Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks
Jan. 4th, 2021 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI was a bit torn as to whether or not to watch the NY special, or to wait out the remainder of the Chibnall era, since I disliked the last season's finale so much, but I'm not there yet, and also I like the characters.
This year's special was enjoyable enough by itself, and in a welcome relief allowed for Companions to depart without an outward catastrophe or inward angst making them. Mind you, as Graham was my fave of the Fam, I wish he'd have had one more chance to shine, but otoh I can't begrudge Ryan the conversation with the Doctor, which was a very good scene and showed how much Ryan has matured, not to mention that the friendship was mutual - he saw through the Doctor's "I'm fine" reassurances and got her to talk about what happened, while she also didn't ignore that what was going on with him wasn't really about her having gone missing for ten months from his pov. Ryan deciding to stay on Earth, which currently needs saving more than ever, for this but also for other reasons (such as his finding he now likes his life there) felt organic and ic, and of course Graham decides to remain with him; their growing relationship with each other had formed a red thread through both their seasons. (Besides, given Graham's been in chemo and his age, and the dangerous TARDIS life style, chances are that if he does go with the Doctor he might not see Ryan again. So, basically, their departure is how I want my Companions to exit for a while, not an attempt to repeat the drama from both the RTD and the Moffat years.
Yaz staying with the Doctor was equally obvious - given she lived in the alt!TARDIS, she basically had given up on life without the Doctor. Now I do regret that Chibnall never did much with Yaz' original life as a cop and her ambition there, because given this special's use of the Daleks, this could have made some fascinating cross connections. And there isn't even a mention of her family. But the reshuffled TARDIS team probably means there'll be more focus on Yaz anyway, and we'll have a chance to learn more about who she is now, and what she wants from life other than being with the Doctor. This special had the first Rose mention (by name) since RTD's time, I think, and if you ask me, Yaz sounded suspiciously like Rose in the s1 finale. Though the conversation she had with Jack about life with the Doctor was more like the one Donna had with Martha.
Speaking of Jack, unsurprisingly he's written in his DW mode, not his Torchwood mode here, i.e. mostly cheerful, but it still was good to see him, the Gold Star prison break was well done, and however many years it's been for him, he feels like he's at a good point of his life. I was pleased Chibnall - who was the headwriter for Torchwood during the series' first two years, after all - included the exchange about Gwen, thus making it canon Jack remained in contact with her and Rhys.
On the other side of the continuity scale, there's everyone on Earth still being amnesiac about the Daleks and their repeated invasions. Even if we go with the fan theory that the events of s5 reset not just Amy's life but history. It just annoys me.
The newest bunch of Daleks being created mostly due to an unscrupulous US business man with presidential aspirations and an equally unscrupulous British politician who makes it to PM, and used under the motto oflaw and order "security and safety" in order to battle demonstrating people is as political as this special gets, and wasn't lost on me. Otoh, old school Daleks turning against new school Daleks might fit with hardcore Dalek canon (i.e. their obsession with racial purity), but if that's supposed to be a metaphor for old and new school conservatives turning on each other, it's blatant wishful thinking for the most part.
The Doctor tricking the Daleks is traditional, but the way she does it here did give me pause, because somehow I doubt Chibnall has thought through the implication. Essentially, she ordered the other TARDIS to commit suicide. Unless we're to assume the Doctor's TARDIS is the only one to achieve sentience, and that's not the impression I got from, say, the TARDIS in "The Doctor's Wife" referring to the other destroyed TARDISes they see as "my sisters". So what I think is that Chibnall wanted not to have two TARDISes around and this was a convenient way to get rid of one, and that like with the Space Amazon episode, he didn't think through what he was actually implying there.
In conclusion: I'll probably watch the next season instead of waiting for the next showrunner, but not with high expectations.
