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Post by DreamDangerously on Jun 19, 2007 19:52:09 GMT
to be fair on John Simm though, Derek Jacobi is kind of a tough act to follow!  I'm so looking forward to seeing how things play out over the last two episodes. (I also can't believe there ARE only two episodes left...where the hell did the last 11 weeks go?!? Twelve actually if you factor in the football...yikes!) Talking of guest stars...I hear that James Marsters is going to be appearing in Torchwood! The mind boggles. |
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Post by orokiah on Jun 21, 2007 12:30:48 GMT
I'm so looking forward to seeing how things play out over the last two episodes. (I also can't believe there ARE only two episodes left...where the hell did the last 11 weeks go?!? Twelve actually if you factor in the football...yikes!) They've flown past! I'm really going to miss it this year when it ends. I still have Primeval to watch but it's not the same.  UKTV Drama are having a Who Is The Greatest Doctor Who? Weekend some time in July though, which sounds interesting. I wonder which over-sexed member of Team Torchwood he'll end up locking lips with first.  |
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Post by fenris on Jun 23, 2007 21:57:20 GMT
Episode #3.11: The Sound of Drums
I confess that John Simm won me round in this episode, with his performance containing a strong hint of menace alongside all the grandstanding and tomfoolery. I was also really intrigued by the subplot regarding Saxon's wife, and the fact that she's not some innocent dupe who's unaware of his true nature. The Master has apparently found himself a companion who is as loyal and devoted him as Martha, Rose and their predecessors have been to the Doctor. It's a nice touch, and I hope next week's finale doesn't resort to cliche and have the Master simply abandon her or kill her.
And yes, I had a huge grin on my face when the Master kick-started the end of the world to the tune of 'Voodoo Child' by Rogue Traders. And isn't it great to have a penultimate season cliffhanger that doesn't feature the Daleks? Let's face it, those diabolical pepperpots have been getting over-used.
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Post by orokiah on Jun 24, 2007 14:26:40 GMT
And isn't it great to have a penultimate season cliffhanger that doesn't feature the Daleks? Let's face it, those diabolical pepperpots have been getting over-used. Agreed. I have no idea what the squeaky voiced balls o' doom really are, or why their true nature is going to break the Doctor's hearts, but my fingers are firmly crossed that they don't turn out to be Daleks in disguise or some other offshoot of them. John Simm was fairly pantomime villain (and at pains in the Confidential to point out that it was because he was following the script to the letter!) but it worked. On a lesser actor it might have been too camp and cringeworthy, but he was excellent, teetering between being totally in control and totally unhinged. His fondness for Mrs The Master actually seemed quite genuine - if anything I thought she was scarier than he was in parts, especially when she was bopping around to 'Voodoo Child'. Loved the A-Team vibe in the scene when the Doctor was fixing up the perception filter keys...and I really hope Martha doesn't get offed or end up sacrificing herself somehow in the finale. Her addition has made this season for me. |
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Post by DreamDangerously on Jun 24, 2007 16:56:03 GMT
I agree, John Simm kept just enough of a leesh on his performance to stop it going too OTT and there was a real bleak menace behind all his pantomime stuff.
Loved the use of Voodoo Child and I really have absolutely no idea what next weeks episode has in store, which can only be a good thing.
