Charloween (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
charloween) wrote2008-06-01 05:00 pm
charloween) wrote2008-06-01 05:00 pm
Entry tags:
Someone's in my library!
Doctor Who, 4x08.
An episode with discussions about spoiler warnings, mysterious creatures who robotically repeat a phrase over and over, cutting observations about the Doctor's personality ("figures you like biographies, always got a death at the end"), and general unrepentant meta... yeah, we're in Steven Moffat land.
The "I point and laugh at archaeologists" line was genius, especially since later in the episode we know that she would have known what his reaction would be.
With Donna and this Mysterious Archaeologist, the poor Doctor is getting positively big-sistered to death. For a character who's used to seeing himself as the intellectual/evolutionary apex of whatever situation he finds himself in, it's quite amusing to have the poor guy up against these women who aren't afraid of him or too in love with him to poke a little fun. The privilege of that big-sister/older-woman perspective is that they can look at the Doctor... and he doesn't like to be looked at. He's got too many layers and barriers and shells to be comfortable with someone piercing all of them. He gets all squirmy when he's not in control. Adorable!
Accent spotting: DT got a bit Scottish at one point. Tee hee.
I did laugh at his "Donna, let me explain..." right before he teleports her away. First it was a bwahaha, but then... not so much. Poor Donna.
I'm not entirely convinced that that the story suits a two-parter. Yes, it's quite nice to give a plot the space it deserves - unlike, say, "The Doctor's Daughter", which was horribly rushed - but all the tension and build-up created in a horror story like this gets dissipated when you have a week in between. Yes, there's the mystery of How That Woman Knows The Doctor, and the problem of How to Get Out of the Library, and the How to Un-save Donna, and the WTF Little Girl/Robot. They all seem like puzzles I want answers to, rather than interesting plot threads I'm eager to see resolved. (I have been in a bit of an impatient mood lately, so I'm willing to believe it's just me.) What I mean is: kind of a weak ending and a lame promo for next week.
What I am enjoying is the way I love the Doctor's physical relationship with furniture. It's delightful - he climbs over desks or hops down off something and I giggle. It's just a little acting thing that suggests alieness, youthfulness, and a cheerful disregard for meaningless customs.
Also: in the last few days I've watched the first 10 episodes of The Dresden Files. 1) love the hockey stick; 2) Claudia Black guest starred, which means Claudia Black was in Toronto! Eeeeee!; 3) there were some quite good episodes in there, "Soul Beneficiary" in particular.
An episode with discussions about spoiler warnings, mysterious creatures who robotically repeat a phrase over and over, cutting observations about the Doctor's personality ("figures you like biographies, always got a death at the end"), and general unrepentant meta... yeah, we're in Steven Moffat land.
The "I point and laugh at archaeologists" line was genius, especially since later in the episode we know that she would have known what his reaction would be.
With Donna and this Mysterious Archaeologist, the poor Doctor is getting positively big-sistered to death. For a character who's used to seeing himself as the intellectual/evolutionary apex of whatever situation he finds himself in, it's quite amusing to have the poor guy up against these women who aren't afraid of him or too in love with him to poke a little fun. The privilege of that big-sister/older-woman perspective is that they can look at the Doctor... and he doesn't like to be looked at. He's got too many layers and barriers and shells to be comfortable with someone piercing all of them. He gets all squirmy when he's not in control. Adorable!
Accent spotting: DT got a bit Scottish at one point. Tee hee.
I did laugh at his "Donna, let me explain..." right before he teleports her away. First it was a bwahaha, but then... not so much. Poor Donna.
I'm not entirely convinced that that the story suits a two-parter. Yes, it's quite nice to give a plot the space it deserves - unlike, say, "The Doctor's Daughter", which was horribly rushed - but all the tension and build-up created in a horror story like this gets dissipated when you have a week in between. Yes, there's the mystery of How That Woman Knows The Doctor, and the problem of How to Get Out of the Library, and the How to Un-save Donna, and the WTF Little Girl/Robot. They all seem like puzzles I want answers to, rather than interesting plot threads I'm eager to see resolved. (I have been in a bit of an impatient mood lately, so I'm willing to believe it's just me.) What I mean is: kind of a weak ending and a lame promo for next week.
What I am enjoying is the way I love the Doctor's physical relationship with furniture. It's delightful - he climbs over desks or hops down off something and I giggle. It's just a little acting thing that suggests alieness, youthfulness, and a cheerful disregard for meaningless customs.
Also: in the last few days I've watched the first 10 episodes of The Dresden Files. 1) love the hockey stick; 2) Claudia Black guest starred, which means Claudia Black was in Toronto! Eeeeee!; 3) there were some quite good episodes in there, "Soul Beneficiary" in particular.
no subject
Accent spotting: YES!! I giggled a lot.
DT Physicality: there are quite a few little things he does that make me squee, and the furniture hopping is one of them. LOVE.
Shadows: watched the ep in bed with all the lights off. Was curled up with my back to the door (and the bulk of the room). Am now thoroughly terrified.
Data ghosting: has my skin crawling. At first I was all "this is cool" but that rapidly degenerated into "that's fundamentally what old age and brain decay are and thanks Moffat, now I'm scared of being trapped in my brain."
And now I should go to sleep, for work comes early. *hides under covers*
no subject
As a chronic furniture-jumper I love how DT just owns the sets. Srsly - there's this one couch at my parents' place that I think one in ten times I've sat on it normally. Most times I scramble over the back... my bed's the same way, too.
Hehehe. Watched it in daylight. *shrug* Didn't really find that the shadows were effective villains because the characters kept standing in the shadowy recesses of the set. Note to Moffat: statues were creepier.
Being trapped in your brain is v. scary, but the ghosting isn't actually the person, it's just an echo. It would be creepier if they'd had the characters paralysed rather than skeletonized; some sense that the physical was acting as a prison, rather than being eradicated and leaving the consciousness to linger in a processor (or at least that would hit my creepy-buttons more that what the episode did).