Doctor Who: The Story That Almost Was

So I just finished watching "The Almost People." I know this must disqualify me from being a true fan, but ever since my publishing class, I'm reluctant to download something illegally.

No wait.

That bit's a lie to make me seem more respectable.

I actually just got tired of seeing my favorite telly cancelled for lack of viewership.

So I try to keep it all right and proper, straight and narrow, all on the level, as they say.

So, in general, I don't like reviewing double-parters (or, as in this instance, tri-parters) -- because it's just not fair to judge something without all the facts.

But I have to say, this arc with The Gangers -- just did not do it for me.

At all.

Character development was so, so shoddy. First Jen (both flesh and genetic) is a sweet girl, and then she turns into a genocidal maniac. Then into a weird, creepy-ass spider thing?

I don't know. It was like. Nuance is too hard! Let's go for monstrous instead!

Just. No.

That was boring.

And then don't even get me started on Miranda.

It's so boring having all these people yelling for someone to die. I mean, I know it happens in real life all the time, but story-telling is a chance to really delve and see why people get all rabid at the mouth for a good old fashioned genocide in the park.

And then her random change of heart? Because she's dying from a clot?

Say what?

So. Let's talk about Amy.

Amy. The Almost Person.

But, the entire episode has been about how the Almost People are actually People.

So -- why did the Doctor disintegrate her?

And the look on her face when Rory leaves her. That was. Heartbreaking.

And it seemed so unlike Rory to leave Amy -- flesh or genetic. I just.

Hmmmm.

That bothered me. It really, really bothered me.

And I'm trying to figure out how the Silence fit into everything -- but maybe that'll be explained in the finale. Which, yes, I'm waiting a week unless my will crumbles.

But, right now, I just can't help but wonder if Moffat has stumbled into a classic story-crafting blunder:

Trying to be astonishing in all the wrong ways.

Finding out that someone isn't who you thought they were isn't astonishing.

People encounter that every day of their lives.

And, I'm sorry, but the main anxiety regarding The Gangers wasn't moralistic -- wasn't, who's more human, who's more of a person -- it was

Who gets to be the boy's father?

Now, good fiction doesn't attempt to answer hard questions. It just proposes them.

Doctor Who answered that question by tidying everything up all nice and pretty. Gangers and humans survive --

but there is not a double to be seen to ask that terrible question because Jimmy and Miranda and the other one are dead, they're all dead.

And the Doctor destroys Amelia Pond, the Flesh.

There will be no one asking:

Who is the baby's mother -- and wouldn't that have been interesting, Amelia Pond, pregnant and not pregnant on the deck of the TARDIS, experiencing the labor and pain of birthing a baby she doesn't even have in her womb --

Who is the Doctor's companion --

Who is Rory's partner --

because she's gone.

And so, I am disappointed.

But not with Matt Smith. Because he bouncing back between Time Lord and Flesh was fantastic.

Regarding Moffat and Doctor Who

I don't really have anything to say about the latest two episodes of Doctor Who -- the pirate one, Gaiman one -- other than I thought that they were fun, and that I enjoyed them immensely (Gaiman's more so than the pirate one, obviously).

I suppose they were both a break from the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey puzzles of Moffat's openers, and that was nice.

Seeing the Tardis in a human body with a human mouth speaking with a voice was beautiful.

Seeing the Doctor bite his fingernails when Rory died (again) was poignant.

Seeing the Doctor so sad, oh so sad, when the Tardis had to leave that human body and him trying to deal with his grief in his little swing has he tinkers with the Tardis and then the closing scene as he asks the Tardis if she's there and the lever goes down in response was so beautiful and so sad that there really aren't words, no not really.

And the idea about how the word "alive" is such a sad word was brilliant and unexpected (I knew Gaiman would never go for the cliche "love" but I couldn't think of what word the Tardis could possibly mean, but then of course, it was revealed and it was beautiful and real and oh so sad yet satisfying).

The Tardis demanding to see her thief and then explaining how she stole him because she wanted to see the Universe was glorious.

I watch Doctor Who for those moments.

But, beautiful and emotionally satisfying as they are, they do not proper blog entries make. Or perhaps, too much was going on at the time when I watched them and I just had to enjoy them and move on, instead of prying them open and taking out all their little parts.

