This is a very old review of the TV MOVIE. Even though these complaints still stand, I have softened towards it. Still, I want to post it untouched as a historical document - except from amending "Tardis" to "TARDIS"
There are a lot of “fan complaints” I could make about this film, ranging from the significant (hang on, how many Laws of Time get broken in this film?) to the picky (the Master as a growling buff American with sunglasses?) These myriad nitpicks would be of some significance if not for one, basic problem – this film is lousy from anyone’s point of view. It renders any serious debate about the story’s canonicity pointless – it’s just not worth the effort. It’s like kicking a puppy with rabies because you don’t like its colour.
You can argue that this 80 minute special is Doctor Who in a nutshell. Few fans could deny the endlessly repetitive nature of the show – Doctor arrives, in ten minutes the world is in peril, in thirty minutes the Doc works out what’s wrong, before solving it in the nick of time. Has anyone ever sat through them all and counted how many times he’s actually saved the universe this way? A good episode of Doctor Who should make you forget how unlikely this all is. This film dangles neon arrows, just in case you miss it.
The Doctor meets with peril instantly, the world gets into a ridiculous level of danger within hours (what exactly is the Master’s plan again? If he destroys everything, then what’s the point of more life?), and not only have we “only thirty minutes left!”, the film is set at the Millenium so EVERYONE else is counting down as well. Obeying conventions are good, but doing it so obviously hurts – not to mention that Hollywood has done this one so many times before, just thinking about it is dull.
It’s not just the plot which is so conventional, it’s stupid. The Companion’s job is simple – she should be schooled in the arts of shouting “Doctor!” and “What is it Doctor?!”, asking exactly what the audience want to know so the Doctor can explain it for us, occasionally scream and be kidnapped, and generally be less interesting than the Doctor. And, at the same time, do it with sufficient charm to make us forget what a limited role she plays. Martha Jones, I forgive you. I have never loved you more than now, reeling from the irritating blip which was Grace Holloway.
It honestly isn’t because she gets to kiss the Doc. Honestly (see: no point in fan quibbling above). It’s because she saves the universe, gets brought back to life (hello Adric?), is relentlessly generic and has less personality than a Dalek. And because saving Doc 8 in no way makes up for her hurting Doc 7…
Something the old series does right is keep the companions in their place – they just ask questions; universe saving is left to our hero. I’m sorry Mr Writer, but showing her crying at opera is not sufficient character development to make me forget she’s a) rubbish and b) able to save the universe by crossing two wires in the TARDIS.
And yes, because she gets to kiss the Doc a further two unnecessary times (I was seriously OK with the first time, I feel I could explain that away. It was 3 and (particularly) 2 which annoyed me...) At least her hospital colleagues, who call her “amazing Grace” behind her back, seem to loathe her as much as I do.
I initially thought the Asian hero-kid was kinda interesting, but he soon fell into generic territory too. Can’t even remember his name. If this film had been made today, Shia LeBeouf would be playing that role – the cocky kid with heart who can appeal to Da Youf (see: Shia in Constantine, Justin Long in Die Hard 4, Seann William Scott in Bulletproof Monk etc)
Similarly, despite some promising moments, bad guy The Master is inevitably a disappointment. Perhaps I just couldn’t get over the American accent (not that I have anything against it in theory, but whoever thought of transplanting a show about an old bumbling British genius-gent to San Fransisco deserves to be thrown to the sci-fi geeks. It’s not just being in America – it’s the fact that it suddenly became American I object to. Suddenly, from being a supernatural Miss Marple, it’s been Hollywoodised. Also, I protest that no Doctor worth anything ever has, or ever will, use the word vacation.) He almost got it. Like the best Masters, he’s more than a match for the Doctor, one step ahead of him most of the way and comes even more close to winning than anyone else. But someone has forgotten the things which make his character unique. I can’t even define what they are – all I can tell you is that Derek Jacobi got it spot on, and this feller didn’t. And even though local Master fan Friend 4 disapproved of him giving him the Doctor a few hearty kicks, I feel if he’d taken this approach earlier on he would have got much further.
All this should sound fairly familiar to anyone who watches the show – make it up as you go plot, annoying companions, so what’s new?
