See the Fangrrl Squee

I suppose my DW-fangirl union card is at risk but, honestly, I thought Voyage of the Damned was somewhat awful.

There were some amusing moments, yes, but not enough to save it.

My opinion might have been sweeter had I watched this at the right time and in the right mood - ie, shiftfaced drunk on Christmas afternoon.

(and RTD's running out of London landmarks to threaten, don't you think?)

As usual, spoilers abound.

( Adrift )

I told myself I'd go to bed after A Day In The Death. Surely, three eps in one sitting is enough. But, noooo. The teaser for Something Borrowed was just too much to resist!

Besides, it'll leave me nicely situated to chew my way through the final four eps, tomorrow.

( As ever, spoilers abound )

More plain-and-simple reaction posting.

( Dead Man Walking )

Why do I have a sinking, horrible feeling that this might have at least a passing resemblance to a certain fanfic?

( Again, cut despite the fact that I'm weeks behind everyone else )

Liked the idea. Thought the last alien standing was a bit OTT.

Also thought the aliens were a bit too T-1000-ish in their choice of weaponry.

More thoughts when I'm not about to sit down and catch up with the other episodes I've missed.

Did I just listen to James Purefoy chew on the scenery for two hours?

Um, yeah, I did.

Honestly? The story suffered because, er, I've read enough history to know that the writer was taking a few more liberties than one might expect but, er, okay, that's why this is entertainment and not documentary. That, I can accept.

So, within the realm of taking liberties with history, the story itself was okay. I liked the idea of tackling the historical Dracula, but the Doctor et al's excuses as for why they stuck around beyond the instant they realized their situation ("Er, we came here to learn about this place and time...") just didn't hold water and came across as very much a case of "Oh shit, we need to keep the story going...". Granted, that's been an excuse in a lot of DW stories, but they're not usually as thin as this one...

Furthermore:

Peri was just about as annoying as I've heard her in my experience (making wisecracks and whining about being patronized for being a woman who can look after herself, dammit, whilst simultaneously whining that ohmigod, we need to find The Doctor to get out of this) and I've never warmed up to Erimem. I don't care if she and Peri are supposed to be ain't-it-ironic foils to each other, I don't like her and, hell, Peri is only tolerable at the best of times.

So, yeah, despite my lifelong soft-spot for the Fifth Doctor, and my desperate love of James Purefoy (doing the aforementioned scenery-chewing as Dracula) this story was very much middle of the road for me. Not the worst, but definitely not the best, either. Sigh. On top of the severe disappointment that was The Wishing Beast, I'm feeling a bit demoralized.

Dear god, I'm waiting for the next two releases and the exit of C'rizz and Charlie. Is it too much to hope that Charlie dies a terribly stupid, pointless death? Given the title of her final story - The Girl Who Never Was - I guess not. Ah well...

Oh, thank you very fucking much RTD et al, for co-opting the old school theme in The Sound of Drums. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't succumbed to the temptation to watch The Keeper of Traken immediately afterwards - then it all became painfully apparent. Bloody hell!

Short version: The Sound of Drums was made of awesome.

( The long version - spoilers )

Edited to add: okay, the riff is from the theme tune, period, but it just seemed that much more obvious with the old-school tune.

I just watched Gridlock and, honestly, I'm inclined to watch it again because my initial reaction is: ten minutes of good content wrapped up in thirty minutes of meh, and that's a bit of a bummer. The episode struck me as a pastiche of a half a dozen different ideas that had RTD's attention at the time of writing, which he somehow thought might all work en ensemble - and not all of them did.

As I say, I'm willing to watch it again before setting my opinion in stone. More thoughts as they occur to me.

However, I totally need an icon of the Doctor with kittens, 'cause, you know, that's even cuter than John Barrowman with a puppy.

Next week: Daleks in New York. I can deal with that but, oh god, does this mean 40 minutes of watching well-meaning Brits doing mangled American accents?

(ETA: see below for icon-y cuteness, courtesy of ladykoori)