The House Next Door

Hmmm...no comments.

OK, I'll start.

This episode would have had an entirely different feel had Sherman Hemsley been cast as Mr. Jefferson.

Ross wrote: Hmmm...no comments.


That's because nobody wants to hurt your feelings. :>)

BA DA BOOM ~~ rimshot ~~

I'm reserving judgement until I see next weeks episode, but overall I wasn't turned off by it, neither was I overwhelmed. The set up seemed a little odd in that the 666 quote from the Doctor must have set off alarm bells being an omniscient type of character, but it seemed to pass right by him. The Oods seemed just another forehead-of-the-week and they telegraphed their "evil" transformation very early on - I wasn't impressed by that.

I also thought for a moment that we were going to get into a morality play about slavery which would have been a total bore, but fortunately, the plot steered away from that fairly quickly.

I'm still underwhelmed by Tennant and, as much as I hate to say this, put him pretty much in the same category as another actor you and I have gone 'round about. :>) I will agree that Rose seemed more Rose like which was positive, but she will be gone soon so evaluating her character is useless.

So, you have a comment - Praise the Lord and Pass The Ammo!!!

I will try to be first in line after next week's episode. :>)

By the way, the new image would be much more - um....sophisticated if you got rid of the watch. Undead night dwellers like you shouldn't need watches. :>)

The Sheik wrote:

The set up seemed a little odd in that the 666 quote from the Doctor must have set off alarm bells being an omniscient type of character, but it seemed to pass right by him.

Oh come on, Tom - would it have been dramatically sound to have had the Doctor jumping up and down screaming, "666!!! - Don't you get it!?!? It's Louis Cyphere and he's on his way. Grab your holy water and duck and cover!!!"

No. There could be a whole slew of sixes and the Doctor wouldn't believe crap 'til flames sweetly lick at his skinny Time Lord ass. And even then he'd still argue.

Rose DID comment on it and the Doctor totally blew her off. (See quote in article.)

The Oods seemed just another forehead-of-the-week

How do masks covering the whole of the actors heads add up to foreheads of the week?

they telegraphed their "evil" transformation very early on - I wasn't impressed by that.

Yeah, it was telegraphed to *us*. the viewer -- but the crew of SB6 were so used to the Ood's benign nature that they didn't see it coming. That's just Suspense 101, dude.

I'm still underwhelmed by Tennant and, as much as I hate to say this, put him pretty much in the same category as another actor you and I have gone 'round about.

Ben Browder will be available for hire in the near future. With two sci-fi series under his belt, I hope either BSG or DW finds a place for him. Same goes for Ms. Black, who, by the way, is a confessed WHO fan. They need to be split up this time. Ben should head over to BSG, and Claudia to DW.

I remain mystified by the fact that the guy who ~swears~ by BABYLON 5 has the cojones to bag on the acting displayed in other sci-fi series.

I will agree that Rose seemed more Rose like which was positive, but she will be gone soon so evaluating her character is useless.

I can't believe I'm even responding to that one, but, um, until she's off the show, she merits evaluation. Geez you are heartless.

See, Tom - I'm not going to let you not like this story.

You'll have to do a lot better than that for me to let you off the hook on this one.

So far, so good. I felt very bad for the skinny archeologist, getting possessed from time to time like that. (In fact, I'd quibble that it was not him that sucked poor Scooti to her death through that window. But Scooti was an idiot, anyway -- why didn't she close the blast shield before the glass shattered? Nevermind.)

I disagree on the Ood being forehead-of-the-week. They are interesting as a race, much like Pilots are: they exist only to serve, really. Only they're not really that interesting, because they're basically morons, usually. I was also profoundly relieved that Rose wasn't allowed to go on the anti-slavery lecture tour.

When I saw the holo of the demon I got a "uh-oh" feeling, and not the good kind. It was the "uh-oh", this is going to be unbelievably cheesy kind of feeling, but so far they've held off on that.

Ep looked great, except there is something very, very wrong with Rose's eyebrows. I found them very distracting. I did love the mortgage discussion, though.

Re: Tom's judge of anyone's acting ability. He has admitted, publicly and repeatedly, that he has no appreciation for art (other than music, and even that's debatable.) Plus, Tom aspires to be the curmudgeon's curmudgeon. Therefore, everything he says about anyone's acting ability is nigh upon worthless, since the motive is always suspect (the curmudgeonly reputation to uphold) and the base from which he judges is poorly formed ("art is crap").