Well, despite the sameness of the elements, at the same time, this isn’t TV – and boy do they go out to prove it, with varying success. Generally, the CGI is well used, a step above the cardboard and burger boxes from the original, but not too too flashy. No, it’s the direction that made me snort with derision. Compared to the old series’ static camera, Someone Who Has Been to Film School has decided to make it “cinematic” in a pathetically naive and obvious way. Look at me, Ma, I can cross cut! When they did it in Birth of a Nation it was exciting. Just because you CAN murder someone to Puccini, doesn’t mean you should. It just means you’ve seen Oldboy, Clockwork Orange, Reservoir Dogs, or one of the million other films who’ve already done it and done it better. Just because you CAN crosscut a character coming back from the dead with Frankenstein, definitely doesn’t mean you should even consider it, because it’s naff, and always has been naff. And all that Millennium countdown crap? Seriously, it might have been OK had this been made in late 1999 when “the Noughties” were so terribly chic – but it’s from 1996, three years before all that unnecessary fuss, which begs the question why?
Oh, why did we need the comedy fat guy again? I recognise him from a million other lousy movies. Surely they know that the only person allowed to provide amusement on the show is the Doctor himself.
The sorry, who? Because there’s someone I haven’t mentioned yet. Partly because you should save the best ‘til last, and partly because he’s only a minor character in the story of how an ordinary nurse saves the world. And partly because I wanted to establish quite how generic this film is.
Because that’s what Doctor Who is. Barring the odd brilliant episode brilliant for its brilliance alone (Blink anyone?), the thing that sets this show apart is the Doctor himself. But for him – say the X-men were solving all those world-ending problems instead – the stories would seem as thin as they are.
(by the by, does anyone think it’d be a really fun game to transplant “world saving teams” into other “world saving teams” plots? Partly because the Doc would whup Torchwood by saving the 21st Century When It All Changes far more efficiently than them, and partly because it would be fun to see how Heroes, The X-Files, The Men in Black plus the entire Marvel/DC back catalogue fared in the face of the same dangers. Incidentally, if I was in mortal peril, I’d be crossing my fingers for anyone except Torchwood (because they’re incompetent) or Constantine (because he has a bad track record with dead friends and allies, and a 50% survival and sanity rate is the closest Hellblazer gets to a “happy ending”. Also, the person in trouble usually ends up betrayed, dead and/or eaten by demons in hell…) Most Doctors would probably be OK, but I’d be slightly alarmed if a modern one showed up – they waste extras and supporting characters at quite a dramatic rate.)
And it’s the sheer loveliness of both Doctors involved which makes me think it isn’t all bad. The TARDIS interior is glorious – far more cosy and lived in than the others*. Gothic is good.
*On a scale of one to three, where 1 is “David Tennant is da best and I luvvvv Rose” and 3 is “I’ve seen every episode at least three times, read all the spin offs, own all the annuals and have built my own Dalek”, I score a two. Or maybe 1.75, but I’m working on a two.
I love the fact he has a spare key – in fact, I love the fact the key design has stayed the same (mostly because I watched Planet of the Spiders, featuring said key, directly before this mess) – beats the modern key style by some way. I love the fact he appears to have bags of gold just lying about.
And even if this Master, companion and adventure are enough to make us envy a period of brief amnesia ourselves, this Doctor, like all his predecessors, lift the story out of the dirt whenever he opens his mouth. It’s a pity he never got to stretch his talents over a proper run, because it is likely he would have proved fantastic (maybe, before Paul McGann gets to old, they could start filming some adventures with him at the same time as the normal series, and slip them in chronologically? It’d allow for a more cohesive continuity with the future, it would be fun to see history building up in the background. You don’t even need to do the Time War (in fact, please don’t…), just have it lingering ahead. You could do it in a completely different style. Why are you pratting around with Torchwood? HERE’s your Doctor Who for adults, just waiting to happen. The film has set a more leisurely, dark style already – now trash all the “modern” elements and create a romantic epic 8th Doctor arc, to contrast with the fast-paced-editing, moping and very-hipness of the modern stuff…)
In a timeline sense, it’s horrible to think that Sylvester McCoy settling down to read his book is the last moment of proper happy piece and quiet he’s going to have for at least three regenerations (messy deaths, Time Wars, destructions of Gallifreys, bereavements, returns of Masters, departures of Masters and whatever emotional grindmill Russell T. Davies has planned for series 4 are all in his immediate future). I have a funny feeling the Doctor actually had something to do with H. G. Wells, but it could just be a hunch. Still, it is nice (wrong word…different) to have a Doctor killed by accident, not in the midst of saving something (more heroes should go this way).
