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A Light Review
Aug. 30th, 2008 04:03 pmI know I'm coming late to the party, but see, I get DR. WHO and TORCHWOOD late because I don't receive BBC America. This means I see the shows whenever the SciFi network deigns to schedule them, or when iTunes finally puts the episodes on-line.
Anyway, I want to say this: knock it off!
DR. WHO keeps doing these world-shattering episodes, ones in which something happens to the entire planet. An alien invasion seems to be favorite, but they ended the season with the whole planet being yanked off to another dimension for a while. I think the BBC people feel the early years of the show were gypped in the special effects arena, so they try to go way overboard with the current show. They don't feel right unless they can destroy a national landmark, send millions of Daleks through the skies, or move an entire planet.
Franky, it gets tiring. And I'm losing my suspension of disbelief. Setting aside the questions of atmospheric and gravitic disturbances (and what, pray, happened to the moon when the earth was moved to the other dimension and then towed back?), the people of Earth don't seem to be much bothered by these invasions, disturbances, and horrifying events once they end. There are no repercussions among the greater populace. Life goes on very much as before. I'm not buying it anymore. In previous incarnations of the show, there would be something to change the timeline so that the terrible, planetwide event never actually happened (it is a time-travel show, after all). They don't do that anymore.
And can we please DUMP THE DALEKS? Get it through your heads, folks: THEY AREN'T SCARY. Not even vaguely intimidating. You can gussy them up with computer animation, but no matter you do, they look like what they are: cheap, low-budge robots from the sixties. Whenever I see one of the characters cowering in fear from a Dalek, I want to laugh. It's like watching someone grovel in front of a Frigidaire. I was willing to go along with it when the Doctor freaked over the single surviving Dalek, but then it was a dozen Daleks, and then it became hundreds, and then millions. Dalek episodes became the Invasion of the Flying Fridges. The writers apparently figured that if one Dalek was scary, a million would be a million times scarier. They were wrong. A million Daleks are overblown.
And, oh yes--the same goes for the Cybermen. Anyone notice that they're bascially the same as the Daleks? Both the Daleks and the Cybermen are robotic menaces who want to destroy humanity. In every episode, they march (or roll) slowly toward our heroes (apparently to build suspense) while the good guys and gals empty their weapons clips. But weapons don't affect Daleks or Cybermen, and they continue on their slow, implacable mission of destruction. The heroes flail about helplessly until the absolute last second when a solution presents itself and humanity lives to fight another day. The story is always, always the same. Boring!
Here's an idea, writer-guys: CREATE SOME NEW VILLAINS! You have creative minds! Do something new! The Daleks are boring. The Cybermen are a yawn. The Master wasn't very interesting, either. The best villailn has been James Marsters's character on TORCHWOOD. He had depth and character and characterization!
You have a fun, interesting universe with fun, interesting protagonists in it. Don't stop there! Make your antagonists as interesting as your heroes and the stories will write themselves! You won't have to resort to destroying entire cities or threatening a whole planet. Please, BBC writers! I know you can do better than this.
Anyway, I want to say this: knock it off!
DR. WHO keeps doing these world-shattering episodes, ones in which something happens to the entire planet. An alien invasion seems to be favorite, but they ended the season with the whole planet being yanked off to another dimension for a while. I think the BBC people feel the early years of the show were gypped in the special effects arena, so they try to go way overboard with the current show. They don't feel right unless they can destroy a national landmark, send millions of Daleks through the skies, or move an entire planet.
Franky, it gets tiring. And I'm losing my suspension of disbelief. Setting aside the questions of atmospheric and gravitic disturbances (and what, pray, happened to the moon when the earth was moved to the other dimension and then towed back?), the people of Earth don't seem to be much bothered by these invasions, disturbances, and horrifying events once they end. There are no repercussions among the greater populace. Life goes on very much as before. I'm not buying it anymore. In previous incarnations of the show, there would be something to change the timeline so that the terrible, planetwide event never actually happened (it is a time-travel show, after all). They don't do that anymore.
And can we please DUMP THE DALEKS? Get it through your heads, folks: THEY AREN'T SCARY. Not even vaguely intimidating. You can gussy them up with computer animation, but no matter you do, they look like what they are: cheap, low-budge robots from the sixties. Whenever I see one of the characters cowering in fear from a Dalek, I want to laugh. It's like watching someone grovel in front of a Frigidaire. I was willing to go along with it when the Doctor freaked over the single surviving Dalek, but then it was a dozen Daleks, and then it became hundreds, and then millions. Dalek episodes became the Invasion of the Flying Fridges. The writers apparently figured that if one Dalek was scary, a million would be a million times scarier. They were wrong. A million Daleks are overblown.
And, oh yes--the same goes for the Cybermen. Anyone notice that they're bascially the same as the Daleks? Both the Daleks and the Cybermen are robotic menaces who want to destroy humanity. In every episode, they march (or roll) slowly toward our heroes (apparently to build suspense) while the good guys and gals empty their weapons clips. But weapons don't affect Daleks or Cybermen, and they continue on their slow, implacable mission of destruction. The heroes flail about helplessly until the absolute last second when a solution presents itself and humanity lives to fight another day. The story is always, always the same. Boring!
Here's an idea, writer-guys: CREATE SOME NEW VILLAINS! You have creative minds! Do something new! The Daleks are boring. The Cybermen are a yawn. The Master wasn't very interesting, either. The best villailn has been James Marsters's character on TORCHWOOD. He had depth and character and characterization!
You have a fun, interesting universe with fun, interesting protagonists in it. Don't stop there! Make your antagonists as interesting as your heroes and the stories will write themselves! You won't have to resort to destroying entire cities or threatening a whole planet. Please, BBC writers! I know you can do better than this.
