(no subject)

[rynne]

More on Silence in the Library. Also, spoilers for the mid-season trailer and rumors for 4x09.


One thing Moffat has previously done well is making the mundane, or at least something not normally considered creepy, into something scary. Little kids (and other people) in gas masks? Clockwork robots in period French clothing, that are supposed to be repair droids? Statues of angels? They're pretty much designed so you can't look at a kid with a gas mask, hear the ticking of a clock, or see a statue covering its eyes without feeling a little shiver of fear, a creeping What if...?

On the other hand, in this episode, we get shadows, darkness, and walking skeletons. Very cliche, and not creative at all, unlike the rest of Moffat's monsters. I actually was not scared at either the gas mask zombies or the Weeping Angels, which I've gathered most people find extremely creepy, but the monsters in this episode not only did I not find scary, but I even thought they were somewhat laughable, once skeletons started appearing.

This might be more forgivable if it weren't just another example of the episode's lack of creativity. In my reaction post for this episode, I counted eleven separate instances where Moffat repeated things he's done in his previous episodes--and these are only his, to say nothing of the non-Moffat material he's referenced. One of the items on my list, the random love interest, is debatable, since she might turn out to be something completely different, and I suppose the Doctor being an idiot is subjective, but that still leaves nine other things that are very reminiscent of things he's already done. Even in a season that has constantly referenced past seasons, this episode is excessive, and repeats not just phrases and such, but actual plot elements.

I haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife (though I just put it on hold at the library), but I believe people when they mention the similarities. tsukara mentioned that he also ripped off The Forbidden Planet, which I admit I never heard of, but she's got screencap evidence. And was I the only one reminded of The Matrix when Dr. Moon went into his "the real world is a lie" speech?

As for reused plot elements, where did we last see, oh, the episode ending with our heroes trapped by a zombie infected/animated by something alien, constantly repeating something? Could it be The Empty Child? Why, yes it can! And hey, what about using the squareness gun to make a hole in the wall and escape from said zombie? Do I see echoes of The Doctor Dances here? Why, yes I do. And is the Doctor talking to the little girl through the TV screen anything like the Doctor talking to Sally Sparrow through TV/computer screens in Blink? I certainly thought so. We've also got a little girl mysteriously connected to the 51st century whose connection is definitely tied into the plot of the story, just like Reinette.

Yeah, Moffat? I know you like to reference yourself, but this is way too much. Seriously, if you can't go for one episode without touting your own horn to the extent that you're reusing plot devices, I don't think it bodes well for your ability as showrunner to create and maintain something original. Half the time I may think RTD is on crack, but at least his is original crack.

I can normally poke holes through Moffat's plots, but the ones in this episode were even bigger than normal. Miss Evangelista's death was a horror movie cliche, and predicated entirely on her being stupid enough to go off alone. I think Moffat made her stupid just so she would do that. This single event is an example of two of my pet peeves--people lacking common sense because the plot requires it, and plot-driven characterization (I much prefer character-driven plot). The Doctor also falls victim to the lacking-common-sense thing, when, having just been warned about the shadows, he makes no mention of going to the TARDIS and grabbing some torches, or whatever other illuminating devices he might have.

The pacing dragged. Normally Moffat's episodes are fast-paced and gripping, but here, things felt very repetitive and drawn-out.

The whole cast also seemed to ignore shadows as often as they paid attention to them. They seemed to have no qualms about passing over shadows in hallways, for instance, even the Doctor.

I also had characterization issues with the Doctor. First there's the lacking-common-sense thing, but that he lied to Donna, over something so trivial? As I mentioned in my last post, he's gotten cryptic messages via the psychic paper before, in New Earth, and had no trouble saying so. Not to mention that the Doctor has been more honest with Donna than he has with a lot of other people--about Rose, about Martha, about the Time War, and his abilities as a Time Lord, and his desire not to get close to people--he's really been extraordinarily honest with her. Yet here he tells her a completely unnecessary and inexplicable lie.

I've also never seen him so casually admit to being a time traveler before. That one-liner was sorta funny, but the admission was completely unnecessary. He more often goes out of his way to avoid telling people about the time travel thing, yet here he's incredibly open about it. It struck me as odd.

