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Since nobody else is discussing "The Next Doctor," I thought I'd do so here. So, hurray for that! I've made it known in the past that I'm a big fan of giant monsters stomping their way through the Whoniverse- Abadon in Torchwood rocked wonderfully, I thought. So when Giant Steampunk Cyber-Mech was revealed I thought it was just sublime.
The episode itself was a bit hit and miss, like all the X-Mas specials after the Christmas Invasion. The tone jarred in a lot of places. Jackson remembers his wife's death and the plinky plonky music assaults the scene as the Doctor searches the house for more cyber stones. I suppose such contrast is usual in Doctor Who, but on this occasion it just felt a little off. The direction was a little lacking. Andy Goddard just can't do action properly (the two Doctors being dragged by the Cybershade was pretty neat though), and the whole thing lacked any sense of urgency. He's also very fond of putting the camera at an angle (dutching?) which always reeks of being a very lazy way of trying to make a shot look interesting.
Dervla Kirwan's character was the best thing about the episode though. RTD could have further developed the interesting gender issues throughout the episode. Hartigan seemed to be very anti-man and pro-women throughout, yet was also very much a product of the male-skewed society she was so intent on overthrowing. Her dismissive treatment of Rosita as a prostitute was the thing most indicative of her hypocrisy, I thought.
So, yeah, bits of greatness mixed with very mediocre stuff. Better than Voyage of the Damned though! |
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