Ross wrote: You'll have to do a lot better than that for me to let you off the hook on this one.

LOL!!

Ok, I was caught out. :>)

I did like it up until the elevator ride and the Oods transformation to mind controlled zombies. I kind of lost it here for a little.

As to your question regarding forehead-of-the-week, it's a pet peeve of mine with modern visual scifi. It seems like every evil alien or exotic species is bi-pedal in nature with an ugly face. Just once, like the did on B5 a couple of times, have something unusual. They took a decent swing at it on "Farscape" with Rygel, Pilot and some of the other alien critters and SG-1 took it in a completely different direction with the G'ould symbiots.

So, there you have it.

RE: Browder/Black - I would actually like to see it reversed - Black to BSG and Browder to - well, anywhere other than something I watch. :>)

I'm looking forward to next weeks Doctor Who if only to see your viewpoint vindicated. :>)

I liked this one a lot -- especially the spook-house atmosphere. It really creeped me out, and as such was a nice contrast to last week's episode, which seemed very much a light, audience-and-critic-tweaking one-off (the old lady saying television turns the brain to mush; cut to a guy getting zapped by an evil force coming out of his TV; cut to the time tunnel opening with its synth-creepazoid score; funny stuff). I agree with Ross that the Sheik may be demanding plausibility from a series that, due to its basically lighthearted, escapist nature, is really not obligated to provide much more than character consistency (which this episode did -- for instance, as Ross notes, the Dr. brushes off Rose's "666" tip, an example of arrogance trumping good sense, and another good self-aware joke, suggesting the writers are well aware that viewers sit there trying to outguess the plot, and figure it's better to just jokingly acknowledge upfront where they're going with this and then proceed as usual).

This series has really grown on me; it seems to me nearly perfect timewasting action-comedy that appeals to a broad swath of the viewing audience (or would, if it didn't air on Sci-Fi, and if Sci-Fi could make up their minds where to slot it, much less how to promote it and what to do with it long-term). However, I must agree with Sheik that Tennant, whatever his Tom Baker-esque oddball charm, is no match for Christopher Eccelston, who was equally charismatic, just as funny (in a different way), had more matinee-idol animal magnetism, and generally brought a kind of sour, almost asshole-ish Byronic undertone to the character and the series. (Though to be fair, this season is lighter than the last.)

If I were 10 and discovering "Dr. Who" for the first time, you can bet I'd be out in the backyard several times a week re-enacting the episodes with wierd shit duct-taped to my forehead.

Sheik: I'm with you on the bipedal monster/alien thing being generally dull (though "Who" has made it into a style thing). I do wish more sci-fi films and series would get as far away from bipedal, weird-skin-and-facial-appliances stuff as they can, and really try to show us creatures that are truly exotic (gaseous, energy-based, crytalline, what have you). The general lack of such creatures might be more an example of financial than creative poverty, though.

"Yeah, it was telegraphed to *us*. the viewer -- but the crew of SB6 were so used to the Ood's benign nature that they didn't see it coming. That's just Suspense 101, dude."

Classic Hitchcock strategem--keep the audience better informed than the characters.

As for the foreheads of the week, I don't know if I'm making something out of nothing, but if I remember right, the Oods eat through those little flexi-strawed bulbs, don't they? In which case, when one of them incapacitates someone by throwing the bulb at his forehead, he's literally sucking his brains out.

Works for me. I like brains, tho preferably sauteed in butter with capers and a squeeze of lemon.

I like it. Sure Eccleston had this angsty charisma (it seems to weigh heavily on him that he's the last of his kind, whereas Tennant seems cheerful whatever happens to him), but the setup (which has similiarities to Carpenter's Princ eof Darkness, or am I imagining things?) and turn-of-the-screw execution is nicely done.

MZS wrote:

I agree with Ross that the Sheik may be demanding plausibility from a series that, due to its basically lighthearted, escapist nature, is really not obligated to provide much more than character consistency

Ahhh...what a fine point you have put on the ongoing WHO debate between the Sheik and I. That pretty much sums it up.

it seems to me nearly perfect timewasting action-comedy that appeals to a broad swath of the viewing audience (or would, if it didn't air on Sci-Fi, and if Sci-Fi could make up their minds where to slot it, much less how to promote it and what to do with it long-term).

