voyage of the damned
Dec. 28th, 2007 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseFinally saw Voyage of the Damned last night. Spoilers abound within the LJ-cut!!!
So... just because I feel like I’ve said this a million times doesn’t make it any less true, and it can do with repeating: I really want to like everything that happens in Doctor Who. I really, truly do. I walk into every episode hoping it will be as fantastic as the ones I fell in love with.
This time, I was disappointed. Worse, I was disappointed for reasons that I totally hadn’t expected.
See, the thing is... I really expected to dislike Kylie Minogue. I was all rared up for it, actually - I really didn’t like the idea of her being cast in it to begin with, and I only got more annoyed when, in the lead-up, all the interviews seemed to focus exclusively on her and how fantastic she was and how much everybody loved her. Speaking as a person who knows a grand total of one Kylie Minogue song (which I’ve been getting stuck in my head every time her name comes up lately, thank-you-very-much)... who the hell cares? I’m not watching the damned show for her, and I sure as heck was not reading each and every press release and behind-the-scenes thingy for her. I read them for the show. So I was getting a tad bit annoyed with her over the last few months. But I was determined to give her a chance, and you know what? I loved Astrid. I found her cute without being irritating, endearing without it being an obvious effort, and likeable without... well, without having a gigantic sign painted on her that read “YOU LIKE THIS PERSON.” I hate when writers are too obvious about that kind of thing, and thank goodness they avoided all of that. Or possibly I was just so desperate to be happy with the episode that I ignored them doing it. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. I liked her. How can I hate a woman who runs and grabs a box, sets it down on the floor, hops on top and then kisses a guy?
I also liked... dang, I can’t remember either the character’s name or the actor, which is embarrassing because apparently he’s very well-known. Er. The old guy, the one who was a sham of a professor. He was very cute, anyway, and, unsurprisingly, very obviously a fantastic actor. Yay. And I liked Alonzo! How the hell do you spell that? Anyway, he was adorable and very earnest and he screamed like a girl, and I really wish the Doctor’d taken him along as his companion, because it’s been a while since he’s had a boy-companion, and Alonzo struck me as exactly the sort he ought to have. It would have been adorable. But of course the Doctor had to be so WOE TRAUMATIZED by the death of Astrid (which, of course, was a foregone conclusion the minute she mentioned wanting to travel with him) that he decided he’s going to BE ALONE, DAMN IT, because it’s BETTER THAT WAY. ANGST.
(On the subject of us not having boy companions anymore... For a show that a lot of people accuse of having an OMG GAY AGENDA!, this show has surprisingly little gay. Like, um, none. Other than Jack (who’s gone) and the Master (who was crazy and now, also gone). I’m not complaining, exactly, because I am emphatically not one of those fangirls who watch things just for the gay, it’s just sort of funny given that, honestly, I see more homoerotic subtext in the old Who than I do in new, overt Master/Doctor near-phone-sex aside. And I’m sure Pertwee and Delgado probably had some moments that could stand up to that one and be proud. Aaaanyway. That’s a rant for another day.)
...Okay, so I harshed my own buzz a bit, there. I was trying to start out with the good things. Umm. Let’s just finish those up real fast, then. Loved the special effects, loved the poor Tardis wheeling off into space and landing (of course) in England. She knows where home is, poor sweetheart. I swear, when the Doctor landed on Earth back in the 1960s, the Tardis imprinted on England like a fricking baby duckling. She thinks it’s home, and that’s adorable. I also liked... hmm. I’m sure there was something else. Just assume there was something else, okay?
Oh, the song! I love the song Murray wrote for this ep. But I’m kind of a silly Murray Gold fangirl, so I guess that goes without saying. Also, I was very happy that it wasn’t Kylie/Astrid singing the song! Because that would have been seriously lame and breaking the fourth wall, and I hate that. So yay on them for not doing it.
One little teeny, eensy weensy thing about Astrid? Did she really have to be blonde? Would it have killed the production team to go with, I dunno, brunette for a change? Given I’m reasonably certain that’s Kylie Minogue’s natural hair color? Or were we all just really jonesing for another run of The Doctor and his Working Class Bottle BlondeLove Interest Companion? I love blondes as much as the next girl who more or less still considers herself to be one despite annoying darkening follicles, but y’know... seriously. Patterns. A good writer recognizes the patterns in his or her work and tries not to be too fricking predictable.
