do appreciate that this was one of the original aims of the show, but I must admit I've never ever thought of Doctor Who as being about that! Even the first eps completely made it up about the neanderthals etc. - neither real science nor history, except perhaps the media version (even for their time). Make kids aware of the joys and adventure of science and history maybe... *g* I watch DW for the imagination and whoosh of it, not because I expect to see actual science on there - or even history! Heh. I was mostly just stressing the point of how far the show has diverged from its original brief. There was actually a lot of teaching in the early seasons - a lot of guff, too, because that's how storytelling works, but viewers would also learn real stuff. Even into the '70s and '80s it was still a science fiction show, even if the science was made up half the time. And then today we have magic trees and moon eggs hatching into space dragons - this era is more fantasy than science fiction, and...I love the imagination and whoosh of it as well, but I just would rather science fiction than fantasy in this setting - I've never enjoyed the fairytale styling of the Moffat era. And although Moffat loves to throw in little references to the past, his stuff feels very disconnected from the larger continuity of the show in general, in large part due to his 'history can be re-written' conceit, which has been overplayed.
Clara and Danny both proved themselves to be absolutely lousy teachers in this episode - well, we've seen them being lousy at their jobs before, but they were appallling here. Maebh managed to get out of a locked museum and halfway across London and they didn't even notice she was gone until they were told - and they kept losing her and not noticing, throughout. They didn't do a single head count while trekking through the unexpected jungle, they failed to position themselves around the children appropriately - Danny was more focused on the children than Clara was, but both failed abysmally in their duty of care, long before they decided it would be better for the children to die than survive and have to deal with grief. Awful message. It made me think of the solar flare survivors of The Ark in Space, carrying with them the weight of the world, knowing that they owed it to the billions who died to keep the human race alive - schlocky '70s production values notwithstanding, the story dealt with the concept with such elegance compared to this mawkish fatalism which I'm pretty sure was contrived purely so that Clara could have that exchange with the Doctor about not wanting to be the last of her kind.
I watched the trailer for next week (I don't usually) and it just left me wondering why the hell we've been watching Clara for the past season and a half if she isn't even real. I'm sure there will be a twist, but I'm also sure it won't justify the way Clara's story has stifled the entire season. I would glady sacrifice a 'blockbuster' season finale for the sake of a likeable companion who got on well with the Doctor and who I could root for along the way. Over-complicated arcs do more harm than good, imo.
no subject
Heh. I was mostly just stressing the point of how far the show has diverged from its original brief. There was actually a lot of teaching in the early seasons - a lot of guff, too, because that's how storytelling works, but viewers would also learn real stuff. Even into the '70s and '80s it was still a science fiction show, even if the science was made up half the time. And then today we have magic trees and moon eggs hatching into space dragons - this era is more fantasy than science fiction, and...I love the imagination and whoosh of it as well, but I just would rather science fiction than fantasy in this setting - I've never enjoyed the fairytale styling of the Moffat era. And although Moffat loves to throw in little references to the past, his stuff feels very disconnected from the larger continuity of the show in general, in large part due to his 'history can be re-written' conceit, which has been overplayed.
Clara and Danny both proved themselves to be absolutely lousy teachers in this episode - well, we've seen them being lousy at their jobs before, but they were appallling here. Maebh managed to get out of a locked museum and halfway across London and they didn't even notice she was gone until they were told - and they kept losing her and not noticing, throughout. They didn't do a single head count while trekking through the unexpected jungle, they failed to position themselves around the children appropriately - Danny was more focused on the children than Clara was, but both failed abysmally in their duty of care, long before they decided it would be better for the children to die than survive and have to deal with grief. Awful message. It made me think of the solar flare survivors of The Ark in Space, carrying with them the weight of the world, knowing that they owed it to the billions who died to keep the human race alive - schlocky '70s production values notwithstanding, the story dealt with the concept with such elegance compared to this mawkish fatalism which I'm pretty sure was contrived purely so that Clara could have that exchange with the Doctor about not wanting to be the last of her kind.
I watched the trailer for next week (I don't usually) and it just left me wondering why the hell we've been watching Clara for the past season and a half if she isn't even real. I'm sure there will be a twist, but I'm also sure it won't justify the way Clara's story has stifled the entire season. I would glady sacrifice a 'blockbuster' season finale for the sake of a likeable companion who got on well with the Doctor and who I could root for along the way. Over-complicated arcs do more harm than good, imo.