| Chris Britton |
December 25, 2007 6:23 PM |
This episode is lucky to get a 5/10 from me. What saved it form scoring lower was cracking acting and a plot which got better as things went on.
Firstly. I went back to play the music a few more times, to see if I could get into it. I now think it was crap! Compared to the theme musics for series 1 -3 this was dreadful. It lacked any sort of emotional reaction and was just plain too soft. It did not fit the bill and did not seem very sci-fiish or dramatic enough for me :( If I could say who I wanted to compose for 2009 and beyond. I would want Dominic and Danny to compose. They could easily top that and make a theme we could all remember.
The plot was initially hard to follow, but it definatley got going as things went on, which was a point in it's favour. I did not think they explained why they chose the Titanic as a ship model and for a name well enough, despite parallels to the original, it all seemed cheesy and cheap. The idea of some poxy space corporation ripping off the ship was stupid. They would have been better served setting it on the original Titanic and having Aliens infiltrate it and having the 9th and 10th Doctors about in my opinion. What saved it for me is how they used a well known conspiracy theory in which the original Titanic was apparently deliberately sank to help White Star Line gain heaps of money form insurance. I think that was nicely done and quite clever. But it seems the production team are afraid of making things look really extra-terrestrial. They need more episodes away from Earth and looking more futuristic.
Sadly the Aliens were just too human, right down to everything. They did not make the ship look even slightly Alien. it may as well have been done from a certain episode of Futurama! That was just cheesy and I bet it was because they blew so much on special effects they forgot about making everything seem extra terrestrial! I am appalled at the handling of this. Even the crewmen were just so human, taking things from our own navies like ranks, it is just too human for my liking, it was not convincing in the slightest. I don;t know if they were trying to imitate the real Titanic. but they just went way over the top. The most alien thing was the Cyborg, who i liked a lot and really was impressed with.I could go on but I am too annoyed to continue. RTD has made a complete hash of settings, concept and portrayal here. Since when did Aliens have very English accents? they were trying to make it too convincing. Like a Star Wars film. As far was i am concerned, I saw no aliens. but a bunch of humans placed in dress, given silly names and told they were alien. The actors were given little to work with. The planet was even called Stowe! Hardly alien at all. They had more convincing jobs back in the old series before the days of computer generated special effects and good old fashioned makeup. I noted one guy said he had bought an earth tux. But that little throw away line was pathetic, a disappointing way to show why they were all imitating 1912 dress sense. Not worth the effort.
The only other good thing was the acting. David Tennant shows once again why he is the worlds favorite Doctor. The chemistry between him and Kylie was wonderful. Kylie played very well and displayed a lot of curiosity, kindness, compassion, she was very convincing and I was sad she died. I would have loved her to stay on. Every actor did his or her job well. I give them kudos, as it stopped this episode form being a disaster. But there was, as Ronn quite rightly said, way too many people about to really get in touch with. I felt little to no emotion with deaths or injuries. It was again, just too cheesy or predictable. I only felt emotion with the Cyborg guy. I loved him and he seemed the most alien. I wished he had survived. but deadly angel like robots going berserk, nothing knew there. So typically Science fiction and they were not scary at all. They might as well have all shouted "Danger! Will Robinson!". That would have made it so bad it would have been funny. I could not feel shocked, or scared or even laugh. I fear the production team are running short of good ideas. The aliens view on Earth was again, too predictable and I wanted to yell at that guy for getting it wrong. It was not comical, and sounded so annoying. Russell T Davies has once again, taken what we love, screwed it up and chucked it out! I can't believe even he had the balls to pen such a thing and get it approved. It's a travesty. If i ever meet him. I am going to give him a piece of my mind. I am tempted to write an angry e-mail.
Thats my many cents on this episode. I wish I could describe fully how I felt but Ronn covered most of my points and I agree with a lot of what he says. (apart from the series 4 bit :P )
this episode gets a very generous 5/10 from me. But it could have been lower, and probably only would have gotten a 3 had it not been for great acting and a plot which saved itself. it seemed very ripped off, cut out, rushed and no attention to the detail and dramatic, immersing episodes I saw in series 1. I dearly hope they spent more care on series 4. That trailer looked very well done. Sadly it just seemed to be Ood and Sontarans. However the pair of eyes and murky grey skin we see near the end fo the teaster trailer convinces me more that Davros is set to make his return.
Well done to them for dedicating it to Verity Lambert. But I tihnk if she had seen that episode she would have prefered something mroe worthwhile to have been dedicated too.
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