But the blonde thing is hardly the worst example of that, so let’s not be unkind to good old Kylie, shall we? Maybe she just likes being a blonde. Let’s move on to more interesting (and irritating) trends that Davies just can’t seem to let go of. Like how, for instance, there were a total of two black people on the whole of the Titanic II - a laughing-and-arguably-stupid low-class fat guy wearing a dumb and brightly colored outfit (if you’ve seen the more recent Nutty Professor, or really any of that sort of movie, the archetype should be pretty familiar)... and a kitchen boy. What’s the matter, Davies? Did you not have time to name them both Clyde and mention that their fathers had abandoned them, their parents had died, and left them to be raised by their grandmothers? Or did someone finally smack you on the hand for that one and tell you that really you should know better? I didn’t think so. I yearn (literally pine) for the days when the worst I had to put up with on the race docket was watching Joss Whedon inadvertently blow his politics out of the water with well-intentioned but brainless color-blind casting on Firefly, where he somehow ended up with a universe that was supposed to be heavily Chinese... and no Asian people aside from a handful of extras I could literally count on one hand in any given episode. Oops. Davies makes Whedon look like the poster-boy for racial unity in casting. Way to go, Davies.
Another thing that’s really getting on my nerves... can we go just one fricking episode without the Doctor flying? Please? I know he only did it in “Last of the Time Lords,” but... seriously. It’s a pet peeve, okay? I admit it. I hate when characters fly or float or otherwise are airborn without obvious supports, and robotic angels do not count. The god thing? Getting annoying. I love to watch the Religious Right panic, sure, and I realize that we’re dealing with the writer who posited the answer to the Second Coming as for his best friend/romantic interest to kill him with rat poison (incidentally, I agreed with the idea behind that, but I’m not going to go into it right now), but... honestly. The Doctor = a god thing is a whooole hell of a lot more interesting when you KEEP IT SUBTLE. I know. Subtle is hard. Especially, it’s beginning to seem, for Davies. But just... give it a try or something, okay? Thank you.
(No more glowing, either - it’s no less irritating. Glowing is allowable during regenerations. Under any other circumstances, I think it should probably be taken away as an option.)
Big surprise, the low class people die. Color me shocked. I suppose we’re meant to applaud him for giving them a Moment before hand and for letting them nuzzle (what, can’t handle an actual kiss between two fat people?), and I admit that I was pleased that Floo... er... Floon? Anyway, I was happy the woman made something useful of her death, but...
...Okay, get ready for another rant.
Why is it always the women? Why? Why do the women always have to sacrifice themselves? Am I being unreasonable here? But in this episode alone we have Astrid, Floon-or-whatever, and ... a red cybernetic Oompa-Loompa alien. Who talked like... I don’t even know what, other than a stereotype. It could be that I’m just a teensy bit oversensitive, but it made me a little pouty. Anyway, one way or another, the only people who survive this thing are the Men. Sigh.
The angels had the same voice as the Ood, which was kind of cool because I liked that guy’s voice, but at the same time was also really a little bit distracting, because every time they talked my brain said “Ood!” That’s not really a serious complaint, just something I noticed. Mostly I’m still pissed about the Fire and Light and Flying Doctor Of Vengeance, Raised Up By the Angels. Um. Yeah. And this isn’t a blasphemy issue - I have long very seriously considered writing an essay about how fandom blurs the line between religion and entertainment, using New Who as a particular example. But... Subtlety? Or maybe just a slightly less crass and repetitive version of things? I’m getting a little sick of Doctor-as-Saviour, much as I know he’ll always be the lower-case saviour. I’m quite happy with the lower-case. It’s the caps that bother me.
The pacing was iffy. The plot was 'meh.' The villain... was a three-way cross between Davros, a Futurama knock-off, and Doctor Evil of Austin Powers fame, and managed to be a lot less interesting than all three of those (which is saying a lot, considering how boring I find Davros). We only barely had enough time to get to know Astrid before she bit the big one, and found out only token details beyond the cardboard-cut-out-ness of most of the other characters (excepting Old Famous Guy Whose Name I Can't Remember, because he rocked enough to pull it off anyway). The Host, compared to the Evil Santas, were seriously lame minions. And worst of all, they forgot to give us enough time to be happy. That's my favorite thing about Doctor Who, usually - amid all the angst and terrible things, there's always unbearably wonderful cuteness. Where the heck did that go?
