Saturday 5 April 2008

"Partners in Crime": The worst Doctor Who story ever!

I have to say that that was terrible. Indeed it was beyond terrible. Awful.

1) The Adipose 'children' are possibly the silliest Doctor Who creatures ever.

2) The 'plot' was trivial, juvenile and may just have possibly worked as a CBBC 'Sarah Jane Adventures' story but thats it.

3) It was embarassing to watch especially the cheesy Bernard Cribbins scene at the end.

4) The McMusic which swamped the episode was worse than ever, especially the beefed up theme.

19 comments:

Jimmy Barnes said...

You know something, Spara? The DWF is still playing up at 10.35 this evening, so I'm gonna have to vent in your blog... AND agree with you.

What a pathetic story 'PIC' was. Dull, dull, DULL. My God it was boring. Comes to something when the most exciting moment is a brief glimpse of Rose effing Tyler, eh?

Worst New Series story, ever. Davies, what's the matter with you? Can't you do any better for your legions of "ming-mongs"?

Drivel. At leat, judging by the trailer, next weeks LOOKS a big improvement.

Youth of Australia said...

Well, Spara. Now you know how WE feel when you churn out this rubbish day after day after day.

Your own plots are ridiculous (oh yeah, giant spiders control all other animals), your idea we LIKE Ben Chatham is the silliest ever (he couldn't even win a poll on this blog), it's embarrassing to see your attempts to retcon problems (getting the Doctor to shout 'red? red?!' doesn't stop the idea being stupid) and your Bowie fixation has driven me and others I can name to the point that if Ziggy Stardust ever turned up at my flat, I'd kill the bastard thanks to you liking him.

The fact you hate the new series gives me a sense of joy and freedom I hithertoo lacked.

After all, you're the bloke who wants the series to look like "Adrift" every week, thinks fun is immature and agrees with Enoch Powell!

You hating it, therefore, is the best recommendation PiC could get!

Cameron Mason said...

Well some people MUST have liked it:
- 8.4 million viewers
- 39.4% audience share
- first for the timeslot
- highest rating show for the night
- ratings climbed throughout the episode

Jimmy Barnes said...

Cameron, I don't think the ratings are much on an indication of whether it was actually any good.

I watched it till the bitter end, does being one of the 8.4 million mean I suddenly LIKE it?

It was a piece of crap. I'm sorry, but it really was.

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Hmm, I think Leonard's got a point - you wouldn't have brought up the ratings in any other argument over an episode's quality. It's just because we're talking to Spara at the moment and we like to sandbag him with absolutely everything in the arsenal.

Anyway, going by the quality of Voyage of the Damned I find it very credible that this story (didn't even know the title until just now - how hard do I avoid spoilers or what?!) is misjudged crap. I'll wait till I've seen it.

All I can comment on is Spara's review - SHOW US YER DETAIL!

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Also Sparacus - please please please please PLEASE don't make your next Chatham story a Blake's 7 crossover.

sparacus said...

I agree with Leonard's analysis. The episode was awful. I suspect that the reason the ratings went up as it went along is because most people switch the tv on a tad later than 6.20 on a Saturday evening. Either that or kids were texting each other to watch in an 'these Adipose things are so awful you've got to see this' ironic kind of way.

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Sparacus, if the 'so-bad-it's-good' demographic was anywhere near that powerful then Snakes on a Planet! would have been the runaway blockbuster success it deserved rather than a complete flop.

And DON'T do Blake's 7. Do a Vicar of Dibley crossover or something like that... or something original even.

Youth of Australia said...

Honestly, Spara. One dodgy special effect does not make a terrible story. The War Machines is utter drivel, and that's one of the most accomplished Hartnell productions in terms of props, location and lack of flubbed lines.

LH's decrying it as dull is a far greater crime. And a far more disturbing one, IMO. I mean, the one thing I thought RTD would never do would be DULL. Can he actually manage it?

It seems once again (and I haven't actually SEEN PiC) that RTD's genius is not quite coping with having to do half a dozen episodes without break. He's only human, it's understandable, but I note that he's not doing another ep until the fag end of the season. In the meantime, different people, new people, so cheer up!

