It's hard to know what to make of this, which I suppose means it's time for an RTD finale!
There's some stuff in here that I like a lot - the normalization of the "ghosts" in society is at once silly and realistic, and a very RTD idea. The Doctor quietly assuming control of the situation depite nominally being Torchwood's prisoner, culminating in his little standoff with Yvonne. Torchwood's whole "restore the British Empire and defend the borders from aliens" vibe probably works better now than it did at the time. Oh, and the idea of building a skyscraper just to reach a spatial anomaly is great. I like the Void Ship, and it only occurred to me today that it was probably designed to be reminiscent of the spheres on a Dalek.
But there are also plenty of things that I think could have been executed better. The "ghosts" are a neat concept, but sort of a bad fit for Cybermen, since they're the one villain that have a very distinct way of moving, and the ghosts aren't like that. The big, goofy levers in Torchwood Tower are silly, especially when you can apparently operate them remotely with some haxxing skillz we haven't seen the likes of since "School Reunion." The set design is uninspired, especially when we get to the paned windows that definitely don't belong on a skyscraper. A lot of the episode seems a little undercooked.
But it's engaging, and sets the table nicely for next week's Cybermen/Dalek war. I'm looking forward to revisiting that one.
The “ghosts” are a neat concept, but sort of a bad fit for Cybermen, since they’re the one villain that have a very distinct way of moving, and the ghosts aren’t like that.
I wonder if at some point during the plot's development the "ghosts" were meant to have whatever was left of the alt-universe people post-conversion reaching out. There's a lot more they could have done with the ghosts here.
It's a decent start to the finale. Rose's monologue at the start is okay, but it's a bit of a reverse rug pull, given she never actually "dies", unless I am misremembering something. At the start there's a bunch of TV spots, which are cringey to watch, but pretty spot on for british daytime TV. I guess they would have been social media spots now. The ghosts as a whole are a nice "monster of the week" idea, but they're not really used much beyond a setup for cybermen. It's a very RTD thing to include people getting used to them because of the desire to want to hold on to loved ones. I enjoyed Jackie in this. Her explaining the ghosts to the Doctor, her whole back-and-forth about knowing more than he does. I do think 10 was a bit mean to her, probably still feeling that slap a few years ago.
This incarnation of torchwood is a nice side effect of the doctor's meddling centuries ago, a kind of butterfly effect, and it feels a bit more impactful across this series than a random phrase like "bad wolf". Torchwood here gives everyone psychic training, and I love it, a proper approach to operational security - See a problem, immediately call it in. Which makes the pointless digitally controlled Levers in the room literally signposted as "LEVER ROOM ->" all the more annoying. But seeing the doctor and co wandering around Torchwood and all the banter therein is fun. I like the idea of a void ship being a way to reintroduce Daleks even if it's a bit out of nowhere, and the doctor's metaphor illustrated by the cracking glass was some nice sci-fi theory.
There's a lot of continuity stuff in this episode. I noticed Rose and the Tardis were parked up next to a sarcophagus, a nice reference to a past adventure. When the cybermen appear they cut through plastic, again a nice reference to classic doctor who stories. I had forgotten completely that Freema Agyeman was in this episode, that was a pleasant surprise.
Random back of the envelope maths fact:
The energy coming through the rift is stated at "5TW" I guess about an hour, give or take, for a "shift". Given e=mc^2 that gives a mass passing through the rift of around only 200 grams. Which seems like not a lot for a bunch of invading cybermen.
it’s a bit of a reverse rug pull, given she never actually “dies”, unless I am misremembering something.
I was thinking the same thing - I guess being locked in another universe is the equivalent of death, at least from everyone else's perspective, but it's still rather weak.
5 Comments
ValueSubtracted@startrek.website · 3 pts · 1d
It's hard to know what to make of this, which I suppose means it's time for an RTD finale!
There's some stuff in here that I like a lot - the normalization of the "ghosts" in society is at once silly and realistic, and a very RTD idea. The Doctor quietly assuming control of the situation depite nominally being Torchwood's prisoner, culminating in his little standoff with Yvonne. Torchwood's whole "restore the British Empire and defend the borders from aliens" vibe probably works better now than it did at the time. Oh, and the idea of building a skyscraper just to reach a spatial anomaly is great. I like the Void Ship, and it only occurred to me today that it was probably designed to be reminiscent of the spheres on a Dalek.
But there are also plenty of things that I think could have been executed better. The "ghosts" are a neat concept, but sort of a bad fit for Cybermen, since they're the one villain that have a very distinct way of moving, and the ghosts aren't like that. The big, goofy levers in Torchwood Tower are silly, especially when you can apparently operate them remotely with some haxxing skillz we haven't seen the likes of since "School Reunion." The set design is uninspired, especially when we get to the paned windows that definitely don't belong on a skyscraper. A lot of the episode seems a little undercooked.
But it's engaging, and sets the table nicely for next week's Cybermen/Dalek war. I'm looking forward to revisiting that one.
SpaceScotsman@startrek.website · 2 pts · 19h
I wonder if at some point during the plot's development the "ghosts" were meant to have whatever was left of the alt-universe people post-conversion reaching out. There's a lot more they could have done with the ghosts here.
SpaceScotsman@startrek.website · 2 pts · 19h
It's a decent start to the finale. Rose's monologue at the start is okay, but it's a bit of a reverse rug pull, given she never actually "dies", unless I am misremembering something. At the start there's a bunch of TV spots, which are cringey to watch, but pretty spot on for british daytime TV. I guess they would have been social media spots now. The ghosts as a whole are a nice "monster of the week" idea, but they're not really used much beyond a setup for cybermen. It's a very RTD thing to include people getting used to them because of the desire to want to hold on to loved ones. I enjoyed Jackie in this. Her explaining the ghosts to the Doctor, her whole back-and-forth about knowing more than he does. I do think 10 was a bit mean to her, probably still feeling that slap a few years ago.
This incarnation of torchwood is a nice side effect of the doctor's meddling centuries ago, a kind of butterfly effect, and it feels a bit more impactful across this series than a random phrase like "bad wolf". Torchwood here gives everyone psychic training, and I love it, a proper approach to operational security - See a problem, immediately call it in. Which makes the pointless digitally controlled Levers in the room literally signposted as "LEVER ROOM ->" all the more annoying. But seeing the doctor and co wandering around Torchwood and all the banter therein is fun. I like the idea of a void ship being a way to reintroduce Daleks even if it's a bit out of nowhere, and the doctor's metaphor illustrated by the cracking glass was some nice sci-fi theory.
There's a lot of continuity stuff in this episode. I noticed Rose and the Tardis were parked up next to a sarcophagus, a nice reference to a past adventure. When the cybermen appear they cut through plastic, again a nice reference to classic doctor who stories. I had forgotten completely that Freema Agyeman was in this episode, that was a pleasant surprise.
Random back of the envelope maths fact: The energy coming through the rift is stated at "5TW" I guess about an hour, give or take, for a "shift". Given e=mc^2 that gives a mass passing through the rift of around only 200 grams. Which seems like not a lot for a bunch of invading cybermen.
ValueSubtracted@startrek.website · 2 pts · 18h
I was thinking the same thing - I guess being locked in another universe is the equivalent of death, at least from everyone else's perspective, but it's still rather weak.
SiliconAvatar@startrek.website · 2 pts · 10h
Can I just say,
is the best phrased meta-criticism I've seen in a good while 👏👏👏