Sunday, June 24, 2007
Enemies
(Spoilers for yesterdays Doctor Who- "The Sound of Drums")
My favourite moment from the Ninth Doctor's short run is in "Dalek". That first reaction of fear and horror was a perfect start to the Doctor/Dalek relationship which ends up in "The Parting of the Ways" with the wonderfully atmospheric standoff between Doctor and Daleks.
The danger with the Daleks, for the Doctor and him alone, is not one of death- it is one of defeat by an old enemy totally focussed on his destruction. Similarly the Daleks fear him on fiercely personal grounds. That's what having a proper Enemy is like. If one could imagine Doctor/Dalek slash, which I'm sad to say I can't, that would be the perfect start.
I was deeply disappointed by "Daleks in Manhatten" because the whole intensity of the feud thing was lost. The Daleks were just another dangerous alien species threatening Earth. To the Daleks the Doctor was an old. vaguely adversarial acquaintance. I tended to blame David Tennant but it would probably be fairer to blame the scriptwriter.
DT has shown in this series that he can do a bit more with the Doctor than his face would initially suggest. I liked "Human Nature" a lot, I thought "Blink" was superb (although I'm a bit concerned about Doctor-line continuity.....) But it was with some relief as well as pleasure that I watched "The Sound of Drums" yesterday and found that he was capable of something else.
From the moment when the Doctor murmured into the mobile phone, to the scene where the Master ignores the entire world waiting below because he finally has the Doctor in his power, it is clear that both are totally focussed on the other to the exclusion of everyone else, and what's more, each of them knows it. That's the sort of nemesis we want- a bit of emotional connection. Make it personal. Make a gloat really mean something. (And can we hear the Doctor saying "Master" again soon please?)
ps I though John Simm was wonderful. All this and John Barrowman too :-)
I can see everyone shaking their heads at this point. Sorry. Little bit high.
My favourite moment from the Ninth Doctor's short run is in "Dalek". That first reaction of fear and horror was a perfect start to the Doctor/Dalek relationship which ends up in "The Parting of the Ways" with the wonderfully atmospheric standoff between Doctor and Daleks.
The danger with the Daleks, for the Doctor and him alone, is not one of death- it is one of defeat by an old enemy totally focussed on his destruction. Similarly the Daleks fear him on fiercely personal grounds. That's what having a proper Enemy is like. If one could imagine Doctor/Dalek slash, which I'm sad to say I can't, that would be the perfect start.
I was deeply disappointed by "Daleks in Manhatten" because the whole intensity of the feud thing was lost. The Daleks were just another dangerous alien species threatening Earth. To the Daleks the Doctor was an old. vaguely adversarial acquaintance. I tended to blame David Tennant but it would probably be fairer to blame the scriptwriter.
DT has shown in this series that he can do a bit more with the Doctor than his face would initially suggest. I liked "Human Nature" a lot, I thought "Blink" was superb (although I'm a bit concerned about Doctor-line continuity.....) But it was with some relief as well as pleasure that I watched "The Sound of Drums" yesterday and found that he was capable of something else.
From the moment when the Doctor murmured into the mobile phone, to the scene where the Master ignores the entire world waiting below because he finally has the Doctor in his power, it is clear that both are totally focussed on the other to the exclusion of everyone else, and what's more, each of them knows it. That's the sort of nemesis we want- a bit of emotional connection. Make it personal. Make a gloat really mean something. (And can we hear the Doctor saying "Master" again soon please?)
ps I though John Simm was wonderful. All this and John Barrowman too :-)
I can see everyone shaking their heads at this point. Sorry. Little bit high.
# posted by Louise H @ 9:29 am 
