I don't have too much to say on the meat of the episode (though I'd be a little more charitable than some of the contributors here); but I did rather like one scene.
The whole of the last story was spent with the Doctor being a somewhat one-dimensionally pacifistic, and the UNIT Colonel being entirely one-dimensionally gung-ho. I know we live in post-modern times, in a war-ravaged world, and where senseless gun (and other) violence is all too prevalent: and the sentiments that our current Doctor conveys ("the pen is mightier than the sword", the brain is better than the bomb, etc) are welcome; but the last two weeks have been overly simplistic and monochromatic in their presentation of that lesson. Of course war is a terrible thing; but we forget at our peril that there can be times when the alternatives are worse...
So when this episode started, I was pretty sure that this was going to be another example of more of the same; but I was pleasantly surprised. The conversation between the Doctor and Jenny (where she points out that they are the same: and he talks about the time war) instantly gave the much needed extra dimensions to the question. A cerebral Doctor who will strive for good by using his intellect not a weapon is great; a pacifist Doctor (and at times last week – I felt they were getting rather too close to that) is not. For me, this episode nicely and importantly re-centres that.
On an un-related, and geeky level, the fact that Jenny was actually the Doctor's daughter was some rather fun casting.
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zvi and
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Date: 2008-05-11 05:27 pm (UTC)The whole of the last story was spent with the Doctor being a somewhat one-dimensionally pacifistic, and the UNIT Colonel being entirely one-dimensionally gung-ho. I know we live in post-modern times, in a war-ravaged world, and where senseless gun (and other) violence is all too prevalent: and the sentiments that our current Doctor conveys ("the pen is mightier than the sword", the brain is better than the bomb, etc) are welcome; but the last two weeks have been overly simplistic and monochromatic in their presentation of that lesson. Of course war is a terrible thing; but we forget at our peril that there can be times when the alternatives are worse...
So when this episode started, I was pretty sure that this was going to be another example of more of the same; but I was pleasantly surprised. The conversation between the Doctor and Jenny (where she points out that they are the same: and he talks about the time war) instantly gave the much needed extra dimensions to the question. A cerebral Doctor who will strive for good by using his intellect not a weapon is great; a pacifist Doctor (and at times last week – I felt they were getting rather too close to that) is not. For me, this episode nicely and importantly re-centres that.
On an un-related, and geeky level, the fact that Jenny was actually the Doctor's daughter was some rather fun casting.