Short review: Fantastic
Longer review:
there’s no denying that The Eleventh Hour was very light plotwise. But then the episode wasn’t about the story, it was about introducing the new Doctor, the new companion and the new Steven Moffat led era. In this the show succeeded superbly whilst also setting up the series five plot arc. Most importantly The Eleventh Hour gave us a feel for what Doctor Who will be like under Moffat’s leadership, and I for one liked what I saw.
Let’s start with the key question: was Matt Smith the right choice as Doctor? It’s still too early to tell, as The Doctor says himself he’s not quite done yet. But he certainly has the potential. A little too manic for my tastes perhaps but I can get used to that. The main thing is that he definitely is The Doctor, the final face-off proved that. There was that one line on the roof that sealed it for me and probably for many others as well.
Is Matt Smith the new David Tennant? Of course not, and he shouldn’t be. Will he be a great Doctor? It’s far too early to tell. Will he be a good Doctor? Yes, definitely.
The atmosphere of the story managed to combine both laugh out loud funny with pretty darned scary. And for the adults not only did we have sexily dressed Karen Gillan plus Matt Smith stripping but a number of lines that would (fortunately) have gone way over the heads of the kids (dressing up games anyone?). Given the pacing of the whole show there were probably more that I missed. I’m looking forward to watching the episode again to find them.
For old timers like myself the new arrangement of the theme tune was a delight, bringing back memories of the classic era whilst also having a contemporary feel. The vortex effect was good, although the Tardis CGI did look a little cheap. The new console room isn’t as radically different as I’d expected but will serve its purpose. Some of the “steampunk” is a bit silly – I actually had to check they weren’t using Susannah from Lancashire’s design!
Minor quibbles aside, The Eleventh Hour was thoroughly enjoyable and reassuring. I started watching with high hopes but also feeling very nervous. By the end of the episode I was extremely happy and feeling a lot more confident about the show’s future.
Roll on next week!
April 3rd, 2010
BBC, Doctor Who, News, Reviews |
2 comments
When I first heard about the new Dave Red Dwarf Special I was excited. Then I learned that it was to be written by Doug Naylor only without Rob Grant and I became worried – the last two series of the original show were extremely poor. So I approached Back To Earth with mixed feelings.
In the end it far exceeded my expectations – in a negative direction. It was much, much worse than I had thought possible.
The fault didn’t lie with the cast, @bobbyllew and the others slipped back into their characters with ease. No, the problem lay squarely with the script. It was uninspired, slow and lacking in laughs. It stank.
One of the things I really appreciated about the early series of Red Dwarf was the smart, tight plotting. In Back to Earth that was missing and with the absence of a laugh track I’m sure I could actually hear the sound of the bottom of the barrel being scraped. There was no depth and the story just plodded from one unimaginative set piece to the next. To add insult to injury the one surprise reverse was simply a lift from an earlier (much better) episode.
One nice touch was the Bladerunner stuff (although the “writing your own life” idea was nearer to Doctor Who – The Mind Robber). It was a good spoof but merely underlined the paucity of ideas in the new material. It didn’t make me want to watch more Red Dwarf, it made me want to watch Bladerunner again.
All of which I could have forgiven had it been funny. It wasn’t. True, there were a few good lines and the odd superb visual gag – the Starbug car was brilliant, as was the Bladerunner photo enhancement. However the script was in serious need of “gagging up”. That wouldn’t have been difficult, there were plenty of missed opportunities for humour. The cast did a valiant job of squeezing what laughs there were from the material they were given but it just wasn’t enough.
Back To Earth was initially intended to be a two part show but was extended to three episodes during production. Apparently Naylor couldn’t stop writing new material. He’d have done far better spending the time tightening up a two episode show. As it was the final lines of episode three were unintentionally ironic.
Still, perhaps it’s appropriate that Red Dwarf Back to Earth had three episodes. One episode for each of the letters ‘R’, ‘I’ and ‘P’.