OK?

Jimmy Barnes said...

Nah Spara, I reckon the kids will love the Adipose. They've got "Christmas Merchandise" written all over `em.

I myself found them cringeworthy, but there IS a school of thought that suggests Doctor Who is in fact a childrens show...

Jimmy Barnes said...

YOUTH: "LH's decrying it as dull is a far greater crime. And a far more disturbing one, IMO. I mean, the one thing I thought RTD would never do would be DULL. Can he actually manage it?"

I'm afraid so. The storyline was tedious, & the supposed "comedy" was about as funny as a family funeral.

Youth of Australia said...

Yes, well, no offence, but I hope it's just you... mind you, my family funerals are pretty funny. And I loved Season 24.

But I agree, if it IS dull AND involves the Tenth Doctor, Donna, an army of cgi klum babies, "Rose from Rose and Malony" AND death-defying escapes by window-cleaning thingamajigs...

Well. The Monster of Peladon managed it, and it had armies of Ice Warriors, grown men in badger afros, a bloke who looked like Tom Baker dressed as Avon, a bloke who looked like Pan, and Alpha fucking Centauri... if THAT recipe can fail, anything can...

In either case, new story, new writer, new setting, old plot next week.

Bernie Fishnotes said...

I quite liked the Adipose...

Well, why shouldn't the infants of an alien race look like sweet little Pilsbury Doughboys?

Oh, and spara, you missed out these complaints

5) Adam Rickitt wasn't the companion.

6) There wasn't a cult that has mistaken an alien for it's god behind the plot.

7) Donna was out of character with your portrayal, as she actually did investigating and had lines of dialogue.

8) There were no scenes of gore as the Adipose burst their way out of fat chav children (although, I would imagine that the Adipose would have evolved an reproductive cycle that meant that multiple births could take place without causing fatal wounds on the first birth)

Andrew said...

There are more original ideas in partner's in crime than there are in all of the Ben chatham stories put together.

Johnstone McGuckian said...

"Either that or kids were texting each other to watch in an 'these Adipose things are so awful you've got to see this' ironic kind of way."

FUCK OFF SPARA!

I am a "kid" and I liked it. Asd did my peers, as did most people. Unfortunately Len didn't but everyone has their own tastes. You never expand on your tastes sparra. face it, if you didn't get a wank of som,ebody in it then it was crap, that's all it is to you.

Cameron Mason said...

The Appreciation Index figures are in, and Partners in Crime scored an impressive 88.

So clearly a lot of people surveyed enjoyed the 'silliest creatures', the 'trivial and juvenile plot', the 'cheesy Bernard Cribbins scene' and found the 'McMusic' to their liking.

Cameron

Jimmy Barnes said...

I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy this Saturdays episode, I tend to like the historical stories.

But I'm afraid 'PiC' did NOTHING for me.

Youth of Australia said...

Well, I am finally in a position to judge. And I didn't find it in any way as bad as either of you two made out (even given the possibility my expectations are so low as to make it look good in comparison).

To Spara, his points

1) You gotta be kidding. Have you watched other stories? What about Meglos, who was a fucking cactus who wanted to take over the universe, but couldn't because he was stuck in a pot! Or Erato? Or the Megara, the silliest enemy ever - two sparkles who turn everything into a court drama! They worked in the context.

2) Well, your plots are trivial, juvenile and rubbish. I know I'd rather see Adipose, giant spaceships and evil Supernanny over Ben being arsehole to people in rehab while small children are endlessly murdered in gore.

3) Yes, you would think that, but you think 'fun' and 'joy' are immature and irrelevant. You aren't the target audience, you cold-blooded haddock.

4) The theme was the same as VOD! And the music didn't drown out the dialogue. In fact, I hardly remember the music.

PiC, good start, sorry you didn't like it, LH.

Bernie Fishnotes said...

1) You gotta be kidding. Have you watched other stories? What about Meglos, who was a fucking cactus who wanted to take over the universe, but couldn't because he was stuck in a pot!

He's got a point there, spara!