This year's special was enjoyable enough by itself, and in a welcome relief allowed for Companions to depart without an outward catastrophe or inward angst making them. Mind you, as Graham was my fave of the Fam, I wish he'd have had one more chance to shine, but otoh I can't begrudge Ryan the conversation with the Doctor, which was a very good scene and showed how much Ryan has matured, not to mention that the friendship was mutual - he saw through the Doctor's "I'm fine" reassurances and got her to talk about what happened, while she also didn't ignore that what was going on with him wasn't really about her having gone missing for ten months from his pov. Ryan deciding to stay on Earth, which currently needs saving more than ever, for this but also for other reasons (such as his finding he now likes his life there) felt organic and ic, and of course Graham decides to remain with him; their growing relationship with each other had formed a red thread through both their seasons. (Besides, given Graham's been in chemo and his age, and the dangerous TARDIS life style, chances are that if he does go with the Doctor he might not see Ryan again. So, basically, their departure is how I want my Companions to exit for a while, not an attempt to repeat the drama from both the RTD and the Moffat years.
Yaz staying with the Doctor was equally obvious - given she lived in the alt!TARDIS, she basically had given up on life without the Doctor. Now I do regret that Chibnall never did much with Yaz' original life as a cop and her ambition there, because given this special's use of the Daleks, this could have made some fascinating cross connections. And there isn't even a mention of her family. But the reshuffled TARDIS team probably means there'll be more focus on Yaz anyway, and we'll have a chance to learn more about who she is now, and what she wants from life other than being with the Doctor. This special had the first Rose mention (by name) since RTD's time, I think, and if you ask me, Yaz sounded suspiciously like Rose in the s1 finale. Though the conversation she had with Jack about life with the Doctor was more like the one Donna had with Martha.
Speaking of Jack, unsurprisingly he's written in his DW mode, not his Torchwood mode here, i.e. mostly cheerful, but it still was good to see him, the Gold Star prison break was well done, and however many years it's been for him, he feels like he's at a good point of his life. I was pleased Chibnall - who was the headwriter for Torchwood during the series' first two years, after all - included the exchange about Gwen, thus making it canon Jack remained in contact with her and Rhys.
On the other side of the continuity scale, there's everyone on Earth still being amnesiac about the Daleks and their repeated invasions. Even if we go with the fan theory that the events of s5 reset not just Amy's life but history. It just annoys me.
The newest bunch of Daleks being created mostly due to an unscrupulous US business man with presidential aspirations and an equally unscrupulous British politician who makes it to PM, and used under the motto of
The Doctor tricking the Daleks is traditional, but the way she does it here did give me pause, because somehow I doubt Chibnall has thought through the implication. Essentially, she ordered the other TARDIS to commit suicide. Unless we're to assume the Doctor's TARDIS is the only one to achieve sentience, and that's not the impression I got from, say, the TARDIS in "The Doctor's Wife" referring to the other destroyed TARDISes they see as "my sisters". So what I think is that Chibnall wanted not to have two TARDISes around and this was a convenient way to get rid of one, and that like with the Space Amazon episode, he didn't think through what he was actually implying there.
In conclusion: I'll probably watch the next season instead of waiting for the next showrunner, but not with high expectations.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-04 04:44 pm (UTC)I do like Yaz decided to stay. I don't remember the last season much but with Mandip Gil's performance alone in this episode, she was great and should have more time to enjoy her time on the show and show off her skill.
Jack's return was interesting and I did like his exchange with Yaz about a companion's time with the Doctor. I also like he's still in contact with Gwen. I wonder how these details will be incorporated into the Torchwood audios Big Finish has been doing.
(On a slightly more downer note, the Doctor deciding to quote Harry Potter is uncomfortable with JK Rowling's transphobia. Granted, this was probably filmed before Rowling's transphobic comments really became public but still, maybe they could have edited around that?)
no subject
Date: 2021-01-04 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-04 07:52 pm (UTC)There's a monthly range, which covers nearly every major lead in the first two series and usually has events set between TV episodes. For Gwen, she has episodes set post Miracle Day and Jack has some set earlier, including with Queen Victoria. For Ianto, Owen, and Tosh, it's best not think too hard about how the three have infinite adventures in the couple of years they're at Cardiff Torchwood. Only one or two of the cast usually star in any audio at a time.
