Kathryn A. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kerravonsen) wrote2015-10-14 06:13 pm
kerravonsen) wrote2015-10-14 06:13 pm
Entry tags:
Doctor Who 9x04 Before The Flood
I'm not sure why I feel a bit meh about this episode... I mean, it wasn't bad, there wasn't anything wrong with it. Maybe it just doesn't live up to the contrast with seeing "The Martian" last night.
See, I was right, the Doctor wasn't dead. Then again, that was a no-brainer.
Fun bit at the start (and end) where the Doctor is explaining the Bootstrap Paradox. I can't stop being amused at his electric guitar.
Interesting that Clara defines herself, her life, around the Doctor. Though no surprise at all, I mean, it's got to be her way of coping without Danny. That whole conversation where Clara is desperately demanding that the Doctor not let himself be killed, that was very telling.
I liked the bit where Cass was being stalked by the ghost which was dragging the axe, and we kept on switching PoV between watching and hearing the ghost, and Cass's point of view where she of course wasn't hearing anything -- perhaps anvilicious in the way it was repeated, but I suppose they were trying to build tension: "Hey look, deaf character, you're being stalked and you don't know it!" But it was redeemed at that moment when Cass knelt down and touched the floor so she could feel the vibrations, so she figured out she was being stalked and got away just in time.
So the alien guy was a funeral director, eh? That explains the archaic clothing... sort of. (I mean, why would aliens have similar formal-wear for funerals as humans do, hmmm?) The Fisher-King, hmmm? Gee the SFX department must have had fun with that costume. The voice-actor was more impressive, though.
Y'know, for a race that ceased to exist, Time Lords are known by an awful lot of species. Though I guess it's because they no longer technically not-exist any more...
Why the heck did the monster just stand there when the dam broke? I mean, how pathetic is that? It didn't even try to do anything to save itself. I suppose it was supposed to be all warrior-race-dying-bravely thing, but it just looked dumb.
Maybe one reason why I felt a bit meh about the episode was that I wasn't really surprised by anything. I figured it must be the Doctor inside the suspended animation capsule well before it opened. I had already figured out the reason why Lunn hadn't been killed by the ghosts so that bit of deduction by Clara wasn't a surprise either.
I did have one moment where I did think that the Doctor had erased the writing on the spaceship, because that would have been a simple way of changing history, but when it turned out he hadn't, that made more sense, really; the Doctor is very good at bluffing. Not to mention, if the Doctor had really erased the writing, he wouldn't tell the Fisher-King, because then he'd just go and put the writing back on again and kill the Doctor afterwards. But the point of the bluff was to (a) prevent the Fisher-King from immediately killing the Doctor (b) getting the FK away from the suspended animation capsule and into the open, so that the Doctor could use the capsule and the FK would be drowned by the dam bursting.
I agree with others who have said that it was a weakness in the plot/worldbuilding that only Lunn knew sign; not that I would have expected any of the rest of the crew to be fluent, but they surely would have picked something up in the time they'd been working together. Unlike some, I do think that it is perfectly plausible for Cass to have learned lipreading. It's a useful skill for a deaf person working with hearing people, why would she not have learned it? I also liked how it was done, that she didn't get it all perfectly immediately; lipreading isn't like reading a book.
I also liked how the TARDIS had a bit more agency in this, like, not letting the Doctor travel when he wanted to just get out of there and change history. Yay TARDIS!
See, I was right, the Doctor wasn't dead. Then again, that was a no-brainer.
Fun bit at the start (and end) where the Doctor is explaining the Bootstrap Paradox. I can't stop being amused at his electric guitar.
Interesting that Clara defines herself, her life, around the Doctor. Though no surprise at all, I mean, it's got to be her way of coping without Danny. That whole conversation where Clara is desperately demanding that the Doctor not let himself be killed, that was very telling.
I liked the bit where Cass was being stalked by the ghost which was dragging the axe, and we kept on switching PoV between watching and hearing the ghost, and Cass's point of view where she of course wasn't hearing anything -- perhaps anvilicious in the way it was repeated, but I suppose they were trying to build tension: "Hey look, deaf character, you're being stalked and you don't know it!" But it was redeemed at that moment when Cass knelt down and touched the floor so she could feel the vibrations, so she figured out she was being stalked and got away just in time.
So the alien guy was a funeral director, eh? That explains the archaic clothing... sort of. (I mean, why would aliens have similar formal-wear for funerals as humans do, hmmm?) The Fisher-King, hmmm? Gee the SFX department must have had fun with that costume. The voice-actor was more impressive, though.
Y'know, for a race that ceased to exist, Time Lords are known by an awful lot of species. Though I guess it's because they no longer technically not-exist any more...
Why the heck did the monster just stand there when the dam broke? I mean, how pathetic is that? It didn't even try to do anything to save itself. I suppose it was supposed to be all warrior-race-dying-bravely thing, but it just looked dumb.
Maybe one reason why I felt a bit meh about the episode was that I wasn't really surprised by anything. I figured it must be the Doctor inside the suspended animation capsule well before it opened. I had already figured out the reason why Lunn hadn't been killed by the ghosts so that bit of deduction by Clara wasn't a surprise either.
I did have one moment where I did think that the Doctor had erased the writing on the spaceship, because that would have been a simple way of changing history, but when it turned out he hadn't, that made more sense, really; the Doctor is very good at bluffing. Not to mention, if the Doctor had really erased the writing, he wouldn't tell the Fisher-King, because then he'd just go and put the writing back on again and kill the Doctor afterwards. But the point of the bluff was to (a) prevent the Fisher-King from immediately killing the Doctor (b) getting the FK away from the suspended animation capsule and into the open, so that the Doctor could use the capsule and the FK would be drowned by the dam bursting.
I agree with others who have said that it was a weakness in the plot/worldbuilding that only Lunn knew sign; not that I would have expected any of the rest of the crew to be fluent, but they surely would have picked something up in the time they'd been working together. Unlike some, I do think that it is perfectly plausible for Cass to have learned lipreading. It's a useful skill for a deaf person working with hearing people, why would she not have learned it? I also liked how it was done, that she didn't get it all perfectly immediately; lipreading isn't like reading a book.
I also liked how the TARDIS had a bit more agency in this, like, not letting the Doctor travel when he wanted to just get out of there and change history. Yay TARDIS!
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No. As far as I can tell, they simply didn't explain it.
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It was nice to see the Doctor in teacher mode and adding the guitar makes it more fun.
"Interesting that Clara defines herself, her life, around the Doctor. Though no surprise at all, I mean, it's got to be her way of coping without Danny. That whole conversation where Clara is desperately demanding that the Doctor not let himself be killed, that was very telling."
As soon as a champion commits to the Doctor, they will be forced to leave him.
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Is that a quote from something?
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When Rose and Donna said the F word as in "Forever", they are physically taken away from the Doctor.
When Amy and Rory made the decision to consistently be in the Doctor's life, Amy chooses to be with Rory when he gets transported back in time by a weeping angel.
Now that Clara has made the Doctor her number one priority, something is gonna happen to her. We know Jenna Coleman is leaving the show.
Martha has been the only one in the new series to leave by her own choice. Even though she had the "crush", she did not see traveling with the Doctor through time and space as a lifestyle choice. It was more of a break from her family and studies.
Sorry if I have overstated my point.
I like your userpic.