That’s probably enough review. I’ll be over here, really seriously hoping that the rest of Series Four isn’t as disappointing as this was. And also kind of very seriously hoping that the rumors about Steven Moffat taking over after Davies leaves are true, and that it happens reasonably soon. He’s done good things - fantastic things! - in bringing the show back. But I’m getting the feeling that it’s time for someone else to take the wheel for a while.
If for no better reason than that we can all start getting irritated at some other writer’s foibles. God knows, none of them are without fault, but it’s always nice to change for a new set.
All in all? Not my least favorite episode over all (that distinction has to go to, hmm, probably "Love and Monsters"), but definitely my least favorite of the Christmas specials, and pretty low on my list over-all.
Edit: Fixed HTML. Gah.
So... just because I feel like I’ve said this a million times doesn’t make it any less true, and it can do with repeating: I really want to like everything that happens in Doctor Who. I really, truly do. I walk into every episode hoping it will be as fantastic as the ones I fell in love with.
This time, I was disappointed. Worse, I was disappointed for reasons that I totally hadn’t expected.
See, the thing is... I really expected to dislike Kylie Minogue. I was all rared up for it, actually - I really didn’t like the idea of her being cast in it to begin with, and I only got more annoyed when, in the lead-up, all the interviews seemed to focus exclusively on her and how fantastic she was and how much everybody loved her. Speaking as a person who knows a grand total of one Kylie Minogue song (which I’ve been getting stuck in my head every time her name comes up lately, thank-you-very-much)... who the hell cares? I’m not watching the damned show for her, and I sure as heck was not reading each and every press release and behind-the-scenes thingy for her. I read them for the show. So I was getting a tad bit annoyed with her over the last few months. But I was determined to give her a chance, and you know what? I loved Astrid. I found her cute without being irritating, endearing without it being an obvious effort, and likeable without... well, without having a gigantic sign painted on her that read “YOU LIKE THIS PERSON.” I hate when writers are too obvious about that kind of thing, and thank goodness they avoided all of that. Or possibly I was just so desperate to be happy with the episode that I ignored them doing it. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. I liked her. How can I hate a woman who runs and grabs a box, sets it down on the floor, hops on top and then kisses a guy?
I also liked... dang, I can’t remember either the character’s name or the actor, which is embarrassing because apparently he’s very well-known. Er. The old guy, the one who was a sham of a professor. He was very cute, anyway, and, unsurprisingly, very obviously a fantastic actor. Yay. And I liked Alonzo! How the hell do you spell that? Anyway, he was adorable and very earnest and he screamed like a girl, and I really wish the Doctor’d taken him along as his companion, because it’s been a while since he’s had a boy-companion, and Alonzo struck me as exactly the sort he ought to have. It would have been adorable. But of course the Doctor had to be so WOE TRAUMATIZED by the death of Astrid (which, of course, was a foregone conclusion the minute she mentioned wanting to travel with him) that he decided he’s going to BE ALONE, DAMN IT, because it’s BETTER THAT WAY. ANGST.
(On the subject of us not having boy companions anymore... For a show that a lot of people accuse of having an OMG GAY AGENDA!, this show has surprisingly little gay. Like, um, none. Other than Jack (who’s gone) and the Master (who was crazy and now, also gone). I’m not complaining, exactly, because I am emphatically not one of those fangirls who watch things just for the gay, it’s just sort of funny given that, honestly, I see more homoerotic subtext in the old Who than I do in new, overt Master/Doctor near-phone-sex aside. And I’m sure Pertwee and Delgado probably had some moments that could stand up to that one and be proud. Aaaanyway. That’s a rant for another day.)
...Okay, so I harshed my own buzz a bit, there. I was trying to start out with the good things. Umm. Let’s just finish those up real fast, then. Loved the special effects, loved the poor Tardis wheeling off into space and landing (of course) in England. She knows where home is, poor sweetheart. I swear, when the Doctor landed on Earth back in the 1960s, the Tardis imprinted on England like a fricking baby duckling. She thinks it’s home, and that’s adorable. I also liked... hmm. I’m sure there was something else. Just assume there was something else, okay?
Oh, the song! I love the song Murray wrote for this ep. But I’m kind of a silly Murray Gold fangirl, so I guess that goes without saying. Also, I was very happy that it wasn’t Kylie/Astrid singing the song! Because that would have been seriously lame and breaking the fourth wall, and I hate that. So yay on them for not doing it.
