Doctor Who, the Avengers etc
Sep. 3rd, 2012 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightBeen away for the weekend, still really tired, home alone for a bit. So I've caught up with Saturday's Doctor Who premier and finally watched The Avengers.
Very shallow thoughts behind cut. Spoilers, obviously.
DW first.
Thinks: ooh, I like this. The Daleks have been watching Star Trek and have started Borg-ifying people, and well done whoever it was in the episode who pointed out the difference between a hive mind and whatever the other thing was (not that the Borg were a hive mind to start with, but don't get me started on that). So Amy and Rory are on the outs? What a shame. Oh, now they're all better. S'pose that bit was meant to make me all tearful. Didn't work. And are they cured now, or are both of them Dalek sleeper agents? Speaking of which, Thingy Wotsit is going to be the new companion? Oka-ay. Actually, I like that the new companion is someone with her foot in the enemy camp (as it were), but Thingy Wotsit is actually a bit annoying. I wish the new companion was the red-haired woman, whose name on the cast list is...Darla? Really? Well, okay. I guess that makes sense. Darla the dalek. Heh!
Anyway, I liked it. I thought it was well written and amusing with a witty script and you could always go and make yourself a cup of tea while the soppy bit was on.
As for The Avengers: the first part of the film wasn't too bad. Yay! Loki! Even more yay! Loki/Thor scene with a bit of feeling in it. Also, Robert Downey Jnr is always good fun, and I like the Bruce Banner character. Couldn't stand the Black Widow or Hawkeye, though. Basically, if the evil space aliens (the chifliks, or whatever they were called) could be so easily beaten by a bloke with a bow and arrows and a skinny little girly in a catsuit, they really can't be that tough, can they? Also, I may well be the only one, but I found the scene set in Germany borderline offensive (those Germans, they'll kneel to any old person, won't they?), and didn't think the way everyone was so cut up over the death of Agent Wossisface felt earned.
There were a few flashes of Joss-style wit. On the whole, though, it was just a big CGI slugfest. The fight at the end went on forever, and even when we were looking at the actors we weren't really looking at them but at CGI versions of them. Basically, it felt like a good film strangled to death by special effects. Also, the whole plot seemed to revolve around the Hulk (out of nowhere) suddenly being able to control himself. Lame. Roll on Thor 2 is all I can say.
So, one out of two anyway.
Very shallow thoughts behind cut. Spoilers, obviously.
DW first.
Thinks: ooh, I like this. The Daleks have been watching Star Trek and have started Borg-ifying people, and well done whoever it was in the episode who pointed out the difference between a hive mind and whatever the other thing was (not that the Borg were a hive mind to start with, but don't get me started on that). So Amy and Rory are on the outs? What a shame. Oh, now they're all better. S'pose that bit was meant to make me all tearful. Didn't work. And are they cured now, or are both of them Dalek sleeper agents? Speaking of which, Thingy Wotsit is going to be the new companion? Oka-ay. Actually, I like that the new companion is someone with her foot in the enemy camp (as it were), but Thingy Wotsit is actually a bit annoying. I wish the new companion was the red-haired woman, whose name on the cast list is...Darla? Really? Well, okay. I guess that makes sense. Darla the dalek. Heh!
Anyway, I liked it. I thought it was well written and amusing with a witty script and you could always go and make yourself a cup of tea while the soppy bit was on.
As for The Avengers: the first part of the film wasn't too bad. Yay! Loki! Even more yay! Loki/Thor scene with a bit of feeling in it. Also, Robert Downey Jnr is always good fun, and I like the Bruce Banner character. Couldn't stand the Black Widow or Hawkeye, though. Basically, if the evil space aliens (the chifliks, or whatever they were called) could be so easily beaten by a bloke with a bow and arrows and a skinny little girly in a catsuit, they really can't be that tough, can they? Also, I may well be the only one, but I found the scene set in Germany borderline offensive (those Germans, they'll kneel to any old person, won't they?), and didn't think the way everyone was so cut up over the death of Agent Wossisface felt earned.
