I don't quite understand where you're coming from here. It basically sounds like you're disagreeing with the character's actions, which, for you, makes the special "absolute shit". Is that it or are there deeper reasons for your point of view?
Planet of the Dead Discuss and Grade SPOILERS!!!
- Thread starter captcalhoun
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Well she did lend him a hand. The Doctor being the soft hearted type just decided she deserved a break. OTOH, he may have just done it for a laugh. Watching the silly monkies scrambling around after someone who stole a useless (from his POV at least) gold cup.
No - the special being pretty much "absolute shit" makes it "absolute shit".
Characters with very little motivation or, um, "character".
Hokey music that(and I am a film soundtrack fan from back before most posters here were even born)EMBARRASSED me. Just playing a bombastic, bravura theme over shit doesn't make the shit better. It actually makes it worse because the scene feels even weaker by being less deserving of the innappropriate score.
The story had to "earn" an uplifting, feel good ending by either having a character redeem themselves or sacrifice themselves or have something truly magical happen(something that seems more suited to the Xmas specials). When you basically have a criminal allowed to go free, unchecked and unpunished and even worse, by a character who lately has espoused his own moral stance on many issues, you SHOULD have a solemn ending. From the elated(read:forced)looks of beatific joy on the faces of the barely developed bus passengers, I thought I was watching the end of Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This was just pathetic and again, embarrasing.
Once again we have RTD's trademark great swarm of evil aliens ready to invade Earth.
Again.
Enough already, Fucking ENOUGH.
Now, for all you PC types out there, cover your ears and put on your little "The world is okay and I am empowered to live in it" glasses, because this MAY offend your delicate sensibilities. Ready? Now, here goes kiddies. In storytelling there is a conceit called(not my words)"The Magical Nigger".
Now calm down boys and girls.
The world will NOT explode because I used the dreaded N word. Now, stay with me. Stephen King uses this device a lot. It is the old black man who is the school cleaner/hotel repair man/down and out bum who knows "The Secret" or has "The(supernatural)Gift" that helps the young caucasian male to overcome evil and save the world. It is a very old device and can be seen in everything from Br'er Rabbit to The Shining. Here we once again have TMN in the form of the very conveniently placed older black lady. It's hokey, it's clichéd and it's a little bit overused now. Worse still, she is used as the device to O N C E A G A I N be the portender of doom and harbinger of whatever "Big Bad"(tm) RTD has waiting for his young caucasian at the end of the series/run.
I thought it was great in S1 with "Bad Wolf". Went along with it and found it interesting in S2 with Torchwood but quickly got bored with the whole device being overused from then onwards.
Worse still, the old MN parrots the EXACT same line from the Ood back last year. It is unsubtle, draws attention to itself and shouts clearly to me, "THIS IS A SCRIPTED SHOW AND LOOK HOW CLEVER WE ARE THAT WE CAN PLANT LITTLE CLUES AT THE BEGINNING OF OUR SERIES.........AGAIN.........no WAIT - pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!!"
I made a very opinionated post elsewhere here about how I felt a few people were wrong in criticizing the new "Red Dwarf" and how I felt RD had ALWAYS been juvenile, which was, for me, always part if its appeal. With this latest DW special, I feel the opposite. This special felt VERY juvenile - and I use the term in its worse possible sense. From its run of the mill writing and its misguided morality at the end to its lazy execution and barely there bit players. It showed to me that RTD is now more than six months overdue for leaving DW.
All I can say is, "Bring on the Grand Moff!!!"
Thank you for the detailed post Tulin.
"Planet of the Dead" was the best RTD script since "Turn Left", I have little idea what was objectively bad about this special, although as some less hot headed posters have stated the formula is getting rather stale and hamstringing the series. RTD has mostly done a grand job, but we need Moffat to give the franchise a shot in the arm and phase out some RTD troupes that have worn out their welcome.
Lee Evans was OK as a nutty professor with a broad Welsh accent and Michelle Ryan was the hottest companion so far, even if her character was pretty unplatable (but we could do with companions who are not from London, England).
Lee Evans was OK as a nutty professor with a broad Welsh accent and Michelle Ryan was the hottest companion so far, even if her character was pretty unplatable (but we could do with companions who are not from London, England).
Yes, he does. That's where I first came across it. In The Shining I think he calls it something like "the glimmer" (or possibly even the shining - it's decades since I read it). In The Stand there's Mother Abigail. So, when I saw the older black lady in the trailer for this my heart sank and I said to myself, "why does it have to be her?" I agree with you. It's a device that seems as old as the hills.
I haven't watched it yet...will watch it when it comes on Space in June but have read the story synopsis from the Tardis Wiki and it seems like it was a medicore episode at best. The part that most interests me though is the four knocks warning and that his song is going to end. I remember the Ood saying something earlier...it would be cool if the four knocks is a reference to the Master returning.
Question: Why do insectoid aliens have internal comm units shaped for human ears? Well, timelord ears
I was wondering the same thing.
They had internal comm units for all kinds of ears. We just saw the ones for humans.Question: Why do insectoid aliens have internal comm units shaped for human ears? Well, timelord ears
I was wondering the same thing.
I immediately thought of the Ood. That's what they told Donna wasn't it?
In fairness the TARDIS did that, not the Doctor.
It did seem a bit odd, but like he says, he stole the TARDIS after all, and the 10th Doctor's been fairly hypocritical before now when it comes to crime punishment etc.
Nah they just bought off the shelf components from the nearest system, and all they had in stock were bluetooth headsets from Earth....They had internal comm units for all kinds of ears. We just saw the ones for humans.Question: Why do insectoid aliens have internal comm units shaped for human ears? Well, timelord ears
I was wondering the same thing.
That works too.
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