tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-128174732024-03-13T19:44:39.358+00:00Nyder's Dyner and TakeawayWhat I'm watching.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger452125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-87154716939157154492015-06-04T14:17:00.001+01:002015-06-04T14:17:44.454+01:00Life ForceSort of a 1970s British horror picture made 20 years too late, and missing a lot of the sense of irony and archness as a result. The male lead was, apparently, a method actor, which is probably not the best person to hire to play an astronaut haunted by a nude lady space-vampire, and he has a psychic link with her which is a scarily obvious plot-moving device (he knows her plans when the plot has to move, he doesn't when there's still half an hour left and the movie has to tread water a while). Also some regrettable animatronics.Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-41740566806230169742015-01-08T16:21:00.000+00:002015-01-08T17:32:59.205+00:00It's A Thing: Last Christmas<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQldrvusgDXAjsLUJrTuGZpw0ffKb_75hvRkrve23qEB1v25CVD-Mm5DuG8-YoD-t0h10NSJpbr7rd0ElO549GLkaNlcR1uziKoF6K8RCoNeo_ZUbFHYDJf0nAiNPmKve7_hg4/s1600/TANGERINE_DREAM_2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQldrvusgDXAjsLUJrTuGZpw0ffKb_75hvRkrve23qEB1v25CVD-Mm5DuG8-YoD-t0h10NSJpbr7rd0ElO549GLkaNlcR1uziKoF6K8RCoNeo_ZUbFHYDJf0nAiNPmKve7_hg4/s1600/TANGERINE_DREAM_2011.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tangerine Dream. I'm so sorry.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Mildly embarrassing revelations about characters'
childhoods. Timey-wimey. Variants on the phrase “timey-wimey”
(here, “beardy-weardy” and “dreamy-weamy”). People living in
virtual worlds or dreams and being unaware of this fact. Doctor
leaves companion and returns when she's an old woman (seriously, that
hideous old-person makeup was possibly the worst thing about this
episode). “Don't blink” (in this case, close your eyes and don't
think about the sleepers). Zombified people marching about until
being ordered to go back to bed (see “The Doctor Dances” for the
prototype version). Meeting a mythological figure who can't possibly
exist. Significant messages appearing on a blackboard or wall.
Scottish jokes. References to classic Christmas stories (e.g. “God
bless us every one,” or the visual of people soaring over a festive
London). MILF. Things coming out of TV screens at people. Referring
to a companion's husband by the companion's name (“is there a Mr
Clara?”).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's
not a trope, but mad props for including a visual reference to
Cocteau's avant-garde film <u>Orphee</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">
(Clara standing still as the background recedes behind her, </span><span style="text-decoration: none;">which
happens in Cocteau's film when characters journey through the
underworld</span><span style="text-decoration: none;">).</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: A dream in a dream in a dream in a dream in a
dream.....</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: Dream.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: Dream.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: In a totally foreseen development, Clara and the
Doctor find out that they lied to each other last episode.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Because, although the
dream-Danny we meet is a complete gent, he is, as he himself points
out, dead, and not going to come back.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: One (briefly).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: Didn't spot anything, but <u>Red Dwarf</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">
would like a word.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>It's Actually About</u>: The tangerine on the windowsill at the
end of the episode, and the Doctor “waking up” by the volcano
from “Dark Water” shortly beforehand, indicate that we're still
in a dream (a tangerine dream, presumably), and the fact that Santa
Claus turned up in the Tardis at the end of “Death in Heaven”
indicates that we have been in a dream for some time. Therefore, a
certain percentage of Doctor Who, and potentially all of it, is
actually a dream. This, consequently, not only retroactively makes
sense of all the daft ideas and continuity problems that have gone
before, but effectively insulates the entire series against future
