Oh, God. I'm the metal dog.
Feb. 22nd, 2008 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ad_exiaSo~ I promised Diana I would write down some of my thoughts about Doctor Who. I don't know if this hits all the points we talked about tonight, but it should be at least some of it. Possible spoilers up through the middle of series two-ish (through The Girl in the Fire Place), and definitely a lot of rant. :D;;
This poor show really only suffers from one thing: inconsistent writers that don't seem to care enough to keep canon consistent and moving forward. I learned that the cardinal rule of writing is "show, don't tell." Well, they barely show us anything at all. Most of the character development - what little we do get - is told to us, so many times that by the time we've been beaten over the head with it for three episodes in a row, all of which have started, middled, and ended with the characters drawing exactly the same conclusions, that we don't care anymore. Seriously. There was some real growth and realization in School Reunion. And what did they do in Girl in the Fire Place but rehash it all over again. (Not to mention the fact that things are inconsistent because Rose goes from huffy over Mickey coming along at the end of School to being all chummy with him in Girl because the writer couldn't be bothered to read the script for School. What? WHAT? That is just plain freaking unprofessional, people.) It was like reading a junior high essay. School was the thesis. Then we needed the whoooole of Girl to put forth examples, just in case we weren't convinced yet. Gah!
That's really a lot of what it comes down to. The writers really don't seem in synch and they don't seem to care - they write the characters their own way, with little regard to what's come before. Each episode is like a little separate universe, in which even if things change they go right back to square one in the next episode. I can understand this from a kids' show point of view, but they must know there's an older audience watching as well. That's another important rule of writing: "know your audience." If your audience doesn't like something, you might want to think about changing it. You don't have to sacrifice a lot, even, to do that. Series two just feels very... stagnant. They let the characters and their relationships stagnate in lieu of plot and it hurts. It really does. Rose told Mickey at the end of series one that she had nothing left to return to on Earth. THAT MEANT HIM. She was clear. Explicit. And yet still he's hanging around and she's chummy and huggy and whatever with him, and it's just like, we dealt with this already. Why are we back to the status quo from Boom Town?
I just feel like series one was just... so much stronger than series two. Granted, I've only seen about half of series two, and there were some good parts (like the first two episodes). But series one was by far stronger, not only science-wise (well, somewhat at least XD) but character growth-wise. Series two seems so intent on focusing on their (mediocre) plots that they aren't doing much to advance the characters. Plot is great, but if you're going to concentrate on it then it needs to be good. I mean really good. And it's... just not good enough to hold its own. They're just skipping over anything that has to actually do with the characters in order to get to more action, and that's really hurting things, I feel. Maybe it's just being true to its roots - maybe that's how they wrote science fiction in the sixties or seventies or whenever this show first came out. But my point is that a science fiction show is probably going to garner a more intelligent audience than most other kinds of shows. It helps to have good science - or at least believable science - when it's so integral to the plot. Some things are so good, and then some other things fail so hard. I think the diseased people in New Earth really should've just been zombies. Honestly? I would've believed that more. Because that's really what they were. And... and there are just so many other little things that add up into big things that it's really hard to ignore some of the plot holes. Plot holes so big that you can fly the Tardis through them are kind of... well, you know. Maybe sort of a problem. ^^;
Also. ALSO. Holy fucking hell HOW DO YOU FORGET ABOUT JACK FOR AN ENTIRE SEASON? COME ON PEOPLE. COME. ON.
Wow. So from all of that, you'd think I hated the show or something. ^^;; But really, I don't. I think it's fun and crazy and... well. It's great. It's a lot of fun to watch together, and I'm really enjoying it. It might have its flaws, but it's still good fun and I can't wait to watch more. I think my heart will forever belong toRose and Nine series one, but we'll see what the future holds. I just think Rose is such a strong and excellent character, and I think she's really grown a lot, no matter what some of the worse writers have done to her (ahaha, yeah, we're not going to discuss the beginning of The Empty Child, we're just going to forget that ever happened). I think she really is in love with the Doctor, and it's the kind of love where she's willing to face heartache and whatever else may come just to be with him. I also think Sarah Jane suggested that Mickey go with because she thought Rose would need him when the Doctor broke her heart. But I really think we'll see about that one. I think Rose is stronger than that. And I think the Doctor loves her back, and it's just that he doesn't express it in the same way, because he's an alien. Everything he does is just so outrageous and different and I like that. I like it a lot. It doesn't mean he doesn't care, and it doesn't mean he can't show that he cares (because dancing with her was the asdklaf;s cutest thing ever). It just means it makes things a little harder for Rose, who understands and gives love in human terms. I think there's a lot to be done there. I really hope somebody deals with that in the future.
