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FishyFish

By FishyFish
in Film, TV & Radio

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pretentious_helvetica

pretentious_helvetica

Posted
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Gatiss was amazing, actually. A genuinely brilliant performance. I hated The League of Gentlemen, so I haven't seen much of the guy - thought he really nailed it, though.

Agreed. He is a huge fan of Doctor Who and always wanted to be in the series, so I had a feeling he wouldn't want to fuck it up.

How could you hate The League of Gentlemen when it spawned the most scariest clown ever?

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Graham S

Graham S

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I've got mixed feelings about Who now, after mostly loving S1. I don't think it's aimed at me: it's a kids show (sorry, a "family show"), so I guess its unfair to judge it as anything else. S3 hasn't had any rubbish episodes to compare with the worst of S2 yet (althought the first Daleks in Noo Yoik episode was fairly boring), but I don't think there has been anything that has hit the heights of the best episodes either.

I enjoy it in flashes: there are good bits that perfectly capture what I want from Who (a bit like Ecclestone's speech about the world spinning in the first episode), when the Doctor is just the sort of hero I want kids to have. Sometimes there are nice ideas that would have captured my imagination as a child. But for the most part I'm not engrossed in the actual storytelling or excited by the drama, so I'm just watching it for the window dressing. As long as I get 5-10 minutes of good stuff and the rest remains passable then I'm going to keep watching.

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biglime

biglime

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I think a lot of that comes from Ecclescakes himself, though, Graham. Even when he was being chased by farting monsters, he had a certain look in his eyes. He was a haunted looking fucker.

I don't think the first series was more adult than this one, at all. (With the exception of Dalek, Father's Day and TEC/TDD)

The whole aging/dying/evolving thing of this series seems to be a little more challenging. If this series stays on form, it'll have been the strongest of the three, I think. And it's finally giving Tennant something to work with.

Also, Gridlock was fucking spectacular.

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Graham S

Graham S

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I think a lot of that comes from Ecclescakes himself, though, Graham.

I'm pretty sure you're right about that. He really elevated the material. I like Tennant a lot, but he can't carry the show in quite the same way.

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SeanR

SeanR

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I'm sure this has been asked / discussed before, but it's worth another bash; do you think we'll ever see another story in which the current Doctor encounters one or more of his past incarnations? I mean, just how great would a couple of DT+CT+Paul McGann episodes be? :lol:

CT?

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cassidy

cassidy

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Galactica says hi.

The producer really meant we cant afford the extra time and money to do the effects in HD. I think anyway.

Just remembered we had a Spinal Tap reference in the episode on Saturday didnt we. Made me lol.

Did anyone else notice that when Lazarus was talking about growing up in London he lived above a butchers shop(League of Gentlemen reference I thought)

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Ste Pickford

Ste Pickford

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Just seen the repeat. Easily the best story so far this season. Flawless performance from Tennant this time, only surpassed by Gatiss, who was just pitch perfect.

In fact I am struggling to think what a Dr Who fan could see wrong with the episode. Brilliantly paced, intelligent dialogue, some proper old school Who horror, good jokes, the lot. I would have preferred a less obviously CGI monster, but I seem to be going counter to the opinion of the entire world on that subject, so I'd better get used to it. But that was about it, everything else I loved.

Oh, and I'm convinced now - Martha and her family > Rose and her family. The stuff they're setting up with Martha's mum and Saxon is intriguing and exciting.

Yep, I thoroughly enjoyed this week's episode. Well, maybe slightly too much sonic screwdriver, but I guess we have to live with that. I loved the bit with the sinister guy whispering in Martha's mum's ear.

One thing though... I thought the CGI monster was shit. Not technically - but artistically. It was just a bog standard horror movie / video game style monster. No imagination at all. I cringed when I watched confidential and heard them all talk about how amazing it was, and how much the face looked like Gattiss. The show was almost spoiled because the cgi face looked nothing like gattiss - it took a minute to realise the monster was supposed to be him.

In the confidential show they did a quick run through of all the monsters they've made for the new run so far, and I was struck by how much better all the prosthetic / model based monsters were compared to the CGI ones. Again, I don't mean technically better - they've all had flaws - I mean in terms of style and imagination and character.

Loads of the physical monsters were really interesting, unusual, creepy and surprising. All the CGI ones were straight out of video games or fantasy art books (the best one, the devil from the space station episode, was a straight lift of the Balrog from The Lord of The Rings movie). I wonder if the sort of people who end up working in CGI are lacking a broader artistic background, and consequently have a much narrower range of references or influences, than the make-up and model people. With much fewer restrictions on what's possible with CGI, those monsters should be the most interesting and imaginative, instead of being the most cliched and derivitave.

The trailer was amazing.

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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Couldn't agree more regarding the use of CGI, and I too was tutting at the screen during confidential, especially when the chap said "every monster should be CGI", or words to that effect.

Didn't spoil the show though, but it could have been even better with a more subtle approach to the monster. Someone should sit the production team down with the original Alien as an example of how quick cuts, good lighting, and not revealing too much can get you more for your money.

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Ste Pickford

Ste Pickford

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I would have assumed both CGI artists and prosthetic designers worked on stuff designed by the real artists, from concept art?

Perhaps. I get the impression that they hire or employ seperate CGI / make-up / model making teams, who each create monsters from concept to execution themselves. Maybe it's just me, but the CGI stuff always looks like a straight copy of something I've seen in a horror movie / video game / fantasy art book, and never surprises or delights me.

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Ste Pickford

Ste Pickford

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Couldn't agree more regarding the use of CGI, and I too was tutting at the screen during confidential, especially when the chap said "every monster should be CGI", or words to that effect.

Didn't spoil the show though, but it could have been even better with a more subtle approach to the monster. Someone should sit the production team down with the original Alien as an example of how quick cuts, good lighting, and not revealing too much can get you more for your money.

Yeah, didn't spoil the show for me, but I thought it would have been better with something less drastic - a more subtly deformed, more recognisable Gattiss would have been scarier to me, and less brightly lit.

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