(no subject)

[mrv3000]

While I watched this episode I was mildly entertained, but the more I think about it, the worse it gets. And at this point I've worked myself into annoyance.

In the past I've disliked episodes for various reasons. Maybe I wasn't wild about the plot, or I thought it was too silly or it messed with my OTP, dammit! XD But even though I didn't care for something, the quality was there. e.g. I might not have liked GitF, but it was a great all around production.

This latest episode wasn't. It was poorly written and poorly edited. This was like a "first draft" and we've never seen that on New Who before. What makes me cranky is that its mistakes were so lazy. No one bothered. No one cared. Along its many points of production, no one said "um..." at various things.

I'm feeling the urge to flounce from DW at the moment, although I've two minds about it. Flouncing for this isn't nearly as dramatic as over Moffat giving us an episode about the Doctor's space harem of hot women. (You know you want to, Moffat. Don't deny it.) But a series in and I still don't really care about any of the main characters. Not even Rory, really. The show constantly tells us how important they all are, but I'm just not feeling it.

On the other hand Neil Gaiman is apparently some sort of god who might possibly rekindle my love of Doctor Who. So I'll probably at least stick through that episode.

I think at this point I'd gladly trade "clever" and "sexy" for a bit of heart. Just a little?

Comments

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

I kind of flounced after the Astronaut episodes ngl. I don't know, Moffat's Who is okay I guess, but I definitely don't get those YAY IT'S SATURDAY WHO TIME \o/ feelings that I used to get :|

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely. I haven't actually been excited about the show in ages. It's definitely downshifted from fannish obsession to regular watcher. Might be sliding down further.

[goldy-dollar.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm debating giving it a few episodes and then doing a catch-up on the off chance that it interests me more all at once rather than week by week.

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

I was really really tired, and on percocet, when I watched the pirate ep. So while I was irritated at some of it at the time, mostly I was like "Ooooohhhh, ship preeeeetty!" and "Wheee, silly pirates!" But therefore there hasn't been a lot of mental regurgitating, other than massive ranting regarding the "CPR" scene.

Steve Thompson, who wrote it, is crap. Apparently Moff likes him, because he also wrote the second ep of Sherlock (widely regarded among even rabid fans as having spectacularly craptastic plot) and is being trusted to write the vital finale ep of the next Sherlock series.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

XD Sounds like the way to watch this episode!

And I wonder why he likes him? If this episode is an indication of his writing, I would not be giving him the finale!

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

Yep! XD

No idea, it seems Thompson is buddies with Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Boys Club and all that.

On the positive side, this ep forced me to learn that there are indeed saltwater leeches. And also land leeches.

No, wait. That's definitely another negative for the episode.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

He's writing the Sherlock finale??? Oh crud. Thompson wrote a sorta okay mystery, but he did not capture the characters they way Gatiss and Moffat did-- so it felt like a generic detective show, not "Sherlock" (and heck, there were only three eps, but Moffat and Gatiss got the characters down so well).

[mornea.livejournal.com]

"clever" and "sexy" vs "a bit of heart." Yeah, I think that's it.

I have to get my mind set that this is a different Who, with a very different feel-- more comic bookish, if you know what I mean. I'm amazed that Moffat, who wrote such great characters while penning eps for RTD, seems unable to get his own writers to do the same.

I did like the first two eps of the series, despite them feeling very different from other eps (even last season). But the lack of 'heart' continues... it's like it wants to be there, but isn't, quite. Rory is the closest thing we've got- you can see his heart. I think it's in large part Arthur Darville's take on the character.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. By his own admission, Moffat said that S5 was written like a fairy tale. Problem is that lots of times there's just not much depth to fairy tale characters. The story is usually more important while the characters are placeholders. Meh.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

Yep, fairytale characters are stock figures and/or representations of ideas, not characters in and of themselves.

I saw someone on doctorwho suggest that Moffat split the role of companion, so that instead of one person doign all of the following, you have Rory as the damsel in distress, Amy as "the pawn" (in their words; not sure what this means tbh), River as the love interest and usually a one-off as the ~student, or person who gets to learn from the experience. I have no idea if in fact this was intentional on his part, but I don't like it, if so.

