Doctor Who - The Girl in the Fireplace

[mrph]

That was odd. I liked it, I think - pretty costumes, clockwork, an interesting story structure. And some character moments. Not quite so fond of the final twist, but there you go...

Be warned:Comments on this post may contain spoilers

Comments

[henry_the_cow]

I'm catching up, so this comment is very belated.

I'm a bit surprised at the feeling here. The new series of Dr. Who have been surprisingly entertaining, at least. Given that there is little sci-fi on TV I like (three that come to mind are Babylon 5, Farscape, and Red Dwarf), this is quite a compliment. I have no time for old Dr. Who episodes - they entertained me as a child but if you look at them now, well, they're rubbish.

This particular episode was more that entertainment, it was good SF. I thought it was among the best SF I've ever seen on TV. Obviously with DW there is always the question of why he can't just use the Tardis to pop back and change the plot and that question was especially apposite on this occasion, but that's just one of the rules of entry.

I didn't anticipate the final twist and I don't see why it's corny - I've read a lot of SF and I don't recall coming across this before. The doctor arriving too late for his beloved could be corny but I thought they did that very well.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

I think my problem has been that the first season had some gems - looking back, I tend to forget that many of them weren't at the start of the series. But there was an expectation that season 2 would build on this, whereas it actually seemed to be finding its feet all over again. Understandable for Tennant, less understandable for the writers and directors. It feels as if RTD still isn't quite sure which bits worked and which didn't, so he's repeating mistakes.

Having said all that, Tooth and Claw was good, as was Girl in the Fireplace - and Idiot's Lantern had some lovely moments. On the other hand, New Earth was only passable and School Reunion was a bundle of Good Stuff wrapped around a very weak plot.

The thing that really seems to have upset people is the way that the Cybermen were handled, though. They made very sure that they got the Daleks right when they revived them - after all, why use old villains again unless they serve a purpose and there are good things to be done with them? Whereas the Cybermen seemed monosyllabic and not terribly bright, with a creator who was a villain-by-numbers copying too many details from one of the really memorable bad guys (Davros).

I suspect I'd be a lot happier with it if RTD didn't have such a stranglehold over the writing. As a guiding force, he seems to be a very good thing - but as a writer, he consistently delivers some of the weaker episodes (they do always have some great moments, but rarely hold together well...). And as head writer he gets the first and last episodes of each season, too...