One little teeny, eensy weensy thing about Astrid? Did she really have to be blonde? Would it have killed the production team to go with, I dunno, brunette for a change? Given I’m reasonably certain that’s Kylie Minogue’s natural hair color? Or were we all just really jonesing for another run of The Doctor and his Working Class Bottle Blonde
But the blonde thing is hardly the worst example of that, so let’s not be unkind to good old Kylie, shall we? Maybe she just likes being a blonde. Let’s move on to more interesting (and irritating) trends that Davies just can’t seem to let go of. Like how, for instance, there were a total of two black people on the whole of the Titanic II - a laughing-and-arguably-stupid low-class fat guy wearing a dumb and brightly colored outfit (if you’ve seen the more recent Nutty Professor, or really any of that sort of movie, the archetype should be pretty familiar)... and a kitchen boy. What’s the matter, Davies? Did you not have time to name them both Clyde and mention that their fathers had abandoned them, their parents had died, and left them to be raised by their grandmothers? Or did someone finally smack you on the hand for that one and tell you that really you should know better? I didn’t think so. I yearn (literally pine) for the days when the worst I had to put up with on the race docket was watching Joss Whedon inadvertently blow his politics out of the water with well-intentioned but brainless color-blind casting on Firefly, where he somehow ended up with a universe that was supposed to be heavily Chinese... and no Asian people aside from a handful of extras I could literally count on one hand in any given episode. Oops. Davies makes Whedon look like the poster-boy for racial unity in casting. Way to go, Davies.
Another thing that’s really getting on my nerves... can we go just one fricking episode without the Doctor flying? Please? I know he only did it in “Last of the Time Lords,” but... seriously. It’s a pet peeve, okay? I admit it. I hate when characters fly or float or otherwise are airborn without obvious supports, and robotic angels do not count. The god thing? Getting annoying. I love to watch the Religious Right panic, sure, and I realize that we’re dealing with the writer who posited the answer to the Second Coming as for his best friend/romantic interest to kill him with rat poison (incidentally, I agreed with the idea behind that, but I’m not going to go into it right now), but... honestly. The Doctor = a god thing is a whooole hell of a lot more interesting when you KEEP IT SUBTLE. I know. Subtle is hard. Especially, it’s beginning to seem, for Davies. But just... give it a try or something, okay? Thank you.
(No more glowing, either - it’s no less irritating. Glowing is allowable during regenerations. Under any other circumstances, I think it should probably be taken away as an option.)
Big surprise, the low class people die. Color me shocked. I suppose we’re meant to applaud him for giving them a Moment before hand and for letting them nuzzle (what, can’t handle an actual kiss between two fat people?), and I admit that I was pleased that Floo... er... Floon? Anyway, I was happy the woman made something useful of her death, but...
...Okay, get ready for another rant.
Why is it always the women? Why? Why do the women always have to sacrifice themselves? Am I being unreasonable here? But in this episode alone we have Astrid, Floon-or-whatever, and ... a red cybernetic Oompa-Loompa alien. Who talked like... I don’t even know what, other than a stereotype. It could be that I’m just a teensy bit oversensitive, but it made me a little pouty. Anyway, one way or another, the only people who survive this thing are the Men. Sigh.
The angels had the same voice as the Ood, which was kind of cool because I liked that guy’s voice, but at the same time was also really a little bit distracting, because every time they talked my brain said “Ood!” That’s not really a serious complaint, just something I noticed. Mostly I’m still pissed about the Fire and Light and Flying Doctor Of Vengeance, Raised Up By the Angels. Um. Yeah. And this isn’t a blasphemy issue - I have long very seriously considered writing an essay about how fandom blurs the line between religion and entertainment, using New Who as a particular example. But... Subtlety? Or maybe just a slightly less crass and repetitive version of things? I’m getting a little sick of Doctor-as-Saviour, much as I know he’ll always be the lower-case saviour. I’m quite happy with the lower-case. It’s the caps that bother me.
