Thoughts on Boom Town
June 6th, 2005 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalihaWhen I heard the Slitheen were back in this episode I did have my doubts around how good the episode was going to be and yes, I was somewhat justified in that, but on the whole the episode was rather good.
I can see now a some of the old school are going to complain because it was another 'character' piece, not enough sci-fi for them. But lets face it, we can afford another character piece before what looks set to be an amazing two parter. Plus I like the character pieces (although I'm hoping next year RTD and co will have figured out how to mesh the two of them together like in Dalek
Dining with monsters
An episode about consequences then. And not just on the Doctor's part either.
We see how Rose's inability to let Mickey go and live his own life sours their relationship. It's not difficult. Just tell him to see other people and be happy because the Doctor will let her go back to the time at the end of World War III where Mickey and Jackie are waiting for her. Ten seconds will have passed and it would be like nothing had happened.
Of course, that can’t really happen. Leaving Rose in the past again would alter too much of the timeline; She'd still be living at home when pigs invade the earth and Mickey would have no reason to come to Cardiff with her passport. Time travelling is a very complicated business is it not?
Where does Jack figure in all of this?
Well someone's made themselves at home quickly. I expected him to make 'A Big Mistake' and get booted out by the Doctor, but he's become one of the team. Then again I wonder if it's a case of 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer'. We still have two years of Jack's life missing, God only knows what he got up to.
Doctor/Jack OTP?
Jack: "How come I never get any of that?"
Doctor: "Buy me a drink first."
Jack: "You're such hard work."
Doctor: "But worth it"
I admit, it got a chuckle out of me. Could Rose have a rival?
Six months later
By the sounds of things it was just six months after World War III I think some time has passed in the TARDIS too. The OT3 of Doctor/Rose/Jack is much tighter-knit than during The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. The Doctor seems to trust Jack a lot more (see him leaving the TARDIS with Jack) and there's a lot more comfortable flirtiness between the three of them.
We also have off-screen adventures; I don't know (having not read them) if they link with any of the three books or if these adventures were before or after Jack joining them. But it's nice to know that they're not just careening from crisis to crisis.
I wonder if it says in the script: Jack must be wearing an extremely tight top and do some stretching. Oh and Jack must also wear some very bottom hugging trousers. RTD certainly knows his female fanbase.
Mickey, love
Poor old
I wonder if he regrets his decision not to join them, particularly when it's clear that Jack's been accepted as one of the gang.
Personally I think he's a bit justified in getting miffed at Rose. He offers to wait for her and she won't give him an answer and when the shit hits in fan and stuff starts blowing up she immediately runs for the Doctor (which really, is sensible, he's either the cause or cure of any problem).
That look on his face though at the end. It troubles me. He's going to cause problems in the future (i.e. in the next two episodes) I can see it. Ooooh, what if it's Mickey (or some future incarnation of Mickey (Ricky) who gets the Doctor killed?
You've got choices Rose, make some
She's made her choice to stick with the Doctor and go where ever the TARDIS takes them, but for God's sake don't leave Mickey hanging on like that. It's not fair on him. (I know, can you believe it, I'm actually feeling sorry for the guy.
Doctor as executioner
Margaret brings up an interesting point. There's not actually that much difference between her killing and inhabiting the real Margaret to achieve her own ends and the Doctor letting Jabe burn. You could argue that Jabe's sacrifice was to save the rest of Platform One but the Doctor does seem very willing to let a few people die in order to save the many.
Margaret
Comedy relief no more. This episode had more character development for the Slitheen's race than the whole of the two-parter managed. Margaret got lots of nice little touches, like teleporting into a skip on the Isle of Dogs or being able to shoot poison darts out of her fingernails (use a useful talent – shame the sound effect for it was so cheesy).
Credit has to go to Annette Badland who (as well as having a brilliant surname) managed to give Margaret both humanity and a lovely range in sidelong evil stares.
RTD is really working hard to make the viewer feel sorry for the 'bad guys' each week. However, I'm not sure if it is necessarily a good thing.
"My magnificent time machine!"
