{"id":90,"date":"2007-04-23T23:01:11","date_gmt":"2007-04-23T10:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=90"},"modified":"2007-05-06T11:40:08","modified_gmt":"2007-05-05T22:40:08","slug":"boe-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=90","title":{"rendered":"Mister Boe Rambles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gridlogo.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m loving the new series, but since The Runaway Bride<\/em> I\u2019ve had a vague feeling of sameness. Specifically – reheated final acts usually involving thwarted villainesses screaming their way into oblivion amidst Mill-concocted pyrotechnics, as panicked crowds point skywards.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>So it was with some joy that I found myself surprised, absorbed and exhilarated by Gridlock<\/em>, despite last years\u2019 series opener leaving me wishing never to return to New Earth. <\/span>Not only does it break the final act mould of the last three stories but reintroduces an environment and threat which feel real. <\/span>Previously, fresh air had thoughtfully been provided in deep space, the lunar surface and apparently even surely-pungent Elizabethan London; whereas the first thing that happens to the Doctor and Martha on New Earth is a heavy shower of rain. <\/span>The environment immediately impresses itself upon them and continues to do so. <\/span>Smog replaces smug as the Doctor and Martha are both swiftly relegated to the status of helpless passengers, deprived of the TARDIS, one another and their own independence. <\/span>There\u2019s a true sense of desperation – Tennant even out-does McCoy in bellowing his companion\u2019s name in one scene! <\/span>Pleasingly, his Doctor initially seems less in control than usual, regretting \u2018showing off\u2019 and caught up in another of the new series\u2019 \u2018dead-end future\u2019 scenarios.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>But it\u2019s not all grim and dystopian, in fact \u2018road trip\u2019 perhaps describes this stories \u2018genre\u2019 best. <\/span>The plethora of eccentric characters and locations encountered along the way charm and engage as only Doctor Who at it\u2019s very best can. <\/span>As bizarre as many of the New New York inhabitants seem, they also present a very believable humanity \u2013 never more so than in the moving \u2018hymn sequence\u2019. <\/span><\/span>Accompanying visuals are consistently good, including a truly thrilling \u2018crab race\u2019 and an arrival at the final destination straight from the Star Wars<\/em> prequels.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>The fact that the story concludes with the least surprising revelation in the new series\u2019 history hardly matters, this journey hasn\u2019t been so much about the destination as having fun getting there. So say what you like about Rusty Davies, and at Zeus Blog we always do, but at his best he is, to quote a certain Gridlock<\/em> character: <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cInsane and a little bit magnificent\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

AH<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m loving the new series, but since The Runaway Bride I\u2019ve had a vague feeling of sameness. Specifically – reheated final acts usually involving thwarted villainesses screaming their way into oblivion amidst Mill-concocted pyrotechnics, as panicked crowds point skywards. So … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-series-3-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}