I really love the rebooted Dr. Who – at least seasons 1-4. Season 5 onward, however, strikes largely of metooisms and oddities. Smith’s Dr. debuts with a tough-guy speech to aliens bent on destroying the Earth – yeah, Tennant did that too. Amy gets all bubbly at finding vampires and is also the most important woman in the universe? Hello Rose with the werewolves and Donna Noble. And as to the oddities, what’s with River Song’s quick evolution into an apparent action hero, or the writers’ bizarre love affair with Vincent van Gogh (“one of the greatest men who ever lived”… seriously???) Smith is at least getting interesting the more he becomes obliviously, enthusiastically geeky (“Fez’s are cool”), but this is still a work in progress.
BUT, nobody wants to hear my Dr. Who opinions, so how about I complain about some pirate stuff?
Hugh Bonneville talks piracy and ‘Doctor Who’
All well and good, but the flogging episode is titled “Curse of the Black Spot.” For real? The same month as the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film comes out, and Dr. Who names its cleverly-timed pirate episode (which indeed includes mermaids, just like the new pirate film) with a title that is only barely different from Curse of the Black Pearl? It pains me to see mounting evidence that the illustrious Dr. Who franchise might be going the way of such trend-hopping parasites as “Transmorphers” or “Snakes on a Train“, but there it is – commercials even indicate that the “black spot” appears on the hand, just like in the second PotC film. Even with its current issues, Dr. Who deserves better than that.
Shame on you, Bilge, shame on you. Go and hang your head in shame for daring to criticize Doctor Who before I get my screwdriver and get all sonic on your arse (read that as you will).
So… you want me to criticize the Dr. AFTER you get the screwdriver?
And for the record, it’s not really the Dr. himself I criticized above. Merely his cohorts and the writers. The Dr., like fezes and bowties, is *cool* (ish.)
If you prefer I could go sonic on your arse with a massive sword and shield (now partly fixed thanks to linen and loads of araldite). 😉
The shows are cheesy and bandwagonish (vampires in the last season for example, the game shows in season 1 which are all current shows here) as they have a largely young audience that likes the familiarity and the Doctor referencing what is happening here. It makes the show recognisable and connectably, plus gets an newer audience in and … i need to shut up cos I just woke up and am late for work, but what I am trying to say is I enjoyed the episode. The end.
Just watched it this morning with my school’s Doctor Who fan club, and I was actually surprised at the turn the “siren” plot took, without spoiling anything. It was also nice of them to use Henry Avery, rather than the more overexposed Blackbeard or Captain Kidd. All in all, a decent, solid episode.