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nwhyte's review
4.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3792884.html
It's not my favourite story, but Myles successfully persuades me that there is quite a lot going on here, with chapters on:
* the opening titles, which have a unique-for-Old-Who pre-title sequence and a musical sting for the words "OF DEATH";
* the triple Doctor/Brigadier/Liz dynamic;
* the Doctor/Brigadier relationship;
* the Doctor/Liz relationship;
* the villainy or not of the three main guest characters, Reegan, Cornish and Carrington;
* the fact that there are no women apart from Liz;
* the problem of UNIT;
* fictional and real British space programmes;
* class divisions, especially Sir James Quinlan;
* the problem of the Ambassadors themselves;
* the problem of the absent TARDIS (though actually this does explain for me the silly time-travel bit in the first episode);
* the CSO special effects;
* the genre shading into spy adventure and crime-fighting;
* a note on Quatermass;
* a conclusion. "Ambassadors has been my favourite of season seven since I first watched it, and putting it under such close scrutiny has only increased my admiration and love for it. It’s a complicated, nuanced story that explores humanity’s conflicted, messy reactions to the unknown, and comes down firmly on the side of patience, knowledge, curiosity and trust."
As is probably clear, I don't go all the way with Myles on this - the internal inconsistencies annoy me too much - but it's still nice to read someone else's appreciation, even for something I don't like as much as she does.
It's not my favourite story, but Myles successfully persuades me that there is quite a lot going on here, with chapters on:
* the opening titles, which have a unique-for-Old-Who pre-title sequence and a musical sting for the words "OF DEATH";
* the triple Doctor/Brigadier/Liz dynamic;
* the Doctor/Brigadier relationship;
* the Doctor/Liz relationship;
* the villainy or not of the three main guest characters, Reegan, Cornish and Carrington;
* the fact that there are no women apart from Liz;
* the problem of UNIT;
* fictional and real British space programmes;
* class divisions, especially Sir James Quinlan;
* the problem of the Ambassadors themselves;
* the problem of the absent TARDIS (though actually this does explain for me the silly time-travel bit in the first episode);
* the CSO special effects;
* the genre shading into spy adventure and crime-fighting;
* a note on Quatermass;
* a conclusion. "Ambassadors has been my favourite of season seven since I first watched it, and putting it under such close scrutiny has only increased my admiration and love for it. It’s a complicated, nuanced story that explores humanity’s conflicted, messy reactions to the unknown, and comes down firmly on the side of patience, knowledge, curiosity and trust."
As is probably clear, I don't go all the way with Myles on this - the internal inconsistencies annoy me too much - but it's still nice to read someone else's appreciation, even for something I don't like as much as she does.
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