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Matthew Life on Mars Graham has while surely attaining the accolade of most unimaginative and flat title in the series 28 year history delivered a refreshingly subtle episode, empowered considerably by the directorial restraint of Euros Lyn. Fear Her benefits considerably from following the appallingly silly Love and Monsters, and comes off better all round than the overly crammed and ill-developed Idiots Lantern, the episode with which conceptually it shares most in common. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
That's more like it! After the disappointing filler episode we are back on track. I enjoyed "Fear Her" a lot, and if it felt at times more Sapphire & Steel than Doctor Who there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that once in a while. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I think this episode represents part of the problem of the second series to date. While I enjoyed it all the way through, I felt it lacked the gravity of last season and some of it was a bit tired. Another dreary housing estate, another mystery alien in a run of the mill household, and instead of Rose disappearing this week, why don't we make the Doctor disappear. It just seemed to be a bit like The Idiot's Lantern all over again - except set in 2012 with a more modern approach. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Doctor Who team have a second stab at The Idiot Lantern on the eve of a huge public spectacle, people are disappearing from a suburban London street while a shady family member covers up the truth; meanwhile a disembodied alien visitor plans to use the television broadcast of the spectacle for their nefarious ends, and the Doctor and Rose enjoy a tea party and lay down the law in other peoples homes and pull it off a little more memorably and with more confidence. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As with Love and Monsters, this episode smacked of end-of-budget filler and, compared to the lavishness of Episodes 5 & 6, 8 & 9 and (I think its safe to assume) 12 & 13, well, it didnt compare, did it? Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phew- a welcome return of the show known as Doctor Who after last weeks strange interlude. A brief word, however, about last week: despite my disliking of Love and Monsters, I was absolutely delighted to be proved wrong about the audience figures for the episode which were actually up on the Satan Pit, and it is even better news that the figures for Fear Her are an improvement still. I shall refrain from further alarmist concerns about viewing figures therefore. As for my hasty and uncharacteristically blunt review of episode ten, I should perhaps praise RTD for provoking in me the sort of reaction that made me type what I did. But whilst accepting that the number of reviewers prepared to give the experiment the benefit of the doubt outweighed those who werent, I still cannot find it in me to change my opinion of the episode itself. I have praised RTD stories Ive enjoyed and sincerely hope he will again produce the goods with the season finale, but if episode ten is the future rather than just a one-off, I would contend that the shows future would be short-lived. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There's really not much to say about this one, I'm afraid. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As fans we really can give the producers of Doctor Who a hard time. In the old days, producers got so little feedback (except ratings) that they could blithely carry on making a mess of the show (stand up John Nathan Turner) almost unfettered by fan criticism. But every now and then, you start to suspect that we've gone too far the other way. I know that lots of people hated Love and Monsters. Someone complained in the OG chat room this evening that the production team's risks had not all paid off. So what? Would you rather a bland show that DIDN'T take chances, that didn't have a go at getting outside the box. Noone complains when Joss Whedon or Chris Carter turn a show's format on its head and experiments. Who remembers Buffy's "Hush" - for my money one of the most exceptional episodes of television ever produced, or more obviously "Once more with feeling". Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fast-paced, intriguing and with a suitably epic feel... But enough about the trailer for next week's Army of Ghosts, what was Fear Her like? Yes, you've got to feel sorry for writer Matthew Graham, lumbered with the dodgy episode 11 slot, forever to be known as 'the cheap filler episode before the big season-closing two-parter'. Last year it gave us Boom Town, which, I confess, was better than expected. But then I wasn't exactly expecting a lot... Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I thought for the first five minutes of this episode that it might be hurt by following up another down-to-Earth episode with Love and Monsters but those fears were soon dissolved when I was dragged into this powerful, quite brilliant in its own way, story. And whilst there are influences here, notably the Excorcist, the Shining and even Doctor Whos own Deadstone Memorial, it manages to subvert all of these and become a genuinely smashing episode in its own right. It is so bizarre, I seem to be enjoying all of the not so popular episodes this year (I adored Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel and Love and Monsters) and having difficulty with what the majority thinks are classics (The Idiots Lantern was trad Who but far too dull and The Satan Pit was a major disappointment after a stunning first episode in The Impossible Planet). Fear Her is (judging by the Outpost Gallifrey poll) another episode which has divided viewers but personally I thought it was very necessary, it brought the focus back on the Doctor and Rose (especially Rose), it provided some real scares after last weeks lighter episode, it hinted at greater drama to come in the coming weeks and most importantly, it managed to be a deeply serious episode, almost an adult drama without losing its audience to stifling borderm. For what is the sleeper episode of the year, the one which bides time whilst we wait for the finale that is no mean feat. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Fingers on lips!!" Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
