Who

[coalescent]

Christopher Eccleston is fantastic. A lot of the dialogue was sharp. The rest ... well, it wasn't all actively shit. Some of it was just meh. The direction was pedestrian, the effects just weren't up to scratch, and the music was dire.

There's potential, and next week's does look better, but at the moment it really wouldn't bother me much if I missed the rest of the series.

But everyone else liked it.

Comments

[fba.livejournal.com]

Once again Niall prooves how totally and utterly wrongheaded he is...

WRONGHEAD!

[xsabx.livejournal.com]

But he's a literary wronghead, so it's okay... :D

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

Come on Niall, I fail to believe any UK SF fan will ignore episodes to come, just look at the big ben action in the trailer!

Does it pass the Buffy epsiode one standard?

Yes!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I watch so little tv that I haven't seen any of the trailers!

And I'm no fan of Welcome, but I like it more than this. It feels, you know, vaguely competent most of the time. Still, you're right that many shows improve dramatically from pilot. Here's hoping.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

It was competent throughout, IMO. The problem was that there were two or three isolated moments which resembled kids TV in a bad way, where you had to squint sideways because it crossed the line from darkly absurd (which I think was the goal) into just plain silly. The incidental music really didn't help in this respect.

It's like the bad bits of late '90's Doctor Who, only this time partly redeemed by being set in the context of a much more professional and effective package - one that recalls much better eras of the show.

What the first episode did do very well, I thought, was generate a series of fairly iconic scenes and images that are going to stick with younger viewers for years. I would never argue that Doctor Who is purely a kids show, but that's clearly a significant part of its genetic make-up. I imagine a lot of today's kids are going to be participating in "I remember 2005" shows in 15 years time, and talking nostalgically about plastic arms attacking the Doctor, Wheelie Bins eating people, big vats of plastic, photos of the Doctor through history, and that scene where the Doctor talks about who he is.

Not Actively Shit

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that about sums it up.

[cellardoor28.livejournal.com]

I liked it.

I was particularly impressed with the role Graham Norton played.

[fba.livejournal.com]

So you got that too? I think it must have been a Sky thing...

[cellardoor28.livejournal.com]

Well, I was watching on freeview, but I guess. Did it not show up on normal BBC?

[kittynic]

I got that too. Very strange!

[majuran.livejournal.com]

The new control room and the preview for next week's had a very Farscape feel to them I thought...

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know what you mean. The control room had a certain Moya-esque quality, and next week's all-out Alien Weirdness was very much in the space opera vein of Farscape.

Having said that, it looked pretty, and I'm pleased that the story and setting seem to be a complete departure from this week's episode.

Clearly you have not watched enough Teletubbies

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

the control room is the interior of Home Hill - would attach link to prove it, but BBC are immensely protective of their images.

Re: Clearly you have not watched enough Teletubbies

[cellardoor28.livejournal.com]

DUDE, YOU'RE SO RIGHT!

wonder if nu-nu will be the new K-9

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. Actually, it's one of the reasons I think next week's might be better, although the dodgy CGI room they stand in to watch the sun go nova counterbalances that...

[fba.livejournal.com]

the effects just weren't up to scratch

In comparison to what? They were as good or better than anything I've seen on TV in recent years.

I thought it was a very good pseudo-pilot and the best is yet to come.

I'm sure you just do this to wind people up y'know...

[majuran.livejournal.com]

The explosion at the start wasn't amazing it had to be said but other than that I thought the effects were superb :)

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Moi aussi.

A firm thumbs up from me. I can't decide whether taken as a whole it was just *slightly* the wrong side of 'camp', but it's nothing that can't settle down. The flaws were mainly the occasionally embarrassing "humourous" moments and the OTT incidental music.

Will the Youth of Today like it? Who the hell knows!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Have you been watching tv with your eyes closed? They were nowhere near Galactica, or Farscape, or anything. Buffy had some similarly ropey cgi, but not often, and hid it with better direction.

I liked some of the writing, but they were trying for ambitious visuals and failing. Why not concentrate on the characters?

[ex-toastie256.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I pretty much agree. It was interesting to see how they're going to bring Doctor Who to the next generation of viewers but I'm just not their target audience.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

This is my conclusion after talking to Tim and Dan, yes. I'll give it another couple of weeks--the references to 'the war' intrigue me--but I'm not expecting a dramatic change.

[nwhyte]

Well, count me in with "everyone else"! And I'm pimping wiselamb's poll.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Nice T -shirt. My wife owns one just like it!

[deccasanta.livejournal.com]

There's supensing your disbelief and then there's this. It stretched the bounds of credibility to entirely new limits. Billie Piper has to be asked if she wants to run off with Christopher Eccleston twice? I think not.

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

Good point, well made :-)

*sigh*

Sometimes hott men are wasted on the young...