Doctor Who: 3x06 The Lazarus Experiment

[kerravonsen]

Mostly cool, I think.

Yay:
The last scene, where Martha again stood up for herself, by insisting that she wasn't going to put up with the "one more trip" thing. One of the things I like about Martha is that she can stand up for herself without being obnoxious or whining.

"How did you find me?"
"I heard the explosion."

Again, Martha keeps her head while all about are losing theirs. But she isn't a 'Sue.

That Tish helped Martha, and she gets it.

The Doctor's reaction to Martha's mother slapping him.
I must admit, I was expecting Martha's mother to end up going draconian and Absolutely Forbidding Martha to have anything to do with the Doctor, which of course wouldn't have worked at all.
What Martha's mother doesn't get is that Martha already knows that it's dangerous, and she still feels it's worth it.

Just when we thought it was over, it wasn't over.

Boo:
Okay, so how many zillion times is a rejuvination process going to turn someone into a life-sucking monster? Anybody heard of animal testing?

His last name was Lazarus? Tacky.

The age makeup was not that convincing.

The monster was not plausible, though they must have had fun designing it.

Questions:
So, what exactly did that man tell Martha's mother (apart from "He's dangerous"), and what was his motive?

So, is Tish going to be out of a job, now?

Observations:
Another "Mr. Saxon" namedrop.

And regarding the trailer...
Jack! SQUEE!

I gather that the trailer is for more than just the next episode, so I'll just have to wait for Jack. Which means I should probably force myself to watch the Torchwood episodes I haven't watched. I went and downloaded the rest anyway, when I heard that they weren't going to show it here. I gather that the 2nd-last episode was good.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I look forward to seeing the old Jack from Nine's days, but I wouldn't watch Torchwood for him; that's a different Jack and I gave up on the series quite early.

Another "Mr. Saxon" namedrop.

He's Harold Saxon. That's almost as punny as Lazarus, which was about as subtle as Dorian.

I think the Saxon lackey must have said more than "the Doctor is dangerous" too. Maybe it was something about how many companions he's had? That would explain a slap.

My main objection to the Lazarus monster was that they didn't conserve mass and volume. Unless that thing was very light, where did the extra matter come from?

[kerravonsen]

I think the Saxon lackey must have said more than "the Doctor is dangerous" too. Maybe it was something about how many companions he's had? That would explain a slap.

One thing I'm certain of, is that he didn't tell her the whole truth, and what he did say was slanted. Which is why I wonder about his motives.

My main objection to the Lazarus monster was that they didn't conserve mass and volume. Unless that thing was very light, where did the extra matter come from?

One thing that's niggling me about the monster is that it reminds me of something I've seen before, but I can't remember what.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They've had quite a few of those insectoid monsters; I remember something similar scuttling along corridors and going along the ceiling too. There was that queen spider creature with the woman's face, and insecty things in the Sarah Jane Adventures pilot if you saw that.

[eve11]

When they're stuck inside the machine, the Doctor says something very quickly about the mass ratio, something like, "In this form he's three times the size, cellular triplication-- he's spreading himself thin" Hand-wavy, but at least they considered it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks! So he was a lot less dense, which would explain the big leaps, ceiling scuttling, and climbing skills.

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

So far as I know, they are showing Torchwood here, but on 10 and not ABC. That could have changed since I heard anything about it, but if true I wish you luck sitting through Big Brother or Australian Idol or whatever is screening before it starts that night...

[kerravonsen]

Ah.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Curiously, I thought the ageing make-up looked unconvincing in the episode, and extremely good in the accompanying documentary. I came to the conclusion that it was actually better in close-up.

The monster... I find most monsters pretty boring, unless they do something interesting. Just rampaging about chasing and devouring people doesn't qualify as interesting in my book. Also in the documentary (yes, I go on watching Confidential, even though it's mostly self-congratulatory stuff, because I like Tennant as Tennant a lot more than Tennant as the Doctor), they went on about how wonderful both their prosthetic and their CGI monsters are. (This gave them an excuse to bring in the Rachnoss, which was prosthetic and built to hold the actress, but didn't get a documentary at the time.) But I have come to the conclusion that (a) neither the CGI nor the prosthetics are quite as good as they think, and (b) it's not feeble special effects that put me off monsters, it's feeble concepts. The embodiment of ultimate evil is a giant [something] that stomps about a lot crushing extras? Bah.

[kerravonsen]

Curiously, I thought the ageing make-up looked unconvincing in the episode, and extremely good in the accompanying documentary. I came to the conclusion that it was actually better in close-up.

You could be right.

The embodiment of ultimate evil is a giant [something] that stomps about a lot crushing extras? Bah.

If you're referring to "The Satan Pit", I agree with you. The scariest thing in that episode was not the "monster" but the creepy things, like "if you turn around you will die", and the way the Ood were calmly predicting the rise of Something from the Pit.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

"The Satan Pit" is one of the ones I had in mind. Another is one you haven't seen yet. But as a general principle, I think whispering can be scarier than shouting, shadows scarier than material objects.

I think one of my favourite monsters is the Gorgon, as she was originally explained to me: Medusa was a most beautiful woman, with snakes for hair, and what petrified those who saw her was the unnatural combination of extraordinary beauty with extraordinary horror. Most versions of the story omit her beauty, however, and many make her ugliness the point. It would, of course, be very difficult to portray the beautiful Medusa, though there is a loophole in the fact that the hero never looks at her except through an imperfect mirror.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

The second to last episode was worth the spottiness of the rest of the season. The last episode was decent and probably the most relevant to the upcoming eps...

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Though the second-to-last's most popular scene is one unlikely to have much appeal for kerravonsen.

[kerravonsen]

Let me guess: snogging?

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Major snogging. Or should I say captain snogging.

[kerravonsen]

m/m snogging, I presume?

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

You presume correctly. There's a bit in the last episode, too, but it's not such a big moment.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

You have a valid point. Though I'm not a huge fan of that kind of stuff either, and I enjoyed the backstory even if that scene was a little... shall we say factually deficient?