snarking. So much for this column, then.</div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-47010450701025064862015-01-02T16:11:00.001+00:002015-01-02T16:11:39.585+00:00Transnational<b>Snowpiercer</b>: possibly the most scarily accurate allegory of this decade yet to be filmed. Or, to put it another way, it's Piketty on celluloid.<div><br></div><div>Movie count for 2015: 1</div>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-40669431537493452742014-12-31T13:24:00.001+00:002014-12-31T17:00:29.318+00:00Anthropomorpheous, in the underworld<u>Orphée</u>: A rewatch-- a surreal film which maps the Orpheus legend onto the tensions and politics of the arts scene in early-Fifties France. Slightly undermined by the ending, which got a little too self-congratulatory, but worth putting up with that for the rest of the movie.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Movie count for 2014: 69</div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-9404682511714110452014-12-31T13:23:00.001+00:002014-12-31T17:01:24.709+00:00Aptly named<u>Meet The Feebles</u>: I'd heard this was a scatological and offensive but daringly funny cult movie. I'm fine with scatological and offensive, but I generally prefer it when it comes with an actual plot, and/or a point beyond just trying to be shocking for shocking's sake, neither of which this has.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Movie count for 2014: 68</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-41575632449792865092014-12-31T13:21:00.001+00:002014-12-31T17:01:54.758+00:00Pointless CelebritiesDoctor Zhivago: Beautifully shot but ultimately frustrating film about the Russian Revolution, or, more accurately, about the events of the Russian Revolution passing Omar Sharif by as he tries to get it on with Julie Christie. Further enfrustrated by the periodic hints that the supporting characters are much more interesting people involved in much more interesting personal dramas, but enlivened by the fact that the ending has a subtle but definite pro-Communist message that the various awards committees seem to have missed.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Movie count for 2014: 67</div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-5667394135487505652014-12-23T19:47:00.001+00:002014-12-27T10:36:24.099+00:00The Revolution Will Be Novelized<b>Mockingjay, Part I: </b>Fairly good adaptation of the first half of the novel, with some good messages for teens about propaganda, and about how the enemy of one's enemy is not necessarily one's friend. I was slightly taken out of the narrative because of recognising too many of the actors in it (Queen Margaery had a second career as a photojournalist, who knew?), and the cat pretty much stole every scene it was in, but that was all fairly tolerable.<div><br></div><div>Movie count for 2014: 66</div>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-43962656745574990802014-12-14T19:03:00.000+00:002014-12-14T19:03:16.038+00:00Closeted<u>Skeletons</u>: Surreal British drama-ish thing about two psychic investigators, sort of, who go around exposing the skeletons in people's closets, sort of, and who meet their nemesis when investigating a missing person. Sort of. It's all a bit hard to summarize, but it really is worth seeing.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 65Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-5231470477824867332014-12-14T19:00:00.000+00:002014-12-14T19:00:22.235+00:00The House in the Middle<u>Kiss Me Deadly</u>: Starts out as a conventional film-noir
thriller with a distressed blonde flinging herself into the life of a
hard-boiled private detective. Eventually turns into an eerie story
about nuclear paranoia and the Manhattan Project. Sort of "The Big
Sleep" meets "Edge of Darkness", with more sex.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 64<br />
<br />Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-71546397794291161342014-12-12T15:41:00.000+00:002014-12-12T15:41:01.125+00:00Entertaining JuneBrazil: A repeated rewatch (I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it), this one distinguished by having seen it at the BFI with a talk afterwards by Terry Gilliam, and by getting to meet Gilliam afterwards. Film's still brilliant, Gilliam is too.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 63 Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-10843548701176187172014-12-12T15:38:00.002+00:002014-12-12T15:38:43.433+00:00What's Wrong with the 1970s<u>Serpico</u>: Biting expose on police corruption, through a biopic of New York policeman Serpico, an innovative and perceptive undercover detective whose honesty and integrity puts him at odds with almost the entire political and law enforcement establishment. It's depressing how little has changed in some ways.<br />
<br />
<u>The Candidate</u>: Biting satire on the corrosive influence of politics, as Robert Redford's young lefty activist slowly morphs into a compromised and compromising career politician. You can see where it's going right from the start, but that's sort of the point.<br />
<br />
