Postby Hawkaris » 30 Jun 2008, 10:34
I'll start with the good:
Sarah Jane Smith's reaction to the Daleks. That was genuine terror right there, and it actually sent a shiver up my spine.
Grandpa Noble. He stayed calm in the face of danger, examined the situation, and put together a plan. The plan failed ("My Vision Is Not Impaired!") but it was a great bit to watch.
The fanwank. What can I say? I'm a fan.
Dalek Caan. The insane Dalek was quite entertaining, and I loved the crazy laugh he had. Also, the psychic powers have been fairly low-key, which is good. I'd hate to have the next episode completely ruined just by paying attention to this one. The Doctor as "The three-fold man" and "Everlasting death" to a companion are the two I can recall.
Richard Dawkins' cameo.
The epicness of everything. The spent the entire season setting this episode up, with little bits and pieces everywhere: The Medusa Cascade, Pyrovillia, and so forth. And the bad guys need to steal 26 planets. That's a pretty epic goal. I wonder what it's all for. Probably for destroying all of existence. Bad guys seem to like that one.
And now the bad:
The Shadow Proclamation. A powerful and feared group that enforces order through space and time. Invoking it is enough to get invading fleets to halt in their tracks. In this episode, we discover their great and powerful secret: it's really just a handful of rhinos and a creepy old albino.
The Bees. RTD wasn't really going anywhere with the bees; it was just a throw-away comment he kept sticking in there, initially. But he needed Donna to look useful at least once this episode, so the Doctor was dumbed down to painful levels just so she could appear helpful. See also: So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Jack's wrist-teleporter. All it took was two random numbers to get the thing working again. All Jack needed to do was sit down one evening and try out each of the hundred combinations until he could warp in time and space again. Good thing there were no occasions in Torchwood where that would have saved the lives of his team, because... wait... damn.
Rose's teleportation. She has the ability to warp directly to the Doctor (as we learn at the end of the episode), but first she has to wander around on foot for fourty minutes. Good thing, too, or she wouldn't have been present for the exposition sequences.
Martha's teleportation suit. "We need to find the Doctor. Everyone wants me to find the Doctor. My coworkers are giving their lives so I can find the Doctor. I can teleport to wherever I will myself to be." So she heads home.
Martha's pocket-sized Deus ex Machina. I see your little reset button, there. Don't think I don't.
The Doctor's regeneration. It's not going to last, if it goes through at all. Tennant is signed on for the next season, and besides, The Library established that this form is going to have a fling with the archaeologist. Either RTD is going to give the Doctor some hitherto unknown regeneration powers, or else a giant reset-button is going to need to be pressed at the end of the episode. See above.
The spin-off companions. They all have their own shows outside of this, so they aren't allowed to be killed off, injured, or even emotionally effected in this episode. How depressing.
Bringing back Davros. So, a single Dalek's emergency temporal shift (a mere life-raft compared to the awesome power that is the TARDIS), is strong enough to break through the time-lock on the Time War and rescue one of its most pivotal players? Right.
Bringing back the Daleks. It was good when it was one lone Dalek that managed to not get caught up in the time-lock. But now the time-lock is doing nothing but keeping the Time Lords and Ladies out of the picture. Is there any bad guy that didn't manage survive the Time War?
Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister. Listen, as the running gag finally wears out. And what was with her logic in this episode? "I stand by my decision to blow up that ship because the Doctor can't always be here to make everything better. Like now! See! I was right! So here's the plan: find the Doctor! He'll make everything better!"
HJ-FPM's Magical Psychic Invisible Communication Network. Seriously: what?
The mass-prayer-phone-call-ring things. Does anybody remember last season, when everyone held hands and wished with all their heart that the Doctor would save them? Then, suddenly, Jesus-Doctor was reborn and smote the evil Master! Nobody must've told RTD that that idea was absolute crap, because he did it again, but with cell phones.
The bad clearly outweighs the good in this episode. Davies never learned that the first episode of a two-parter has to do more than just provide set-up and exposition for the next episode. He also never learned how to write a competent sci-fi script, it seems. I actually started to raise my hopes after Midnight, but alas: crushing disappointment.
Well, here's to hoping that the set-up goes somewhere good next week.
