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daveac
Registered: 04/12/06
Posts: 2636
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 Monday, June 16 2008 @ 10:31 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: Sabalon]
Dislikes:
The alien speech - when the alien got ahead of what the Doctor was saying, it was very hard to determine if she was in control or he was. . |
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I thought that was a plus point as we the viewers were uncertain as to whether the Doctor was possessed or just being controlled or even that there had been a boy switch.
Cheers, daveac
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daveac on blip.tv, TalkShoe, iTunes, LiveVideo, uStream, GE, Sci-Fi, DWO, DS & WTA, Dave C on WLP,
cooperda on AVF, dac100 on YouTube & PB, dac on Tiscali
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sgb1975
Registered: 06/19/06
Posts: 281
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 10:36 AM EDT |
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| [Quote by: new_master] Yes, very disappointing. Dare I say it even approached "Fear Her" in its poor-ness? |
| Looks to be another love-it/hate-it episode...but put me in the love-it category.
- I felt this was a nice throwback to classic Who in terms of it's suspense/horror roots. isolation/claustrophobia/fear - this one had it all and then some. I don't think it had as many scary moments such as "Blink" for example, but it was scary enough to make me remember why I started loving Who all those years ago, and what the new series seems to be lacking, in general.
- The trailer at the end of last week's episode really didn't set my expectations very high for Midnight. I wasn't wow'ed by it, so maybe setting the bar very low is the way to go...which should make next week's episode very good also...which leads to:
- The trailer for next week's story (episode 11), left me feeling meh. Finally we get confirmation of what we've been suspecting all along: that Rose is coming back. Ok...now what? We see (presumably) The Doctor's dead body being wheeled away, but we all know he isn't going to die this soon. I don't have spoiler knowledge, but this pretty much has to be a given. Anyway, my point is that next week's story can only be better than it's trailer.
- I loved the look of surprise/disappointment/fear on The Doctor's face when the humans admit they'd have no problem murdering Sky as a pre-emptive move to save themselves.
- Then it only got better when they set their sights on The Doctor: questioning who he was, why he seems to want to be in charge, etc...First time in a while that I can remember a group of people scorning The Doctor's wish to help.
- Little rant: At some point in this episode, I realized that of the many stories of the new series which I either out-and-out hated, or just felt indifferent about, the common theme was an alien which I really didn't care about. Either they weren't interesting to me at all, or the script didn't do a good job of introducing them. Slitheen = boring (catering to the kiddies with the fart jokes); Judoon = too Sontaran-like; Krillitane = who cares?; Vashta Narada during the last 2 weeks had potential, but I don't think we knew enough about them to be interested. All that being said, I think 1 reason I loved this episode was for these exact reasons. We didn't know much about the enemy and that's what made it scary. We didn't know if Sky-monster was a scared new form of life interacting with humans for the first time, or if it was going to jump them and rip them all to shreds. (On a side note, this echoes similar to the fact that I loved Blink for the exact opposite reason I hated L&M - both being essentially Doctor-less episodes)...now back to our regularly scheduled program...Yes, The Doctor was able to figure out the alien's learning pattern via the sentence repetition, but other than that didn't know anything about it, unlike a typical alien encounter, which goes something like this: "Oh yeah, Donna let me tell you about them, alien ABC is from planet XYZ (which we'll never visit because it's not named Earth). They're constantly at war with species EFG, and eat QRS (and sometimes humans) to survive." I know The Doctor has been around a while and seen many different lifeforms, but it's refreshing once in a while to put The Doctor in a position where he has no clue what is trying to kill them.
- I agree with others that said this story could've done without the Rose cameo. This season doesn't seem to be littered with a single foreshadowing theme in the same fashion as "Bad Wolf" or "Torchwood" was. If she had popped up more, then I might buy it, but it didn't work for me...
- I've admitted before that I was wrong about Donna's potential as a companion, and she has shown herself to be very likeable, but I really didn't notice her missing at all. I think it was a good idea not to have her on board, since she probably only would've taken focus away from Tennant. Brilliant choice for a companion-less episode, imho.
- I know others have given higher marks to season 4 than I have, but for me this is easily the best episode of the season so far. Pompeii was better than I thought, but forced to choose between the two, I'd take this one. 4.5 out of 5 for me.
- 1 final thing. As of the time I write this: 10:30ish on Monday morning 6/16/08, I see two 0-groan ratings for Midnight on the main page poll. Wow...just wow...even I gave L&M a 1-groan rating. I can't even imagine what a 0-groan story would be...
-Steve |
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Will-I-Am
Registered: 06/26/06
Posts: 146
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 12:31 PM EDT |
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Brilliant. Simply brilliant. RTD's crown jewel on his way out the door, and quite possibly my favorite episode of this run. The only one I think I might still like slightly more than this one from 2008 is "The Fires of Pompeii." It'll likely remain a toss-up between them for my absolute favorite once the run ends in 3 weeks. We shall see...
Finally - we get another powerful and fascinating dose of the Doctor's whimsical enthusiasm for danger and the unknown completely backfiring on him - almost, in fact, becoming his potentially untimely end. Every ploy, lie, smile and sense of superiority stripped bare. All by a malevolent presence that we never even truly saw, which made it all the more effective, opposed to some silly effect that might've caused the whole story to fail because of it.
