Doctor Who fannish blather...

Just watched The Beast Below.

doctorpinkerton said, in a conversation Friday over dinner in the NOLA suburbs, that one of the things that annoyed him about the new Doctor was his fallibility. After this episode, I can sort of see that. In one particular scene Matt Smith's performance reminded me forcibly of the penultimate scene of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory... Gene Wilder's Wonka angrily telling Charlie that, because of an incident with bubble-up soda, he had forfeited the lifetime supply of candy promised for after the tour. (All of which was NOT in the book, and was totally unnecessary in my view, but I digress.)

Anyway, yeah, the Doctor had a scene like that- and if you think that's not like the Doctor, go back and review selected incidents with Four, a few other incidents with Seven, quite a number with Nine and Ten, and practically Six's entire career.

But despite this... I have to say that, at the very least, this episode stands equal to any episode/serial of Old Who you care to name. It was GOOD. Not only was it good, but (aside from superior special effects) this episode felt like old-school Who. As in, pre-JNT Who. The Who I watched on those all too rare Saturday nights when the weather was just right to let our TV pick up Channel 8 out of Houston back in the eighties.

For me Moffatt is hit-or-miss with his scripts... this one was DEFINITELY a hit.

And one other thing: before I said Eleven was about two parts Tom Baker/Four, one part Tennant/Ten. In this episode, at least, I'd add about half a part of Captain Jack Harkness... especially in Torchwood: Children of Earth. Not spoiling it any more than that.

Doctor Who fannish blather...

Just watched The Beast Below.

doctorpinkerton said, in a conversation Friday over dinner in the NOLA suburbs, that one of the things that annoyed him about the new Doctor was his fallibility. After this episode, I can sort of see that. In one particular scene Matt Smith's performance reminded me forcibly of the penultimate scene of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory... Gene Wilder's Wonka angrily telling Charlie that, because of an incident with bubble-up soda, he had forfeited the lifetime supply of candy promised for after the tour. (All of which was NOT in the book, and was totally unnecessary in my view, but I digress.)

Anyway, yeah, the Doctor had a scene like that- and if you think that's not like the Doctor, go back and review selected incidents with Four, a few other incidents with Seven, quite a number with Nine and Ten, and practically Six's entire career.

But despite this... I have to say that, at the very least, this episode stands equal to any episode/serial of Old Who you care to name. It was GOOD. Not only was it good, but (aside from superior special effects) this episode felt like old-school Who. As in, pre-JNT Who. The Who I watched on those all too rare Saturday nights when the weather was just right to let our TV pick up Channel 8 out of Houston back in the eighties.

For me Moffatt is hit-or-miss with his scripts... this one was DEFINITELY a hit.

And one other thing: before I said Eleven was about two parts Tom Baker/Four, one part Tennant/Ten. In this episode, at least, I'd add about half a part of Captain Jack Harkness... especially in Torchwood: Children of Earth. Not spoiling it any more than that.