Snap Judgement

[coalescent]

[Poll #895040]

Comments

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

No suspension of disbelief - everyone knows the only Lakeland Plastics in London are in shopping centres. Not anywhere near Chiswick, and certainly not in the open on a high street.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, they went to the formation of the Earth! On the other hand, they went to the formation of the Earth as a throwaway plot point that doesn't make sense.

Actually, I think I quite like some of the things the episode was trying to do. But the execution was a bit, er, hysterical and muddled.

[midnightmelody.livejournal.com]

I wanted to kill both the female characters throughout the episode. This did not help my mood.

Also, why did The Doctor make snow? And did he really believe that the Annoying Bride could 'be magnificent'?

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

I wasn't expecting much but while it once more convinced me that modern Dr Who makes a much much better hour long show than a 40-odd minute sprint.

Also, it felt really wrong somehow for the little kiddees to be first excited at the Tardis chase and later in peril in stereotypical US movie fashion only to be saved by an adult. Natch.

Also,
It all felt a little rushed, and a bit of a cut-and-shut job mashing together various other episodes. Does RTD only have a finite number of (Xmas Special in particular) ideas or what?

[blackbeltbarbie.livejournal.com]

Unlisted option 'somewhere in between good and bad'.

I like that they didn't ignore Rose, but it did feel rushed. And a little more panto then usual.

My Dad and I where talking earlier about how it pissed us off that every Christmas film seems to end with snow, so we laughed at the snow at the end.

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

I abstain from this vote, for reasons that should be obvious to you.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Oh, the suspense! :)

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I think it did exactly what it set out to do: make a light hearted comedy-adventure romp mixing farce with action. I liked a lot of it and I didn't like a lot of it, but overall the good outweighed the bad. Tennant was far more consistent than usual, and angst about Rose suits him better than angst about the Time War. Those dashes of darkness were effective.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Unlisted option 'somewhere in between good and bad'.

Your lack of arbitrary judgement displeases me.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Tennant was far more consistent than usual

Well, more consistently annoying than usual, at least. Which may or may not have been deliberate, since I don't usually find his mannerisms that annoying, and here I virtually cheered both times he got slapped.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the kiddy in peril because the stupidity of the situation (Why doesn't she just run!!!!!?) could have been fixed in seconds by having her either running too slowly or, really easily, by having her strapped in a pushchair.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I agree. Too average to honestly vote for either. Filler , plus some nice nods back to Rose.

[ajr.livejournal.com]

I voted 'Good' solely because at no point during the episode did I find myself shouting "That makes no sense!" at the TV, which makes it a million times better than any episode of Torchwood, at least.

On the other hand, I'd been drinking rather a lot of wine.

[blackbeltbarbie.livejournal.com]

We have met before haven't we? :P

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

It looks like Martha Jones might be smart, though, which would be nice. I'm not saying Rose was stupid, but it wasn't an emphasised aspect of her character -- and after two seasons, hopefully the audience doesn't need the companion to be slow on the uptake to give the Doctor an excuse to explain everything.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Compared to Torchwood, the episode of Emmerdale I watched this evening is a dramatic masterpiece. I don't think we can use it as a comparison for anything.

[palatinate.livejournal.com]

I really liked it but having read everyone else's comments now suspect that Torchwood has just lowered my expectation levels so much that anything half decent seems really good by comparison.

I agree it was a bit panto but I didn't mind that. Whilst RTD has a track record that's a bit left-field superficially, when it comes to Dr Who he's very traditional - from the start he's been careful to protect the "institution". And Christmas specials are a Beeb tradition going back decades - not only in variety but special episodes of drama series, often with added humour.

We're not a typical audience so I think occasionally it's worth us reminding ourselves that the BBC sees Dr Who as not only an institution but "classic family entertainment" and I think it probably worked well for the core audience they have in mind. Indeed, as a cultural observer I find it fascinating to watch the game that's being played out with the mass audience as the BBC team tries to be original yet always carries its historical baggage of approach and style around with it. To escape that fully I think it usually needs a totally original show with no history and often on a lesser network (X-Files, B5 ...).

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I found him much less annoying than usual but maybe I was feeling festive, generous, and/or slightly drunk.

What good is it?

[johnnyeponymous.livejournal.com]

Why WHY is no one posting big hot juicy spoilers of the type that make it unnecessary to see the actual episode!

What good is it having UK folks on my FList if there's no spoilerage goin' on on the Who front?
Chris

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I think our viewing was indeed enormously alcohanced.

Re: What good is it?

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Baddy tries to take over earth, Doctor stops her with help/hindrance from plucky but dim earthling chum.
Also killer robot Santas.

[dsky.livejournal.com]

Um... Well I was on the verge of worrying about the effect of the characters presence and actions. For example, I'm a little concerned about exactly how much water would be required to fill a hole down to the centre of the Earth. I'm too pithed at the moment to try and work it out mathematically, but I have this nagging feeling it's more than is in the Thames. And uh, I was slightly freaked out by the Tardis being there while the Earth was forming, so obviously in the way of various bits of rock and dust that really need to go in exactly the right place...

But maybe it's just me.

I haven't voted, because I'm utterly undecided. As you say, it was better than Torchwood, but generally that means it was merely more pleasant than rectal surgery preformed with a shovel.

Re: What good is it?

[frostfox.livejournal.com]

We liked the Great Tardis Rescue with the kids in the car.

But we had also had rather a lot of good red wine which might have influenced judgement.

Easy mindless viewing for xmas day eve. Could have been much, much worse.

FF

[del-c.livejournal.com]

You cannot start thinking about the Butterfly Effect/A Sound of Thunder in the context of "Doctor Who". That way lies madness.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

It's not just you. I was pondering the effect of all that water on the rather hot molten bits of the earth's core, and wondering if we really deserve extinction just yet, Dr? Not to mention how they managed to dig the hole... And whether a human would actually fall straight. And which bit of the ship they opened for him to drop into. And...