|
|
|
June 18th, 2007
01:28 pm - Utopia: recollected in tranquillity
I posted my review of 'Utopia' precisely one minute after it had ended. I've since seen it again, and read a wide range of comments, and formed a calmer appraisal. I think my response was front-loaded by the last fifteen minutes: the pacing was so well handled that I got that flooding with excitement that you get sometimes when everything comes together. But I'm not withdrawing my assessment that it was a really fine piece of television. Below is quite long and contains spoilers.
Life after the death of stars is a challenging setting, and I don't think the art direction met the challenge. Instead they fell back on Mad Max and Terminator. There wasn't much sense of being far, far into the dying future. Niall mentions Stephen Baxter as the main man for post-galactic humanity. I wished it had been more like The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson, which is dark and scary. Either would have been better than this.
I know I'm not the only one who is a bit 'give it a rest already' about Rose Tyler, although I liked Billy Piper on the day. The sentimental dwelling on Rose doesn't really compensate for the reduced and subordinate role that Martha seems to have acquired. It reminds me of the veneration of the Virgin Mary accompanied by the disparagement of real women.
I had forgotten how much of the conversation through the Red Window between Jack and the Doctor dwelled on Rose. Apart from that though, the conversation seemed enigmatic and tantalising. Was the Doctor asking Jack if he wanted him to kill him? It sounded like that to me. I think possibly this was slightly badly written, perhaps at the limits of RTD's ability to convey meaning, but the two actors crafted it into something with half-glimpsed transgressive meaning. Pats on backs all round.
What did it mean that everyone was saying 'sorry' all the time? Shallow writer's trick or poignant subtext?
I thought Derek Jacobi gave a wonderful performance, and having rewatched it I haven't changed my mind. When he started to cry, anticipating the loss of his humanity, I almost cried too. The Jekyll-to-Hyde transformation is a real actor's workshop showcase scene, and I thought it couldn't be faulted.
John Simm's performance I think has divided opinion quite strongly. He chose to play The Master in a manic style, and I understand that grated on some. I thought the concept and the pacing by this time were so strong that they carried the scene through on a rush of adrenaline. Also, it pushed my buttons. I believe, though I may be wrong, that in the long run the manic edge will combine with the Blue-Velvet-style menace to give a fuller characterisation.
|
I thought John Simm was good. He's playing a different kind of Master - but still definitely in character for The Master, gloating and incredibly confident, just as a younger man than The Master's used to being.
Mind you, at the current rate in a few season's both Master and Doctor will be teenagers squabbling with each other... Also I like the way he ended up lying on one side, as if he'd just been hit by a car :-) 'Am I insane, in a coma, or an inter-galactic super villain?' Am I insane, in a coma, or an inter-galactic super villain?
LOL! here is a comparison of the pictures Mind you, at the current rate in a few season's both Master and Doctor will be teenagers squabbling with each other...
That's pretty much what I was envisioning. The Time Lords of Degrassi Street. Like, omigod. oh, go on, you hated it did you? No no no. Um. Cap'n Jack's still hot. And I'm sure that little cryptosadomasochistic verbal exchange would have won the whole episode a special place in my pants heart if I found either actor involved even marginally more sexually attractive than a mustard stain.
I think the series just gradually evolved out of being Dr. Who as I know it, Jim, into something perfectly fine that I feel no motivation to watch. that little cryptosadomasochistic verbal exchange would have won the whole episode a special place in my pants/heart
You may say that, I couldn't possibly comment | From: | (Anonymous) |
|---|
| Date: | June 18th, 2007 01:19 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
Wot you said. I liked John Simm's mania, although I don't want any more of it - it seemed the right kind of burst of energy for that moment.
Jacobi was extraordinary. Completely forgiven for Cadfael. I thought there were little hints of Troughton in there.
Tennant was fantastic in that scene through the window. I agree that I can't see that performance or that kind of scene being written or done with Martha, and that's a real shame. I thought there were little hints of Troughton in there.
Wow, how interesting. Did you see 'confidential' where Jacobi said he was a big fan of Who back in the sixties?
can't see that performance or that kind of scene being written or done with Martha, and that's a real shame.
