Doctor Who 10.05 - "Oxygen"
May. 14th, 2017 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeThis was scary! Which I mention above the cut in case anyone was planning to watch it with children. Unless your children are tough. Which I am not, and I'm glad I was watching it at 9 in the morning like a sensible human.
"Space ... the final frontier." I didn't realise how much I needed for a Doctor to use those words until it happened.
This was tense, scary and took the show's Anti Capitalist Agenda into space. In fact, I don't think it's been this overtly left wing since the glory days of Seven 'n' Ace. I've oft said that Doctor Who will achieve perfection when the dudes who grew up on Three and Four age out and are replaced by the women who imprinted on Seven and Ace, but, you know, this is okay too.
The whole oxygen credits conceit was particularly nifty -- similar to The Expanse, only less subtle (and The Expanse is not a subtle show) since they had to cram all that worldbuilding into one episode. I guessed the twist quite early on, but didn't even come close to spotting the Doctor's plans.
Making him blind, and keeping him that way, is interesting -- I'm a little wary from an ableism point of view, but it's certainly something new, which you don't often get in a series this old. And I like the way Moffat lets the Doctor's physical condition deteriorate slowly as he approaches regeneration -- all in one episode, in Eleventy's case, but maybe over a longer period for Twelve? Unless it's fixed next week, who knows?
My main criticism of the episode is the stuff with Bill and Dahh-Ren. There's a weird trope in SF where humans of colour are prejudiced against aliens. (Or Australians are space racist, which is totally ... expected.) It's nearly always white writers doing it, and you can just about hear the smug rendition of "Everyone's a little bit racist" in the background. It's frustrating here, because it's just a weird, pointless bit where Bill cannot win. And she goes through a lot in this episode! Give the girl a break!
(I love her, though, she's so great.)
NEXT WEEK: The Vatican, River Song's diary and Missy! WHAT A COMBINATION!
"Space ... the final frontier." I didn't realise how much I needed for a Doctor to use those words until it happened.
This was tense, scary and took the show's Anti Capitalist Agenda into space. In fact, I don't think it's been this overtly left wing since the glory days of Seven 'n' Ace. I've oft said that Doctor Who will achieve perfection when the dudes who grew up on Three and Four age out and are replaced by the women who imprinted on Seven and Ace, but, you know, this is okay too.
The whole oxygen credits conceit was particularly nifty -- similar to The Expanse, only less subtle (and The Expanse is not a subtle show) since they had to cram all that worldbuilding into one episode. I guessed the twist quite early on, but didn't even come close to spotting the Doctor's plans.
Making him blind, and keeping him that way, is interesting -- I'm a little wary from an ableism point of view, but it's certainly something new, which you don't often get in a series this old. And I like the way Moffat lets the Doctor's physical condition deteriorate slowly as he approaches regeneration -- all in one episode, in Eleventy's case, but maybe over a longer period for Twelve? Unless it's fixed next week, who knows?
My main criticism of the episode is the stuff with Bill and Dahh-Ren. There's a weird trope in SF where humans of colour are prejudiced against aliens. (Or Australians are space racist, which is totally ... expected.) It's nearly always white writers doing it, and you can just about hear the smug rendition of "Everyone's a little bit racist" in the background. It's frustrating here, because it's just a weird, pointless bit where Bill cannot win. And she goes through a lot in this episode! Give the girl a break!
(I love her, though, she's so great.)
NEXT WEEK: The Vatican, River Song's diary and Missy! WHAT A COMBINATION!
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Date: 2017-05-14 03:45 am (UTC)