But watching and enjoying the small tastes of fan reaction that I allow myself (I refuse to do more than dabble my toes so as not to get burned out -- and also, time restraints) has given me some thoughts over which to percolate.

I've been thinking more about some of the fan complaints about Moffat telling the same story and to tell something different please:

Creepy Children (Are-You-My-Mummy boy <-> Time-Lord-Girl)
Visual Centric Monsters (Angels <-> Silence)
Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey
Something that Appears to Be Evil But Is Actually Trying To Do Good (Pirate, 9's story line in World War II)

I think there are others, but I can't remember them.

I don't actually mind the similarities between the Angels and the Silence. I think they're different enough that it doesn't matter. That's like complaining that the Daleks and the Cybermen are too similar because they're both for genocide in order to promote a master race while completely ignoring their more nuanced differences. It just doesn't bother me because in real life, sentient beings and animals have similar drives.

The only difference between a very hungry tiger with a taste for human flesh and a killer bacteria is that one is more tangible the other. A tiger can be shot. One knows how to kill a tiger. One can also run away from a Tiger.

But, if the bacteria is a nasty one, you might not even know you're sick until it's too late to be cured.

Either way, if all else fails, you still end up dead.

That's how I see the difference between the Angels and the Silence. I, personally, find the Silence to be far more discomfiting than the Angels. I find them to be more complex too.

The Angels seem to be more or less your typical predators (like tigers). It's hard to hate them (for me) because they're just doing what all organisms need to do: eat. I can't fault them for that (which doesn't necessarily mean that I'll just let them eat me, no sir).

But what about the Silence? Their motives don't seem to be driven by a primal need for survival. What do they want? How many of them are there in the Universe? More than the ones on Earth, for sure, since the Fish-Vampire in Venice saw them, apparently - but then that also raises the question of how she remembered them etc.

So, I'll take the Angels and the Silence over the Daleks and the Cybermen any day of the week. In fact, I wouldn't be bothered if there was a long, healthy break before their next reappearance (unless it's something subversive).

I don't mind Moffat playing with time travel in more than a Oh-Let's-Go-to-the-Past-or-Future sort of way. I will admit, I am not a fan of the time-loops that are the effect of their cause (last episode of season 5). But I'll forgive it (like I did with Fringe) if the characters are strong enough.

Plots are dimes a dozen, after all. It's the people that count.

Creepy children. I think that the Time-Lord-Girl and the Are-You-My-Mummy boy are hardly comparable. Of course, they're children, and they're both locked up in a "mask" of some sort. And they're both rather mysterious and don't make sense.

But otherwise, no, I don't think so (I may re-evaluate my position once the story is complete, of course).

I think that the Are-You-My-Mummy boy was an excellent vehicle to explore some good old fashioned social commentary, particularly the stigma of teen mothers, in a certain time and place that is still culturally relevant today. But to be honest, I don't really see any of that with the Time-Lord-Girl, who has the possibility to be so much more (though hopefully she does not function as a mere device a la the Golux).

And let's be honest: creepy children is a time honored trope. It just depends on what the writer does with it. In my opinion, the trope was subverted in the first series of New Who. As for the Time-Lord-Girl -- well. It's too early to say.

The only one I haven't really talked about is the theme that Bad Things Aren't Really Bad Just Mistaken. I don't mind this because the idea of a Bad Thing Doing a Bad Thing Because It's a Bad Thing is boring and simplistic and utterly lacking nuance. And, despite the Pirate's episode similarity to the Doctor Dances, they're not the same story.

Though it's been a while since I've seen 9's story, I recall it as more plot-centric. Sure, we meet Captain Jack, but I can't really think of any dynamic changes going on character wise (for either the main ones or the secondary ones, save for Captain Jack). This isn't to say that there weren't great character moments -- because there were -- but it just seemed very plot centric (though not all Plot, obviously).

On the other hand, the Pirate episode was social commentary slapping superstition in the face. And, I really like that because, even today, people are more willing to attribute something they don't understand to some kind of Nebulous Supernatural Force rather than poking it with a stick and finding out what's going on. So yes, more knowledge > superstition please! I also think it worth noting that this kind of commentary was absent from 9's story in season 1.

