Doctor Who 5/31.06 The Vampires of Venice
May. 9th, 2010 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Toby Whitehouse and the Moff make me reevaluate the Mickey/Rose relationship, and Rose. Huh.
Seriously, though, and I'm starting to get slightly concerned about the implications. This is the second not-Moffat written episode this season, and while it's better than the Mark Gattis episode, it's nowhere up to the standard of the Moffat eps, and there is the shared problem of Amy feeling very generic, as she did in Victory of the Daleks. Before I say more about this, let me elaborate what I mean re: Rose and Mickey. Now, of the three "big" companions of the RTD years, Rose is the one I liked least. What made me go cool on her first was the way she treated Mickey. BUT. Looking back, what the show did offer immediately and consistently was a sense of what the Rose/Mickey relationship had been like pre-Doctor, what it was after; while Rose did take Mickey for granted and exploited him to a degree, the sense she did feel affection for him was also there, as was regret later, and by the time she finished her run as a regular companion, in Doomsday, I believed her when she told Mickey he was the bravest man she knew. The big, big problem with Amy and Rory so far is that the show hasn't given us any indication of what they were/are like as a couple. What Amy feels for Rory. Why she agreed to marry him to begin with. Just because he was there and available? She was bored? She did/does love him? Impossible to tell, and we're six episodes in, plus this was the ep that could have explored the relationship somewhat. What does Amy think of the Doctor responding to her overture last week by inviting Rory? Is she annoyed? Secretly relieved because she hadn't thought things through when she kissed him? Again, impossible to tell. That there is no attempt on Amy's part to explain anything to Rory, or to tell him she rethought the wedding, there is simply nothing to give me any indication what she's feeling or thinking at all in this episode, and that's not playing Amy as a woman of mystery, that's Amy as a cypher, and not very likeable besides. The final "my two boys" line is cute, but it's not earned, because neither this episode nor the preceding ones bothered to give us a handle on what, if anything, Amy feels for Rory.
Which had the bizarre result of making me think, for the first time since, oh, Father's Day all the way back in s1: I miss Rose, and give me Rose/Mickey over this any time. I'm still trying to cope with the shock.
Before I get to the non-relationship stuff, let me add a further concern. It might very well me that one reason for the blankness of Amy in this episode is that Toby Whitehouse wrote the episode, like all the non-Moffat writers did, before seeing any of the footage of Amy and Eleven in action and with only some basic outline of what she is supposed to be like. But. This is how all the DW seasons were written before as well. And it's the showrunner's job to edit the scripts and add those touches of specific personality and emotional continuity. In The Writer's Tale, there is a rather instructive passage in this regard, a reprint of James Moran's original opening scene for The Fires of Pompeii set next to the RTD rewrite of the same scene. It's not that the content of what is being said differs, but how it is said does; in Moran's original version, there is that same generic "Doctor X and Companion" feeling, in the RTD version, with just a few tweaks and different phrasings of what is being said, you have specifically the Tenth Doctor and Donna, who is Donna and could not be any other Companion. This is what the Moff should have done for Amy both in Victory of the Daleks and here, in Vampires of Venice, and for this viewer, he didn't. I really, really hope the next non-Moffat episode will be different in this regard, because otherwise, I'm starting to get worried about him as a showrunner, as opposed to as a brilliant writer of episodes.
Now, on to other aspects. First of the negative kind: colour-blind casting is all very well, but making Isabella and her father black and then kill them both off? Really? Also, while I loved the Doctor being specifically angry that Rossana didn't even remember Isabella's name, it would have been nice to get a sense of who Isabella was, and who her father was, before those demises, other than "fearful victim" and "worried father". Come on, Whithouse, you did more for the people of the week in most of your Being Human episodes, I know you can do it, so why not here?
Venice as a setting was great and suitably beautiful, loved the costumes, loved the newest version of vampirs-as-aliens (Old Who did this as well, and there was the Plasmavore in Smith and Jones, of course), plus Helen McCrory rocked. The parallel/contrast to the Doctor re: last survivor of doomed people, water/fire, her trying to save her people at the expense of the humans and him having killed his because in the end, they were dooming everyone else, all this really worked for me. The disabling of the weekly macguffin felt weirdly anticlimactic, though, and I'm not sure whether Rossanna committing suicide via deception filter would work, because surely the deception filter would fail as soon as she hits the water, thus making her recognizable to the males of her species (and more likely leading to rape than cannibalistic death, considering she's the last female left). As I said, I also loved the "where is Isabella?" scene, and only wish it would have gone along with more fleshing out of both Isabella and her father before that. The scene between Rory and the Doctor re: "how dangerous you are because you make people want to impress you" was good and the clearest impression of what the also very vaguely written Rory is like we've gotten yet. I could have done without the "OMG vampires!" squee echoing the "OMG werewolf" squee from Tooth and Claw so precisely, but at least it was consistent. Lastly, hooray for the Byron mention (he really loved Venice and wrote some wonderful lines about same), and I found the Casanova aside amusing, whether or not Toby W. meant it as a David Tennant-related in-joke.
