Doctor Who 13.1 Instant Reaction Post
Nov. 1st, 2021 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
c_carol_againI just finished watching "The Halloween Apocalypse". My instant reaction? I dunno, still figuring that out.
* Look at our sparkly CGI particle effect! Look at it, look at it, please, we spent a lot of money on it, isn't it impressive and sparkly?
* I liked this episode, I think, but I didn't love it, and I'm really struggling to articulate exactly why.
* I think a lot of it is just that there are too many threads. Too many new characters and locations and ideas flying at you, and not enough time to get really invested in most of them. And the last time we had this many simultaneous unrelated threads in one story, it ... didn't end great.
* A little of it is that I don't like most of the made-up names or the technobabble. Swarm, Flux, Karvanista. Meh.
* The Swarm guy is a bit Tim-Shaw-ish, isn't he?
* And I really, really don't like bringing up the Doctor's pre-Doctor lives. I had hoped the Timeless Child thing was over, but I guess not. It's the Cartmel Master Plan all over again: the Doctor doesn't _need_ a continuity-wrecking Secret Mysterious Past, it doesn't add anything of value.
* I can see why we're supposed to like Dan, but I'm not quite feeling it yet. I don't dislike him, just not completely sold on him yet. Maybe he'll grow on me.
* In conclusion: OK, I guess?
* Look at our sparkly CGI particle effect! Look at it, look at it, please, we spent a lot of money on it, isn't it impressive and sparkly?
* I liked this episode, I think, but I didn't love it, and I'm really struggling to articulate exactly why.
* I think a lot of it is just that there are too many threads. Too many new characters and locations and ideas flying at you, and not enough time to get really invested in most of them. And the last time we had this many simultaneous unrelated threads in one story, it ... didn't end great.
* A little of it is that I don't like most of the made-up names or the technobabble. Swarm, Flux, Karvanista. Meh.
* The Swarm guy is a bit Tim-Shaw-ish, isn't he?
* And I really, really don't like bringing up the Doctor's pre-Doctor lives. I had hoped the Timeless Child thing was over, but I guess not. It's the Cartmel Master Plan all over again: the Doctor doesn't _need_ a continuity-wrecking Secret Mysterious Past, it doesn't add anything of value.
* I can see why we're supposed to like Dan, but I'm not quite feeling it yet. I don't dislike him, just not completely sold on him yet. Maybe he'll grow on me.
* In conclusion: OK, I guess?
