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barringtonOkay, so now if you're in Australia you've no excuse not to have seen all of series three of new Doctor Who. Prompted by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hnpcc, I thought I'd post my thoughts.
So: a three-parter, and having clearly decided at the last minute not to bring back the Sontarans but instead to turn them into rhino-people, the returning bad guy (not counting the Daleks, because as far as we're concerned, this year there were no Daleks) is none other than the Master.
Some people have given the Master a lot of stick, especially directed at Anthony Ainley. Delgado was indeed as sublime as people like to remember; far better at times, dare I say it, than Pertwee. But I always liked Ainley. He was the Master I grew up with, what he most lacked was motivation. When he was written well, though - Planet of Fire, Survival - he was great. I won't mention Eric Roberts, except to say I liked him as...whoever he was playing.
But the character can be great, is the point, and they got Derek fucking Jacobi to play what at first glance seems more likely to be an older version of the Doctor. But he turns out to be the Master - something you'd have had spoiled for you, by the way, if you'd seen the episode's trailer on the ABC!
And then, almost immediately, Jacobi is taken away and we're given John Simms, the David Tennant equivalent version of the Master, and also his disguise Mr Saxon. Now, don't get me wrong - Simms is great. I haven't seen Life of Mars, but I thought he was fantastic in State of Play. But Derek Jacobi? Given maybe 5 minutes of Master screen time? Part of me screams that it's a waste, but I understand than the regeneration was in part to make it clear to new viewers that the Master is a full-on Time Lord just like the Doctor.
Now, The Sound of Drums is one hell of an episode. In fact, everything about it great - the scope of the Master's plan, the plan the Doctor concocts to defeat him, the dynamics between all the characters... It's as almost as good as the best of new Who. Almost. The ending lets it down a bit; the laser screwdriver is cute, though why give it that name for one gag when Lazarus' technology which is built into it is "sonic"? And I really could have used some more imagination than "let's make the Doctor old", which doesn't work anyway. Do the math - his bodies (past the first one) always start out in their 20s or 30s at least, he's lived 900-1,000 years in 10 of them...and yet he's (almost) never seen to visibly age a day. Plus we've already seen Tennant in old-man face earlier in the season, so why do it again? Boring.
Still, I bought into the pain and horror of it at the time, and that was a grand cliff-hanger.
But it's the ending that almost ruins it. The whole psychic network thing is actually a cool idea, but the way in which it is presented to give the Doctor Messianic abilities is just so...well, ashnpcc said, it's superhero country. The Doctor doesn't win the day through superpowers or by having big guns, he wins by using his brain: he's smart and he knows a whole lot of stuff that other people don't. But here, he uses his smarts to...give himself superpowers. Plus, as soon as we see there's a "paradox machine", and then that it's a year later and all hell has broken loose, everyone knows how the story ends. And it's a bit of a lame cop-out. We've already had the reset button solution in Father's Day.
But there's still some good stuff: the Master gloating in his success, the failed rebellion, the revelation about the Toclafane which is genuinely shocking (and it fit in mtih my favourite moment in Utopia, when Jacobi Master looks at the map screen and mutters "Utopia" in the manner we might reserve for the word "cre)... All good. The Master's end is a little bizarre; some indication of why his wife would shoot him would have been nice, she seemed to be doped up but we've no insight into that relationship. His refusal to regenerate just to spite the Doctor was marvellous, though I possibly would have preferred him to try getting away first. Martha at least gets some decent resolution; I just wish she'd come to her self-realisation earlier. But she's been fun and I'm glad to see her get a story with an end, though I'm sure her return will be fun too.
As for the hand picking up his ring...balls. I heard somewhere that was entirely so when another production team takes over, they have an out to bring the Master back if they want to. It was so...so Phantom Menace. I mean, a wooden pyre on a planet he hated? That's the best the Doctor can do for the only other Time Lord in the Universe when he dies? Surely he should be tipped into the heart of a sun or a black hole or something...
The Face of Boe joke was funny, if incredibly laboured. It'd better be just a joke, though.