Movie Count for 2014: 62Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-44984099691223317722014-12-12T15:31:00.001+00:002014-12-12T15:31:40.307+00:00Cyclo Tron<u>Tron</u>: A genuinely groundbreaking film on a number of levels, with the technical innovation (the graphics still look amazing over 30 years later) being matched by the playful postmodern referencing of (particularly Soviet) Expressionist film, Christian mythology and video-game imagery. The message is very much of its time (good capitalist/entrepreneur triumphing over bad capitalist/corporation), and there's only one woman in it (to be fair, she's a scientist who's presented as such without any fanfare, and she's far from a passive "prize", freely choosing between two good-looking and intelligent men), but both are easily forgivable.<br />
<br />
<u>Tron II</u>: A vastly inferior sequel. There was one major visible technical innovation (the use of a virtual actor, of sorts, to play the young Jeff Bridges-- one step closer to the world of <u>Idoru</u>), but otherwise it was a banal-looking, too-long story with little message other than that the baby boomers think their Generation Y kids are miserable slackers who don't understand them, and which turned the playful virtual world of the first series into a lame collection of well-worn tropes. Michael Sheen was sort of fun to watch though.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 60Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-14041638383185843352014-12-12T11:13:00.004+00:002014-12-12T11:13:59.481+00:00Grauniad<u>Guardians of the Galaxy</u>: Watchable superhero flick; the action scenes got pretty boring and it was half an hour longer than it should have been, but there was some good humour and interesting worldbuilding, and a sort of <u>Firefly</u>-esque self-awareness.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 58Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-16173699666735323922014-12-04T21:32:00.000+00:002014-12-04T21:32:02.157+00:00Live, Die, RepeatGroundhog Day: Watched as a follow-up to Live, Die, Repeat (below). It's still good; its score on the Bechdel Test is practically negative, but the message is so perfect that I'm willing to forgive it for that.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 57Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-64642805224267094802014-12-04T21:30:00.004+00:002014-12-04T21:33:14.777+00:00Two Films Which Shouldn't Be About White Guys<u>Godzilla</u>: Remake of the much better Japanese original. It wants to be a story about two middle-aged scientists, one Japanese and one American. It winds up being a story about a young white guy. There are also hints that a subplot involving the young white guy's young white wife got cut out to make it even more about him. Meanwhile, all the subtext about nuclear power and global war goes out the window.<br />
<br />
<u>Live, Die, Repeat</u>: This one is much better, a sort of cross between Groundhog Day and Pacific Rim. It's also better in that it really is about Emily Blunt, just seen through the eyes of Tom Cruise (even though all the publicity material that I've seen focuses on him and makes it look like a movie about a white guy), that the hero doesn't get the girl but it's completely OK, and that the story really is genuinely interesting.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 56Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-13086219497989092132014-12-04T21:26:00.000+00:002014-12-04T21:26:01.679+00:00Reasons to hate Steven Spielberg, sort of.AI (Artificial Intelligence): One of these bad films with just enough good in them that it keeps me going back over and over them, trying to figure out what the hell the problem was (aside from the sentimentality, and Spielberg once again exploring his abandonment issues). A few thoughts:<br />
<br />
1) Too short. Yes, for a movie it's way too long, but it also feels like it's rushing from plot to plot, scene to scene. We never actually see the couple bonding with their new AI son; the woman gives him the imprinting programme, and then practically a scene later we're into the sibling-rivalry scenario when their natural child wakes up from his coma. If it were a 6-part TV series, then there'd be time for the story to breathe, and scenarios to develop.<br />
<br />
2) Wrong ending. The story should have ended with the advanced AIs discovering David. It's perfect; we find out what happened to the world, David gets his wish to be a "real boy" (as he'll be the closest thing to one on the planet) and we can end on a high, tempered with the uncertainty of what sort of future he'll have out there. And we'd be spared the creepily Freudian stuff.<br />
<br />
3) Too many fridge moments. Gigolo Joe is framed for murder *how*, exactly? Surely the mecha have some sort of Asimov's-three-laws system preventing them from harming a human, and even if not, he could surely upload his memory to the court and demonstrate that he was with Paula Malcolmsen at the time. Why aren't the police tracking their own helicopters? Why does William Hurt leave David alone in the lab for 20 minutes, with predictable consequences? And so on.<br />
