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shadowkat1. What is it with creators of pop culture narratives and the desire to fiddle with them until they are ruined? George Lucas according to the Huffington Post (which will only let me share the link with Facebook and Twitter, damn them) is fiddling with Star Wars, again. They are going to re-released for oh about the sixth time, with new footage and bonus hours. The man has no shame.
Will give Whedon some credit...for only fiddling with Buffyverse in the comic books, which really isn't that big a deal - I mean Lucas already did that, everyone does that - Rockne O'Bannon did that with Farscape. Plus we can ignore comic book cannon. Everyone else has - there's precedence! So whining continuously about the comics is sort of petty of me, isn't it? Stopping now. Of course, unlike Lucas, Whedon doesn't own the rights to BTVS so he can't very well fiddle with the tv series, can he? (thank god, not that he necessarily would. Fox on the other hand is whole other matter. I'm sure some idiot will try to reboot it as a movie in the distant future, much like they are rebooting the far less interesting Charlies Angels now (actually they rebooted Charlie Angels as a series of bad movies first, then decided to do a tv series because Drew Barrymore has run out of new ideas). Why they insist on doing this, I've no idea. Lack of imagination?). The last fiddling Lucas did with the franchise and well, the prequels, sort of killed my interest in all things Star Wars. Lucas? The point of fiddling is to make it BETTER, not WORSE.
2. Doctor Who - Night Terrors. (I think that was the name of the last episode.) Not bad for a Mark Gatsiss episode, although...it's probably just me, but I don't think this writer likes or can write for female characters, and should be exchanged for a female writer - or so says the rabid feminist in me. Down rabid feminist! Down! (Don't worry the rest of the review is not in this tone. Not that you were, but just in case.)
Night Terrors or the episode where Mark Gatsiss has a little boy alien turn Amy Pound into a wooden doll.
Not sure where they are going here, but this is the second, make that third time, in four consecutive episodes where Amy is either being saved or turned into something or someone turns in to her, creating a copy of her.
* Amy has a copy made of her, and is whisked away in S6. The copy looks like Amy, but is actually Living Flesh. (Rebel Flesh and it's sequel - S6)
* First episode, Let's Kill Hitler, A copy is made of Amy, in which Amy and Rory are transported inside of and put in mortal danger until the Tardis, captained by River/Melody gets them out of Amy.
* Amy is turned into a wooden doll and is chasing Rory to turn him into one too.
I sense a pattern forming here. Are we supposed to fear Amy or fear for Amy? OR is this the Doctor and Rory's fears we're inside of?
Also according to the previews, Amy is once again either in jeopardy or putting someone else in jeopardy and Rory has to make a choice. Rory is starting to become the hero and Amy the damsel or a really weird twist on the damsel.
As for the story itself? I figured it out long before I was supposed to. It's very close to a classic Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode - "It's a Good Life" (November 1961),about a child who terrorizes a town with his special powers. The child in the Twilight Zone episode was played by Bill Mummy from Lost in Space. In the episode everything that makes the boy unhappy is thrown into the corn field or turned into a toy. The child is in reality a mutant alien and controls everything. The twist here is that the child isn't evil and doesn't intend to hurt anyone, he's just terrified that they will send him away, that they don't want him.
This is a clear metaphor for Rory/Amy and The Doctor's own situation with River Song/Melody Pound - the monster alien child they've created. Not sure what to do with Melody. They leave her in a hospital sick, and scamper off in their time machine. Much as the little boy fears being taken by a "doctor". Also "perception" is emphasized. As the Doctor tells the father, the boy perceives these things as scary, he doesn't know he's the monster, he sees everything else as being the monster. From the boy's pov, we are the monsters. An echo of what River tells the Doctor in A Good Man Goes to War - in people of the forest and River, and The Silence's pov, The Doctor is the monster, the scary thing. Their perception much like the little boy's is skewed, as is Melody's...but is it?
It's about how our fears are often based on lies, or skewed perception.
So there's a double twist here - the child is the monster causing the problem, but at the same time he's not a monster, not really, just a child who is afraid of losing those he loves, afraid of rejection.