I also think that there were some interesting character insights in the Pirate episode that also serve to differentiate and individualize the similar thematic elements -- for example, the Doctor and the Captain. Both wanderers, but having made different choices in their lives.

And even Rory and Amy had some insights as well -- even though Rory died again and haven't we seen this before, tash-take-it?

Well. Yes. We have. Except we haven't.

When Rory first died in the Dream-Lord episode, Amy became very Shakespearian in that she would rather be dead than not to have Rory in her life. Very romantic and all that rot, but not especially helpful. Too Romeo and Juliet for my tastes.

Which is okay, because I think it shows Amy's emotional state -- she's childish. Not quite grown up yet, maturity wise.

The second time Rory dies, Amy can't do anything but weep. And try not to forget him. She is crippled with grief, a greater grief without the small hope that this world is a dream and that they can wake up and everybody can live again.

The other times Rory has "died" doesn't count, I think, because Rory didn't die -- no not really because it was either Mind Games or Red Herrings or Let's Pretend, but, in the end, he was never actually, tangibly dead.

Though, in Gaiman's episode I thought it an interesting dynamic. I don't remember where I read it, but I do agree with the interpretation that Rory's "death" in The Doctor's Wife is more of an insight into Amy's emotional state regarding all the sacrifices that Rory has made for her. Which gives her more depth and dimension.

But, in the Pirate episode, when Rory is drowned and dead again, Amy doesn't react the same way. She's afraid and she's sad but she's pro-active in that she's not crippled with grief, she's not going to kill herself.

For the first time, she takes real action to save Rory. And of course, that has a lot to do with the circumstances of the death -- how exactly does one become proactive when Rory is shot/being-erased-from-existence, after all?

But I still think that the tenor of her emotional reaction is more grown up. More mature. And I like to see that kind of growth in people. And so, even though it is the same, it is still different.

Of course, this is why it's hard being a writer. There are only a few plots in this world (I think it was Asimov who said there were only three), which is why I don't really bother with them when I determine if I like something or not. Moffat does seem to have some familiar themes with which he revisits again and again, but in my mind, he holds them in different lights, exploring them in different ways.

Familiar is not always bad, just as long as it's not stale. And of course, there is the debate of the responsibility of author and reader. Creation is so subjective. Another person's stale is someone else's revelation.

I don't think Moffat has reached that point but, to be honest, it's a little hard to judge when series 5 and series 6 are so obviously halves of the same story. So really, it depends on how season 6 turns out, I think.

And I'm patient enough to wait. I love the Doctor and I love Rory and I love Amy.

I just want to see them live their fantastic, extraordinary lives.

Doctor Who: Love a Tomb [Spoilers]

The more I think about this episode, the more I think it's pretending to answer a lot of question but not really.

For example, how on bloody earth did they get from the Warehouse situation to Canton pretending to hunt them down? Or from the Doctor telling Canton to look behind him at the Silence (what a rubbishy name) to having the Doctor all chained up?



With a rubbishy beard and a self satisfied little smirk, completely cool and collected and charismatic in the face of anything.

And where exactly did they get the materials to build the knock-off Pandorica? And when exactly did the Doctor and Canton have time to cook up this plan? And how did they get the TARDIS into Area 51? And where is Future!Eleven's TARDIS?

Shit has happened in that warehouse and now we're going to have to wait to figure out what, exactly, happened.

Bollucks.

Just amp up the anticipation and the suspense why don't you.

Though, I have to admit, when "three months later" scrolled down at the bottom and it showed Amy running



the first thing that popped into my head THANK THE TARDIS THERE IS NO BABY BUMP.

And I was very happy. And then Amy was like oh I was mistaken and I was even happier.

Even though I think the Silence is a bollucksy name for them, I do admit that they work fantastically as television monsters. I mean, I don't think their effect would be quite the same in like a novel.

As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye or creaking in your house or breathing under your bed or voices through a wall.

Oooo. Shivers.

But this scene here, with Amy, in the orphanage? Chills when I watched it. Chills.



First, everything is fine. Creepy, but fine.



Hands! Oh my god! And then the very next frame:



!!!!!

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE

And of course, the weather doesn't help a bit: it was a dark and stormy night. Oooooo.