<br />
4) Doesn't age well. It was first written in the 1970s, and it doesn't seem like it was updated much when it was filmed in the late 1990s: no mobiles, no Google, a family in which the wife stays at home all day doing, as far as I could see, pretty much nothing.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, hey, cool practical and digital effects, and I want one of those teddy bear androids.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 54Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-31976957774701157312014-12-04T13:33:00.000+00:002014-12-04T21:32:50.680+00:00Vengeance Is TheirsSympathy for Mr Vengeance: Riveting tragedy about how good intentions can lead to catastrophic disasters, and how it can sometimes be hard to determine who the victims are.<br />
<br />
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance: Follow-up to the latter, using many of the same themes and some of the same actors. Poses uncomfortable questions about culpability and the social/emotional cost of pursuing revenge.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 50Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-21816557165912333292014-12-04T03:00:00.000+00:002015-01-02T18:00:09.853+00:00World Gone Mad<u>Despicable Me</u>: Kids' film about a villain who learns the redeeming power of love when circumstances throw him together with three orphan girls: cute, but with a bit of a Brothers' Grimm/Roald Dahl subversive edge, and the child characters are believable.<br />
<br />
<u>In Bruges</u>: A rewatch. Two Irish gangsters hole up in a Belgian city over Christmas after an assassination goes horribly wrong. Bruges is lovely but cold (in all senses of the word) and the story tragic. It's about the senselessness of it all, really. <br />
<br />
<u>Seven Psychopaths</u>: Postmodern film about the writing of a movie, which becomes a movie; sort of an anarchic cross between *The Player* and *Natural Born Killers*.<br />
<br />
Movie count for 2014: 53Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-84323166117707793112014-11-26T22:11:00.002+00:002014-11-27T13:10:04.247+00:00It's A Thing: Death In Heaven<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.storage.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Father-Christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.storage.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Father-Christmas.jpg" height="199" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's only one thing harshing my squee <br />
about this episode,
and it's this.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Everything from last week, plus: New-look UNIT with
Osgood and the She-Brigadier, “bowties are cool”, the Doctor
coming up with an insulting nickname for someone, “Permission to
squee!”. There's a belated attempt to rectify the fact that
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart never appeared in the new series proper.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: An army of Cybermen in graveyards.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: President of Earth (that's actually some pretty neat
lateral thinking on UNIT's part). Also a blood-soaked old general,
but then again Danny's got issues (see last episode).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: Queen of Evil.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: Being the Doctor (though the credits apparently
believe her). She and the Doctor lie like rugs to each other in the
cafe scene.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Because even as a
cybernised corpse, he's still passive-aggressive, self-obsessed and
dealing with some pretty bad issues-- including threatening to shoot
her <u>before</u><span style="text-decoration: none;"> losing all
human emotions</span>.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: One (undead).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: Missy finally kills off Chris Addison.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>It's
Actually About</u>: How you can never be sure of anything,
except unconditional love.</div>
</div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-54528751619397669832014-11-26T22:06:00.001+00:002015-01-23T17:14:53.843+00:00It's A Thing: Dark Water<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Troughton-era references. Dead people's personalities
surviving as computer programmes. Monsters being kept in fluid-filled glass tanks in a facility of some sort. Companion's boyfriend dies and the
Doctor has something to do with resurrecting them. The companion's
timeline being mysteriously intertwined with someone else's. Scottish
jokes. As numerous people on the Internet pointed out, Missy is yet
another iteration of the mysterious, slightly antagonistic older
woman with a flirtatious relationship with the Doctor (e.g. River
Song). The Doctor getting unexpectedly snogged. “Doctor who?”