The team is only all present a few specials - Torchwood Believe has all five but the Tosh and Owen plotline is...controversial. Torchwood Outbreak stars the Jack-Ianto-Gwen trio but it's major plot involves a outbreak of a sci-fi disease. It's up to you if these qualifications give you pause.
Then there's the Series Continues Line, which is the official Series 5 and 6 of Torchwood, with Jack, Gwen, Rhys, and Andy back but also bringing in new characters. I enjoy them so far. Then there's Torchwood One, which I haven't bought but is a prequel set of audios starring Yvonne Hartmann and Ianto.
BF is firmly on the Jack/Ianto and Gwen/Rhys train. So far, I can only say any love triangle stuff with Jack-Gwen-Rhys is referenced in only a few audios, so if that bothers you, I think you're mostly safe. I did find I like most of the audios I bought to varying degrees (Even the controversial Believe and I can mentally separate Outbreak from the current pandemic). I believe you'd like the Gwen-Rhys content, both as a couple and separate. I too was a bit indifferent to Ianto in the show at times but I did enjoy his audios (Particularly the first where Ianto has to save a crashing space plane with a telemarketer) and his actor wrote one starring him and Owen that I really liked. Owen also has some audios but he stars in more than a few with Andy and...it's best not to think about where that fits in the timelines since Andy only learns about Torchwood after Owen is dead for good.
Basically, read the summaries and listen to the trailers and pick any you like. (I just buy them mostly in bundles, since it's cheaper for me). I hope this long babble was helfpul.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-04 06:39 pm (UTC)I've seen a couple of people making more or less this same comment now, and it makes me really glad to know I'm not the only one who is uneasy about treating the second TARDIS as a disposable piece of technology without stopping to think that it may, in fact, actually be a person. Although, I'm slightly ashamed to admit, it's not something that occurred to me until thinking back over the episode the next day.
I could certainly handwave a theory about that being a different and much less sentient model of TARDIS, something the Doctor would have known about, but it's not a comfortable thing to do. And, yeah, I don't think Chibnall stopped to think about it at all. Even if it took him some time to twig to the problem, the way it did for me, he really should have gotten there at some point before finishing the script. But then, so many of his scripts feel to me like they were declared complete too early and should have gone through a few more drafts before making it to air.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-04 06:50 pm (UTC)You know what this reminds me of? The "Once upon a Time" writers apparently never realising that what Regina is doing to Graham in s1 is rape before someone points it out. But back to DW - see, when Kirk blows up the Enterprise with the Klingons on it in Search of Spock, there is some genuine grief for the ship there on screen, and the Enterprise definitely wasn't sentient. Here, there's not even a moment of "farewell, TARDIS of my other self!" so no, I don't think either Chibnall nor anyone else in the writing staff realised this might be an issue...
no subject
Date: 2021-01-04 07:23 pm (UTC)And those are pretty good comparisons!
In fairness, I do understand writers having blind spots, honestly, especially when they're working to deadlines while trying to keep an awful lot of balls in the air. But when it starts to feel like a pattern...
no subject
Date: 2021-01-05 12:30 am (UTC)Maybe it's because I completely skipped Capaldi's run, but I think DW has gotten stale for me. I find myself just sitting there, waiting for the traditional "Doctor speech" of the episode to end. I was intrigued by the unique familial relationship between Ryan and Graham - and the moments between them and about their family situation are among my favorites - but I find it hard to get excited about the show anymore.
...This was only tangentially related to the finale. Um. It was alright. Anything that brings Jack back gets points in my book. I too was put off by the implications of destroying the second TARDIS.