Doctor Who 4.9 and 4.10: Forest of the Dead and Midnight

[selenay]

Forest of the Dead

I think everyone has already covered everything about this episode over the last week, so I will just say that I thought it was an excellent episode. It didn't go where I thought it would, you had to pay attention because the different plot threads had hints and moments throughout, and everyone pulled out everything they had. Just great.

Midnight

I wasn't expecting much from this episode, I have to admit. I don't know why - perhaps it was that Donna was hardly there? - but I'd expected this to be one of those filler episodes before the big meaty one starts.

For the first ten minutes I thought that I was right. It was light and fluffy and a little silly. It was going to be Doctor Who-lite.

And then the bangs outside the truck started and it turned into a tense, unnerving episode that played with psychology and fears and everything else. It was a bottle episode with all the drama coming from the characters and their reaction to the situation. Not one hint of gore or scary aliens, no prosthetics, no CGI except for the beautiful background snap-shots we had of the planet.

In short, everything came from the acting and the writing and it was all excellent. David Tennant had some fine moments, showing us the Doctor's vulnerability when he doesn't know what's happened and demonstrating how much people usually believe in him and trust him when he takes charge. It was the distrust and the fear that the passengers had of this man who seemed to know more than he should that made a huge contrast to the usual way of things. At the end of the day he's one man with no weapons and only the force of his personality holding things together.

The other passengers were also interesting. Most of them did fit firmly into the cliche stereotypes you put into this kind of episode, but they worked and I actually cared about them even when they were plotting how to kill the Doctor and Sky (sp?).

I have to mention just how creepy the alien possession was. Bad enough that everyone is arguing and ready to tear each other apart to save their skins, to have that thing repeating everything and then echoing just made the cacophony of noise that little bit scarier. And then to see her steal the Doctor's voice, essentially rendering him helpless, it was the perfect touch.

The bit that really surprised me was how abruptly it ended. I didn't expect the Hostess to be the hero and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop for the rest of the episode. It didn't. We just saw the emptiness in those survivors, the shattered expressions of people who nearly did something truly horrific and know it.

The Doctor connecting with Donna at the end was just right and gave us a moment to see how Donna has grown. She would have continued teasing him at the start of the season, instead she stopped when the Doctor asked and sat quietly while he talked.

I hadn't consciously spotted any of the repeating themes in the last few episodes, but this time I couldn't miss the reference to the Medusa Cascade. I also spotted a reference to a lost moon, possibly an echo of the lost planets of the earlier episodes.

And yes, I did spot Rose calling for the Doctor in the view screen. My mum actually shouted at the Doctor to turn around at that point :-)

I guess that over the next couple of episodes we'll start seeing how all these themes add together. Part of me can't wait to see what it all means, but another part of me is very sad at the idea that we only have three weeks left and, worst of all, no full season next year. I am determined to enjoy DW to the full for the remaining episodes because it really is one of the best things on TV at the moment.

Comments

[elanorgardner.livejournal.com]

Thanks to aussiepeach I found Doctor Who Season 4 on You Tube and watched the whole thing. Then this morning woke up to find last night's episode (last night in the UK I mean) up already!! And you are SO right about this episode. What a marvelous tour de force for David. He is just so talented. SO talented. And the writing for this show is just perfect, unlike the folks in the US who cannot seem to fight the studio PTB, the guys in the UK get it right.

The ending was perfect. Seeing someone else save the day and save the Doctor was shocking, then to see the Doctor so shaken by it all.... just BRILLIANT!!!

Great to see someone on my friends list talking about it. Where are all the discussions on Forest of the Dead you referred to above? Also, where did you spot Rose, besides in the preview for next week?

I hope the fellow on You Tube posting these keeps it up, otherwise, I will go into meltdown waiting (since the SciFi channel appears to be about three weeks behind).

*waves*

[selenay]

unlike the folks in the US who cannot seem to fight the studio PTB, the guys in the UK get it right.

I look at a lot of what we get over here and feel thankful that our writers get as much freedom to write as they do. It was an episode that lived or died on the quality of the writing and acting, nothing else to distract from those elements, and that's not something that some sci-fi, special effects shows can do.

then to see the Doctor so shaken by it all

That really was what made the episode. The Doctor so shaken - something we only see rarely - and the other passengers so shattered.

Where are all the discussions on Forest of the Dead you referred to above?

To be honest, I haven't actually had time to read all those discussions. I've just seen the spoiler cuts on doctorwho and the links on who_daily.

where did you spot Rose

There was a scene where the Doctor was talking, possibly in an excited and/or desperate manner, and there was a small view screen over his shoulder. Rose appeared for a few moments and she seemed to be shouting for him. Then the screen went back to fuzz and the Doctor didn't turn around in time to see her.

I hope the fellow on You Tube posting these keeps it up, otherwise, I will go into meltdown waiting

I shall keep my fingers crossed because I know how painful it will be if you don't see the eps! There are sources out there, but there has also been a rash of problems with sources getting TOS-ed and moles ratting people out so most of the big sources are now very paranoid. It's a shame because folks around the world want to share the squee when the episodes are on rather than waiting weeks.

After all, it's not like you're not going to watch when they air in Sci-Fi as well, is it? *g*

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Your mum wasn't the only one to yell at the screen when Rose turned up on the viewscreen! I love DT's acting, but it was an ensemble cast and they all added in their separate elements to a very well acted, directed and written episode.

[selenay]

*g* I swear that most of the viewing nation must have been yelling at that moment!

This was definitely an episode that wouldn't have worked without the strong ensemble and all the elements that went to it. The fact that there were no big effects and it was a physically static episode meant that everything had to come from the writing and acting, which needed to be filmed just right to get the full force of what was happening. It could have been terrible if they'd got it wrong but instead it was brilliant because they got it right :-)

[nic]

I hadn't consciously spotted any of the repeating themes in the last few episodes, but this time I couldn't miss the reference to the Medusa Cascade

There are repeating themes? I don't quite get this: is Medusa Cascade significant?

[selenay]

There are usually repeating themes each year (Bad Wolf in S1, Torchwood in S2, Mr Saxon in S3) but this year's hasn't been quite so obvious to spot. However, the Medusa Cascade has been mentioned in a number of episodes this year (by the Doctor and by other characters) and there have been a number of mentions of lost planets as well. This week it was a lost moon, but I'm assuming that it's the same general idea.

Kind of gives an extra dimension to look out for each year :-)