The focus here - oddly is on the father's rejection not the mother's. The Doctor spends a lot of time with the father, who says that George isn't his, and what is he getting in to, the Doctor says you have to convince him that you love him, that you will never leave him...and he will stop. Accept him as yours, regardless of what he may be. The mother already does - she's at work, he's the nurturer/provider. The mother is playing well the traditional father role - the provider. Same with Amy and Rory - Rory's acceptance of Melody...not Amy's is in question here. Amy is turned into the Wooden Doll threatening Rory, Amy, like George's mother is removed from the equation. It's Rory and The Doctor who are struggling. Rory and the Doctor who were given no time to bond with Melody, while Amy clearly already has - both in captivity and as best mates in childhood. But Rory hasn't.
Also the perspective we're in here is Rory and The Doctor's - Amy is turned into a Wooden Doll by George. She's turned into a vessel by the Justice. She's become Living Flesh by The Silence. Removed from them, and it's because of a child - a weapon forged to take out the Doctor. They ask River for help to get her back, and River turns them down. Much like George's father - Doctor and Rory are struggling with how to deal with Melody. Amy was pregnant, but they have no memory of it. Amy had Melody, but they have no memory of it. In some respects this underlines the difference between father's and mother's - the man doesn't get to experience the pregnancy, he doesn't bond with the child until after the child is born. Yet, still not quite or not in the same way. Even with adopted children, there's a different relationship or appears to be. As my father used to say - a child must earn its father's love and respect, while a mother's is given unconditionally. Here - in this episode, the Doctor requests that George's father take a leap of faith and love George unconditionally. Note it's the father not the mother who finds out what George is and must do this.
In the last episode...Amy was forced to accept Melody, even though she knows Melody kills the Doctor. Even though she watches her daughter do it. But Amy fights for Melody's life. It's never a question in her mind. We must go after her. But Rory...is another place. I'm in my wife's body, this is unnerving. He is used to being the nurse, the care-taker, and he can't be.
Additionally, the mundane is made fearsome. The landlord. The old lady next door. The dollhouse.
The toys.
And finally...the wooden dolls. The living flesh. The Justice inside the Robot. The hollow item filled with the human personality. The Impossible Astronaut Suit housing River Song - who kills the Doctor. It's reminiscent of that game of chinese wooden dolls, pull them apart and you find a new doll and a new doll...and a new doll, until finally the jewel hidden within. We have hollow suites with people hidden inside.
So, a better episode if watched with the others. Alone, not much. With the other episodes...more interesting. Doctor Who or rather Stephen Moffat's Who is often, not always, but often made more interesting with analysis.
Will give Whedon some credit...for only fiddling with Buffyverse in the comic books, which really isn't that big a deal - I mean Lucas already did that, everyone does that - Rockne O'Bannon did that with Farscape. Plus we can ignore comic book cannon. Everyone else has - there's precedence! So whining continuously about the comics is sort of petty of me, isn't it? Stopping now. Of course, unlike Lucas, Whedon doesn't own the rights to BTVS so he can't very well fiddle with the tv series, can he? (thank god, not that he necessarily would. Fox on the other hand is whole other matter. I'm sure some idiot will try to reboot it as a movie in the distant future, much like they are rebooting the far less interesting Charlies Angels now (actually they rebooted Charlie Angels as a series of bad movies first, then decided to do a tv series because Drew Barrymore has run out of new ideas). Why they insist on doing this, I've no idea. Lack of imagination?). The last fiddling Lucas did with the franchise and well, the prequels, sort of killed my interest in all things Star Wars. Lucas? The point of fiddling is to make it BETTER, not WORSE.
2. Doctor Who - Night Terrors. (I think that was the name of the last episode.) Not bad for a Mark Gatsiss episode, although...it's probably just me, but I don't think this writer likes or can write for female characters, and should be exchanged for a female writer - or so says the rabid feminist in me. Down rabid feminist! Down! (Don't worry the rest of the review is not in this tone. Not that you were, but just in case.)
Night Terrors or the episode where Mark Gatsiss has a little boy alien turn Amy Pound into a wooden doll.
Not sure where they are going here, but this is the second, make that third time, in four consecutive episodes where Amy is either being saved or turned into something or someone turns in to her, creating a copy of her.
