Wasn’t that episode of Doctor Who brilliant, though? Kind of reminded me of Farscape. Lots of people running and shouting in corridors, giving out expository dialogue disguised as character stuff, treating the audience like intelligent human beings, and no silly, CBBC-style alien makeup (like that godawful Dalek-human hybrid) – a proper, adult story. It’s what Doctor Who should always be like.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen more contrived peril plotting than that episode.
“The ship’s going to crash into the sun! Not to worry, we’ll get in the TARDIS!”
“Oh, you can’t, it’s suddenly too hot in the room you were just in five seconds ago.”
“Okay, let’s make our way to the control room!”
“Oh, you can’t, all the doors are locked.”
“Ah, well, sonic screwdriver!”
“Oh, no, this is the one piece of tech in the entire universe that it won’t work on.”
“Okay, then. How do the locks work?”
“Well, each one is a pub quiz machine, and you ONLY GET ONE TURN. And there are questions about 20th century pop culture.”
“…”
“Right, I’ll just re-magnetise the escape pod.”
“Sure thing. Just one thing, though… the button’s on the outside of the ship.”
“Well, who the fuck designed that one?”
… and so on.
Didn’t help that the supporting characters were totally rubbish (Michelle Collins being downright unlikeable), it was completely ungripping despite having a ready made tension device in the form of the utterly WASTED real-time concept (all that the countdown did was help me time when our pizzas were ready), and all in all, it was just a lame knock-off of The Satan Pit.
“What Doctor Who should always be like”? If it was always like that, I’d never watch it. The first genuine bum note of series three, for me.
I dunno, thought it was alright. Couldn’t understand why the ‘infected’ crew had to keep putting those helmets on, they just looked like drunk welders.
Did remind me of Satan Pit as well, ie. deep scary voice, spaceship corridors, annoying crew, Doctor in spacesuit etc etc.
It wasn’t bad, objectively, but I felt it was a huge opportunity wasted. An episode actually called 42? Well it’s already got the metaphorical weight of HHGttG on it’s shoulders before it begins. Throw in a COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY AND CONTRIVED ‘real-time’ gimmick without actually exploiting it and you rather invite folk to pick holes.
Also, changing the helmet does not make it a new space suit. Unless you make some sort of throwaway link between the two, I suppose.
Oh, incidentally, the episode wasn’t actually in real-time. I didn’t count myself, but somebody else did, and apparently the clock lost about three or four minutes as the episode went on.
IF YOU’VE GOT A GIMMICK, AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT. IF YOU’RE NOT INTENDING ON DOING IT RIGHT, DON’T MAKE OUT THAT YOU’RE DOING IT AT ALL.
I’m probably the only person here who doesn’t actually like the new Doctor’s last three series. I’m getting kind of tired with unscary monsters, dodgy digital effects and the REALLY shitty (and far too loud) “epic” music. It just seems far too childish and half-hearted. Don’t get me wrong, I like childish, but I also wouldn’t mind a bit of dirt and grit, y’know. A bit of darkness, and that’s what this story provided for me, including acting and dialogue that didn’t sound like it was spouted from the mouth of some college students making an amateur film.
What I would REEEEAAAAAAALLLYYY love is for the Doctor and Martha to face a recurring foe that doesn’t want to take over the world and go “BWAHAHAHA!” all the time – it’s just an alien that kills and hunts, like the xenomorph in Alien. Something without emotion and sentience. They could do that at 7pm, surely. Not too graphic, obviously.
And hopefully Martha’s Mum can be its first victim.
What is it with the ridiculous over use of CG in the newer series?
It’s like when I saw the remake of King Kong, I just got really frustrated and consantly found myself thinking “why the hell have they bothered with a CG version of that!”
Modern CG is amazing… on an enourmous budget, I’ve seen student stuff on par with the CG on Who.
It’s CG for the sake of it, which I hate!
Sean Price / May 21, 2007 at 7:06 am / #
Wasn’t that episode of Doctor Who brilliant, though? Kind of reminded me of Farscape. Lots of people running and shouting in corridors, giving out expository dialogue disguised as character stuff, treating the audience like intelligent human beings, and no silly, CBBC-style alien makeup (like that godawful Dalek-human hybrid) – a proper, adult story. It’s what Doctor Who should always be like.
Pete Martin / May 21, 2007 at 7:50 am / #
>Wasn?t that episode of Doctor Who brilliant, though?
