2007-06-25

S3E12: The Sound Of Drums

There have been references to a powerful man called Saxon throughout this series of Doctor Who. See, the villain from last week escaped back in time to before the first episode and it's been him all along! He heh. I'm mightily impressed, especially with this concept of effects coming before their causes being "seeded" in earlier stories (cf. Queen Elizabeth's grudge in The Shakespeare Code) so the mainstream audience's collective brain doesn't implode during the finale.

The hypnotic drumming central to the plot is from the bloomin' theme tune! Metatextual, man. What am I supposed to drink for that?

Sarah-Jane's counterpart at The Sunday Mirror is wily too.

Trophy Wife and Chan'tho are to The Master as The Doctor's faithful companions are to Him. The youth, the energy, the humour... has everybody got the message that hero and villain are equals? P.S. Thank heaven for no beard!

"'The man who makes people better.' How sanctimonious is that?"
I'd like to see Her blame for Him develop but I doubt a kids' show will dwell on such stuff. (And on the seventh day, God created fan fiction.)

Methinks the script was finalised after the rumour about The Master being The Doctor's brother went around the internet, since dialogue here outright mocks the idea. Did they change their minds or did they manufacture the leak in the first place? Whichever, it's a good decision.

Karma pays out for Bitch Mother From Hell.

In 1971, The Master watched The Clangers in prison; these days, he watches Teletubbies from 10 Downing Street. How times have changed.

Nick Fury is gonna sue when he sees our aircraft carrier.

He said "decimate" then killed a tenth of the population. Yay for oft-misused words being used correctly!

I've no idea who the Toclafane are but there are several references to them being children. The Archangel Network sounds like a planet-wide Chameleon Arch to me. It would be nice if the unresolved rocket ship plot from last week was tied up but it feels like there's too much else to do now. Whatever happens, they've got a Paradox Machine so they can undo it all again by plugging it in or unplugging it or reversing its polarity.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lots of fun, wasn't it? I felt the last 10 minutes tried a little too hard--the best bit of the episode was certainly the Doctor/Master phone conversation, quieter and less showy than some of the rest of it, just good actors acting well.

Nick Fury? What about Captain Scarlet? He's already going to be pissed off about that "captain who can't be killed" shtick.

09:19  
Blogger Tim F said...

And don't forget the jellybabies.

11:12  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

Tim Footman: Or the red-lined black cape (very Pertwee) or saying "run for your life!" (very Eccleston).

Shig: I imagined all the serious-heads groaning when Here Come The Drums kicked in but I liked it. Reminiscent of Blair's lot using Things Can Only Get Better! But I agree with your comment. An apocalypse PLUS the hyper-ageing stunt PLUS the "separation music" from last year's finale. Oy!

11:23  
Blogger The Paranoid Mod said...

Ah, that's what was going on. Righto.

Saw 10 minutes, enjoyed the banter and the Bliar parallels. John Simm's on a bit of a roll at the moment, hope they'll repeat his Crime and Punishment from a few years back, it was excellent.

11:47  
Blogger Tim F said...

Toclafane = "Once Fatal"?

Some reference to the Master exceeding his regeneration limit?

08:14  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was great but it did fade at the end, mainly because, for some reason, RTD thought it would be funny fun fun to age the Doctor by 100 years. And I'm not saying that just because it ruined a considerable part of my viewing pleasure with David, but because it was stupid.

Don't even start me on turning him into Gollum - who the hell green-lighted that?! Now I'm mad again!!!!

14:51  

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