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Post by fenris on Jun 27, 2007 19:59:06 GMT
There's been quite a lot of speculation this week on other forums and Live Journals, about Lucy Saxon (The Master's wife) and the general consensus - which I wholeheartedly agree with - seems to be that she's Russell T. Davies' concept of a Timelord Companion taken to it's ultimate extreme. In Original Who, the relationship between the Doctor and his various shapely young female sidekicks was totally platonic. There wasn't so much as even a hint of any hanky panky in the Tardis, thank you very much. Perish the thought. But Davies clearly thought that this approach would be just too naive and outdated in the knowing, post-modern 21st century, and so both Rose and Martha have been unrequited romantic interests for the Doctor. Davies' stance has even seen the relationship between the Doc and Seventies companion Sarah Jane retroactively sexed up. Davies' logic is that to both Rose and Martha, the Doctor is a mysterious, fascinating and remarkable individual, able to take them to amazing places and show them things that they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams. Quite simply, he's the most incredible man they've ever met. Periodically Rose and Martha are slightly wary of him, when they realise just how alien he is, or when he occasionally shows his ruthless side, unleashing 'wrath of God'-type punishments on his enemies (it was witnessing such an incident so soon after meeting the Doctor that caused Donna - Catherine Tate's character in 'The Runaway Bride' - to turn down his offer of joining him in the Tardis). But these dark moments quickly pass, and Rose and Martha decide that he's so wonderful that it doesn't matter. And they stay with him, no matter what, despite their loved ones' objections. Mickey and Rose's mother thought the Doctor was bad news: Rose didn't care and chose the Doctor over them, time after time. Martha's entire family believed that the Doctor was really Bad News: she cares not a jot. In this context, Lucy Saxon's devotion to The Master makes sense. Like Rose and Martha before her, she's met a truly fascinating, remarkable and unique individual, totally unlike any other man she's ever encountered. It's just bad luck that this particular Timelord is a psychopathic megalomaniac who's planning to wipe out 10% of mankind and enslave the remaining 90%. Just as Rose and Martha were prepared to overlook the negative aspects of The Doctor's personality and behaviour, in return for the immense thrill of staying with him, so Lucy has decided that no matter how bad it gets, she's sticking by The Master. As she told the doomed reporter, "I've made my choice." (It makes you wonder what would have happened if Rose or Martha had met the Master instead of the Doctor.) The truly fascinating element of Lucy and The Master's relationship is that it doesn't appear to be one-sided: he seems to be genuinely fond of her - at the very least, he appreciates having her around. There are little tell tale signs, such as when the two of them are on board the Valiant and he produces a bag of jelly babies and offers them to her before taking one himself. And even if you believe that he's merely using her as part of his 'Harold Saxon' cover story (every politician needs a photogenic and dutiful wife), it's important to note that when he kills the American President on live television in front of the entire world and unleashes the Toclafane on mankind, despite the fact he's revealed his true nature and therefore doesn't need her anymore, he doesn't discard her. Instead, he keeps her by his side, discussing with her how much of the human race to eliminate, almost as though seeking her approval, or proudly showing her his handiwork, or even implying 'I've done all of this for you'. And who could blame him? Beautiful, loyal, devoted, happy to smile and shake her fine booty as millions of people are killed?  This is a woman worth conquering the world for!!! |
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Post by fenris on Jun 27, 2007 21:30:45 GMT
For anyone who can't get 'Voodoo Child' out of their head after last Saturday's episode; youtube.com/watch?v=SL4O2wYTRrk Baby baby baaaaaabbbbyyyyyyyyy..... |
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Post by WarrenWitchesRule on Jun 30, 2007 23:33:58 GMT
Do any of you lovely people know what music it was they used in Last of The Time Lords?
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Post by orokiah on Jul 1, 2007 12:38:05 GMT
Do any of you lovely people know what music it was they used in Last of The Time Lords? It was Scissor Sisters - 'I Can't Decide'. Which is kind of how I feel about the episode at the moment. I'm on the fence; I can't tell whether I loved it or hated it. Loved John Simm, loved the final scene between the Master and the Doctor, loved Lucy Saxon turning on her hubby and the suggestion she might be back at some point (if you believe she was the one picking up the ring at the end that is)... Hated the 'we believe in fairies'-style resolution and Martha leaving. I was expecting it after the tabloid stories and the fact that she was written as the 'rebound companion' from the beginning, and I'm glad she left with dignity and didn't get killed off - but I'm still a bit disappointed about it. The long shadow Rose is still casting over the series a year after she left...ugh. On the bright side they now have the opportunity to cast Carey Mulligan as the new companion, and while she'd ideally have a spin-off series of her own, I definitely wouldn't complain about that.  |
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Post by fenris on Jul 1, 2007 16:50:53 GMT
Oh dear. What a letdown. The blatant Deus Ex Machina ending - destroying the Paradox Machine, time reversing, the Toclafane invasion and the Master's year-long reign of terror never happening - was exactly the kind of predictable plot twist that I 'd hoped wouldn't happen. That said, I do understand why Russell T. Davies resorted to it. In order for New Who's younger viewers to continue to relate to the show, the present-day Earth it depicts has got to resemble the real world that they see outside their windows everyday. To have 21st century Earth in the Whoverse permanently remain as the hellish launching pad for an interstellar war would have just confused the little 'uns (and been very expensive to stage). It still felt like a lame cheat though. And like orokiah, I also hated the wildly implausible ' I believe in fairies' resolution. The entire population of the planet, all united in hope... hmm. Call me a cynic, but I think the Master's assessment of Mankind was more accurate. The moment when he (rightfully) declared that the human race whom the Doctor thinks are so bloody wonderful are actually "the worst monsters of all" was one of the strongest and most truthful moments in Who history. The revelation that Captain Jack will eventually become the Face of Boe was amusing, but also very silly. It's the kind of crazy idea that somebody suggests at a late night script conference when everybody's extremely tired and overdosing on coffee. It makes everybody laugh, so it gets included, only to be scrapped in the morning when they've had some sleep and realise how ridiculous it is. Except this time it somehow crept though. And don't even get me started on the Doctor spending most of the episode looking like a cross between Dobby the house elf and Tweety Pie (complete with birdcage), although the look on the Master's face when he saw the results of the transformation was just wonderful. He was visualising exactly what I was thinking. Things that worked: liked the idea behind Lucy's 'origin story' - the Master took her to Utopia, she saw the ultimate self-destructive fate of the human race, witnessed the end of the universe, and it turned her into a traumatised nihilist. It nicely paralleled the notion that the Master went insane when he stared into the Time Vortex as an eight year old nipper. Can't help but think that Lucy shooting her husband at the conclusion was a pre-programmed instruction he'd planted in her mind, in the event of his capture. And I loved the Flash Gordon scene when she retrieved his ring from the funeral pyre (that hand couldn't have belonged to anybody else).  She'll be back.... |
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Post by WarrenWitchesRule on Jul 1, 2007 23:13:58 GMT
Yesterday at 11:33pm, WARRENWITCHESRULE wrote:
Do any of you lovely people know what music it was they used in Last of The Time Lords?
