Posts tagged Doctor Who

The Two Things Wrong with #Torchwood: Miracle Day (or “Why It’s Just Not That Good This Time…”)

1
1 year ago
by Tom in

Yes – I like Torchwood.  No, I am nowhere NEAR where Captain Jack Harkness comes into play in the Doctor Who Universe since I’ve started watching the series that aired in the seventies and eighties.  (Click here to see what I mean.)  Thus, my viewpoint if the Torchwood television show is finite to JUST Torchwood.  As a litmus test of my level of interest for random readers: I LOVED Children of Earth.  It was both disturbing and thought provoking which (in my opinion) makes for solid science fiction.  With all that in mind, here are the two things wrong with Torchwood: Miracle Day.

1. IT’S TOO LONG.

A normal season (“series” for you hardcore Brit folk) runs 13 episodes.  Children of Earth was a finite story told over 5 episodes and is considered the third season (series.)  Miracle Day is the alleged fourth season.

In the normal seasons (one and two) you had a story arc, but you also had stand alone episodes for developing characters and telling individual tales.  For thirteen hours of television, this makes great sense.  This is why people fell in love with the show and it’s characters.

Torchwood (to me) always felt like a clever British mix of Angel and The X-Files.  ”Filler” episodes add flavor and give chances for characters to do more outside the main story.  They also give the viewer an opportunity to gain insight and emotional attachments to people in the story.  There’s a reason fans were so upset when (SPOILER) Ianto died.  People were emotionally invested in the show via the characters.

I feel that Torchwood: Miracle Day could have been told in five episodes – just like Children of Earth.  Ten episodes is just too damn long for a single story line the Torchwood Universe.

2. JACK IS TOO GAY.

Hear me out on this.  In the series, Jack Harkness is allegedly “omnisexual.”  He hooks up with men.  He hooks up with women.  He hooks up with the random ambiguously gendered alien form.  He is, for all intent and purpose, a man whore.  He lives life to that extreme because he has been alive (and will be) for so long.  Sex makes him feel like part of the living and he enjoys that aspect of his existence.

I think the team at Torchwood were so excited at bringing a character to the States so openly interested in men that they have inadvertently turned Jack into a walking/talking gay man stereotype.  Jack is more than that.  For the sake of shock value, the writers have taken a deep character with a unique viewpoint of relationships on Earth and turned him into a two dimensional stereotype.

Torchwood’s development team has a chance to introduce their clever world to a broader American audience thanks to Starz, but it looks like they’re just killing a great concept in the process.  I’m only eight episodes in, but Torchwood: Miracle Day already feels “Category 1″ to me.

Working Out with DOCTOR WHO: The Hand of Fear (4th Doctor)

1
1 year ago
by Tom in

…aka “WTF is Sarah Jane wearing?!”

I haven’t had much time for TV lately (and I was away from the gym for a short bit.)  Pesky conventions keep taking up my time.  That said, here’s what’s I’ve watched thus far in the Who-niverse:

I’m just going to skip past talking about the plot, acting, story and effects and go straight for the important stuff: Sarah Jane’s epic red and white overalls.  They have three red stars on them.  As a result of this brave fashion move, Sarah was described by one character during the series as looking “just like Andy Panda.”

There was something about a hand.  And fear.  And dramatic science fiction.  And stuff.

…but those overalls.

This is the last (not counting very recent stuff) appearance of Sarah Jane in the series (which makes the overalls that much more unusual.)  I do like the anti-climatic nature of her leaving… just very plain.  She gets dropped off by the Doctor who has been summoned back to Gallifrey.  Sarah, upon arriving home, realizes she has been dropped nowhere near promised.

The sad irony… the week i watched this series – this happened.  :(

Working Out with DOCTOR WHO: The Ark in Space (4th Doctor)

3
2 years ago
by Tom in

This posts begins my watching of the Fourth (and most well known to American classic fans) Doctor: Tom Baker.  The others that I have watched thus far:

Ah… those scarves. Tom Baker’s visage was commonplace on PBS during my childhood. I didn’t get into it then, but I knew who Doctor Who was. I didn’t know, though, that the show had been running long before I was born. So begins my first foray in the Fourth Doctor’s adventures. From iTunes:

The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry arrive on board and are suspected by the awakening survivors. The insectoid Wirm becomes apparent.

I can see why people got into Tom Baker’s version of the Doctor.  He’s got personality.  The Fourth Doctor’s over the top mannerisms seem just as over the top of Jon Pertwee’s – but different enough to be conveyed as a whole different persona.  The merits of both Doctors are a point of discussion at geek conventions and around the Internet, and (quite honestly) I haven’t watched enough of Baker yet to make a verdict.  Let’s talk about the episode…

THE GOOD: Doctor Who proves itself, again, as worthy science fiction series on par with similar shows running in the U.S.  ”The Ark in Space” also gets the characters off of Earth to do some galactic gallivanting – something the Third Doctor was restricted to due to the Time Lords being fussy and (in reality) budget constraints.  Overall: an enjoyable four episodes.

THE BAD: Harry.  I wasn’t fond of the multiple companions with previous Doctors, and I’m not digging it here either.  Keep it to the Doctor and a clever female companion and you have a formula that works IMO.

THE CHEESE: Tom Baker.  The man IS cheese and the extreme eccentricity of his version of the Doctor looks promising.  I’ll get a better feel for it in future episodes.

