The Plastic "Oh No!" Band; and, "To Be"
May. 28th, 2011 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ETA: Spoilers for "The Almost People" below...
Well, I don't know. Surely there was plenty of time for everyone to get into the Tardis without any need to sacrifice the plastic versions of the Doctor and Whatsherface? All they had to do was amble the twenty yards from the locked door to the Tardis, and all would have been well. Instead they spent a good two minutes arguing about it - almost as if the idea of having two versions of any individual person was too much to cope with.
And why did Jen suddenly turn into a monster? And - and - if being in the Tardis is enough to make plastic people human, why didn't that apply to Amy? And anyway, what makes it okay to squish plastic Amy, when the previous episode has been all about showing us (albeit clumsily) that plastic-people-are-people-too-and-who-are-the-real-monsters and so on?
Not happy, in short. The "Almost People" just didn't think things through, but worse it didn't feel them through either. But still intrigued by the obstetrical episode seemingly promised us.
But the best part is that it inspired me to see if I could find a Youtube version of the philosophical cartoon To Be, which I first watched twenty years ago. And it's there - a far more interesting and clear-headed exploration of the issues raised by tonight's episode. And, because it's Canadian, it has a bilingual cloning device!
Well, I don't know. Surely there was plenty of time for everyone to get into the Tardis without any need to sacrifice the plastic versions of the Doctor and Whatsherface? All they had to do was amble the twenty yards from the locked door to the Tardis, and all would have been well. Instead they spent a good two minutes arguing about it - almost as if the idea of having two versions of any individual person was too much to cope with.
And why did Jen suddenly turn into a monster? And - and - if being in the Tardis is enough to make plastic people human, why didn't that apply to Amy? And anyway, what makes it okay to squish plastic Amy, when the previous episode has been all about showing us (albeit clumsily) that plastic-people-are-people-too-and-who-are-the-real-monsters and so on?
Not happy, in short. The "Almost People" just didn't think things through, but worse it didn't feel them through either. But still intrigued by the obstetrical episode seemingly promised us.
But the best part is that it inspired me to see if I could find a Youtube version of the philosophical cartoon To Be, which I first watched twenty years ago. And it's there - a far more interesting and clear-headed exploration of the issues raised by tonight's episode. And, because it's Canadian, it has a bilingual cloning device!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-28 10:31 pm (UTC)No, that made no sense at all to me. The friend with whom I was watching suggested Flesh!Amy was different because she was still dependent on Real!Amy, but that seemed to contradict the case that Cleaves and OtherFleshGuy were about to make to the company about the remaining Gangers.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 08:55 am (UTC)Didn't anyone think this through for, like, a moment?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 10:31 am (UTC)You're probably right, though. I live in hope (how many more episodes do they have to disentangle this?) but I fear the worst.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 10:34 am (UTC)The one get-out clause is that the Doctor said he needed to learn about Flesh in its early stages of development (or something like that) in order to deal with the Amy situation - so it's possible the whole mechanism has changed by the time we get whatever version of the technology Flesh Amy represents. We'll have to wait and see, I guess...
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 10:34 am (UTC)You're also right about Jen - why is she the most bloodthirsty of the Gangers when she's the one who's received most kindness from a human? The only thing I can think of is that she's displacing her guilt about killing Flesh!Buzzer earlier on, but if that was the idea I think they might have spelled it out.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 10:36 am (UTC)That sounds very plausible.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-01 02:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 08:51 am (UTC)Also, why did they call it an abbey when it was clearly a castle?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 10:25 am (UTC)That's the bit that's been bothering me - together with the sheer implausibility of mining something that's so caustic it dissolves every substance except the containers and conduits you put it in.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 10:03 am (UTC)if being in the Tardis is enough to make plastic people human, why didn't that apply to Amy?
The Doctor lied? Believe you're a real boy, Pinocchio, and you will be.
And anyway, what makes it okay to squish plastic Amy, when the previous episode has been all about showing us (albeit clumsily) that plastic-people-are-people-too-and-who-are-the-real-monsters and so on?
Yeah, there HAD to be a better way to deal with that.