There's an inside joke when we learn that the Doctor keeps a copy of
“The Time-Traveler's Wife” (which Moffat is frequently accused of
using as a source rather too often, not least on this blog) in the
Tardis.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: An army of Cybermen in St Paul's Cathedral.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: bit slow on the uptake this week, as he doesn't
figure out who the Master is until she flat-out tells him.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm32r2PHup1qfuh7w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm32r2PHup1qfuh7w.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, she's totally the girl version of this guy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: Woman. But most of the audience had figured that
out.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: Nothing. There's something important she hasn't told
Danny yet, but the audience don't find out what it is either.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Because even death is
no barrier to his passive-aggression and self-obsession (it also
turns out that the thing he's been blaming the officers for is in
fact something he screwed up himself-- namely, he sprayed a room with
gunfire without checking what was in it and shot a child-- which
shows a distinct inability to take responsibility for his own
actions).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: One (dead).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: The Doctor's psychic paper announces him to be a
government inspector: “Why is there all this swearing?” Doctor
Chang asks, perusing it, and the Doctor answers, “I've got a lot of
internalised anger.” Chris Addison is also back.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>It's
Actually About</u>: The Kubler-Ross stages of grief.</div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-16950994041259410082014-11-25T17:54:00.001+00:002014-11-25T17:54:22.738+00:00It's A Thing: In the Forest of the Night
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Child-focused story, particularly one revolving around
some unusually special little girl; fetishization of motherhood;
trees; a thing that appears to be malevolent turning out to be
benign. Little glowing tree-spirit things which are clearly the same
ones seen in “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe”. Happy
ending that makes no damn sense whatsoever. There's a slightly
jarring call-back to the Davies Era in the montage of international
news broadcasts (which suggest that everyplace everywhere is affected
by the forests, a fact which is immediately forgotten).
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: A forest in central London.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: Scotsman. But why do none of the kids recognise him
as the school caretaker?</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: TV viewer. Presumably Apple TV.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: Calling the Doctor instead of the school. This week
Danny's the one to find out about her Big Lie in “Mummy on the
Orient Express”, and the results are predictable. It also turns out
that she just tells the class they're “Gifted and Talented” to
make them feel better, which speaks volumes about her wanting
Courtney to think she's “special” in “Kill the Moon”.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Seriously, he's
offered the chance to see the Earth from space being hit by a solar
flare, no strings attached, and he turns it down like a kid in a
sulk, saying he doesn't want to see anything new because “I was a
soldier” (trust him to bring <u>that</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">
up again)</span>? Unless Clara wants to spend the rest of her life
never going out, she'd better end this now.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: 8 (that's a pretty tiny class by anybody's standards, let
alone those of modern hyperinflated student-to-teacher ratios).
Possibly 9 if Mabh's sister counts, but it's hard to tell how old she
is.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick</u><u>(et)</u><u> of It</u>: The Doctor tones the Mr Nasty act
down a bit this week, probably because of the children present.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://nomadbookslondon.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/where-the-wild-things-are-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://nomadbookslondon.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/where-the-wild-things-are-3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where is Max when you need him?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>It's
Actually About</u>: Something narratively interesting happening, and
then absolutely nothing that follows making sense. Why is central
London entirely deserted except for one school group and a
disappearing security guard? Why was nobody, apparently, awake at the
point at which the forest appeared? Why aren't the children's phones
ringing themselves flat with calls from anxious parents, why is
Mabh's mother the only one concerned enough to take any kind of
initiative to find her daughter, and why doesn't Clara ring the
school (indeed, why doesn't the school ring either Clara or Danny)?
How does Year Eight get from Kensington to Trafalgar Square in next
to no time? What idiot at COBRA thought burning the trees was a good
idea (since it would clearly cause massive damage to very expensive
property if it worked), and why do the emergency crew not react to
the sight of two civilians walking out of the forest with cries of
“bloody hell, stop the burning, we thought the area was deserted,
now then, miss, tell us how many more people are in there?” Why are
international relief efforts not being coordinated? Where, indeed,
are UNIT, Torchwood, and all the other usual suspects? Why do Mabh's
mother and her neighbour react so calmly to the revelation that the
street is covered in trees? How does the Doctor not know how ice ages
work? Why do zoo-habituated wolves and tigers immediately go on the
attack, rather than finding a safe place to hole up till they can get
the lie of the land and investigate? Who left a set of beach chairs
out in central London? How do planes land? Since the sea is now also
covered with vegetation, what's happened to the boats? Why does Clara
think that dying is preferable to being orphaned, and who does she
think she is, making that decision on behalf of the whole class and
Danny? How does a phone call to everyone on Earth from a single
schoolchild result in mass global consensus as to the correct course
of action (why can't we get Mabh to advise on Mideast peace)? Why
does nobody consider that the solar flare would knock out every
single communications satellite, plus kill off everyone on the
international space station? Why the strange anti-medication
message-- yes, there's controversy about diagnosing and medicating
some childhood-onset disorders, but suggesting that every child with
psychotic symptoms is just talking to the tree-fairies is a little
regressive. And was Mabh's sister hiding behind a bush the whole
time? There's a great story to be told about a forest appearing in
London overnight, but this really isn't it.</div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-15781463277990417222014-11-25T10:37:00.000+00:002014-11-25T10:37:02.577+00:00It's A Thing: Flatline<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/2508695615_7361d11105_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/2508695615_7361d11105_o.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And now, a Banksy, Just because.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Hostile alien creatures hiding in plain sight as everyday