In conclusion: this episode could have been so much better with a lot of editing. *looks accusingly at Moffat*
Seriously, though, and I'm starting to get slightly concerned about the implications. This is the second not-Moffat written episode this season, and while it's better than the Mark Gattis episode, it's nowhere up to the standard of the Moffat eps, and there is the shared problem of Amy feeling very generic, as she did in Victory of the Daleks. Before I say more about this, let me elaborate what I mean re: Rose and Mickey. Now, of the three "big" companions of the RTD years, Rose is the one I liked least. What made me go cool on her first was the way she treated Mickey. BUT. Looking back, what the show did offer immediately and consistently was a sense of what the Rose/Mickey relationship had been like pre-Doctor, what it was after; while Rose did take Mickey for granted and exploited him to a degree, the sense she did feel affection for him was also there, as was regret later, and by the time she finished her run as a regular companion, in Doomsday, I believed her when she told Mickey he was the bravest man she knew. The big, big problem with Amy and Rory so far is that the show hasn't given us any indication of what they were/are like as a couple. What Amy feels for Rory. Why she agreed to marry him to begin with. Just because he was there and available? She was bored? She did/does love him? Impossible to tell, and we're six episodes in, plus this was the ep that could have explored the relationship somewhat. What does Amy think of the Doctor responding to her overture last week by inviting Rory? Is she annoyed? Secretly relieved because she hadn't thought things through when she kissed him? Again, impossible to tell. That there is no attempt on Amy's part to explain anything to Rory, or to tell him she rethought the wedding, there is simply nothing to give me any indication what she's feeling or thinking at all in this episode, and that's not playing Amy as a woman of mystery, that's Amy as a cypher, and not very likeable besides. The final "my two boys" line is cute, but it's not earned, because neither this episode nor the preceding ones bothered to give us a handle on what, if anything, Amy feels for Rory.
Which had the bizarre result of making me think, for the first time since, oh, Father's Day all the way back in s1: I miss Rose, and give me Rose/Mickey over this any time. I'm still trying to cope with the shock.
Before I get to the non-relationship stuff, let me add a further concern. It might very well me that one reason for the blankness of Amy in this episode is that Toby Whitehouse wrote the episode, like all the non-Moffat writers did, before seeing any of the footage of Amy and Eleven in action and with only some basic outline of what she is supposed to be like. But. This is how all the DW seasons were written before as well. And it's the showrunner's job to edit the scripts and add those touches of specific personality and emotional continuity. In The Writer's Tale, there is a rather instructive passage in this regard, a reprint of James Moran's original opening scene for The Fires of Pompeii set next to the RTD rewrite of the same scene. It's not that the content of what is being said differs, but how it is said does; in Moran's original version, there is that same generic "Doctor X and Companion" feeling, in the RTD version, with just a few tweaks and different phrasings of what is being said, you have specifically the Tenth Doctor and Donna, who is Donna and could not be any other Companion. This is what the Moff should have done for Amy both in Victory of the Daleks and here, in Vampires of Venice, and for this viewer, he didn't. I really, really hope the next non-Moffat episode will be different in this regard, because otherwise, I'm starting to get worried about him as a showrunner, as opposed to as a brilliant writer of episodes.
Now, on to other aspects. First of the negative kind: colour-blind casting is all very well, but making Isabella and her father black and then kill them both off? Really? Also, while I loved the Doctor being specifically angry that Rossana didn't even remember Isabella's name, it would have been nice to get a sense of who Isabella was, and who her father was, before those demises, other than "fearful victim" and "worried father". Come on, Whithouse, you did more for the people of the week in most of your Being Human episodes, I know you can do it, so why not here?