There are lots of good things in here, but they are buried very deep beneath every thing which I could conceivably criticise. I can’t forgive it for cruelly exposing everything we’ve always secretly known was lousy about this show. You may, at this point, be saying “all you’ve really done so far is criticise it from a fan viewpoint when you initially claimed this was pointless!”
True. I have been – bad Malcassairo! That still doesn’t mean you should risk it. This isn’t a Constantine situation, where the fans nitpick and groan about what is basically a solid film – only a fan could find anything redeemable here at all. It may just be the worst film I’ve ever seen. It’s up there with The Bulletproof Monk for stupidity and lack of imagination.
-->Overall analysis: Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi show on TV. Unless you’re a completist fan, in which case it’s (unfortunately) a must see, there’s over 80 years of decent episodes you could be watching instead. Start somewhere else, anywhere else. Even Daleks in Manhattan is better than this.
Showing posts with label Eight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eight. Show all posts
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sword of Orion
There’s nothing wrong with Sword of Orion, but its nothing a Who fan hasn’t seen before either. A collection of marked-for-death misfits stumble on something nasty, the Doctor just happens to be in the neighbourhood, and turns up just in time to prevent fullscale invasion - although too late to preserve the cast intact.
The first quip I thought of finishing that paragraph with was "the plot’s the same, it’s just the details that change". But in this case, the details aren’t all that unusual either. The crew - whose names I never caught - were walking cliches. We had the shouty, angry, "nasty for no reason" one, almost certainly due a sticky end; the "nice, simple, definitely dead" one; and the female one who seems purely included merely to make up a gender balance, and to be killed. It may have originally seemed innovative to give the extras charactersisation and depth, so we feel sympathy for their inevitable deaths - but the average Who fan is immune to the trick. They’re not helped by a script chock full of "Is that you BobAAAAAAAH!"s and, "Oh look, my transistor’s on the blink again - must be a perfectly natural, non-threatening explanation"s. And as everyone else has noted, the killer twist wasn’t that much of a twist, and I’m speaking as someone who is easily surprised.
It’s perfectly worthy - and the ole’ "something creepy in the ducts" routine works maybe better on audio than the TV. While we’re on the advantages of not being able to see the special effects, time to turn to the sole success of the audio.
The Cybermats were a very silly let down in a very classy episode on TV - "the Monty Python’s killer rabbit" of the Whoniverse, if you like. We’re meant to believe that it is the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on, but even when it’s killing stuff we can’t help but go "aaaaaaah".
Here, they are brilliant. Partly because we don’t have to look at their cute little googly eyes stuck on toilet-brushes. But mostly for showing them through their effects. The slow disabling of the ship, the flickering lights and failing engines are far scarier than the attack by clockwork mice we got in Tomb of the Cybermen. For the first time, I get a sense of why the Cybermats are a useful part of the Cyber-army - their attack on the Vanguard is crippling, and a logical way to keep the humans in one place.
And the Doctor? I’m sorry, who? Normally, even the most tedious episode can be lifted by the regulars - today he, along with everything else, was resoundingly ordinary. I’m not yet getting a sense of Charley either - it’s a long time since I’ve hated a companion on sight, but neither has she yet proved why she is so universally loved.
6/10, for being dull and unimaginative
The first quip I thought of finishing that paragraph with was "the plot’s the same, it’s just the details that change". But in this case, the details aren’t all that unusual either. The crew - whose names I never caught - were walking cliches. We had the shouty, angry, "nasty for no reason" one, almost certainly due a sticky end; the "nice, simple, definitely dead" one; and the female one who seems purely included merely to make up a gender balance, and to be killed. It may have originally seemed innovative to give the extras charactersisation and depth, so we feel sympathy for their inevitable deaths - but the average Who fan is immune to the trick. They’re not helped by a script chock full of "Is that you BobAAAAAAAH!"s and, "Oh look, my transistor’s on the blink again - must be a perfectly natural, non-threatening explanation"s. And as everyone else has noted, the killer twist wasn’t that much of a twist, and I’m speaking as someone who is easily surprised.
