Bananas are good
God, The Doctor Dances (yes, I did just watch it again) really is just the best episode of anything ever, isn't it?
It's got everything. It's funny. It's scary. It's clever. It's well-paced. It's beautifully-shot. It's gripping. It's just a wonderful forty-five minutes of television.
(the first episode, and indeed the two-part story as a whole, are great, obviously; but there's just something about the second part that elevates it. Maybe it's because it acknowledges that the Doctor never manages to completely succeed, never manages to save everyone - but this is the one time that he does. Coming off the back of the Time War, arguably his most crushing failure, it carries even more resonance).
It's got all the best lines, too. "Those would have been terrible last words." "Well I've got a banana, and at a pinch you could put up some shelves." "Well, there is a war on, is it possible you miscounted?" "Who says I'm not? Red bicycle when you were twelve!" "There is no escape pod onboard".
The second series has got a lot to live up to. Great as it's going to be, I can't see anything in it managing to come close to Steven Moffat's magnum opus. But I will heartily welcome being proven wrong.
About this entry
- By Seb Patrick
- Posted on Thursday, March 23 2006 @ 12:43 am
- Categorised in TV
- Tagged with doctor who
- 3 comments
You've never been righter, Seb.
My opinion of the two parter was greatly elevated by the fact that I completely and hopelessly fell in love with Nancy. The end made me do several crys!
But, yes, it's Moffatt's finest hour. However, I can easily see him producing something of equal value for the next series. I'm also fairly confident (and very hopeful) that he'll eventually get to be EP and head writer for the series.
By Cappsy
March 23, 2006 @ 1:11 am
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Yes that two-parter really is fantastic. The writing, directing and everything are spot on, something which probably only applies to The Unquiet Dead and Dalek for the rest of the series, and even they are not perfect, where The Empty Child two-parter is. Dalek has a couple of mis-steps that annoy me, such as the sheer dementedness of having Bruno Langley in the episode, and the attempt at making us believe this is set in (well near) Salt Lake City.
I've come to the conclusion that the Aliens of London 2-parter is the worst in the series. It's after seeing The Christmas Invasion, which pisses all over it. However, I still think it's great that the series can go from one extreme to another, I'm sure we'll be getting another 'kiddie' like episode in series 2. Possibly the one with the Absorbalof monster (the one designed by a kid in a Blue Peter competition. It's like a Slitheen - or a Raxacoricofallapatorian if you like - but it absorbs people into it's skin)
By performingmonkey
March 23, 2006 @ 5:25 am
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Four Dr. Who episodes have been nominated for the Hugo in the Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form category. See this.
The three episodes are: The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances (considered one nomination), Dalek, and Father's Day.
By Austin Ross
March 23, 2006 @ 10:47 pm
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