It was Scissor Sisters - 'I Can't Decide'.
Thanx!
Do you know the other song they used as well?
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Post by orokiah on Jul 2, 2007 16:15:18 GMT
Thanx!
Do you know the other song they used as well?I don't, sorry; to be honest I thought the rest of the music was just the original score. Whereabouts in the episode was the song? Maybe if I rewatch it I'll recognise it. I'm so pleased that they announced today that Martha is returning in series four, even though it's in a reduced capacity. I wonder who the new full-time companion is going to be..? I'd sort of like it to be a man for a change but I can't see it happening.  |
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Post by DreamDangerously on Jul 2, 2007 16:54:16 GMT
I thought the episode was, plot wise, ridiculous. Hated the 'i do believe in fairies' device and the strange house elf doctor.....Face of Boe! Craziness.
However...John Simm was brilliance personified in this episode...I loved his performance down to every little tick and quirk...and his enthusiastic bell ringing when he was dancing around to Scissor Sisters was hillarious. The death scene was very poignient. and beautifully played.
As for Mrs Saxon...who knows where that is going to lead...I have to say personally I didn't care for her as a character and I wouldn't especially like to see her back, mostly because she added fairly little to the precedings really but I get that distinct feeling she's one of those characters who will pop up again.
I completely agree with Orokiah in that it's time for the legacy of Rose to disappear now and although I loved Martha's feisty exit...I'm sad to see her go as she was 10 times more interesting and strong a character than Rose and Freema's performances were more controlled than Billies, in my humble opinion.
I'd quite like to see a male companion as well....or at least a female one who's not in love with the Doctor.
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Post by fenris on Jul 2, 2007 18:51:54 GMT
Here's a list (partly tongue-in-cheek, mostly serious) of what I would like to see in Season Four; 1.) No sodding Daleks. 2.) Lucy Saxon in a Naughty Nurse uniform. 3.) The return of the original Cybermen, from Mondas/Telos (forget about those pathetic tin soldiers from last year). 4.) Lucy Saxon in a saucy French maid's outfit, complete with feather duster. 5.) Absolutely no mention of Rose (I never liked her. Can someone please explain why that sulky, stroppy, and selfish little chav was so hugely popular with the majority of New Who's audience? If it was because most of the younger viewers identified with her, then God help us all). 6.) Lucy Saxon in skin-tight PVC. 7.) A new companion who isn't a romantic interest for the Doctor, and who doesn't hold a torch for him (in total agreement with DreamDangerously about this). 8.) Lucy Saxon naked except for a layer of baby oil. 9.) The season's Big Bad to be either The Rani or Omega. 10.) Oh, and more Lucy Saxon would be nice. For anyone who can't get 'Voodoo Child' out of their head after last Saturday's episode; youtube.com/watch?v=SL4O2wYTRrk Baby baby baaaaaabbbbyyyyyyyyy..... 'Voodoo Child' re-entered the singles chart at number 48 yesterday. Such is the Who effect. |
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Post by rwctlc1107 on Jul 2, 2007 21:39:29 GMT
I am seeing a pattern here Fenris The new season of Doctor Who starts friday in the US and I am really syked. Though I had no idea Martha would be leaving right away till I heard talk on BBC Radio 1 yesterday(I have sirius satellite radio). I am sorta bummed that I know that now, but I am a total sucker for spoliers. |
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