tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post279273461224919073..comments2024-03-27T08:49:38.786-03:00Comments on Siskoid's Blog of Geekery: Doctor Who #713: The Unquiet DeadSiskoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-66567803457981092722013-11-05T07:58:07.525-04:002013-11-05T07:58:07.525-04:00Let's print out some Free Zero! t-shirts.Let's print out some Free Zero! t-shirts.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-83037704379866115062013-11-05T00:28:24.394-04:002013-11-05T00:28:24.394-04:00Kind of harsh on Prisoner Zero there - he was Amy&...Kind of harsh on Prisoner Zero there - he was Amy's roommate for a decade and didn't seem to be harming anybody in that timeSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-7892581868877667122013-11-04T10:43:17.627-04:002013-11-04T10:43:17.627-04:00Yeah, the pendulum often swings to extremes.
At l...Yeah, the pendulum often swings to extremes.<br /><br />At least Series 5 has lots of true monsters (Prisoner Zero, Vampires, Daleks, Angels, etc.)Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-47887535678704389552013-11-04T09:47:55.663-04:002013-11-04T09:47:55.663-04:00And then from that we get to Moffat-era who were t...And then from that we get to Moffat-era who were the aliens aren't actually trying to kill us and it's all a big misunderstanding.<br /><br />Both approaches are fine, but there were some points in the Matt Smith run (season 6, I think) where I was dying for some monsters to just be monsters.LiamKavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01996095233681105682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-58252895246583562522013-11-04T08:54:14.155-04:002013-11-04T08:54:14.155-04:00I've read the original essay on the subject an...I've read the original essay on the subject and the resulting discussion, and I just didn't want to get into it. It just doesn't impact the way I look at The Unquiet Dead as a story, for one thing, and for another, I just don't believe Mark Gatiss' impetus was political. At most, it's an accidentally unfortunate message that's been read into his script.<br /><br />You'll note that RTD's aliens are almost universally here to invade and destroy. This isn't Pertwee's Britain where peace was possible if only UNIT would have kept their guns holstered.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-6616947656067679722013-11-04T08:41:32.841-04:002013-11-04T08:41:32.841-04:00There is a contingent out there who feels that thi...There is <a href="http://uk.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/graffvyndak/message/158" rel="nofollow">a contingent out there</a> who feels that this story is irredeemably racist and xenophobic, as believe feel Gattis "explicitly, deliberately equates aliens with foreigners, and then<br />says "all aliens are evil, they may look nice but they're out to<br />swarm your country in their billions?" <br /><br />I can't see it, but maybe it's a perspective very much tied to British politic/culture at the time: "The Unquiet<br />Dead" is a story, made at a point in time when the big electoral<br />issue is whether the British should put up with foreigners at all or treat them like scrounging gypsies, about a bunch of REFUGEES - about a bunch of ASYLUM-SEEKERS - who ask the Doctor for his help and then turn out to be EVIL ALIENS WHO JUST WANT TO SWARM YOUR COUNTRY NYHAH HAH HAAAAAH WE WILL RAPE YOUR WOMEN AND DEFILE YOUR CORPSES."<br />snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06181997862745538999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-83707603528962149472013-11-04T07:53:19.739-04:002013-11-04T07:53:19.739-04:00The format was really invented in Marco Polo, if w...The format was really invented in Marco Polo, if we want to get technical. I'm not saying The Unquiet Dead invented it, only that it set the pattern for stories set in the past throughout the New Who era. It was the (badly-executed) premise of Timelash, sure, but from Unquiet Dead, it becomes one of Who's go-to subgenres.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-3073699519709604552013-11-04T06:18:01.587-04:002013-11-04T06:18:01.587-04:00"Davies establishes what will become the stan..."Davies establishes what will become the standard in New Who - the "celebrity historical" in which the Doctor teams up with a famous historical figure, usually a writer, in an adventure reminiscent of that writer's fiction."<br /><br />Didn't Glen McCoy establish this format when he wrote Timelash?CiBnoreply@blogger.com