More "This week's Doctor Who" ramblings

[tabbiewolf]

Okay, so, someone needs to learn how to pace their writing because this -- like many other two-parters since Moffat started helming the show -- had far too much, far too quickly.

First, let's go over my list from last week:

Resolutions That Need to Happened
• All those dead folks we saw throughout the season being greeted by Missy or Seb; I suspect we'll be seeing them as Cybermen. This sadly didn't happen! The only Cybermen we saw were non-personified, they were just folks escaping the morgue or rising from graves. That's a buildup that was missed, in my opinion.

• Danny & Clara. Will Danny end up as a cyberman? Will the Doctor have to kill him to protect Clara? Or will he come back and they'll live happily ever after, with Clara finally saying her (real) goodbye to the Doctor? In order: Yes, almost, no, sort of. The Danny-as-a-cyberman was not surprising at all, nor was him saving the world at the end. I'm going to discuss his character (and how the Doctor reacts to him) more in a little bit, though.

• The Cybermen's takeover of London Wasn't just London, was the entire world. The ability to transform the dead into Cybermen is very much the creepiest thing they've done with them. I'm kind of sad the effects of it were only used in one show, because they could have gotten a season out of it. Again, more on this later.

• The Doctor and the Master. They killed the Master, but apparently this was pretty common back during the Fifth Doctor's time and odds are s/he'll be back. I was annoyed that the writers took such an easy way out, frankly, but I think the person who killed the Master deserved to be the hero at the end so there's that.

And on to general critiques:

The buildup and takedown of Danny Pink's character was alarmingly fast, despite him being around an entire season. We didn't get much of a chance to see him as a character, and show to show his personality wavered depending on the story. Danny seemed to be there specifically so the Doctor could do his anti-soldier ranting, which were apparently started just for the Master's final reveal at the end (she's gifting her childhood friend with an army of cybermen).

I don't understand why they made the Doctor anti-soldier, outside of that. He's clearly enjoyed the company of soldiers before, as proven by a character that got a lot of honor in the finale, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Brigadier was a man the Doctor could and did turn to in a lot of situations and through a lot of shit -- ranging from the Second Doctor to the Seventh, not including audiobooks and other adventures, and he got a very honorable nod from the Eleventh doctor a few seasons ago when Nicholas Courtney passed away -- and yet suddenly he's anti-soldier? I didn't understand that. Apparently the big reveal was worthy of changing his character, and that ranks as a "you think you're being clever but really it's just annoying" thing. To me, anyway.

Also, I have to ask: since they killed Danny Pink, and he gave away his one chance to get back from the dead, what the hell was up with the character Orson Pink in the episode "Listen" earlier this season? Was that just a throwaway? That episode was also written by Moffat, so I dunno what he's got planned but I'm sick to death of him thinking he's being clever.

On Clara: She and the Doctor have said their goodbyes, but I wonder if it'll last...mostly because all the mentions of the Christmas episode mention her. It was a dark ending, and I have a feeling that certain writers wouldn't want to leave it that way. And I mean, she's the impossible girl, so technically she can show up anywhere in the Doctor's timeline, right?

There were a lot of fun moments in the episode, and a lot of scary moments, and though they were paced reasonably well, as I said before: they were cramming way too much into an hour. I think one of the issues with the writing currently is that the folks who grew up with Doctor Who grew up with the 4- and 6- and 8-part episodes, which allowed for a lot more character and plot development (it also allowed the show to drag like hell sometimes, and there was a tremendous amount of running/climbing through quarries, but hey). Compare today's average episode length, which is 45-ish minutes for the regular show and an hour+ for special episodes (like the opening or the finale) with the functions of the show originally: a 24-minute episode was part of a larger story that was usually at least 4 shows long. That's 90+ minutes, or more than twice the length of a single episode nowadays. Had they split the Dark Water/Death in Heaven story into 4 parts, or 6 parts, instead of the 2 parts we got, I think it would have been more enjoyable.

