Satan Pit

[icepixie]

This was quite possibly the best episode they've done so far...except for the last ten minutes, where it fell apart.

The Good:
- Scary. As. Hell. The Ood? Scary. Toby doing the red-eyes thing in the ventilation shaft and motioning for the Ood to keep it secret, then going back up to the others all innocent-like? Scary.

- However, I think the most frightening part was honestly when the Doctor, at the end of the rope, said, "I could survive thirty feet." DT delivered it with such a whispered, speculative, edge-of-insanity tone of voice that I really believed that the Doctor didn't much care if it wasn't survivable. That was scary.

- Following on with that, I liked the undercurrent of reckless despair that seemed to be running through the Doctor here. When he had that long monologue about humans always wanting to discover, go down in pits, etc., then ended it with "...retreat," I was surprised. I figured he'd be all about going down there, and the thought of something scaring the Doctor, especially when he's just lost his TARDIS and is stuck orbiting a black hole and really has the capacity to do something stupid, that was horrifying.

- "Tell Rose I...oh, she knows." Although he could've, y'know, said it, since it was that obvious and at 900, I rather doubt he'd be one to have a hangup about saying that kind of thing. Then again, what do I know?

- Rose not wanting to leave and then being dragged off to the rocket broke my heart. (I think part of it was the sad string arrangement playing in the background.)

- Yay, another hug at the end! Third episode in a row. Very nice.

- Ida. Zach. Danny. Jefferson. Toby. All great characters, well-played, very cool. (Although Jefferson's "Sorry I was a bit slow" while leaning against the closed bulkhead door was a bit "Dalek," now, wasn't it? ;))

- The Doctor's quote about the "rules" he believes things will abide by, and how "beyond the universe" doesn't faze him, but "before the universe does," if only because the Eight Audios geek in me was going, "Divergent Universe, Divergent Universe!" *g* Also? "I believe...in Rose." Nice sidestepping of trying to define a religion for Gallifreyans, although at the time, part of me was kind of saying, "You think Rose can turn a rocket falling into a black hole around? Are you CRAZY?"

- The CGI. OMG, the CGI.

The Bad:
- So the TARDIS was...at the bottom of the pit. Which, from my understanding, it couldn't have reached except through the trapdoor. ...The hell? Oh, convenience, how I hate you.

- "The stuff of legend" grated. Grrr. Argh. Grrrrr. I WANT A SMACKDOWN.

- I didn't quite buy Rose ordering everyone around in the middle there. Rather, I think I didn't buy that everyone else would just sort of stand there like a lump on a log until she started telling them to think and get moving. I can sort of see her giving orders, though. Not that anyone would listen.

- Rose? Did you know about the secondary windscreen on that rocket?

- While having the beast be that huge made for some excellently cool visuals, I wish they had kept it invisible. Also, the body? The mind? Bzuh? Why the hell was it just imprisoned anyway, why not just toss this horned evil into the black hole when they'd caught it? Meh? Arrrrgggghhh, you make no sense! On the other hand, it possibly has nuances that will make more sense on a rewatch.

*

In other news...teeny-tiny S3 spoiler. Squee!

Comments

[elflore.livejournal.com]

She Knows: The hangup might not be so much about telling Rose as it is about broadcasting it to other people. He's a rather private sort of chap, our Doctor...

Though then again, I could see him simply having that hangup, both for the reasons he went on about in 'School Reunion', and because I really believe he's forever haunted by the death of his wife and child.

I kinda liked the Stuff of Legend...but of course that's me. *snerk*

The imprisonment of the Beast...I'm guessing, beside it just being appropriately mythical, that whoever imprisoned it was on a no-death-penalty sort of high horse. (Mind you, I'm against the death penalty myself...just not where Satanic monsters from the ends of time are concerned. *snerk*)

And the spoiler...WOO HOO!

[icepixie]

Imprisonment of the Beast: Gaaah. I'll just sit here until it all starts making sense. *g*

Wheee, spoiler!

[kurayaminokoe.livejournal.com]

The whole rocket and windscreen breaking was kind of off I think. Cause hello, vacuum in space? The air would've gone straight with toby? But well it's television :)

*stays away from spoiler*

[icepixie]

I give up on expecting DW to ever use real science. It's not worth breaking my brain every week. :)

[kurayaminokoe.livejournal.com]

i give up on most things using real science :) I still remember sam using the centrifuge in stargate without counterbalance XDDD.

[redlittlewing.livejournal.com]

- Rose? Did you know about the secondary windscreen on that rocket?

Maybe by some fate of Sci-Fi mary-sue type stuff, a forcefield was erected when the windscreen broke? Haha. Thats what happens in Star Trek, anyway.

[icepixie]

A forcefield that's smart enough to let the bad guy out into the vacuum while keeping everyone else in, totally. ;)

[redlittlewing.livejournal.com]

Haha, maybe the bad guy passed through RIGHT before the forcefield snapped up...yeaahhh. LOL.

[icepixie]

Oh, absolutely. ;)

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

However, I think the most frightening part was honestly when the Doctor, at the end of the rope, said, "I could survive thirty feet." DT delivered it with such a whispered, speculative, edge-of-insanity tone of voice that I really believed that the Doctor didn't much care if it wasn't survivable. That was scary.

You know what's really scary? Think of where this show could be if David Tennant weren't an amazingly good actor. [shudder]

But yeah, Toby was finally a bit scary for me. I knew he wasn't completely de-possessed!

Very fitting icon, by the way. ; ) Evil irony is your friend.

(Although Jefferson's "Sorry I was a bit slow" while leaning against the closed bulkhead door was a bit "Dalek," now, wasn't it? ;))

And you could totally tell Rose was thinking the same thing!

[icepixie]

You know what's really scary? Think of where this show could be if David Tennant weren't an amazingly good actor. [shudder]

Particularly since he seems to be getting crap direction and some even more crap lines to say, on occasion.

Very fitting icon, by the way. ; ) Evil irony is your friend.

Heh heh heh.

And you could totally tell Rose was thinking the same thing!

Can you? I need to watch this episode again.

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

Can you? I need to watch this episode again.

I thought I saw more there than just, "aw, bye-bye redshirt," but maybe that was just me projecting. Oh well, must watch it again!

Particularly since he seems to be getting crap direction and some even more crap lines to say, on occasion.

Yup. Hey, have a Scarring Mental Image of the Day: David Boreanaz (Angel from Buffy) trying to play the Doctor. Excuse me while I go bleach my brain.

[icepixie]

*lives in blissful ignorance of most of David Boreanaz's oeuvre* What worries me is that Eddie Izzard was apparently under consideration for Nine at one point.

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

MORE BLEACH NOW

[icepixie]

Pass the Psysol!

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

what, do you spray it into your ear?

[icepixie]

I suppose you could...