Doctor Who - Bad Wolf
Jun. 11th, 2005 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iainjclarkWell, that was.... rubbish...
Okay, I'll be honest, it wasn't completely rubbish. Despite the ludicrous TV parodies it rattled along being oddly serious about the whole thing, if not particularly interesting.
What I can't get past is the essential ludicrousness. Why would all the games be based on 20th Century TV? Other than satirical value, which doesn't require such spot-on riffs on particular TV shows, it makes no logical sense whatsoever. The best justification I could use is the same as for the Britney Spears song in episode 2 - they're considered classics. But really, every single show being exactly like their 20th Century incarnation? I think not.
Moving on, since this will either be rationally explained next week or (far more likely) never mentioned again, what about the rest of the episode?
Well, not a great deal else happened. The episode was heavy on continuity and running around, light on drama and characterisation, and as such made little impact. The most interesting part is clearly the Dalek aspect, even though shorn of the Dalek With A Soul angle they are once again reduced to shouting at one another:
"I TALK IN A MONO-TONE"
"YES, I TALK IN A MONO-TONE ALSO"
"MY MONO-TONE IS AT A SLIGHTLY DIFF-ERENT PITCH THAN YOURS"
Etc.
The idea of the Daleks hiding in orbit is fine (although, why the obsession with Earth - is it just that the Doctor likes it?) and their flying saucer craft are both consistent with what we've seen in the past, and as cool as a flying saucer is likely to get. I'm less keen on the idea that the Daleks have been manipulating Earth history for a long time, although to be fair it does just about satisfactorily explain the various Bad Wolf references (even the ones Rose remembers despite not seeing in the first place *cough*), and explain how, as a result of the Time War, the Daleks might be "wrong" enough to pervert accepted history. But the question of, well, "why?" seems rather pressing at the moment. On this issue I feel reasonably confident that we will get an explanation next week.
Overall - a bit meh, depressingly so because it's part of the two-part season finale and features the return of the series' major villains. Ah well.
WARNING: Potentially spoilery speculation about next week's episode follows:
My wife and I have been theorising about the identity of Bad Wolf (presumably whatever saved the Daleks). Given the fairly insular mythology the season has followed, we feel it must not be a character from the fannish Doctor Who past such as Davros, but a character from this season Also, PsychicMaid!Woman implied that Rose had already met the Big Bad wolf by episode 3. If correct,that must leave either the Nestene Intelligence or one of the far future characters like The Face of Bo (namechecked this week).
Since the Nestene Intelligence was involved in the Time War, hates the Time Lords, and loves large smog clouds, that's where we're piling our chips. It would have the added value of bookending the season.
We may of course be completely wrong. :-)
Okay, I'll be honest, it wasn't completely rubbish. Despite the ludicrous TV parodies it rattled along being oddly serious about the whole thing, if not particularly interesting.
What I can't get past is the essential ludicrousness. Why would all the games be based on 20th Century TV? Other than satirical value, which doesn't require such spot-on riffs on particular TV shows, it makes no logical sense whatsoever. The best justification I could use is the same as for the Britney Spears song in episode 2 - they're considered classics. But really, every single show being exactly like their 20th Century incarnation? I think not.
Moving on, since this will either be rationally explained next week or (far more likely) never mentioned again, what about the rest of the episode?
Well, not a great deal else happened. The episode was heavy on continuity and running around, light on drama and characterisation, and as such made little impact. The most interesting part is clearly the Dalek aspect, even though shorn of the Dalek With A Soul angle they are once again reduced to shouting at one another:
"I TALK IN A MONO-TONE"
"YES, I TALK IN A MONO-TONE ALSO"
"MY MONO-TONE IS AT A SLIGHTLY DIFF-ERENT PITCH THAN YOURS"
Etc.
The idea of the Daleks hiding in orbit is fine (although, why the obsession with Earth - is it just that the Doctor likes it?) and their flying saucer craft are both consistent with what we've seen in the past, and as cool as a flying saucer is likely to get. I'm less keen on the idea that the Daleks have been manipulating Earth history for a long time, although to be fair it does just about satisfactorily explain the various Bad Wolf references (even the ones Rose remembers despite not seeing in the first place *cough*), and explain how, as a result of the Time War, the Daleks might be "wrong" enough to pervert accepted history. But the question of, well, "why?" seems rather pressing at the moment. On this issue I feel reasonably confident that we will get an explanation next week.
Overall - a bit meh, depressingly so because it's part of the two-part season finale and features the return of the series' major villains. Ah well.
WARNING: Potentially spoilery speculation about next week's episode follows:
My wife and I have been theorising about the identity of Bad Wolf (presumably whatever saved the Daleks). Given the fairly insular mythology the season has followed, we feel it must not be a character from the fannish Doctor Who past such as Davros, but a character from this season Also, PsychicMaid!Woman implied that Rose had already met the Big Bad wolf by episode 3. If correct,that must leave either the Nestene Intelligence or one of the far future characters like The Face of Bo (namechecked this week).
Since the Nestene Intelligence was involved in the Time War, hates the Time Lords, and loves large smog clouds, that's where we're piling our chips. It would have the added value of bookending the season.
We may of course be completely wrong. :-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-06-11 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-11 02:53 pm (UTC)Isn't the fact that we are discussing this proof that this is a good and important TV show?
no subject
Date: 2005-06-11 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 03:25 am (UTC)See - I'm getting this too.
The more I think about it, the more I can slightly get hold of this working. The Doctor might well end up saving the Daleks out of remorse, or because it's the only way to bring back the Time Lords and set the balance straight. I can't quite work out all the time paradoxes, but it could make sense.
Or even (as my wife has just suggested) maybe this Doctor killed the Daleks, but the next Doctor saved them. Maybe Bad Wolf is David Tennant's Doctor? Hmmm.....
But for this to work, there'd have to be a great deal of "lesser of two evils" going on. Look what's happened to Earth history, after all. I can't see the Doctor doing that, even at his most Machiavellian. No, I'm going to stick with the Nestene Consciousness for now.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 04:02 am (UTC)