From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt@aol.com
Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews

THE IDIOT'S LANTERN

1 episode. Approx. 45 minutes. Written by: Mark Gatiss. Directed by:
Euros Lyn. Produced by: Phil Collinson.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS materializes in London, 1953, on the eve of Queen
Elizabeth's coronation. The Doctor and Rose have only barely stepped
outside before they witness a bizarre scene: Mysterious men in black,
taking a man away from his home while his relatives protest. It's a
scene that's become common in this small neighborhood, as men and
women have been transformed by their brand new television sets,
purchased cheap from local electronics dealer Mr. Magpie (Ron Cook).

The transformations are effectively appetizers, feeding The Wire
(Maureen Lipman), a presence that lives within the television signal.
The Wire is preparing for a feast: The coronation, when for the first
time in British history millions of people gathered around television
sets. The Doctor is determined to stop the creature from its feast,
and he's been given one added piece of incentive.

The Wire's most recent victim is Rose!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: "Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know."
The Doctor deals with two different figures, both of whom initially
oppose him: Detective Inspector Bishop (Sam Cox) and Eddie Connolly
(Jamie Foreman). Bishop is a career detective in over his head. His
interrogation of the Doctor quickly turns into a confession that he
just doesn't know how to deal with this situation. The Doctor quickly
sizes him up as a good man and offers his help. By contrast, Eddie
Connolly is a fool, a blowhard in love with the sound of his own
voice. The Doctor sizes him up quickly as well, and dismisses him as
an obstacle.

Rose: The smugness the character sometimes displays in Series Two is
at its worst here since Tooth & Claw.  There's a scene in which she
observes the Doctor's dismissal of Eddie Connolly, then chips in by
embarrassing the man further. The Doctor's act serves a purpose,
getting the blowhard out of the way so that he can talk to his more
reasonable wife and son. Rose's followup is just spite. Combined with
her being all too obviously all too pleased with herself about it, her
actions actually serve to make me feel a little sympathy for Eddie -
or at least, it might have done, had Eddie been portrayed as having
even a single redeeming quality.


THOUGHTS

The Idiot's Lantern was one of the worst-received episodes of Series
Two, and it's easy enough to see why. The Doctor/Rose teaming is at
its most smug, their mutual admiration of each other's general
awesomeness making their interactions quite grating. The Connolly
family are drawn in broadstrokes, with Eddie in particular a one note
imbecile, making it hard to connect with them as real people. On top
of all this, Gatiss' script tilts toward the preachy in a ham-fisted
scene that gives Eddie Connolly his comeuppance.

In fairness, Tooth & Claw shared some of the same flaws, particularly
in the Doctor/Rose characterization. But while that episode made up
for it with a relentless pace, The Idiot's Lantern lacks anything
visceral or compelling. From start to finish, this episode feels
exactly like what it is: Filler.

With all that said, it's not bad filler, and probably does represent
writer Mark Gatiss' best television Who script (admittedly, damning it
with faint praise). It's better-paced than The Unquiet Dead, which
left most of its plot for the final ten minutes. And though Euros
Lyn's direction goes overboard in trying to be visually stylish, with
so many tilted camera angles that it gets distracting after a while,
it does at least add a bit of atmosphere to the proceedings...
something which can't be said of Gatiss' later, Moffat-era offerings.

There are a few nice visual beats, with a particularly good bit in
Magpie's shop as the Doctor sees the faces of all The Wire's victims
on the television screens. The Wire herself isn't a fully successful
creation. The idea is interesting, and Maureen Lipman is effective in
the scenes in which she's talking quietly in kindly tones. But when
The Wire is reduced to shouting, "Hungry!" and cackling evilly, she
comes across more like a Scooby Doo villain than anything else.

Overall, this isn't a bad episode, but it also isn't a good one. It
sort of sits in the middle, watchable but unmemorable. The sort of
show for which the term, "Meh," was created.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

--- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux NewsLink 1.92-mlp
 * Origin: rec.arts.drwho.moderated moderation hosted by Gweep Systems
(1:2320/105.97)
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Linux
 * Origin: telnet & http://cco.ath.cx - Dial-Up: 502-875-8938 (1:2320/105.1)