The Timeless Children
Mar. 1st, 2020 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcHmm. Things I liked, things I didn't like, things I'm not sure about.
Things I liked: Sacha Dhawan continues to be a brilliant Master. The idea he wanted to destroy and/or rule the universe, but was happy to settle for dying in the attempt because at least then he'd be able to stop, was a particularly strong one.
Also, references to past stories (especially the Great Big Flashback of Everything, and it's "Look, we're not making this up" Moribus faces), the absurdity of CyberTimeLords in specially made versions of the ceremonial collar, most of the companion scenes, getting actual explanations for stuff. And the return of the "What? What? What??" season cliffhanger.
Things I didn't like: The Doctor was a bit passive. Not to the extent of the previous season, but still.
The ending was my least favourite Doctor Who trope; the one where the writer sets up a moral dilemma, then skips it by taking the choice out of the Doctor's hands. Except it doesn't even do that, because she decides to let the old guy do it instead. Either blowing up the CyberTimeLords is the right thing to do or it isn't; I don't see how it's the right thing to do providing the Doctor isn't the one to do it.
Oh, and the Death Particle itself, which is an even more blatant deus ex machina than the Cyberium. Chibnall seems to think that if you don't explain how it works at all, it won't look like rubber science. Wrong!
(On the other hand, the rubber science is key to what I'd have done for the climax; the Doctor presses the button, then reveals she's reversed the polarity of the Death Particle, and it is now a Life Particle. The CyberTimeLords all fill with regeneration energy, but instead of reviving as CyberTimeLords, their cyber-parts dissolve and they regenerate properly. Of course, that doesn't leave the Doctor with anything to angst about next year, but you know what? I'm fine with that.)
Things I'm not sure about: While I put "getting actual explanations for stuff" on the list of things I liked, the actual explanations themselves are a bit more iffy. I mean, I'm not going to complain it's uncanonical, because a) there is no canon and b) I spent most of the nineties stanning for the New Adventures version of Time Lord history where the Doctor, er, was a founding member of Time Lord society in a previous regeneration cycle. But honestly, I was never that enthused by the whole "more than a Time Lord" thing. The Doctor may say that her past doesn't define her, but at the same time the whole point of the episode is that her past is A Huge Freaking Deal. You can't say "the Doctor is special because of who she is, not what she is. But also, what she is is really special as well."
Anyway, roll on next ... New Year? Christmas? ... and the next chapter of "Random Word Beginning With R of the Daleks".
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Things I liked: Sacha Dhawan continues to be a brilliant Master. The idea he wanted to destroy and/or rule the universe, but was happy to settle for dying in the attempt because at least then he'd be able to stop, was a particularly strong one.
Also, references to past stories (especially the Great Big Flashback of Everything, and it's "Look, we're not making this up" Moribus faces), the absurdity of CyberTimeLords in specially made versions of the ceremonial collar, most of the companion scenes, getting actual explanations for stuff. And the return of the "What? What? What??" season cliffhanger.
Things I didn't like: The Doctor was a bit passive. Not to the extent of the previous season, but still.
The ending was my least favourite Doctor Who trope; the one where the writer sets up a moral dilemma, then skips it by taking the choice out of the Doctor's hands. Except it doesn't even do that, because she decides to let the old guy do it instead. Either blowing up the CyberTimeLords is the right thing to do or it isn't; I don't see how it's the right thing to do providing the Doctor isn't the one to do it.
Oh, and the Death Particle itself, which is an even more blatant deus ex machina than the Cyberium. Chibnall seems to think that if you don't explain how it works at all, it won't look like rubber science. Wrong!
(On the other hand, the rubber science is key to what I'd have done for the climax; the Doctor presses the button, then reveals she's reversed the polarity of the Death Particle, and it is now a Life Particle. The CyberTimeLords all fill with regeneration energy, but instead of reviving as CyberTimeLords, their cyber-parts dissolve and they regenerate properly. Of course, that doesn't leave the Doctor with anything to angst about next year, but you know what? I'm fine with that.)
Things I'm not sure about: While I put "getting actual explanations for stuff" on the list of things I liked, the actual explanations themselves are a bit more iffy. I mean, I'm not going to complain it's uncanonical, because a) there is no canon and b) I spent most of the nineties stanning for the New Adventures version of Time Lord history where the Doctor, er, was a founding member of Time Lord society in a previous regeneration cycle. But honestly, I was never that enthused by the whole "more than a Time Lord" thing. The Doctor may say that her past doesn't define her, but at the same time the whole point of the episode is that her past is A Huge Freaking Deal. You can't say "the Doctor is special because of who she is, not what she is. But also, what she is is really special as well."
Anyway, roll on next ... New Year? Christmas? ... and the next chapter of "Random Word Beginning With R of the Daleks".