For some reason, too, John Barrowman is about a million times better in Doctor Who than in Torchwood. (That was me, btw, stupid Internet wasn't letting me play properly. )
I did indeed see the 'Confidential' afterwards, and if Jacobi doesn't get his summons to Corrie now, there's no justice in the world. Our friend K. who was watching it also commented that he was surely meant to be the Wizard of Oz.
I don't know what happens to Barrowman on Torchwood: surely he can carry a show as a lead? Perhaps it's just that the whole show is woefully and fatally flawed. Oh, he'll be in Corrie now without a doubt.
The more I think about it, the more I support the decision to go full-on manic:
'End of the Universe. Have Fun. Bye.'
Why the hell not? Go nuts John.
Yes, I think he'd be feeling manic after a regen to a younger body and getting all his powers back too.
But: Corrie? What is Corrie? Probably Coronation Street, a soap opera about which I can only say "It's still going?" (It disappeared from Australian free-to-air television years back, leaving me only with a memory of its dirgey brass theme tune.) No, surely not. Derek Jacobi is a brilliant actor, not a soap star. They must mean something else. Ian McKellen is also a highly respected actor, and yet he's gone on a British soap. *shrug* Who knows? Now, I originally thought our esteemed altariel and communicator meant Barrowman, not Jacobi, and reckoned it was the best place for him until you made me go back and read it again... Yes, as jocmacmouse says, it's Coronation Street, a very long running soap. I don't watch it myself, but it is held in a sort of affection or esteem which is different from any of the other soaps on British TV. But why would Jacobi be called to it? I thought it was pretty much all unknowns, well, apart from Egrorian John Savident. ;-) It's the type of thing that famous people 'let it be known' that they would like a cameo role in it, and then they get to play a one-off character. I'm trying to think of a non-Brit equivalent. I suppose a bit like when Quentin Tarantino directed that episode of ER. Ah, gotcha. I didn't realise that; cool! I bet Jacobi can do Manchester. Oh and we call it Coro here. :-) For some reason, too, John Barrowman is about a million times better in Doctor Who than in Torchwood.
I think that was because of the writing. The characterisation of Captain Jack in Torchwood was flirt/angst/heroics/angst/leader/angst/hard-decisions/angst, whereas in Doctor Who it's flirt/heroics/flirt/angst/flirt. Captain Jack is much more cheerful when he's back with the Doctor. For whatever reason. RTD indicated in the Confidential that the Master was particularly manic in that scene as he'd just regenerated, similar to Ten in the Children in Need thingummie. Ah. I watched confidential, but I didn't pay full attention and I missed that. I found it was in line with how I was feeling, too. I'm waiting to see how I feel about Simm's Master over a full episode or two, but I wasn't put off by the manic style here. Remember the Master's very first episode, when the Time Lord dropped in to warn the Third Doctor of his arrival, and the Third Doctor snorted "That jackanapes!" I thought Simm was going for the Master-as-Jackanapes. And he always was a practical joker. I loved the shirt, on both Jacobi and Simm, though I don't suppose we'll see it again.
This was the one episode where talk about Rose was unavoidable. Jack had to ask about her, and had to be told about what she had done to him. It might have been less annoying if we hadn't been getting Rose-reminiscence every week; my take on Martha's sarcastic remarks was that they weren't "bitching about the other woman" but "ordinary viewer expressing impatience with too-much-Rose already". I've been told that the Doctor's (to me) mystifying accusation that Martha was "blogging" is supposed to have been a dig at anti-Rose fans with blogs, but I think it failed completely. It made no sense within the episode - how could a one-liner by someone running about outdoors be a blog? Or has "blogging" taken on some secondary meaning, like "bitching", that I haven't come across?
Overall, I thought it was a weak episode; the plot just seemed to be an excuse to line up the characters ready for next week. But I agree the conversation between the Doctor and Jack was the strongest scene. I thought it was a classic bit of telly, that we'll look back on years from now. I've not really cleared it from my emotional system yet. Yeah, three awesome performances from the timelords. |
|