It’s perfectly worthy - and the ole’ "something creepy in the ducts" routine works maybe better on audio than the TV. While we’re on the advantages of not being able to see the special effects, time to turn to the sole success of the audio.
The Cybermats were a very silly let down in a very classy episode on TV - "the Monty Python’s killer rabbit" of the Whoniverse, if you like. We’re meant to believe that it is the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on, but even when it’s killing stuff we can’t help but go "aaaaaaah".
Here, they are brilliant. Partly because we don’t have to look at their cute little googly eyes stuck on toilet-brushes. But mostly for showing them through their effects. The slow disabling of the ship, the flickering lights and failing engines are far scarier than the attack by clockwork mice we got in Tomb of the Cybermen. For the first time, I get a sense of why the Cybermats are a useful part of the Cyber-army - their attack on the Vanguard is crippling, and a logical way to keep the humans in one place.
And the Doctor? I’m sorry, who? Normally, even the most tedious episode can be lifted by the regulars - today he, along with everything else, was resoundingly ordinary. I’m not yet getting a sense of Charley either - it’s a long time since I’ve hated a companion on sight, but neither has she yet proved why she is so universally loved.
6/10, for being dull and unimaginative
Storm Warning
Audio dramas - oh yes, like TV wot you listen to. Suits me fine, I’ll follow Paul McGann’s voice anywhere.
Yet the strength of Storm Warning comes from the one thing I figured it would be short on - setting. The billowing bags, sound of the storm, sense of movement on the human ship, or grandeur on the alien. Because that’s what non-TV Who is - the ideas, the characters stay the same, but the budget is as infinitely big as the imagination. Of course, the R-101 is given a good heft along by brilliant background sound - someone has really earnt their payroll for the rollicking air ship.
The story and characters lurch between those unconventional, and those older than Event 1. The wonderfully steampunk idea of the British Empire blithely planting their flags and attempting to colonise an alien nation is let down by the predictable violent stupidity of the human race, the same streak who thought they could strike a deal in Tomb of the Cybermen, or create a new masterrace in the aftermath of the Sontaran Stratagem. I don’t buy Rathbone, as "villain by numbers" of the week.
Tamworth is lovely though - especially as he explains his feelings about war. Like Engineer Prime , we have seen him as an Uncreator - a steretotypical military what-ho - and in a speech, our perceptions change. It’s certainly the highlight of that episode, which is given over mostly to exposition about the Triskele, maybe the lamest race in the galaxy. "The head must mediate between the heart and the hands" was a tired moral when Fritz Lang made it the punchline to his sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis - and that was in the 20s, making it doubly unfair on the audience, introduced at tedious length at a pack of walking proverbs. It’s also unfortunate for Engineer Prime that his pronunciation of "Chaaaaarleeee" reminds one of the youtube hit "Charlie the Unicorn" - but being an internet fad, perhaps already people are reading this review and wondering what I’m referring to.
The Doctor, as usual for my reviews, goes without saying - brilliant and scary by turns, exactly the same guy we all know and love. Particularly his speech to Rathbone about the nature of Time. Maybe its because we never had a full TV series that McGann’s Doc seems so all-encompassingly brilliant? We only have an impression from hearing and reading about him, allowing us to weld all our favourite Doctors together into a perfect package. A particularly wonderful scene involves him scaring off the Uncreators by roaring. Charley seems fun - much like Peri’s declaration that she wants to run off to Morocco with two English guys cements her as perfect TARDIS material, she dresses up as a boy to travel to exciting places. The dilemma about saving the airship (which he doesn’t, though it isn’t for a lack of trying) and saving Charley (which he does, and I’ve a funny feeling there are going to be consequences…) is perfectly played also.
All in all, despite a few plot misgivings which the set wholly makes up for, this is a nice solid start and a 7/10. I'd like to give it higher, I really would, but for the yawnfactor of the Triskele, who very quickly manage to out-Myrka anything you've seen on the telly.
Yet the strength of Storm Warning comes from the one thing I figured it would be short on - setting. The billowing bags, sound of the storm, sense of movement on the human ship, or grandeur on the alien. Because that’s what non-TV Who is - the ideas, the characters stay the same, but the budget is as infinitely big as the imagination. Of course, the R-101 is given a good heft along by brilliant background sound - someone has really earnt their payroll for the rollicking air ship.
