In “A Town Called Mercy“, the Doctor and his companions face, amongst other things, a cyborg with an overdeveloped sense of justice and an artificial eye.
Hmm… Sci-Fi show, more on the goofy side but with serious moments, cyborg, artificial eye, overdeveloped sense of… ah, that’s right–Justice. From season four of Red Dwarf:
Totally the other eye, though.
And the setting had a feel similar to Gunmen Of The Apocalypse. Needed more Kryten though
Everything’s better with more Kryten.
I thought the new Doctor Who was about 90% about deja vu, especially internally. 1-5% about really ridiculous current cultural references.
More Kryten would help.
There’s very little (if anything) that’s truly 100% original with no inspirations / connections / borrowing / parallels to be found… I enjoy new variations in competent presentation of ideas, regardless. :)
It reminded me of a silly movie that we watched recently – Cowboys and Aliens.
Dr. Who did it better…..
My goodness, if *I* had to rely only on original ideas and forms, I’d shut this place down a year ago! (ok, well, at this point it would take a TARDIS to do that, but I’m willing to go that extra mile)
Also reminiscent of the Borg in Star Trek (TNG, etc). Except for the justice thing. But definitely the eye.
NO SPOILERS PLEASE!
Use rot13 code :
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to hide ’em if you must mention, please.
***
Still think the best SF artificial eye is G’Kars!
Needed more Kryten though
Or more cow bell!
KRYTEN: “He’s an android. His brain could not handle the concept of there being no silicon heaven.”
LISTER: “So how come yours can?”
KRYTEN: “Because I knew something he didn’t.”
LISTER: “What?”
KRYTEN: “I knew that I was lying. Seriously, sir. ‘No silicon heaven’? Where would all of the calculators go?”
Loved the episode, but one thing really bugged me…
Cyborg alien bent on revenge follows his sadistic creator to Earth and holds a town hostage until he can kill him. Cyborg alien, despite having an obviously glowing energy gun for an arm and a clearly mechanical eye, determines it necessary to don a stetson.
Yes, I know they’re cool, but seriously?
Anyway, bit of Dalek poetry I scribbled up a while ago, just for Who:
Are double hearts a-beating swift
As they dream about their fate?
With no time left, the balance shift,
You are Time Lords! Exterminate!
Where are your earbuds mind control?
Where is your army so prostrate?
Five million strong is pest control!
You are Cybermen! Exterminate!
Where is your TARDIS, box and blue,
Where is your female mate?
Where is your sonic screwdriver?
You are the Doctor! Exterminate!
Where is your shielded exo-shell,
Your heat gun full of hate?
Where is your eyestalk? Scanner arm?
You are not Dalek! Exterminate!
Re: the Stetson–good point. But there must be something more to it–perhaps the shade of the wide brim–if it was only the coolness factor, it should have been a fez.
There were also homages to several westerns (of course) but the ones that came to mind off the top of my head were High Noon (the shot of the tower clock) and a bit of a nod to the old spaghetti westerns of Clint Eastwood (yes, kind of obvious, but that’s the way it is sometimes).
What I didn’t get was the line of rocks and sticks that somehow kept the cyborg out. My sense was that the cyborg had a sense of honor, even if he was a killer. (Rather like Eastwood’s Man With No Name).
I just assumed they wear stetsons, waistcoats, pince-nez, serapes, etc on whatever planet he’s from, and Doctor Space-Mengele chose the wild west as his landing point because his clothes would fit in.
The fence didn’t keep him out any more than it kept them in. It was symbolic of his desire to only kill the one criminal he was after instead of a bunch of innocent townsfolk.
ps – I HATE the way WordPress demands I log in and loses my comment in the process.
Also – why the hell did WordPress change my username?
I don’t know! It may be a new plug-in we are using because of some recent attacks–people assuming other people’s identities, that sort of thing.
Wonder if it was an homage to both Kryten and Crichton. Hard to believe coincidences like that are involuntary. I also hope I was not alone in instantly recognizing Ben Browder.
He reminded me more of a mash-up between Kryten and the Inquisitor. :)
I didn’t notice the Kryten/Crichton reference though, assuming the whole Red Dwarf-ish thing was intentional. :p
I have not been a big Dr. Who fan although I watched a little of the original series… what is it now… 30 years ago? But, the ‘borg picture reminded me of Mad Eye Moody.