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selenakI never had the chance to watch the DW New Year's Special until now, so I watched it in tandem with the Easter Special.
Eve of the Daleks
I'm probably missing something in our decades long canon, but I don't think on screen DW did a timeloop story in this way (with the timeloop getting ever shorter) before? Anyway, it made for an entertainingly suspenseful story, and the guest characters, Sarah and Nick, were likeable even if them getting together in the end felt a wee bit too predictable. Making the location one warehouse must have saved lots of budget yet made for a great bottle show. (My favourite New Who bottle episode remains the even more limited to one set Midnight, though.) The Doctor not figuring out the TARDIS, not the Daleks, is causing the time loop until the Daleks say so felt off, but otherwise, like I said, I liked it, without feeling an urgent need to rewatch it again for the next few years.
Character progression wise, of course, the big event was Dan taking the fanfiction role of making Yaz and the Doctor confront their feelings for each other, though not yet towards each other. On the one hand, it's nice that Yaz' love for the Doctor really isn't meant to be subtext instead of text, because given NewWho had made it textual every time a Companion felt attracted to the Doctor when the Doctor was male, it would have been a big step back. Otoh, making it textual now, that close to the end of Thirteen's run, which I assume will also be the end of Yaz' time in the TARDIS (since so far, RTD = > Moffat => Chibnall has gone with a complete change of both Doctor and Companion(s)), still feels like chickening out. More in the next review.
Legend of the Sea Devils
I bet that's where the budget went, and well spent. Lovely historical (well, almost); picking an exclusively Chinese location (in two eras, both historical) and mingling it with a Sea Devil return was inspired. The Sea Devils were less dimensional than their cousins their Silurians, but they did debut in one of my favourite Old Who tales, and their look worked well with the Chinese ship design. Go, costume department, for also putting our regulars into different outfits on this tip. Madame Ching the Pirate Queen, Ji-Hun and this episode's take on the "young hero seeks to avenge his father, finds new life instead" tale were all given space to breathe and felt like real people.
The Doctor telling Yaz, complete with a River mention, that she would if she could, but since she knows it will inevitably end in tears, she decided she would not anymore, mixed in with telling Yaz how great Yaz is, how much the Doctor would love for their time together be eternal, manages to feel like a Doctor-ish reaction that avoids coming across putting down either Yaz or other Companions. Of course, the logic is flawed - however strongly the Doctor feels for Yaz will hardly be lesser or more depending on whether they kiss, and so it will hurt anyway when she inevitably loses Yaz either to natural causes or Yaz deciding to leave. But that kind of flawed logic also feels ic. And Jodie Whitacker does the Doctor's words come across as deeply felt.
Two nitpicks on my part, though. Firstly, like I said, there's the last minute verbalizing. (It would feel different if we didn't know Thirteen, and most likely Yaz, have only one story left.) Secondly, I was hoping that when the Doctor and Yaz finally have that talk on the beach, it would adress Thirteen's tendency to only let her Companions in so far and not further, to keep secrets from them and treat them affectionately, to be sure, kind, absolutely, but also at arms' length. By changing the paramenters, so to speak, and making it essentially a conversation about romantic love specifically between the Doctor and Yaz, it feels like we were switching goals last minute too, so to speak.
Still: I very much liked the episode, and hope Madame Ching and her new crew member will have some Big Finish adventures in the future.
Eve of the Daleks
I'm probably missing something in our decades long canon, but I don't think on screen DW did a timeloop story in this way (with the timeloop getting ever shorter) before? Anyway, it made for an entertainingly suspenseful story, and the guest characters, Sarah and Nick, were likeable even if them getting together in the end felt a wee bit too predictable. Making the location one warehouse must have saved lots of budget yet made for a great bottle show. (My favourite New Who bottle episode remains the even more limited to one set Midnight, though.) The Doctor not figuring out the TARDIS, not the Daleks, is causing the time loop until the Daleks say so felt off, but otherwise, like I said, I liked it, without feeling an urgent need to rewatch it again for the next few years.
Character progression wise, of course, the big event was Dan taking the fanfiction role of making Yaz and the Doctor confront their feelings for each other, though not yet towards each other. On the one hand, it's nice that Yaz' love for the Doctor really isn't meant to be subtext instead of text, because given NewWho had made it textual every time a Companion felt attracted to the Doctor when the Doctor was male, it would have been a big step back. Otoh, making it textual now, that close to the end of Thirteen's run, which I assume will also be the end of Yaz' time in the TARDIS (since so far, RTD = > Moffat => Chibnall has gone with a complete change of both Doctor and Companion(s)), still feels like chickening out. More in the next review.
Legend of the Sea Devils
I bet that's where the budget went, and well spent. Lovely historical (well, almost); picking an exclusively Chinese location (in two eras, both historical) and mingling it with a Sea Devil return was inspired. The Sea Devils were less dimensional than their cousins their Silurians, but they did debut in one of my favourite Old Who tales, and their look worked well with the Chinese ship design. Go, costume department, for also putting our regulars into different outfits on this tip. Madame Ching the Pirate Queen, Ji-Hun and this episode's take on the "young hero seeks to avenge his father, finds new life instead" tale were all given space to breathe and felt like real people.
The Doctor telling Yaz, complete with a River mention, that she would if she could, but since she knows it will inevitably end in tears, she decided she would not anymore, mixed in with telling Yaz how great Yaz is, how much the Doctor would love for their time together be eternal, manages to feel like a Doctor-ish reaction that avoids coming across putting down either Yaz or other Companions. Of course, the logic is flawed - however strongly the Doctor feels for Yaz will hardly be lesser or more depending on whether they kiss, and so it will hurt anyway when she inevitably loses Yaz either to natural causes or Yaz deciding to leave. But that kind of flawed logic also feels ic. And Jodie Whitacker does the Doctor's words come across as deeply felt.
Two nitpicks on my part, though. Firstly, like I said, there's the last minute verbalizing. (It would feel different if we didn't know Thirteen, and most likely Yaz, have only one story left.) Secondly, I was hoping that when the Doctor and Yaz finally have that talk on the beach, it would adress Thirteen's tendency to only let her Companions in so far and not further, to keep secrets from them and treat them affectionately, to be sure, kind, absolutely, but also at arms' length. By changing the paramenters, so to speak, and making it essentially a conversation about romantic love specifically between the Doctor and Yaz, it feels like we were switching goals last minute too, so to speak.
Still: I very much liked the episode, and hope Madame Ching and her new crew member will have some Big Finish adventures in the future.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 09:04 pm (UTC)These two specials didn't feel so stuffed with a bajillion characters, which's great. (Might help the companion number's been reduced from 3 to 2). I liked both specials to some extent. Though I heard some people be iffy on the portrayal of the Chinese characters and setting in Legend of the Sea Devil, though I haven't come across any posts or threads after the episode aired that might go into it (There's rumors of reshoots and content being cut in response to some of that concern but I don't know a reliable source for it).
On a slightly different note, there's a audio drama BBC spinoff called Doctor Who Redacted that involved three woman keeping track of the Doctor's Tardis and with cameos from previous characters. If you're interested, you can listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c0wkjf
no subject
Date: 2022-04-19 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-22 09:29 pm (UTC)This explains... so much.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-22 09:31 pm (UTC)The moment she said 'I can't fix myself' I got SO HOPEFUL, but then it became 'to anyone'. :(
Otherwise, lovely and very balanced reviews, much more even-handed than I'd be able to write. *g*
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 10:31 am (UTC)