Doctor Who 11.05

[selenak]

In non-Whovian news: There will be a Watch tv series - not about the clock, but about the City Watch of Disc World fame. Yay!

Lengthy article about Sappho witch a foolish clickbait title (though they might have changed it by the time I link, because I bet it didn‘t hail from the writer - it‘s so not what the article is about. Anyway, Sappho, why the finding of two „new“ poems was a big deal, and how so much of what she wrote was lost. And now, to Doctor Who:

In which we get an adrenaline (in more than one sense) pumping sci fi tale, mpreg and a tale wherein everyone is sympathetic.



Seriously, this one didn‘t have a villain. Even the Ping (spelling?) wasn‘t deliberately malicious, it was just following instincts. And the threat of the ship being exploded if it carried an unstoppable menace was motivated by the need to save the population at large. At a guess, in both the RTD and the Moffat eras the owners of the space ship would have been an evil greedy corporation, and we‘d have gotten some social satire, but here everyone is well intended and doing their best, though not everyone succeeds.

Also, this was another good ensemble tale. I liked all of the guest stars, who managed to endear themselves to me in short time, starting with the doctor who points to the Doctor that she‘s being selfish and endangering the rest of the space ship in her panic to get back to the TARDIS. (After thinking about it, she agrees. Which is a neat example of our hero being in the wrong, being told so and acting accordingly in short order.) The Cicero siblings were of course fodder to my general interest in complex sibling relationships. The pregnant man could have been a one note joke, but the fact that the episode used him to finally tell us a bit about how Ryan got estranged from his father and what happened to his mother prevented this. Also, I appreciate that Ryan and Graham didn‘t have a big masculinity crisis when being asked to assist the birth. And the Call the Midwife shout out was great. Graham, you have good taste in entertainment. I hope CtM reciprocates and has some of the midwives watch Doctor Who in the next season.

Mind you, the Doctor should have figured out sooner that the Ping was after energy, but I was enjoying the episode too much to mind.

Comments

[felis]

Ping (spelling?)

Pting! :-D ... which was really unexpectedly cute.

both the RTD and the Moffat eras the owners of the space ship would have been an evil greedy corporation

To be honest, given the villains in the first four episodes, I was actually expecting something like that here as well. It's interesting that it didn't happen and was all about well intentioned people working together against unfortunate circumstances.

And the Call the Midwife shout out was great. Graham, you have good taste in entertainment.

This was so much fun - Graham learns valuable life skills! But looks away at the squeamish parts! I was so amused and I'm not usually someone who likes this "about to give birth in the middle of a crisis" trope, mpreg or not.

Some of the dialogue was a bit clunky at times I thought, but I love everyone in this bar when it comes to the new characters, so I'm still good.

[selenak]

Being a "Call the Midwife" fan myself, I was also amused because I'm always curious re: how life like the newly born babies look like, so I do look at the bloody bits. :)

[watervole]

Graham is really growing on me. He's becoming a nicely fleshed out character and I can now see what his wife saw in him.

[selenak]

Same here!

[davetheanalyzer]

I got that first doctor/second doctor era feel again while watching this episode. I don't know why but it's interesting. I agree that the guest cast endeared itself to me quickly; Chibnail seems to have a strength of making the guest characters distinct and real. The pace of the episode did feel every-so-slightly rushed to me - maybe the exposition played a part but by the end, I felt a bit exhausted.

The conversation at the junkyard at the beginning makes it clear Team Tardis is having adventures between episodes. That is probably part of Chibnail's goal that a newbie could start at any episode and get in fine, but it also neatly allows expanded universe material to be more neatly slotted into the series.

[selenak]

That's true, and undoubtedly in ten years or so Big Finish will get to play in the sandbox as well.:)

[watervole]

"a punk rock thriller"

did they read the same books that I did?

[selenak]

:) Not as I'd describe it, but at a guess, they wanted to avoid the impression of coziness, which the earlier Discworld Film versions could be accused of. (I liked them, but the satire was gone.)

[grimorie]

The Cicero siblings were of course fodder to my general interest in complex sibling relationships.

I loved the Cicero siblings too! And I particularly loved the Doctor's interactions with General Eve, I wish we had more of them actually!

I do agree that Thirteen should have figured out what the P'Ting (fun fact it's phonetically similar to the Tagalog word for sharks- Pating) sooner.

I loved the incantation for the dead at the end especially as the Doctor's voice slowly took over, and for me it felt significant to her, I don't know what yet but it had the feeling of significance.