So, Chris Chibnall. We meet again.
May. 30th, 2010 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadydaveCan I officially make him my nemesis? Because I'm pretty certain he stands against all that is good in the world. Or at least, in writing.
Urgh, Chris Chibnall was in fine form these two weeks. And by fine form, I mean TERRIBLE. Series one TORCHWOOD TERRIBLE. We had:
- awful pacing and anvilicious writing
- dropped plots (why were the Silurians stealing dead bodies?)
- characters being too dumb to live REPEATEDLY to advance the plot (they didn't need a drill, they just could have used Ambrose digging herself in deeper and deeper!)
- characters randomly appearing just to advance the plot (Eldane, professor of more or less acting reasonable, who apparently went into hibernation in the middle of a graduation ceremony)
- characters changing their motivations willy-nilly NOT EVEN to advance the plot (the scientist doesn't hate the humans, he thinks they're cool! Which is why he dissects them while they're conscious!)
- characters being put into storage so we can follow other people instead (Amy in the last episode, Elliot in this one; and he didn't even get to do anything!)
- failboat narration (AT LEAST "THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW I DIED" DIDN'T SUCK ALL THE TENSION OUT OF THE EPISODE)
- massive, massive genderFAIL (oh, nice, all the characters making emotional bad life choices are WOMEN! Bloodthirsty, war-mongering women!)
Not to mention the mis-handling of potentially cool things, like Nasreen: I really wish we had emphasized that she not only wants to stay with Tony, but since her life's work has been destroyed NOW, she wants to help SAVE THE WORLD in the future, which is an even more awesome goal. At least she didn't die.
Speaking of dying: ROOOOOOORYYYYYYYY NOOOOOOOOOOOOO :( :( :(
(I find it very interesting that Rory died pretty much the same way he did in "Amy's Choice". Even if it was nothing more than foreshadowing, since it was the Doctor's dream it's got the ring of his worst nightmares coming true. It's a nice way of pointing out how he's essentially adopted Rory as his BFF4EVA too, instead of just feeling bad for Amy.)
However, I am pretty certain he'll come back in some way: there's been too much emphasis on his and Amy's wedding tying in with the Crack for it NOT to be an issue. Plus, we had the rather pointed shots of him putting their engagement ring in the TARDIS last week, and it was still there after he died and the Crack ate him. Chekhov's engagement ring, and all that.
I wonder if the Doctor left Rory's body behind on purpose, to close the Crack: he's only been a time-traveler for a little bit, but it WAS a small opening, so maybe he was a complicated enough space-time event to shut it?
Apparently a lot of people have been complaining that the Crack eating people doesn't make sense, but it seems to me that it's the difference between people being written out of history, as opposed to never having existed, ever. Gacked from a discussion with Courtney about "Flesh and Stone":
But I don't think that objectively, history changed that much -- like, the one soldier didn't remember the others, but they had to have had existed, because then there wouldn't have been anyone to fire the guns in the corridor to hold off the Angels, and everyone would have gotten their necks snapped. It seemed to me that history was re-written in that people's record of it (their memories) were changed, but the actual events stayed the same? That's why time-travelers can be immune, because it's a perception issue and not a time-line change.
Which is why Amy is still around even though Rory was crucial to saving the day in "The Eleventh Hour", etc. Of course, I wasn't paying close attention when the Doctor was trying to get her to remember, so he might have said something contradictory. In which case, it's more of a big ball of wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey... stuff.
Crazy theory time!
- Maybe the reason the Crack is following Amy around is because Rory's in it! Possibly because he's following vague impulses from his life and tailing her like a puppy, but hopefully more because he wants her to help fix the huge space-time explosion tied to their wedding.
- If the guy River Song murders does turn out to be the Doctor, she could kill him (possibly he might have to refuse to regenerate, like the Master) and chuck him in to close the Crack, and then he can ::handwave:: come back like Rory!
- No idea about the TARDIS, though. (DON'T BLOW UP THE TARDIS! D: D: D:) Unless it's just the door that ends up in the Crack, which would be an entertaining piece of misdirection.
Urgh, Chris Chibnall was in fine form these two weeks. And by fine form, I mean TERRIBLE. Series one TORCHWOOD TERRIBLE. We had:
- awful pacing and anvilicious writing
- dropped plots (why were the Silurians stealing dead bodies?)
- characters being too dumb to live REPEATEDLY to advance the plot (they didn't need a drill, they just could have used Ambrose digging herself in deeper and deeper!)
