New Who Review for Cold War

[puppetmaker]

This is what we call a bottle show. It is very limited in terms of sets and places that you go. In this case we find ourselves on a submarine about to do a 20,000 leagues dive and we all know how well that goes.

Overall I enjoyed it. I like how they played the alien of the piece (more on that behind the cut). The pacing was pretty good. There were a few silly moments and David Warner can be used for 6 degrees of separation in science fiction and fantasy TV and movies like his successor Mark Sheppard (although you could say the same thing about Mark’s Dad).

Using the 1980s cold war motif was fun. I can remember that time and what happened shortly after that. I think there are a lot of 20 somethings that this is all old history or stuff they read about in passing.



So we have another version of “how I am speaking fill-in-the-blank language”. Nicely written but I liked the one with Donna better.

I couldn’t stop laughing that the only thing about the future that Boffin wanted to know is if his favorite band was still together. The answer is yes and they had a new album out last year and a tour this year. Duran Duran was also referenced and I can’t get “Hungry like the Wolf” out of my head. I find it funny that he had a yellow Sony walkman at his waist. I had one of those back then. Even had the same belt clip.

The Ice Warriors reappear and they did something different with them. The Doctor admitting that he had never seen one outside of its armor was interesting. I do like that they didn’t show us the creature as a whole but gave us a hint of what they look like.

This is another could have been any Doctor episodes and I don’t mind that. I could see Troughton, Victoria, and Jamie handling this just fine probably with close to the same solution.

Anyone else think the Doctor is relying on his sonic screwdriver a little too much?

Comments

[jenny_evergreen]

After this episode, I am now certain that a Certain Someone spent the time between seasons watching all the old episodes. I am totally down with that. This was a new episode of classic Dr. Who and that's exactly what I want!
I agree, though, about the sonic screwdriver. Hopefully they will ease up on it a bit.

Too Much Sonic

[ngech.livejournal.com]

9 wasn't too bad, but 10 really ramped up the screwdriver addiction. Time Crash was fabulous for so many reasons, one highlight was 5's glare at the offered screwdriver. But yeah it's become way too much of a crutch for writers.

[thinkum]

It's (the screwdriver) become too much of a wonder tool. Can't figure out how to solve a script problem? Wave the sonic, and you're done.

I really enjoyed the episode, though. Warner was wonderful, and the creepy hands reaching down were excellent.

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

I immediately picked up on Hungry Like The Wolf and started hoping that this has nothing to do with Rose!

The Doctor being seemingly superfluous and generally just getting in the way was fun.

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Yes, wholeheartedly agree about the screwdriver. It's been driving me nuts--it's like having a pocket Q or something. Argh, hate lazy writer crutches--and so much else about the show is still so well done that it really sticks out.

Otherwise, yeah, enjoyed the ep.