you're traditionally allowed one magical macguffin and everything else has to be logical, or you end up in a freeform fantasy setting where nothing in the story is logical and therefore nothing has meaning or consequences
The problem for me comes when people are prepared to say "it's alien, it's OK" about, for example, space travel, time travel, regeneration, the sonic screwdriver, Knowing Stuff, all that kind of jazz, but not "the hole doesn't leak magma" and the like. It seems to be a inconsistent demand for realism in the show just to make a point that certain aspects aren't realistic, presumably in order to demonstrate that the show doesn't meet some arbitrary requirements that it's not even addressing.
Well a wizard an alien did it, and they must have made sure there was no magma spewing up using sekrit alien technology or that wouldn't have been very much use to them, would it?
Exactly. I'm really not quite sure why so many people seem to have such a problem with it.
What did slightly bother me was the stupidity of the plot to force-feed Donna alien particles through a boyfriend over a six month period and not just kidnap someone random. Plus it seemed very easy to do the same to her fiancee in mere minutes at the end - so why did they even need her?
Yeah that was very odd. Like you say, the fact that they managed to force feed Lance enough stuff at the end kinda threw the whole "slow poisoning over six months" thing for a curve. And that kind of inconsistency *is* annoying.
It's even more maddening since it served no plot purpose - they still ended up being able to use Donna in the end. It seemed like a weak way to give the fiance an ironic punishment.
I do not see any substantive difference between the inconsistent handling of the Donna/Huon particles part of the plot and the inconsistent handling of the Giant Hole part of the plot. Both introduce a plot point and then generate a plot resolution by changing the rules under which the plot point was introduced. Neither is internally consistent.
by changing the rules under which the plot point was introduced.
I think it's this bit that I'm not getting. How did the resolution change the rules?
Either the hole was spewing magma or it wasn't. It wasn't. It went all the way down to the Space Aliens. So what's wrong with flinging some water down it?
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coalescent) wrote2006-12-25 08:16 pm
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The problem for me comes when people are prepared to say "it's alien, it's OK" about, for example, space travel, time travel, regeneration, the sonic screwdriver, Knowing Stuff, all that kind of jazz, but not "the hole doesn't leak magma" and the like. It seems to be a inconsistent demand for realism in the show just to make a point that certain aspects aren't realistic, presumably in order to demonstrate that the show doesn't meet some arbitrary requirements that it's not even addressing.
Well
a wizardan alien did it, and they must have made sure there was no magma spewing up using sekrit alien technology or that wouldn't have been very much use to them, would it?Exactly. I'm really not quite sure why so many people seem to have such a problem with it.
What did slightly bother me was the stupidity of the plot to force-feed Donna alien particles through a boyfriend over a six month period and not just kidnap someone random. Plus it seemed very easy to do the same to her fiancee in mere minutes at the end - so why did they even need her?
Yeah that was very odd. Like you say, the fact that they managed to force feed Lance enough stuff at the end kinda threw the whole "slow poisoning over six months" thing for a curve. And that kind of inconsistency *is* annoying.
no subject
It's even more maddening since it served no plot purpose - they still ended up being able to use Donna in the end. It seemed like a weak way to give the fiance an ironic punishment.
no subject
I do not see any substantive difference between the inconsistent handling of the Donna/Huon particles part of the plot and the inconsistent handling of the Giant Hole part of the plot. Both introduce a plot point and then generate a plot resolution by changing the rules under which the plot point was introduced. Neither is internally consistent.
no subject
I think it's this bit that I'm not getting. How did the resolution change the rules?
Either the hole was spewing magma or it wasn't. It wasn't. It went all the way down to the Space Aliens. So what's wrong with flinging some water down it?
no subject