Dear Rusty,
Apr. 16th, 2007 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteI am sorry that I ever doubted you.
It's not that I ever questioned your abilities as a showrunner. I may have a couple of issues with the RTD formula for Doctor Who, but over all I think the return has been triumphant and the episodes of a consistently high standard. No, it's your suitability as a writer I had reservations about.
I think I can be forgiven for this, given that in the first season you were responsible for The Long Game. Back then, your episodes never quite seemed to hit the heights of those written by the people you hired. (Obviously there are many fans who feel otherwise about The Parting of the Ways, but while I did enjoy those episodes I wouldn't count them among my favourites.) Not only were you not living up to the standard of Steven Moffat and company, you didn't seem to be producing your own best work. Casanova, for example, is a much better piece of writing in my opinion than The End of the World. Looking back at the season as a whole, I thought you were a better organiser than you were a writer. There's no shame in that. Just look at Gary Russell - I may not love his stories, but he was a fabulous producer for Big Finish. As a counter example, Douglas Adams was a genius writer but a pretty lousy script editor.
During season two, though, I started to reconsider. You still got us off to a slightly shaky start in New Earth, but from that point things improved. I really enjoyed Tooth and Claw and thought that Army of Ghosts was a brilliant finale. Maybe with the production side of things less new to everyone concerned, you could focus more on giving us great scripts.
And, wow. On Saturday you really pulled it off. Gridlock was probably my favourite Tenth Doctor episode so far, and it wasn't just because of the TINY KITTENS!!! Although if you want to include more TINY KITTENS!!! in future, I definitely will not complain.
Why did I like it so much? I've been contemplating this all day, and what it boils down to is that Gridlock creates a believable world. Those cars on the motorway were, in many ways, the most alien environment the new series has explored so far. The young couple matter-of-factly kidnapping a total stranger, cheerfully planning to spend six years with her in a car, was certainly the most alien thing anyone's done on this show in a while. The massive vertical space filled with individually sealed capsules linked only by electronic communication is a truly memorable image.
The episode has a lot of other things going for it, as well. It had precisely the right amount of plot to fill its runtime. To this viewer, at least, it felt neither squished nor drawn out. The relationship between the Doctor and Martha continues to fascinate me. I'm not quite 'shipping them in the sense of wanting them to get together, but I do find their interaction enjoyable and intriguing. The supporting cast were great fun, and it was nice to see Hame and the Face Of Boe back. (Loved, loved, loved that the Doctor hugs Hame and then remembers she was a bit evil last time they met.)
Saving the best for last, the repetition of Susan's description of Gallifrey from The Sensorites was a wonderful acknowledgment of the classic series - if you recognize it, it has a extra resonance, but new viewers wouldn't realize they'd missed a reference. (Unless they had Old Skool people with them to go OMG SUSAN at them, of course.) Better still - Macra! I mean, MACRA! Monsters that appeared once, in a Troughton story that the BBC saw fit to light on fire! For this Rusty, above all, I love you.
Also adored the ending - I admit I cried when the sun came out. Because it shone on the TINY KITTENS. And there was the Doctor on everyone's television, saving the world and telling them to go up into the light.
So you've given me one of my favourite new series episodes, and raised my expectations for The Sound of Drums while you were at it. To sum up: Doctor good. Rusty good. TINY KITTENS very good.
Yours,
Andraste.
It's not that I ever questioned your abilities as a showrunner. I may have a couple of issues with the RTD formula for Doctor Who, but over all I think the return has been triumphant and the episodes of a consistently high standard. No, it's your suitability as a writer I had reservations about.
I think I can be forgiven for this, given that in the first season you were responsible for The Long Game. Back then, your episodes never quite seemed to hit the heights of those written by the people you hired. (Obviously there are many fans who feel otherwise about The Parting of the Ways, but while I did enjoy those episodes I wouldn't count them among my favourites.) Not only were you not living up to the standard of Steven Moffat and company, you didn't seem to be producing your own best work. Casanova, for example, is a much better piece of writing in my opinion than The End of the World. Looking back at the season as a whole, I thought you were a better organiser than you were a writer. There's no shame in that. Just look at Gary Russell - I may not love his stories, but he was a fabulous producer for Big Finish. As a counter example, Douglas Adams was a genius writer but a pretty lousy script editor.
During season two, though, I started to reconsider. You still got us off to a slightly shaky start in New Earth, but from that point things improved. I really enjoyed Tooth and Claw and thought that Army of Ghosts was a brilliant finale. Maybe with the production side of things less new to everyone concerned, you could focus more on giving us great scripts.
And, wow. On Saturday you really pulled it off. Gridlock was probably my favourite Tenth Doctor episode so far, and it wasn't just because of the TINY KITTENS!!! Although if you want to include more TINY KITTENS!!! in future, I definitely will not complain.
Why did I like it so much? I've been contemplating this all day, and what it boils down to is that Gridlock creates a believable world. Those cars on the motorway were, in many ways, the most alien environment the new series has explored so far. The young couple matter-of-factly kidnapping a total stranger, cheerfully planning to spend six years with her in a car, was certainly the most alien thing anyone's done on this show in a while. The massive vertical space filled with individually sealed capsules linked only by electronic communication is a truly memorable image.
The episode has a lot of other things going for it, as well. It had precisely the right amount of plot to fill its runtime. To this viewer, at least, it felt neither squished nor drawn out. The relationship between the Doctor and Martha continues to fascinate me. I'm not quite 'shipping them in the sense of wanting them to get together, but I do find their interaction enjoyable and intriguing. The supporting cast were great fun, and it was nice to see Hame and the Face Of Boe back. (Loved, loved, loved that the Doctor hugs Hame and then remembers she was a bit evil last time they met.)
Saving the best for last, the repetition of Susan's description of Gallifrey from The Sensorites was a wonderful acknowledgment of the classic series - if you recognize it, it has a extra resonance, but new viewers wouldn't realize they'd missed a reference. (Unless they had Old Skool people with them to go OMG SUSAN at them, of course.) Better still - Macra! I mean, MACRA! Monsters that appeared once, in a Troughton story that the BBC saw fit to light on fire! For this Rusty, above all, I love you.
Also adored the ending - I admit I cried when the sun came out. Because it shone on the TINY KITTENS. And there was the Doctor on everyone's television, saving the world and telling them to go up into the light.
So you've given me one of my favourite new series episodes, and raised my expectations for The Sound of Drums while you were at it. To sum up: Doctor good. Rusty good. TINY KITTENS very good.
Yours,
Andraste.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-16 01:24 pm (UTC)I adored this episode, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-19 02:05 am (UTC)The scene with the chair is just brilliant - Martha is rapidly becoming a favourite companion of mine.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-16 03:16 pm (UTC)I really choked up when that girl said, "Oh my god, it's the sun." I hate RTD for playing with my heartstrings.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-19 02:07 am (UTC)I started getting teary then, and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the episode. First it was the sunshine on the KITTENS, then the Face Of Boe was dying, and then with the Doctor describing Gallifrey ... Rusty is mean.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-16 05:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-19 02:08 am (UTC)How can you go wrong with beautiful, angst-ridden descriptions of Gallifrey and cat people? A winner all round.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-16 11:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-19 02:10 am (UTC)You can't go wrong with cat people. (Well, all right, maybe New Earth shows that you can. Perhaps KITTENS are the magic ingredient.) Yes, the guy in the bowler hat was also great *g*.