DW: Black Orchid
Friday, 16 May 2008 14:10![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Watched Black Orchid yesterday, twas very much fun.
The plot was slight to nonexistant, which was a bit of a shame. I was expecting it to be more twisty and, well, mysterious given that it keeps being described as a "murder mystery". If even someone as dense about plot as I can be works out who the killer is pretty much straight away, that's a bad sign. And having got us to accept the unlikelihood of Nyssa stumbling across an exact double of herself... not much is really done with it. Based on the "my mole let me show you it" scene I was expecting something along the lines of "Tegan has to prove that Ann isn't Nyssa," and not getting left the scene feeling like a damp squib rather than a clever play on the audience's expectations.
Also, it was a pity that everyone was so obviously freezing at the party! This story might have worked better as a murder mystery if it were entirely interiors, maybe, and without all the background guests, which destroy the claustrophobic atmosphere that it needed. Though I exepct it wouldn't have been practical to take up that much studio time just for one story. Obviously the cricket would still be outdoors though. I wouldn't want to ditch that.
Onto things I liked! All the little character moments were very nice. Tegan befriending Lord Robert and teaching him exciting new slang, the joy in her face when she's dancing. Nyssa being adorably serious and also getting to have some fun, too. Adric being rubbish at dancing and stuffing his face with food! I might well have done exactly the same in his place. The scene where Nyssa and Tegan are teasing him about it is very sweet; there's a lovely closeness between them here and I liked Adric's plaintive "but I haven't had any breakfast!" Oh and Adric's and Nyssa's bafflement at things like trains was great.
The idea of Team TARDIS landing somewhere where they get to have some fun for a change made me very happy (I may have had a big silly grin on my face for most of part one). OK, there was all that murder and stuff, but that didn't really kick off until part two, for the companions at least, and there was a whole load of cricket and dancing before we got to that.
I loved the way the tiny scenes where the Doctor wanders the corridors were interspersed with the dancing - *dancedancedance* / Doctor: Why must I always let my curiousity get the better of me? / *dancedancedance* / Doctor: If only I'd left after the cricket! / *dancedanceCHARLESTON* - it cracked me up.
Nyssa and Tegan's costumes were great!
I've only listened to the first episode commentary, but it was great fun: "Did you shave your chest for this, or are you just not very hairy?" [...] "Did you oil your chest?" Oh, Janet Fielding, you amuse me greatly. They really weren't keen on this story, were they?
The plot was slight to nonexistant, which was a bit of a shame. I was expecting it to be more twisty and, well, mysterious given that it keeps being described as a "murder mystery". If even someone as dense about plot as I can be works out who the killer is pretty much straight away, that's a bad sign. And having got us to accept the unlikelihood of Nyssa stumbling across an exact double of herself... not much is really done with it. Based on the "my mole let me show you it" scene I was expecting something along the lines of "Tegan has to prove that Ann isn't Nyssa," and not getting left the scene feeling like a damp squib rather than a clever play on the audience's expectations.
Also, it was a pity that everyone was so obviously freezing at the party! This story might have worked better as a murder mystery if it were entirely interiors, maybe, and without all the background guests, which destroy the claustrophobic atmosphere that it needed. Though I exepct it wouldn't have been practical to take up that much studio time just for one story. Obviously the cricket would still be outdoors though. I wouldn't want to ditch that.
Onto things I liked! All the little character moments were very nice. Tegan befriending Lord Robert and teaching him exciting new slang, the joy in her face when she's dancing. Nyssa being adorably serious and also getting to have some fun, too. Adric being rubbish at dancing and stuffing his face with food! I might well have done exactly the same in his place. The scene where Nyssa and Tegan are teasing him about it is very sweet; there's a lovely closeness between them here and I liked Adric's plaintive "but I haven't had any breakfast!" Oh and Adric's and Nyssa's bafflement at things like trains was great.
The idea of Team TARDIS landing somewhere where they get to have some fun for a change made me very happy (I may have had a big silly grin on my face for most of part one). OK, there was all that murder and stuff, but that didn't really kick off until part two, for the companions at least, and there was a whole load of cricket and dancing before we got to that.
I loved the way the tiny scenes where the Doctor wanders the corridors were interspersed with the dancing - *dancedancedance* / Doctor: Why must I always let my curiousity get the better of me? / *dancedancedance* / Doctor: If only I'd left after the cricket! / *dancedanceCHARLESTON* - it cracked me up.
Nyssa and Tegan's costumes were great!
I've only listened to the first episode commentary, but it was great fun: "Did you shave your chest for this, or are you just not very hairy?" [...] "Did you oil your chest?" Oh, Janet Fielding, you amuse me greatly. They really weren't keen on this story, were they?