objects; Doctor-lite episode; aliens targeting specific people;
cryptic utterances which turn out to be threats; something strange
and possibly fatal happening to the Tardis; stalking zombie-type
creatures; the Doctor as scourge of monsters; the Doctor coming up
with insulting nickname for his companion's male friend; the Tardis'
siege mode looks a lot like a miniature Pandorica.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: An alien species, and their victims, in the
walls.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: man who stops the monsters.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: fan of Apple products.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: She doesn't <u>technically</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">
lie to Danny about what she's up to when he calls, but the
ideological distinction is pretty thin. The Doctor finally confronts
her for having lied to him about Danny last episode.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Because she describes
him as “territorial”, and because a lie this big never does any
relationship any good.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: None (if Rigsy's working a community service order during
normal business hours, he must be too old for school).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: The Doctor really gets into his alien-destroying bit
at the climax.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>It's
Actually About</u>: Intentions. It's not what you do, it's what you
mean by it.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-9431392258579666162014-11-25T10:26:00.002+00:002014-11-25T11:10:50.724+00:00It's A Thing: Mummy on the Orient Express<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/movies/wallpapers/the-mummy-boris-karloff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/movies/wallpapers/the-mummy-boris-karloff.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spoilers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Seemingly evil monster that really just wants to be told
“good job, sir”; mummies; “are you my mummy?”; improbable
things in space; character singing song; gratuitous, not always
effective, celebrity guest stars (Moffat's not the only offender, but
his era hasn't shied away from it); ancient myths that are actually
real; ancient tech malfunctioning and causing fatalities; aliens
targeting specific people; the Doctor sacrificing people in order to
save others. This season's running obsession with soldiers is, well,
soldiering on.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: A mummy on the Orient Express, what else?</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: Nosey Parker. And Doctor of Intestinal Parasites.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: ...way. Gus is filling in for her this week.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: the real reason the Doctor wants her to bring Maisie
to the lab, and, for once, gets called on it. She then lies to Danny
about having left the Doctor, and to the Doctor about Danny being
fine with her traveling in the Tardis, but doesn't get called on it.
Yet.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Because he's clearly
jealous and possessive, but denies it all over the place.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: Zero, this week, just to give us a break.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: Clara suggests the Doctor is addicted to power.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>It's
Actually About</u>: Difficult choices.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-92078885549662167022014-11-23T14:41:00.001+00:002014-11-23T14:41:42.574+00:00It's A Thing: Kill the Moon
<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110120162918/doctor-who-collectors/images/9/96/Planet_of_spiders_novel_1978.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110120162918/doctor-who-collectors/images/9/96/Planet_of_spiders_novel_1978.jpg" height="200" width="122" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This story needs more crystals.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: "The Ark in Space" reference (Bennett oscillator); alien that
appears malevolent but actually just wants to be loved; traveling in
the Tardis as some kind of emotional therapy for needy children;
fairy-tale presented as (really preposterous) science; Timey-wimey
(the return of the “Pyramids of Mars” idea of events being in
flux); female military types who speak in monotones; skeleton in a
space suit; “Everybody lives!” speech from the Doctor; sour
grouch regaining an appreciation of the beauty of life thanks to the
Doctor's intervention. It's not a Moffat Trope, but it's worth
pointing out that the design of the mites is awfully close to that of
the red-striped giant spider on the 1978 edition of the Target
novelisation of “Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders.”</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: A space chicken in the moon.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: Man who normally helps. At least, that's what Clara
says.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: voiding this week. Evidently the sheer level of
Science Fail is too much for her.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: Courtney being special. Fact is, Courtney, however
important she may be to the people around her, is nonetheless one of
several billion human beings, and, even if she winds up as Dictator
of the Solar System, she will be forgotten within a few thousand
years of her death. Telling her she's special is just catering to
some kind of entitlement mentality at best, and implying that some
humans are superior to others at worst.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should Drop Danny Like A Hot Potato</u>: Once again, it's all
about <u>him</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">: he can't just
listen sympathetically to Clara, he has to wrench the conversation
round to being about him leaving the army.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: 28 (13 in the opening scene, 12 in the closing scene,
Courtney, and two space-chicken embryos).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: The Doctor tells off Lundvik for swearing in front
of children.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><u>It's
Actually About</u></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Where
to begin? It's about how if the majority votes for something you
disagree with, you go ahead and do what you want anyway (a lesson
Courtney is sure to take with her into the Oval Office); it's about
how kids need to be told they're special, otherwise the</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">y'll
start drinking White Lightning</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">;
it's about how the potential life of a single space-chicken </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">is
more important than</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
th</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">e
actual lives</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
of billions of humans; it's about </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
Doctor being an arrogant manipulative bastard to Clara</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">.
