sucks. But has it really been that long since a full scale alien invasion? I guess the last proper one was the Cybermen invasion in "Death in Heaven". Hmm, that was 2014 so it has been a few years. I would seriously love an episode where Kate meets Thirteen. Junkyard makeover for the Dalek was... interesting. Makes sense, though. The Dalek only has Earth materials to work with. Graham being super miffed that the Doctor and Ryan and Yaz left without him was great. I felt a little bad for him, too. It's just odd that Ryan or Yaz didn't say anything. The bit with the Internet and Wi-Fi shutting off for all of the UK was a strange aside, but it made me laugh. Oh god, we have to make conversation with actual human beings. :-D
I would love more references to the show's past going forward. You've reeled in the new viewers so now you can be a bit more out there with the stories. And if you include more references, it might convince the new viewers to go back and check out some of Classic Who.
Well, that's it for Doctor Who for 2019. 2020 can't come soon enough.