A few more thoughts on Impossible Planet

[owl]

Why does the Doctor not call the TARDIS with his key the way he did in Father's Day? It was dead, he thought, in Rise of the Cybermen and he wasn't in such a twist about it.

Did anyone notice that as the Pit of Voles Satan is opening, Ida's standing by the side, the Doctor starts running towards the lift (Rose), and then turns back for Ida?

I love the crew of the research ship and their interactions with each other and the Doctor. It's going to be really traumatic if they all die in the next ep. :(

The scene where the Doctor's talking to the Ood and the He is awake/And you will worship him? It's like a psalm repeated antiphonically. That...seems a little blasphemous, and is certainly nasty.

I feel it's extra frightening because I actually believe in the reality of it. Not looking like this (spoiler-ish—and scary!—pic from the Beeb site), but the entity, yes. As I duck behind the sofa, there's something in the back of my brain saying, This isn't just a story,a nd it's certainly not a game. Though temptation doesn't come with creepy writing all over your skin and the ability to survive in vacuum. It's much more subtle and, as the episode said, woven into the fabric of normal life, than that.

So for me there are two levels of fear: the normal hide-behind-the-sofa-it's-Doctor-Who, and behind it the real-life fear. For once I shall join with the rabid atheists in hoping that it turns out to be an alien with delusions of grandeur. I suppose it could be a Childhood's End-type setup: the race that held so much terror that it turned into mythology.

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

The Radio Times says it's not intended to be the Devil, if that helps, in the context of a quite interesting piece about how whenever any of the writers have the Doctor mentioning evil Russell T. Davies sends them back to rewrite. I honestly think the mining crew might as well all have red shirts on, though.

I am both alarmed and amused by the idea of them opening the Pit of Voles. He is writing badfic / and ye shall read and review him.

[owl]

He is writing badfic / and ye shall read and review him.

*snigger* I wish I had your gift for impromptu one-liners.

[ex-ajhalluk585.livejournal.com]

I can see the point here, very vividly.

Actually, to be fair, that's the level of scary the episode exists on.

Is there a real Devil? Yes or no?

I will tell you no word of a lie when I say that I, the unbeliever, wil say that in my belief system yes: there is the corporeal Devil, and I have seen him in the words and acts of avowed and confessed Christians.

My left arm was deformed by a born-again Christian teacher at my primary school, and when she was tearing my bones apart she knew that it was God's will.

[owl]

My left arm was deformed by a born-again Christian teacher at my primary school, and when she was tearing my bones apart she knew that it was God's will.

I'm so very sorry.

I want to say that we're most of us not like that, but you know that.
*hugs*

[drjeannette.livejournal.com]

Why does the Doctor not call the TARDIS with his key the way he did in Father's Day? It was dead, he thought, in Rise of the Cybermen and he wasn't in such a twist about it.

When he did that in Father's Day, I honestly thought it was kind of off and I'm glad they didn't bring that back. It seems like quite a few people have been asking why he's more upset now, and I think the reason why is because the last time, the TARDIS was "dead" but it was still there in his possession, the last piece of his ::coughGallifreycough:: "home planet," that's what I said, sure! It was even just a safe base to sit with Mickey until he found the glowy bit of TARDIS-ex-machina. Literally all he had and now it's gone into the big, black hole, and he can't even see it anymore. That had to be a little terrifying.

Did anyone notice that as the Pit of Voles Satan is opening, Ida's standing by the side, the Doctor starts running towards the lift (Rose), and then turns back for Ida?

I did, actually, glad someone else did too! It kind of emphasized for me the fact that he's never going to be a mortgage type of man.

As I duck behind the sofa, there's something in the back of my brain saying, This isn't just a story,a nd it's certainly not a game. Though temptation doesn't come with creepy writing all over your skin and the ability to survive in vacuum. It's much more subtle and, as the episode said, woven into the fabric of normal life, than that.

So for me there are two levels of fear: the normal hide-behind-the-sofa-it's-Doctor-Who, and behind it the real-life fear.

I know what you mean. There was definitely an extra layer of creepy there while I was watching it.

[owl]

When he did that in Father's Day, I honestly thought it was kind of off and I'm glad they didn't bring that back.

The trouble with introducing TARDIS ex machina is that once it's there, it's canon and you're stuck with it. I thought that the homing TARDIS makes things a little too easy, too, but they've done it now. The annoying thing is that the plot of Father's Day could easily have been made to work without it.

[marcella-riddle.livejournal.com]

Did anyone notice that as the Pit of Voles Satan is opening, Ida's standing by the side, the Doctor starts running towards the lift (Rose), and then turns back for Ida?

I noticed that when I was doing a transcript. It was like he was gunna go back for Rose but Ida was sort of entranced, her curiosity took over and the Doctor knew he couldn't/shouldn't leave her to be killed. Then, when he got to the edge, he was fixed to the spot like her.

OMG EVIL CLIFFHANGERS *keels the writers*

Seeing the beast on the Beeb site scared the SHIT out of me. Mostly because I wasn't expecting it, but it is scary as fuck regardless.

[owl]

I had it loading in the background with the Ood doing their scary-possessed-voice thing, and then I clicked on the tab, saw the beast anb went 'Eeeeep!'