Resolution
Jan. 1st, 2019 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcOn balance, I think that was pretty good.
It wasn't perfect; I found about 80% of the Ryan's Dad subplot to be overblown melodrama, and both UNIT being replaced by a call centre and the family whose devices are down seemed rather broad comedy for the story. And honestly, the fact Sheffield just happens to be where the Dalek was defeated and the site of a company reverse-engineering alien weapons strains disbelief somewhat.
But the central image of Lin being controlled by the Kaled (one of my Old School Who quirks is an insistence that they're only Daleks when they're actually in the casing) was suitably creepy. And it was clever too; the trailers might as well have said "the Dalek story", but having it spend the first half of the story outside its casing but still dangerous subverts our expectations as to what that means.
The junkyard chic casing was well realised (and the scene of it being created a possible mirror of the Doctor building her sonic?) even if some of its capabilities seemed unlikely in the circumstances. (It is probably cynical to suggest that part of the reason for this might be that the design team don't actually know what "standard" Daleks in the Whittaker era look like yet.)
The regulars were all great. even if Yaz is still the generic companion, and Ryan and Graham had to spend most of their scenes dealing with the Ryan's Dad melodrama. And, to be fair, Ryan's Dad was pretty well realised as well, at the points where an actual character was allowed to emerge through the melodrama.
And the Doctor defeated the baddie! It says a lot as to how far my expectations have dropped that this seems to be worth highlighting. And she did it without accidentally killing Ryan's Dad, which seemed like a very real possibility, and would doubtless have led to even more angsty stuff.
So, all in all, I'm cautiously optimistic as we go into ... um ... a year long wait. Right.
It wasn't perfect; I found about 80% of the Ryan's Dad subplot to be overblown melodrama, and both UNIT being replaced by a call centre and the family whose devices are down seemed rather broad comedy for the story. And honestly, the fact Sheffield just happens to be where the Dalek was defeated and the site of a company reverse-engineering alien weapons strains disbelief somewhat.
But the central image of Lin being controlled by the Kaled (one of my Old School Who quirks is an insistence that they're only Daleks when they're actually in the casing) was suitably creepy. And it was clever too; the trailers might as well have said "the Dalek story", but having it spend the first half of the story outside its casing but still dangerous subverts our expectations as to what that means.
The junkyard chic casing was well realised (and the scene of it being created a possible mirror of the Doctor building her sonic?) even if some of its capabilities seemed unlikely in the circumstances. (It is probably cynical to suggest that part of the reason for this might be that the design team don't actually know what "standard" Daleks in the Whittaker era look like yet.)
The regulars were all great. even if Yaz is still the generic companion, and Ryan and Graham had to spend most of their scenes dealing with the Ryan's Dad melodrama. And, to be fair, Ryan's Dad was pretty well realised as well, at the points where an actual character was allowed to emerge through the melodrama.
And the Doctor defeated the baddie! It says a lot as to how far my expectations have dropped that this seems to be worth highlighting. And she did it without accidentally killing Ryan's Dad, which seemed like a very real possibility, and would doubtless have led to even more angsty stuff.
So, all in all, I'm cautiously optimistic as we go into ... um ... a year long wait. Right.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-03 03:58 pm (UTC)About as believable as Cardiff being where everything happens during Ecclestone's tenure
no subject
Date: 2019-01-05 12:45 pm (UTC)Thinking about it, I'd probably have been a bit happier if, instead of tracking a signal, the Doctor had finished off the tour of New Year's by taking the gang home, and then stumbled across the plot. It would still have seemed unlikely, but I'd have thought "Well, it has to be in Sheffield, because Sheffield's where they are."