Last night's Dr Who

[andrewducker]

I liked it, I thought that lots of it worked really well, and the only times it didn't was when things were being over-done, because it's a family show, and you have to simplify things for kids.

I've seen better examples of "Bunch of people locked in a small space, turning against each other.", largely because in those other cases they weren't being mind-affected, but I still rather enjoyed this one.

Comments

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Wafer thin. This years 'Fear Her'.

[andrewducker]

Very simple. Simple works for me.

Fear her, on the other hand, was horribly overbaked, and full of cringe-making scenes, like The Doctor carrying the Olympic Torch. The basic premise was fine.

[dapperscavenger.livejournal.com]

You're kidding. The Doctor carrying the Olympic Torch was the ONLY good part of that episode :P

[andrewducker]

Spooky things where people vanish into children's drawings = good!
The Doctor somehow ending up carrying the Olympic Torch for no good reason = awful!

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Oh Dear God that was an awful episode...

[cybik.livejournal.com]

12 Angry Men being a good example of how to do it really well.

I enjoyed it, though I thought the willingness of all of them to become murderers was a little over the top.

[andrewducker]

exactly - it was the over-the-top-ness that made it not work for me, because alien mind control means it wasn't "normal people" acting like that.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it was kind of like watching the Doctor trapped in a room with a bunch of Daily Mail readers.

[andrewducker]

That it was. Off to their Butlins in the Stars!

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Easily second favorite story of the season for me behind the Moffat two parter.

As for the comment about simplifying things, I hope that's sarcasm. As a kid I *never* wanted things simplified for me.

[andrewducker]

Oh, absolutely. Although that's largely because the entire rest of the season has been mediocre at best.

And you may not have wanted them simplified, but they were - kids books pretty much always simplify out huge amounts of politics, emotional complexities, world-building, etc. Last night had _very_ broadly drawn characters - which works for what Dr Who is - family drama - but isn't up to the level of decent adult TV.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I dunno... everything that is attempting to argue a point (and "Midnight" certainly was) in a limited time frame will simplify it's viewpoint. I'm not sure how quantifiable that is and whether it can be seen as being proportionate to how adult a show/film or book is.