Doctor Who 8x07 Kill The Moon
Oct. 17th, 2014 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenYes, I'm still behind.
I got the impression from (spoiler-free) reactions around the net when this originally aired, that it was rather controversial; some liked it, some hated it.
Me... mixed.
Good: the Doctor and his yo-yo figuring out that the gravity was all wrong.
Bad: the gravity being all wrong in the first place. It did not make any sense whatsoever. Yes, even if the moon were an egg, that doesn't mean that its mass would be increasing, because where would the extra mass be coming from? It's not like matter can be created from nothing.
Bad: And likewise, killing the creature wouldn't have destroyed the magical extra mass, it would have just prevented the moon from breaking up.
Bad: The "New Moon" appearing out of nothing was a problem of the same sort. I mean, if a creature "lays an egg", then the egg must have been inside the creature first, hmmm?
Puzzling: why did the Mexicans find no minerals?
Puzzling: why did Courtney float in the air at one point? I think there was an explanation, but I didn't follow it.
Good: plausible scenario; the indifference of the Earth to the fate of the Mexicans, because they'd turned their back on space, so the expedition had to be made of "second-hand shuttlecraft and third-hand astronauts", ten years later.
Good characterisation:
* Courtney being a bored teenager.
* Of course the Doctor wouldn't be able to say Courtney was special when he was put on the spot like that. Would anyone, really?
* I really liked the Doctor in this one.
* And the interaction between the Doctor and Clara at the end, I think that was spot-on. I mean, I get why Clara was upset, and I get why the Doctor didn't understand why she was upset. Clara felt abandoned in a dangerous situation. The Doctor really did feel that it wasn't up to him to make such a choice, and if he hadn't left, they would have spent their remaining time arguing with him instead of deciding. But, on the other hand, it was still a pretty awful way of going about it.
* Loved the comfort and sense from Danny at the end.
Good: Clara's clever idea of how to get a "referendum" from humanity.
The Moral Dilemma: The Life of An Innocent Versus All Mankind!
I'm not sure whether this was dealt with too simplistically or not... it just didn't feel as cut-and-dried as they were making it out to be.
I was not at all surprised that Earth chose to turn off all the lights, put thumbs-down on the creature; that was exactly what I was expecting. I mean, it's logical -- who the heck would choose suicide? My lack of surprise possibly accounts for why that did not leave a bad taste in my mouth, unlike what happened in "Midnight". There's a difference between throwing someone out the airlock who is obviously terrified, and blowing up a creature who might spell the end for humanity.
I think I can see what they were trying to do with this, but I don't think they pulled it off.
* yes, it is an "innocent creature"... but they didn't know whether it would remain "innocent"... because newborns tend to wake up hungry. A hungry creature the size of the moon? Not a good situation to be in.
* I think the setup was supposed to be hope versus fear; that Clara and Courtney were supposed to be the voices for hope, and the Captain and Earth were the voices for fear.
* Problem is, it wasn't just fear, it was sensible caution mixed in with the fear. Risk assessment; if you have insufficient data, you have to consider the worst-case scenario and act accordingly. (Kudos to the Stargate SG-1 episode which actually dealt with this as a plot point: "Prodigy")
* Clara was basically right by accident. As a contrast, in "The Beast Below", there were actually clues that Amy was able to put together, rather than make a decision based entirely on sentiment.
* The Doctor's speech about mankind looking up and seeing something wonderful... was supposed to be inspiring, but Clara was right, too, it came across as a bit patronizing, even if the Doctor didn't mean it to be.
I have to say, Capaldi acted his socks off. I really do like Twelve.
I got the impression from (spoiler-free) reactions around the net when this originally aired, that it was rather controversial; some liked it, some hated it.
Me... mixed.
Good: the Doctor and his yo-yo figuring out that the gravity was all wrong.
Bad: the gravity being all wrong in the first place. It did not make any sense whatsoever. Yes, even if the moon were an egg, that doesn't mean that its mass would be increasing, because where would the extra mass be coming from? It's not like matter can be created from nothing.
Bad: And likewise, killing the creature wouldn't have destroyed the magical extra mass, it would have just prevented the moon from breaking up.
Bad: The "New Moon" appearing out of nothing was a problem of the same sort. I mean, if a creature "lays an egg", then the egg must have been inside the creature first, hmmm?
Puzzling: why did the Mexicans find no minerals?
Puzzling: why did Courtney float in the air at one point? I think there was an explanation, but I didn't follow it.
Good: plausible scenario; the indifference of the Earth to the fate of the Mexicans, because they'd turned their back on space, so the expedition had to be made of "second-hand shuttlecraft and third-hand astronauts", ten years later.
Good characterisation:
* Courtney being a bored teenager.
* Of course the Doctor wouldn't be able to say Courtney was special when he was put on the spot like that. Would anyone, really?
* I really liked the Doctor in this one.
* And the interaction between the Doctor and Clara at the end, I think that was spot-on. I mean, I get why Clara was upset, and I get why the Doctor didn't understand why she was upset. Clara felt abandoned in a dangerous situation. The Doctor really did feel that it wasn't up to him to make such a choice, and if he hadn't left, they would have spent their remaining time arguing with him instead of deciding. But, on the other hand, it was still a pretty awful way of going about it.
* Loved the comfort and sense from Danny at the end.
Good: Clara's clever idea of how to get a "referendum" from humanity.