Though, this entire orphanage scene also raises more questions than it actually answers.

A). Where did Amy actually get the pen? In the beginning, the episode always showed a pen dangling from their necks. But there is no pen anywhere on Amy's person that I noticed -- just a flashlight. So, who marked her up -- or was it just a continuity error?

B). If the pen-less-ness was just a continuity error, then why would Amy mark up her face? That just seems like it would be awkward and unnatural because it would be even harder to see the tally marks (no peripheral). But then Rory was all marked up on his face too, so maybe I'm just overanalyzing it. The marked up faces are more compelling than arms and hands -- but I'd still like a reason. /pout.

C). And what happened in the lost time? Something significant or Amy just counting how many of the creepy Silence are haunting the "orphanage" (if it's even still a real orphanage, herrrumph)?

And who is this woman?



Who's dreaming and what's the dream -- though, to be honest, I'm hoping it's not something similar to what happened in the Library episodes.

Still. I'm going to guess there's a perception filter at work here. I bet that bedroom wasn't even real.

I hope not because there's this:



It's like -- ah, can't get away from the pregnancy! But, the closing scenes, the one where it showed the bio scan oscillating from negative to positive gives me hope that a) there won't be a pregnancy period or b) even if there is a pregnancy, there'll be a rousing good story behind it which will hopefully be ultra light on the soap opera aspects so many of these arcs tend to take. (And apparently, the tumblr-verse is calling it Schrodinger's Uterus, which kinda made me smile, I admit it.)



I adore the framing of this scene, just fyi.

I love Rory. What a beautiful man.

Rory: She can always hear me, Doctor. Always. Wherever she is, and she always knows that I am coming for her, do you understand me. Always.

Amy: Doctor, are you there, can you hear me? Doctor -- oh god. Please, please just get me out of this.

Rory: He's coming, I'll bring him I swear.

I love how the show still highlights Rory's insecurities, but how it never dwindles into some machismo bullshit. How, even when he's not sure whom Amy loves in that one scene, it seems like his love for her transcends the territorial, melodramatic relationship patterns that is so stereotypical of so many shows these days.

And that's so, so beautiful. (Though, now that it's established that Amy loves Rory, I hope the show won't keep on pointing it out to the viewers, no matter how sweet it is.)

And I love this weird, little, simple, beautiful relationship that is beginning to form between the Doctor and Rory.

Especially when they talked about Rory as a roman in more than an off-the-cuff sort of joke:

Rory: Rome fell.
Doctor: I know, I was there.
Rory: So was I.
Doctor: Do you ever remember it? 2000 years, waiting for Amy - the last centurion?
Rory: No.
Doctor: You're lying.
Rory: Of course I am.
Doctor: Of course you are. Not the sort of thing one forgets.
Rory: But I don't remember it all the time.

And in this moment, Rory becomes more than the boy who waited for Amy all those years, but he becomes someone more -- it's acknowledged (understatedly, which are the best kind of statements), that Rory is, technically, older than the Doctor. That he is, in some ways, equal to the Doctor -- and yet, in many ways, not because he doesn't remember it all the time, unlike the Doctor. But, I thought this would be an interesting aspect to have in the companions (because Amy isn't typical either, what with the whole of time pouring through her head growing up) and I wasn't sure if it'd be ignored or what -- but, here it is. And it's so lovely.

And it's part of what makes this relationship between Eleven and Rory so endearing that I can't even describe it -- it just, made my heart melt whenever I saw him interact with Rory, how he sort of looked at them out of the corner of his eye when they were kissing their I-love-yous. It was just.

That's true love, there. In all its forms.

River: My old fella didn't see that did he? He gets ever so cross.
Rory: So, what kind of doctor are you?
River: Archeology. Love a tomb.

Oh, River Song. You are cooler than the sum of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft put together.

Also? Why don't Americans use the word "cross" more often? What a lovable word.

And the Doctor's description of her:

This is my friend River. Nice hair. Clever. Has her own gun. And unlike me she doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that, kinda do a bit.

Aw. Excuse me, I'm going to go melt into a puddle of goo at their little relationship/flirty/type-thing they've got going on.

