Picking up from where I left off last post: last night we watched Utopia, an episode of the new Dr. Who that ended with The Master. The phone rang, and while Sarah answered it, I ran to the computer and started blogging. It was going to be a lengthy post about how happy I was, for I had squealed repeatedly during the scenes immediately leading to his big reveal. But the phone call ended up being short, and there was no way we'd not be watching those last two episodes right that moment. The interruption saved me from gushing in ways I'd soon regret.Suffice it to say, I was a bit disappointed with this incarnation of The Master. He wasn't sinister or fierce, he was just slapstick. He wasn't suave or manipulative, he just had a machine. His insanity was visible from the surface, not churning deep inside and threatening to boil over at any moment. I guess they went too far in trying to make him a reflection of the current (and most recent previous) Doctor.
What I thought would be cool about bringing The Master back would be the subtlety of character interactions, and the possibility to end a Season with an all-too-human duel of wits, as opposed to yet another army of millions of cyborgs. I'd dared to dream that perhaps "Blink" was set-up to accommodate our brains to the way only timelords can battle. The revelation of Saxon as Master at the beginning of Sound of the Drums seemed to confirm that.
Instead, we got over-acting from a cartoon villain and his army of billions of cyborgs. The struggle was totally level, not a genuine time combat. The Master seemed a parody of himself. (Thankfully the injector gun, and the implications that the little torture droids were new-model Daleks, both proved to be red herrings.) The episodes were still good, but not nearly what I'd built them up to be. All in all, several missed opportunities on the part of the writers.Oh well, at least I still have to be in awe of what a great job they do with foreshadowing. I love how clues to the big bad are scattered through each season, but it's never quite enough to really figure out what's going to happen. In that regards, their arc structure is terribly formulaic, yet it's beat me 3 times out of 3. Even going into the 3rd Season with my eyes open and looking for the clues, I didn't get it. I knew Saxon was evil from the second time they mentioned him (must have been episode 3 or 4 of the season), but I didn't honestly think The Master was actually on screen until about a minute before he produced the pocketwatch.
As much as I loved Buffy, I must say the Dr. Who method is superior to having 15 out of 22 episodes (per season) feature the same villain. Of course, what made Buffy so fresh was it's innovation. This "surprise! we foreshadowed it!" method will also grow stale if too many shows start emulating it.
3 comments:
Sure, but he weakest episodes in the last 3 years of Dr. who were better than most television today.
But have you seen Torchwood?
Can't wait for more.
The weakest episodes in the last 3 years of Dr. who were better than most television today.
I cannot argue with that. Dr Who continues to kick ass, even when being less-than-they-could-have-been.
Have yet to see Torchwood. I have mixed feelings about Captain Jack.
Jack's character is lots more fun on Torchwood. Check it out- you won't regret it. :)
Post a Comment