In which a writer avenges himself upon his fans

[mikailborg]

"Midnight": the most excruciatingly painful 43 minutes of Doctor Who I can remember watching.

I'll be kinder to the science flubs from now on. This episode had no science issues, no overt plot stupidity, no unreasonable characterizations, no bad acting... and yet I can assure you I'll never watch it again if I can help it.

The episode is a cheap "bottle" show, intended to save money (I'm sure) for the Library two-parter and what I suspect will be another three-part finale. One set, and few actors: a futuristic tour bus with a small group of tourists aboard. The episode may have been a bargain for the writing budget as well, because very little happens.

The actual spoken dialogue mainly consists of the tourists shouting in panic for about 30 minutes, non-stop. They shout and shout and shout and shout. Then, an alien comes on board. Her dialogue consists of her repeating anything anyone says around her, which she does for about the same 30 minutes. It's bad enough that she endlessly repeats what someone says directly to her, but she soon begins repeating the continuous panicked shouting as well. It's like there are only 2 dozen sentences in the whole episode with actual content.

The worst part is that under the conditions of the plot, all of this makes perfect sense. This is likely, plausible, and appropriate... and eventually comparable to someone running a cheese grater over your auditory nerves. And in a return to 2nd and 3rd season form, the resolution of the plot leaves the viewer depressed, slightly angry, and feeling a bit unclean.

Oh, and we're being set up for another multi-episode Reset Button Apocalypse in the season finale, this time not for Earth, for the Galaxy, or for the Universe, but for Every Alternate Universe Everywhere Ever. Frankly, I'll give it a chance if I don't have to sit through dialogue like this again, but I'm forced to wonder exactly what the Doctor will be rescuing for the 2010 season finale. God?

Sorry for all the vitriol, but I've had a pretty nice weekend, and I needed to get that out of my system as quickly as possible :)

Comments

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

I kept waiting for something more to happen and it never did. It reminded me of Spike from Buffy and the "Yoko Ono factor". I was thinking that the alien was feeding off of hate or panic or fear and thus stirring everyone up. But I guess RTD really did write them that stupid. Methinks that he should leave the creepy writing to Steve Moffatt. :)

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

I am writing this with my glasses off so that I don't read the spoilers (gotta wait for Andy), but I wanted to point out that I know going in that this is the low-budget episode. There's one every year, either ep 10 or ep 11. I forget Season 1's ep, but remember Love and Monsters from S2 and Blink from S3? Those were the throwaways from those years. I'm not expecting lots of long term plot or quality out of this one, but I'll come back and read your spoilers and comment more when I've watched it. :)

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

Blink was AWESOME!! I wouldn't consider it a throw-a-way ep. Love and Monsters was okay. Boomtown was probably the throw-a-way ep. from S1 but it also wasn't too throw-a-way.

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

I bring it up to show that the throwaway eps (or more correctly the low-budget episodes with less screen time for the principals) don't have to be bad, so knowing going in that it was the throwaway I had no preconception of its quality.

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

Yes, bottle shows can be excellent if things line up right. Classic and TNG Treks had some excellent bottle shows.

Hey, who turned out the lights?

[rubinpdf.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree. I found Midnight to be a truly scary psychological thriller. It was well paced and well acted.

As to it being a filler...
I believe they are trying something new this year. The last couple of years, they had a combined Doctor and companion less episode(see Blink and Love and Monsters). This (supposedly) is due to time constraints and filming schedules. Seems this year they (will) have a companion-less episode (Midnight and Doctor-less (next week).
So while Tennent was busy filming this one, Tate was filming next weeks.

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

Yup. That's what they were doing.

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

Oh and I agree that it was a pretty good thriller. Andy had his hand over his eyes at several points and needed a minute after the climax to breathe. :)

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Well, I guess you and Patrick got something out of the episode that I didn't. Okay, cool. :)

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[rubinpdf.livejournal.com]

BTW - Did you know the character of Professor Hobbes in Midnight was portrayed by David Troughton - son of Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor). The last time he appeared in Doctor Who was in The Curse of Peladon (3rd Doctor episode) as King Peladon.

Also of note, Midnight was directed by Alice Troughton. However, despite the same last name, she is of no relation to Patrick Troughton.

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

I was asked these things but did not know the answers. I shall pass this very good information along!!

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

I probably enjoyed it more because I was watching it with someone who was more into the suspense than I was. I don't tend to get into these things as much as he does. Though there was a spot in there where I was thinking that it felt very much like a one-act play more than a Who ep...

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

Out of pure curiosity - I promise not to critique your answer - which episodes of the revived series would you consider the weakest and the strongest?

I'm interested in your opinion!

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[rubinpdf.livejournal.com]

Among the weakest, I would place:
The End of the World
The Long Game
New Earth
The Idiot's Lantern
Fear Her
Evolution of the Daleks

Amongst the strongest, I would count:
The Empty Child
The Doctor Dances
The Girl in the Fireplace
The Impossible Planet
The Satan Pit
Army of Ghosts
Doomsday
Human Nature
The Family of Blood
Blink
Silence in the Library
Forest of the Dead

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

Did you think of the writers of the episodes when you wrote that list? Because among your best, Moffat is 8/12...

Re: Hey, who turned out the lights?

[rubinpdf.livejournal.com]

I am aware that Moffat wrote many of my favorite new episode, but I did not choose them because Moffit wrote them. However, he only wrote 6 of the 12 strongest on my list (through no fault of his own, since he has only wrote 6 episodes so far ;-).

I will note that since The Empty Child/Doctor Dances, I have had high hopes for the Moffit episodes. So far, he has not disappointed.
I keep my fingers crossed that will carry over to the series as a whole when he takes over as Exec Producer.