DW: The God Complex
Sep. 18th, 2011 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bagheera_sanSo good. OH SO GOOD. Well done, Doctor Who.
*This is the rare episode that works both as an example of its show (i.e. Gothic space horror with some humor and some drama) and meta about itself.
*"Creature feeds on faith" is fairly standard, but it's elevated above standard by all the crap New Who has fed us about people's faith in the Doctor.
*Amy. For two seasons now I've been complaining about Amy's unquestioning faith in the Doctor. This episode tackles that. It doesn't do it the same way "The Girl Who Waited" did, and I prefer Amy freeing herself, but I will gladly take the Doctor FINALLY doing the right thing by her and forcing her to be herself rather than the Girl Who Waited. The bit where he realizes what's going on, and tells her what he is and what he's done to her are excellent. Especially because they aren't followed by them going, "Ha ha, only did that to fool the monster!" I believe the Doctor means what he said - he may have exaggerated, but mostly he believes it, and so does Amy. Also, her asking him to tell River to visit them some time was the first time I believed in Amy as River's mum.
* The way this episode analyses the faith/fear complex of Doctor Who is quite good, imho. Essentially, the minotaur and the Doctor operate the same way: they take people out of their context, drop them in strange and frightening situations, more or less force them to confront terrible things and in the end, both the people in the prison and the companions "overcome" their fear and replace it with faith. The thing is, when Doctor Who does it right, people believe in themselves. When Who does it wrong, they believe in the Doctor, and they believe in him as absolutely and madly as they believe in the minotaur.
*Not showing the Doctor's fear was good. You can guess what it may be - a personification of time, death or (as I believe) the Doctor himself. It's definitely better than what we saw in Mind of Evil (where Three's fears are kinda boring compared to the revelation of the Master's greatest fear). Edit: Rory doesn't have no fear, but I don't believe he has no faith, either. I think Rory believes in himself - in his judgement, his love for Amy, his values. And he believes in those things to a reasonable degree, not absolutely. But that's just interpretation.
* In general this episode is very good a people's feelings - the guest stars were far better than, say, the people in the Flesh episodes or the episode with the alien kid. Amy asking for River, Rodent alien man showing Rory his planet, girl doctor (I didn't understand anyone's name in this episode - was hers Rita? Amrita?) asking them to not watch her die, the Doctor's whole behaviour throughout this, FOR ONCE everyone made sense to me and acted like real people. No one had any simple fears, everyone's fear said something about them. Even Rita's fear of her pushy doctor-father (which at first seemed a bit cliche, even cultural stereotype to me) is of course just as much a comment on the Doctor/companion relationship as on Rita herself. Rita is a doctor because her father is a doctor, Rita is afraid of her doctor/father but also wants to be like him, the Doctor immediately singles out Rita as a perfect companion.
I like the cinematography, too, with the use of writing, angles, transparent surfaces, mirrors, recordings (the Doctor switching off the music in one scene, did you notice that? EXCELLENT), cuts, etc... effective, but not manipulative.
*This is the rare episode that works both as an example of its show (i.e. Gothic space horror with some humor and some drama) and meta about itself.
*"Creature feeds on faith" is fairly standard, but it's elevated above standard by all the crap New Who has fed us about people's faith in the Doctor.
*Amy. For two seasons now I've been complaining about Amy's unquestioning faith in the Doctor. This episode tackles that. It doesn't do it the same way "The Girl Who Waited" did, and I prefer Amy freeing herself, but I will gladly take the Doctor FINALLY doing the right thing by her and forcing her to be herself rather than the Girl Who Waited. The bit where he realizes what's going on, and tells her what he is and what he's done to her are excellent. Especially because they aren't followed by them going, "Ha ha, only did that to fool the monster!" I believe the Doctor means what he said - he may have exaggerated, but mostly he believes it, and so does Amy. Also, her asking him to tell River to visit them some time was the first time I believed in Amy as River's mum.
* The way this episode analyses the faith/fear complex of Doctor Who is quite good, imho. Essentially, the minotaur and the Doctor operate the same way: they take people out of their context, drop them in strange and frightening situations, more or less force them to confront terrible things and in the end, both the people in the prison and the companions "overcome" their fear and replace it with faith. The thing is, when Doctor Who does it right, people believe in themselves. When Who does it wrong, they believe in the Doctor, and they believe in him as absolutely and madly as they believe in the minotaur.
*Not showing the Doctor's fear was good. You can guess what it may be - a personification of time, death or (as I believe) the Doctor himself. It's definitely better than what we saw in Mind of Evil (where Three's fears are kinda boring compared to the revelation of the Master's greatest fear). Edit: Rory doesn't have no fear, but I don't believe he has no faith, either. I think Rory believes in himself - in his judgement, his love for Amy, his values. And he believes in those things to a reasonable degree, not absolutely. But that's just interpretation.
* In general this episode is very good a people's feelings - the guest stars were far better than, say, the people in the Flesh episodes or the episode with the alien kid. Amy asking for River, Rodent alien man showing Rory his planet, girl doctor (I didn't understand anyone's name in this episode - was hers Rita? Amrita?) asking them to not watch her die, the Doctor's whole behaviour throughout this, FOR ONCE everyone made sense to me and acted like real people. No one had any simple fears, everyone's fear said something about them. Even Rita's fear of her pushy doctor-father (which at first seemed a bit cliche, even cultural stereotype to me) is of course just as much a comment on the Doctor/companion relationship as on Rita herself. Rita is a doctor because her father is a doctor, Rita is afraid of her doctor/father but also wants to be like him, the Doctor immediately singles out Rita as a perfect companion.
I like the cinematography, too, with the use of writing, angles, transparent surfaces, mirrors, recordings (the Doctor switching off the music in one scene, did you notice that? EXCELLENT), cuts, etc... effective, but not manipulative.
