Doctor Who

[coalescent]

I semi-agree with saxon_b: that was much better than it had any right to be. (Intriguingly, Saxon thinks it's without major holes while ajr thinks it has "staggering flaws in plot and logic. Settle this like gentlemen, sirs.) I thought the comedy elements (particularly the sequence when Donna and the Doctor are talkng at each other through the windows) actually worked, by and large, while the dramatic elements (particularly the conversation as Donna is getting into the TARDIS) fell thumpingly flat, a problem I attribute about 50/50 to Russell T Davies and Catherine Tate. They were also trying a bit hard to make us sympathetic to Donna; to quote bibliolicious, no, giving her a nagging mum isn't enough to do it. But in a weird way, I can now sort of see how this Doctor/Companion relationship could work, in a wacky-buddy way, which I certainly couldn't after "The Runaway Bride". I just don't think it will work. As for the plot: yes, fad-diet companies are evil, we get the message. veggiesu said somewhere that the episode would have been much more effective if the adipose had been "slug-like and squirmy"; I actually think the "they're children, it's not their fault how they came into existence" line worked better, and I don't see how they could have gone the disgustoid route without implying that fat is evil, rather than the company. Plus, they were cute.

If the Nanny hadn't gone splat at the end of the episode, I would have had money on hers being the hand that had picked up the Master's ring.

Oh, and dear Rose: STAY VANISHED.

Comments

[grahamsleight.livejournal.com]

Oh, and dear Rose: STAY VANISHED.

No chance.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I know. *sigh*

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

I think my problem with the "cute" things was that were deliberately, manipulatively cute - this is human fat that's just morphed out of someone's body, and it looks like a toy. For those of us whose worlds do not revolve around cuddly toys and fluffy pink kittens it was a bit cringe-inducing. More than a bit. Plus, I think the "they're only children, it's not their fault" schtick would have worked better if it was juxtaposed with a rather more creepy embodiment of living tissue. As it was, it just undercut all the tension of the "Stacey dies" scene.

This was yet another example of the way that Who often suffers from a cartoonish execution of what could be an interesting idea.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I see your point, but as cartoonish things in Who go they worked better for me than most, is all.

[saxonb.livejournal.com]

Absolutely- and while the idea of them being Cronenberg-style flesh maggots rather than cute-and-cuddly might be interesting, it ain't the kind of thing you're going to get on a Saturday night at 6.20pm. For better or worse, Who is a family show, and doing a cartoony version of Body Horror ain't doing too bad...

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

Whereas for me, they're the thing that almost made me quit the episode part way through. And I coped with The Running Pig ;-p

[(Anonymous)]

The thing that almost made me quit was that every time they appeared my sister said "AWWWW!!!" very loudly...

Why do so many episodes end up with the Doctor furiously trying to defuse the Plot Device?

[sharp-blue.livejournal.com]

I am not "Anonymous"! Merely unexpectedly logged out.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Because otherwise the Plot Device would kill everyone. Duh.

[saxonb.livejournal.com]

To clear up my 'without major holes' comment – I'd fully agree that some of the smaller bits of plot mechanics (like 1,000,000 names printed on about twelve sheets of A4) are incredibly weak, but most of that was the kind of stuff that (at least for me) leaps out at you later, once the episode is over. The kind of plot holes I've gotten used to with New Who (and particularly Torchwood) are the kind of out of nowhere 'WTF' lapses in logic that leave me goggling at the screen, and there wasn't anything like that in Partners in Crime. It was OTT in places and very silly, but on its own cartoony terms, it worked.

Have to admit- couldn't stand the comedy, and liked almost all the dramatic stuff. Tate is actually good when she's dialled down and not being given obvious comedy to do, and while there are aspects of the Doctor/Donna that could get vexxing, I liked most of the set-up, and also the fact that the Martha situation has had a definite effect on the way the Doctor does things.

[ajr.livejournal.com]

I may have lapsed, slightly, into hyperbole. I blame the RTD influence that lingers slightly after watching one of his episodes.

Even so, there as enough stuff that leapt out at me right away that bothered me. I didn't buy for one minute that a Health and Safety person would get the freedom of the building they did, the insanity of blasting down a door they could've just opened, the wretched sonic screwdriver shennanigans, and the fact that the Big Bad didn't have any motivation at all for doing what she did that I can recall. Was it ever explained why she grew the babies on Earth even though it was illegal? Or are we just to assume that she was pigshit stupid?

I will say that, as openers go, at least it wasn't as bad as New Earth. Now that was an episode that made me want to stab my brain out. Repeatedly.

I would agree with you on one point, at least. Tate isn't a bad actress, per se. It's just that she lapses into sketch show mode for the comedy bits.