The Sound of Drums

[coalescent]

[Poll #1008791]

Other posts: despotliz here, white_hart here, andrewducker here, iainjclark here, nhw's roundup of links here (recursion ahoy!), whatho here, butterfly here, saxonb here, communicator here.

Comments

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree, except I think there was also too much convenient deus-ex-machina magical tech, but I've pretty much accepted that with Who. Were the spherical aliens with kids' voices supposed to be menancing and sinister? They failed to be.

[andrewducker]

The thing is - I felt they could have been, with different direction. Their lines could have been read 10% more seriously and been 500% scarier.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's the same thing with the little girl in Family of Blood.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

[fba.livejournal.com]

My heart sunk when I realised that Graham Harper wasn't directing all three parts of the finale...

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I still haven't forgiven Graham Harper for allowing Roger Lloyd Pack to overact his little heart out as John Lumic.

[fba.livejournal.com]

Well given how awful the source material was I can't imagine anyone else who could have made RotC/AoS remotely watchable (and despite the bad script and RLP's scenery chewing I actually enjoyed the episodes, especially watched as a single unit).

Simm's performance in The Sound of Drums was terribly uneven, I do hope he is toned down in the finale and actually has some menace.

I'm with you on Gallifrey though - I like the way they tapped into a post-Hogworts styling but still kept the mythos.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Simm's performance in The Sound of Drums was terribly uneven

This may be the first time we have agreed on anything about Doctor Who, ever!

[fba.livejournal.com]

Martha > Rose too surely?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Oh, good point.

Are you finding this as unnerving as I am?

(I also think season three is the best season, overall.)

[fba.livejournal.com]

(I also think season three is the best season, overall.)

We may agree on this too. S1 had a lot of feet-finding and S2 had Rose being calf-eyed and annoying while S3 is, IMO, is mainly solid with occasional flashes of brilliance. Moffat is writing another two parter in S4 and there are hints that he may be doing our-universe Cybermen (i.e. more creepy and manipulative than stompy - you've still got my video of Tomb of the Cybermen which would give you an idea of what Cybermen *can* be like). I'd really like to see Moffat tackle some Classic monsters.

[fba.livejournal.com]

You know that bit in 'Last of the Timelords' that didn't suck (Martha/Tom/DoctorTurncoat capturing a Toclafane)? Graham Harper directed that bit as the main director for the block had been hospitalised. I also hear he is directing five episodes next year. This makes me happy.