April 13th, 2009
Reviews |
no comments
Despite my negative review of Demons episode one I gave it another chance. Episode 2 – The Whole Enchilda by Peter Tabern – was better, but still far from good.
The pre-titles sequence was really promising, very atmospheric and nicely done. A disappearing kid and a misty graveyard are hardly original ideas but they worked.
Then the theme music began and the atmosphere was shattered.
That was pretty much the way it went. Every time the story started getting tense it was undermined by teenage soap opera and/or intrusive music.
Richard Wilson did a good job as Father Simeon, unfortunately his character – the best in the show – was mainly there to provide infoumps and plot devices. Infodumps seem to be a general problem with Demons, having the library and an all-seeing psychic must make them just too tempting.
Finally we got to the ultimate confrontation – which was a real let down. I can’t be the only one who thought “Is that it?!?” They should have cut the coda and used the extra three minutes to make the final battle something worth watching.
I come back to the word I used after the first episode: Demons is confused, it tries to do too many things at once. A writer of Joss Whedon’s calibre might be able to pull it off but Tabern’s script just ends up being a mess.
January 11th, 2009
ITV, Reviews |
no comments
2009 may be short on new Doctor Who with only the four specials to look forward to, however there will be plenty of classic stories coming out for us to buy on DVD:
• The E-Space Trilogy
Three Tom Baker stories: Full Circle, State of Decay and the much under-rated Warriors’ Gate
• The Rescue / The Romans
Two William Hartnell stories. The Rescue is a two parter, The Romans a dull historical
• Attack of the Cybermen
A Colin Baker story that shows he could have been a great Doctor if only he was given more decent scripts like this fight against the cybermen
• Delta and the Bannermen
A stinker of a story from Sylvester McCoy’s first season. Special guest star is Ken Dodd of all people
• Image of the Fendhal
A gloriously gothic outing from the Tom Baker era
• The Deadly Assassin
A curate’s egg of a Tom Baker story that demonstrates why the Doctor needs an assistant to help with the storytelling
• Dalek War boxset: Frontier in Space / Planet of the Daleks
Frontier sees Jon Pertwee running around London’s South Bank as I remember it from my youth. Planet of the Daleks is the real prize, a classic dalek story with episode three having had its colour recovered using a new process.
• The War Games
An epic ten part Patrick Troughton story. Way too long but who cares, it’s Troughton!
January 8th, 2009
BBC, Doctor Who, Reviews |
no comments
Well, it wasn’t quite as bad as I’d expected – but it certainly wasn’t good. Judging by the first episode, They Bite, the best word for ITV’s new show Demons is probably “confused”.
Someone clearly said “Let’s do a British version of Buffy”, which is fair enough. However they then seemed confused as to whether they wanted a serious, atmospheric supernatural story or a tongue in the cheek version. In episode one it seemed that neither the writer (Peter Tabern) nor the director (Tom Harper) knew either. The choice of theme music added to the confusion.
Mixing comedy with suspense on TV is a difficult trick. Programmes like the original Buffy and Doctor Who manage to pull it off. Demons didn’t. Probably the only person who got the balance right and emerge with any credit from this episode was Holly Grainger as Ruby.
As for Philip Glenister – oh dear. He’s a decent actor but in this he just looked embarrassed. He also limited himself to a single facial expression and tone of voice – perhaps that was because he was so busy concentrating on his dreadful American accent. More likely he was working hard to avoid yelling “Get me out of here!”
As to the other main actors, Christian Cooke as Luke and Zoe Tapper as Mina, they were competent but apparently chosen mainly to look good and appeal to those of appropriate inclinations. That might explain why Luke spent so much time without his shirt. Combined with the music this suggests a laughable attempt to appeal to the “cool teen” market.
The whole thing smacks of committee production. Instead of a single creative force it looks like the work of different people pulling in different directions. The end result does nothing very well.
Apparently this first episode attracted almost six million viewers. It’ll be interesting to see how many people bother to watch episode two.
January 5th, 2009
ITV, Reviews |
no comments