Working Out with DOCTOR WHO: The Time Monster (3rd Doctor)

0
2 years ago
by Tom in

Tom Croom’s Doctor Who Adventures Thus Far:

Which brings me to my final iTunes viewing of the Third Doctor: The Time Monster.

England, the near future. Professor Thascales’ TOMTIT project is nearing completion… but why is a simple matter transmitter causing disruption to the flow of time? And what exactly is Kronos, the time monster itself?

Yes, the twelve year old me giggled every time someone mentioned the TOMTIT project.  Actually, I chuckled a bit right now when I typed it, too.  Tom.  Tit.  [chuckle.]

THE GOOD: Duh… The Master! I can’t get enough of Roger Delgado’s version of the ultimate baddie in the Doctor Who universe.  The man oozed evil with personality.  My man Mr. Master pretends to be a professor, travels in time to Atlantis, and (AND!) convinces that hot queen to help him out.  HELLO BOOBS

Is she, too, a part of the TOMTIT project? [more chuckling.]

The Master = pure awesome.

THE BAD: The name “TOMTIT”. [snort. giggle.]

THE CHEESE: Kronos, The allegedly epically powerful super bird like being that is (obviously) a man in white costume flapping his wings in a very silly fashion.  Check it out:

It should also be pointed out that this episode, like The Time Warrior, features some Star Wars co-mingling goodness: David Prowse aka “Darth Vader” is the Minotaur in Atlantis in this series.  The Force, though, was not strong with him since he gets killed in the maze.

Working Out with DOCTOR WHO: Carnival of Monsters (3rd Doctor)

3
2 years ago
by Tom in

The list keep growing!

Which somehow brings us to “Carnival of Monsters”. This series of Doctor Who is a great example of why sci-fi fans loved (and love) this show.  It’s tongue in cheek science fiction with some brains in its storytelling.  The concept of a contained world in miniature isn’t new, but it’s cleverly conveyed in this story.  (A more recent example would be the last scene in the first Men in Black movie.)

THE GOOD: Science fiction is well presented… for the 1970s.  The story isn’t dumbed down for the audience and we’re presented with the concept of a number of characters from different planets interacting with each other.  While the story isn’t very deep, it is a lot of fun.

THE BAD: Every once an a while, silly style of an era can really sneak into a timeless story and date it.  The characters of Vorg and Shirna are constant reminders that you are watching early 1970s sci-fi with their dialogue and mannerisms.

THE CHEESE: The same “The Bad” – Vorg and Shirna.  Why don’t we see more of these cosplays at conventions like Dragon*Con?!

Working Out with DOCTOR WHO: The Three Doctors (3rd Doctor)

5
2 years ago
by Tom in

The List of Who what where I’ve seen:

Booyah.

So, do you remember how cool it was when Spock showed up in that two part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? It was like a geeky party with your favorite classic science fiction buddy handing out with your new ones. I can only guess that the fans of Doctor Who in 1970 who saw “The Three Doctors” felt exactly the same way.

A gel-like plasma creature arrives on Earth and hunts down the Doctor, who calls on the Time Lords for help. Unfortunately, the Time Lords themselves are in crisis as their energy is being drawn off into a black hole.  So, they send the Doctors’ earlier selves to help out.

This episode is very much a breaking of the Time Lord rules which forbids the Doctor from ever meeting his former selves.  Before you get TOO upset that fact, ask yourself this question: Did Captain Kirk ever break the Prime Directive?

The answer is yes – and it made for damn good television when it happened.  ”The Three Doctors” uses a loosely written story to feed fans the excitement that comes with recognizable guest stars.  This series isn’t great science fiction, but it is (without a doubt) fun Doctor Who.

THE GOOD: I haven’t watched very much of the Second Doctor, but having him around serves as a great reminder of how different the role can be interpreted from actor to actor.  Also, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart’s confusion regarding the two Doctors makes for comedy gold.

THE BAD: The First Doctor was is such poor health that they had to cheat him into the story by explaining that he couldn’t completely cross time to meet the other two and was only available via television monitor.  This was because his scenes were filmed at his home.  It would have been awesome if he were around interacting with the other two, but they did the best they could.

THE CHEESE: This is the level of cheese equivalent to Batman and Robin appearing on Scooby Doo.  (In case you aren’t clear, that in NOT a bad thing.)

Working Out with DOCTOR WHO: The Mutants (3rd Doctor)

2
2 years ago
by Tom in

Wow… I’ve watched more of these that I thought (so far.) Here’s the list:

At this rate, I should be to the current Doctor (Matt Smith) somewhere around the year 2014.  At which point, I will look like this:

That’s a photo of one of the mutants from “The Mutants”.  Here’s the iTunes verbage…

The planet Solos in the 30th century. As Earth slowly moves towards granting Solos its independence, the Doctor and Jo arrive on a mission for the Time Lords.

[In a great 300-esque voice] THIS. IS. SCIENCE. FICTION.

“The Mutants” is classically woven science fiction that comes close to the heart that made Star Trek such a beloved classic.  The episodes are a veiled commentary about racism and apartheid (which was still rampant in Africa at the time.)  It’s a great storyline about how society will always repeat certain issues through history… especially regarding politics and the corruption of power.

THE GOOD: The writing.  I can’t say enough about how strong this series is in that respect.  Great story.  Great dialogue.  Great message.

THE BAD: I’ve got nothing.  This might be my favorite Doctor Who storyline (so far.)

THE CHEESE: The super being at the end.  A bit predictable and, by today’s standards, cheesy.  In 1970, though, I’m sure it was innovative genius.

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