Doctor Who: Turn Left
Jun. 22nd, 2008 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatI was a little disappointed by Turn Left. This doesn't mean I thought the central idea was a bad one, in fact I rather like the central idea, nor that I thought it was poorly executed, but there were a few key things that stopped me really enjoying the episode.
1. So, while not common, this kind of "what if things had been different" is a subject that has been treated before in tele-fantasy. The example that most immediately springs to my mind is the Buffy episode The Wish and I think Turn Left suffers by comparison. The Wish does not bother to go through every villain Buffy defeated after she arrived in Sunnydale and show one-by-one how the lack of her presence made things worse. No, it jumps straight into the dystopian vision and concentrates on elaborating that. Ultimately, although I'm sure on paper it looked like a good idea, I found the sequence of "and then this catastrophe was (or wasn't) averted like this" mostly dull since I already knew all about those catastrophes. As a result there wasn't really time to actually explore the dystopian alternative reality and it was, frankly, fairly generic with little sense of how or why that particular society arose from that particular sequence of events. The sudden appearance of labour camps, in particular, seemed a bit tacked on and almost tasteless in an "oh and obviously there would be death camps" kind of way.
2. I realise this is personal but I really do not get on with original Donna. It's a credit to the writing and acting that she was instantly recognisable as the Donna we originally met and not the one who's been travelling with the Doctor but, dear me, she is irritating. Tate also plays her in something much closer to "sit-com" mode (lots of heavy emphasis and gurning) than the rest of her acting and I find that both irritating and unbelievable. This was the companion I was dreading when Donna was first announced.
3. I didn't recognise Rose. I mean, obviously that was Billie Piper but the character traits I associate with Rose: Bright, bubbly, someone who "does domestic", an improvisor, did not appear to be present. Now obviously a lot of time has passed and Rose, we are told, has changed and become "harder". But that didn't seem to me so much changed as become a radically different person. I would have expected Rose to have connected much more quickly and on a much more social level with Donna than this one did. The idea that she has metamorphosed into some sort of prescient reality-jumping temporal scientist is also a little... odd. I'm assuming the prescience is some sort of residual Bad Wolfiness. Now obviously, this last point may all get gloriously resolved in the next couple of weeks. In some ways its hard to properly judge this story just as its hard to judge the first episode of a two-parter. The whole nature of Rose's involvement and dramatic character change was ill-explained but may become better explained in future. Let us hope so.
WHO DAILY html: <lj user=louisedennis> was <a href=http://louisedennis.livejournal.com/78956.html>a little disappointed</a>
1. So, while not common, this kind of "what if things had been different" is a subject that has been treated before in tele-fantasy. The example that most immediately springs to my mind is the Buffy episode The Wish and I think Turn Left suffers by comparison. The Wish does not bother to go through every villain Buffy defeated after she arrived in Sunnydale and show one-by-one how the lack of her presence made things worse. No, it jumps straight into the dystopian vision and concentrates on elaborating that. Ultimately, although I'm sure on paper it looked like a good idea, I found the sequence of "and then this catastrophe was (or wasn't) averted like this" mostly dull since I already knew all about those catastrophes. As a result there wasn't really time to actually explore the dystopian alternative reality and it was, frankly, fairly generic with little sense of how or why that particular society arose from that particular sequence of events. The sudden appearance of labour camps, in particular, seemed a bit tacked on and almost tasteless in an "oh and obviously there would be death camps" kind of way.
2. I realise this is personal but I really do not get on with original Donna. It's a credit to the writing and acting that she was instantly recognisable as the Donna we originally met and not the one who's been travelling with the Doctor but, dear me, she is irritating. Tate also plays her in something much closer to "sit-com" mode (lots of heavy emphasis and gurning) than the rest of her acting and I find that both irritating and unbelievable. This was the companion I was dreading when Donna was first announced.
3. I didn't recognise Rose. I mean, obviously that was Billie Piper but the character traits I associate with Rose: Bright, bubbly, someone who "does domestic", an improvisor, did not appear to be present. Now obviously a lot of time has passed and Rose, we are told, has changed and become "harder". But that didn't seem to me so much changed as become a radically different person. I would have expected Rose to have connected much more quickly and on a much more social level with Donna than this one did. The idea that she has metamorphosed into some sort of prescient reality-jumping temporal scientist is also a little... odd. I'm assuming the prescience is some sort of residual Bad Wolfiness. Now obviously, this last point may all get gloriously resolved in the next couple of weeks. In some ways its hard to properly judge this story just as its hard to judge the first episode of a two-parter. The whole nature of Rose's involvement and dramatic character change was ill-explained but may become better explained in future. Let us hope so.
WHO DAILY html: <lj user=louisedennis> was <a href=http://louisedennis.livejournal.com/78956.html>a little disappointed</a>
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 06:33 pm (UTC)I like Donna but I think she had better material earlier on. The Unicorn and the Wasp was an unpleasant throwback to The Runaway Bride, she was sidelined for much of the next three episodes and in Runaway Bride mode again in this.
I never really saw what was so great about Rose but I didn't particularly object to her either.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 07:38 pm (UTC)In many ways Turn Left was much closer to A Wonderful Life etc. than the Buffy episode because it explicitly showed how bad life was without the central character, whereas The Wish had a more complex message, perhaps, about how different both she and Sunnydale were if they were not brought together.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-23 09:28 am (UTC)In some ways its rather odd that Who hasn't done more of that kind of thing given the central presence of time travel in the series.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-23 09:31 am (UTC)It's often been commented how comparatively rarely Dr Who bases stories on "timey-wimey" stuff. In fact before the new series it was barely touched upon.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-23 03:05 pm (UTC)Not that a little originality isn't good, but 15 unique original stories every year, that are actually good, seems a bit much to ask. I'm happy with an old story told well, myself.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 08:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 08:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 11:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-24 08:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-22 11:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-23 01:43 pm (UTC)Maybe I should make an icon sometime.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-23 03:23 pm (UTC)