Belated "Utopia" reaction
Jun. 18th, 2007 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hildy89I wish I could claim I was feeling better. I get brief bursts of relief, eclipsed by sheer torture. I bit the bullet and switched back to the brand name Flonase. Generics shouldn't be this different. Even if it isn't the difference, at least I know how I react to the brand name version.
I watched a lot of golf this weekend. Next week the green grasses of Wimbledon will beckon and take up vast amounts of time. I swear I think I spend as much time on the BBC website during that last week in June as when Who is airing, probably less because of the potential for spoilers. I don't hold out a lot of hope for any of my favorites. Henman has been bounced out his last umpteen tournaments in the first round. Federer is turning into the Sampras of this generation -- beautiful to watch and damn near unbeatable on grass, but looks actually human on clay. Maybe someone will surprise us.
Despite being very behind in my Who viewing this season, I did break down and watch "Utopia". I knew the squeeing would be hard to ignore. I'm glad I did. Like most people have said in other reviews, the BBC can't keep some bits secrets if they tried. On the other hand, the best part, they had me completely fooled until the moment it happened. Very good use of distraction. Make a lot of noise over here, but pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...
Jack is back! That's more like it. There was some bloke that went by the name Harkness in Torchwood, but they seem to have sucked all the fun out of the character. (Almost like the difference between SG1 and SGA Rodney McKay...) Here he's back to his dancing flirty self. No, Jack, Ten doesn't trust you to even say hello to anyone! I don't hear many people complaining, but who would? At least he doesn't brood. I got used to the "new improved" version over at Torchwood, because more Jack is always a good thing, but still, he wasn't the lovable rogue we fell in love with. (In retrospect you could have substituted the Apocalypse West "This is my city" scene with Angel using Torchwood Jack instead and we'd have mostly the same effect... except substituting Cardiff for LA seems a little daft.)
Martha is always on the outside, isn't she? She doesn't want to compete with the memory but she can't help it the way they're tossing it in her face. At least she's reacting, rather than "Oh, that's ancient history, nothing to do with me..." She did get in a few zingers in the three way conversation.
The Tardis=sportscar. Obviously pretty red convertible for the Doctor's "middle age crisis", except now she's a classic, rather than top of the line. Except then she ran off with his ex. Cheeky little roadster.
The plot was a little meh. As someone said, it felt like a throwback to the old school Who with the quarry and the monsters, but the stuff with Professor Yana and Chantho and Jack made the show. I'm not sure what to think about the Doctor throwing Jack into the fire. He seemed to enjoy the idea a little too much. Was he trying to push the limits of Jack's immortality? It wasn't helped by the amazing radiation room scene between Doctor and Jack. Yow. Mostly I kept focusing on the Doctor looking through the glass at Jack... not the expression I expected in that situation, but obviously what turns on a Time Lord is a little different.
Like I said, I'd read about Sir Derek Jacobi's Who appearance and the whole speculation on John Simm's role. That they might be connected? Even when Martha was shown the watch, I kept thinking "So we've found another Time Lord." Not "Oops, way to let the Pandora's Box out there!" I keyed onto the Gallifreyan idea pretty early with the headaches and the drums. (Health wise, I can sympathize.) The Doctor mentioned he could hear the other Time Lords. The whole thing is rather ironic in a way. Rose found the last Dalek and Martha stumbles over the Master.
Such a shame about Yana. The interactions between Yana and the Doctor gave some hint of how they must have interacted before they became mortal enemies. Even if they leave them as Academy friends, you saw the grudging respect and admiration. And yes, the whole "Say my name" was a Guh moment even for me. You half expected the Doctor to rattle off his full Gallifreyan name, just to break the tension. Jacobi's switch from kindly Professor to pure evil Master was chilling, even if it was to be so brief. He did so much with that one scornful look of disdain. I loved how they integrated the soundbites from the previous incarnations.
Several people have asked how the Master can regenerate at all, given how many bodies he's gone through. A) Didn't he say he was found as a baby, suggesting he'd relived his life? Maybe that affected his regenerations? B) The Time Lords were the ones making the rules and they're gone.
John Simm's Master is just wacky and manic. But what can you expect who has reclaimed his real life back? I know it's canon that regenerations are tricky things anyway, but I'd swear there was some weird endorphins that kick in when Time Lords regenerate. They're almost like they've had some helium or something. The Doctor really really must have slept through "How to regenerate without needing to be hospitalized" class at the Academy. Maybe we're not seeing Master after he sugar crashes when he arrives on Earth. "I stole his Tardis and I'm going to rule the world, hee-hee... *thud*."