The part of this that I enjoyed most, and got me to cry, was the part with the Brigadier. He came back as a Cyberman, of course, because why wouldn't he, but he wouldn't listen to the Master's controls. He saved his daughter from falling out of the plane (if they'd killed Kate I would have been REALLY ANNOYED), and then he disintegrated the Master, thus saving the Doctor from becoming someone he didn't want to be. It was a very nice nod to a longtime companion...still a bit odd because of the whole "The Doctor hates soldiers" thing, though, with the Doctor being very respectful of the Cyberman who stood before him.

Other Thing To Note: The Doctor apparently has come up with a bracelet that allows people to return from the dead, since the Master has configured a chunk of the Matrix to "capture" them? Or something like that? Anyway I'm sure this'll come up later and Doctor Who will basically be like a comic book in that even if you kill someone, they'll probably be back. I'm not sure if I'm cool with this concept or not. I'm still annoyed they killed Osgood.

And now, we wait till Christmas. If they don't make Michael Troughton a fellow time lord I'll be disappointed ;)

Comments

Re: Danny's bracelet

[writersaurusrex.livejournal.com]

I think that was the bracelet that they got from Missy (which she also used to control the Cybermen), which allowed her to teleport out of the plane. Although they didn't really explain where he got the Afghan(?) kid, since he seemed kinda small to be a Cyberman. Hopefully that's something they follow up on, but I don't really see how if Jenna Coleman's leaving the show.

Re: Danny's bracelet

[tabbiewolf.livejournal.com]

It did look like the same bracelet, but the Doctor had knowledge of what it did and how it worked, meaning he can make more. Time Lord technology; wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey engineering?

I assumed that when cyberDanny exploded, he got transported back to the Nethersphere where he could find the kid...I'd say the bracelet could have transported Danny there, but I think it was said that it could only work for him once. Which seems kind of counterintuitive since the Master used in a bunch, including in the Nethersphere offices. Hell, the way she disintegrated after the Brigadier "shot" her looked exactly the same as when she used the bracelet...re-use of special effects? Or some "clever" twist and she has another bracelet?

Or I'm misremembering the episode; I should watch it again. I've heard it's better the second or third time.

Again, I have to state: they crammed WAY too much into that episode and it didn't allow you to pay attention to any of it. Maybe that was intentional.

Re: Danny's bracelet

[writersaurusrex.livejournal.com]

I thought he said it only had enough energy left for one more trip. So, perhaps with all the stuff Missy had done (and maybe she dipped it in the vortex to let it recharge every so often?) and whatever Danny did after he took off, it was running on empty.

But yeah, the pacing could have been better in both parts of the finale. Easily enough story for another hour.

Re: Danny's bracelet

[stokerbramwell.livejournal.com]

The whole thing with the bracelet was really poorly explained (another flaw in Moffat's writing style, really). It WAS the same bracelet as the one Missy was using to control the Cybermen, but the context I picked up was that Danny was sending the kid back from the real afterlife, not the Nethersphere. Clara specifically referred to the Doctor talking about the bracelet being used to cross "dimensional borders" and I'm pretty sure the Gallifreyan Matrix had nothing to do with alternate dimensions and everything to do with simulations. Not to mention if that was a simulation it doesn't explain how the kid got a physical body again. What we have there is, basically, a sci-fi version of an actual afterlife which is now canonical, for better or worse.

[stokerbramwell.livejournal.com]

Once again, you and I think very similarly. The anti-soldier bias has bugged me this entire season because it is SO out of left field. I know the Doctor's personality changes a little bit with each regeneration, but that's usually been things like specific quirks, not his core beliefs. For him to have picked up a brand new prejudice out of nowhere is kind of new, and raises some rather disturbing questions about regeneration which I don't think Moffat intended to raise.

And I gasped aloud when I realized that was the Brigardier. I'll forgive almost every other sin this episode committed for that moment when the Doctor saluted him.