But I hear she's coming back for series four! Sooo~ Once I get that far... we'll see! I have hopes. I only pray they might not be dashed~ XD;
Oh my gosh that was long. I should consider getting to bed. I have to make sure to be in by 10:30 so Chris can sign my orals form. Poor Catherine, she sent me an email today telling me I'd had it longer than she had! Which is true... mostly because I don't like tracking down people. :x Well, and also Anthony was out of town until today so there wasn't any way I could have gotten it signed beforehand, right? ^^;
This poor show really only suffers from one thing: inconsistent writers that don't seem to care enough to keep canon consistent and moving forward. I learned that the cardinal rule of writing is "show, don't tell." Well, they barely show us anything at all. Most of the character development - what little we do get - is told to us, so many times that by the time we've been beaten over the head with it for three episodes in a row, all of which have started, middled, and ended with the characters drawing exactly the same conclusions, that we don't care anymore. Seriously. There was some real growth and realization in School Reunion. And what did they do in Girl in the Fire Place but rehash it all over again. (Not to mention the fact that things are inconsistent because Rose goes from huffy over Mickey coming along at the end of School to being all chummy with him in Girl because the writer couldn't be bothered to read the script for School. What? WHAT? That is just plain freaking unprofessional, people.) It was like reading a junior high essay. School was the thesis. Then we needed the whoooole of Girl to put forth examples, just in case we weren't convinced yet. Gah!
That's really a lot of what it comes down to. The writers really don't seem in synch and they don't seem to care - they write the characters their own way, with little regard to what's come before. Each episode is like a little separate universe, in which even if things change they go right back to square one in the next episode. I can understand this from a kids' show point of view, but they must know there's an older audience watching as well. That's another important rule of writing: "know your audience." If your audience doesn't like something, you might want to think about changing it. You don't have to sacrifice a lot, even, to do that. Series two just feels very... stagnant. They let the characters and their relationships stagnate in lieu of plot and it hurts. It really does. Rose told Mickey at the end of series one that she had nothing left to return to on Earth. THAT MEANT HIM. She was clear. Explicit. And yet still he's hanging around and she's chummy and huggy and whatever with him, and it's just like, we dealt with this already. Why are we back to the status quo from Boom Town?
I just feel like series one was just... so much stronger than series two. Granted, I've only seen about half of series two, and there were some good parts (like the first two episodes). But series one was by far stronger, not only science-wise (well, somewhat at least XD) but character growth-wise. Series two seems so intent on focusing on their (mediocre) plots that they aren't doing much to advance the characters. Plot is great, but if you're going to concentrate on it then it needs to be good. I mean really good. And it's... just not good enough to hold its own. They're just skipping over anything that has to actually do with the characters in order to get to more action, and that's really hurting things, I feel. Maybe it's just being true to its roots - maybe that's how they wrote science fiction in the sixties or seventies or whenever this show first came out. But my point is that a science fiction show is probably going to garner a more intelligent audience than most other kinds of shows. It helps to have good science - or at least believable science - when it's so integral to the plot. Some things are so good, and then some other things fail so hard. I think the diseased people in New Earth really should've just been zombies. Honestly? I would've believed that more. Because that's really what they were. And... and there are just so many other little things that add up into big things that it's really hard to ignore some of the plot holes. Plot holes so big that you can fly the Tardis through them are kind of... well, you know. Maybe sort of a problem. ^^;
Also. ALSO. Holy fucking hell HOW DO YOU FORGET ABOUT JACK FOR AN ENTIRE SEASON? COME ON PEOPLE. COME. ON.
Wow. So from all of that, you'd think I hated the show or something. ^^;; But really, I don't. I think it's fun and crazy and... well. It's great. It's a lot of fun to watch together, and I'm really enjoying it. It might have its flaws, but it's still good fun and I can't wait to watch more. I think my heart will forever belong to
But I hear she's coming back for series four! Sooo~ Once I get that far... we'll see! I have hopes. I only pray they might not be dashed~ XD;
Oh my gosh that was long. I should consider getting to bed. I have to make sure to be in by 10:30 so Chris can sign my orals form. Poor Catherine, she sent me an email today telling me I'd had it longer than she had! Which is true... mostly because I don't like tracking down people. :x Well, and also Anthony was out of town until today so there wasn't any way I could have gotten it signed beforehand, right? ^^;