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Take
your pick.</span></span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12817473.post-89326842069536498112014-11-22T17:11:00.000+00:002014-11-22T17:11:12.535+00:00It's A Thing: The Caretaker
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Moffat-Era
Tropes</u>: Troughton-era references (the Doctor offers to introduce
Clara to fish people, and later paraphrases the Doctor's “up or
down, I don't care which” speech from “The Power of the Daleks”).
Timey-wimey (Clara fitting her adventures with the Doctor around her
dates with Danny). Doctor Who as romcom. River Song is mentioned. Bow
ties are still cool. Companion with a boyfriend who is jealous of the
Doctor. The Doctor's antagonistic relationship with Danny appears to
have been lifted wholesale from the RTD era, namely Eccleston's
antagonistic relationship with Mickey Smith.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>A
Thing in a Thing</u>: An alien robot killing machine in a school.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Doctor is A</u>: Caretaker. Also Clara's Space Dad.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Master Is A</u>: bit busy today.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://dailypop.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/paradise-towers-cleaners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://dailypop.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/paradise-towers-cleaners.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This machine kills caretakers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Clara
Lies About</u>: Her relationship with the Doctor, both indirectly (in
not telling Danny what she's up to) and directly when she pretends
she doesn't know the new caretaker, and when she tries to convince
Danny she and the Doctor are just rehearsing a play. She also doesn't
tell the Doctor that she's dating Danny, or that she's smuggled him
into the Tardis using the invisibility watch.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Reasons
Clara Should D</u><u>rop</u><u> Danny Like A </u><u>Hot Potato</u>:
Because he can't handle the idea that she's a time traveler, because
it's always all about <u>him</u>, because it doesn't really seem to
occur to him that Clara lying to him might have been justified (as
it's not easy to explain a lifestyle like hers to non-time-travelers)
rather than some kind of personal slight, and because he's a complete
jerk about the Doctor, particularly with his passive-aggressive “I'm
a soldier and he's an officer” bit. The Doctor's right; he's <u>not</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">
good enough for her.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>Child
Count</u>: Between 41 and 147 (17 outside Coal Hill, and 6 more as
Clara and Danny go into the school; 12 in the act one establishing
shot; 7 as Danny and Clara discuss Smith; 2 are moved on by the
policeman in the shopping street; 15 in Clara's English class; 41 as
Clara goes from her class to the school garden; 5 when Clara tells
the two boys off for playing football on the garden chessboard; 19
when Clara bumps into Danny after her conversation with the Doctor;
20 on the wide establishing shot of the school before Clara gives
Danny the watch; 3 at the parents' evening). Courtney (alluded to in
“Listen”) is finally identified as the cheeky teenager with the
Afro seen in Clara's flashback in “Deep Breath” and when Danny
visits the school office in “Inside the Dalek”.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The
Thick of It</u>: Chris Addison is in the Nethersphere.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><u>It's
Actually About</u></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">:
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Doctor
Who changing from a wacky romcom about two pretty boys vying for the
attention of a pretty girl, to one about a pretty boy and a pretty
girl trying to get together despite the efforts of her crotchety
older relative.</span></span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14676089996920568096noreply@blogger.com