Pointy seaweed? Lots of bubble bath? What could possibly go wrong with this plot?
After I got over the ludicrous idea of killer seaweed and gigantic bubbles, I remembered that this could easily be liked by children. Imagine yourself --- hopefully as a child --- sitting in your cozy bubble bath water, and pretending that seaweed and deadly bubbles are taking over the planet. Put in that context, I could see how easy it would be for children to remember this episode, and have a bit of fun with it. This contained a fun factor that something like Galaxy 4 is missing. And now you'll protest that Galaxy 4 was great for children and I won't believe you.
That being said, this reminded me of The Macra Terror. I wasn't sure if I was not supposed to be laughing through this, but I was anyway. It's when they were screaming about gassing "weed" with enormous bubbles clinging to their outfits and hair...It was freaking hilarious. They repeatedly referred to the seaweed as "weed". Whenever I hear of 'weed' I think of narcotics and that made it funny. But then I'm super strange.
Troughton has a sonic screwdriver! He whips out that sucker as though he's had it for ages. There's no real fanfare when it is presented, either. Also, he actually uses it for its intended purpose. He unscrews a metal screw. Matt Smith's screwdriver can practically raise people from the dead, so it was good to see Troughton using it for such a simple purpose. My niece has a sonic screwdriver replica in her possession, so I've seen one up close. That thing could take out an eyeball.
This episode also shows the departure of Victoria Waterfield. I'm sure there are numerous fans of Victoria, but I was never one of those. I would probably rate her lower than Dodo, and that's saying a lot. I liked her when she first joined the team; she was slightly competent as a companion. But she rapidly became useless, complaining, and rather petulant. Throughout this entire episode she complained about everything, wailing that she wanted to go home. In fact, they find a practical use for all her screaming noise to ward off the seaweed god, which I think was supposed to be funny?
They built up her departure throughout this episode so it wasn't really a shock at the end. Well it was painfully obvious to me that she was leaving. I don't think they've built up to a departure in the plot before. Usually they vanish without a goodbye, or they dedicate about 30 seconds of dialogue to their leaving. Jamie liked Victoria, but he was also constantly saving her from danger. The Doctor seemed unusually enthusiastic when she expressed a desire to leave. What? Great! Out you go! Bye! Slam! He practically tells Jamie to shut up, when he tries to ask the Doctor if Victoria will be okay.
I expressed disappointment that she didn't die a bubbly death.
"You know," said my expert viewer impatiently, "Just because Katarina died violently doesn't mean that all other companions will have a similar fate."
"But I can dream, can't I?"
I like gratuitous violence when it comes to losing companions. It's always fun to go out with great fanfare.
You're probably thinking, "Has she ever liked any of the companions?" Well erm, I've liked Ian and Barbara. I dedicated a whole paragraph to their departure. I also had a vague sort of liking for Stephen, too. Does that count? No?
I thought it particularly strange that the Harrises adopted her, no questions asked. Wouldn't you be suspicious of her? A girl from a different time period running around with a weird hobo and a young guy in a skirt? "Oh, so you're from the Victorian time period? Awesome. Do you like eggs?" More importantly, "Do you want your dress back?" because I do. Once they discover what a real pain in the knees she is, they will kick her out. So now it's just down to Jaime and the Doctor. Who is next? I know they can't resist adding a girl companion before too long.
Jamie complains that they've been visiting Earth for quite a bit lately, and it is true. They've been on Earth for twenty four [?] episodes now.
This had a few moments of severe gratuitous violence for us to appreciate. They had to cut out a scene because it was so frightening. It reminded me somewhat of the newer Doctor Who episodes with beings like the Silence. Part of my displeasure with the new series is that I think they contain a vast amount of unnecessary violence. There's a lot of jumping out of closets, dark ugly aliens, poor lighting, etc., that the old Doctor Whos didn't really have. I've felt that Doctor Who has slowly moved away from being a child-friendly show since the beginning. I think we're seeing a generation of young people who have become used to a high level of violence, that children back then were never exposed to. Then again, I complain too much.
Was I the only one annoyed by the constant beating heart? It's the Tell-Tale Heart!
The fact that this was all in reconstructions did not help the plot, either. I had gotten spoiled with Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear, so I was really bitter to be back at bad pictures. There was a lot of shouting and arguing in this plot, which I did not really understand who was saying what.
I could take a moment to complain about the length of the episode, but I already have just by writing this sentence. Six chapters is too long. This took us three days to finish. Usually we can do it in one or two. That gives you a clue about how exciting it was to us.
The Doctor takes an inordinate amount of pleasure in defeating the alien, without even a thought that he is trying to kill a being. Troughton does this a lot, though. He seems to get a kick out of killing aliens left and right. He's not a very nice Doctor. Well actually, I was unable to determine if the doctor really killed the seaweed creature. That question is still rolling about in my brain. It seemed as though it retreated from whence it came. I just pray to the gods that they don't bring Seaweed Creature back. Of all the creatures they are going to bring back to kill off Matt Smith, it would be that, right?
The TARDIS lands in the water. I did not know that was possible. How did they open the TARDIS doors without the water getting inside? It would have to be floating on its side for the water not to rush in when they opened the doors. But that would be difficult to push the boat up and out.....Am I the only one who thinks of these things? Probably. Oh, and the Doctor has a boat somewhere inside the TARDIS? What in thunder does he NOT have in there?
And I think that Jamie implies that the Doctor is swimming in the ocean buck naked. WOW. How come we didn't get to see that? HAH!
This had a very nice ending, because everyone came back to life after all was said and done. Happy ending!
Next Up: The Wheel In Space
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