Maybe I'm being oversensitive, but I've got a bad vibe concerning the future of WHO on Sci Fi - or at least insofar as it being an ongoing part of the Sci Fi Friday lineup. It seems as if the DW/BSG pairing isn't working out quite as was hoped, but DW is such a unique property, I don't know if they've even got a show they could pair it with that would result in success. If FARSCAPE was still on the air, the two shows would probably complement each other beautifully - although I doubt either would still fit the network's audience.

I don't know when the second half of BSG S3 will be ready to air, but I'd guess it'll be right around the time DW S3 is ready to go.

Noel wrote:

the Oods eat through those little flexi-strawed bulbs, don't they?

They're actually "translator globes" (or somesuch). Oddly(Oodly?), I like your idea a little better as it would make more sense out of part two.

And yeah, I can definitely see a little PRINCE OF DARKNESS in there. Hadn't thought about that one - nice catch.

RE: The Bipedal Alien Debate (which, by the way, would be an outstanding name for a band, or the very least an album).

I get your frustrations on this one, however my argument would be that non-bipedal ALFs rarely make for engaging antagonists. They are, as Matt pointed out, difficult to effectively realize from a monetary standpoint (esp on a TV budget). But even more than that, this is filmed drama, and aren’t we always going to relate better to or be more effectively unnerved by bipedal life forms?

Let’s take, for instance, the Mack Daddy of all TV/movie ALFs: the species from the ALIEN movies. Those cats, despite all their alien-ness, are still bipedal in nature, and I’ve never heard anyone wish they were more alien than they are or complain that their bipedal nature worked against them. The series did feature the facehuggers, which conform to what you guys are talking about, and yet had the facehuggers been the primary antagonists, the ALIEN concept would never have become the successful franchise that it is.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with some great non-bipedal movie/TV species and the list is short. (please add on to it, though, ‘cause I know I must be missing some; computers like HAL don’t count):

Jabba the Hutt (and even he had arms, eyes, a mouth, etc.)
The Martians from either incarnation of WAR OF THE WORLDS
The bugs from STARSHIP TROOPERS
The aliens from COCOON (who weren’t even antagonists)
The Krell from FORBIDDEN PLANET
The Daleks from DOCTOR WHO

The problem is that when you remove the bipedal aspect of an alien, intelligence and/or the ability to communicate with bipedal protagonists seems to be the first thing to go, OR possession of the bipedal protagonists by the species seems to occur (such as in FORBIDDEN PLANET).

Now I’m not taking into account literature – that’s a form of drama where everything I’ve talked about here is thrown out the window. You can do it in a book or in an audio formate, but effectively visualizing such creatures on film is really, really tough.

Back in the classic series of DW, it was tried on numerous occasions to come up with new Dalek-like antagonists, and it always failed (though this may have had a lot to do with the budget). It’s interesting that this issue came up, as one of the upcoming DW eps features a non-bipedal antagonist – and I’m unsure as to how effectively it works.

Not aliens, but the creatures from Miyazaki's films, particularly Nausicaa, are wonderfully imagined.

Quatermass and the Pit I would argue is a memorable invasion film (tho arguably the aliens are still bipedal, in the sense that they're us).

Come to think of it, the aliens in The Quatermass Experiment and Quatermass 2 are memorably nonhuman (or humanity is just one form they take on). Same for the last Quatermass.

How about hive minds? Slither comes to mind. Then there are amorphous shapes like in The Blob (both incarnations), or episodes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Again with hive minds--Invasion of the Body Snatcher, they're bipedal only in a literal sense; ditto for Carpenter's The Thing. Same with Invaders From Mars, if I remember right.

Then there are the ape whisperers of 2001, of course.

If we want some serious breaking from said form, we'll need to rummage through some rather obscure attics. Stapledon's, or Philip Jose Farmer's.

You guys are forgetting the Horta from Star Trek (TOS).

The early Trek has a couple really alien creatures, even on their Dr. Who like budget.

Anyway, I like the two parter even though I think the Devil is overdone. And the speeches he gave were rote. But the story was well done and the imagination behind the scenario was great. It reminded me of some of very imaginative episodes of Baker Doctor Who where the Doctor would go from a space station with a transmat beam to a future earth without a human population to the home world of the Daleks. One complaint I have with the new shows is most of them take place on earth. When is UNIT going to show up?