Doctor Who
Jun. 20th, 2006 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlock"Love and Monsters"
An endearing episode, enjoyable and not stupid in the least. I'm disappointed that there was so much screen time given for the guest characters and so little for Rose and the Doctor, but overall I enjoyed it. Not my favorite, but certainly better than some others this season.
I think, though, that I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for two glaring issues that kept me at a level of "that was pleasant" instead of "that was awesome":
1. I think the storyline would have been better-served if the opener, instead of being Rose and the Doctor running around, had instead been the Doctor and/or Rose in Elton's childhood. That backstory could have flourished with a bit more development, and it would have better set the tone for the episode. Then sometime in the middle you could break up the guest-guest-guest-Jakie monotony with the scene of Rose and the Doctor chasing the bucket monster. Then back to the guest stars (why do I want to keep calling them OCs?) and eventually the climax and resolution.
2. I've seen all this before. Literally, almost all of it. It was called "Storyteller", and it was one of the best season 7 episodes of BTVS. And, while Elton was cute... he just wasn't as good a narrating character as Andrew was. For Andrew, the camera totally encompassed his POV. For Elton, it was just talking at the camera. And Elton was cute, but he was kind of boring cute. Too nice, too cute, too simple (not stupid, just not that complicated.) The story itself also lacked the...cohesiveness of the Storyteller episode. Actually, it's something like this that reminds me why liked Buffy so much more than most shows: Storyteller wasn't just using the handheld camera to be different-- it was a fully fleshed out character in the episode. The entire narrative was driven around it, from start to finish. It was a metaphor and a mouthpiece and a tool for lying to onesself and others. The whole episode fit together on thematic, character, and perspective levels; the camera wasn't just a visual ploy or a plot device, it was a thematic device too.
This episode, and most DW eps this season (or in general, to be totally honest), lack that cohesiveness. That all-encompassing structure where it's not just the A and B plots that intersect, but everything reflects the characters and themes at the time, and it all works together or toward something more. It's metaphors both visual and verbal, it's perspective and dialogue and camera-work and music all intersecting, so that it's not just about what is happening, it's about the total meaning of this small story by itself and the whole story at large. Not every Buffy episode pulled that off, but a hell of a lot of them did, and "Storyteller" was an excellent episode that was funny and cute even as it ended on a serious and disturbing conclusion that left you thinking with your feelings (like Andrew's) unresolved.
"Loves and Monsters", while cute and featuring some nice Jackie time, just doesn't hold up as well, nor is it as emotionally satisfying. It doesn't go deep enough to be that satisfying. But then, hey, not every show can be Buffy. Just like not every show can be Farscape, or early X Files. And not every anime can be Fullmetal Alchemist or Trigun.
DW is always going to lessen the pain with a sugar coating. Price of a children's audience, I suppose. But I miss a show where the losses leave you feeling something in your gut. It doesn't have to be any more violent or anything that would raise the age-rating... it just has to affect you. To move you.
An endearing episode, enjoyable and not stupid in the least. I'm disappointed that there was so much screen time given for the guest characters and so little for Rose and the Doctor, but overall I enjoyed it. Not my favorite, but certainly better than some others this season.
I think, though, that I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for two glaring issues that kept me at a level of "that was pleasant" instead of "that was awesome":
1. I think the storyline would have been better-served if the opener, instead of being Rose and the Doctor running around, had instead been the Doctor and/or Rose in Elton's childhood. That backstory could have flourished with a bit more development, and it would have better set the tone for the episode. Then sometime in the middle you could break up the guest-guest-guest-Jakie monotony with the scene of Rose and the Doctor chasing the bucket monster. Then back to the guest stars (why do I want to keep calling them OCs?) and eventually the climax and resolution.
2. I've seen all this before. Literally, almost all of it. It was called "Storyteller", and it was one of the best season 7 episodes of BTVS. And, while Elton was cute... he just wasn't as good a narrating character as Andrew was. For Andrew, the camera totally encompassed his POV. For Elton, it was just talking at the camera. And Elton was cute, but he was kind of boring cute. Too nice, too cute, too simple (not stupid, just not that complicated.) The story itself also lacked the...cohesiveness of the Storyteller episode. Actually, it's something like this that reminds me why liked Buffy so much more than most shows: Storyteller wasn't just using the handheld camera to be different-- it was a fully fleshed out character in the episode. The entire narrative was driven around it, from start to finish. It was a metaphor and a mouthpiece and a tool for lying to onesself and others. The whole episode fit together on thematic, character, and perspective levels; the camera wasn't just a visual ploy or a plot device, it was a thematic device too.
This episode, and most DW eps this season (or in general, to be totally honest), lack that cohesiveness. That all-encompassing structure where it's not just the A and B plots that intersect, but everything reflects the characters and themes at the time, and it all works together or toward something more. It's metaphors both visual and verbal, it's perspective and dialogue and camera-work and music all intersecting, so that it's not just about what is happening, it's about the total meaning of this small story by itself and the whole story at large. Not every Buffy episode pulled that off, but a hell of a lot of them did, and "Storyteller" was an excellent episode that was funny and cute even as it ended on a serious and disturbing conclusion that left you thinking with your feelings (like Andrew's) unresolved.
"Loves and Monsters", while cute and featuring some nice Jackie time, just doesn't hold up as well, nor is it as emotionally satisfying. It doesn't go deep enough to be that satisfying. But then, hey, not every show can be Buffy. Just like not every show can be Farscape, or early X Files. And not every anime can be Fullmetal Alchemist or Trigun.
DW is always going to lessen the pain with a sugar coating. Price of a children's audience, I suppose. But I miss a show where the losses leave you feeling something in your gut. It doesn't have to be any more violent or anything that would raise the age-rating... it just has to affect you. To move you.
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-20 10:33 pm (UTC)Some of the reviewers over at
no subject
Date: 2006-06-21 05:47 am (UTC)I can see the fandom connection, especially in the community sense of it. But even mentioning fandom reminds me of BTVS, and the "Superstar" episode where Jonathon was the center of the universe and the epitome of a self-insertion + Mary Sue.
Random: you've been catching up on Ergo Proxy. Is it worth it? I barely even finished episode 1.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-21 02:39 pm (UTC)I can see the fandom connection, especially in the community sense of it. But even mentioning fandom reminds me of BTVS, and the "Superstar" episode where Jonathon was the center of the universe and the epitome of a self-insertion + Mary Sue.
Given RTD is this huge BTVS fan, it's not a mystery where he came up with some of these ideas. Even though I saw these episodes, they never popped into my mind. I've been pretty well out of BTVS as a fandom and a series since the end of season five. And I skipped a lot of that season when it first aired.
Ergo Proxy is fucking awesome. It's like The Matrix meets Logan's Run meets Monster. I've been overanalying the shit out of the series the past two nights (I don't know if you've seen those "pontificating" posts I've made). I wasn't sure I was going to stick with it after the first two episodes. The first is easily the worst episode of them all, but it gets better progressively. Give it until episode 5/6, things seriously kick into gear in eps 8/9. This is probably my second favorite anime (behind Monster), tying with Paranoia Agent.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-21 02:30 am (UTC)I agree. I liked the episode, but toward the end I started to sort of drift off and get a little bored. I just wasn't that drawn to the outside character thing.