Value Subtracted @ ValueSubtracted @startrek.website

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Welcome to the party, Steven Moffat.

The improved quality of this episode is immediately apparent. The script is tight and quippy, and the titular child is creepy as hell.

It's tough to comment solely on a Part 1, but there's a lot to like in this. The gag of the Doctor asking the crowd at the cabaret whether they've seen anything falling from the sky before realizing he's landed in the middle of the London Blitz is great. The production quality is generally excellent - it really feels like a specific time and place.

Following on that, Nancy is an immediately compelling character - sympathetic, and very authentic-feeling to the setting. Richard Wilson is also very good as Dr. Constantine.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the weakest part of the episode by far is the subplot with Rose and Captain Jack Harkness, who we meet for the first time here. It feels incongruous with the horror vibes of the A-plot, and I don't actually think John Barrowman (scandal noted) is as charming as the script needs him to be.

I gave this one a rewatch, and not only is it much better when you're not half-asleep like I was the first time 'round, I think it also works better when you know the Spock twist in advance.

Setting aside the silliness of the simulation, the actual story worked better for me once I realized that the re-creation room was manipulating La'An the entire time, planting the false Spock from the very beginning, and using the various characters to needle her about her feelings - both that she has them at all, and how she's afraid people might take her less seriously in her job as a consequence of them.

Not-Uhura's speech is about the "Amelia Moon" stories La'An grew up with just as much as it's about Star Trek itself.

And Christina Chong turned in a really great performance throughout, too - this one should definitely go in her audition reel.

Amazing - I've sometimes thought about making a sticker or something for conventions, but this is better.

That was a pretty fun bit of silliness - low-calorie, but it looked like the cast had a good time.

The La'an/Spock storyline is unexpected, but damned if Ethan Peck and Christina Chong don't have chemistry.

Obviously continue to watch something you dislike, despite there being many other things you can do with your life.

What part of any of this was boys will be boys?

What part of any of this was hockey related?

Are those serious questions?

But [the case] also revealed the existence of a secret Hockey Canada fund, which the organization eventually admitted it had specifically created to pay settlements in sexual assault cases against players – apparently lifting the lid off a long-simmering culture of abuse and cover-ups extending far beyond the case at hand.

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree. I'm not against puppets, but a TAS-style adventure would have been fun.

Yeah, I think it's pretty uncontroversial at this point to say the Disney deal was a dud.

I don't want to dispute this too much, because it's obviously true, but Disney is also making the occasional thing like "Andor", which is neither safe nor unchallenging.

But the exception proves the rule, and so on.

The guy doesn't have the permit yet, so it seems likely that it won't be granted, as long as the application process gives them space to deny permission.

At least in these parts, it seems like no one's talking about Hamilton - they're shaping up to be a bit if a dark horse.

The Als are the only team in the East that seem to get any credit.

If panic buttons aren't yet being pressed in Bomberville, a lot of people are at least inching closer to them.

until now Gold has done a pretty good job.

True - I've already mentioned that I don't like some of the other choices he made in this season, but he has also turned in some really good stuff by this point.

We also get his line, “An ordinary man, that’s the most important thing in creation.”

Thanks for mentioning this - it's very much a core sentiment of the series, and is even repeated later in this episode when the Doctor gets the married couples' backstory.

If they're really going to join the fleet from time to time, maybe we'll finally see this era's Enterprise.

USS Athena

You'd think watching one (1) episode of Doctor Who per week wouldn't be too difficult, but there are times when it's hard to squeeze it in...

"Father's Day" stands out to me because it's a good episode that's successful in spite of...just about everything about it.

The weak production values that have plagued the season are still on full display. It's shot in a largely boring fashion, and is downright maudlin at times. I absolutely hate Murray Gold's choices, with those string chords that suddenly turn downward, which doesn't sound sad so much as it sounds like there's something wrong with the audio track. The episode does everything it can to be bad.

And it fails. The story is great, and the performances are better. Shaun Dingwall nails the portayal of Pete Tyler, likeable fuckup. Camille Coduri is great as Jackie, as always. Billie Piper turns in what is easily her best performance as Rose so far. Eccleston is good as always, but since the Doctor is in a pretty dour mood for most of the episode, he doesn't get to show a ton of range.

The creatures (apparently called "Reapers" in ancillary material) are interesting, and it's a shame the concept has never been revisited. The episode does a lot to establish that time paradoxes can be a thing, and it's possible to do a lot of damage with time travel, even though it's not something the series typically worries about.

But in the end, the strength of the episode is its simplicity. Rose can't help but save her dad, he eventually realizes who she is and learns of his own fate, and has to sacrifice himself to make things right.

They do look awfully Mogh-like...

This casting makes it easy to attack as woke and might limit its audience.

In all seriousness, that would be the absolute best reason for this series to fail. I would be incredibly proud of it.

I didn't expect the apparent flashback framing device - Russ and Takei are a nice surprise.

Oof, I tuned in during the second quarter. It didn't look great then, and it only got worse.

Collaros is out again. The D line still gives up way too much.

Streveler looked okay, though. And good for Arbuckle - he had it together.