The Moral Dilemma: The Life of An Innocent Versus All Mankind!
I'm not sure whether this was dealt with too simplistically or not... it just didn't feel as cut-and-dried as they were making it out to be.
I was not at all surprised that Earth chose to turn off all the lights, put thumbs-down on the creature; that was exactly what I was expecting. I mean, it's logical -- who the heck would choose suicide? My lack of surprise possibly accounts for why that did not leave a bad taste in my mouth, unlike what happened in "Midnight". There's a difference between throwing someone out the airlock who is obviously terrified, and blowing up a creature who might spell the end for humanity.
I think I can see what they were trying to do with this, but I don't think they pulled it off.
* yes, it is an "innocent creature"... but they didn't know whether it would remain "innocent"... because newborns tend to wake up hungry. A hungry creature the size of the moon? Not a good situation to be in.
* I think the setup was supposed to be hope versus fear; that Clara and Courtney were supposed to be the voices for hope, and the Captain and Earth were the voices for fear.
* Problem is, it wasn't just fear, it was sensible caution mixed in with the fear. Risk assessment; if you have insufficient data, you have to consider the worst-case scenario and act accordingly. (Kudos to the Stargate SG-1 episode which actually dealt with this as a plot point: "Prodigy")
* Clara was basically right by accident. As a contrast, in "The Beast Below", there were actually clues that Amy was able to put together, rather than make a decision based entirely on sentiment.
* The Doctor's speech about mankind looking up and seeing something wonderful... was supposed to be inspiring, but Clara was right, too, it came across as a bit patronizing, even if the Doctor didn't mean it to be.
I have to say, Capaldi acted his socks off. I really do like Twelve.
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no subject
Date: 2014-10-17 12:38 pm (UTC)He's the most "Doctorish" Doctor we've had since New Who began--capricious, intelligent, wise, caring and callous by turns, and far less torn by angst.
I don't know whether it's because he's the first New Who Doctor who's free of the crushing guilt of "destroying his people" or Capaldi's great acting or both.
Probably both.
(And all those logic problems with the episode seem very Classic as well, which is why, though I noticed them, they didn't really bother me.)
no subject
Date: 2014-10-17 11:16 pm (UTC)Agreed!
Since I prefer Watsonian explanations, I'd say it's the lack of dead-planet-last-of-his-kind that explains the lack of angst.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-17 07:25 pm (UTC)Clara was basically right by accident. As a contrast, in "The Beast Below", there were actually clues that Amy was able to put together, rather than make a decision based entirely on sentiment.
I think you hit the nail on the head as to why I liked this less than the similar dilemma in "The Beast Below" or other times Doctor Who has presented the needs of the many vs. the needs of the one as a false dilemma. Other times, there are at least hints that acting on hope had a chance of working. Here, Clara made a decision that turned out to be okay, but it was for the wrong reasons. She went against the expressed wishes of the people of Earth (well, those with access to lights visible from space), and she had zero evidence that she wasn't dooming the entire planet. The only things arguing for letting the creature live were sentiment and the Doctor very vaguely implying that he liked that option. She didn't even know if the creature in the egg was sentient or had capacity for pain or any mind at all. (Not that organisms like plants without minds are unworthy of protection, but I do think it changes the equation. They kept talking about it as a baby, but for all they knew it was a giant, brainless, and very hungry flatworm.)
Doctor Who's science is always pretty dodgy, but it was especially bad here. In a serious science fiction episode that relied on things like the changing mass as a plot point, it matters more to me than in a goofy romp like "Robot of Sherwood."
Clara telling the Doctor off was definitely the highlight of the episode in my opinion. I am still trying to figure out whether I consider the Doctor's behavior here out of character or terrible but in character. I would totally have bought that he left her to make the decision because he was off doing something like resonating the eggshell so it would break up fully or towing in an asteroid to serve as a replacement moon or something. As is, his behavior seemed to pass the border from inhuman to outright cruel. IDK.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-17 11:32 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly!
Apparently some people took the episode as an analogy for abortion, but even as analogy for abortion, it's a terrible analogy! Because there's a heck of a lot of difference between casual abortion and doing so in order to save the mother's life. (At least, I think there is.)
I am still trying to figure out whether I consider the Doctor's behavior here out of character or terrible but in character.
I guess I have more sympathy for the Doctor than you do in this; I really do think that he felt that it was the right thing for him to do to not interfere with their decision, but that he handled it really badly. A mistake, not cruelty.
I'm not saying that I don't have sympathy for Clara in this too! She felt betrayed, it's just that the Doctor had no idea or intent of betraying her. Unlike Seven, I don't think Twelve was trying to manipulate her -- which I think would have been more of a betrayal, really.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-17 09:24 pm (UTC)Capaldi was good in this.
Clara's reaction was rather over the top, but then shock does that.
So far he's my new favourite New Who!
no subject
Date: 2014-10-17 11:39 pm (UTC)Um... it was a magical creature that gained mass as it woke up, and would have magically lost the same amount of mass if it were killed?
I mean, if they'd left the mass-change out of it, it might even have worked as a dilemma -- that the Moon breaking up would have caused destruction to the Earth, with debris falling towards the Earth from the broken-up Moon, and that if they killed the creature, the Moon wouldn't break up. That would not have been such a wholesale violation of the laws of physics. (sigh)
So far he's my new favourite New Who!
Nine is still my favourite, but I'm thinking that Twelve is a close second.