I suppose it'd be a rubbishy sort of review/musing/squee-fest if I didn't talk about the girl, the nameless girl, the Time-Lord-Girl:



Couple thoughts:

1). The girl is the "honour" that the Silence spoke of to Amy, maybe? ("We do you honour. You will bring the Silence. But your part will soon be over.") Except a pregnancy isn't exactly "soon," unless they were planning to go all Fringe-y on her.

2). The girl is out of time -- because of the photo Amy found. So, how did she get into the time she is now? With the knock-off TARDIS? But why would the Silence need a space suit if they had the technology to make a knock-off TARDIS?

3). Speaking of the life-supported Space Suit, perhaps the girl needs it to live -- which is why she is dying six months later. But why would it take her six months to die if she needed the suit to live? And if she needed the suit to live, why would she just regenerate? Unless the process would fix why she was dying or why she needed the suit in the first place? If something happened in the six months, then what and why weren't the readers privy to it. *grumble (but only the good kind of grumble)* I also noticed that with the three months later notation at the beginning of the episode + the six months later at the end = nine months, which is always a significant number because of the whole birthing metaphor-imagery-thing at work. Balls.

Doctor: Incredibly strong and running away -- I like her.

(aside, I do like that the show isn't always gung-ho about its heroes having to be strong and bold and facing whatever's coming with squared shoulders and what-not; it doesn't mind celebrating the Trickster nature of the hero, and that I love.)

Misc. Thoughts

I love how the show establishes how Nixon became so paranoid (record everything!) which basically is a fan-fictiony explanation for Watergate:

Doctor: Oh, Dickie. Tricky Dickie. They’re never going to forget you.

Oh, excuse me while I giggle.

Also, I wasn't really expecting this:

President: This person you want to marry. Black?
Canton: Yes.
President: I know what people think of me, but perhaps I'm a little more liberal --
Canton: He is.

And, despite the Doctor's wishes, it still hasn't happened yet! Hello, Social Commentary. And they science fiction isn't relevant. ;)

Also: Eleven and River kissing. I love how he doesn't know what to do. It's so adorkable. I just melted inside.

Doctor Who: Swearing on Fish Fingers and Custard since 2010 (spoilers)

Spoilers for The Impossible Astronaut below.

When I finished watching this the first time, I was incoherent and could only manage a Ten-like triple-what.

Second First Impressions

Before I go in depth, I don't really like blogging about two part episodes. They're evil with eviler cliffhangers and evil half-stories. So it's rather like trying to evaluate a book you haven't actually read yet, and I always feel like whatever I end up writing is just shallow, shallow, shallow. But here goes.

I was proud of myself for avoiding spoilers for the most part. Still, I was not expecting the sheer unpredictable-ness of the story itself.

The Doctor dying before the first ten minutes? What the heck. And for some reason, probably because of Mark Sheppard's affinity for villains, I was expecting Delaware III to be a bad guy -- but then he wasn't! I also wasn't expecting Rory and Amy to be keeping house together while the Doctor is swanning off in balloons, gadding about under lady's dresses, and generally having the most ridiculous adventures in the history of ever.

So yes. I felt like the beginning had put me all off center because I was expecting everyone to be in the TARDIS all nice and proper instead of. Well.

Separated.

So that was interesting and new. I mean, series 2 started with newly regenerated Ten and Rose. Series 3, 4, and 5 Rose is all gone, but at least the Doctor is still in his TARDIS, which is more than can be said for Future!Eleven -- because, where is Future!Eleven's TARDIS? I mean, don't get me wrong -- he looked quite dashing on the hood of his red car but it's not his transportation of choice...is it?

And he knew that Amy saw those creature-things. Could see it in his eyes. And he knew the astronaut was coming.

And the Impossible Astronaut is impossible not because it came from a lake, but because the astronaut is a child in a man's suit.

I'm guessing.

But really, the beginning and the rest of the episode really demonstrated Matt Smith's acting ability I thought. I kept on thinking as I was watching it the first time -- this is off. This isn't like proper Eleven. He's got a diary! Not even Ten started keeping a diary. And then he was always looking so old and sad.



And he tipped his hat -- got his tenses all wrong:

A lot more happens in 1969 than anyone remembers. Human beings. I thought I'd never get done saving you.

