c_carol_again (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
c_carol_again) wrote2025-06-01 01:09 pm
c_carol_again) wrote2025-06-01 01:09 pm
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Doctor Who Delayed Reaction Post: The Reality War
"The Reality War" deserves a more thorough Reaction Post than I was able to give it last night. (Today's review-writing goal: wordcount > 0.) There's *so much* of it to react to that I'm leaning on an episode recap to help me remember it all, which feels a little like cheating, reaction-wise. But anyway, here goes:
* It wasn't the resounding success that I hoped for, but it also wasn't the complete disaster that it could have been (which, let's be honest, was much more likely). Overall, mixed bag, just like nearly everything for the last ... oh, what's it been now ... yikes, two whole Doctors.
* My initial mixed reaction was more positive than negative, but the more I think about the episode the more I'm drifting towards the negative. But still, it didn't let me down as much as some other finales have. Sometimes you have to count "not too awful" as a win.
* UNIT chips all their employees like pets? This is not helping with the probably-unintentional Dark Sinister UNIT issue, Russell. They're not supposed to be Torchwood.
*At one point in the episode, I thought that my entire reaction post might be just "LOOOOOOMS". I _cannot_ believe they actually went there. Russell, no, bad, wrong. We do not go around canonizing stupid Wilderness Years fanon.
* On second thought, did I misunderstand what they were trying to do there? Maybe. I need a transcript.
* The UNIT HQ action sequence didn't really work for me, it's all just running around yelling "Fire the technobabble guns!!!" It's not fun and exciting, it's just tiring.
* Omega himself was a major disappointment. They ignored pretty much everything about his classic episodes and just made him into a generic eating-people monster. (They tried to justify it somewhat with the wibbly-reality stuff, but it didn't really work well.) But then, Omega was never meant to be the point of all this, was he?
* Give him credit, RTD is _really_ good at going for your emotions, isn't he?
* RTD's "season arcs" have changed a lot since the days when that just meant scattering a keyword through all the episodes. Not sure how much _better_ it is now, but this approach was new and interesting, at least.
* People have been wishing for a surprise regeneration since Tennant I, if not earlier, and I've always rolled my eyes at the idea. For obvious reasons it's never going to happen, people. Never, ever, ever. Right? (Is it... no, can't be...)
* "You've redecorated! I don't like it!"
* RTD achieved exactly what he was aiming for with that ending. I admit it, he got me. But _surprising_ isn't necessarily the same thing as _good_. I'm suspending judgement on it until we see what happens next. Which I understand might be a while.
* I made the mistake of peeking at the 'Doctor Who' tag in Tumblr. Not recommended.
* It wasn't the resounding success that I hoped for, but it also wasn't the complete disaster that it could have been (which, let's be honest, was much more likely). Overall, mixed bag, just like nearly everything for the last ... oh, what's it been now ... yikes, two whole Doctors.
* My initial mixed reaction was more positive than negative, but the more I think about the episode the more I'm drifting towards the negative. But still, it didn't let me down as much as some other finales have. Sometimes you have to count "not too awful" as a win.
* UNIT chips all their employees like pets? This is not helping with the probably-unintentional Dark Sinister UNIT issue, Russell. They're not supposed to be Torchwood.
*
* On second thought, did I misunderstand what they were trying to do there? Maybe. I need a transcript.
* The UNIT HQ action sequence didn't really work for me, it's all just running around yelling "Fire the technobabble guns!!!" It's not fun and exciting, it's just tiring.
* Omega himself was a major disappointment. They ignored pretty much everything about his classic episodes and just made him into a generic eating-people monster. (They tried to justify it somewhat with the wibbly-reality stuff, but it didn't really work well.) But then, Omega was never meant to be the point of all this, was he?
* Give him credit, RTD is _really_ good at going for your emotions, isn't he?
* RTD's "season arcs" have changed a lot since the days when that just meant scattering a keyword through all the episodes. Not sure how much _better_ it is now, but this approach was new and interesting, at least.
* People have been wishing for a surprise regeneration since Tennant I, if not earlier, and I've always rolled my eyes at the idea. For obvious reasons it's never going to happen, people. Never, ever, ever. Right? (Is it... no, can't be...)
* "You've redecorated! I don't like it!"
* RTD achieved exactly what he was aiming for with that ending. I admit it, he got me. But _surprising_ isn't necessarily the same thing as _good_. I'm suspending judgement on it until we see what happens next. Which I understand might be a while.
* I made the mistake of peeking at the 'Doctor Who' tag in Tumblr. Not recommended.