Um, no.
>Kind of reminded me of Farscape
Kind of reminded me of Jason X.
Seb Patrick / May 21, 2007 at 8:20 am / #
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen more contrived peril plotting than that episode.
“The ship’s going to crash into the sun! Not to worry, we’ll get in the TARDIS!”
“Oh, you can’t, it’s suddenly too hot in the room you were just in five seconds ago.”
“Okay, let’s make our way to the control room!”
“Oh, you can’t, all the doors are locked.”
“Ah, well, sonic screwdriver!”
“Oh, no, this is the one piece of tech in the entire universe that it won’t work on.”
“Okay, then. How do the locks work?”
“Well, each one is a pub quiz machine, and you ONLY GET ONE TURN. And there are questions about 20th century pop culture.”
“…”
“Right, I’ll just re-magnetise the escape pod.”
“Sure thing. Just one thing, though… the button’s on the outside of the ship.”
“Well, who the fuck designed that one?”
… and so on.
Didn’t help that the supporting characters were totally rubbish (Michelle Collins being downright unlikeable), it was completely ungripping despite having a ready made tension device in the form of the utterly WASTED real-time concept (all that the countdown did was help me time when our pizzas were ready), and all in all, it was just a lame knock-off of The Satan Pit.
“What Doctor Who should always be like”? If it was always like that, I’d never watch it. The first genuine bum note of series three, for me.
Paul Muller / May 21, 2007 at 9:28 am / #
I dunno, thought it was alright. Couldn’t understand why the ‘infected’ crew had to keep putting those helmets on, they just looked like drunk welders.
Did remind me of Satan Pit as well, ie. deep scary voice, spaceship corridors, annoying crew, Doctor in spacesuit etc etc.
mick / May 21, 2007 at 10:07 am / #
>Wasn?t that episode of Doctor Who brilliant, though?
What has obviously happened here is, you’ve knocked your remote after the opening credits and ended up watching ‘My Big Breasts and Me’
James / May 21, 2007 at 4:50 pm / #
I have to side with the Human-Seb.
Rosti / May 21, 2007 at 10:39 pm / #
It wasn’t bad, objectively, but I felt it was a huge opportunity wasted. An episode actually called 42? Well it’s already got the metaphorical weight of HHGttG on it’s shoulders before it begins. Throw in a COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY AND CONTRIVED ‘real-time’ gimmick without actually exploiting it and you rather invite folk to pick holes.
Also, changing the helmet does not make it a new space suit. Unless you make some sort of throwaway link between the two, I suppose.
Seb Patrick / May 22, 2007 at 6:43 am / #
Oh, incidentally, the episode wasn’t actually in real-time. I didn’t count myself, but somebody else did, and apparently the clock lost about three or four minutes as the episode went on.
IF YOU’VE GOT A GIMMICK, AT LEAST DO IT RIGHT. IF YOU’RE NOT INTENDING ON DOING IT RIGHT, DON’T MAKE OUT THAT YOU’RE DOING IT AT ALL.
Sean Price / May 22, 2007 at 9:03 am / #
Oh dear.
I’m probably the only person here who doesn’t actually like the new Doctor’s last three series. I’m getting kind of tired with unscary monsters, dodgy digital effects and the REALLY shitty (and far too loud) “epic” music. It just seems far too childish and half-hearted. Don’t get me wrong, I like childish, but I also wouldn’t mind a bit of dirt and grit, y’know. A bit of darkness, and that’s what this story provided for me, including acting and dialogue that didn’t sound like it was spouted from the mouth of some college students making an amateur film.
What I would REEEEAAAAAAALLLYYY love is for the Doctor and Martha to face a recurring foe that doesn’t want to take over the world and go “BWAHAHAHA!” all the time – it’s just an alien that kills and hunts, like the xenomorph in Alien. Something without emotion and sentience. They could do that at 7pm, surely. Not too graphic, obviously.
And hopefully Martha’s Mum can be its first victim.
mick / May 22, 2007 at 10:44 am / #
What is it with the ridiculous over use of CG in the newer series?
It’s like when I saw the remake of King Kong, I just got really frustrated and consantly found myself thinking “why the hell have they bothered with a CG version of that!”
Modern CG is amazing… on an enourmous budget, I’ve seen student stuff on par with the CG on Who.
It’s CG for the sake of it, which I hate!