So another Saturday night and another sub-standard filler episode of Doctor Who. Fear her? Not really. Fear RTD? Definitely! You know, a lot has been said about this TV series over the decades with its men in rubber suits, silly stories and supposed 'wobbly sets', but one thing it would be difficult to accuse this show of is a lack of respect for its audience ... until now. It's alarming to see how - from the 'Christmas Invasion' through to 'Fear her' last Saturday - Doctor Who has become horribly formulaic, dull, smug and silly. Indeed, we may look back at this entire current series in the not-too-distant future and view it as nothing more than a warm-up act for Torchwood. The stories have been high on originality, but low on substance with an increasingly hackneyed and embarrassing 'monster of the week' structure to each episode. It doesn't seem to matter who or what the monster is, why it exists, where it comes from, or what motivates it (i.e. the 'pilot fish' of the Christmas Invasion, the cat nuns, the monks and werewolf in Tooth and Claw, 'The Wire', the demon/devil in the Satan's pit, the Absorbalov and so forth. All that matters is that it's a monster and it needs to be stopped. Oops, sorry, first it needs to threaten Rose so that the Doctor can get angry and righteous and then stop it (usually with a combination of sonic screwdriver and psychic paper). Then we can end the show with some long monologues explaining what just happened and the moral lesson learned. Of course, leaving some monsters mysterious is great (as with 'The Satan Pit), but there has been a long tradition in Doctor Who of starting with a 'monster', but by the end of the story we (i.e. the audience, the Doctor and his companions) come to understand this monster as something more complex - and often something much more challenging and/or terrifying. More than this, efforts have always been made to explain, or at least make some kind of sense of monsters and events within the narrative of the story told. Indeed, it's the Doctor's ability to reason through a mystery that has been the attraction of the series for young and old since the show first began. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This review is going to be a bit strange in that I really quite enjoyed this episode, but at the same time, I feel that a key mistake has been made regarding the season as a whole. "Fear Her" has a lot in common with the other episode that was made in this production block with this production team, which was "The Idiot's Lantern." Both have alien happenings going on in an ordinary London street... both have one of our regulars being removed by the villain halfway through (so that the other actor can move over to the other episode and carry it the rest of the way)... both involve the Doctor and Rose intruding into an ordinary home to confront the menace... both take place next door to a major historical event (Coronation and 2012 Olympics)...and both have a nasty dysfunctional father that's part of the problem. It all feels rather like the unfortunate parallel-plotting problem that beset season 25, where we had "Remembrance of the Daleks" and "Silver Nemesis" using much the same plot, with one of them being an all-time classic and the other an all-time silly story, except this time I think the order is reversed and the gulf between their quality isn't as big. And yet the comparison is invited because they're so close to each other in this season, and though "Fear Her" is the stronger episode, it almost feels like it should be weaker because "The Idiot's Lantern" tried to do it first, only not as well. (It's even got that other season 25 trademark of the creepy little girl.) Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
After the mixed 'Love and Monsters' comes an episode which is far more successful at giving us a good one-off story on a reduced budget. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Not bad at all! I think this story is probably one of those episodes that will make more of an impression on the younger viewers, but from an adult point of view I enjoyed it very much too. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last year we had Boom Town. This years filler episode is Matthew Grahams Fear Her, an episode written quite literally to fill the gap left by Stephen Frys unfinished episode. I dont think Im being unduly harsh by saying that this is the worst episode of the season yet, especially bearing in mind the competition. In fairness, for a really cheap little episode, there is a hell of a lot to love about this episode. For me, its greatest strength is its humour. Last week I thought Love & Monsters was funny, but at times Fear Her had me rolling in the aisles. Scenes like the Doctor coming face to face with the burly Dad, all the Fingers on lips! stuff and the immortal line from Kel You just took a council axe from a council van and now youre digging up a council road! Im reporting you to the council! really dragged the episode up from being a (relatively) average episode to a quite decent one. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fear Her was a super episode of Doctor Who, well written and directed, and decently acted; though some have found it forgettable, my own opinion is that it achieves excellence more than once. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yet another disappointing entry in this hit and miss 'New Who' season. Russel T.Davies commented that this season was to be lighter - by that I now gather he meant crap incognito. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
So the dumbing down of Dr. Who continues... Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jacob Clifton, who writes the Doctor Who recaps over at the Television Without Pity website and very good they are too has a theory about the series. Well, actually he has many and varied theories about the show, which are often expounded upon at length in his pieces never one to shy away from analysis and subtext, is Jacob but perhaps chief amongst them is the idea of Doctor Who as an unconscious depiction of the United Kingdoms low sense of self-esteem. The Healing of Albion, the idea than Britain and the British should be put through the wringer and subjected to all manner of evils before they come out clean on the other side. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I'm sorry, boys and girls, but for me that was quite possibly the dullest episode we have had since the series returned. Filters: Television Series 2/28 Tenth Doctor |