The story and characters lurch between those unconventional, and those older than Event 1. The wonderfully steampunk idea of the British Empire blithely planting their flags and attempting to colonise an alien nation is let down by the predictable violent stupidity of the human race, the same streak who thought they could strike a deal in Tomb of the Cybermen, or create a new masterrace in the aftermath of the Sontaran Stratagem. I don’t buy Rathbone, as "villain by numbers" of the week.
Tamworth is lovely though - especially as he explains his feelings about war. Like Engineer Prime , we have seen him as an Uncreator - a steretotypical military what-ho - and in a speech, our perceptions change. It’s certainly the highlight of that episode, which is given over mostly to exposition about the Triskele, maybe the lamest race in the galaxy. "The head must mediate between the heart and the hands" was a tired moral when Fritz Lang made it the punchline to his sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis - and that was in the 20s, making it doubly unfair on the audience, introduced at tedious length at a pack of walking proverbs. It’s also unfortunate for Engineer Prime that his pronunciation of "Chaaaaarleeee" reminds one of the youtube hit "Charlie the Unicorn" - but being an internet fad, perhaps already people are reading this review and wondering what I’m referring to.
The Doctor, as usual for my reviews, goes without saying - brilliant and scary by turns, exactly the same guy we all know and love. Particularly his speech to Rathbone about the nature of Time. Maybe its because we never had a full TV series that McGann’s Doc seems so all-encompassingly brilliant? We only have an impression from hearing and reading about him, allowing us to weld all our favourite Doctors together into a perfect package. A particularly wonderful scene involves him scaring off the Uncreators by roaring. Charley seems fun - much like Peri’s declaration that she wants to run off to Morocco with two English guys cements her as perfect TARDIS material, she dresses up as a boy to travel to exciting places. The dilemma about saving the airship (which he doesn’t, though it isn’t for a lack of trying) and saving Charley (which he does, and I’ve a funny feeling there are going to be consequences…) is perfectly played also.
All in all, despite a few plot misgivings which the set wholly makes up for, this is a nice solid start and a 7/10. I'd like to give it higher, I really would, but for the yawnfactor of the Triskele, who very quickly manage to out-Myrka anything you've seen on the telly.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Improving the TV movie: Eight things to change, four things to keep the same
The TV movie looks good, but is rotten at the very core. Despite that, it's not beyond saving; it's certainly enjoyable, and it's the only time you will ever get the joy of seeing the Eighth Doctor on screen. Here are a few pointers, if they ever decide to give it a rejig. The below contains spoilers.
Eight Things to Change
Ditch the half human comment: why would the Time Lords invent a technology they couldn't use? Seriously, was this bizarre bit of plotting worth the stress it has caused since? They could easily have come up with something else (see: DIY science below).
Don't kill Grace: Grace's death is irrelevant and unnecessary. It adds nothing to the story; there's no reason she couldn't just fall and be knocked out (I believe the apologetic Gary Russell novelisation does something of this sort) Or, indeed, fall and land correctly. To my mind, the only reason they kill her is to bring her back to life, and it's the bringing back to life that I really object to. It's a huge injustice to all the other worthy and deceased people of the Doctor's acquaintance who couldn't conveniently appeal to the TARDIS' sympathetic side. It's a payoff for the naff "holding back death" line used throughout the film. Resurrection always cheapens death - see Torchwood to see it done well - but this was a cheap death to begin with.
But, as a coda to this, do kill Chang Lee. This Master isn't terrible, but with camp lines about "dressing for the occasion", snarling and actually descending into physical violence against the Doctor, instead of continuing the chess-style gentleman's war; he's not entirely himself either. That one moment of murder is perfect: a benevolent smile and true evil for evil's sake all wound up into one.
Don't muck around with time: Doctor Who has a DIY approach to science. We're suffering temporal warp ellipse cut out! What can we do?! Well, anything the writer likes, since neither he nor the audience has the foggiest what temporal warp ellipse cut out actually is. So when the black hole is about to destroy the Earth, he can theoretically solve it any way he likes, as long as he covers his tracks with technobabble. But he doesn't. Instead, he has to come up with a solution that directly contravenes one of the few laws that is fixed in this universe. Let's call it "the second law of time".
