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November 8, 2014 at 9:19 pm (This post was last modified: November 8, 2014 at 9:23 pm by Cyberman.)
I echo the above sentiments, for the most part.
The Cybermen were a massive disappointment, I'm afraid. Here we had literally the largest Cyber army in the series' history - and they didn't do anything. Yes, they tore the plane apart; yes, they burned up the clouds. However that last thing could have been done by any old MacGuffin. Here, it was simply a way to remove both major threats in a single, literal, bound. That's what the Cybermen have become - a MacGuffin, on the level of Captain Kirk getting locked in a cupboard until the plot needed to dust him off to save Picard's arse in ST: Generations. And what about all the unactivated Cybermen still in their graves? It was explicitly mentioned that they wern't all hatching at once. Taking bets now on how many stories go by without ever referencing them.
If I had to re-plot it, I'd have had the newly-hatched Cybermen emerge as any human who suddenly found they'd returned to life would - confused, perhaps sad, longing to be with their loved ones, etc, similar to Danny's Cyber-resurrection. Ultimately they'd be totally horrified at what they'd become and with the Master's plans that they turn against her of their own volition. Earth is then left to come to terms with the influx of resurrected dead and integrate them into society (think Torchwood: Miracle Day). Something like that, anyway.
While I did enjoy Michelle Gomez's performance in Dark Water, here she was just goofing for the sake of it. There was just about the right amount of a sinister edge beneath the surface, though. Pity it didn't show through often enough. And I was truly shocked and upset by poor Osgood's death. It was so unnecessary and very poignant, both in the way it was handled and also from an historical angle - it's possible she was related to Sergeant Osgood, from The Daemons (she was clearly modelled on that character). And what the hell kind of drugs were those soldiers on, who were supposed to be guarding Missy? I know they were only extras, but they didn't even move after their prisoner was clearly free, let alone threatening to kill everyone.
I enjoyed the little touches - the Chaplet funeral parlour, the Brig's portrait à la Battlefield, plus the very intriguing (and also poignant) 'cameo' at the end. Rather ironic that he should end up as a Cyberman, seeing how his first (televised) job as Brigadier was battling their Invasion army - the same story that originated the other iconic nods in this two-parter.
I agree that the whole subplot with the little boy was simply handwaved. In fact, that whole storyline seemed like badly tacked-on filler. If they needed a reason for Danny not to be able to be resurrected, why even raise that possibility at all? Especially if you're not going to do anything with it. I think I smell an Army of Ghosts/Doomsday trick coming up at some point, where we had characters leaping in and out of Pete's World after it was declared impossible to do so.
I also liked the whole 'pretending everything's fine but really my heart's breaking' stuff in the café at the end. Unfortunately as an emotional moment it was undermined by the whole Father Christmas routine. It's about time Nick Frost appeared in the series though. I just hope it won't be too silly.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