The pacing was iffy. The plot was 'meh.' The villain... was a three-way cross between Davros, a Futurama knock-off, and Doctor Evil of Austin Powers fame, and managed to be a lot less interesting than all three of those (which is saying a lot, considering how boring I find Davros). We only barely had enough time to get to know Astrid before she bit the big one, and found out only token details beyond the cardboard-cut-out-ness of most of the other characters (excepting Old Famous Guy Whose Name I Can't Remember, because he rocked enough to pull it off anyway). The Host, compared to the Evil Santas, were seriously lame minions. And worst of all, they forgot to give us enough time to be happy. That's my favorite thing about Doctor Who, usually - amid all the angst and terrible things, there's always unbearably wonderful cuteness. Where the heck did that go?
That’s probably enough review. I’ll be over here, really seriously hoping that the rest of Series Four isn’t as disappointing as this was. And also kind of very seriously hoping that the rumors about Steven Moffat taking over after Davies leaves are true, and that it happens reasonably soon. He’s done good things - fantastic things! - in bringing the show back. But I’m getting the feeling that it’s time for someone else to take the wheel for a while.
If for no better reason than that we can all start getting irritated at some other writer’s foibles. God knows, none of them are without fault, but it’s always nice to change for a new set.
All in all? Not my least favorite episode over all (that distinction has to go to, hmm, probably "Love and Monsters"), but definitely my least favorite of the Christmas specials, and pretty low on my list over-all.
Edit: Fixed HTML. Gah.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 11:22 pm (UTC)Oh, Davies. His gender politics are really getting on my nerves lately.
As for the poor Doctor, he just needs to learn not to flipping say "I promise." You'd think he'd know better, by now.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 11:36 pm (UTC)But yeah, it's interesting to look at different writer/creators bodies of work and find the running themes. I wonder sometimes if they're even consciously aware of it. Whedon and Spielberg both have absent father issues, while Davies seems to have a Woman As Martyr thing. And Whedon and Davies both have a serious thing about relationships = angst. Just once I would like to see a happy, loving couple who stay a happy, loving couple without one of them dying tragically/needlessly, or breaking up because of a Torrid Affair (TM).
no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 11:48 pm (UTC)The relationship thing is definitely annoying, but at the same time I can sort of forgive it in the sense that happy loving couples don't make the kind of DRAMA that writers are expected to produce on a regular basis. Still, it'd be seriously nice to see a few examples. Not everybody has to be the center of a personal whirlwind of romantic angst.
Oh, and don't forget Rowling and her Mother Sacrifices For Child complex. Can't let the boys get all the glory in the realm of writers and their bad habits. ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-29 10:28 am (UTC)And then Serenity happened. Much as I love the film, I'm still not sure I can forgive Joss for what he did to Zoe & Wash.
What You Said about Rowling. I would have mentioned her Sacrificial Mother fixation, except I was limiting myself to film & TV. Oh, and let's not forget her annoying insistence that nobody matures past high school. I mean, WTF? Nobody moves on and grows up, they just keep repeating the same patterns they did as kids. It's pathetic.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 04:48 pm (UTC)Yeah, the maturity thing is a real pet peeve of mine in her books, too. It makes sense for Sirius and Bellatrix, because neither of them had a chance to mature, but for the rest it's just lazy storytelling.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-29 07:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 04:46 pm (UTC)...I'll have to log out and take a look at what you mean by the "inappropriate for twelve-year-olds" tag. That shouldn't be getting in the way of anything, as I understand the system, and I can't see the darned things when I'm logged in. Hmm.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-01 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-02 04:49 pm (UTC)...Or, on a more fun possibility, maybe I should just put something inappropriate for minors in all my posts. That could be fun! XD
no subject
Date: 2007-12-29 07:28 am (UTC)Sorry it didn't live up to your expectations.
Darn. Have a wonderful time this weekend, by the way.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 04:44 pm (UTC)I did, thank you! It was great seeing everybody.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-29 07:33 pm (UTC)Alonzo = best cute win ever! Let's give it to the sweet midshipman who kept going and did his best to keep the ship alive! ♥
I liked most of the characters, too, and I was really disappointed by Astrid dying. I. Seriously, can't we have one girl who lives and decides that yeah, sure might be exciting, but I'm gonna stay somewhere safe. (Cause Astrid living with the old prof. as a daughter thing in a cute house would have been adorable. Y/N?)
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the season, and hoping that Donna will put some of the awesome back into Who.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 04:43 pm (UTC)Alonzo rocked. I hope he comes back, though I very much doubt he will... a girl can hope, though, right? XD