[Doctor Who] The Impossible Astronaut
Apr. 24th, 2011 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lightcastleSpoiler free version: Some good lines, too little plot.
melebeth asked where the plot was, and that really was the problem for me. I like witty banter as much as the next bloke, but you do need to come up for air from time to time. The only bits that remotely felt like they were taking a breath was the decently-done confrontation of Amy and The Silent in the bathroom and the absolutely lovely conversation Rory and River have about her worst day. The rest of it felt like break-neck running around without really getting anywhere. That's not disastrous, and a strong part two can ameliorate that, but it was a bit annoying. (Of course, as a fan of the old show, an entire first episode where all it does is sort of set things up and you still don't really feel like you have advanced in the story was not uncommon, so I am forgiving here.)
I am glad we have the Silent up front as a race, although why they want to blow up the universe remains unknown. (I could buy it from The Time Lords and from Davros, but it is harder from others.) Hopefully they want something much lower key and the cracks in time were a mistake. I am not fond of the "we must threaten the whole universe or you won't care" thing.
As far as the big continuity arcs set into place for the year.
1) The Doctor's dead. Well, no one believes this so it doesn't really work as drama, does it? I suspect Moffat has an interesting out, but still... weak. Nonetheless, I remember the ST:TNG epiosode "Time's Arrow" years ago and remarking how much more interesting it would be to have found Data's head blown up at the beginning of the season and not resolved it until the end. That is presumably what we are doing here with the murder, so perhaps the ride will be solid.
The only compelling bit is really who is in the spacesuit. River and her numerous "I killed a good man" hints are most obvious, but I suspect that's not where we are going. Amy's daughter seems a strong possibility. (And she may be the voice on the phone already.) The Doctor himself is still an option, although not a great one.
2) Amy's pregnant. Fine in and of itself, but only makes sense in Who as a bargaining chip, sadly. Option 1 is that is her kid in the suit right now. (And she just shot at her.) Option 2 is that will still be her kid shooting the Doctor in Utah. Option 3 is that she is River. (I'm not super fond of this one, although it gives us River as intimately involved with the Doctor while not actually being his wife or lover.) Option 4 is the only way to save the Doctor is to give up her child. (And since everyone knows the only driving passion for women is BABEEZ, this is tragic.) At least we know Rory isn't still plastic. :)
3) The Silent are building their own TARDIS. Given the fact that the base River and Rory find is pretty much an exact copy of the ersatz-TARDIS from "The Lodger" last season, it is nice to see a bit of continuity there. This might almost give us an explanation for the Cracks, if the Silent are trying to replace the Time Lords or are just messing with space time and miscalculated what the explosion would do. As for The Silent themselves... I like the halfway MIB/halfway Roswell Grey look, but I'm not sure about the "look away and forget them" aspect. Sure, it is creepy, but we've already spent a season on memory and story as the basis of the universe. Since this is a follow up from Season 5, I guess it makes sense, but I'm not thrilled with the development.
Now, that all said, Moffatt and crew are full of lovely moments.
"Doctor Song. She's doing it again. She's packing. "
This made me happy. :)
There seems to be some disagreement whether or not they mention he "died before" or "did it before" concerning the whole going back and rewriting time thing and whether they should tell him what's up. Regardless, "And in fairness, the universe did blow up" was a lovely retort for why it still matters.
"Don't worry I'm quite the screamer."
Yeah, that was cute and you saw it coming and couldn't stop it. :)
The "worst day" speech was nothing but pure loveliness and tragedy and I was all over it like a cheap suit.
I was happy to see Mark Sheppard because he is always fun to watch. I also liked that older him was played by his dad.
I was also very fond of Pond swearing by "fish fingers and custard".
(And sue me, the fact 11 just can't seem to like wine amuses me.)
To sum up - mostly a wait and see. Who sometimes needs a few eps to hit its stride, so I am ok with that.
melebeth asked where the plot was, and that really was the problem for me. I like witty banter as much as the next bloke, but you do need to come up for air from time to time. The only bits that remotely felt like they were taking a breath was the decently-done confrontation of Amy and The Silent in the bathroom and the absolutely lovely conversation Rory and River have about her worst day. The rest of it felt like break-neck running around without really getting anywhere. That's not disastrous, and a strong part two can ameliorate that, but it was a bit annoying. (Of course, as a fan of the old show, an entire first episode where all it does is sort of set things up and you still don't really feel like you have advanced in the story was not uncommon, so I am forgiving here.)
I am glad we have the Silent up front as a race, although why they want to blow up the universe remains unknown. (I could buy it from The Time Lords and from Davros, but it is harder from others.) Hopefully they want something much lower key and the cracks in time were a mistake. I am not fond of the "we must threaten the whole universe or you won't care" thing.
As far as the big continuity arcs set into place for the year.
1) The Doctor's dead. Well, no one believes this so it doesn't really work as drama, does it? I suspect Moffat has an interesting out, but still... weak. Nonetheless, I remember the ST:TNG epiosode "Time's Arrow" years ago and remarking how much more interesting it would be to have found Data's head blown up at the beginning of the season and not resolved it until the end. That is presumably what we are doing here with the murder, so perhaps the ride will be solid.
The only compelling bit is really who is in the spacesuit. River and her numerous "I killed a good man" hints are most obvious, but I suspect that's not where we are going. Amy's daughter seems a strong possibility. (And she may be the voice on the phone already.) The Doctor himself is still an option, although not a great one.
2) Amy's pregnant. Fine in and of itself, but only makes sense in Who as a bargaining chip, sadly. Option 1 is that is her kid in the suit right now. (And she just shot at her.) Option 2 is that will still be her kid shooting the Doctor in Utah. Option 3 is that she is River. (I'm not super fond of this one, although it gives us River as intimately involved with the Doctor while not actually being his wife or lover.) Option 4 is the only way to save the Doctor is to give up her child. (And since everyone knows the only driving passion for women is BABEEZ, this is tragic.) At least we know Rory isn't still plastic. :)
3) The Silent are building their own TARDIS. Given the fact that the base River and Rory find is pretty much an exact copy of the ersatz-TARDIS from "The Lodger" last season, it is nice to see a bit of continuity there. This might almost give us an explanation for the Cracks, if the Silent are trying to replace the Time Lords or are just messing with space time and miscalculated what the explosion would do. As for The Silent themselves... I like the halfway MIB/halfway Roswell Grey look, but I'm not sure about the "look away and forget them" aspect. Sure, it is creepy, but we've already spent a season on memory and story as the basis of the universe. Since this is a follow up from Season 5, I guess it makes sense, but I'm not thrilled with the development.
Now, that all said, Moffatt and crew are full of lovely moments.
"Doctor Song. She's doing it again. She's packing. "
This made me happy. :)
There seems to be some disagreement whether or not they mention he "died before" or "did it before" concerning the whole going back and rewriting time thing and whether they should tell him what's up. Regardless, "And in fairness, the universe did blow up" was a lovely retort for why it still matters.
"Don't worry I'm quite the screamer."
Yeah, that was cute and you saw it coming and couldn't stop it. :)
The "worst day" speech was nothing but pure loveliness and tragedy and I was all over it like a cheap suit.
I was happy to see Mark Sheppard because he is always fun to watch. I also liked that older him was played by his dad.
I was also very fond of Pond swearing by "fish fingers and custard".
(And sue me, the fact 11 just can't seem to like wine amuses me.)
To sum up - mostly a wait and see. Who sometimes needs a few eps to hit its stride, so I am ok with that.