And of course a lot more happens because there's aliens buggering about that make people forget them if they're not looking at them! Then there's the parallel language that appeared in the first angel episode of the fifth season--except it was in the present tense, not the past: "I'll never be done saving you."

I doubt I'd have caught it on a first viewing if I hadn't spent most of yesterday evening and night having a Doctor Who marathon.

Character Development

Since this is the first time in the new series where all the people are the same (Eleven, Rory, and Amy), I was concerned that there'd be either stalled or ignored character development. But when Future!Eleven dies, Rory says,

There's a boat. If we're going to do this, let's do it properly.

And I can't really imagine pre-Roman Rory saying that at all. So it was nice that his character remained developed.

Then the bit in the TARDIS where Eleven is borderline paranoid about everybody and just wants to ship them off back home.



Conflict! Tension! Stakes!

And then, there was the look on River's face when he chose to trust Amy over her. Poor, poor River.

Her little monologue gave those episodes in the library new, emotional punch:

When I first met the doctor, a long long time ago, he knew about me. Think about that. Impressionable young girl, suddenly this man just drops out of the sky, and he's clever and mad and wonderful and knows every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl. Trouble is--it's all back to front. My past is his future. We're traveling in opposite directions. Every time we meet, I know him more, he knows me less. I live for the days that I see him. But I know that every time I do, we'll be one step further away. The day is coming when I'll look into that man's eyes - my doctor - and he won't have the slightest idea who I am. And I think it's going to kill me.

Which is just even more compounded by the look on Rory's face and how he's making these connections between River and Amy and my god.

Tragic.

I also can't help but wonder how Amy using a gun will change their relationship. It'll be interesting to see if the Writers-That-Be will mess with the usual Doctor/Companion relationship that has been sort of defined in the previous series, particular in season 4 with Donna and Ten, where she basically told him he needed a companion to keep himself human, to keep himself from going too far (in fact, "Turn Left" was basically an entire episode about the importance of the companions in the Doctor's life).

Now though -- it's Amy who's gone too far -- who is, in fact, acting a little bit like Ambrose from series 5 -- so, it'll be interesting how or how far they'll tweak the typical Doctor/Companion relationship in that respect (though I can't blame them if they don't decide to be ultra-bold with it...it is, after all, one of the most defining aspects of the show).

And what's character development without a bit parallelism?



Symmetry of the oh-my-god-i-thought-you-were-dead-but-you're-not-not-really-how-can-this-be-poke.

The Kid.

The first words we hear from the kid are:

I'm scared, Mr. President. I'm scared of the space man.

And of course everybody thinks the "space man" is the Impossible Astronaut that Killed our Beloved Eleven from the Future.

Eleven, who doesn't know about the astronaut-intent-upon-his-death, believes that the girl has told the president everything he needs to know, and he just isn't listening. Hmm.

But then it turns out that the kid is the astronaut -- unless the thing in the astronaut took her inside...but that seems an odd method of kidnapping.

I can't help but wonder if the Space Man is actually the Doctor. I mean, Donna was always calling him Space Boy. And why else would the astronaut kill the Doctor?

But that doesn't make any sense. The timing is all wrong because the child was talking on the phone to the president before the Doctor came, and the dialogue and actions don't match up if there were some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey moments at work.

So maybe it is just something similar to what happened in the library episodes...vashta-narade-like creatures eating people in space suits.

Cause and Effect, or, the Curse of the Headache-Inducing Nature of Time Travel

Okay. So. After the Doctor is killed but before they meet him in his-his present, they all agree that the Doctor wanted them to do something, that he still needed them. Then they seemed to agree, on the TARDIS, that they were going to save him.

But then River told Amy that they couldn't stop the astronaut in '69 because then the inciting event in 2011 wouldn't happen, thus creating a paradox.

I wonder, when Matt Smith decides it's time or whoever else decides, will keep this ending -- or if this will manage to re-write itself somehow, cause and effect be damned to davey jones locker.

Amy Pregnant

wut.

See that. I'm so disappointed I can't even bother to spell my indignation properly.

Dear yoda help us, I swear to god. What is up with the pregnancy storylines? I mean -- Fringe, Stargate, ergh! BIRTH CONTROL people.