I'm also not sure about how he kept asking River Song who she was to him. On the one hand, curiosity is one of his salient characteristics, and he does have a habit of ignoring rules, but on the other hand, he usually takes his responsibility to Time seriously. He would know what kind of repercussions knowing his own future could have, yet he still tries. I'm not sure he would.

The ensemble cast, apart from River Song, was very blah. Miss Evangelista had a more distinctive personality, but that was a clear set-up for her getting killed. I didn't even bother trying to keep straight who was who, since it didn't seem like it mattered. It was like Moffat ignored them to give River Song more attention, which seems a bit...amateur. He could have done away with some of the repetitiveness and given the ensemble more personality.

Now, as for River Song...

Thanks to reading the rumors in the tabloids, I went into this episode expecting a love interest. That probably influenced me; I've read a few reactions where people didn't get that vibe at all. I'm not sure whether to be encouraged by that or not--she did call him sweetie, and pretty boy, and have a diary full of their meetings. I'd sort of like her to be Jenny, just so that her affection for the Doctor, and the possibility of his for her, does not come out of nowhere--but I don't really think she's Jenny, because I don't think Jenny would call him sweetie or pretty boy. Their relationship does seem to have romantic connotations.

And I admit it: I don't want there to be. It's not because I object to the Doctor having love and happiness in his future, since it would be really awesome if he could get that; he definitely deserves it. But this timey-wimey (much as I dislike the term, I can't think of a better one) relationship seems a lot like the mind-meld in GitF--a cheap way of rushing things. I much prefer Doctor/Rose to Doctor/Reinette because I've had a lot more time to become invested in D/Rose, rather than D/Reinette, and it's the same thing here.

The Doctor doesn't know River right now, and neither does the audience. River has thus far been assiduous in preventing the Doctor from knowing more about her, which also prevents the audience from knowing more about her. It's one thing to introduce Reinette as a love interest--she's Madame de Pompadour, with a complete life and history separate from the Doctor. River, on the other hand, is a completely new character, without the audience investment that Rose and even Reinette would have had. We just don't have much reason to care about her.

When she gave her speech to Donna about how it hurt her to see him looking past her, it reminded me quite a bit of Martha's speech to Tallulah in Evolution of the Daleks, how he looks at her but doesn't see her, and is instead remembering. But, much as I sympathized with the Doctor there, I also sympathized with Martha. Here, I couldn't sympathize with River. She talks about how it hurts her, but we don't know her, her relationship with the Doctor, or how deep that hurt might go and why. It's all talk, no substance.

And, like I mentioned in my previous post, once she found out he didn't know her, she seemed so smug. Like she's having fun denying him what he wants to know. When two people really know each other, that kind of thing can have a teasing connotation, and maybe it does for her, but at this point he doesn't know her, so for him, if he does feel like he's being teased rather than taunted, I bet he doesn't find it amusing, and neither do I. She also seemed to enjoy tweaking his tail, so to speak, like when she turned the signing-the-contract thing around on him, and producing and using her sonic screwdriver. But again, to him it would be a stranger acting uncomfortably familiar, and she doesn't seem able to moderate herself. It feels like she's having too much fun with him to sympathize with his position.

I actually hope she doesn't die--the Doctor's had enough death, and killing off River would seem an awful lot like killing off Reinette. But I've seen theories on the flist along the lines of: the Doctor is bound to find out more about this future in the next episode, which will negate it, and his relationship with River. This makes sense, especially given the constraints of a TV show and its actors, like how they probably wouldn't want to make Alex Kingston required to come back.

On one hand, I don't want that to happen, but on the other, I do. I don't want it to happen because it means that, once again, the Doctor loses another romance-in-a-bottle, which is just what happened in GitF, and I'm tired of Moffat being repetitive. But I do want it to happen because, frankly, the shipper side of me resents the proximity of River's introduction to Rose's return. I think the outcome I would like best is that the relationship doesn't turn out to be romantic at all, but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

I do resent that proximity, still. When Rose's return gets mountains of narrative, internal build-up, and River Song gets tabloids, I want the focus at the end of the season to be on Rose, not on what might happen in the future with River. For comparative purposes, I just watched the mid-S3 trailer on youtube, and, knowing exactly what happens in S3, I could see how a common thread in the trailer was exactly who Martha was to the Doctor, something that was significant in the finale as she became his disciple, and then at the end when she decided to leave him and be who she was, not who she was to the Doctor. A common thread in the mid-S4 trailer is, of course, darkness, but there was also a whole lot of Rose, emphasizing her importance. (Conversely, there was absolutely no River Song!) And I've heard the Rose makes another appearance in 4x09, which just adds to her narrative build-up. When I'm so close to getting my Rose back, I resent River's appearance right now, because it feels like she takes away from Rose.

