I like JLC a lot more than I ever liked Karen Gillan but it's hard to deny that Clara is getting only a fraction of the character development that Amy did. She's got the usual one-liners that all of Moffat's female characters get and her main traits seem to be that unlike most Companions she actually listens to what the Doctor tells her and isn't unrealistically brave. And that's about it, really.
Oooof. This was bad. I don't care for the scooby doo gang, and even though I love Doctor Who I was almost to the point of turning it off until The Doctor showed up. Then I hung in but it was still as uninteresting and unfunny as the beginning...just with the Doctor. The Tom Tom joke? Uh, ok. Ha? Strax being Strax? Completely over it. This ep basically boiled down to "hey a random creature made a person evil. The Doctor stopped her." We've seen that a million times before, and it can be good but when you add in the awful "comedy" and focus on the scooby doo gang...it's not for me. So far this season, I would say I enjoyed Hide, but I can't even remember what it was about. The sub one was eh, and the Dalek one was the last one I remember liking, but that was forever and a companion ago. Moffat needs to go asap. And I don't think Gatis is the answer at all. Did enjoy the flashback immensely however.
Well, at least one thing that Doctor Who and the new Star Trek have in common is weird science. In this episode, we learn that the trio discovered the whereabouts of the Doctor after developing an image which revealed a mirror image of him on the iris of a deceased man. This is bogus science, but I don't question it because this is Doctor Who, and weird science is an essential element of the series. However, Star Trek has operated on, in my opinion, firmer science than that. Occasionally, it will dip into weird science, sometimes with hilarious ineptitude ("Threshold"). I can take simple scripts, if they are done well. "The Trouble with Tribbles" is a simple script, yet it is a wonderful story. However, the rebooted Star Trek has overturned the apple cart, so to speak, and we get this gem - Spoiler Alert Spoiler: An instance of weird science In the new Star Trek, supposedly Khan has blood that can cure the sick and revive the dead. And, apparently, this superhuman blood can defeat the natural immune reaction, especially when the blood is taken from a human, placed into a tribble, and then put into another human. The implications are disturbing. With Kirk getting this blood, will he too be able to cure the sick and revive the dead? And, as the blood has DNA from the tribble, will Kirk get aspects of tribble-ness?
My impression from the music was that it was all tracked from prior episodes - I don't think Gold wrote new music for the episode.
It was specifically stated that -normally- it wouldn't be possible, but that the chemicals they were being dipped into caused enough of a change in the tissues to allow it.
I think the reason for including the procedure was that Doctor Who was paying homage to a belief held in Victorian England that such a thing was possible.
Well what can i say, top notch Who, the three comic relief's were just brilliant, Smith was on top form, Miss Emma Peel work was off the chart. More please next week.
That's lazy and/or cheap on the part of the producers. I realize part of the issue is that Murray Gold lives in New York and so he can't be in the editing room to write a score and spot the music so that it matches the episode. But the use of Gold's suites and the way they're chopped up to fit the scenes does neither his music nor the show as a whole any favors.
Enjoyable episode although I would have liked it to stay more Doctor-lite because, after The Doctor's revival, the gang disappears to the background for the most part. Something about The Doctor being zombiefied bugged me although I did enjoy Matt Smith's performance and the flashback sequence was pretty amusing particularly because, again, Matt Smith's performance. I also loved the Tegan references. However, the best part of the episode was the Diana Rigg/Rebecca Stirling double act. Both actresses acted their hearts out and I have to say they stole the show from everyone else (including Matt Smith). I didn't like the final scene, not so much for the content (although it was a bit silly), but rather because of how blatantly shoe-horned it was. I really hope their presence in the next episode is because they were something Neil Gaiman wanted and will run off with. I certainly have faith in his writing ability, particularly with children (see Coraline and The Graveyard Book). On a side note, I have to admit I'm rather amused by the whole "controversy" of the TomTom joke. I didn't get it at all during the episode (although I figured there was something behind it), and now that it has been explained to me via this thread, I do find it rather funny, but not nearly as funny as the disgusted response to the joke in this thread.
I think the problem with the joke is that it just seemed jammed in there. If Thomas played a part in the rest of the episode it might have gone over better.
Using pre-existing music used earlier in the series was and is a common practice in any TV show. TOS did it all the time, and it only had a couple of years worth of music to work from; There's eight years of Murray Gold score sitting in the vaults at this point. At any rate, I don't think the tracking hurt the episode any - at any rate, the music wasn't as In Your Face as Gold's score usually is. It's more forgivable when it's a TV show and you have to get them cranked out on time. When you're doing it for a major motion picture (the Star Wars Prequels, for instance), THEN the "lazy/cheap" charge sticks. The whole "Thomas Thomas" sequence felt like filler to pad out a too-short episode and give Strax something - anything - to do. Which doesn't exactly bode well for The (prospective) Vastra and Jenny Adventures.
Where would the budget come from to make a Vastra and Jenny adventures show? Where is the actual demand outside of a few hardcore fans?
For myself, I like the occasional use of the trio. I am not completely sold on the idea that there's enough material for a full-fledged series.
I'd like to see how the BBC manage giving us 14 episodes of Doctor Who again a year before I have faith in a new spin-off being any good. Torchwood was a waste and all Sarah-Jane Adventures did was make me feel like some sort of predator for lusting after Rani.
I can't think of any good reasons for a Vastra/Jenny/Strax series. That's not to say there aren't reasons -- the characters are generally fun, there's room in the television marketplace for more Doctor Who-esque product -- but they're not reasons that would induce the BBC to greenlight a series. The budget, I think, is the easiest objection handled. I could see BBC America wanting to buy into the program as a coproducer (it fits their "Supernatural Saturday" niche, to say nothing of its Whovian origins). And if filmed on Ripper Street's backlot in Dublin, the sets and props would be there to be reused. But that brings us back to the question -- who is this for? Which audience would the series be for? The Torchwood audience? The Sarah Jane audience? That's the question that would need to be answered first. A Madame Vastra spin-off strikes me as an idea that's better suited for the licensees -- comics, novels, audios -- since they're already targetting a niche audience.
Well I dunno, I mean Torchwood still seemed a stretch, Jack was popular yes, but to take a popular character from a family show and spin him off into an adult themed show...if the BBC hadn't been flush with cash and RTD riding high I wonder if it would have got green lit. I still think Vastra would work best in a 30 minute format, but I agree, much as I'd like it we probably won't get it.
The actual reveal of Mr. Sweet felt a little weak, but the rest of it was pretty good. I love the Vastra/Jenny/Strax trio and the Thomas Thomas joke was great. Although I'm far more excited about next week's episode.