* Amy has a copy made of her, and is whisked away in S6. The copy looks like Amy, but is actually Living Flesh. (Rebel Flesh and it's sequel - S6)
* First episode, Let's Kill Hitler, A copy is made of Amy, in which Amy and Rory are transported inside of and put in mortal danger until the Tardis, captained by River/Melody gets them out of Amy.
* Amy is turned into a wooden doll and is chasing Rory to turn him into one too.
I sense a pattern forming here. Are we supposed to fear Amy or fear for Amy? OR is this the Doctor and Rory's fears we're inside of?
Also according to the previews, Amy is once again either in jeopardy or putting someone else in jeopardy and Rory has to make a choice. Rory is starting to become the hero and Amy the damsel or a really weird twist on the damsel.
As for the story itself? I figured it out long before I was supposed to. It's very close to a classic Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode - "It's a Good Life" (November 1961),about a child who terrorizes a town with his special powers. The child in the Twilight Zone episode was played by Bill Mummy from Lost in Space. In the episode everything that makes the boy unhappy is thrown into the corn field or turned into a toy. The child is in reality a mutant alien and controls everything. The twist here is that the child isn't evil and doesn't intend to hurt anyone, he's just terrified that they will send him away, that they don't want him.
This is a clear metaphor for Rory/Amy and The Doctor's own situation with River Song/Melody Pound - the monster alien child they've created. Not sure what to do with Melody. They leave her in a hospital sick, and scamper off in their time machine. Much as the little boy fears being taken by a "doctor". Also "perception" is emphasized. As the Doctor tells the father, the boy perceives these things as scary, he doesn't know he's the monster, he sees everything else as being the monster. From the boy's pov, we are the monsters. An echo of what River tells the Doctor in A Good Man Goes to War - in people of the forest and River, and The Silence's pov, The Doctor is the monster, the scary thing. Their perception much like the little boy's is skewed, as is Melody's...but is it?
It's about how our fears are often based on lies, or skewed perception.
So there's a double twist here - the child is the monster causing the problem, but at the same time he's not a monster, not really, just a child who is afraid of losing those he loves, afraid of rejection.
The focus here - oddly is on the father's rejection not the mother's. The Doctor spends a lot of time with the father, who says that George isn't his, and what is he getting in to, the Doctor says you have to convince him that you love him, that you will never leave him...and he will stop. Accept him as yours, regardless of what he may be. The mother already does - she's at work, he's the nurturer/provider. The mother is playing well the traditional father role - the provider. Same with Amy and Rory - Rory's acceptance of Melody...not Amy's is in question here. Amy is turned into the Wooden Doll threatening Rory, Amy, like George's mother is removed from the equation. It's Rory and The Doctor who are struggling. Rory and the Doctor who were given no time to bond with Melody, while Amy clearly already has - both in captivity and as best mates in childhood. But Rory hasn't.
Also the perspective we're in here is Rory and The Doctor's - Amy is turned into a Wooden Doll by George. She's turned into a vessel by the Justice. She's become Living Flesh by The Silence. Removed from them, and it's because of a child - a weapon forged to take out the Doctor. They ask River for help to get her back, and River turns them down. Much like George's father - Doctor and Rory are struggling with how to deal with Melody. Amy was pregnant, but they have no memory of it. Amy had Melody, but they have no memory of it. In some respects this underlines the difference between father's and mother's - the man doesn't get to experience the pregnancy, he doesn't bond with the child until after the child is born. Yet, still not quite or not in the same way. Even with adopted children, there's a different relationship or appears to be. As my father used to say - a child must earn its father's love and respect, while a mother's is given unconditionally. Here - in this episode, the Doctor requests that George's father take a leap of faith and love George unconditionally. Note it's the father not the mother who finds out what George is and must do this.
In the last episode...Amy was forced to accept Melody, even though she knows Melody kills the Doctor. Even though she watches her daughter do it. But Amy fights for Melody's life. It's never a question in her mind. We must go after her. But Rory...is another place. I'm in my wife's body, this is unnerving. He is used to being the nurse, the care-taker, and he can't be.
Additionally, the mundane is made fearsome. The landlord. The old lady next door. The dollhouse.
The toys.
And finally...the wooden dolls. The living flesh. The Justice inside the Robot. The hollow item filled with the human personality. The Impossible Astronaut Suit housing River Song - who kills the Doctor. It's reminiscent of that game of chinese wooden dolls, pull them apart and you find a new doll and a new doll...and a new doll, until finally the jewel hidden within. We have hollow suites with people hidden inside.
So, a better episode if watched with the others. Alone, not much. With the other episodes...more interesting. Doctor Who or rather Stephen Moffat's Who is often, not always, but often made more interesting with analysis.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 01:19 pm (UTC)But, it was better than some of the other episodes Gatis has done. Not a writer I like. He did that second episode of Sherlock too.
It would have been nice too to get some emotional continuity - it didn't have to be too overt maybe Rory and Amy just being more engaged in helping a distressed child.
Sigh. Yes. This is what annoys me about episodic/serial tv hybrids. X-Files was like this too, as was Buffy at times (in its earlier seasons). This tendency to forget the B plotline (what's going on with the characters in their own backstory) and putting all the emphasis on the A plotline or mystery/monster of the week as if we've suddenly become an anthology series like The Twilight Zone, complete with eerie music humming in the background.
The A serving as a metaphor for the B plot characters emotions. But dang it - why not deal with those emotions more directly? How hard is it? (This is why I prefer serials, far more satisfying.)
Seriously, you'd think Rory and Amy would be a little traumatized by last week's events? RT Davies, I'll give him credit for this much at least, was a little bit better with angst and big emotions.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 02:22 pm (UTC)I'm going to be charitable and try to think that this episode would have seemed better if it hadn't come after last week's awesomeness, but really I do think it was weak no matter where it landed in the airing.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 05:09 pm (UTC)I'm going to be charitable and try to think that this episode would have seemed better if it hadn't come after last week's awesomeness, but really I do think it was weak no matter where it landed in the airing.
Well in some respects the metaphors work better after last week's episode...
but I agree, weak. Even if it had landed before, would have had the same problems.
We were being told the cupboard was scary, so I immediately knew the cupboard was a mislead. The kid's throwing everyone into the cupboard. Also why is it that people in horror stories always do dumb things? The old lady who is scared of whatever is rummaging around in the garbage - decides to investigate the garbage? I'd have run away from it.
And it's true coming right after last week's episode...they keep doing this though, have a really great episode followed by a really weak one. Moffat did the same thing with Sherlock.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 01:34 pm (UTC)First thank you.
Oh and - Mark Gatiss is gay, which might account for him writing mostly men...
While there does feel at times to be a pattern emerging with gay male writers - in that they appear to write women somewhat the same way Plato and Socrates did, overall...most actually do a good job or as good a job as male heterosexual writers. Writing the other...is always a bit dicey, anyhow.
As for Gatiss? I don't know, RT Davies (Torchwood), Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Vampire Diaries, Scream films), Drew S Greenberg (Buffy and Dexter), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives) and Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee, Eat/Pray/Love) are all gay and don't appear to have that much trouble writing women. Granted their portrayals are far from perfect. But RT Davies female characters were far better written than Gatiss'(haven't seen Miracle Day - so no clue about it). And RT Davies is definitely gay. So for that matter are Kevin Williamson's. Ryan Murphy admittedly is a bit angry - and falls at times towards misanthrophy and sexism and misogyny, but that's just Ryan Murphy. Clearly this guy had a difficult time of it and has unresolved issues.
No, I think Mark Gatiss just has issues with women, has zip to do with him being gay.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 08:00 pm (UTC)Not sure what American Horror on FX is going to be like...but it does have an interesting cast, Connie Britton (Mrs. Taylor from FNL) and Dylan McDermott (from the Practice).
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 05:01 pm (UTC)I never understand why networks do this. It happened with Firefly as well, they aired the episodes out of order, so as a result certain episodes lost their meaning and resonance, until you see them on DVD in the correct order.
I get the decision to air a stronger episode first, but...
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 05:57 pm (UTC)Sheesh, Lucas, leave it alone! You're only making it worse.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 08:05 pm (UTC)Finally he came up with the alien thing...and they went, okay, that mcGuffin could be interesting...(sigh, it wasn't. That movie had the worst special effects...proving Lucas has been surpassed by Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron.)