Story: Orphan 55
Written By: Ed Himes
Length: 60 Minutes
Year: 2020
I tend not to check into other reviews of Who. I try to keep my thoughts fresh before I write them down. Somehow, I've caught wind of other's views on this episode, and it is already being regarded as "awful" or "the worst of the show!" and I can't help but laugh. This episode is utterly fine. I'm not saying it's great. I am not saying it is in any way innovative or the best script that Who has had...but it is pretty standard fun base under siege style Doctor Who. It's got a cool monster, it has a nice setting, it has fun bit of pacing...it's standard Who. Sure the Doctor's final speech is a bit ham-fisted and hammers the message in a little too hard...but is this really the worst Who these people have experienced?
Good for those people who completely missed the Colin Baker era. Luckily they never had to stomach Moffat's clumsy time traveling shenanigans that would build up for a year or two and then have an even clumsier ending that would forget some details that seemed pretty major when set up. But at least previous showrunners weren't constantly attacked for putting messages into the show...Terrence Dicks and Barry Letts certainly didn't cram in many a speech of the Doctor chastising the Brig and humans for their environmental crimes and militaristic ways. I dunno how RTD got away with fandom not accusing any LGBT representation as some kind of cruel gay agenda.
The truth is, Doctor Who has always been simultaneously great and awful, and fandom has almost always spewed fury on the show's current state before forgiving and learning to love every nuance of the previous era that had until recently spewed their fury upon. Every Doctor, every showrunner, every season has a clunker or two. Some more than others. New Monsters are really hard to create, particularly memorable ones. Will the Dregs be brought back? Unlikely...but have we all forgotten that creature from "Hide" or the the flat monsters from "Flatline"? As designs go, I liked the Dregs. And I liked the moral message. The twist that it was Earth was okay, no dumber than when it happened in "The Mysterious Planet." At least this time it played into the theme of the episode instead of being completely forgotten about as the story went on.
Some may complain about the Doctor's lame speech at the end. I agree it ended the story on a clunker. I think it could've easily been revised just a bit to work though. I saw some complaint that the Doctor's assertion that it is only one possible timeline means that all of Doctor Who's future visits aren't set in stone...as if that wasn't always the case. This franchise has such a muddy continuity that I have openly accepted that much of the timeline is in flux for years. It's the only way the bulk of this wacky franchise makes any kind of sense.
This episode is fine. Not great, but perfectly fine. Maybe I've just seen enough of the really bad classic stuff that seeing a fairly standard adventure doesn't bother me as much as it does others.
NEXT TIME: Nikola Tesla in New York
Written By: Ed Himes
Length: 60 Minutes
Year: 2020
I tend not to check into other reviews of Who. I try to keep my thoughts fresh before I write them down. Somehow, I've caught wind of other's views on this episode, and it is already being regarded as "awful" or "the worst of the show!" and I can't help but laugh. This episode is utterly fine. I'm not saying it's great. I am not saying it is in any way innovative or the best script that Who has had...but it is pretty standard fun base under siege style Doctor Who. It's got a cool monster, it has a nice setting, it has fun bit of pacing...it's standard Who. Sure the Doctor's final speech is a bit ham-fisted and hammers the message in a little too hard...but is this really the worst Who these people have experienced?
The truth is, Doctor Who has always been simultaneously great and awful, and fandom has almost always spewed fury on the show's current state before forgiving and learning to love every nuance of the previous era that had until recently spewed their fury upon. Every Doctor, every showrunner, every season has a clunker or two. Some more than others. New Monsters are really hard to create, particularly memorable ones. Will the Dregs be brought back? Unlikely...but have we all forgotten that creature from "Hide" or the the flat monsters from "Flatline"? As designs go, I liked the Dregs. And I liked the moral message. The twist that it was Earth was okay, no dumber than when it happened in "The Mysterious Planet." At least this time it played into the theme of the episode instead of being completely forgotten about as the story went on.
Some may complain about the Doctor's lame speech at the end. I agree it ended the story on a clunker. I think it could've easily been revised just a bit to work though. I saw some complaint that the Doctor's assertion that it is only one possible timeline means that all of Doctor Who's future visits aren't set in stone...as if that wasn't always the case. This franchise has such a muddy continuity that I have openly accepted that much of the timeline is in flux for years. It's the only way the bulk of this wacky franchise makes any kind of sense.
This episode is fine. Not great, but perfectly fine. Maybe I've just seen enough of the really bad classic stuff that seeing a fairly standard adventure doesn't bother me as much as it does others.
NEXT TIME: Nikola Tesla in New York
Comments
Post a Comment