Damn, but the aroma of fermented and cured dairy product is strong in the first part of the two-part season finale of Doctor Who. Now, I don’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing… in fact, tonight’s episode was among other things a pleasantly nostalgic call-back to the “classic” (that is, Sixties and Seventies non-existent budget) version of the show. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Except… can I just say once and for all I am sick of Daleks? I no longer find them scary at all (well, I never did, but now even the tension from the dramatic possibilities inherent in the show is gone), which sort of makes it difficult for me to sympathize with the fear of the characters upon hearing that familiar “Exterminate! Exterminate!” All I can say if that means they get the likes of Rosie O’Donnell and whoever that idiot is who came up with those disturbing Burger King commercials — now they have one with a Burger King “kid” in a mask, who comes off more as one of those malevolent dwarfs that were always appearing in German avant-garde movies — then I say “Go, Daleks!” There is one exception, however… I just loves me some Dalek Caan. Isn’t he (er. he? it?) just the loveliest crazy boneless octopussy-alien in a tank that you ever did see? I just wanted to pick him up and cuddle him when he started singing about “the three-fold man” and “endless death.” Cute!
More observations: the actor who plays Ianto has really been hitting the pasties lately. Get that boy jogging or something. And here’s something I’ve been wondering — has David Tennant been hitting the cigarettes lately, or what? (Or was he over the course of filming these episodes, which was a few months ago I think.) His voice has been increasingly deeper and hoarser in each episode. I’ve heard complaints about Billie Piper’s (the actress who plays Rose) voice in these later episode but it just sounds like she let the assumed chav-speak get a bit more posh, to reflect either her real accent or her increased status in position in the parallel world her character ended up in two years ago. It’s Tennant’s voice that I noticed more, and no, not for the obvious reasons… he should get his vocal chords checked, that’s all. I mean, he’s going to be on stage this year, so he doesn’t want to have to take time off to have any nodes scraped off them like Elton John had to do, does he? Hey, I might not be a mother, but I have cats, so I do worry.
Look! The Torchwood crew can communicate without using the words “fuck” or “shit.” It can be done!
The last thought so far: I can’t believe Russell T Davies wrote this meshugas, but also penned the tight little psychological thriller that was the episode “Midnight.” Well, even Homer nodded, or so I have heard.
PS: thanks to everyone who has donated to the Summer Fundraiser so far! It’s thanks to you that I might be able to keep the electricity on. Can’t watch stupid British scifi kids teevee stay on the internet without electricity.
Update: oh yeah, one more thing… the Scifi Channel has apparently given up on even pretending to guard against spoilers, and has bowed to the supremacy of the internet, because unlike people in the UK we here in the States got previews from next week. So even those of us who have not been hitting the Wikipedia and BBC Doctor Who pages like monkeys on crack now know that (spoilers below, because I am not so unkind)
that so-called “regeneration” scene is just a dramatic fake-out.
4 Responses to “The Cheese Stands Alone”
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July 26th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Speaking of weird British TV, I just found out last night that Spike Milligan’s final role was in Ghormenghast. Huge surprise – he was the schoolmaster who did a header out the window in his wheelchair.
Was watching the Muppet Show season three on DVD and his episode was on. So had to check up on him – even dug up the Ying Tong Song on You Tube. This innernut thingy just might catch on, if it’s marketed properly.
Don’t think Milligan ever showed up on Doctor Who, though.
July 27th, 2008 at 2:42 am
I tried watching that series when it was on BBCAmerica a couple of years ago but I couldn’t… I’d read the book when I was in high school, it was one of my favorites (it’s actually a trilogy), and what scenes I did see made it clear that it was just another dumbing down for TV Viewing Morons™.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Yeah, the BBC miniseries only covered the first two books. Good thing too. I think by the third old Mervyn’s little red caboose had gone chugging round the bend.
Anyway I thought the BBC thing was much closer to the books than expected. A few characters were combined, and for me the most annoying change was that Flay beat the Chef largely through dumb luck, while in the book he used a good measure of skill and tactics. And I can’t think of any actor better suited to be Flay than Christopher Lee.
I thought Ian Richardson was excellent as Sepulcrave, though. And the actor playing Prunesqualler I thought at first was too annoying, until I pondered the prototype and concluded that he was just exactly annoying enough. He also covered the Doctor’s keen intelligence hidden behind the foppish chatter.
The twins were creepily brain dead, too. One tiny little mind between the two of them.
So I suppose what I really liked were most of the characterizations. The actor playing Steerpike I thought needed nothing so much as a thwack on the head and the boot from the nearest high window.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:54 am
Maybe it deserves a second look.