Finally, something in the new canon regarding the TARDIS' intelligence. Maybe now people will stop staring at me funny when I call her a she and that she's much, much cleverer than the Doctor. Mind you, you'd think she'd realise what Blon Slitheen is up to and stop the Doctor wiring the Extrapolator to her. Like the Doctor, she must be one for living on the edge.
Bad Wolf Watch
"Everywhere we go, two words, following us…"
It's one to hit you in the face this week. I particularly liked the ominous music. And the Doctor knows Welsh too. Unless it's the TARDIS translating for him.
"Nah. It's just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio, then hearing it all day. Never mind."
It better bloody well be more than just a coincidence. *shakes fist* I've been reading up quite a bit on subliminal messages and stuff over the last few weeks (mainly due to Derren Brown) and I'm wondering now if someone is putting these hints in all over place as a warning to the Doctor and Rose. Only they won't realise it until they need to. Thus making my suspect for the Bad Wolf, not to be the Daleks or the Master or Rose but bloody Derren Brown. I told you he'd end up taking over the world.
So, to sum up
RTD such have stuck with calling it "Dining with Monsters", a much better title than Boom Town. I enjoyed bits of it but felt it would have been much better used in place of the majority of the Aliens of London/World War III storyline. I particularly liked the scenes in the bistro, very well acted by both.
I can't believe there's only two episodes left. It's so not fair. I've not enjoyed a series like this since the halcyon days of Buffy
6.5/10
Complaints about the Trailer
FOR GOD'S SAKE PUT IT AFTER THE CREDITS!!! After a few weeks of them doing that they've switched back and ruined the surprise. *tuts angrily*
However it does look rather good. No, not the Big Brother House, or Trinny and Susannah or the Ultimate Evil that is Anne Robinson (Although Anne Droid's got more facial expression than the real Anne has); but the Daleks. And not just one or two of them but thousands of spaceships full!!! All that war, all in vain. And now there's only one Time Lord left to stop them. Bet he wishes he had blown up the facility in Genesis of the Daleks now.
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(no subject)
Date: Monday, June 6th, 2005 06:17 pm (UTC)*bangs head on table innumerable times*
I'm such an eejit! :(
It'll be out on DVD, though, later in the year so I'll have to wait till then! :)
(no subject)
Date: Monday, June 6th, 2005 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Monday, June 6th, 2005 06:27 pm (UTC)Haha, so true. For some reason I found that wristband thing he was wearing amazingly hot too.
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Date: Monday, June 6th, 2005 08:04 pm (UTC)Lol! Although, that'd be one heck of a plot twist - Derren Brown turning out to be an evil, scheming time-traveller, plotting to take over the world one mind at a time - actually, that'd make a rather amusing plot bunny... No! Stay back! *fends off rabid bunnies*
I agree pretty much with your opinion of the episode; although I didn't feel that sorry for Ricky! I mean, Mickey. Oops.
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Date: Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 08:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 12:54 am (UTC)You realise Dark Season was another RTD-scripted venture?
All I can remember about the Demon Headmaster is that they made him look uncannily like Jack Straw.
(Stalked you back here from
(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 08:49 am (UTC)Yeah, I only found out when I saw the BBC4 programme on him the other week. I didn't realise this man has had a hand in so many programmes I loved when I was little: Dark Season, Century Falls, The Flashing Blade, Why Don't You. The man shaped my bloody childhood!!
All I can remember about the Demon Headmaster is that they made him look uncannily like Jack Straw.
They did didn't they!
(no subject)
Date: Monday, June 6th, 2005 08:54 pm (UTC)As for Ricky/Mickey, i do feel sorry for him. However Rose and Mickey are just as bad as the other. Before Rose went off with the Doctor, i got the sense Rose was bored due to Mickey being a typical boring british male. Lets goto the pub and have a drink he says after shes nearly blown up, but all he really wants to do is catch the end of the footie.
Finally a bit more background on the Tardis. The Tardis i think has been giving the Doctor hints about the bad wolf throughout the series.
