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Steven Moffatt, in the run-up to the 2005 series, described the demands of making the latterday variant of Doctor Who as the problem of doing drama in a 'light entertainment' slot for a light entertainment audience. This sensitivity is perhaps most apparent in the first episodes of each series. 'Smith and Jones' was consistently entertaining, but not brilliant; and like 'New Earth' last year, a lot of it was predicated on the need to hook the eight-year-olds. I liked the vampirism-with-a-straw, which I could imagine my small cousins enjoying, and fits in with trends for gruesomeness in children's books without indulging in a great amount of gore; Florence is clearly not a messy eater, and the corpse of Mr Stoker (groan) looked very cleanly drained. Unfortunately the performances of the two guest leads lacked the sort of conviction Doctor Who needs, and in the event I suspected that Roy Marsden, who delivered a theatrical pomposity as Stoker was kept off-screen as much as possible. His character and appearance and dialogue recalled Dr Constantine from 'The Empty Child'/'The Doctor Dances', but Marsden was no Richard Wilson.
The Jones clan play with expectations. Jackie and Mickey were established as anchors for Rose, people who could be visited and involved in the action rather like a council estate equivalent of the UNIT 'family' as it evolved during the Pertwee era. This lot are scattered and have stories of their own going on to a greater extent than Jackie or Mickey; I gather that they will have more to do later in the season than now. I think Annalise, Martha's father's girlfriend, a bit too much of a degraded Jackie carbon-copy to work, but the others were better than I expected and didn't take up too much screen time. They were at least a recognisable television family for the soap opera age.
David Tennant's performance has lost none of its exuberance, but it's undergone some fine-tuning, and consequently the Doctor has had some of his authority and his authentic otherness restored - "laughing on purpose at the darkness," indeed. I was at a party a couple of weeks ago where people-who-knew-people were, and gathered that the word on the private mailing lists was that Freema hasn't lived up to expectations. This isn't the case. I thought she was very good indeed and possibly more engaging than I found Billie Piper back in 'Rose', though it's difficult to remember what I thought of the first episode now, beyond that I felt detached and uncomfortable with culture shock.
A fan-pleasing note, perhaps, that the Joneses gather for Leo's birthday at 'the Tavern' (though not the Fitzroy)... as for Annalise, wasn't that the name of the Doctor's mother in the series bible for the unmade Amblin version of Doctor Who back in the 1990s?
I'll post this now and see what other people think. A good launch to the season, but not spectacular - disparate elements needed tying together and in particular I didn't find many of the crowd panic shots in the hospital effective. I look forward to next week, though, and the week after that, and after that... and didn't Morgenstern (Princess Bride reference, anybody?) show a bit too much enthusiasm for Mr Saxon in his radio interview?
The Jones clan play with expectations. Jackie and Mickey were established as anchors for Rose, people who could be visited and involved in the action rather like a council estate equivalent of the UNIT 'family' as it evolved during the Pertwee era. This lot are scattered and have stories of their own going on to a greater extent than Jackie or Mickey; I gather that they will have more to do later in the season than now. I think Annalise, Martha's father's girlfriend, a bit too much of a degraded Jackie carbon-copy to work, but the others were better than I expected and didn't take up too much screen time. They were at least a recognisable television family for the soap opera age.
David Tennant's performance has lost none of its exuberance, but it's undergone some fine-tuning, and consequently the Doctor has had some of his authority and his authentic otherness restored - "laughing on purpose at the darkness," indeed. I was at a party a couple of weeks ago where people-who-knew-people were, and gathered that the word on the private mailing lists was that Freema hasn't lived up to expectations. This isn't the case. I thought she was very good indeed and possibly more engaging than I found Billie Piper back in 'Rose', though it's difficult to remember what I thought of the first episode now, beyond that I felt detached and uncomfortable with culture shock.
A fan-pleasing note, perhaps, that the Joneses gather for Leo's birthday at 'the Tavern' (though not the Fitzroy)... as for Annalise, wasn't that the name of the Doctor's mother in the series bible for the unmade Amblin version of Doctor Who back in the 1990s?
I'll post this now and see what other people think. A good launch to the season, but not spectacular - disparate elements needed tying together and in particular I didn't find many of the crowd panic shots in the hospital effective. I look forward to next week, though, and the week after that, and after that... and didn't Morgenstern (Princess Bride reference, anybody?) show a bit too much enthusiasm for Mr Saxon in his radio interview?
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