Daleks in Manhatten
Apr. 24th, 2007 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyoreThis post has not enough squee and too much sleepy and probably error-ridden analysis.
Overall, I liked this episode. There were a lot of good moments (the symmetry between the feelings of the Doctor and the Dalek, Martha's wonder at seeing the Empire State Building in it's half-built form, as well as her knowledge of the Wall Street Crash, Solomon admitting that he had left Frank behind because he was scared, the Doctor's homemade science gadgets), but it didn't really hang together as an episode, for me.
Given the absolute nature of the Dalek's belief in their own superiority, I'm not sure I buy their quest for evolution via combination with humans. Although I guess being desperate enough will make you re-evaluate your priorities - how important is purity when your entire race is on the edge of extinction?
Plus the random and illogical bits - like Daleks who would have to have been suddenly stuck deaf not to hear the whispering people hiding in the corridors, and how the hell do you fit a fully-grown man into a Dalek shell that is already full of Dalek? Unless the Dalek case if is like the TARDIS, I guess :)
I also found the acting of the supporting cast a little patchy this time. And the accents - I can't speak to the accuracy, but they were certainly annoying!
I'm not really sure why this episode has adopted so much flak for historical inaccuracy. From my viewpoint (admittedly, it's a viewpoint of those with really dodgy modern US history knowledge), this episode was no worse than many of the others in that way, so I'm not sure why it's attracted so much criticism. Perhaps because it's comparitively recent history, or it's American history, and therefore something that more members of fandom have more knowledge of/a personal connection with. The problem with those ideas is that there have been episodes that have had more recent events, and I don't recall seeing this level of comment, although it's entirely possible I missed it. And it assumes that the majority of the LJ-posting Doctor Who fandom is American, and frankly, I'm not sure how accurate that is.
There's also the race issue, but after the SGA debacle and the current discussions in the Doctor Who fandom, that's something I'm not touching with a ten-foot pole.
As the first half of a two-part episode, it's a bit hard to make comments about the effectiveness of the episode, but it just didn't seem to me to have enough emotional punch. I enjoyed Gridlock a lot more (even if there hadn't been kitten!Ten), even though the entire episode was effectively just filler before they could have the Face of Boe revealation.
Huh - reading the above makes it sound like I didn't enjoy the episode. I did, I swear. It had moments that could have been brilliant, and maybe I'm just too tired to have the appriopriate emotional response right now. Or perhaps I'm just in a hypercritical mood tonight. Sorry,amethyste5, I guess I have lack of squee.
Random thought: David Tennant must be the fittest actor on TV. Every episode, he and C/companions is running for their life away from something.
Overall, I liked this episode. There were a lot of good moments (the symmetry between the feelings of the Doctor and the Dalek, Martha's wonder at seeing the Empire State Building in it's half-built form, as well as her knowledge of the Wall Street Crash, Solomon admitting that he had left Frank behind because he was scared, the Doctor's homemade science gadgets), but it didn't really hang together as an episode, for me.
Given the absolute nature of the Dalek's belief in their own superiority, I'm not sure I buy their quest for evolution via combination with humans. Although I guess being desperate enough will make you re-evaluate your priorities - how important is purity when your entire race is on the edge of extinction?
Plus the random and illogical bits - like Daleks who would have to have been suddenly stuck deaf not to hear the whispering people hiding in the corridors, and how the hell do you fit a fully-grown man into a Dalek shell that is already full of Dalek? Unless the Dalek case if is like the TARDIS, I guess :)
I also found the acting of the supporting cast a little patchy this time. And the accents - I can't speak to the accuracy, but they were certainly annoying!
I'm not really sure why this episode has adopted so much flak for historical inaccuracy. From my viewpoint (admittedly, it's a viewpoint of those with really dodgy modern US history knowledge), this episode was no worse than many of the others in that way, so I'm not sure why it's attracted so much criticism. Perhaps because it's comparitively recent history, or it's American history, and therefore something that more members of fandom have more knowledge of/a personal connection with. The problem with those ideas is that there have been episodes that have had more recent events, and I don't recall seeing this level of comment, although it's entirely possible I missed it. And it assumes that the majority of the LJ-posting Doctor Who fandom is American, and frankly, I'm not sure how accurate that is.
There's also the race issue, but after the SGA debacle and the current discussions in the Doctor Who fandom, that's something I'm not touching with a ten-foot pole.
As the first half of a two-part episode, it's a bit hard to make comments about the effectiveness of the episode, but it just didn't seem to me to have enough emotional punch. I enjoyed Gridlock a lot more (even if there hadn't been kitten!Ten), even though the entire episode was effectively just filler before they could have the Face of Boe revealation.
Huh - reading the above makes it sound like I didn't enjoy the episode. I did, I swear. It had moments that could have been brilliant, and maybe I'm just too tired to have the appriopriate emotional response right now. Or perhaps I'm just in a hypercritical mood tonight. Sorry,
amethyste5, I guess I have lack of squee.Random thought: David Tennant must be the fittest actor on TV. Every episode, he and C/companions is running for their life away from something.