Take the little boy who spray painted bad wolf on the Tardis. Rather than some evil alien intelligence making him do it, it was the Tardis reaching out and using the boy as a means to tell the doctor about the bad wolf.
It also went off course and they ended up finding the Dalek. It then detected Captain Jacks time ship. If the Doctor were to look into the soul of the Tardis he'd probably know a lot more about the bad wolf plot.
I think RTD is poking fun at how tv shows like Big Brother are marketed. Bad Wolf being the name of the tv show. Which the Daleks might be the masterminds of. Davro's was a bloomin genius when he wasn't shouting at the Doctor. My own view is that when the Dalek was searching for the Dalek fleet it uploaded all of the data it got from the net into it's signal. The Doctor was too busy worrying about people dying to realise that the Dalek was going to kill itself in the end, because i doubt it could cope with being infected with human DNA. The Dalek fleet that survived the Doctor blowing up Gallifrey picked this signal up and formulated a plan which has resulted in bad wolf. Or they have been pulling the strings ever since Rose messed up time and let the reapers out, perhaps the Daleks managed to fall through time when the universe was out of whack.
Intresting theory, but i'm hoping for something much more devious from RTD.
Not the old Adam is Davros shite thats been going around the outpost gallifrey spoiler section ever since the long game. He'd make a better cyber controller ;-)
(no subject)
Date: Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 08:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 06:05 pm (UTC)Though the following sites are pretty good
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho - updated for badwolf, bigbrother type feel to the site this week.
http://www.badwolf.org.uk - i crapped my pants on that site, in the early hours of the morning.
http://www.unit.org.uk password is badwolf, just type in badwolf don't worry about the blue bit in the password box.
http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk - The site that Mickey took over from poor old Clive.
They are all bbc sites, if you don't believe open up a dos command prompt in windows and type tracert www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk and if tracert comes up as a bad command or filename, just type in tracert.exe followed by the website address. Spank you very much, please geek me again. I'm ever so slighty excited about something.
Those sites are pretty darn good
(no subject)
Date: Monday, June 6th, 2005 08:55 pm (UTC)Heh. It's not much of a stretch -- RTD just knows what he likes.
There's not actually that much difference between her killing and inhabiting the real Margaret to achieve her own ends and the Doctor letting Jabe burn.
I wouldn't draw the parallel there, myself -- Jabe deliberately sacrificed herself, telling the Doctor to go on without her, and of course the Doctor could only save all the other lives on the space station if Jabe sacrificed herself. If the Doctor had manipulated or forced Jabe into holding the switch, there'd be more of a parallel.
Maybe the Doctor allowing Cassandra to dry out and explode would be a better analogy? But then, again, that wasn't to achieve a selfish personal goal as in Margaret's case, it was more like executing her (or allowing her to execute herself, really) for her crimes...
I felt sorry for Mickey too, although throwing a hissy fit in the middle of the street because Rose went running off when there was rumbling and flashes of lightning all around seemed a bit nonsensical of him.
(no subject)
Date: Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 08:28 am (UTC)I wonder if he'd have been happier if Rose has grabbed his hand and dragged him along with her, instead of leaving him standing there?
(no subject)
Date: Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 07:32 am (UTC)My GOD! How thick can you get? Clue train! Boards at four o'clock!
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:13 pm (UTC)Heee.
Is Pop Idol on, or has that finished?
(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 12:47 pm (UTC)*coughs* Don't mind me, I'm a little off the wall today. Or most days.
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 02:02 pm (UTC)Rose took the Doctor out in London to the pub where Derren set up his Zombie shoot 'em up game. They played it and went into that catatonic state. Derren came out from the back room, bundled them onto hospital trolleys and took them off to a set/Cardiff. Just like he did with the Lad he put into the zombie game!
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 02:52 pm (UTC)Oh dear, you've really thought this through, and it makes sense!!!!
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:05 pm (UTC)Oh dear, you've really thought this through
It's been my theory ever since people started thinking that they're subliminal messages.
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:09 pm (UTC)Genius, you are.
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Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:12 pm (UTC)♥ to you.
(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 03:50 pm (UTC)