DOCTOR WHO: "New Earth"

[rj_anderson]

I hate to write two negative reviews in a row, especially for two of my favorite shows, but... wow, that was dumb.

No, really, that was really, really dumb. In fact, I am beginning to think that Russell T. Davies should be forcibly prevented from writing any more episodes.

The moronic, done-to-death body-switching scenario, for one. The rubbishy science that doesn't even try to be remotely plausible even in its vagueness -- gotta love these terrible nameless diseases which infect you instantaneously, yet don't prevent you from all kinds of physical exertion (hello, Russell T., did it never occur to you that humans grown as flesh who have spent their lives in an incubator will have no muscle tone, let alone enough muscle to climb ladders and shove doors open? Have you not even seen The Matrix, for pity's sake?) and are just as instantaneously cured. I know Doctor Who has never purported to be hard SF, but this wasn't even soft SF, it was just plain sloppy.

It wasn't that witty, either -- not even up to RTD's usual standard. And I agree with those who've said that the Doctor/Rose moments seemed kind of forced.

Ech.

Holding out good hopes for next week, though. The previews look really cool.

Comments

[owl]

I know! The science, it pained me exceedingly.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Thank you... I am not alone in my distaste for this ep!

[kerravonsen]

Oh, hooray, somebody who wasn't just sitting there drooling at Tennant.

I agree, RTD can't write plots. He can write characters, so I did enjoy the character-moments (and the good acting on the part of Billie and David) but the plot... (shakes head).
But it didn't annoy me as much as The Christmas Invasion did, so I'm happier.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

At some point I just decided "Oh! It's a *silly* one!" and went along with the ride.

But yes, the science was really really... not. =:o}

The whole horror of sickness as a killer is that it's *slow*... Imagine what could've been done with the same basic plot, played out over a more realistic 2 day timescale (allowing for symptoms to develop or recede over hours, rather than seconds), split across two episodes. With the big cliffhanger being the Doctor waking up trapped in one of those cells and told he's only got three minutes 'til his first injection, not knowing which of a gazillion different diseases he'd be given... And the 2nd half of the 2nd episode given over to basically staying ahead of "the flesh" long enough for the various cures *they've already been given* to take effect... if they ever do...

Much darker. Really horrific. But unacceptable for the 8-year-olds, of course. [SIGH]... =:o\

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

That would indeed have been much cooler.

But -- correct me if I'm wrong -- didn't the Doctor say that each of "the flesh" had been infected with all the diseases -- like about a thousand diseases each? In which case there'd have been nothing for the Doctor to guess, he'd just know that he'd end up exactly like every other test subject in the incubators, all covered in pustules and whatnot.

The more I think about it, the more completely unworkable the whole plot becomes. We saw two of the diseases that "the flesh" was being afflicted with, and one turned you to stone while another one turned you red and left you hanging in midair making odd blipping noises ("Marconi's Disease"). So how was it that "the flesh", in spite of being afflicted with these very same diseases, were still spry and mobile (and flesh-coloured)?

Not to mention that having even ten different serious diseases at once would leave you completely incapacitated, let alone the thousand that "the flesh" were supposed to be carrying. Oy.

If Russell T. Davies were a six-year-old, I'd be congratulating him on a great story. But otherwise... not so much.

[kerravonsen]

He needs a beta-reader.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

"But -- correct me if I'm wrong -- didn't the Doctor say that each of "the flesh" had been infected with all the diseases -- like about a thousand diseases each? "

Well, yeah, Which is daft, as you note. So I was imagining the somewhat more plausible scenario that, say, each "floor" of the "intensive care" place was used for studying a different disease, or something like that. Which would be a far more useful way for the cats to be studying them.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I was pretty squeeful when I first watched it, but I've had sixteen hours to stop and think now. And man, that should not have been the season opener. It was more of a mid-season filler that's meant to lull the audience into a false sense of security and boredom while surreptitiously setting up bigger things. "The Long Game", in other words.

I've added this to my list of Reasons RTD Needs A Kick In The Head.

[stmarysalice.livejournal.com]

Say it ain't so! I'm enjoying the first season so much. Don't tell me it's going to start going downhill. And when you say the moments seemed forced, you don't mean stuck-in-a-net-in-a-tree forced right? Right?

[infiniteviking]

I just now watched New Earth, and must say I agree completely. The episode was a mess. There was so much unused potential for drama... and not one good Cat Person in the whole hospital? That's speciesism, that is!

Sure Russell saw The Matrix... he just blocked out everything except the impressive walls of humans under glass. It would have been slightly more realistic if the 'serums' were made of nanogenes or something that actively works on diseased organisms instead of something that ought to act slowly through the bloodstream. Grr. And is it just me, or did Rose take the whole being-possessed-by-Cassandra thing a bit too well?

That tattooed guy was good, though, when he got something to do besides slavering and wringing his hands.

..There were Doctor-Rose moments?

*hopes for Better Things from the werewolves and ninjas*