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

The pirate episode just left me feeling... nothing. Like, the first two brought about so much rage and hatred for Eleven and the plot in general, but made me super fond of Amy, Rory and River (at least partially because of how bad I feel for them at being stuck with Eleven). But this one was just kinda dull. And, you know, PIRATES. I like pirates.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I didn't know it was possible to make a dull pirate story. :D

Eleven keeps dropping down on my Doctor ranking list. I have way more affection for many of the Classic Doctors than I do for Eleven.

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

Eleven is straight up my least favourite. And maybe One as well, I guess.

I'm not even hopeful for Gaiman, because a lot of the time I get a look-how-clever-I-am vibe from his writing and I've had more than enough of that recently.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

It left me feeling something other than nothing. It left me severely annoyed because it was so *sloppy* and disjointed. It was not a professional writing job.

UNLESS it was supposed to be sloppy and disjointed because it turns out much of this is Amy's dream, or Amy's "reality" made from her memories... that might work arc wise. It does not, however, work "individual episode" wise.

Actually, I think this may be the case... perhaps it's fairy tale with some inconsistent characters because this series is something Amy's 'invented'- except due to the crack she can 'remember' things into being real. So clothespin dolls and drawings might well be the model for 'characters' here, IF that's what moffat is doing. But again, it makes for not-so-good one shot eps.

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

Idk, tbh the "it was all a dream" plot is my least favourite trope ever. I don't want to watch fake characters for any longer than maybe 5 minutes. It's like... a bad excuse for sloppy writing and not a lot else.

[raysgal.livejournal.com]

This episode was pretty bad.

It would have worked for an animated Doctor Who series because the characters became almost caricatures of themselves in this episode.

And really it was a watered down version of 'The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances'.

And the Doctor lets pirates take a spaceship? That was not a good idea on so many levels.

You are also right about the Doctor being dumbed down. It's cool to have fun and whatnot when having an adventure, but shut up a second about the damn parrot and figure out how not to get killed by pissed off pirates instead of letting Amy wield a cutlass that in reality really could have hurt her.

Then on top of that the Doctor lets Amy try to revive Rory when he should have either taken over or taken Rory to the med bay that I'm sure the TARDIS has to have. He was sitting their biting his fingernail like he was watching a competent doctor save the love of his life.

In the end I kept laughing at the ridiculousness of this episode and not anything that was actually supposed to be funny.

I'm watching the next episode to see if I can figure out what's happening in this one clip where apparently Amy and Rory can't get out of the TARDIS and the Doctor can't get in. If the TARDIS is really having so many problems maybe the Doctor should, I don't know, fix it.
Though I'm thoroughly pissed at the fact we're seeing the console from 9/10's TARDIS and there's been mention of invoking the RTD quite a bit because to me that just means Moff is gonna screw up something else that was absolutely fine in the first place.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

You are also right about the Doctor being dumbed down. It's cool to have fun and whatnot when having an adventure, but shut up a second about the damn parrot and figure out how not to get killed by pissed off pirates instead of letting Amy wield a cutlass that in reality really could have hurt her.

I remember back with Ten, I think DT said that the Doctor rambled but there was always a point to his ramblings. Eleven not so much.

Then on top of that the Doctor lets Amy try to revive Rory when he should have either taken over or taken Rory to the med bay that I'm sure the TARDIS has to have. He was sitting their biting his fingernail like he was watching a competent doctor save the love of his life.

That was such a crap moment. Forgetting the fact that CPR and reviving doesn't work like that, the Doctor standing around being useless was practically insulting. It insulted the intelligence at least.

Though I'm thoroughly pissed at the fact we're seeing the console from 9/10's TARDIS and there's been mention of invoking the RTD quite a bit because to me that just means Moff is gonna screw up something else that was absolutely fine in the first place.

