Re-watching 'The Great Game'

And the re-watching continues. There weren't many unanswered questions this time.  And I can't believe I've managed to wait more than year a to find out what happened next. Clicking 'next episode' feels like heaven right now. Oh, those lucky things which will get into Sherlock after 'The Empty Hearse'. How much I envy them. There *really* should be a built in one-year-waiting button in the next DVD box-set.

So, enough chatting; here we go again. 

• Why does Sherlock identify the handwriting on the envelope with the phone as that of a woman's? Who wrote it to him? Moriarty? Did he fake his own handwriting? Or does he just write like a girl? Hang on, is that an insult?

• Who'd be stargazing from London? Well, I know about Greenwich but, still, wouldn't there be too much light pollution to enjoy the view?

• Why does Sherlock *pretend* to do the shopping? John wouldn't have left faster...

• Oh_my_dear#1 When Sherlock sees John at the pool he HAS to think for a second that he's Moriarty.

• Oh_my_dear#2 What's worse. That's what has to come to John's mind too. But he cannot tell his friend because he has to repeat what Moriarty is saying to him.

• Oh_my_dear#3 When Moriarty finally show up in person they have to think they won't make it out alive. Well, that's at least what's on John's mind. After all, now they know how he looks like. So why should he let them go. That's why John's willing to sacrifice his life. Well, that and the fact that he really likes Sherlock.

• Oh_my_dear#4 Sherlock has no idea what to do with the gun after Moriarty has left.

Business As Usual...

"The Crimson Horror" is a picture book example what it takes to write a good episode of 'Who': a brilliant story, a mad, old woman, a creepy pre-historic monster and the Paternoster Gang. Come on, just give them their own spin-off. IMHO they have more potential than 'Torchwood' ever did. So what is the BBC waiting for... Oh, right, someone who'd take over that time- and budget-intensive project. What is Russel T Davies up to these days anyway?

But back to the episode. Basically, it's what you'd get if you combined Poe, sci-fi and Sherlock. It is a nice romp, there are a few excellent nods to the past, and the future (TomTom), plus some scenes looked as if they'd belonged originally to a proper horror film. And somehow Gatiss managed to get North England in 1893 just right. It felt as if they'd been there. This is actually the first non-Moffat episodes of season 7b which holds the balance between an interesting story, witty dialogues while not shunning to add some seriousness to it (Ada calling the Doctor her 'monster' was intentionally ambiguous, I guess). Plus, we got an additional moral lecture: you don't need to be perfect to sparkle. Oh, and did anyone else think it to be odd that the Doctor was not 'chosen' to live in Sweetville. Apparently he's not among the "best and the brightest" according to Mrs. Gillyflower...

So, next week, it's Neil Gaiman's turn, and looking at his "The Doctor's Wife" it has the potential of being something rather awesome. My dear, I really hope it's going to be good, because after "Journey" 7b needs something to improve statistics.

Resurrecting the Ice Warriors

Is anyone familiar with Alien, the sci-fi horror film? This week's episode felt a lot like that, only without the really creepy chest-bursting alien life-form, and the cat. But everything else was pretty much the same: the ridiculously bigger on the inside submarine, the Ice Warrior killing crew members and you didn't know who's next... Thinking about it, IMHO it felt almost as if it had been something written for 'Torchwood' and not 'Doctor Who'.

Leaving the rather scary side of it behind and looking only at its science-fictional qualities, I have to say, that 'Cold War' is one of the most old school sci-fi episodes I've seen for ages. And this is a compliment. Because back then stories did not rely on CGI but an excellent plot with a lot of (necessary) explanations and almost no plot-holes (which is not exactly true about the old series, but good sci-fi in general). And that is exactly what Mark Gatiss offered us this week. In fact, I can't remember the last 'Who' episode whose plot  did not have a lot in common with with the famous Swiss cheese. Gatiss even took the time to explain why the Doctor could not use the TARDIS as a means of escape. And it's great that he used something form the classic stories (the Hostile Action Displacement System, HADS) to do so.

What I do not get, though, is why the fact that the Professor turns up singing Ultrafox's Vienna stops the Soviets blowing up the world (again). But this is only a minor remark. Everything else is more than just plausible, the Professor finding a creature while drilling for oil on the North pole, the reason why he is there in the first place, the way it comes alive, the Ice Warrior's emotional reaction after spending thousands of years in hibernation. Besides, I love the pun created by using the Cold War as the background for the episode in which the Ice Warriors get some sort of resurrected. This is something only 'Doctor Who' allows you to do.

The Scariest Place in the Universe...

'Night Terrors' is the stuff usually Moffat episodes are made off. But only on the surface. It has the the basic fears of children as main topic: night, darkness, monsters (weather in the cupboard or under the bed is not that important), with the only difference that Moffat writes better scripts.

What I really loved about it was the old fashioned creepiness, and come on, you can't do much wrong when setting a story into a giant dolls house occupied by giant, snobbish dolls living on posh wooden food, can you? Yes you can. Am I the only one thinking the solution of letting George's dad save the day was a bit off the track. I'm not saying that parental love is not powerful, but Mark Gatiss could have backed things up more. This way it felt a bit as if he had recycled a few things from other episodes: The relationship between the parents and the child who does not feel to be accepted is clearly inspired by Moffat's very own 'The Empty Child', while George having the power of letting his fears become real has 'Fear Her' written all over it. And then there was the Doctor who is trying to act human-like and fails which was an homage to last year's 'The Lodger' (not to mention the perception filter). Even though I have to admit, that listening to the Doctor mentioning some of the Gallifreyan good-night stories belongs to its best scenes.

To sum up, the story did not turn me into a big Gatiss fan, but neither against him. Some of the dialogues were top, most of them were a rather stupid, but all in all, it could have been worse. Maybe we are just too Moffat-spoilt...