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I've had some thoughts on Dr. Who and BSG hanging out in my brain for a while. Probably should have posted them earlier, but here they are now. (Spoilers obviously, more for Dr. Who and BSG, the Sarah Jane stuff is pretty general.)
Midnight:
I thought this was a fantastic episode. I like how this year instead of doing a cheap no Doctor/no Donna ep they had an mostly-all Doctor then a mostly-all Donna episode. I think it worked better. This was one of my favorite episodes and definitely one of the scariest.
I really liked the horror of the episode (go sound crew), the claustrophobia of it, and the emphasis on human psychology. It was really interesting to see the Doctor powerless and without backup. He seems to be much better at negotiating with aliens than with humans. I think this is one of the first times that his talking not only didn't inspire and unify, but actually worsened the situation. io9 also makes the excellent point that the Doctor's effectiveness is based on action and motion "follow me over here" and when he can't run around and do things he looses a lot of his effectiveness. (Talking doesn't help, sonic screwdriver doesn't help, no companion to help, oh shit.)
It was also nice to see an alien that we couldn't fully grok and was never really explained or visualized. There was no Buffy moment of "we found in some old books all about the crystal shadow mimic demon" and that was really nice as was the Doctor looking shaken and affected by the entire experience.
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grumph made the point, and I agree, that people sacrificing themselves for the Doctor (see: evil genius kid, River Song, and flight attendant) is getting a little old. We need a new plot device.
---
Turn Left
I second everyone's OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!1!11!!!!!!
This was an AU ep that made me really nervous, even more nervous than last year's season closer eps with the Master. (And that's a good thing.) I liked the emotional consequence of Donna's mother giving up on her (although it's not like Donna's mom has really been that supportive, we've mostly seen her nagging). It was good to see Rose but I wanted a Rose-er Rose? Maybe because we didn't see her with the Doctor we didn't get any of that? Also I didn't fully understand the ending. I get that Bad Wolf meant that things are bad, but did Rose put them there recently or was it from her goddess!rose moment at the end of season 1? And as clues go it's not very specific "bad shit is coming", well, okay. Or maybe it means "I'm coming through from the other dimension and so everything's in deep shit"? I did love how they even changed the words on the TARDIS though. Great episode (is there anything ickier than having a big bug on you that you can't see).
Also how awesome to bring everyone from the spin-offs all together!
---
I've been watching the Sarah Jane Adventures and I'm almost done with the first season. So cute! If I were 12 (or maybe 8) I'd probably think they were the best thing ever. The characters are interesting and well done. I particularly like how the divorced-family dynamic is handled, the less-than-sympathetic mom was a pleasant surprise. The only thing that's seriously annoying me is the elaborate music every time they open Mr. Smith (you would think Sarah Jane would get annoyed after the 50th time that happened too). I just watched "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane" which kicked it up a notch and was a much more complex and satisfying story (also connects in a scary-good way with "Turn Left"). I'm hoping the last serial of the season stays at that level.
---
BSG Half Season Finale
Thank god they finally got to earth! I spent part of it going "oh god please let it really be earth it will be heartbreaking if it's another dead end". Plus it's getting close to the end of the series and if they never found earth that would suck. I know there are different theories but I saw earth and a NYC/Brooklyn bridge reference. It was pretty unsurprising that everything was fucked up. Why would we have left in the first place? (See also: list of early 21st c. American political and social issues.)
I have no idea who the final cylon is. A few episodes ago I liked Gaeta for it,homolinus has an interesting argument for Ellen Tigh. Whatever, surprise me but make it good (and make sense). I'm really hoping that stuff gets resolved in the end (Gaius I'm looking at you) and not in a "it's all a dream" way. (They wouldn't. they can't do that. right? that's one of my nightmares.)
Also yay for Adama/Rosslyn love <3 <3 <3
Midnight:
I thought this was a fantastic episode. I like how this year instead of doing a cheap no Doctor/no Donna ep they had an mostly-all Doctor then a mostly-all Donna episode. I think it worked better. This was one of my favorite episodes and definitely one of the scariest.
I really liked the horror of the episode (go sound crew), the claustrophobia of it, and the emphasis on human psychology. It was really interesting to see the Doctor powerless and without backup. He seems to be much better at negotiating with aliens than with humans. I think this is one of the first times that his talking not only didn't inspire and unify, but actually worsened the situation. io9 also makes the excellent point that the Doctor's effectiveness is based on action and motion "follow me over here" and when he can't run around and do things he looses a lot of his effectiveness. (Talking doesn't help, sonic screwdriver doesn't help, no companion to help, oh shit.)
It was also nice to see an alien that we couldn't fully grok and was never really explained or visualized. There was no Buffy moment of "we found in some old books all about the crystal shadow mimic demon" and that was really nice as was the Doctor looking shaken and affected by the entire experience.
grumph made the point, and I agree, that people sacrificing themselves for the Doctor (see: evil genius kid, River Song, and flight attendant) is getting a little old. We need a new plot device.---
Turn Left
I second everyone's OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!1!11!!!!!!
This was an AU ep that made me really nervous, even more nervous than last year's season closer eps with the Master. (And that's a good thing.) I liked the emotional consequence of Donna's mother giving up on her (although it's not like Donna's mom has really been that supportive, we've mostly seen her nagging). It was good to see Rose but I wanted a Rose-er Rose? Maybe because we didn't see her with the Doctor we didn't get any of that? Also I didn't fully understand the ending. I get that Bad Wolf meant that things are bad, but did Rose put them there recently or was it from her goddess!rose moment at the end of season 1? And as clues go it's not very specific "bad shit is coming", well, okay. Or maybe it means "I'm coming through from the other dimension and so everything's in deep shit"? I did love how they even changed the words on the TARDIS though. Great episode (is there anything ickier than having a big bug on you that you can't see).
Also how awesome to bring everyone from the spin-offs all together!
---
I've been watching the Sarah Jane Adventures and I'm almost done with the first season. So cute! If I were 12 (or maybe 8) I'd probably think they were the best thing ever. The characters are interesting and well done. I particularly like how the divorced-family dynamic is handled, the less-than-sympathetic mom was a pleasant surprise. The only thing that's seriously annoying me is the elaborate music every time they open Mr. Smith (you would think Sarah Jane would get annoyed after the 50th time that happened too). I just watched "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane" which kicked it up a notch and was a much more complex and satisfying story (also connects in a scary-good way with "Turn Left"). I'm hoping the last serial of the season stays at that level.
---
BSG Half Season Finale
Thank god they finally got to earth! I spent part of it going "oh god please let it really be earth it will be heartbreaking if it's another dead end". Plus it's getting close to the end of the series and if they never found earth that would suck. I know there are different theories but I saw earth and a NYC/Brooklyn bridge reference. It was pretty unsurprising that everything was fucked up. Why would we have left in the first place? (See also: list of early 21st c. American political and social issues.)
I have no idea who the final cylon is. A few episodes ago I liked Gaeta for it,
homolinus has an interesting argument for Ellen Tigh. Whatever, surprise me but make it good (and make sense). I'm really hoping that stuff gets resolved in the end (Gaius I'm looking at you) and not in a "it's all a dream" way. (They wouldn't. they can't do that. right? that's one of my nightmares.) Also yay for Adama/Rosslyn love <3 <3 <3
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