BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIODE?

Wednesday night I had a great night of TV, made possible by the fact that I got to share it with my friends Mark & Michael. First up was 'Lost', then the recent two-parter from 'Doctor Who' - "Daleks In Manhattan" and "Evolution Of The Daleks". And they topped it off with a Colin Baker 'Doctor Who' - "Revelation Of The Daleks", because of the similarity in the storyline.

Here's what I wrote in the comments for the 'Doctor Who' two-parter in TVSquad.com:

Just got back an hour ago from visiting friends who showed me the two-parter, and while I enjoyed it (as well as tonight's 'Lost' which we watched first), it would be pretty hard for any TV show to come along and knock my socks off in the same week as this past Monday's episode of 'Heroes'.

Still, I enjoyed the story, the setting, the characters. I would have liked to have seen an overhead camera shot of swirling Daleks a la Busby Berkeley - that would have really captured the 30s showbiz feel!

But at the same time, enough with the Daleks. When Rose became god-like and obliterated them, that should have been their grand finale forever. At the very least they should have been retired for good after the fanboy dream battle between the Cybermen and the Daleks.

To keep bringing them back now just cheapens both of those events as well as the sacrifice made by the Gallifreyans.

Besides, wouldn't have been easier to just give them a big bang finish and not have to worry about dealing with the Terry Nation estate any more?

I got it in my head that they were going to reveal at the end that young Frank would turn out to be Frank Lloyd Wright - I guess it was just seeing him poring over the blueprints.

Oh, and enough of Martha pining for the Doctor. That got tired fast!

But just to be clear, I still enjoyed both episodes, although I liked the second one better. Maybe it's true I'm easy to please, but at the same time, I also have a different set of criteria when it comes to what I'm looking for while watching a TV show.

I'm always watching in terms of the Toobworld Dynamic; looking for something that connect the show to some other program in the TV Universe (and especially those with no real connection yet on their own).

So my objections to the return yet again of the "Dulleks" (I've never understood their appeal.) put aside, what really appealed to me in the two-parter was the love story between Laszlo and Tallulah, and the date in which it was taking place. So with the next two posts, I'll look at both of those aspects.

One last note, regarding the human-Dalek hybrid. Based on the halting, wheezing quality of the speech patterns for the combined Sec/Diagornas, I was put in mind of Stevie Kanarban on 'Malcolm In The Middle'. And once I had that image in my head, he lost all sense of menace for me!

BCnU!
Toby OB