doctor who ytmnd

[spatch]

Every week when I watch the latest Doctor Who episode after it's beamed my way from across the ocean, I either laugh a bit, I laugh a lot, or I run over to the little keyboard and start pound pound pounding angry-sounding words until I run out of steam, and then I just private-lock the entire thing as-is without bothering to finish it. I got on quite a tear that way after "The Idiot's Lantern", and we're all better off that I bothered to scrap that one. (A choice bit from a few weeks ago: "I originally thought I'd landed in a Sylvester McCoy episode, but after some painful-ass Joss Whedonesque dialogue, I was sufficiently convinced that we were actually in an episode of Rosie: The Dalek Slayer.")

Yeah, the rest of it wasn't pretty, either.

So I'm happy to report that I can sum up the latest episode, "Love & Monsters", with a link to a brilliant YTMND meme on the episode. And all without having to resort to concrete slab sex jokes. (Mr. Davies, the next time you decide to skive off writing the third act of an upcoming episode by having a Cosmopolitan-filled Sex And The City DVD marathon or something, please don't leave the writing of the ending up to the Blue Peter contest winner who designed the Monster Of The Week for you. Because I really liked where you were going with this week's episode, as unabashedly Silly and Fluffy Filler as it was, right up until the ending. And that's all I'm going to say about that.)

Comments

one good thing:

[(Anonymous)]

Well, there were a couple. I liked Elton (Marc Warren) he'd been very good on Hustle, and was pretty kickass in that one Band of Brothers episode. But I liked the heavy anvil of foreshadowing that he laid upon us, regarding the ultimate fate of Rose "The Joker" Tyler.
But I can't help but look at the episode in a weird light, once I realize that at some point before during and after the arrative, the guy's going to facefuck a sentient concrete slab. That's weird shit. I didn't know Warren Ellis was writing for Doctor Who now.
-pete-

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

It's not that Russell T. Davies is a bad writer. If he were a bad writer, it would be much easier to just dismiss and ignore his stuff. The problem is that he's often shockingly good, and it makes the badness all the much more painful. He's better at writing characters and naturalistic dialogue than I can ever imagine being, but one some level I don't think he really gets science fiction.

This episode was Exhibit A-Number-One. In the space of a 45-minute episode he manages to create a whole collection of endearing characters, a knowing parable about the rise and fall of the little communities people make, and Jackie Tyler's best story since the beginning of the series. And when he brings in the science-fiction element, he doesn't know how to handle it and it all goes to hell.

[alphacygni]

Where do you get your beaming? (Tell me in private if it's sekrit) I just watched the first new series season on Sci-Fi, and now I'm hooked, and jealous of those Brits.

[zhym.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen this one yet, but I really liked the two-parter that just finished last week. It did have its Whedonesque moments, though (Hey, it's violins playing while they open the viewport to see the black hole! Did we just fall into a Firefly spisode? If so, where's Kaylee, dangit?).

My feelings are still mixed on David Tennant as the Doctor. I'd probably even like him a lot if I didn't have fresh memories of Christopher Eccleston, who brought--and I never thought I'd say this about Doctor Who--a certain amount of gravitas to the role. That, and serious acting chops.

[antiquated-tory.livejournal.com]

Don't look at me, we've been saving the last two episodes of the Eccleston series for a special occasion. Eve and I are probably the two least video-watching (meaning TV, film, the lot) technically wired people in the West.