Father's Day
Sunday, 15 May 2005 - Reviewed by Gordon Mackenzie
We're over halfway through the season now. So what does Father's Day show us we haven't seen before?
Well, it brings much more of a touchy-feely emotional side to Doctor Who. We see [through some superb acting by the entire ensemble] depth in the characters and in the script that we wouldn't see otherwise. The BBC keeps up it's reputation for doing 'the past' [does 1987 count as a period drama?] well, as everything seems, well, 1987-ish, besides the large mobile phone [I thought they still had large, briefcase-sized power sources/aerials back then].
The script would, in any other sci-fi series, be excellent, but after some of the Dr Who episodes we've seen here seemed not as good as it could be. In the first half of the show [especially when Rose gets a lift off her dad] there's some incredibly unsubtle hints at the paradox of Rose being in the past, which to be honest made me wince.
We see more of the BBC's favoured 'let's show a monster-eye-view of people being destroyed to lower CGI costs by omitting the monsters', which we saw in the past two episodes too - we saw Max the Jaberwocky come down, and Dalekcam. Nothing wrong with this, but when we already know what the monsters look like from previous weeks' spoilers it seems somewhat pointless.
One thing definately noteworthy is Murray Gould's score of incidental music. It received a panning in previous weeks, but this week it was, in my eyes [or should that be ears?] perfect. Violins were out in full force, beautifully realised, but the touch of genius was having silence when Rose's Dad died [for the second time]. It takes skill and nerve to write good incidental music, to omit said music to heighten the tension, drama and emotion surely takes more. Mr Gould is talented; let's call last week an off week.
What else? The CGI remains impressive. I'm not sure how convinced children used to entire CGI films or PC games found the Reapers, but I found them convincing [although possibly not quite as flowing as a real biological creature would be]. The highlight in CGI terms though would be either the Tardis semi-appearing and glowing yellow, the Doctor [or the passers-by] being "swallowed" by the reapers, or the disappearing and reappearing car [an Austin something? Not my era].
One thing struck me this week - the continuity. The reapers only arrive now [for the first time in Doctor Who canon, I assume] because the Time Lords can no longer control them. That's continuity for you. Plus, we see baby Rose, 5-year-old Rose [who, by-the-by, looks nothing like 21-year-old Rose] and adult Rose. We see wee 5-year-old Mickey [who looks more like adult Mickey, but also gets some cheap shots lobbed in his direction].
So this week showed us a different side to Doctor Who - one where the emotions have higher priority over the flashy CGI, over the plot, over everything else, really. And it's not the worse for it. Roll on World War Two next week.
Well, it brings much more of a touchy-feely emotional side to Doctor Who. We see [through some superb acting by the entire ensemble] depth in the characters and in the script that we wouldn't see otherwise. The BBC keeps up it's reputation for doing 'the past' [does 1987 count as a period drama?] well, as everything seems, well, 1987-ish, besides the large mobile phone [I thought they still had large, briefcase-sized power sources/aerials back then].
The script would, in any other sci-fi series, be excellent, but after some of the Dr Who episodes we've seen here seemed not as good as it could be. In the first half of the show [especially when Rose gets a lift off her dad] there's some incredibly unsubtle hints at the paradox of Rose being in the past, which to be honest made me wince.
We see more of the BBC's favoured 'let's show a monster-eye-view of people being destroyed to lower CGI costs by omitting the monsters', which we saw in the past two episodes too - we saw Max the Jaberwocky come down, and Dalekcam. Nothing wrong with this, but when we already know what the monsters look like from previous weeks' spoilers it seems somewhat pointless.
One thing definately noteworthy is Murray Gould's score of incidental music. It received a panning in previous weeks, but this week it was, in my eyes [or should that be ears?] perfect. Violins were out in full force, beautifully realised, but the touch of genius was having silence when Rose's Dad died [for the second time]. It takes skill and nerve to write good incidental music, to omit said music to heighten the tension, drama and emotion surely takes more. Mr Gould is talented; let's call last week an off week.
What else? The CGI remains impressive. I'm not sure how convinced children used to entire CGI films or PC games found the Reapers, but I found them convincing [although possibly not quite as flowing as a real biological creature would be]. The highlight in CGI terms though would be either the Tardis semi-appearing and glowing yellow, the Doctor [or the passers-by] being "swallowed" by the reapers, or the disappearing and reappearing car [an Austin something? Not my era].
One thing struck me this week - the continuity. The reapers only arrive now [for the first time in Doctor Who canon, I assume] because the Time Lords can no longer control them. That's continuity for you. Plus, we see baby Rose, 5-year-old Rose [who, by-the-by, looks nothing like 21-year-old Rose] and adult Rose. We see wee 5-year-old Mickey [who looks more like adult Mickey, but also gets some cheap shots lobbed in his direction].
So this week showed us a different side to Doctor Who - one where the emotions have higher priority over the flashy CGI, over the plot, over everything else, really. And it's not the worse for it. Roll on World War Two next week.
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