You can tell I'm an Adric fan, can't you. If resurrection-for-its-own-sake and turning back time completely were that easy, wouldn't the Doc have done it before?
There are a lot of reasons why the denouement should have been different. Why set the stakes so high that something truly drastic has to occur? If he goes back to the 29th , then a lot of things need explaining. Chang Lee's buddies haven't been killed, and neither has the Doctor. Is Bruce still alive, or has he vanished from time, or what? Not to mention letting Grace and Chang back out into a world where they still exist in a different form, which genuinely could cause trouble.
On the other hand, it does utilise time travel. The TARDIS is often little more than a plot randomiser; I've always had a fondness for episodes which engage with the possibilities and problems having that ability brings. And, as a supposed "backdoor pilot", and something intended for new fans to the show, putting something about time is an important piece of setup. So maybe this isn't an entirely lost cause - just give it a bit more thought.
Remove Frankenstein: look at me, ma! I can crosscut! After decades of static camera, Somebody Who Has Been To Film School has got their hands on the franchise, and decided to make it "cinematic". Sometimes it works (the shots of clocks, the general sense of pacy-ness). Sometimes it's just pathetically naive and obvious, such as here, with the Doctor's regeneration intercut with the "it's alive!!!" of the classic Frankenstein movie. Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. The jury's still out on murder-to-Puccini however...
Why does the hospital have a trashed up wing? No, seriously. Nice scene with the mirrors and rain and chaos, but if it was a metaphor it was heavy handled and unnecessary; and if it wasn't, then what the hell happened there? Does your local ward have a room with smashed glass, broken dolls and rusty junk, just in case someone feels like expressing existential despair?
Don't let Grace save the day - because I'm just a normal Earth Girl too, and it's nice to know that when he turns up and it's down to me to save the universe, I'll know exactly which wires to twist...
Don't let the Doctor use the word vacation: I may be wrong, perhaps this word is used in English too, but it's always struck me as very American. Fair enough, he's a Gallifreyan, so it's all foreign, but it still felt false for me. I'd endured a lot by that point, my nitpick-radar was on full blast. Much better was the Master correcting Grace's grammar, which is perfect characterisation for him (and nice to see the Doctor doing the same in the recent Sontaran Stratagem).
Don't let Fox do it: this was always a bad idea. Fox hates fandom. Fox stays up late at night planning on how to do murder to good shows, annoy the loyal fans and kick puppies. Futurama? Firefly? As such, was handing the franchise to them really a good idea?
And four things to keep the same
The Doctor: can anyone fault him, really? Ageless, magical, packed full of that Doctor charm that lets him get away with anything. If I use the word "smile", do you know the one I mean? The beam that makes everything OK. The use of sleight of hand is a brilliant addition to his character, while all the old ones - the mercy, the brilliance, occasionally the heroism - are in place. This ninety minutes launched a character which has successfully inspired the books et al that came after. He also namedrops with brilliant style. I particularly like his comment about Leonardo having a cold. Also "Freud would have loved you!" "He did..."
The design: this film is beautiful in every single way. Someone has misread "bigger on the inside" as bloody massive, bigger than any realistic building could ever be, and the TARDIS is all the more lovely for it. Finally, we get to see the library we always knew must be in there somewhere! The lived-in bits are cosy; the mechanical bits are steampunked up, and it feels alive again. I also love the huge console room; after years of emergencies, the Doctor's obviously cottoned on that he can't afford to be too far away from it! Even the leaves feel terribly right. The costumes are gorgeous too - not to mention the leading man. Should the Doctor be good looking? In general, I don't think it hurts, or matters. Here in particular, even when the plot is shot to hell, the dialogue's dodgy and continuity and canon are completely out of whack, at least you have something nice to look at...
Keep the kiss: yup, you heard me. At least the first one. It cements his absolute joy to be alive. It's not so much love for her (she has just stuck a scalpel in his gut...), as love for everything. As such, it's an uplifting moment, celebrating life, not to mention being young and able to get away with it for the first time in centuries. Aside from the shock of looking in the mirror, regenerating must be a wonderful feeling, a sort of cosmic shower.
Plus, retain it out of pity for the strict purists. If they hadn't been so worked up about this, they would only have paid better attention to the dire miseries of the plot as detailed above, which are twice as unpleasant.
