The Ghost Monument (spoileriffic)

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Graham Kennedy
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The Ghost Monument (spoileriffic)

Post by Graham Kennedy »

So, episode two thoughts...

Pretty obvious that they'd get picked up by a passing ship. Didn't expect them to get picked up by two different ones, though!

Still think three companions is too many by at least one. And so far, Cop Lady is a blank slate of a character. I do like Grandpa, but Wobbly Boy is a bit of a misery. I know he's missing his gran and all that, but so's Grandpa and he still cracks a smile now and again.

Mention of the Tooth Fairy species again. Interesting. I know they've said there's no overarcing plot to this season - no Bad Wolf or whatever. But it seems like they aren't afraid to revisit stuff, which I like.

Didn't much care for the "Guns are bad" message. Yes, the Doctor has a long history of not liking guns (except for when he does), but they don't usually belabour it this much. I wouldn't have minded that, even, but the messaging here is pretty bad. The stated moral is that you don't use guns because they never help - because they're useless, basically. But in the real world, guns aren't useless. And then the Doctor uses an EMP on the robots... which to me seems not greatly different from using a gun. Obviously the writers get that, so they make it so that the EMP only disables the robots temporarily - whereas in the real world, EMP destroys electrical systems, it doesn't stun them. One wonders if the Doctor is okay with stun guns?

So we have a moral that guns are useless, when in the real world they are not, but that EMP is okay because it doesn't destroy, when in the real world it does. When the moral you're trying to sell the audience depends on facts and logic that pertain in your fictional world because you say so, but which don't pertain in the real world... you're not writing well.

Do this instead...

The robots are inert. One becomes active and attacks you. You shoot it. It dies.

...but that causes two more to activate. Each one of those you shoot causes two more to activate. And so on. Until the Doctor says "Stop using the gun! It only makes things worse!"

Now you have a message that "Guns DO work... but if you depend on a gun to solve your problem, the inevitable result is escalation on the part of the enemy, which means more shooting from you, so more shooting from them, and so on.

And that's a message that applies in the real world too.

Anyway, not that big a deal but I found it interesting.

So at the end the race people just bugger off, leaving our heroes behind. And the Doctor just... gives up? When Cassandra teleported out on Ecclestone, he did this and that and got her straight back! And the Doctor does not give up! The Doctor punched his way through a wall for two billion years!

But then the Tardis just shows up, so it's okay. Could we not have had the Doctor do something clever here to recall the Tardis to her? She seemed very much at the mercy of events here, rather than controlling events. It rubbed me the wrong way.

I'm not sure I like the new Tardis interior. It seems very clean and neat compared to the Steampunky Tardises we've had lately. I wonder if there's a subtle "women are more tidy than men" thought behind that? And the crystal columns are fine, but they seem to be a little overwhelming to me, like they're going to be constantly in the way. I wonder if they're decorative or if they do anything. Oh, and the interior now connects to the back of the police box, rather than the door. That seems a bit odd. Not bad, just different.

Still, I suspect this Tardis will grown on me. And I love that it dispenses a biscuit for her when she sets off!

Doctor called herself "daddy" then changed it to "mummy". LOL moment, I like that they're not making a big deal of her being female now, but at the same time I appreciate that they're not just completely ignoring it. And I did love how just plain happy she was to have her Tardis back! I'd have loved it if she had called it "Sexy".

Which makes me wonder... they've said they're not having anything from the past in this season, so we're not getting River Song. But if she did show up eventually, would she and the Doctor still consider themselves to be married? Interesting thought. I'm sure that will spark a slash fic or two.

Preview for next week has them meeting Rosa Parks and hanging out in the south. That'll be fun for the less white of the companions, obviously. I'm intrigued... is this going to be a "historical" episode, just exploring what was happening back then, or are there going to be aliens plonked down amid all that? Maybe Rosa will be an alien?!

Oh, and since they are there, it seems that the Doctor's attempt to take them home will miss. The Tardis has been well behaved and quite accurate in the modern incarnation, so modern fans may not realise that in the past the thing was notorious for almost never going where the Doctor wanted it to. There were multi-season periods where companions who emphatically did not want to be there were stuck being companions because he literally couldn't get them home, so I wonder if we are back to that?

It also served as an excellent reason why he didn't try to use the Tardis to gain advantage by nipping in and out of places, slipping half an hour back in time, etc. He didn't dare, because trying to move the Tardis fifty yards left could sent it to the other side of the galaxy!

So. Overall, I thought this one was okay. It was a step back from last week, which was good. I rate it, 6/10.
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
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Griffin
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Re: The Ghost Monument (spoileriffic)

Post by Griffin »

Disappointed her face wasn't in the Titles, I was hoping that was a thing that would be back for good.

It was an okay episode, but over all it seemed a bit.. Lacklustre? Plodding? I'm not sure of the word. But.. we have two people racing for "enough cash for a fancy retirement", one of whom wants it to save her family from a holocaust, yet there seems to be very little urgency in either of them or very little trying to actually get there before the other. We're told (and not shown) that the water is deadly, but it never comes into play at all. Similarly, the atmosphere is apparently toxic but this is only relevant when the Doctor blows up the cloth guys. It just felt like the episode was constantly jettisoning it's own plotpoints.

The new TARDIS is alright, except for the fact it's way way too dark. I think it would be vastly improved in the roundels had lights behind them. Also, the fact it's aesthetics match the new sonic is weird. Did it only just change when she sonicked it? Maybe.
Graham Kennedy wrote:Do this instead...The robots are inert. One becomes active and attacks you. You shoot it. It dies.. but that causes two more to activate. Each one of those you shoot causes two more to activate. And so on. Until the Doctor says "Stop using the gun! It only makes things worse!"
That would have been preferable. As it happened in the show it was the same misconception/retcon/awfulplotchoice (whatever you want to call it) that happened during the Tennant era. The Doctor would much prefer to avoid violence if at all possible, but doesn't have some kind of specific aversion to guns. they way you've written it shift it into a disdain for the ignorantly going in guns blazing, which IS something the Doctor would oppose, rather than disdain for the specific weapon used.

But if she did show up eventually, would she and the Doctor still consider themselves to be married? Interesting thought. I'm sure that will spark a slash fic or two.

Well, RIver is explicitly bisexual and even if the Doctor was previously what we'd consider heterosexual I don't think that would necessarily change just because her gender has.
Preview for next week has them meeting Rosa Parks and hanging out in the south. That'll be fun for the less white of the companions, obviously. I'm intrigued... is this going to be a "historical" episode, just exploring what was happening back then, or are there going to be aliens plonked down amid all that? Maybe Rosa will be an alien?!
I just hope she's portrayed as the bold and strong activist that she was, rather than the simply tired old factory worker the rest of the media portray her as.

Trailer and Set Report Speculation spoilers:
This is one of two episodes this series that have been rumoured to be 'Pure Historicals'. They guy with a laser gun would put the kibosh on that but perhaps the rumours come about because there's no aliens in the episode. I doubt Rosa will be an alien because after casting a female Doctor and the realistic and respectful way Ryans dyspraxia was handled I don't think Chibnall would be tonedeaf enough to have the Civil Rights movement be caused by aliens. What I think it's likely to be is some future racist coming back to try and stop the civil rights movement but since that's the most obvious plot I hope it's something else. Perhaps the time traveller is up to something different which has carelessly screwed up events or something. Perhaps even a time-traveller who hasn't actually done anything but the Doctor and Co just assume must be there to do in Rosa or something.
Bite my shiny metal ass
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