purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)
[personal profile] purplecat
I seem to be alone in preferring Dinosaurs on a Spaceship to The Power of Three. I think I've always liked having a good underlying plot to any characterisation, which is one of the things I often found frustrating about the Davies era. Not that Dinosaurs on a Spaceship had much of a plot, but what it did have did, at least made sense.

I said when I reviewed Dinosaurs on a Spaceship that Chibnall scripts have a tendency to sacrifice characterisation in order to move the plot on to its next beat. This story seemed to suffer from almost the opposite problem, in that the plot was constructed entirely in order to move to the next characterisation beat.

That said I enjoyed the characters a lot. Kate Stewart was great, and surely this, together with the revamped UNIT, is a set up for a return performance. Brian Williams was wonderful - almost the perfect not-companion for the Doctor: dependable, conscientious, but also full of understanding and appreciation. I really like the way you could see the similarities between Brian and Rory and, of course, the way Brian ultimately sent the Ponds off with his blessing.

I'm unsure about the double-bluff over the reasons for the Ponds' departure. Throughout its length this episode (and, to be honest, those preceding it) is hinting that Amy and Rory will grow out of travelling with the Doctor, only to over-turn this at the very end. I'm not hundred percent sure that playing with audience expectations in this kind of way is wise. Like the introduction of Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks, it's an explict acknowledgement that most of those watching know more about the show than the story on the screen. It's not quite breaking the fourth wall but I suspect it is a device that should be used equally sparingly.

As for all the stuff with the cubes, the tally and the Shakri. I'm not sure its worth dignifying with much commentary. Very little of it made any sense. The Shakri and the Tally (is the tally a race, organisation or thing or just a count? - the episode could be read either way, I think?) were presented with a pomposity and significance which they could not sustain. I think the only thing that might redeem their appearance is if The Power of Three is set up for some repeat appearance later in the season. Otherwise the slightness of the plot really did not need and could not sustain an ancient enemy from Time Lord myth.


So ultimately most of this was really nice. But the underlying structure that was supporting the character interactions was tissue-paper thin which meant that I was left, at the end of the episode, thinking little more than "is that it?".

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-07 07:00 pm (UTC)
ext_27141: (Tardis)
From: [identity profile] telperion-15.livejournal.com
I found the Cubes to be really interesting right up until the moment it was revealed what they were for. Then my reaction was pretty much along the lines of "Is that it?" as well. Total anti-climax.

Also, if you could explain to me the purpose of the two creepy orderlies abducting people, I would be forever grateful! Because even after a second viewing, that made absolutely no sense to me, and seemed to have no plot relevance whatsoever except to fabricate a way to get Rory on to the spaceship. And even that wasn't really necessary, given that the Doctor identified the location of the portal through his scans, and he and Amy could have just picked up Rory on their way through the hospital...

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-07 08:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deinonychus-1.livejournal.com
Oh! I'd forgotten about the creepy girl. Yes, she was another non-event plot-wise.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-07 08:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deinonychus-1.livejournal.com
Yes, I didn't get what was going on with the orderlis either. Presumably they were taking people to study in order to identify weaknesses, but why? It was stated (or possibly heavily implied) that the cubes themselves were gathering information about humans, and in a far more unobtrusive way, so why the orderlies? Apart from to create slightly more tension/jepordy with Brian and Rory being taken?

*iz confuzzled*

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-08 06:40 am (UTC)
ext_27141: (Tardis)
From: [identity profile] telperion-15.livejournal.com
Oh good, I'm so glad it wasn't just me getting completely confused! I was beginning to think I was missing something blindingly obvious and being incredibly stupid about it!

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-07 08:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dqbunny.livejournal.com
This was really a case of an episode needing to be longer and the Shakiri needing to be more developed. I had shades of the Shadow War from Babylon 5 when he was talking with the Doctor, but it wasn't developed enough. This really needed to be two episodes. I'm with you in preferring "Dinosaurs" overall.

Chibnall also tends to sacrifice continuity where I think he doesn't care for it. You'd think with centering around a year in the Ponds' life that they would make a single mention of their daughter? The anniversary party was especially glaring. No mention of her absence or even Amy's parents not being there.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-07 08:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dqbunny.livejournal.com
That's why I vastly prefer Whithouse. He tied in Amy being in a mother in a way that was organic to the storyline, not overwhelming. Just a sentence really.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-07 10:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com
I preferred Dinosaurs too. It was a fun romp. Power of Three was just a little dull and aimless, with a baddie who appeared to be an afterthought.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-10-09 07:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daniel-saunders.livejournal.com
It's a long established trick of fan writers (including New Adventures authors and RTD) to make their baddie "an ancient enemy of the Time Lords" in the hope that this will build tension. To be fair, it started in the original series with stories like Image of the Fendahl and State of Decay, but got out of hand. I wouldn't be surprised if the Shakri return, but I won't be surprised if they don't either.

Profile

purplecat: Hand Drawn picture of a Toy Cat (Default)
purplecat

July 2025

S M T W T F S
   12 3 4 5
6 7 89 1011 12
13 14 151617 1819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags