Journey's End - and not a moment too soon frankly
Rather than posting my review to various mailing lists as I sometimes do (generally if I think something is either very funny or likely to make Jonn or Henry hot under the collar), and because I have no will to write anything beyond whatever typo ridden* invective I spewed out as soon as the episode finished, here's a reverse approach - the contents of a post I made to a mailing list as soon as Journey's End finished**. It starts with the post I'm replying to, in order to provide some of that professional looking context...
2008/7/5 Philip wrote>:
>
> There were five minutes in the middle where the story threatened to
> take a not-bollocks turn but didn't, and the final resolution of the
> Rose-Doctor relationship, not we needed another one, was actually
> quite sweet. Bernard Cribbins is always good, and the Daleks
> speaking German was funny.
>
> Otherwise, that was by far the worst season finale yet.
>
>
That's pretty much exactly what I was going to say, even down to the funny German Daleks (also Davros recognising Sarah-Jane).
I find it hard to believe any non-brain damaged adult thought that stuff like the Doctor's soul revealed was anything other than hackneyed, inaccurate and trite.
Unecessarily convoluted to the extent that any kid under 12 must have been scratching his head and anyone over 12 not just wallowing in the bright lights should have been saying 'what a load of cock'; emotionally involving only if you have something wrong with your head and are moved to tears by paintings of sad clowns, full of dull scenes where the Doctor gets to be Jesus instead of God but a Jesus who quits at the drop of a hat and then gets saved by...eh...his hand which apparently has far more gumption the rest of him - and the ending with Donna was both unsatisfying and cowardly (can't kill her off in case she decides she wnts to come back someday) not to mention been done before. Presumably at a later date Donna will be killed while trying to stop the Voord becoming the Cybermen?
Plus the Daleks were utterly wasted (and turned out to be so terrifying that flicking half a dozen silver switches turns them all off); Davros actually called something a 'Reality Bomb' as though he were Ming the Merciless, and instead of being in any way an interesting character he was just Another Mad Guy in a Wheelchair; Dalek Caan's betrayal made no sense and came from nowhere.
And did Davies just forget about the Shadow Proclamation? Or could he simply not be arsed?
Just awful from beginning to end.
Thank God Davies is leaving because he shot whatever writing bolt he had about three and a half years ago. Whatever I thought of the individual episodes, Season 27 was constructed beautifully (I recommend this post by Phil about the Long Game which really nails the elegance of the structural symmetry in that season). Since then less so, and this year not at all. Little or no sense of themes addressed (punished for his hubris? Fuck, no!) just pathetic fanwanky self-reference and Mary-Sue finally getting her man.
* I fixed the typos: I have my pride
** and added a couple of things I thought of as I was fixing them***
*** I should also have added Freema was terrible, Noel was great and Tate, Sladen, Cribbins and Tennant did their very best to overcome Davies' short-comings
2008/7/5 Philip wrote>:
>
> There were five minutes in the middle where the story threatened to
> take a not-bollocks turn but didn't, and the final resolution of the
> Rose-Doctor relationship, not we needed another one, was actually
> quite sweet. Bernard Cribbins is always good, and the Daleks
> speaking German was funny.
>
> Otherwise, that was by far the worst season finale yet.
>
>
That's pretty much exactly what I was going to say, even down to the funny German Daleks (also Davros recognising Sarah-Jane).
I find it hard to believe any non-brain damaged adult thought that stuff like the Doctor's soul revealed was anything other than hackneyed, inaccurate and trite.
Unecessarily convoluted to the extent that any kid under 12 must have been scratching his head and anyone over 12 not just wallowing in the bright lights should have been saying 'what a load of cock'; emotionally involving only if you have something wrong with your head and are moved to tears by paintings of sad clowns, full of dull scenes where the Doctor gets to be Jesus instead of God but a Jesus who quits at the drop of a hat and then gets saved by...eh...his hand which apparently has far more gumption the rest of him - and the ending with Donna was both unsatisfying and cowardly (can't kill her off in case she decides she wnts to come back someday) not to mention been done before. Presumably at a later date Donna will be killed while trying to stop the Voord becoming the Cybermen?
Plus the Daleks were utterly wasted (and turned out to be so terrifying that flicking half a dozen silver switches turns them all off); Davros actually called something a 'Reality Bomb' as though he were Ming the Merciless, and instead of being in any way an interesting character he was just Another Mad Guy in a Wheelchair; Dalek Caan's betrayal made no sense and came from nowhere.
And did Davies just forget about the Shadow Proclamation? Or could he simply not be arsed?
Just awful from beginning to end.
Thank God Davies is leaving because he shot whatever writing bolt he had about three and a half years ago. Whatever I thought of the individual episodes, Season 27 was constructed beautifully (I recommend this post by Phil about the Long Game which really nails the elegance of the structural symmetry in that season). Since then less so, and this year not at all. Little or no sense of themes addressed (punished for his hubris? Fuck, no!) just pathetic fanwanky self-reference and Mary-Sue finally getting her man.
* I fixed the typos: I have my pride
** and added a couple of things I thought of as I was fixing them***
*** I should also have added Freema was terrible, Noel was great and Tate, Sladen, Cribbins and Tennant did their very best to overcome Davies' short-comings
Labels: doctor who, who reviews
6 Comments:
You didn't like it then?
;)
Partner suggested that RTD must have the biggest top hat ever with all the rabbits he keeps pulling out. I think many will decribe them as turkeys, but heck what can I say? I did enjoy it. You can hate me or hit me because I KNOW where it was flawed and yet, nonetheless, I still went with it. He didn't kills Sarah Jane though so THAT has to be a win, right.
Hope you've calmed down soon!
Well said, Stuart. I really didn't think I'd bother saying anything about it, but I had to vent in the end. Utter rubbish.
is too brain damaged to reply
Goofy: "is too brain damaged to reply"
lol - how's things John?
Lisa: "Hope you've calmed down soon!"
If it's any consolation I'm not commenting anywhere else until I have calmed down a bit. I can come across as a bit grumpy, otherwise :)
I have just spent ten days in Ireland without access to the final two episodes, and so only caught up last night.
To comment on your post - disappointing, yes (especially after I thought Stolen Earth really was exciting). Too many threads to make a lovely carpet, an untidy and frayed knot instead.
Some interesting returns to the theme that the nazis and the daleks are one and the same, and so Martha has to go to Nuremberg and the site of the ultimate bringing of nazism to justice in order to save and destroy the world, but generally, yeah, so.
And poor beautiful heroic and perfect (botox aside) Rose will realise all too soon that she has been left behind in the wrong univese with the second-best Doctor.
Apart from anything else presumably the Clone Doc is as unstable a human/time lord hybrid as Donna and, with all those memories rattling about, is likely to explode in Rose's face (ahem) any day now...
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