Dept. of Who
Sunday, 9 June 2024 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rI Finally Did It
I finally watched the first episode of 15's season, "Space Babies". And it did what some of Rusty's work has done for me before; roll my eyes.
And smile.
I mean, it's clearly ridiculous, in a particular way that stands slightly apart from the ridiculousness that comprises much of Dr. Who's bedrock underpinnings. It's Rusty ridiculousness. I've only had half a cup of coffee this morning, so I can't yet characterize it more accurately than that. But I do think it proceeds from his love of the show (I almost typed "franchise" but from there it would be slippery slope to describing creations as content and creators as creatives. So, no).
That love is hugely on display in "Space Babies," despite the lack of even Whoniverseian logic. And the way Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson commit to their characters, especially Gatwa, anchors the risibility in that love. The commitment also manages to make the plot hold together, if only barely. Love, spit, and bailing wire; Rusty, I hope you up the plot game in later eps, so that it doesn't fall completely on their shoulders.
And plot? Wow; much silly, so plotless; wow.*
At the end of the episode Bob, who is normally reticent about making snap judgements about any show we watch together, especially Who, looked at me and said that he knew this Doctor was going to be fun, once he got his balance. Bob was smiling as he said it. As a snap judgement from him, this was extremely high praise. I smiled back at him.
I missed the fact that the Doctor apparently did some sort of DNA scan on Ruby near the end. Come on, Doctor, can you please stop doing that without asking the target of your scans? Shades of Moffat and Amy's pregnancy ....
But yes, definitely a happy and hopeful entry to the season, at least for me. I should now hie me to other folks' journals to see what y'all thought of it.
Short bits:
Yuck!
What is it about bodily secretions? Rusty and the Moff seem to have a Frst Grade boy's love of icky stuff (Moffat - "Sleep No More" and eye gunk; Davies - the booger monster of "Space Babies.")
Everybody lives!
Speaking of the bogeyman (should I capitalize that?), Ruby and the Doctor (the latter near the end) - and most importantly, the babies who'd been terrorized by it - decide that a) it's the last one of its kind, and b) should be considered a child worth caring for as well. That's perfectly Moffatian, although Rusty's script kind of fails to convince me, tacked on at the very end as it is. Still, respect from an "Everybody Lives!" fan.
Wait, I know her!
Golda Rosheuvel is lovely, despite the lack of a towering powdered wig and air of exquisitely royal boredom. (I've only watched one season of Bridgerton, and probably won't watch further, but she often made me grin during that first season.)
Talking babies! On a spaceship!
The way Ruby and the Doctor kept looking at each other and declaiming "Space Babies!" made me think of Eleven being happy as that aforementioned First Grade boy wrt dinosaurs being on, you know, a spaceship. Heh.
* RIP Kabosu.
I finally watched the first episode of 15's season, "Space Babies". And it did what some of Rusty's work has done for me before; roll my eyes.
And smile.
I mean, it's clearly ridiculous, in a particular way that stands slightly apart from the ridiculousness that comprises much of Dr. Who's bedrock underpinnings. It's Rusty ridiculousness. I've only had half a cup of coffee this morning, so I can't yet characterize it more accurately than that. But I do think it proceeds from his love of the show (I almost typed "franchise" but from there it would be slippery slope to describing creations as content and creators as creatives. So, no).
That love is hugely on display in "Space Babies," despite the lack of even Whoniverseian logic. And the way Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson commit to their characters, especially Gatwa, anchors the risibility in that love. The commitment also manages to make the plot hold together, if only barely. Love, spit, and bailing wire; Rusty, I hope you up the plot game in later eps, so that it doesn't fall completely on their shoulders.
And plot? Wow; much silly, so plotless; wow.*
At the end of the episode Bob, who is normally reticent about making snap judgements about any show we watch together, especially Who, looked at me and said that he knew this Doctor was going to be fun, once he got his balance. Bob was smiling as he said it. As a snap judgement from him, this was extremely high praise. I smiled back at him.
I missed the fact that the Doctor apparently did some sort of DNA scan on Ruby near the end. Come on, Doctor, can you please stop doing that without asking the target of your scans? Shades of Moffat and Amy's pregnancy ....
But yes, definitely a happy and hopeful entry to the season, at least for me. I should now hie me to other folks' journals to see what y'all thought of it.
Short bits:
Yuck!
What is it about bodily secretions? Rusty and the Moff seem to have a Frst Grade boy's love of icky stuff (Moffat - "Sleep No More" and eye gunk; Davies - the booger monster of "Space Babies.")
Everybody lives!
Speaking of the bogeyman (should I capitalize that?), Ruby and the Doctor (the latter near the end) - and most importantly, the babies who'd been terrorized by it - decide that a) it's the last one of its kind, and b) should be considered a child worth caring for as well. That's perfectly Moffatian, although Rusty's script kind of fails to convince me, tacked on at the very end as it is. Still, respect from an "Everybody Lives!" fan.
Wait, I know her!
Golda Rosheuvel is lovely, despite the lack of a towering powdered wig and air of exquisitely royal boredom. (I've only watched one season of Bridgerton, and probably won't watch further, but she often made me grin during that first season.)
Talking babies! On a spaceship!
The way Ruby and the Doctor kept looking at each other and declaiming "Space Babies!" made me think of Eleven being happy as that aforementioned First Grade boy wrt dinosaurs being on, you know, a spaceship. Heh.
* RIP Kabosu.
