posted
I'm surprised no one has written about this yet..."The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth" were shown on SciFi last Friday! Oh, well, I guess I'll be the first to speak my $0.02...
Being blown away by Christopher Eccleston's performance in S1, I wasn't looking forward to David Tennant. I wanted to give him a chance, really I did, but I just knew it wouldn't be the same.
And, of course, I was right.
But then I realized that I wasn't being fair to poor Dave. It was like saying that after Tom Baker, Peter Davison paled in comparison (true, but Davison was still a good Doctor IMHO, he just wasn't Tom).
So, my disclaimer is that I will probably always like Eccleston over Tennant. But Tennant wasn't too bad, except for a few minor quirks. I'll see if he grows on me.
Anyway, on to the reviews:
"The Christmas Invasion": Wow, what a start to S2! I was quite impressed with the story, the acting (except for Tennant, who was in bed for most of the ep), and the miniscule references to the old series ("Martians look completely different") It was nice to see Harriet Jones again, and obviously this Torchwood thing will be developed as the series goes on. As a matter of fact, the only thing I didn't really care for was Tennant's goofy acting. Yes, I know you can chalk it up to post-regenerative problems as was implied in the ep, but I still think it was a bit over the top. And the one thing I really hated was that there just *happened* to be a big red button on the side of a door, that just *happened* to activate a floor-dropping mechanism (just why, we'll never know), and that the Sycorax leader just *happened* to be standing on that exact spot. (yeah, I'm nitpicky, but it was an insult to my intelligence, damn it...)
"New Earth": Liked the ep, liked the interplay between Rose & new Doctor (obviously she's got the hots for him way more than she did Eccleston), and absolutely loved Billie Piper's "Cassandra" acting. The one thing that bothered me, though (besides the fact that they still seem to use film projectors in the year five billion), was that in "The End of the World" they went out of their way to show beings who were completely "alien;" and even Cassandra looked nothing like a true human being. Yet now there are people walking around New New York who look exactly like you and I do, FIVE BILLION YEARS FROM NOW. Again, I just don't buy it.
Thoughts?
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Chalk it up to the stated nostalgic revival of old Earth stuff. Living on "Earth" was in, remolding your phenotype to reflect h. sapiens was too. I guess.
My nitpick has to do with the sword fight feeling too. . . low-key. Not a lot of energy there.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I think that season 2 suffers from an acute case of contrived writing. There are a couple of gems - School Reunion and The Girl in the Fireplace are superb - and there are some not so good ones. It my just be a case of trying to be different from the first season.
Oh well, as Rob Brydon might say, it's just a bit of fun.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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I like the direction that the series has taken with Earth in the SW universe. In context, the Earth has gone through tons of invasion attempts over the years, with a notable concentrations in London in the 1970s and now again in the 2000s. Getting the existence of aliens out in the open with TCI is a bold step and opens the door to new inds of storytelling. This season, there will be several more alien incursions, though not so many outright invasion attempts.
I also found the season somewhat uneven, but overall more enjoyable to watch. Eccleston *MAY* have been the better actor between the two, but Tennant certainly gets more opportunities TO act.
posted
I miss Eccleston, but Tennant is good too. However, I didn't like the Christmas Invasion. For being 90 minutes it was so boring and the fact that Tennant was mostly in a coma for the first 60 minutes did not help either. New Earth was more in the style of Eccelston therefore I enjoyed it more.
Also, that British Prime Minister, does she have cancer or something?
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
If she does, I must've missed that line. :?
I was very apprehensive about Tennant at first and didn't think he could possibly do a better job than Eccles, but I changed my tune pretty quick. Tennant's a great actor with a great role and he does a very accurate English accent. Unfortunately, some of the episodes in series two were a let down. Not many people liked the one about the 2012 Olympics or the one with the "Dr.Who support group", although I liked both those myself. At least they didn't have farting aliens.
posted
Sick in the head. The Doctor didn't say that she was physically ill, but simply implied as such to her aide as a form of punishment for her arrogance in ordering the deaths of the Sycorax. He also did it to demonstrate exactly how he can topple a government with just six words, just as he said he could. What a guy!
When TCI came out, many sources cited that there would be a strong parallel to certain real-life events and certain countries justfying pre-emptive actions...
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