Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

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Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

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Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

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Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
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Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

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Intercept the UFO fabsite
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Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
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Love Exposure

Love Exposure
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Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
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Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
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On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
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Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Monday 2 July 2007

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds


The final episode of the third series of new “Doctor Who”, “Last of the Time Lords”, opened really distastefully to my way of thinking! There are ways of showing that the Master is a nasty piece of work other than mistreating the elderly. This is exactly what I meant when I said, in a previous post, that the series has no dignity. Verbally rude, in calling the Doctor “Gramps”, pushing the wheelchair carelessly away, in which the aged Time Lord is seated, and, worst of all, actually punching him in the face just isn’t the kind of imagery anyone in their right mind would want a ten-year-old to see. Brian Clemens had a good philosophy, when producing “The Avengers”, in that you never see a man hit a woman in any episode of that series! And, bear in mind, Steed and co was aimed at adults. Children, on the other hand, are easily influenced. What is Russell T Davies thinking of in, essentially, advocating disrespect. I really do wonder, now, how many of our young will think it’s alright to treat people in this manner. Pointing a fantasy device at someone is fine because everyone knows it’s a toy you can buy in any supermarket for a tenner but thumping the invalided Doctor was so at odds with the respect shown to war-veteran Tim at the end of “The Family of Blood”. A consistent series-policy would be nice before work begins on the next season! Thank goodness “wife” Lucy disposed of this ghastly incarnation of the Master before he degenerated even further!!

And, speaking of the lovely Lucy, I presume it was she who retrieved the Master’s signet ring from his funeral pyre at the end of the story. My first thought was that it might be Kylie Minogue but the red fingernails possibly suggest otherwise. No doubt the pop-singer is more likely to be a passenger aboard the R.M.S. Titanic considering the ridiculous cliff-hanger. The Doctor’s dialogue was almost identical, upon the unsinkable, on its maiden voyage, breaching his ship, to that of a year ago when ice-maiden Donna also made her presence felt in an equally ham-fisted way! I guess we’re all on a “Voyage of the Damned” following this show!! Apparently, Toclafane is French for “Fool the fan” but RTD must think we’re all halfwits if he honestly believes there was much that pulled the wool over our eyes. I guessed from the season’s outset that Freema’s contract was for one year only. I will put my hands up and admit I didn’t see the revelation coming of Jack and Boe being one and the same!! So, we know when, where and how the Captain dies. Thus, any forthcoming drama in series two of “Torchwood”, pertaining to his character, has dissipated even before its inception. I’ll also admit that after series two of “Doctor Who”, last year, I was in two minds as to whether or not I should watch the third, even more so after “The Runaway Bride”. I was never of such a negative frame of mind, regarding the Time Lord’s travels, at any time during the JNT era, throughout the Eighties. I tuned in, this year, in the hope that the removal of Rose and her baggage might improve the programme. Series three has been more even than the last. No tremendous high of “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit” immediately followed by the desperation of “Love & Monsters” and “Fear Her”! But, essentially, it’s still more of the same and I don’t think the series will radically alter even once the Executive Producer has left at the end of the next series. The BBC will still want more of the same. Unfortunately.

I’ve read critiques in which Russell T Davies has been favourably likened to Terry Nation, and Steven Moffat hailed as the new Robert Holmes! Terry wrote some rubbish, it’s true, and Robert’s early efforts, together with the material he wrote when he was ill, aren’t masterpieces either!! But, RTD has yet to produce anything approaching Nation’s first two Dalek serials and “Genesis of the Daleks”, or even “Planet of the Daleks” for that matter, whilst Moffat can only dream of competing with “The Talons of Weng-Chiang” and “The Caves of Androzani”. Good writing is where it’s at but the writing in the revamped “Doctor Who” has been consistently lacking. The internal logic of the “Human Nature” serial was no better or worse than that of the “Daleks in Manhattan” two-parter. At least the Daleks’ evolution didn’t collapse until the second episode whereas I felt fobbed off halfway through the opening episode of Cornell’s story. I enjoyed both but was disappointed by both as well. Graeme Harper’s direction made “42” watchable, even tense, but the slightest analysis of the story’s logic and it melts to ash, to dust, to nothingness. One can’t argue that if there was more time the writing would be better because the writers of the classic series managed with a similar time-allowance. It might be that there are more scenes to write now because it is mistakenly believed that TV drama has to move at a faster pace, than it once did, in order to compete with cinema blockbusters. But, this forgets the intimacy of the small screen medium, replacing the character development and creativity of idea of yesteryear with the empty spectacle that is this next generation of “Doctor Who”.

7 comments:

Karen said...

Did not like this episode at all. I agree, the master doesn't have to hit an old man. At least he never had to before to prove he was evil so why now? Also we were clearly meant to believe that he was also a wife beater given the fact that in this episode she was jumpy around him. Not to mention the marks under her eye. Seems more than a little below the master. People aren't stupid. They know the master is meant to be the bad guy.

Then there was the ending. I did like the idea that they used words to defeat the master rather than a gun. Seems more in keeping with the Doctor but then it turns him briefly into an angel? I get the fact that it is part of the archangel project but there was no need for the imagery.

Then there was the fact that everything went back to normal. I thought they might as well have used the line "..and then they woke up and discovered it was all a dream."

I could go on. Was surpised by Martha leaving and the idea of Captain Jack being the the Face of Boe. I was actually disappointed with the second one.

