Post by Kestrel on Apr 1, 2021 21:29:19 GMT
Hoo boy this story is a handful, being both very good in some aspects, and very bad in others.
The timey-wimey story structure is fantastic, as is the circular time loop gimmick. Though the overall format does produce an interesting paradox: if each timeline loops into the other, doesn't that effectively mean that neither timeline has a "future" existing beyond the point the TARDIS dematerializes? So what would the planet even look like to a starship crew visiting from afar, years or decades later? Would the planet even exist? Would it just be in a constant state of temporal flux?
And if such a thing is common, easy, or even just possible with time travel, it begs the question of just how many other planets are out there in the universe without a future--just big temporal anomalies where they used to be.
And the Doctor is just so much fun in this situation--and while I'm not necessarily the best judge of these tings, it definitely feels like Sylvester McCoy was having a delightful time recording this one.
....
But, like, then there's all that BS with the Slithergees, which is just thoroughly and absolutely enmeshed in reactionary conservative (read: super bigoted) ideas. Oof. Feels like this was written by one of those jackasses who spends all day on Twitter complaining about reverse-racism, white genocide, and how the anti-fascists are the real fascists. And just in case anyone thought the bigotries embedded in the narrative were too obvious, they even went out of their way to plaster a racist caricature on the cover.
....
Honestly this just pisses me off. There's a good science fiction story here, underneath all of the bigoted dross, so it's hard to eke much enjoyment out of the thing.
The timey-wimey story structure is fantastic, as is the circular time loop gimmick. Though the overall format does produce an interesting paradox: if each timeline loops into the other, doesn't that effectively mean that neither timeline has a "future" existing beyond the point the TARDIS dematerializes? So what would the planet even look like to a starship crew visiting from afar, years or decades later? Would the planet even exist? Would it just be in a constant state of temporal flux?
And if such a thing is common, easy, or even just possible with time travel, it begs the question of just how many other planets are out there in the universe without a future--just big temporal anomalies where they used to be.
And the Doctor is just so much fun in this situation--and while I'm not necessarily the best judge of these tings, it definitely feels like Sylvester McCoy was having a delightful time recording this one.
....
But, like, then there's all that BS with the Slithergees, which is just thoroughly and absolutely enmeshed in reactionary conservative (read: super bigoted) ideas. Oof. Feels like this was written by one of those jackasses who spends all day on Twitter complaining about reverse-racism, white genocide, and how the anti-fascists are the real fascists. And just in case anyone thought the bigotries embedded in the narrative were too obvious, they even went out of their way to plaster a racist caricature on the cover.
....
Honestly this just pisses me off. There's a good science fiction story here, underneath all of the bigoted dross, so it's hard to eke much enjoyment out of the thing.