‘I’ll
get it right next time, I promise.’
Can
the best Doctor Who stories be summed up in a question?
When
was Doctor Who ever really about time travel, and what happens when it is?
Best
moment for Old School Who?
The
empty TARDIS shell and the shock of its revelation is a great nod to
‘Logopolis,’ and throughout this episode the Doctor is just as gloomy as ever
he was then.
Best
new thing?
I
like the fact that this story niggles its way into the idea of paradoxes that
every other Doctor Who story gleefully avoids. There’s not even a cheery
mention of the good old hand-wavey Blinovitch Limitation Effect. This is a universe
without the Time Lords, and all the old rules about not mucking about with the timelines
are suspended. This is all about consequences. The Doctor rashly lets Rose see her past and it leads to
disaster. In the absence of the great Lords of Time in their evening gowns, we
get voracious Preying Manti / flying sardines.
They’d
never have got away with that in the 20th century…
While
monsters are attacking and trying to eat everyone we focus on long teary scenes
in which people talk about their feelings and how they might be related to each
other. In the old series there’d be UNIT jeeps and Sergeant Benton stomping about
and the Brigadier looking fierce if anyone dared to start weeping.
Hurray
for Jackie Tyler – best guest moment?
It’s
got to be Rose’s dad Pete. He comes to life in more ways than one, despite the
obvious Del Boy parallels and having to die the-death-of-Joan-Collins-in-Star-Trek.
The
‘I love me Nan…’ moment
It
has to be ‘My daddy!’ It’s pure Jenny Agutter in ‘The Railway Children.’
What?!?
In
terms of the bigger stuff, and how this episode feeds into the wider story arc,
we’re considering this universe without the guardianship of the Time Lords,
custodians of Canonicity and stuff. In this post-Time War world, time travel
itself is deadly. The slightest deviation and you get the shrieking beasties
trying to sterilize you. The Doctor’s loneliness as the only time traveller in
the cosmos is very starkly presented.
Huh?!
There’s
a few things that I don’t get. In its drive to give us some spooky Sapphire and
Steel moments a few things go awry. What is, exactly, happening with the
TARDIS? Does it get the hump? Is it scared? Also, why does this stuff not
happen every time the Doctor travels anywhere in this new series and makes an
impact on the world around him? All the monstery paradox stuff feels a little
like plot contrivance to squeeze a few tears out of the characters.
Where
was I?
The
sentimentality of it drags for me. At the time I’d have been happy if Rose had
thrown herself underneath that passing car. The gloopy music over the
bookending bedtime story scenes sets the tone for me, and all the weepiness
still feels a bit much.
Singlemost
fabulous thing
The meringue dresses and bubbly perms
and peachy, sickly colours set against the gloom and drizzle of the location ring very true to the 1987 in my head.
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