Well , that was a little bit disappointing . I still think Steven Moffat is the best writer for the unexampled version of Doctor Who , the BBC ’s activeness - funniness about an nonconcentric sentence traveller . But after watching the second part of Moffat ’s haunted - depository library two - parter , I have a full understanding of precisely what people are talking about when they say Moffat ’s work shows some weird issuance with women . ( Even though he created the awesome Sally Sparrow . ) At least , “ The Forest Of The Dead ” was chock full of fair sex - related bizarreness , as this clip illustrates . looter ahead .
Okay , so what on ground is actually going on in this clip ? First we have Donna , who ’s been turn into a total pile of mush by two perfectly generic children — children who are so generic , they literally are copies of every other child in the Earth . And yet Donna ’s so attached to them that even after the Sojourner Truth is prove to her in the universe ’s most irrefutable , she still wo n’t believe it . What is going on with that ? I was wait , through the whole episode , for Donna to have a moment of awesomeness where she not only accepted her situation , she also disclose a means out . Or at least found a way to make a difference . Instead , she just gets rescued . Bah .
The other participant in the vista , of class , is Miss Evangelista , who is comically horrible . Last week , she was improbably beautiful ( and break 10,000 time too much make-up ) and so stupid she kept slip the escape pod for a bathroom . I sort of rolled my eyes at the sexist caricature , but usurp she was just a thrown-away case , or else Moffat was depart somewhere with it . Like she was just pretending to be stupid . But then we get this — she becomes a super - mega - brainiac , but at the price of her looks . Because you ca n’t be pretty and smart . It ’s Asimov ’s law . Worst of all , Miss Evangelista intones some mock - Victorian codswallop about how you could only see the trueness if you ’re unloved . She ’s in a virtual world . Ca n’t she look like whatever she need , or whatever the information processing system wants her to look like ? Is n’t any “ love ” inside the virtual Earth just an thaumaturgy ? Why did n’t Doctor Moon give Miss Evangelista her own fake husband anyway ?
The other major distaff character in “ Forest Of The Dead , ” meanwhile , is River Song , the Doctor ’s sure-enough friend whom he ’s never met . And I still really , really like her and hope we get to see her again . But I did start to have some misgivings . Mostly about her ending , actually . First she sacrifices her life in the most contrived and cliched way possible , the same way Sergey Brin give himself a few episodes ago ( beat the Doctor and convey his place . ) I was n’t really clear on why someone require to sacrifice his / her life anyway , because the handwriting suddenly got very techno - babbly . And then it become out she ’s not really numb , because the Doctor ’s succeeding self left an escape hatch . Instead , she can be resurrected inside the man ’s most tedious virtual realism scenario , trapped forever with the crewmates she showed no sign of care in the first place . And she obtain to look after the little young lady whose brain is hooked up to the computer , plus the two generic tike that Donna was mothering in the beginning .
Let ’s just take out that for a sec : She ’s stick mothering three little kids , two of whom are basically scraps of junk code and none of whom will ever age — constantly . This is what the Doctor came up with for her ? He had hundreds of years to reckon out a way to save her from frying her mentality , and this is the best he could come up with ? I conceive the words “ fate risky than death ” floated into my brain at some point . But at least she ’s not ugly , so it ’s fine . Oh , and hey — Miss Evangelista ’s suddenly not ugly any more either ! glad ending !
I only have one more criticism before I mention some thing I really like about the episode — and I wish a lot about it , really . I mentionedlast weekthat a wad of the story elements felt a fleck similar to former forays into the Moffat - poesy . For example , I had an inkling that the whole matter about mass ’s conscoiusnesses being stored , and the miss people being “ saved , ” would turn out to be similar to the way the medicinal nano - genes in “ The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances ” turn out to be the keystone to the whole gasmask mutation , and to saving everybody . I figured it might wind up being a bit similar , but I was n’t expect an factual repetition of the “ Everybody know ! ” transmission line from “ The Doctor Dances . ” Not once , but several times . It ’s a bit worrying for 2010 , when Moffat takes over as the head author for Doctor Who , if he ’s already repeating himself like pitiful old Proper Dave .
https://gizmodo.com/doctor-who-gives-a-glimpse-of-its-own-future-5012472
But oh yeah , before I get devour in second by a swarm of wild dark , I should observe what I in reality did like about the episode . I care , once again , the hints about the Doctor ’s future tense and how awe - inspiring he ’s going to be . ( Although I desire we never actually see that version of the Doctor , since his adventure might be quite tiresome . )
I was in spades intrigued by the mystery about the Doctor ’s real name , and what were the only circumstances under which the Doctor could partake it with another sentient . I ’m assuming it ’s a phone that a human oral cavity can make , so is there a intellect it ’s knockout to say except under control weather condition ? Also , why is his name so special ? ( Were Borusa , Spandrell , Kelner , Romanadvoratrelundar , etc . , those people ’s real name , or not ? ) Anyway , it was intriguing .
And I felt like this episode was sort of grope towards a really interesting metaphor — the library is supposed to be the sum of all human knowledge , but more than that , it ’s hypothesise to be all our stories . And yet the physical spiritualist on which those stories are reproduce let us down . you may print them on newspaper books , but then they get infected with malefic apparition and stuff . ( Or in the event of the picayune used bookstall near my house , literal weird - smelling mold . ) you could stack away them digitally , but you run into depot problems — which is why Donna ’s “ fictional ” children are so rubbish . The only way for account to stay vital is for live the great unwashed to keep tell them . Or perchance I ’m just pull that out of nowhere . Anyway , I was on the edge of my seat for bombastic region of this episode because I felt like the library planet , and the books , and the darkness , and the practical reality , and the creepy-crawly Doctor Moon , and the fake kid , would all plug in up in some brilliant way . They did n’t , quite , but they managed to feel like they at least belonged in the same floor , which is pretty great .
Bottom telephone circuit : I enjoyed it a wad , but the unearthly stuff with Donna and Miss Evangelista ( and River Song ’s rightfully bizarre “ well-chosen ending ” ) mar it a bit for me . Plus , Moffat is usher dangerous planetary house of running out of thingamajig . But it was still an engaging and entertaining romp , and it made me funny about the Doctor for the first meter since mid - season one . And I ’m still ( passably conservatively ) excited to see what Moffat does with the show when he ’s get the charming show - controlling gloves on . What did you think ?
Doctor WhoDoctor Who recapitulate
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and culture news program in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