- characters randomly appearing just to advance the plot (Eldane, professor of more or less acting reasonable, who apparently went into hibernation in the middle of a graduation ceremony)
- characters changing their motivations willy-nilly NOT EVEN to advance the plot (the scientist doesn't hate the humans, he thinks they're cool! Which is why he dissects them while they're conscious!)
- characters being put into storage so we can follow other people instead (Amy in the last episode, Elliot in this one; and he didn't even get to do anything!)
- failboat narration (AT LEAST "THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW I DIED" DIDN'T SUCK ALL THE TENSION OUT OF THE EPISODE)
- massive, massive genderFAIL (oh, nice, all the characters making emotional bad life choices are WOMEN! Bloodthirsty, war-mongering women!)
Not to mention the mis-handling of potentially cool things, like Nasreen: I really wish we had emphasized that she not only wants to stay with Tony, but since her life's work has been destroyed NOW, she wants to help SAVE THE WORLD in the future, which is an even more awesome goal. At least she didn't die.
Speaking of dying: ROOOOOOORYYYYYYYY NOOOOOOOOOOOOO :( :( :(
(I find it very interesting that Rory died pretty much the same way he did in "Amy's Choice". Even if it was nothing more than foreshadowing, since it was the Doctor's dream it's got the ring of his worst nightmares coming true. It's a nice way of pointing out how he's essentially adopted Rory as his BFF4EVA too, instead of just feeling bad for Amy.)
However, I am pretty certain he'll come back in some way: there's been too much emphasis on his and Amy's wedding tying in with the Crack for it NOT to be an issue. Plus, we had the rather pointed shots of him putting their engagement ring in the TARDIS last week, and it was still there after he died and the Crack ate him. Chekhov's engagement ring, and all that.
I wonder if the Doctor left Rory's body behind on purpose, to close the Crack: he's only been a time-traveler for a little bit, but it WAS a small opening, so maybe he was a complicated enough space-time event to shut it?
Apparently a lot of people have been complaining that the Crack eating people doesn't make sense, but it seems to me that it's the difference between people being written out of history, as opposed to never having existed, ever. Gacked from a discussion with Courtney about "Flesh and Stone":
But I don't think that objectively, history changed that much -- like, the one soldier didn't remember the others, but they had to have had existed, because then there wouldn't have been anyone to fire the guns in the corridor to hold off the Angels, and everyone would have gotten their necks snapped. It seemed to me that history was re-written in that people's record of it (their memories) were changed, but the actual events stayed the same? That's why time-travelers can be immune, because it's a perception issue and not a time-line change.
Which is why Amy is still around even though Rory was crucial to saving the day in "The Eleventh Hour", etc. Of course, I wasn't paying close attention when the Doctor was trying to get her to remember, so he might have said something contradictory. In which case, it's more of a big ball of wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey... stuff.
Crazy theory time!
- Maybe the reason the Crack is following Amy around is because Rory's in it! Possibly because he's following vague impulses from his life and tailing her like a puppy, but hopefully more because he wants her to help fix the huge space-time explosion tied to their wedding.
- If the guy River Song murders does turn out to be the Doctor, she could kill him (possibly he might have to refuse to regenerate, like the Master) and chuck him in to close the Crack, and then he can ::handwave:: come back like Rory!
- No idea about the TARDIS, though. (DON'T BLOW UP THE TARDIS! D: D: D:) Unless it's just the door that ends up in the Crack, which would be an entertaining piece of misdirection.
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Date: 2010-05-30 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 09:05 pm (UTC)I thought I had commented on this, but apparently I commented to you verbally, not with like, an actual comment.
Elliot in this one; and he didn't even get to do anything!
I was sad about this. He was tiny and dyslexic and he loved Sherlock Holmes and he made a connection with the Doctor. (And exposed the Doctor's horrifying lack of skill at babysitting). And then in the second episode he was frozen and he smiled when the Doctor apologized for allowing him to be kidnapped by aliens. FAIL.
Even if it was nothing more than foreshadowing, since it was the Doctor's dream it's got the ring of his worst nightmares coming true. It's a nice way of pointing out how he's essentially adopted Rory as his BFF4EVA too
Yes. It ties into his 'O NOES I HAS LOST ANOTHER COMPANION' drama. And I'm glad Rory's death is not all-about-Amy.
Chekhov's engagement ring
It shoots you in the third act!
That's why time-travelers can be immune, because it's a perception issue and not a time-line change.
Very wise.