Venice as a setting was great and suitably beautiful, loved the costumes, loved the newest version of vampirs-as-aliens (Old Who did this as well, and there was the Plasmavore in Smith and Jones, of course), plus Helen McCrory rocked. The parallel/contrast to the Doctor re: last survivor of doomed people, water/fire, her trying to save her people at the expense of the humans and him having killed his because in the end, they were dooming everyone else, all this really worked for me. The disabling of the weekly macguffin felt weirdly anticlimactic, though, and I'm not sure whether Rossanna committing suicide via deception filter would work, because surely the deception filter would fail as soon as she hits the water, thus making her recognizable to the males of her species (and more likely leading to rape than cannibalistic death, considering she's the last female left). As I said, I also loved the "where is Isabella?" scene, and only wish it would have gone along with more fleshing out of both Isabella and her father before that. The scene between Rory and the Doctor re: "how dangerous you are because you make people want to impress you" was good and the clearest impression of what the also very vaguely written Rory is like we've gotten yet. I could have done without the "OMG vampires!" squee echoing the "OMG werewolf" squee from Tooth and Claw so precisely, but at least it was consistent. Lastly, hooray for the Byron mention (he really loved Venice and wrote some wonderful lines about same), and I found the Casanova aside amusing, whether or not Toby W. meant it as a David Tennant-related in-joke.
In conclusion: this episode could have been so much better with a lot of editing. *looks accusingly at Moffat*
no subject
Date: 2010-05-09 10:48 pm (UTC)That was the part I found believable: first and foremost, there is no reason to believe the native technology of an aquatic species would be in any way, shape, or form be influenced by, well, water. ;) Then, the show showed us that the males of the species are pretty dumb - certainly the only son out of the water was not only unable to recognise or remember Amy, and then there are the altogether animalistic appearances at the "plank" site.
But the colourblind casting in Who is bothering me greatly in this one too - it's definitely a problem if both of them die, especially if there is absolutely no need for that - could've been a window in the explosives storage chamber; Isabella could have been saved via reverse transfusion beforehand (sonic screwdriver to the machine, i.e. rescue)!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-09 10:52 pm (UTC)Whitehouse, can you possibly vaguen this up any more with regard to the characterisation of Rory, but also of Amy? The Doctor/Amy is when this show still - even in this ep - sparkles, so clearly, at least working with a pre-existing relationship was not beyond Whitehouse: He just never really tried exploring Rory, Amy, and the Rory/Amy.
PS: Oh, the Rose/Mickey. Made me GRR ARGH too.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-10 04:00 am (UTC)the need to die: I suppose the justification for Isabella's death is so we see Rosanna do something truly villainous and callous to counterbalance her (understandable and even laudable) motivation to save her people from extinction. However, Rosanna could still have done what she did (thus demonstrating indifference to non-aquatic lifeforms lives) and Isabella be saved. When she said "we can all swim", I was hoping she'd make a go for it, and would be saved in this manner, perhaps trying to dive to the next canal and when the fish people catch up with her being pulled out of the water by her father & Team TARDIS.
at least working with a pre-existing relationship was not beyond Whitehouse: He just never really tried exploring Rory, Amy, and the Rory/Amy.
Yes, exactly. And this episode was the one to do it. I mean, if it turns out Rory and Amy are the next Rhys and Gwen and their relationship will strengthen from here, with exploration in later episodes, plus that Rory is here to stay, I'll happily recant and be ecstatic about having been too impatient. But even with the very unevenly written Gwen of s1 of Torchwood, there was no doubt she did love Rhys, and her flashbacks in the third episode did a great job of demonstrating what was good about the relationship and why they got together in the first place. I really want to know why Rory and Amy did, other than "he was there and willing to dress up as the Doctor". Bad Whithouse, no cookies.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-10 10:44 pm (UTC)Exactly! Neither Isabella nor her father had to die, is all I'm saying (whereas, for example, Ianto dying made one essential point of Children of Earth).
I don't know; I will still think of it as a very weak episode, characterisation-wise. Think of all the small acts and throwaway lines packed into other shows that develop their protagonists properly - and we don't even have to go all the way to great television like The Wire: even fluffy shows like Castle keep defining and refining who their characters are.
I did like the plot, I have to say, with the above huge caveat and also a wagging finger: so far, the Moffat era overdoes certain motifs, like many-teethed monsters lurking just beyond the surface, and recycles old characters, whether heroes (I can see bits of Sally Sparrow in Amy, which is not a bad thing) or villains (the Weeping Angels).
Beautifully shot, this one, though - good props, great scenery. The colours were popping; I was suitably impressed, and more.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-11 06:03 am (UTC)(Mark Gattiss was always just an okay writer for me, so I wasn't that surprised his episode wasn't stellar, but I really expected more from Toby Whithouse, because I loved "School Reunion" in s2, and while I have issues with some of Being Human, it has some pretty amazing episodes and interesting characters.)