New Who New Year's Day special: Resolution

[strange_complex]

Oh dear, yeah. I didn't have hugely high hopes, but I'm afraid that really did feel like Doctor Who by numbers to me. Basic plot-line - a Dalek is unleashed, causes a bit of havoc before being tracked down by the Doctor, and is then defeated via a combination of Technobabble and the Power of Love. We've definitely seen that story before, and the arc involving Ryan's Dad was particularly poorly integrated into it. It really made me miss RTD, who made those sorts of emotive personal plot-lines into the beating hearts of his stories, rather than feeling like an awkwardly bolted-on extra.

It's a pity, because I have a soft spot for Doctor Who stories involving archaeology (which as a real-life form of time travel offers a lot of potential for parallels with what the Doctor does), and the three Custodians seemed exciting initially. I could really have gone for a story in which their descendants had to come together and work with the Doctor (in the place of the lost third) to save the world. But we didn't get that, and even within what we did get I felt the design department did a pretty poor job of putting together the materials about the legend. Would it have been too much to ask for some authentic-looking ninth-century documents, rather than a picture-book which looked like it had been bought in The Works?

Oh well. Plenty of time to forget all about it before the next series...

Comments

[strange_complex]

I'd rank Demons of the Punjab in particular as much better than 'okay' - but there is a fair argument that it wasn't really Doctor Who, and it certainly didn't spring from the pen of Chibnall. You might well be right about Whittaker, but to be honest I'm happy to have the show air every other year rather than be cancelled altogether.

[danieldwilliam]

That's fair comment on Demons of the Punjab. It is the one episode this season that made me look at something in a way I hadn't before and it had some strong emotional resonance.

I don't think I mind Chibnall not being a great writer of Doctor Who if he turns out to have a decent strategic view and is a good commissioning editor.

My frustration with this 1 series every 18 months is mostly around the Captain, he'll be 10 the next time the show is on, a full 25% older than he currently is. I'll be 45, 4.5% older than I currently am. Also, having actors of the quality of Capaldi and Whitaker involved but then only getting 50% of their tenure in actual production is sad. Hey ho.

(Got up this morning to find the Captain watching the Doctors Wife.)

[strange_complex]

Yeah, Chibnall's no 1 best strategy for the future would be to let go of the writing a bit and let more other people have a go.

Does the Captain enjoy Classic Who? If so you could watch that together while the current series isn't on.

[danieldwilliam]

I don't think he's tried Classic Who. I might try him on Tom Baker. They will probably get on.

I recall his sister patiently explaining to me at about the same age that Laurel and Hardy weren't funny because they were black and white.

[strange_complex]

Yep, Tom is definitely the best place to start. He can develop a mature appreciation of William Hartnell later!

[danieldwilliam]

It is possible that the Captain is the re-incarnation of Tom Baker - which as he isn't dead yet would be very typical of them both.

Having seen the Peter Jackson coloured footage of World War One this winter I was wondering outloud with MLW whether the same colouration process would affect the viewing experience significantly for other black and white film.