Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- From: Andy Leighton <andyl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2007 07:33:45 -0400
On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 05:56:44 -0400,
Andrew <zapdog_26ukREEMOOV@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Andy Leighton" <andyl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrnf8dpq4.r4t.andyl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jun 30, 10:00 pm, "David A McIntee"
<david.mcin...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, overall mostly very good...
But...
spoilers
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
Well not just Dobby the House-Doctor turned me off this story.
There was the whole believe in the Doctor and he gets super-powers
schtick. What a load of cobblers. On Confidential RTD was saying
it was "as if the Doctor had supernatural powers". No, on screen
he was portrayed as having real supernatural (even god-like) powers.
No "as if" about it. Very deus-ex-machine again.
I thought it was an inventive idea. It's one that's very optimistic about
human nature, and perhaps that doesn't chime with your worldview. As for
being plausible, well it's been established long ago that the Doctor is
telepathic, can absorb and transform energies, and is capable of bodily
regeneration.
True. I could probably have bought a gradual reversal of the ageing
(but that would have been impossible to do on-screen and impossible to
do with a bird-caged Dobby-Doctor). The quickness of the
transformation, the floating down the steps, the ignoring the effects
of the Master's screwdriver, the telekinetic grabbing the screwdriver
out of his hands. All of that just pinged my sense of disbelief way
too much.
I think that this is probably the key scene that determines whether
you like this story or not. If, like me, it doesn't work for you the
entire story falls by the wayside (despite some very well-written
scenes). If, like you, it does work then the story can be seen as a
success.
It depends if you want a Doctor who is basically human, or an
alien with surprising and entertaining alien powers. Like a respiratory
bypass or the ability to enter a self-induced trance, which no one ever
seemed to question when they appeared in the Doctor's list of attributes.
No I want an alien - with alien psychology and alien abilities. However
those abilities must not veer too far into the supernatural, they must
be bounded and based in a fictional biology that makes some kind of
sense. What we have had so far has been a more human psychology and
abilities that are too supernatural (for me).
I also wonder why this Time Lord ability is beyond the pale and for
instance, his sketched in punishments of the Family of Blood aren't
questioned?
Some people did question them. They are however not the focus of that
story merely a coda added to wrap up loose ends and so can be glossed
over somewhat.
There was the whole we can't mess with the paradox machine unless it
might blow up the entire solar system (TSoD) followed by Jack shooting
it up with a machine gun (TLotTL).
They can't mess with the machine *before* it creates the paradox. Afterwards
to do the same resolves the paradox. Makes sense to me.
Not established by the script - that is a pure surmise on your part. It
just seems a weak solution to me, partly because of the don't mess with
it warning and partly because blowing stuff up with guns is hardly an
elegant solution and one that the Doctor often disparages.
So much of the story was typical RTD - the more is better meme, the
appeal to emotion rather than intellect,
Damn emotion!
I'm not saying have no emotion, but when emotion becomes the primary
driver I tend to feel manipulated.
the humanity conquers all attitude,
Damn their humanity!
I was using humanity as a noun - the human race. Although I can
see how it is ambiguous.
the lack of meaningful deaths.
Look around you, how many meaningful deaths can you see on the news every
night? That's plausibility and realism if you ask me. The Toclafane murder
10% of the population and despite the reset at the end, the Jones family and
the Doctor's friends remember it all. Would you rather have a story where
human is weak and fails (and the Master wins forever)
No, but a situation without the big reset that leaves a large number of
people dead would be acceptable. A situation that kills one (or more)
of Martha's friends and/or family would be better.
where the characters discuss intellectual concepts rather than reacting
emotionally as humans do by instinct?
If you think that is what I want you have sorely misunderstood me.
And what was the Master's death, if not meaningful to both him
and the Doctor?
You really think he is dead? I don't - no more than at the end of any
other episode where we see his demise. Of course the Doctor does think
he is dead and showing his reaction to the 'death' scene makes us more
likely to believe that the Master is truely gone forever. However it
then goes to undercut that by showing the female hand picking up the
Master's ring. Without that scene we would all believe the Master is
really dead, with that scene we have more than a scintilla of doubt.
--
Andy Leighton => andyl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- From: mikeha . ca
- Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- References:
- Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- From: GuyC
- Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- From: Andy Leighton
- Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- From: Andrew
- Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- Prev by Date: Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- Next by Date: Re: Mr Saxon: How UK politics works.
- Previous by thread: Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- Next by thread: Re: LOTTL - spoilers
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
