Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned—obligatory reaction poll

[matgb]

Right then, managed to rewatch it without distractions via Virgin On Demand, so, well, poll^[1] time (contains plot spoilers):
[Poll #1111566]
In case it's not obvious from the above, I thought it started well, had some great ideas, then, as usual with RTD's stuff, turned into an OTT "we're so cool" festival of silliness. It might be that the Doctor's messiah/god complex will be a plot point for the next season, but that's the only excuse for doing it in two episodes in a row. Good Xmas day entertainment? Possibly, but as usual, sorry Rusty, C-, Could Do Better.

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[1] For those reading this via a different feed (like as a note on Facebook), the bulk of the entry is a Livejournal poll, to vote in it you need either an account or to login using any OpenID. Facebookers can use the Identitude application, but if you've got a Wordpress.com, Typekey, Technorati, AOL or other OpenID provider account you can use that if you want. Blogger users will need to add code to their template—can tell you how if you want or you can follow this simple walkthrough.

Comments

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem with the Who Crimbo special this year that I've had with for the past two years - by the time it's on I had indulged in too much festive cheer and only have hazy memories of it the following day!

I seemed to enjoy it though, but that may have been down to the booze.

[matgb]

That was why I had to watch it again, while I was reasonably sober, the dogs acted up a lot during and mostly everyone else was hammered.

[ihavecake.livejournal.com]

At the "I am the Doctor" speech thinger, my and my mum turned to each other, mouths agape and my brother said "I know, that was AMAZING!" without a trace of irony. He really did like it *facepalm*

[matgb]

My initial reaction was sorta "that was nice" but then my brain switched on and went "hang on, what happened to a little bit of mystery and secrecy?" Even Nine didn't show off like that FFS.

[ihavecake.livejournal.com]

It wasn't so much the showing off that bothered me as the horrifically lazy writing. It was just awful.
But yes, I wish he'd stop trying to make the Doctor cool.

[davidnm.livejournal.com]

My thought with the Doctor going 'Woo look at me - please?' was that it was down to him being around non-Earth-natives and thus not having any reason for concealment. That said, I agree with everyone that it wasn't handled very well, either narratively or in the script!

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that Christmas Specials Don't Count.

RTD is *really* going to have to tone down the religious imagery in season 30|4 or the show might lose me until someone else takes control. The Doctor is a man of science.

[matgb]

Agreed—there's speculation that it's a plot device and will be built on for the next series, but I think he just thinks it's cool.

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

The only hope is if the religion's being built up to be smashed. Otherwise it's going against everything in the first 28 and a bit seasons. If RTD continues to push the faith-over-science agenda - which reached truly absurd points in the Tinkerbell scenes in 29x13 - then the whole point of the show is destroyed. Don't think/evolve/innovate your way out of a problem - clap your hands three times and Tinkerbell the Doctor will sort you out.

Now, if you were going to explore from a logical point of view what the world would be like with the Oncoming Storm in play, pointing out how science, culture, human endeavour and indeed anything other than 'let the Doctor sort it out (and incidentally take your youngest and pertest women)' would grind to a halt, that'd be interesting. But portreaying the Doctor as a consequence-free guilt-free miracle cure for everything, apart from the odd noble (and perhaps ideally Noble?) sacrifice? Include me out.

[rho]

I wanted to vote "bad" and "should be the next companion" for the last question. He was bad, but not as bad as Catherine Tate.

The main problem that I had with the episode was that it was all so inane. The main bad guy was a dodgy businessman pulling an insurance scam. Yawn. One of the things Doctor Who can do well is truly memorable villains, and instead we get an obnoxious guy and some frisbee-throwing cherubs. Yawn.

This becomes doubly problematic when combined with the whole "you can't save everyone" thing. It's not too bad a plot idea, but I think it would have worked better against a better villain. As it was, it just came across as "Doctor was off-form and nearly got beaten by craptastic bad guy".

Also, if they're going to have people die, then can't they at least let them die properly, rather than being transformed into pure consciousness and send out into space after one last kiss, or whatever the hell that was meant to be? It was as if he was trying to be edgy, but then thought "oops, it's Christmas, best throw in some fluff".

I mean, I've no problem with fluff episodes, and I've no problem with slightly deeper episodes, but this had a feeling that he was trying for both and ending up not really getting either one right.

[silentgreeneyes.livejournal.com]

I agree with Rho, it was all very inane. So many cheesy bits.
But it gave me something to watch so I could ignore my grandmother's endless chuntering on so..

[bagrec.livejournal.com]

I voted yes for the space Titanaic. But I'm surprised that nobody eles has pointed out it owed an awful lot to this-

[raksaksa.livejournal.com]

It wasn't great, it wasn't bad. It was just...mmmkay.