The first 15 minutes: Paul McGann, as I've already observed, makes a fine Doctor. It's just a pity for him that he passes good taste and smart plotting on the way in, because his regeneration is the point at which things go downhill.
It all starts so well! The theme tune! The building sense of menace, before the Master assumes both a form and knowledge of fashion! The Seventh Doctor getting a runaround that gorgeous redesigned TARDIS, and then redefining the cliche of "the Doctor meets trouble very soon after leaving it" by doing it instantly.
And what a departure! The classical death for a hero is doing something heroic. For one with the stature of the Doctor, this should be no less than saving his companions, the world or the universe - preferably all three. Even facing your fears is a noble way to go. But a medical botch up? How unpleasant for a guy who has faced off death a thousand times. It's a situation we can all understand, and as such more real than any alien nasty. No calm acknowledgment that the way has been prepared for; this is a traumatic and scarily realistic way to go, a series of nasty accidents. And it's very refreshing.
I've seen many comments suggesting the film would have been less alienating to start with an already-regenerated Eighth Doctor, much in the way the Ninth turned up and let us into the world gradually during Rose. Maybe that would have been better; pity to lose this bit though, as it's the only bit that rang true...
I can see Sylvester McCoy now, rubbing his hands with glee when he reads a few pages further on, and discovers he's escaped before the grot sets in...
Eight Things to Change
Ditch the half human comment: why would the Time Lords invent a technology they couldn't use? Seriously, was this bizarre bit of plotting worth the stress it has caused since? They could easily have come up with something else (see: DIY science below).
Don't kill Grace: Grace's death is irrelevant and unnecessary. It adds nothing to the story; there's no reason she couldn't just fall and be knocked out (I believe the apologetic Gary Russell novelisation does something of this sort) Or, indeed, fall and land correctly. To my mind, the only reason they kill her is to bring her back to life, and it's the bringing back to life that I really object to. It's a huge injustice to all the other worthy and deceased people of the Doctor's acquaintance who couldn't conveniently appeal to the TARDIS' sympathetic side. It's a payoff for the naff "holding back death" line used throughout the film. Resurrection always cheapens death - see Torchwood to see it done well - but this was a cheap death to begin with.
But, as a coda to this, do kill Chang Lee. This Master isn't terrible, but with camp lines about "dressing for the occasion", snarling and actually descending into physical violence against the Doctor, instead of continuing the chess-style gentleman's war; he's not entirely himself either. That one moment of murder is perfect: a benevolent smile and true evil for evil's sake all wound up into one.
Don't muck around with time: Doctor Who has a DIY approach to science. We're suffering temporal warp ellipse cut out! What can we do?! Well, anything the writer likes, since neither he nor the audience has the foggiest what temporal warp ellipse cut out actually is. So when the black hole is about to destroy the Earth, he can theoretically solve it any way he likes, as long as he covers his tracks with technobabble. But he doesn't. Instead, he has to come up with a solution that directly contravenes one of the few laws that is fixed in this universe. Let's call it "the second law of time".
You can tell I'm an Adric fan, can't you. If resurrection-for-its-own-sake and turning back time completely were that easy, wouldn't the Doc have done it before?
There are a lot of reasons why the denouement should have been different. Why set the stakes so high that something truly drastic has to occur? If he goes back to the 29th , then a lot of things need explaining. Chang Lee's buddies haven't been killed, and neither has the Doctor. Is Bruce still alive, or has he vanished from time, or what? Not to mention letting Grace and Chang back out into a world where they still exist in a different form, which genuinely could cause trouble.
On the other hand, it does utilise time travel. The TARDIS is often little more than a plot randomiser; I've always had a fondness for episodes which engage with the possibilities and problems having that ability brings. And, as a supposed "backdoor pilot", and something intended for new fans to the show, putting something about time is an important piece of setup. So maybe this isn't an entirely lost cause - just give it a bit more thought.
Remove Frankenstein: look at me, ma! I can crosscut! After decades of static camera, Somebody Who Has Been To Film School has got their hands on the franchise, and decided to make it "cinematic". Sometimes it works (the shots of clocks, the general sense of pacy-ness). Sometimes it's just pathetically naive and obvious, such as here, with the Doctor's regeneration intercut with the "it's alive!!!" of the classic Frankenstein movie. Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. The jury's still out on murder-to-Puccini however...