I suppose I need to wait and see how the two-parter ends before I make more judgments, so I'll be patient. And now it's really late and I'm tired, so I'm going to shut up and go to bed. XD

Comments

[ariastar.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I dislike River Song for exactly the reasons that you do -- although I ship Nine/Rose like crazy I have no particular allegiance to Ten/Rose and so I don't think my reaction is really a 'shipper's one -- but narratively she's completely incoherent; like you said, her turning up and insisting upon her importance to the Doctor right before Rose shows up doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'm not sure if she takes away from Rose, particularly -- if there's a Rose ref in the next episode she might even contribute to it? -- but as of right now she doesn't make sense. On the other hand, what I remember of Empty Child/Doctor Dances is that I was bewildered by Jack, and actually sort of hated him cos he drove me up the wall, until a good deal of the way through Doctor Dances. I'm just hoping River manages to follow that pattern too; that she's a Jack-character instead of a Reinette-character, I guess.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm so relieved you also don't think she makes sense right now. As for the Rose ref next episode--do you want to know what I've heard? I don't know what your policy is on spoilers.

On the other hand, what I remember of Empty Child/Doctor Dances is that I was bewildered by Jack, and actually sort of hated him cos he drove me up the wall, until a good deal of the way through Doctor Dances. I'm just hoping River manages to follow that pattern too; that she's a Jack-character instead of a Reinette-character, I guess.

Well, the thing with Jack is that he was going to be another companion--that was one of the requirements given to Moffat for TEC/TDD, to create Jack so they'd have someone to be a military-type leader in PotW. That meant Jack had five episodes for characterization, rather that just two--it was all right if he drove people up the wall until partway through TDD, because he'd have time to redeem himself. I don't imagine that's true of River, so I think she's pretty much bound to be more of a Reinette-character. *sigh*

[ariastar.livejournal.com]

My policy on spoilers is "give me as many as possible!" Context for the Rose ref would be fantastic.

If River's a Reinette character I think that -- unlike Reinette for me -- she is doomed to my dislike unless Moffat does something fairly spectacular. If she's a Jack character in the "another companion" sense, I am a bit wary because the idea of Moffat writing up a future companion for whatever season just leaves a sort of bad taste in my mouth. She'll probably end up dead, though? Best case scenario Moffat just writes her into coherence next episode before killing her off.

And I usually like Moffat's episodes so much, too. To be fair I did like this one aside from River, but that's a big aside.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Bugger if I can find the link I saw posted in the comments of one of the myriad reaction posts on my flist, but...I saw an article that basically said a "familiar face" (most likely Rose) would help Donna out, and I think Donna was supposed to have been sent to a contemporary time/setting. Which means it's not just a ref but another appearance, and one that doesn't seem to have anything to do with River.

*sigh* I don't like her, both I don't want her to end up dead. If she gets written into coherence, the Doctor's bound to start caring for her, and I'm tired of people the Doctor cares for getting killed off.

I actually usually like Moffat's episodes, too. TEC/TDD and Blink, at least, which was three-quarters of his episodes before SitL aired. If I don't like next week's either, that'll be reduced to half and half, which means I'm not sure it'll be worth it to me to keep watching when he takes over.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

And was I the only one reminded of The Matrix when Dr. Moon went into his "the real world is a lie" speech?

No. People in the chat I was in last night mentioned that, too. And now I realize it's not just what he said, but that the person saying it has a vague resemblance to Laurence Fishburne. Whatever, Moffat.

First there's the lacking-common-sense thing, but that he lied to Donna, over something so trivial?

