New Who Review for “Forest of the Dead”
Posted By Kathleen David on June 28, 2008
Ariel still wants to sleep with the lights on after seeing it. In fact she refused to watch it with me last night.
It is interesting to see the Doctor when someone else knows more about what is going on than he does. He tends to pout a bit I think.
I love the title of the episode and how it works into the piece itself.
Overall I thought it was a really scary story played very well by the actors.
The villain of the piece was typical of Moffat’s writing if you consider his other episodes.
As usual spoilers behind the cut and in the comments.
I am grateful that Moffat was tapped for Show Runner for 2010.
I did get a little tired of the use of the word spoilers.
I did like the Doctor telling the Vashta Nerada to look him up and they decided attacking the Doctor would not be a good idea.
I want a diary like River’s. It looked like the TARDIS.
So River knows the Doctor’s name. I like how his first time meeting her is her last time running into him. It has poignancy to it.
Poor Donna. Will she ever find happiness?
I am so glad that SciFi didn’t screw with the ending. I saw that the clock was ticking down and we hadn’t gotten to the screwdriver and I was worried we were going to leave it like that.
The idea that Doctor Moon is a computer set up on the moon to help the computer on the surface was a neat one. I had figured out that the girl was in the computer last episode but didn’t suss out Moon until this one.
Overall the ending worked for me.
Kathleen David wrote:
“The villain of the piece was typical of Moffat’s writing if you consider his other episodes.”
In a recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Moffat said of “Blink” that he felt that the anticipation of Doctor Who monster was often scarier than when it actually arrived. Hence, the Weeping Angels which were pretty much all-anticipation. I think the Vashta Nerada were another variation on this idea.
Seeing Lee (I think that was his name-Donna’s hubby in the computer) coming into the teleport room, and seeing her walk away, then unable to call her name-AHH! That tore out my heart…
I’m going to rewatch both parts in one sitting, I’m sure it’ll be even better that way.
Dave
Hmmm. Perhaps the best two parter since the show returned. One wonders how Moffatt can top this.
Also, one can only hope that no new showrunner is a fan of this series. One of these days (if they haven’t already) somebody is going to offer Tennant a boatful of money to star in the USA. Let’s hope that he does not take it.
I loved, loved, loved these two episodes, especially with River Song as some wierd alternative Benny Summerfield character. I reckoned they were sure wins for best episodes of season 4.
Now I’ve just seen episode 12, the middle chapter of RTD’s three part finale.
Hooo freaking boy!!!
Do not get spoiled for these episodes. Just don’t. If anyone attempts to tell you what happens, you must shoot them, OK? Simple as that.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go talk my cynical teenage daughter down off the ceiling, then sit down with a very strong cup of tea…
Cheers!
A non-spoiler from a review of Episode 12. “The Stolen Earth” – with all the Ominous Foreshadowing™ of Donna’s fate, all we need is to discover that she was actually a doorstep foundling and that hs has a strange old pocket watch that was found in the basket with her, and she regenerates into River Song when she activates it.
A lovely conceit. Not much more likely than the rumour they were planning a female Doctor in the 80’s and that it was going to be Diana Rigg, but just as strangely pleasing.
I’ll second what Peter J Poole said about episode 12 – do whatever it takes not to be spoiled. Holy hëll, what an episode! And that ending! Having to wait a whole seven days for the next one is just cruel.
One of these days (if they haven’t already) somebody is going to offer Tennant a boatful of money to star in the USA. Let’s hope that he does not take it.
There is an article floating around right now that has the rumor of the BBC offering Tennant $100,000 pounds per episode to stay with the show beyond next year’s specials – he apparently is under contract through next year. I think. It’s hard to say when it comes to the BBC.
Rob Hansen wrote: Having to wait a whole seven days for the next one is just cruel.
Agreed! For those with enough patience, when it airs, you might just want to record “The Stolen Earth” and wait until just before the following week to watch it. It’s only been a few hours since I’ve seen it, and the wait is driving me mad!
Totally agree with the other commenters regarding “The Stolen Earth” regarding avoiding spoilers. I was listening to the commentary track for ‘Forest of the Dead’. What a treat! David Tennant, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat! When you hear the respect that RTD has for Steven, it’s kinda obvious in retrospect that he was always going to take over. I’ve heard RTD state that Steven Moffat’s scripts are the only ones he doesn’t have to perform any rewrites on.
I’ve been wondering since last night if possibly the BBC has pulled off one of the greatest disinformation coups in the history of television.
What a fanboy geeky treat THE STOLEN EARTH IS. Must not talk about it any further. It is going to be a long hard week waiting for the final episode of the season.
All of these Stolen Earth comments have me definitely jealous. The SciFi schedule is
7/11/08 52 Midnight
7/18/08 53 Turn Left
7/25/08 54 The Stolen Earth
8/01/08 55 Journey’s End
so those of us restricted to that have almost a month to The Stolen Earth and a little more to the season finale.
The commentary for Forest of the Dead was David Tennant, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat mostly goofing around. Steven Moffat opens it up saying that he is sharpening a knife behind Russell’s back. They discuss how the succession of the exec. producer slot was one of the least successfully held secrets. I don’t have my notes from the commentary, but there wasn’t much information, just a lot of fun.
“I’m going to rewatch both parts in one sitting, I’m sure it’ll be even better that way.
Dave”
I still had The Silent Library on our DVR Friday night, so I most of that before Forest of the Dead. SciFi was showing it as well, so some people probably did watch both that way. I wanted to review certain aspects before seeing part 2. It was a great two-parter.
Saturday night while standing at the concourse during a rain delay at the Baysox game (the Orioles’ AA team) Alan and I noticed that we each had two shadows.
Neil