Doctor Who - Shightmare in silver
May. 12th, 2013 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueI have to say - I really had high hopes of Neil Gaiman's second episode - in what has been a lacklustre season so far, it ... well, frankly I was hoping to see the same magic of the Doctors Wife. Sadly not. I'm not sure what's going on with this season, but it really hasn't managed to deliver any of the really cracking episodes in the previous seasons.
So what went wrong? Well, I think it just lacked a bit of cohesion. I thought Porridge was great. The idea of a penal legion being a bit useless... well, I think they could have done more with - why were they there, and that's _surely_ room to have a room full of some un-military thieves, fraudsters and the like, which might make 'fighting a cyberman' something they could get creative with.
I also quite liked where they were going with a chess game - the idea of abstracting a conflict is something that suits Dr. Who... but sadly, in this case it felt a bit forced. (I mean, the Doctor was pretty sure the cyber-collective was going to cheat anyway). Setting up an unsolvable problem for it, though, was ... well, straight out of a Star Trek plotline. Could have worked though, I think, but ... didn't.
Likewise - one Cyberman had potential to be scary, but as it went along... also didn't really deliver. And an army of them _stops_ being scary, because it's just a big unstoppable threat.
But mostly, meh. It was good by virtue of being the the best out of a lacklustre season, but still didn't really deliver. I'm not sure what's going on really - I mean, Moffat has been behind some of the better episodes in recent history. But .... well, it feels a bit... well, I don't know. Something's gone wrong.
So what went wrong? Well, I think it just lacked a bit of cohesion. I thought Porridge was great. The idea of a penal legion being a bit useless... well, I think they could have done more with - why were they there, and that's _surely_ room to have a room full of some un-military thieves, fraudsters and the like, which might make 'fighting a cyberman' something they could get creative with.
I also quite liked where they were going with a chess game - the idea of abstracting a conflict is something that suits Dr. Who... but sadly, in this case it felt a bit forced. (I mean, the Doctor was pretty sure the cyber-collective was going to cheat anyway). Setting up an unsolvable problem for it, though, was ... well, straight out of a Star Trek plotline. Could have worked though, I think, but ... didn't.
Likewise - one Cyberman had potential to be scary, but as it went along... also didn't really deliver. And an army of them _stops_ being scary, because it's just a big unstoppable threat.
But mostly, meh. It was good by virtue of being the the best out of a lacklustre season, but still didn't really deliver. I'm not sure what's going on really - I mean, Moffat has been behind some of the better episodes in recent history. But .... well, it feels a bit... well, I don't know. Something's gone wrong.
