![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Dcotors Revisited -- Fifth Doctor special
BBCA's Fifth Doctor Revisited special is on my television right now, and for the first time, they have covered everyone -- Adric, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, and Peri have all made an appearance! Not only that, but Matthew, Sarah, Janet, Mark, and Nicola have all been interviewed! (And by the way, I would never have recognized Matthew Waterhouse, but he sounds exactly the same!)
After the sad and sometimes downright shameful companion omissions of past specials, it's nice to have everyone recognized and celebrated in this one. Peter Davison was also interviewed. I assume they'll continue with the Doctor interviews from now on -- hopefully everyone will agree to do it (can't wait to hear what Colin has to say!)
And now they're into the Fifth Doctor episode. And the chosen one? It's Earthshock! I guessed they would do Caves of Androzani, so I was wrong. I had to laugh, though, because in Steven Moffat's introduction to the episode, he made a point of talking about a surprise at the end -- but the surprise had already been given away in the special! With quotes from everyone, including Steven! So I guess the episode introductions get filmed at a different time than the retrospective interviews. I wonder if they're filmed first, or later? How far in advance does BBCA choose the episode? Do they know which one they're showing for the Sixth Doctor yet?
Anyway, on to watching Earthshock! I'm pleased, because for once it's an episode I haven't seen for ages, and I don't remember it that well. Although I do remember what happens at the end . . . ; )
ETA: And, now I remember why I haven't re-watched this episode in such a long time.
Put simply, Adric's death really bothers me. Okay, I guess that's part of the point, but I remember now how much I disliked it when I first saw it, and having now seen it again, I still dislike it. It's so pointless. The audience knows that the freighter is going to crash -- that, in fact, it's supposed to crash -- and yet we see Adric struggling to prevent the crash, and we see him not escape when he has the chance; not only that, but he seems motivated more by a desire to prove himself right than by any desire to save the Earth. (This is underscored by the fact that the people who are actually from Earth, and who presumably care about the planet, all high-tail it out of there. Despite the fact that they will cease to exist if the planet is destroyed before they're born.) Is this supposed to make Adric's death extra-tragic? Because to me, it's like the writer is just rubbing it in -- "ha ha, die, Adric, die!!" Everyone else makes better choices than he does, and/or knows more than he does. Why couldn't Adric have a genuinely heroic death? Something where his actions make a difference? Adric's not even a favorite character of mine, but he didn't deserve a gratuitous death that was nothing more than a stupid mistake.
After the sad and sometimes downright shameful companion omissions of past specials, it's nice to have everyone recognized and celebrated in this one. Peter Davison was also interviewed. I assume they'll continue with the Doctor interviews from now on -- hopefully everyone will agree to do it (can't wait to hear what Colin has to say!)
And now they're into the Fifth Doctor episode. And the chosen one? It's Earthshock! I guessed they would do Caves of Androzani, so I was wrong. I had to laugh, though, because in Steven Moffat's introduction to the episode, he made a point of talking about a surprise at the end -- but the surprise had already been given away in the special! With quotes from everyone, including Steven! So I guess the episode introductions get filmed at a different time than the retrospective interviews. I wonder if they're filmed first, or later? How far in advance does BBCA choose the episode? Do they know which one they're showing for the Sixth Doctor yet?
Anyway, on to watching Earthshock! I'm pleased, because for once it's an episode I haven't seen for ages, and I don't remember it that well. Although I do remember what happens at the end . . . ; )
ETA: And, now I remember why I haven't re-watched this episode in such a long time.
Put simply, Adric's death really bothers me. Okay, I guess that's part of the point, but I remember now how much I disliked it when I first saw it, and having now seen it again, I still dislike it. It's so pointless. The audience knows that the freighter is going to crash -- that, in fact, it's supposed to crash -- and yet we see Adric struggling to prevent the crash, and we see him not escape when he has the chance; not only that, but he seems motivated more by a desire to prove himself right than by any desire to save the Earth. (This is underscored by the fact that the people who are actually from Earth, and who presumably care about the planet, all high-tail it out of there. Despite the fact that they will cease to exist if the planet is destroyed before they're born.) Is this supposed to make Adric's death extra-tragic? Because to me, it's like the writer is just rubbing it in -- "ha ha, die, Adric, die!!" Everyone else makes better choices than he does, and/or knows more than he does. Why couldn't Adric have a genuinely heroic death? Something where his actions make a difference? Adric's not even a favorite character of mine, but he didn't deserve a gratuitous death that was nothing more than a stupid mistake.