Finally a Doctor Who review

[starsthatshine]

Happy birthday smilebacklovely! I hope you'll have a fantastic one.

As the title suggested, the Master's death was kind of expected (I really can't see John Simm making more than one appearance as the Master) but what really aggravated me was the total misuse of Lucy. Lucy appeared to have so much potential in 'The Sound of Drums', while she appeared to be a mindless puppet in the finale. There was no explanation to her choice and the only thing she talked about was going to Utopia (wtf had that to do with anything?) and they only explained things halfway. The gun thing was apparently a step-up but still completely unlogical, as was the Doctor's God like behaviour after the whole thinking phrase. I sort of understand that it's a tie-in to 'The Shakespeare Code' with 'the power of a word' bullshit, but then again, that was never really fully explained.

The overload of Doctor/Master was obviously part of Rusty's Gay Agenda but... there was too much of it, you know? The scene where the Master dies was gold, in terms of Doctor/Master, but the rest I just... it feels like it was too much, you know. And it wasn't even squeeable, or even logical. I'm seriously growing grudges against the Doctor Who fandom for portraying women the way they do. And I'm not some crazy super-feminist. It just feels like the Doctor Who fandom is an all man's show with only the male characters fully explored. With the exception of Rose. Martha, Lucy and all else are a huge disappointment to me in terms of characteristics. One could argue that Lucy was just another "Milligan" but why would they even bother to emphasise her so much in 'The Sound of Drums' then?

Not using a character who ended up having such a huge part in the final game as Lucy made the whole episode and arc feel generally unfinished. The shot of Lucy taking up The Master's ring was interesting and I hope that he comes back to life, to be with Lucy and make Time Lord/human babies. I understand that for some The Doctor/Master stuff was the best thing ever (it was for me too but there can be too much of the good) but I feel that once you start ignoring other key character, you've taken it a bit too far.

In general, the episode made me feel like Lucy in this episode. I was completely indifferent to everything that was going on (maybe because I'd been spoiled about the Master's death, Martha leaving and all that) and I just didn't end up squeeing like I should. The characteristics remain the Doctor Who fandom's biggest problem, at least this season. The script was decent, the acting was great, considering and well... there's not much more to mention is there?

Comments

[batsyx.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed by the lack of Lucy as well. I hope that whole "picking up of the ring" is explored in Series 4.

It was just kind of a meh ending to a meh series.

[aliasagent.livejournal.com]

I really hope so too. I'm still a bit angry over the misuse of Lucy.

[taskiira.livejournal.com]

But Jack being the Face of Bo!!!
Maybe that was obvious to some, but I was like - ?!??!!

[aliasagent.livejournal.com]

lol. Yeah. Completely unexpected for me. I can't understand why they nicknamed him 'The Face of Boe' though. Doesn't make much sense in my opinion ;)

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Someone on my flist suggested it was because it had maybe originally been "Face of Beau."

[aliasagent.livejournal.com]

... That would actually make a lot of sense.

[taskiira.livejournal.com]

Just assumed Boe was the magazine he was the posterboy for...a bit like being the face of Vogue, but ultimately cooler.

[lauren-sark.livejournal.com]

The whole talk of Utopia is really relevant to her character, it is what made her so indifferent to things. She still loves the Master, he loves her too, but she really can't see the point of things anymore. And I doubt we were shown Lucy taking up the ring by coincidence. It is kind of given that the Master will return or something, by the help of Lucy probably.

[aliasagent.livejournal.com]

Yeah, true, but those theories aren't actually canon since RTD doesn't even bother to explain things. It's so incredibly frustrating.

[maybefriday.livejournal.com]

I get what you mean about Lucy, but there are some great theories over at your fav comm thesaxons that really make sense and are worth checking out. I think some of the better ones are in the comments of some of the posts.

[aliasagent.livejournal.com]

*nods* I'll check it out :) Me heart my Harry/Lucy ship :D

[maybefriday.livejournal.com]

Understandable, it's brilliant. And you were so right. Lucy=Dru! Mmm.

The characters

[mossymermaid.livejournal.com]

Yes, a complete and utter waste of the character of Lucy. She had such potential, I am very annoyed we didn't even get an explanation about why she shot the master. Even one line *one line* in the whole peiosde would have made a difference.

but no, the only strong character we've had is Harriet Jones, and we all knwo what happened to her.

I wish RTD would get a grip, all we're asking for is a bit more attention to their characters. I still don;t know Martha any better than I did at the beginning of the series, and why another person with a crush on the Doc? Isn't she supposed to be the companion to stand up to him???

Boooring.

Re: The characters

[aliasagent.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. And the way he just... it seems that in RTD's world, most things are black-white. There's not a sympathetic side to any villan if it isn't so that he's got a huge fanbase since before (read: the Master). Rose was nicely written because it was necessary for the show (and maybe a female version of RTD himself? Quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me).

[geeky-webmaster.livejournal.com]

This is what's so bloody crap about not letting story arcs last more than two episodes (yeah, yeah but 'Utopia' doesn't really count). The Master-taking-over-the-world-and-fighting-the-universe could have been done much, much better if it had been allowed to run for maybe three, four and maybe even five episodes. Sure the "Classic" episodes weren't nearly as long as the ones today, but damnit, building stories up like that and then going "Oh, shit we've only got another twenty minutes to tie this off!" and ending it was a "...and then time turned back, the Doctor moved on and the bad guy was died sometime in the middle" is just plain stupid.

There were a lot of WTF?-moments in the Master-arc but I think my main annoyance was:

Why waste a whole bloody episode on the Utopia storyline if it's just going to end in a "Oh, and the Master went to the future and they evolved into spheres deemed to kill their precendants."?

I've got to say that Russell's got brilliant ideas but he's a shit writer.

Shutting up now. It's late and I may still be a teensy bit pissed off at this episode.