In spite of all that, though, this series was the best so far for my money. I already knew RTD doesn't do well with endings - look at the literal deus ex machina of The Parting of the Ways - but ignoring theDalek New York horribly bollocks non-existent two-parter I enjoyed every episode. Bring on Christmas and next year. I'm ready.
hnpcc, I thought I'd post my thoughts. So: a three-parter, and having clearly decided at the last minute not to bring back the Sontarans but instead to turn them into rhino-people, the returning bad guy (not counting the Daleks, because as far as we're concerned, this year there were no Daleks) is none other than the Master.
Some people have given the Master a lot of stick, especially directed at Anthony Ainley. Delgado was indeed as sublime as people like to remember; far better at times, dare I say it, than Pertwee. But I always liked Ainley. He was the Master I grew up with, what he most lacked was motivation. When he was written well, though - Planet of Fire, Survival - he was great. I won't mention Eric Roberts, except to say I liked him as...whoever he was playing.
But the character can be great, is the point, and they got Derek fucking Jacobi to play what at first glance seems more likely to be an older version of the Doctor. But he turns out to be the Master - something you'd have had spoiled for you, by the way, if you'd seen the episode's trailer on the ABC!
And then, almost immediately, Jacobi is taken away and we're given John Simms, the David Tennant equivalent version of the Master, and also his disguise Mr Saxon. Now, don't get me wrong - Simms is great. I haven't seen Life of Mars, but I thought he was fantastic in State of Play. But Derek Jacobi? Given maybe 5 minutes of Master screen time? Part of me screams that it's a waste, but I understand than the regeneration was in part to make it clear to new viewers that the Master is a full-on Time Lord just like the Doctor.
Now, The Sound of Drums is one hell of an episode. In fact, everything about it great - the scope of the Master's plan, the plan the Doctor concocts to defeat him, the dynamics between all the characters... It's as almost as good as the best of new Who. Almost. The ending lets it down a bit; the laser screwdriver is cute, though why give it that name for one gag when Lazarus' technology which is built into it is "sonic"? And I really could have used some more imagination than "let's make the Doctor old", which doesn't work anyway. Do the math - his bodies (past the first one) always start out in their 20s or 30s at least, he's lived 900-1,000 years in 10 of them...and yet he's (almost) never seen to visibly age a day. Plus we've already seen Tennant in old-man face earlier in the season, so why do it again? Boring.
Still, I bought into the pain and horror of it at the time, and that was a grand cliff-hanger.
But it's the ending that almost ruins it. The whole psychic network thing is actually a cool idea, but the way in which it is presented to give the Doctor Messianic abilities is just so...well, as
hnpcc said, it's superhero country. The Doctor doesn't win the day through superpowers or by having big guns, he wins by using his brain: he's smart and he knows a whole lot of stuff that other people don't. But here, he uses his smarts to...give himself superpowers. Plus, as soon as we see there's a "paradox machine", and then that it's a year later and all hell has broken loose, everyone knows how the story ends. And it's a bit of a lame cop-out. We've already had the reset button solution in Father's Day.But there's still some good stuff: the Master gloating in his success, the failed rebellion, the revelation about the Toclafane which is genuinely shocking (and it fit in mtih my favourite moment in Utopia, when Jacobi Master looks at the map screen and mutters "Utopia" in the manner we might reserve for the word "cre)... All good. The Master's end is a little bizarre; some indication of why his wife would shoot him would have been nice, she seemed to be doped up but we've no insight into that relationship. His refusal to regenerate just to spite the Doctor was marvellous, though I possibly would have preferred him to try getting away first. Martha at least gets some decent resolution; I just wish she'd come to her self-realisation earlier. But she's been fun and I'm glad to see her get a story with an end, though I'm sure her return will be fun too.
As for the hand picking up his ring...balls. I heard somewhere that was entirely so when another production team takes over, they have an out to bring the Master back if they want to. It was so...so Phantom Menace. I mean, a wooden pyre on a planet he hated? That's the best the Doctor can do for the only other Time Lord in the Universe when he dies? Surely he should be tipped into the heart of a sun or a black hole or something...
The Face of Boe joke was funny, if incredibly laboured. It'd better be just a joke, though.
In spite of all that, though, this series was the best so far for my money. I already knew RTD doesn't do well with endings - look at the literal deus ex machina of The Parting of the Ways - but ignoring the
