Oh wow. That's was a whole fourteen different kinds of great. I'm really feeling this series so far. There might be a duffer just round the corner, but it seems like they've really hit their stride now. Did this week's guy write previous episodes, or is he a newbie?
Right. First off, one of the main themes I'm picking up for this series is development on last year's Lonely God. The line that stood out the most for me in the first episode was in the Doctor's conversation with vampire lady when she says something about him, um, laughing on purpose at the darkness. Here, it's Shakespeare's line about the Doctor's constant performance. It's definitely something I was feeling last season, but current evidence makes me think they're bringing it to the fore as his character arc this year. I'd hazard it's still a bit early to make a real go of his family stuff this year, so I'm going for this at the moment.
We'll see.
Martha's doing good so far. She might be another present-day cockney girl, but she's definitely her own thing by a mile. Agyeman brings a really good chemistry to the part. Billie Piper was great, but I didn't think that she gelled with Tennent in quite the same way as she did with Eccleston. Martha's a really interesting character. I really liked the scene on the bed, especially when taken with that comment on her MySpace. You can tell she's really going to pull it out of the hat by the end of the season.
Good CGI. Looks like a bit more of a budget this time around. Particularly liked the design of the monster that appeared during the rehersal, and that big mass of them towards the end, swirling in the vortex like a tornado of leathery bats.
Liked the "I might use that" bits. It's such a cliche in this kind of story. So much so that it's pretty much expected. To not just drop it in once, but make a big running gag of it with twists and reversals was a good idea.
Also loved that "57 academics" line.
Feeling very positive about this season, I have to say. |
