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I am almost never inspired to do this, but, well, after last night...
What struck me most about this were two things - the acting and the writing.
Whoever made the casting decisions for Doctor Who should be given a medal and possibly a small statue. Casting serious, incredibly talented actors as the Doctor is paying dividends. CE and DT have utterly different styles (which is a good thing) but last night, DT excelled himself. The Doctor and John Smith may have had the same face and voice, but they were completely different men and you could really see the difference. The struggle was utterly heart-breaking to watch, and I thought the woman playing Joan did an amazing job as well, despite not liking her very much in the first episode. I love that she said no, that she loved her John Smith and that she called the Doctor on his casual treatment of human beings - "choose the place on a whim" was a killer of a line.
Speaking of which, I think this story really benefitted from having the author adapt his own book. Paul Cornell took what could have been a sci-fi/fantasy cliche plot and made it into a searing human drama. All the best fantasy does this - does he have the courage to sacrifice himself for the sake of others? In this case, it was made 100 times worse by knowing that the Doctor would still be out there, while John Smith was gone, and how much that was going to hurt Joan. The writing never pushed them into 'emo' territory, giving the actors what they needed to tear everyone's hearts into little pieces. This episode was like a masterclass in how to write character-focussed adventure drama. Wonderful.
Oh, and let's hear it for Martha. Strong without being scary, intelligent (the bones of the hand! Oh my!) without being a know-it-all, human, compassionate and brave. She's brilliant and I love that we have the situation between them expressed far more clearly than it ever was with Rose. Yes, we all knew that the Doctor was in love with Rose, but it was pointedly never expressed. I love that here, it is; that Martha's far more up front about things (and not a little embarrassed - that was a superb line in the abandoned cottage). Great stuff
And can I just ask something that's been bugging me for a while? I've been wondering about differences in acting styles here and in the US. I know that acting is different for the stage compared to the screen, and I've also noticed (particularly in Torchwood) that the acting tends to be 'bigger' in UK TV than US. I know the TV industry is much, much bigger in America, whereas over here, almost everyone who acts has to start on the stage. I was wondering if that made a difference to the way they act on the television.
I'm thinking of characters like Grissom and Jack Bauer where, although they're terrifically acted and I've got no complaints, everything hangs on small looks, little gestures and they're not really much for the big gesture. Whereas in Doctor Who and Torchwood - and even to an extent Hugh Laurie as House - it's not that the little gestures aren't there, it's just that they tend to be part of what feels to me like a much 'bigger' performance. *shrugs* I'm not sure I'm expressing this very well, but it was just that the finale of Torchwood in particular made me wonder about the extremities the actors are prepared to go to. Gwen's breakdown is almost too raw to watch, whereas (say) Foreman's terror over dying in House is much quieter, much more internal. It's just something that interests me...
What struck me most about this were two things - the acting and the writing.
Whoever made the casting decisions for Doctor Who should be given a medal and possibly a small statue. Casting serious, incredibly talented actors as the Doctor is paying dividends. CE and DT have utterly different styles (which is a good thing) but last night, DT excelled himself. The Doctor and John Smith may have had the same face and voice, but they were completely different men and you could really see the difference. The struggle was utterly heart-breaking to watch, and I thought the woman playing Joan did an amazing job as well, despite not liking her very much in the first episode. I love that she said no, that she loved her John Smith and that she called the Doctor on his casual treatment of human beings - "choose the place on a whim" was a killer of a line.
Speaking of which, I think this story really benefitted from having the author adapt his own book. Paul Cornell took what could have been a sci-fi/fantasy cliche plot and made it into a searing human drama. All the best fantasy does this - does he have the courage to sacrifice himself for the sake of others? In this case, it was made 100 times worse by knowing that the Doctor would still be out there, while John Smith was gone, and how much that was going to hurt Joan. The writing never pushed them into 'emo' territory, giving the actors what they needed to tear everyone's hearts into little pieces. This episode was like a masterclass in how to write character-focussed adventure drama. Wonderful.
Oh, and let's hear it for Martha. Strong without being scary, intelligent (the bones of the hand! Oh my!) without being a know-it-all, human, compassionate and brave. She's brilliant and I love that we have the situation between them expressed far more clearly than it ever was with Rose. Yes, we all knew that the Doctor was in love with Rose, but it was pointedly never expressed. I love that here, it is; that Martha's far more up front about things (and not a little embarrassed - that was a superb line in the abandoned cottage). Great stuff
And can I just ask something that's been bugging me for a while? I've been wondering about differences in acting styles here and in the US. I know that acting is different for the stage compared to the screen, and I've also noticed (particularly in Torchwood) that the acting tends to be 'bigger' in UK TV than US. I know the TV industry is much, much bigger in America, whereas over here, almost everyone who acts has to start on the stage. I was wondering if that made a difference to the way they act on the television.
I'm thinking of characters like Grissom and Jack Bauer where, although they're terrifically acted and I've got no complaints, everything hangs on small looks, little gestures and they're not really much for the big gesture. Whereas in Doctor Who and Torchwood - and even to an extent Hugh Laurie as House - it's not that the little gestures aren't there, it's just that they tend to be part of what feels to me like a much 'bigger' performance. *shrugs* I'm not sure I'm expressing this very well, but it was just that the finale of Torchwood in particular made me wonder about the extremities the actors are prepared to go to. Gwen's breakdown is almost too raw to watch, whereas (say) Foreman's terror over dying in House is much quieter, much more internal. It's just something that interests me...
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On one hand, we have John Smith being unable to kill, just like the Doctor. Oh the other we have John saying "He didn't even consider that he might fall in love? What kind of a man is that?"
And, right at the end, the offer of 'Travel with me.' Because that's the only thing the Doctor can give, in the end. He can't love like a human. The one adventure he can never have is falling in love and living his life with someone, and that's something almost heartbreaking.
The big gesture/small gesture thing never really occurred to me. I think you're right about the stage thing - on stage, while you do have to keep it subtle, you also have to make sure that the little old lady at the back can see and hear you. You have to turn your head to look at someone on stage, rather than just move your eyes.
That could also have something to do with the vocal difference between stage and TV actors. Anyone who's performed on stage knows how to project and will, consciously or not, bring that to TV. Take John Barrowman as an example - every time he speaks on TV, he's got that 'projection' intensity in his voice. Compare some US TV actors to this - for example, the husband on Medium (which I saw two episodes of and then stopped watching), who mumbles so much that I can't make out what he's saying. It even happens in shows like Heroes, where Syler tends to talk rather than project clearly.
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