What didn't you like about it? I have such low expectations I just go along for the ride and don't bother trying to make it fit with anything. Did you see the 5 Doctors short?
I did not see the short, and I'm not sure I care enough to - that sort of meta-spoof is not really my thing anyway.
What didn't I like about it?
I think if I were to sum my reaction to the special up in one sentence, it would be: "Way to blow the mystery, Moffatt!!!"
First rule of writing: there are jokes you do not explain, and things you do not show, because there is absolutely no way you will every do them as well as whatever your audience has cooked up in their heads. You just can't. This special managed to hit two (three? I can't decide whether the Doctor's action should be counted separate from the Time War or not) of those in one go... and blew it as could be expected.
1. Elizabeth. Man, was that a lame way to deal with the recurring joke. Also, as an LizI fan, I hated what they did with her; turned a major bad-ass lady into a besotted joke (actually, she reminded me very strongly of a cross between the Red Queen from Burton's Alice and LizI from Blackadder. Ugh).
2. Time War. There was no way in hell the Time War was ever going to hit the small screen and be even half as awesome as it was built up to be -- I doubt you could even pull it off with a film budget. Anyone with half a brain could have seen that, and I do not understand why anyone involved with production thought it would be a good idea to actually show the Time War.
And what did we get? Soldiers using vaguely laser-like guns against Daleks rolling through streets while oddly-dressed people ran around and screamed. This is the grand war between the Time Lords and the Daleks? This is the galaxy-spanning war that destroyed whole worlds; that wiped entire races from the timestream; that echoed forwards and backwards in time... I'll stop. But where was TIME in all this? Nowhere, because you can't show that on TV without massive explanations of what they heck is going on. So we got a standard 'invasion' scene that could have been in any old sci-fi show.
I'm also pissed about making the Doctor's 'kill them both' solution basically just his own tired-of-this tantrum, rather than the real driven-to-the-edge sacrifice it was always implied to be. Not to mention that killed a lot of the tension of the special by taking out any particular pressure to decide. I particularly found the 'how many children' bit to be tooth-grindingly annoying. First because it's a transparent ploy for audience sympathy, and secondly because if the premise of the scenario is to be believed, they're all going to die anyway at the the eggbeaters of the Daleks.
And for our hook plot, we got... Aliens of London, complete with stupid-looking rubber suits and juvenile humor (suckers instead of farts).
I dunno, I thought the children were kind of interesting, because I pictured all the Timelords as being adult independent operators like the Doctor, that possibly reproduced only rarely like unicorns or something... XD So the idea that there were many, many children affected by the Doctor's decision was interesting to me, 'cause before I felt like, "If the Doctor killed them, sombitches must've done something to deserve it!"
BTW we did not see it on the small screen; we saw it on the big screen and it looked AWESOME.
Also the sucker aliens are returning to the screen after an absence of 38 years! They wanted to celebrate the anniversary too! O_o;;
Maybe I know too much classic-Who; there's always been a distinction between 'Time Lords' and 'Gallifreyans' with the latter being much more numerous. But nu!Who talks about it in s3; potential Time Lords when they're eight years old brought before the Untempered Schism, and all that. So I never did think there weren't civilians, including children, caught in the destruction.
Bringing it up is one thing, but the whole counting thing was just blatant heart-string plucking and I hate that. If you can't bring an audience along without resorting to cliche.... plant your butt back in the chair and try again!
Don't care how big yout TV is, this was not done with a film budget. :P :P
Ah, I did not know about the childrens... So are not all adult Gallifeyans Timelords? I guess not if you don't have a TARDIS?
Re: screen, we saw it on an actual movie screen! In an actual movie theater! And it looked perfectly nice; it looked like Doctor Who, but nothing jumped out as looking low budget.
This is why I love being a casual Whovian! I totally recognize your reaction; I remember the days of freaking out over every TV Guide or sci-fi magazine that had the slightest teaser for Star Trek or The X-Files, and feeling gutted after an episode where I felt they'd done something stupid (I know you've been there too re: Trek). Now I just show up and watch Who, and say, "That was entertaining." It's so relaxing! I realize it's probably too late for you now, but... :P
At this point I can't even enjoy it casually. If you'd tried to hook me on Who as a brand-new watcher with any episodes of the last two seasons, I would have watched 1 willingly, politely sat through a second, and never turned it on again.