I'm not quite as excited about the 9/10 TARDIS as others. I'm mainly interested in the fact that they still had the set around. :D

But I'm sure it'll all tie into the timey-wimey resolution that equals Doctor Who these days.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

I'm mainly interested in the fact that they still had the set around. :D

They had the set around for a long time. The new one is built where the Hub set was, and ye olde coral TARDIS was sticking around throughout all of s5's filming. Karen Gillan visits it briefly in one of her video diaries. Gaiman's script was slated to appear in s5 originally, so maybe he always intended to use the old TARDIS and they hung onto it for that reason. IDK.

[raysgal.livejournal.com]

Well, the Doctor's ramblings should lead to somewhere, but these days this seems to be the case less and less.

I agree. The CPR scene was insulting on quite a few levels. And it just helps to point out that Eleven doesn't seem to know what to do anymore and relies more on others to solve the problem at hand or get his ass out of the line of fire.
The Doctor is usually facing danger head on or taking control of a situation. He's letting other people do that and that's not the Doctor I know.

Oh, I think it's great they still have the set around. I'm just not prepared on how they may or may not use it.

I don't want timey-wimey resolution. That just induces headaches and makes me cringe every five seconds.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

Discovered last night that the guy who wrote this ep is also the guy who wrote the horrible 2nd ep of Sherlock BBC. Wish I'd known that sooner so as to lower my expectations. Not to say that I question Moffat's choices, but... I'm questioning Moffat's choices. (What, he couldn't do a massive re-write afterward? I'm pretty sure RTD did that a time or two.) I think I actually need to look up this guy's name so as to avoid everything written or created by him in the future.

I don't know, though. I mean, I was very meh about this ep, but I still love Doctor Who. Not as much as I used to, or in the same way, but I don't seem able to help it. Although granted it usually takes A LOT to get me to drop a show.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thirty2flavors/]

Not as much as I used to, or in the same way, but I don't seem able to help it. Although granted it usually takes A LOT to get me to drop a show.

LOL this is me too. Once I've invested enough time in a show it usually takes like a season or more of disappointment before I give up. Doctor Who isn't there yet.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

The buck stops at Moffat's table here. He can rewrite, he can direct a rewrite. RTD did massive rewrites more than one or two times, and he really worked with his writers to make sure they wrote an ep that fit with his vision of Who. I think Moffat does some terrific writing but I'm starting to doubt him as a showrunner. And it hurts to say this, because his own episodes are usually pretty brilliant (though I still think he's a tad weak on consistent characterization).

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm not sure if it's all the talk of Sherlock or what, but I decided to try it last night. And I really liked it! :D The 2nd episode was a bit weak though. Haven't seen the third episode, but I'm actually stunned I liked it so much.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

"It was poorly written and poorly edited. This was like a "first draft" and we've never seen that on New Who before. What makes me cranky is that its mistakes were so lazy. No one bothered"

I finally saw this ep, and I wish I had not. I disagree with your line quoted above... You were too kind. This wasn't even a first draft. This was homework written in a rush at 5am when class was a 8am. Just cover the paper with writing, throw in a few jokes, and hope the teacher doesn't notice it's a mess. Ugh.

I fully agree the doctor is 'dumbed down'. I agree also ten's ramblings had purpose and eleven's do not... he's a stand up comic rattling off jokes, without rhyme or reason (at least in this ep). This was a chaotic mess, ugh.

I did not like The Lodger because the doctor was a parody of himself. But at least in the Lodger he was accurate as a parody. In this he was... I don't know what. But he's not the doctor.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

This was homework written in a rush at 5am when class was a 8am. Just cover the paper with writing, throw in a few jokes, and hope the teacher doesn't notice it's a mess. Ugh.

That might be apt.

I fully agree the doctor is 'dumbed down'. I agree also ten's ramblings had purpose and eleven's do not... he's a stand up comic rattling off jokes, without rhyme or reason (at least in this ep). This was a chaotic mess, ugh.

I did not like The Lodger because the doctor was a parody of himself. But at least in the Lodger he was accurate as a parody. In this he was... I don't know what. But he's not the doctor.

Yeah, it almost makes me hope that this really is all Amy's dream. But I really do hate that concept quite a bit.