Not one of those episodes that I will be clamouring to watch again when BBC Three do their repeats of it, though. It was quite interesting that some of the 'spoilers' I'd heard prior to the show turned out to be steaming piles of bullcrap (the whole Astrid-being-the-essence-of-the-TARDIS thing), which was refreshing in the sense that I was thinking 'hang on...that wasn't supposed to happen' at the end.

I've got to say though, having sat through the trailer of what is to come in series 4, I'm worried it'll be quite pants. It's becoming ever more clear why there is going to be a creative break at the end of this upcoming series!

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

Someone really needs to take RTD aside, thank him for bringing the show back, and tell him never, ever, ever to write for it again. He's tried a lot of things. Some of them work (single-episode 45 minute stories and slow-building arcs); some of them work for some people but not for me (soap opera about companions' families); some of it is toe-curlingly awful (Doctor As Dobby the House ElfTinkerbell er God).

To nick a phrase from the wonderful Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, DW is not an 'unscrewable pooch' - bad writing and sloppy thinking screwed the pooch before (ToaTL) and almost cost the show its future.

RTD's attempt to set the Doctor up as a kind of atheist/pantheist cuddly God could do more to kill DW than anything. If this sort of toss was coming out with 5, 6, 7 or 8 in it would you still be watching?

new!Who is capable of works that rank with any sf that's ever been shown on TV (Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, Blink, The Sound of Drums). This is why we need it. But it's also capable of shit like Love and Monsters, or sloppy toss like yesterday's episode. And I fear the rubbish will get more common, and audiences will give up... and we'll be without the show for many, many years... if not permanently.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with RTD being writing the occasional epsiode, or even skteching out the seasons' arc, but of all the writers he seems more in need of an editor than many others (Moffat for instance), rather than being in overall creative control.

I have a feeling he thinks he's JMS off Babylon 5. The difference being that B5 was conceived rather than revived by JMS, so taking him out of the equation after 3 seasons would have buggered the thing.

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

You know, you could be right. I can't abide B5.

[davidnm.livejournal.com]

I wasn't as appalled as I was expecting to be, but on the other hand, I wasn't expecting anything. I guess the fact I enjoyed the episode proves my own one-liner about the value of cynicism!

I'd give it a C rather then a C- overall, although that is partly because I liked it more then expected. (I will forgive a lot for enormous spacecraft dropping out of orbit!)

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

The Christmas epsiodes are starting to piss me off. The tinsel seems stuck on for no discernable reason, and in Who seems especially pointless. I like the fact that it means we get a stand-alone episode to tide us over.

Who was great at mucking about with history and throwing in monsters, but it was pervaded with X-Files style plausible deniability (ie the UNIT years)- or set far enough in the future that aliens were expected. Buzzing the Queen with Starship Titanic? Bugger off Rusty.

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

You get 'an episode to tide you over' that probably - on the basis of the last couple, certainly - probably costs as much to make as three or four normal ones. Give me a longer season with more good episodes rather than something loud, brash and content-free, please!

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Sadly this is true.

Some of the best episodes of the last couple of series could have had tinsel stuck on them and still been awesome- Blink or Family of Blood for instance, and everyone would have been raving about how great it was. You could even break the season up a little, so that you've got a two-parter or whatever to show at Xmas that doesn't contribute to the arc building.

[tyrell.livejournal.com]

It was terrible. Several things were very good, but they were completely wiped out by the awful, awful shit bits. It's not just that the Dr-carried-by-angels or making-ego-speech parts break your concentration, they're also not Doctor Who.

Self-indulgent, twee, unnecessary, momentum-breaking shit. Kylie was great. Old guy was fine. Stupid over-indulgent Rusty posturing... no more, please.

[blue-condition.livejournal.com]

Blimey, this is 'Evolution of the Daleks' all over again ;)

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I hated the ship - just plain stupid (though of course, a space ship could be any design at all. But still...).

I loved Kylie. (BTW I think you should analyse your poll results by age and gender; I mean, Kylie in a maid's costume - what's not to like?)

But generally I rather enjoyed it. There was a rather fun self-referential aspect to it.

Of course Dr Who is going to be foolish - it is never going to be realistic, is it?

I had watched the finale to the series featuring John Simm as the Master on Christmas Eve - I had missed that first time around. That too was full of Christian references (resurrection and so on). So I wasn't too surprised at the angels!

[strmrgn.livejournal.com]

the episode was ok, but it was too long and too much of a let down. it had been hyped up for weeks upon weeks and then just failed to be as good as almost any episode from the last series.

The angel robot things were just annoying and the bit with the queen at the end was just a waste of time. perhaps if theyd got helen mirren to play her it would have been a little funny, but it still would have been pointless.

i just want interested or bothered about the ship being attacked/the people dying or the doctor saving the world. although i wasnt really paying much attention in the first few mins, coz i was annoyed that they changed the theme music

[raksaksa.livejournal.com]

I guess I will have to watch the start of it again then, just to see what they've done to the theme music... *sigh*