It's very disappointing. My tolerance for cracky shows is pretty high (I'm watching and liking Reign, for god's sake!) but there has to be something to hook into: character, plot, humor... and Who is delivering none of them. Or none consistently, but I'm not watching a whole season in hopes of getting 5 or 6 scenes that are actually entertaining. :(
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Date: 2013-11-25 02:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-25 04:41 pm (UTC)What didn't I like about it?
I think if I were to sum my reaction to the special up in one sentence, it would be: "Way to blow the mystery, Moffatt!!!"
First rule of writing: there are jokes you do not explain, and things you do not show, because there is absolutely no way you will every do them as well as whatever your audience has cooked up in their heads. You just can't. This special managed to hit two (three? I can't decide whether the Doctor's action should be counted separate from the Time War or not) of those in one go... and blew it as could be expected.
1. Elizabeth. Man, was that a lame way to deal with the recurring joke. Also, as an LizI fan, I hated what they did with her; turned a major bad-ass lady into a besotted joke (actually, she reminded me very strongly of a cross between the Red Queen from Burton's Alice and LizI from Blackadder. Ugh).
2. Time War. There was no way in hell the Time War was ever going to hit the small screen and be even half as awesome as it was built up to be -- I doubt you could even pull it off with a film budget. Anyone with half a brain could have seen that, and I do not understand why anyone involved with production thought it would be a good idea to actually show the Time War.
And what did we get? Soldiers using vaguely laser-like guns against Daleks rolling through streets while oddly-dressed people ran around and screamed. This is the grand war between the Time Lords and the Daleks? This is the galaxy-spanning war that destroyed whole worlds; that wiped entire races from the timestream; that echoed forwards and backwards in time... I'll stop. But where was TIME in all this? Nowhere, because you can't show that on TV without massive explanations of what they heck is going on. So we got a standard 'invasion' scene that could have been in any old sci-fi show.
I'm also pissed about making the Doctor's 'kill them both' solution basically just his own tired-of-this tantrum, rather than the real driven-to-the-edge sacrifice it was always implied to be. Not to mention that killed a lot of the tension of the special by taking out any particular pressure to decide. I particularly found the 'how many children' bit to be tooth-grindingly annoying. First because it's a transparent ploy for audience sympathy, and secondly because if the premise of the scenario is to be believed, they're all going to die anyway at the the eggbeaters of the Daleks.
And for our hook plot, we got... Aliens of London, complete with stupid-looking rubber suits and juvenile humor (suckers instead of farts).
In short: 50 years in the making -- for THAT?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-28 05:49 am (UTC)BTW we did not see it on the small screen; we saw it on the big screen and it looked AWESOME.
Also the sucker aliens are returning to the screen after an absence of 38 years! They wanted to celebrate the anniversary too! O_o;;
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-28 03:15 pm (UTC)Bringing it up is one thing, but the whole counting thing was just blatant heart-string plucking and I hate that. If you can't bring an audience along without resorting to cliche.... plant your butt back in the chair and try again!
Don't care how big yout TV is, this was not done with a film budget. :P :P
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-29 10:28 pm (UTC)Re: screen, we saw it on an actual movie screen! In an actual movie theater! And it looked perfectly nice; it looked like Doctor Who, but nothing jumped out as looking low budget.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-28 05:41 am (UTC)This is why I love being a casual Whovian! I totally recognize your reaction; I remember the days of freaking out over every TV Guide or sci-fi magazine that had the slightest teaser for Star Trek or The X-Files, and feeling gutted after an episode where I felt they'd done something stupid (I know you've been there too re: Trek). Now I just show up and watch Who, and say, "That was entertaining." It's so relaxing! I realize it's probably too late for you now, but... :P
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-28 03:18 pm (UTC)It's very disappointing. My tolerance for cracky shows is pretty high (I'm watching and liking Reign, for god's sake!) but there has to be something to hook into: character, plot, humor... and Who is delivering none of them. Or none consistently, but I'm not watching a whole season in hopes of getting 5 or 6 scenes that are actually entertaining. :(