I will watch the third series though as for the most part I have enjoyed the series.

Sorry for the rant.

Karen
x

Karen said...

Ok, have just read on BBC that Marth will be back midway through season 3 and that she will be in Torchwood until the part where she rejoins the Doctor. He will still be getting a new companion for the series though.

Steve said...

I must confess that I felt dissatisified with the episode. It was like eating a meal and still feeling inexplicable hungry afterwards. Or undernourished.

I found the plotting lazy and derivative. The funeral pyre made me think of Return Of The Jedi (or more aptly the episode of Spaced when Tim burns his Star Wars memorabilia). Funeral pyres are just cliches. Horrible cliches.

The myserious ring at the end had me groaning too. Oh God. Ming The Merciless from Flash Gordon.

Then there was the doctor aged to the point where he resembed Dobbie The House Elf from Harry Potter. Bad Dobbie! Bad Dobbie! Indeed. All we needed was Hagrid to come stomping out of the Tardis.

I found the way they defeated The Master really mawkish too. I was almost gagging.

Captain Jack as the Face of Boa? Hmm. I'm sure it seemed a great idea at the time but the connection seems pointless. As you say, it removes any tension or opportunity for drama in future episodes of Torchwood.

I think RTD has got a bit lazy and self congratulatory over DW. The show needs a bit of edge. Smacking an old man in the face isn't the way to do it.

Paul said...

You're right Tim.

It was drivel. I've been pushed close to it before but LotTL actually made me angry!

That this lazily scripted tosh was considered so good they felt the need to extend it by 8 minutes! As Karen said earlier, the Master has never felt the need to punch the Doctor before - so why now?

The "if everyone thinks of the Doctor at the same time" idea was so lame it makes me wince. RTD has taken the whole Messianic/God-like Doctor too far. I'm not religious, I just think its a poor idea.

"I forgive you." Big, fat, hairy deal mate. How patronisingly kind of you, why don't you pat me on the shoulder too. The CGI Doctor-Goblin was AWFUL and all I could think of while he was in that cage was Sylvester and Tweety.

Maybe the Bad Santas will return and be The Band That Played On as the Titanic went down. Actually, I bet he's already thought of that.

Oh, I can't be bothered to go on, its too depressing. I just feel for Tennant and Agyeman, both of whom were excellent, being forced to perform this badly though out mush.

Apologies for the rant. I feel like my nine year-old self has been slowly kicked to death over the last three years.

And my Doctor Who blog has moved Tim (www.drwhotarget.wordpress.com)

Oh, one other thing:
NEVER, NEVER, TURN BACK TIME! IT IS THE BIGGEST COP-OUT EVER DEVISED AND SHOULD NEVER, EVER BE USED IN DOCTOR WHO, EVER. ARGH!

TimeWarden said...

Well-argued rants are always welcome on my page! I appreciate all of you taking the time to leave such good comments.

I'm with you all the way on this one, Karen. Suggesting the Master is a wife beater is the single biggest mistake "Doctor Who" has ever made. I did a double take when I saw the marks under Lucy's eye. I even thought, for a moment, that Alexandra Moen had met with an accident, before reasoning that make-up would've painted it out, simply in disbelief that such an undercurrent was being included. Hopefully, because the implied violence has happened offscreen, some children will be spared picking up on this theme. RTD would be better off writing for "The Bill"!

Were Hartnell still with us, I feel he would want to distance himself from this rubbish. I remember him commenting that the Pertwee era had seen the programme become too violent! But, can you imagine the Meddling Monk ever punching the first Doctor or Delgado's Master thumping the third? No, because the programme was far too sophisticated to stoop to such a level.

Steve and Paul, you're right about the way they defeated the Master. The first option with the gun would've been better than everyone chanting "Doctor", simply because at least it had some semblance of being scientific! And, forgiving the errant Time Lord is a bit like Churchill forgiving Hitler, impossible unless a really devout Christian.

I thought of Tweety, too, when the Doctor was in the cage. Now I think about it, how exactly did the Doctor escape its confines as he came over all angelic?!! My Dad thought the CGI Doctor's eyes made him look a little like Tony Robinson (in a nice way)!!!

However, "Last of the Time Lords" has left a really bitter taste which, being the last episode, is set to stay in the mouth for a good time to come.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the Master reduced to a thug who beats women and old men is not worthy of the character. The Delgado Master would have wanted the Doctor in his prime to witness his triumph (no cheating).

I also found the overall message a bit discouraging. The Doctor is useless unless he's young? When the show started, the lead was an elderly man who used a cane at times (and not just for effect). The Doctor was not a physical force but he used his mind to beat his enemies.

My problem with the resolution of this episode is that even with the magic re-set, it still took the Doctor a *year* to solve the problem. Has he ever been that ineffectual? Worse, he didn't prevent a year of torture for Martha's family, who will probably need serious therapy. I mean, if someone lunatic made you watch the destruction of an entire country, would you be ready to deal with the world? In fact, it's probably worse for them because there are no support groups for "the horrible fascist regime that no one else remembers."

TimeWarden said...

Good points, well made, anonymous.

I think we're all in need of therapy after watching "Last of the Time Lords"! Coupled with the announcement, shortly after its original UK transmission, of the return of Catherine Tate as companion Donna Noble, I seriously begin to question my loyalty to "Doctor Who"!! It's not the same programme that began in '63 and ended in '89 despite sharing the same title and, superficially, some of the same concepts.