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May miscellany
May. 2nd, 2009 07:23 pmBeen battling a weird stomach bug for the past few days, and I'm to the point now where the nausea has died down and I'm just lying around feeling cranky. So, how better to occupy myself than by posting random thoughts on the internet?
--Watched "The Aztecs," so I have now finally seen a Hartnell-era story. Yep, up until a few days ago my only exposure to Hartnell as the Doctor was a few clips and "The Three Doctors." Well, also "The Five Doctors," but as that's not actually Hartnell I don't think it counts. I was surprised by how well the episode held up -- it's really very good -- and I appreciated getting to know Barbara, Ian and Susan better. Barbara surprised me by being quite a strong female character, which must have been very unusual back then (broadcast in 1964). And I really don't know why, but it gave me a warm feeling to see Verity Lambert's name as producer in the credits. Maybe because I've heard about her, but hadn't ever seen her in the credits before.
-- I know that all the Doctors are different from each other -- and I've now seen every last one of them in at least one episode from their own era -- but the First Doctor really did seem very different from the character of the Doctor that I've come to know. There were similarities, yes, but some core, basic things -- like his attitude towards the Aztec custom of human sacrifice -- seemed off. Of course, since he was #1, maybe it's everyone else who's been off since him?
-- Rewatched "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" yesterday, and I hadn't seen those episodes in maybe a year but I still really liked them a lot. My rank order of the season finales for New Who goes like this: #1(Best) Army of Ghosts / Doomsday; #2 Stolen Earth / Journey's End; #3 Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways; #4 Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords. Sadly, there are no close decisions in those rankings, as there are, in my opinion, significant drops in quality as you go down the list, until you reach "Last of the Time Lords" and shudder in shame. Here's hoping that the finale for the 2009 season will be a new #1.
--Watched "The Aztecs," so I have now finally seen a Hartnell-era story. Yep, up until a few days ago my only exposure to Hartnell as the Doctor was a few clips and "The Three Doctors." Well, also "The Five Doctors," but as that's not actually Hartnell I don't think it counts. I was surprised by how well the episode held up -- it's really very good -- and I appreciated getting to know Barbara, Ian and Susan better. Barbara surprised me by being quite a strong female character, which must have been very unusual back then (broadcast in 1964). And I really don't know why, but it gave me a warm feeling to see Verity Lambert's name as producer in the credits. Maybe because I've heard about her, but hadn't ever seen her in the credits before.
-- I know that all the Doctors are different from each other -- and I've now seen every last one of them in at least one episode from their own era -- but the First Doctor really did seem very different from the character of the Doctor that I've come to know. There were similarities, yes, but some core, basic things -- like his attitude towards the Aztec custom of human sacrifice -- seemed off. Of course, since he was #1, maybe it's everyone else who's been off since him?
-- Rewatched "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" yesterday, and I hadn't seen those episodes in maybe a year but I still really liked them a lot. My rank order of the season finales for New Who goes like this: #1(Best) Army of Ghosts / Doomsday; #2 Stolen Earth / Journey's End; #3 Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways; #4 Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords. Sadly, there are no close decisions in those rankings, as there are, in my opinion, significant drops in quality as you go down the list, until you reach "Last of the Time Lords" and shudder in shame. Here's hoping that the finale for the 2009 season will be a new #1.