Yup. I didn't notice that at first, what with everything else going on, but you're so right. I mean, he told Rose immediately when he got that message from Boe in "New Earth," after all. WTF? Why the difference?

a cheap way of rushing things. I much prefer Doctor/Rose to Doctor/Reinette because I've had a lot more time to become invested in D/Rose, rather than D/Reinette, and it's the same thing here.

Moffat seems to like to skip to the end of his romances, doesn't he? All that build up and getting-to-know you stuff is so, so boring. *eyeroll* That said, if I had to choose between River and Reinette, I'd choose Reinette. I liked her better.

But again, to him it would be a stranger acting uncomfortably familiar, and she doesn't seem able to moderate herself. It feels like she's having too much fun with him to sympathize with his position.

Yeah, and with that, I find it really hard to believe that there's any actual romance between them. I can't see the Doctor falling for someone like that. Although I suppose I'm biased. ;-)

When I'm so close to getting my Rose back, I resent River's appearance right now, because it feels like she takes away from Rose.

Yupyupyup. I'm trying not to let my affection for Rose color my view of River, but I fear I haven't been that successful.

I suppose I need to wait and see how the two-parter ends before I make more judgments, so I'll be patient.

Eh, difficult not to. But Part 2's got to be better, doesn't it?

[rynne.livejournal.com]

No. People in the chat I was in last night mentioned that, too. And now I realize it's not just what he said, but that the person saying it has a vague resemblance to Laurence Fishburne. Whatever, Moffat.

Yes. I kept wanting to call him Morpheus.

Yup. I didn't notice that at first, what with everything else going on, but you're so right. I mean, he told Rose immediately when he got that message from Boe in "New Earth," after all. WTF? Why the difference?

Because Moffat's a douche with a skewed notion of gender relations? Seriously, I can't come up with any other reason.

Moffat seems to like to skip to the end of his romances, doesn't he? All that build up and getting-to-know you stuff is so, so boring. *eyeroll* That said, if I had to choose between River and Reinette, I'd choose Reinette. I liked her better.

Heaven forbid the Doctor actually get to know the person he falls in love with! *eyerolls as well* But I don't know who I'd choose, between River and Reinette. I have a lot of reasons to dislike Reinette, but I have a lot of reasons to dislike River too. But River has the potential to get better, so I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah, and with that, I find it really hard to believe that there's any actual romance between them. I can't see the Doctor falling for someone like that. Although I suppose I'm biased. ;-)

Like shinyopals points out in the comment below, River seems so selfish about this relationship. Even before she found out he didn't know her, she was focused on them rather than the problem at hand, she seems to completely disregard his very legitimate feelings on the matter in favor of amusing herself. I also have difficulty seeing the Doctor falling for someone like that, but I suspect my Doctor is not Moffat's Doctor. *sigh*

Yupyupyup. I'm trying not to let my affection for Rose color my view of River, but I fear I haven't been that successful.

Yeah. I think my love for Rose has made me somewhat biased, but at least I have more reasons to dislike her than just the shipper perspective! :p

Eh, difficult not to. But Part 2's got to be better, doesn't it?

I shudder to think that it could be worse.

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I can reply to this other than a big, fat WORD.

I just can't believe River/Doctor... it seems way too pushed on us. River is so selfish about it. Talking about how much it hurts to see him not knowing her and then almost making jokes of the fact that he doesn't know a damn thing. It's all about her, really. And yes, on one hand, I can sort of sympathise, but I haven't seen enough of River to really care about her.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Selfish is such a good way to put it, you're right! It does come across as very selfish. And it's hard to like a person like that, when we don't otherwise know that much about her.

[midnightzstorm.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. I was expecting little hints of Rose, but instead we got her.

Anyway I have hope that the DW people have good judgment and the next episode will be better.

Also maybe she isn't romantically linked to the Doctor, she is from the 51st century like Jack, he seems to flirt with anyone. Also if she and him are so close, why isn't she with him?

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm pretty sure we're getting something about Rose next episode, so that's something, at least.

Also if she and him are so close, why isn't she with him?

Definitely a very good question. And besides, she doesn't really seem to know him very well.

[midnightzstorm.livejournal.com]

Oh there better be something of Rose in the next episode. I really can't for the last three episodes. I have been waiting for them for the whole season.