Somewhere Different Now

Tonight's Double Dollhouse was a mixed bag. ( cut for spoilers and length )

I've been on a short trip back to the beginnings of Doctor Who, watching the Hartnell-era serials "The Unearthly Child" and "The Daleks." This is my first time seeing the First Doctor. It's fascinating to see how much has changed and what has stayed the same. Only Doctor Who can make you look at a character played by an elderly actor like Hartnell and think "aww, he was so young back then!" He wanders around with even less ability to accurately pilot the TARDIS than he has now, claiming to be exiled from his homeland but looking more proud than sad about it. I suspect all that bluster and grumpiness is just an attempt to cover the fact that he isn't quite as confident of his ability to handle the world beyond Gallifrey. Here are some other random observations (spoilers, if you care about spoilers from something that aired decades ago):

-The first episode, "The Unearthly Child," was a mysterious and cool way to hook viewers. Why is this young girl so smart in some ways and so clueless in others? Why does she apparently live in a junkyard...in a police box? What's the deal with her crazy grandfather? It was a great setup. Too bad they had to immediately follow it up with a trip to visit History's Dumbest Cavepeople. The less said of that storyline the better.

-Geez, the Daleks started out much less formidable than they became later. Not only can they not climb stairs, apparently they run off electricity in the floor like bumper cars! All you have to do to incapacitate them is get them onto an insulating substance like a cloak. How to get them onto the insulator? Just wrestle the Dalek like it's a stubborn croc. Crikey! Once the power's off you can pop the top, remove the living Dalek creature, and climb inside to go for a joyride among unsuspecting Daleks. Whee! Alternately, you can disable or kill a Dalek by shutting off the building's flow of electricity, pushing the Dalek over on its side, shoving it into a circuit board, or putting it in an environment without radiation in the air. Don't worry too much about getting shot; you have a better than even shot of surviving.

-Early Hartnell lacks the moral authority (or self-righteousness) that the Doctor acquires later. He would rather get away from the cave people than help them. He encourages the Thal people to fight the Daleks. That promotion of violence wasn't even for their own survival but so he can get a part he needs to operate the TARDIS. Ian sometimes seems more Doctor-like in his insistence on doing what he believes right rather than what is easy.

-In his curiosity and wanderlust, however, the Doctor remains very much himself. He fakes a need to get some mercury for the TARDIS as an excuse to visit a seemingly ruined city when his companions want to leave without exploring. He's so proud of himself when he does something clever.

-The Thals, the people who resided on the same planet as the Daleks, have hilarious costumes. The women's outfits appear to have been designed by Lady Gaga, while the men look ready to work in a particularly cheesy gay bar. Photographic evidence:


-Yay, the Daleks have been defeated forever! They're all dead. Surely the show wouldn't bring back villainous cyborgs with plunger arms and really annoying voices, right? *long pause* Right?

-For all the griping about silly costumes, Skaro's least competent Daleks, and the Doctor's different character (and the additional mocking I could do of the spots where the plot slows to a snail's pace and the 60's special effects), "The Daleks" still delivers some quality television. The setting, a planet left mostly dead by a long-ago war with a mysterious labyrinthine city and a swamp full of monsters, is haunting. The show has some moments of good suspense and cliff-hangers (one with actual hanging from a cliff!) in between the places where it drags. The inadvertent TARDIS crew begins to bond just a little bit.

-I love that TARDIS sound, still recognizable across all these years.

Note to self:  watching Midnight just before bed is a Very Bad Idea.  Even when it's a rewatch and the outcome is known, that is still a seriously terrifying episode.  I was struck by the highly effective use of music and sound to build the dread.  The part where the entity is moving around and knocking* on the outside of the shuttle creeps me the hell out, but the portrait of ordinary people teetering on the edge of becoming monsters is scarier yet.  The unresolved ending (what WAS that thing?  is it still out there?  will it stay out there and only out there?) is the perfect icing on the scarycake.  These are not new observations, but I felt the need to point them out.  I am going to sleep now, hoping that my dreams can remain uninfluenced by my poor choice of bedtime viewing.

*Speaking of knocking, I want it to be time for more Doctor Who already!  *taps foot impatiently four times*

Completely unrelated to the rest of the post:  I saw a gray fox on my walk this evening!  So cool!  And now back to your regularly scheduled fannish rambles.

I just rewatched Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.  I was somewhat hoping I'd like these episodes better the second time around, but nope.  It's still a collage of reused ideas that worked fairly well in Moffat's other episodes but were just tiresome here (repetition of a line, a threat with covered/messed up faces, strong focus on an original character, "everybody lives," the 51st century, etc.)  I still really dislike the way he wrote Donna.  The treatment of women is still problematic.  Most of all, I still found River Song annoying as all get out. 

This time, I came up with a new item to add to the list of reasons (both rational and irrational) why I dislike River Song.   She is so obsessed with the Doctor in her memories and how impressive he is that she largely fails to see the awesomeness of the Doctor in front of her.  The Doctor is busy figuring out what's wrong and desperately trying to keep everyone alive, and she gets worked up that he doesn't recognize her and he's not opening the TARDIS with a click of his fingers.  Seriously, who cares?  She says that she's seen armies turn and run away from the future Doctor...but they aren't facing an army, so she's making stupid assumptions that he couldn't do that now.  (Remember Nine's speech where he announced that he was coming to get Rose in BW/PotW?  Remember how the Daleks backed up when he got out of the TARDIS and started yelling at them?  Get a sense of perspective, Song.)

I'm against character bashing.  I won't say that River Song deserves to be ripped apart by a pack of rabid hyenas, because she doesn't.  (If a pack of hyenas got into her closet and ripped apart her favorite shoes, however, that would be pretty funny.)   She has a few moments of being  likable, funny, clever, and generally the sort of person you can vaguely imagine the Doctor voluntarily spending time with.  Part of my dislike of her is rooted the way the future she implies interferes with the Doctor/Rose ship, which is a pretty biased reason for disliking her.  Still, I don't think either the writing or the acting of this character makes her really believable as the incredible person with a very special relationship with the Doctor that she seems to think she is.  I really, really hope that Moffat doesn't try to bring her back.

Positive thinking time!  Here are things I really like about SitL/FotD:
-the look of the library.  It's a really pretty episode.
-Donna kicking down the door
-Anita!  Why can't the Doctor have all sorts of timey-wimey connections with her?  "Keeping it together, I'm only crying. I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction." 
-the "Is 'all right' some sort of secret Time Lord code for not all right at all?  'Cause I'm all right too" conversation.  That's the Donna Noble we know and love.  (Also, she says she's using Time Lord code.  Very slight foreshadowing for DoctorDonna!) 

I saw the Dollhouse season premiere!  *bounces*  Here are my thoughts in a poorly ordered, rambling list, because I think I'm too excitable at the moment to attempt any other structure: 
( Spoilers for Dollhouse 2x01 )

( a gripe (spoilers) )

( other thoughts about An Invisible Thread )


-Who's wearing the Heroes Stupid Hat this episode?  ( In this show, it's always somebody! )
( in conclusion... )

I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd post some thoughts about the Easter special.
( Here there be spoilers! )