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So, I did make it to the Doctor Who fan club meeting on Friday. It shouldn't be surprising, but the Legion of Rassilon is turning in to Geek Networking Central. I left with one invitation to connect on LinkedIn and two people who had promised to send me resumes.
But, on to more important things...
"Partners in Crime" was great fun, and a great example of a script that plays to all of Russell T. Davies's strengths. It's got a bit of social satire, a lot of humor, and the resolution of the plot doesn't rest of technobabble, but on the plausible motivations and actions of the characters. (I was going to say plausible "human" motivations, but most of the characters aren't.) Plus, the adipose are dead cute.
I think I want to see "The Fires of Pompeii" again before I decide whether I thought it was brilliant or merely quite good. I have to respect writer James Moran for taking on the age-old Doctor Who question of "Can you change history?" I can't quite decide whether the way he avoids having to give an answer to this question by forcing the characters into an even bigger dilemma is brilliant or a cop-out. Is there such a thing as a brilliant cop-out? (The real answer to the question is that you can change history in Doctor Who as long as your viewers won't remember it having happened a different way.)
As if that weren't enough, Moran also gives us a scene in which the Doctor fights off an alien magma-monster with a squirt gun, and finally answers a question that's bedevilled a generation of fans: If the TARDIS translation circuits render the English spoken by our heroes into the local language, what do the locals hear when our heroes attempt to speak the local language? Well, in Pompeii, when they speak Latin, the locals hear Welsh.
Note to whoever is producing seaons 5: Please commission another script from James Moran.
On the subject of whoever is producing season 5, I was assured at the meeting that it is absolutely, positively, confirmed that Steven Moffat will be taking over from Russell T. Davies as producer when Davies leaves. Since I haven't seen LJ explode with squee, I assume that this hasn't been officially confirmed. I note it for what it's worth.
But, on to more important things...
"Partners in Crime" was great fun, and a great example of a script that plays to all of Russell T. Davies's strengths. It's got a bit of social satire, a lot of humor, and the resolution of the plot doesn't rest of technobabble, but on the plausible motivations and actions of the characters. (I was going to say plausible "human" motivations, but most of the characters aren't.) Plus, the adipose are dead cute.
I think I want to see "The Fires of Pompeii" again before I decide whether I thought it was brilliant or merely quite good. I have to respect writer James Moran for taking on the age-old Doctor Who question of "Can you change history?" I can't quite decide whether the way he avoids having to give an answer to this question by forcing the characters into an even bigger dilemma is brilliant or a cop-out. Is there such a thing as a brilliant cop-out? (The real answer to the question is that you can change history in Doctor Who as long as your viewers won't remember it having happened a different way.)
As if that weren't enough, Moran also gives us a scene in which the Doctor fights off an alien magma-monster with a squirt gun, and finally answers a question that's bedevilled a generation of fans: If the TARDIS translation circuits render the English spoken by our heroes into the local language, what do the locals hear when our heroes attempt to speak the local language? Well, in Pompeii, when they speak Latin, the locals hear Welsh.
Note to whoever is producing seaons 5: Please commission another script from James Moran.
On the subject of whoever is producing season 5, I was assured at the meeting that it is absolutely, positively, confirmed that Steven Moffat will be taking over from Russell T. Davies as producer when Davies leaves. Since I haven't seen LJ explode with squee, I assume that this hasn't been officially confirmed. I note it for what it's worth.