The acting here was bang-on perfect - everyone hit the mark. Nice use of the CG where needed - nothing too overzealous or flashy. Great use of the music here, too - opposed to how it normally threatens to drown out every other line of dialog by blaring in the background the entire time, killing some of the dramatic effect.
Tennant, as usual, continues to impress - even in his third full year. Honestly, the more he continues to do so, the more I dread his departure - he really has become THE most satisfying Doc since Tom - no contest for me anymore. Everything he does in this episode is pitch-perfect to the core - the Doctor's vulnerability in this story within Tennant's skin was the best thing I've seen this season, hands down.
Again, a total 5/5 triumph here. I've watched it like 3 times already in the last 2 days. What a perfect piece of Who this truly is. Bless RTD - you've done it again.  |
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Human Biological Metacrisis = Bite Me, RTD.
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Idiom
Registered: 04/08/08
Posts: 722
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 12:40 PM EDT |
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| Also by my, if I haven't reckoned incorrectly, we've now spent half of this series off-world. |
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Will-I-Am
Registered: 06/26/06
Posts: 146
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 01:15 PM EDT |
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| [Quote by: Idiom] Also by my, if I haven't reckoned incorrectly, we've now spent half of this series off-world. |
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No, you're right. 5 by 5 down the middle, episode count-wise. Same with story relevance - 3 stand-alone entries and a 2-parter on both ends.
Unfortunately, the last 3 episodes look to keep the balance firmly planted in the Earth-dominant ratio, overall.  |
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Human Biological Metacrisis = Bite Me, RTD.
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sarahjanesmith
Registered: 05/30/08
Posts: 13
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 04:14 PM EDT |
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| I thought this episode was fantastic TV--but not really Doctor Who. I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet. It wasn't because there was no companion; "Deadly Assassin" is still Doctor Who. I think it's because it seemed a little too "adult" in some ways. My 17-year-old daughter called it a version of "Lord of the Flies." I don't think that quite fits, but it does give a sense of the spirit of the piece. |
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The airport sandwich tasted like a 7-course meal of postage stamps.
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Sabalon
Registered: 09/19/06
Posts: 73
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 04:17 PM EDT |
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| [Quote by: sarahjanesmith] I thought this episode was fantastic TV--but not really Doctor Who. I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet. |
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I think one of the key differences that stands out is the Doctor isn't really omnipotent and the instant leader he usually is. He is questioned at every turn and not just taken as the authority. |
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sarahjanesmith
Registered: 05/30/08
Posts: 13
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 04:21 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: Sabalon] | [Quote by: sarahjanesmith] I thought this episode was fantastic TV--but not really Doctor Who. I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet. |
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I think one of the key differences that stands out is the Doctor isn't really omnipotent and the instant leader he usually is. He is questioned at every turn and not just taken as the authority. |
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That I actually found both refreshing and reminiscent of "Old Who." I'm just catching up Patrick Troughton's era through Loose Cannon, and he's ALWAYS being questioned and looked at with suspicion until he proves himself. On the other hand, Troughton's Doctor would have had time to prove himself, which was an amazing difference this time. |
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The airport sandwich tasted like a 7-course meal of postage stamps.
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Sabalon
Registered: 09/19/06
Posts: 73
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| Monday, June 16 2008 @ 04:24 PM EDT |
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That is what I loved about Troughton. He always looked like he was confused and not sure what was going on til the end when you find he'd been working this grand scheme all along and gives that smile.
In this case, there seemed to be no way for the Doctor to prove himself. No matter what, they just turned against him. |
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silvanthalas
Registered: 07/23/07
Posts: 118
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| Tuesday, June 17 2008 @ 12:35 PM EDT |
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A couple more thoughts:
I'll admit that I completely forgot that David Troughton was in the episode. I'm not familiar with his work, so I didn't even know it was him until after the episode was over.
So, with that knowledge in mind, I went to watch the Confidential and of course half the time when he was talking it hit me that, yes, he very much does sound like his father at times.
But I am disappointed that the Confidential didn't acknowledge who he is. I have read that David Troughton doesn't do conventions because he doesn't want everybody just asking him about his father. Ok, I can understand that.
But he was on the old show as well, and it would certainly have been fair game for the Confidential to delve into his previous appearances.  |
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Magpie
Registered: 06/29/06
Posts: 519
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| Sunday, June 22 2008 @ 07:17 PM EDT |
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| I fall in the "hated it" category. I thought it was good - I can appreciate at an abstract level what was going on - but I am just claustrophobic enough to never actually want to see it again ever or at least not for a good 6 months. Not only do I hate "trapped in one spot" episodes of shows, but I also hate watching sickening paranoia lord of the flies stuff play out. |
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If Worzel Gummidge and the Third Doctor had a fist fight - who would win?
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Justice
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 520
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| Saturday, July 12 2008 @ 04:31 PM EDT |
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this episode reminded me a lot of the twilight zone.
in fact i was thinking "wasn't this an episode of the twilight zone?" while i was watching it. |
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"Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth."
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