I watched a lot of golf this weekend. Next week the green grasses of Wimbledon will beckon and take up vast amounts of time. I swear I think I spend as much time on the BBC website during that last week in June as when Who is airing, probably less because of the potential for spoilers. I don't hold out a lot of hope for any of my favorites. Henman has been bounced out his last umpteen tournaments in the first round. Federer is turning into the Sampras of this generation -- beautiful to watch and damn near unbeatable on grass, but looks actually human on clay. Maybe someone will surprise us.
Despite being very behind in my Who viewing this season, I did break down and watch "Utopia". I knew the squeeing would be hard to ignore. I'm glad I did. Like most people have said in other reviews, the BBC can't keep some bits secrets if they tried. On the other hand, the best part, they had me completely fooled until the moment it happened. Very good use of distraction. Make a lot of noise over here, but pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...
Jack is back! That's more like it. There was some bloke that went by the name Harkness in Torchwood, but they seem to have sucked all the fun out of the character. (Almost like the difference between SG1 and SGA Rodney McKay...) Here he's back to his dancing flirty self. No, Jack, Ten doesn't trust you to even say hello to anyone! I don't hear many people complaining, but who would? At least he doesn't brood. I got used to the "new improved" version over at Torchwood, because more Jack is always a good thing, but still, he wasn't the lovable rogue we fell in love with. (In retrospect you could have substituted the Apocalypse West "This is my city" scene with Angel using Torchwood Jack instead and we'd have mostly the same effect... except substituting Cardiff for LA seems a little daft.)
Martha is always on the outside, isn't she? She doesn't want to compete with the memory but she can't help it the way they're tossing it in her face. At least she's reacting, rather than "Oh, that's ancient history, nothing to do with me..." She did get in a few zingers in the three way conversation.
The Tardis=sportscar. Obviously pretty red convertible for the Doctor's "middle age crisis", except now she's a classic, rather than top of the line. Except then she ran off with his ex. Cheeky little roadster.
The plot was a little meh. As someone said, it felt like a throwback to the old school Who with the quarry and the monsters, but the stuff with Professor Yana and Chantho and Jack made the show. I'm not sure what to think about the Doctor throwing Jack into the fire. He seemed to enjoy the idea a little too much. Was he trying to push the limits of Jack's immortality? It wasn't helped by the amazing radiation room scene between Doctor and Jack. Yow. Mostly I kept focusing on the Doctor looking through the glass at Jack... not the expression I expected in that situation, but obviously what turns on a Time Lord is a little different.
Like I said, I'd read about Sir Derek Jacobi's Who appearance and the whole speculation on John Simm's role. That they might be connected? Even when Martha was shown the watch, I kept thinking "So we've found another Time Lord." Not "Oops, way to let the Pandora's Box out there!" I keyed onto the Gallifreyan idea pretty early with the headaches and the drums. (Health wise, I can sympathize.) The Doctor mentioned he could hear the other Time Lords. The whole thing is rather ironic in a way. Rose found the last Dalek and Martha stumbles over the Master.
Such a shame about Yana. The interactions between Yana and the Doctor gave some hint of how they must have interacted before they became mortal enemies. Even if they leave them as Academy friends, you saw the grudging respect and admiration. And yes, the whole "Say my name" was a Guh moment even for me. You half expected the Doctor to rattle off his full Gallifreyan name, just to break the tension. Jacobi's switch from kindly Professor to pure evil Master was chilling, even if it was to be so brief. He did so much with that one scornful look of disdain. I loved how they integrated the soundbites from the previous incarnations.
Several people have asked how the Master can regenerate at all, given how many bodies he's gone through. A) Didn't he say he was found as a baby, suggesting he'd relived his life? Maybe that affected his regenerations? B) The Time Lords were the ones making the rules and they're gone.
John Simm's Master is just wacky and manic. But what can you expect who has reclaimed his real life back? I know it's canon that regenerations are tricky things anyway, but I'd swear there was some weird endorphins that kick in when Time Lords regenerate. They're almost like they've had some helium or something. The Doctor really really must have slept through "How to regenerate without needing to be hospitalized" class at the Academy. Maybe we're not seeing Master after he sugar crashes when he arrives on Earth. "I stole his Tardis and I'm going to rule the world, hee-hee... *thud*."
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-19 04:20 pm (UTC)Hee! I was tempted to do a remake of it more thane once...
Maybe we're not seeing Master after he sugar crashes when he arrives on Earth. "I stole his Tardis and I'm going to rule the world, hee-hee... *thud*."
And I so very do want to see this now. *snerk*