There were a few flashes of Joss-style wit. On the whole, though, it was just a big CGI slugfest. The fight at the end went on forever, and even when we were looking at the actors we weren't really looking at them but at CGI versions of them. Basically, it felt like a good film strangled to death by special effects. Also, the whole plot seemed to revolve around the Hulk (out of nowhere) suddenly being able to control himself. Lame. Roll on Thor 2 is all I can say.
So, one out of two anyway.
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 10:16 pm (UTC)But the whole Rory/Amy divorce story felt very forced. And I'm not wild about Souffle Girl either; much like Jenny in "The Doctor's Daughter", she felt far too overwritten, absolutely fantastic at everything except for a Dark Secret Of Doom. I'm actually kind of hoping that the whole thing about her becoming a companion was a misdirect.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 10:40 pm (UTC)Yes, they were fun. I liked the dancing people dalek people too, and the fact that Thingy Wotsit made all the daleks forget the Doctor existed (though why they didn't just exterminate him anyway for not being a dalek, who knows?)
I agree the Amy/Rory split felt forced. And sadly, I fear we're stuck with Souffle Girl, who came across as a younger, much less interesting and much more annoying, River Song.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 01:24 am (UTC)I'd love it if it were Souffle Girl still as a Dalek - that would be awesome. But if it's a totally human version of Souffle Girl that's not nearly as interesting.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 09:28 am (UTC)Good question. I don't actually know. Maybe
I agree that if she turns up de-dalekified, she won't be nearly as interesting.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 10:06 pm (UTC)In case you haven't already.
She has a prequel video of the episode, where some creepy guy in a hood tells the Doctor to go visit Skaro to save Darla's daughter.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 10:31 am (UTC)Oh well.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 09:51 pm (UTC)My theory is the Doctor will meet her out of sync in time, much like River Song. Moffat is obsessed with the affects of time travel on the mind and relationships.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-06 10:48 am (UTC)They're not talking about the same character. There are two. Oswin is the one who is slated to become the next companion.
My theory is the Doctor will meet her out of sync in time, much like River Song. Moffat is obsessed with the affects of time travel on the mind and relationships.
This is very likely.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 10:27 am (UTC)Further to this, Sueworld tells me that it isn't the first time it's happened. The daleks did the same in a Colin Baker adventure back in the '80s. My DW knowledge is pretty shaky, I'm afraid. I missed both the Tom Baker and Colin Baker eras almost completely.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 10:16 pm (UTC)I actually liked Oswin, she seems funny and she asked Rory to take his shirt off, just because! LOVE ELEVENTH. Very muuuuch! >w<
I love your new Loki icon! Loki and Thor for the win!
no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 10:41 pm (UTC):) Yep, that first scene between them was very slashy indeed.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 09:25 am (UTC)We'll see. She might grow on me if, when she turns up again, she's still potentially a dalek at any moment. Adds edge.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 10:28 am (UTC)We don't really need a River Song Jnr, IMO.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 09:43 am (UTC)On the whole, though, it was just a big CGI slugfest.
For someone whose strength is writing dialogue Joss is far too fond of the CGI I think. I just don't feel he's a good action director.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 11:15 am (UTC)Me too. I just wish she wasn't quite so big-eyed kids' TV presenter in appearance.
For someone whose strength is writing dialogue Joss is far too fond of the CGI I think. I just don't feel he's a good action director.
I'm not impressed either. That said, these not being his characters and Marvel probably having a very big say in the contents of the film, it's probably not entirely his fault it was all so CGI-action heavy. There was so much of it! Probably par for the course these days, but even the actors were CGI versions of themselves at times and it was painfully obvious when that was the case.
Needless to say, the film worked best when it featured one on one character interaction and when it featured the characters Joss is most attracted to, except for Black Widow, whose character seemed a tired old Jossian cliche to me, as seen in Buffy, Illyria from AtS, River from Firefly and Echo from Dollhouse - the teeny weeny little woman who can beat up men three times her size. The stuff for Tony Stark was great, though. It's clear his iconoclasm appeals to Joss. It's also clear that Joss has very little interest in Thor or Loki. Loki only got anything that wasn't mwah-hah-hah-ing because Tom Hiddleston is a bloody good actor.