Waters of Mars
Nov. 17th, 2009 12:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99Um, general comment - you know when you know something is good, well-made, well-written, well-acted, and yet you don't feel the love. That's how I feel about Waters of Mars.
I know what they were trying to do, and I think they succeeded, but the trouble was that it was all about the things I don't like about 10. I do not deal well with messiah complexes at the best of times, but I love how he waited for minor characters to die off before he did anything. I think the problem is that 10 seems to lack the courage of his convictions, because he's neither a fighter/tinker/thinker till the end like the rest of the Doctors, nor is he willing to do, or rather not do, the necessary like Captain Jack.
I was 3/4 on 'guess the infected' (I'm not counting the first two because we knew that from the publicity material). I thought Ehrlich would make it, but she didn't (and that was a vicious bit of business with the kids. Having them speak German was cheating). I am quietly pleased that it wasn't the nurse that died, although I do feel sorry for the actors playing the gardener and the doctor, running around wet for 9/10th of it.
Someone needs to sack Murray Gould, or rein him in, or something because his music was hitting ridiculously over the top. We had the brass and strings of drowning out the dialogue, we had the sinister orchestral music of evil intent, we even had our lady of wailing sorrow. My heart strings, they were not tugged.
Part of the problem is that it's not the kind of story I like. I don't like slasher horrors and creeping dread, mostly because I did way too much virology to ever find it entertaining. Also because I think the whole 'don't drink the water' idea was RTD trying to do the Moffatt everyday terror thing, and it just didn't work.
Also, and particularly considering the Ood at the end, I did think it was both slightly too similar to 'Impossible Planet' and while it was infinitely better in some respects, you didn't get to know the characters as well, due to time constraints. I'd love to read the novelisation, which should flesh a few things out which will make me happy.
I personally would love to see the Ice Warriors v the Water virus but um, yeah, I might be alone in this.
The actors were all good. I mean, Tennant held his end up and I might now just about be willing to see his Hamlet if, as rumour has it, they're going to broadcast it, and Lindsay Duncan was as awesome as expected. It was pleasing to see Peter O'Brien, as it always is, even if I'd love to know what his character thought he hadn't been forgiven for. That was the worst of it, I wanted to see these characters survive and the Doctor, for all his knowledge and power, did nothing. Not to help them, not to stop the water beings, not to talk to the water beings. He just stood there and watched. And before anyone points out that he did do stuff, yeah, he did, but too late for it to do any good, and that's what I meant by just being pointless and I want to shake some sense into him, and fear, for all that, that, as I have been since ooh, Impossible Planet, I am looking forward to 11 so very much.
Before anyone says anything about the point being that that power is too much for anyone, can you really imagine any of the other Doctors waffling like that. Really!
Other than that, the major plot holes were - water vapour is in breath (care of N), solution (care of S) - the virus was dormant in Maggie so it couldn't infect anyone.
- the involvement of the Doctor in the thing that was supposed to send humanity into space - solution: our friends at Torchwood and a bucket load of ret-con
- that any of the three of them could have been infected - solution - best not to think about it.
Although, once again, it does fit into the pattern of the Doctor taking away people's choices.
In short, I now understand the people who didn't like Children of Earth. This was well done, but I'm just not feeling it.
I know what they were trying to do, and I think they succeeded, but the trouble was that it was all about the things I don't like about 10. I do not deal well with messiah complexes at the best of times, but I love how he waited for minor characters to die off before he did anything. I think the problem is that 10 seems to lack the courage of his convictions, because he's neither a fighter/tinker/thinker till the end like the rest of the Doctors, nor is he willing to do, or rather not do, the necessary like Captain Jack.
I was 3/4 on 'guess the infected' (I'm not counting the first two because we knew that from the publicity material). I thought Ehrlich would make it, but she didn't (and that was a vicious bit of business with the kids. Having them speak German was cheating). I am quietly pleased that it wasn't the nurse that died, although I do feel sorry for the actors playing the gardener and the doctor, running around wet for 9/10th of it.
Someone needs to sack Murray Gould, or rein him in, or something because his music was hitting ridiculously over the top. We had the brass and strings of drowning out the dialogue, we had the sinister orchestral music of evil intent, we even had our lady of wailing sorrow. My heart strings, they were not tugged.
Part of the problem is that it's not the kind of story I like. I don't like slasher horrors and creeping dread, mostly because I did way too much virology to ever find it entertaining. Also because I think the whole 'don't drink the water' idea was RTD trying to do the Moffatt everyday terror thing, and it just didn't work.
Also, and particularly considering the Ood at the end, I did think it was both slightly too similar to 'Impossible Planet' and while it was infinitely better in some respects, you didn't get to know the characters as well, due to time constraints. I'd love to read the novelisation, which should flesh a few things out which will make me happy.
I personally would love to see the Ice Warriors v the Water virus but um, yeah, I might be alone in this.
The actors were all good. I mean, Tennant held his end up and I might now just about be willing to see his Hamlet if, as rumour has it, they're going to broadcast it, and Lindsay Duncan was as awesome as expected. It was pleasing to see Peter O'Brien, as it always is, even if I'd love to know what his character thought he hadn't been forgiven for. That was the worst of it, I wanted to see these characters survive and the Doctor, for all his knowledge and power, did nothing. Not to help them, not to stop the water beings, not to talk to the water beings. He just stood there and watched. And before anyone points out that he did do stuff, yeah, he did, but too late for it to do any good, and that's what I meant by just being pointless and I want to shake some sense into him, and fear, for all that, that, as I have been since ooh, Impossible Planet, I am looking forward to 11 so very much.
Before anyone says anything about the point being that that power is too much for anyone, can you really imagine any of the other Doctors waffling like that. Really!
Other than that, the major plot holes were - water vapour is in breath (care of N), solution (care of S) - the virus was dormant in Maggie so it couldn't infect anyone.
- the involvement of the Doctor in the thing that was supposed to send humanity into space - solution: our friends at Torchwood and a bucket load of ret-con
- that any of the three of them could have been infected - solution - best not to think about it.
Although, once again, it does fit into the pattern of the Doctor taking away people's choices.
In short, I now understand the people who didn't like Children of Earth. This was well done, but I'm just not feeling it.