Why does the hospital have a trashed up wing? No, seriously. Nice scene with the mirrors and rain and chaos, but if it was a metaphor it was heavy handled and unnecessary; and if it wasn't, then what the hell happened there? Does your local ward have a room with smashed glass, broken dolls and rusty junk, just in case someone feels like expressing existential despair?
Don't let Grace save the day - because I'm just a normal Earth Girl too, and it's nice to know that when he turns up and it's down to me to save the universe, I'll know exactly which wires to twist...
Don't let the Doctor use the word vacation: I may be wrong, perhaps this word is used in English too, but it's always struck me as very American. Fair enough, he's a Gallifreyan, so it's all foreign, but it still felt false for me. I'd endured a lot by that point, my nitpick-radar was on full blast. Much better was the Master correcting Grace's grammar, which is perfect characterisation for him (and nice to see the Doctor doing the same in the recent Sontaran Stratagem).
Don't let Fox do it: this was always a bad idea. Fox hates fandom. Fox stays up late at night planning on how to do murder to good shows, annoy the loyal fans and kick puppies. Futurama? Firefly? As such, was handing the franchise to them really a good idea?
And four things to keep the same
The Doctor: can anyone fault him, really? Ageless, magical, packed full of that Doctor charm that lets him get away with anything. If I use the word "smile", do you know the one I mean? The beam that makes everything OK. The use of sleight of hand is a brilliant addition to his character, while all the old ones - the mercy, the brilliance, occasionally the heroism - are in place. This ninety minutes launched a character which has successfully inspired the books et al that came after. He also namedrops with brilliant style. I particularly like his comment about Leonardo having a cold. Also "Freud would have loved you!" "He did..."
The design: this film is beautiful in every single way. Someone has misread "bigger on the inside" as bloody massive, bigger than any realistic building could ever be, and the TARDIS is all the more lovely for it. Finally, we get to see the library we always knew must be in there somewhere! The lived-in bits are cosy; the mechanical bits are steampunked up, and it feels alive again. I also love the huge console room; after years of emergencies, the Doctor's obviously cottoned on that he can't afford to be too far away from it! Even the leaves feel terribly right. The costumes are gorgeous too - not to mention the leading man. Should the Doctor be good looking? In general, I don't think it hurts, or matters. Here in particular, even when the plot is shot to hell, the dialogue's dodgy and continuity and canon are completely out of whack, at least you have something nice to look at...
Keep the kiss: yup, you heard me. At least the first one. It cements his absolute joy to be alive. It's not so much love for her (she has just stuck a scalpel in his gut...), as love for everything. As such, it's an uplifting moment, celebrating life, not to mention being young and able to get away with it for the first time in centuries. Aside from the shock of looking in the mirror, regenerating must be a wonderful feeling, a sort of cosmic shower.
Plus, retain it out of pity for the strict purists. If they hadn't been so worked up about this, they would only have paid better attention to the dire miseries of the plot as detailed above, which are twice as unpleasant.
The first 15 minutes: Paul McGann, as I've already observed, makes a fine Doctor. It's just a pity for him that he passes good taste and smart plotting on the way in, because his regeneration is the point at which things go downhill.
It all starts so well! The theme tune! The building sense of menace, before the Master assumes both a form and knowledge of fashion! The Seventh Doctor getting a runaround that gorgeous redesigned TARDIS, and then redefining the cliche of "the Doctor meets trouble very soon after leaving it" by doing it instantly.
And what a departure! The classical death for a hero is doing something heroic. For one with the stature of the Doctor, this should be no less than saving his companions, the world or the universe - preferably all three. Even facing your fears is a noble way to go. But a medical botch up? How unpleasant for a guy who has faced off death a thousand times. It's a situation we can all understand, and as such more real than any alien nasty. No calm acknowledgment that the way has been prepared for; this is a traumatic and scarily realistic way to go, a series of nasty accidents. And it's very refreshing.
I've seen many comments suggesting the film would have been less alienating to start with an already-regenerated Eighth Doctor, much in the way the Ninth turned up and let us into the world gradually during Rose. Maybe that would have been better; pity to lose this bit though, as it's the only bit that rang true...
I can see Sylvester McCoy now, rubbing his hands with glee when he reads a few pages further on, and discovers he's escaped before the grot sets in...
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