I'm hoping it's not going to be /just/ a pregnancy storyline. I'm hoping it's not going to incredibly dull and melodramatic, like these things typically are. I'm hoping she's not pregnant at all, though she seemed rather certain (I'm hoping that since River and Amy were both sick after seeing the monstery forget-me aliens, she's just...assuming she is). I can't really imagine Rory not being more protective of her if she was...he seems to be the type (but in an adorable kind of way).

Unless he doesn't know either.

Grr.

Assorted Bits of Awesome

You know, the Future!Eleven prologues his upcoming death, funeral, and wake with this:

I've been running. Faster than I've ever run. And I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop. And tonight, I'm going to need you all with me.

When I heard it in the trailer, I thought it was a bit generic. I mean, the Doctor running (running, in and of itself, in its various contexts and definitions) is -- pardon the pun -- a running theme in the show, but in context with the entire episode, this sounds rather specific. I wonder if the show is going to dip into some Classic Who.

These are the times when I curse my continued procrastination to watch Classic Who.

Geek fail.

The forget-me-aliens -- when they first appeared, they seemed to be quite threatening. Imposing, even. But then, when River ran into them in those old tunnels, they reminded me of rats and that's not an imposing image at all (though, it was frightening how Rory and River would see them, and, though they're still literally gasping with terror, still say, all's clear and all's well and it's like oh-my-god).

Though that would explain why the Old Tunnels were old and nobody knew about them. I've bet the forget-me-aliens have been there for just as long, making everybody forget about them and the tunnels and their little knock-off Tardis.

I wonder if they built the one in "The Lodger" too...

I wonder why they're so interested in the Doctor and him knowing all the things he must and mustn't know.

The Doctor: [regarding the presidents]. Lovely fellows. Two of them fancied me.

That made me smile.

Delaware III: What's going on here?
Doctor: Nothing. She's just a friend.
Rory: I think he's talking about the possible alien incursion.

Falling in love/flirt, despite his trust issues.

It seems like, with the forget-me-aliens, memory is going to be another important theme, just like it was in last series. I wonder how they'll play with the idea in new and intriguing ways.



Beautiful and sad.

Doctor Who: Universally Recognized as a Mature and Responsible Adult ~ A Lie Too Big (finally)

So, unfortunately, I succumbed to reading io9's review of the Christmas Special before writing my own, but I've avoided others. But you know, I do think they were right when they said that this was probably the most fairy tale of the Moffat's Who.

And that is it's biggest problems, I think.

All the plot holes are all very fairy tale-ish. The mysterious, clock-work illness where, for some impossible reason, she only has 8 days to live scream magic, not science. Abigail wasn't a character at all - mostly just a plot device on par with the psychic paper and the screw driver in order to get Stuff Done like changing Sardick into a Nice Guy and being the tool to save all those people.

It wouldn't have been so bad if she had come up with the idea or even volunteered for it - but no. The Doctor thought of it, Sardic unlocked her, and she just goes off and does whatever it is they want her to.

She actually reminded me of a combination of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty - Snow White because she's essentially in a coffin posing as a freezer, already DOA (remember that old movie, where the guy's poisoned with a deadly, lethal substance with no known cure and has to find his killer even though he's already, like, dead?) and Sleeping Beauty because she never wakes up on her own. Oh no, she's gotta have men wake her up.

Fairy tales can be cool - and I didn't mind the fairy tale elements of the fifth series at all - but they usually are wanting when it comes to the treatment of female characters, and this is no exception. Of course, their insistence in clothing her in white, her constant angelic appearance, was also aggravating.

Even the magnificent Amy Pond had next to nothing to do.

However, after reading the monstrous Bleak House, I do think that it captured something very Dickensonian: the exploitation of poor people (just for the record, Dickens - like many other Victorians - was also a fan of women being Angels in the House, so yeah, Moffat got that spot on too).

I really liked how Gamdon portrayed Sardic - it was nuanced and complex. Still, I think the latter half of his character development was contrived, much how a lot of the plot was, I suppose. Meh.

I was really excited when I saw



Because Rory is awesome and an official companion!

And then he didn't do anything. Disappointed!

Though, I did like all the nods to Gaiman:



This reminded me of the fishies in Mirror Mask, and one mustn't forget Delirium's penchant for the little buggers too.

And at one point, the Doctor says, "Better a broken heart than no heart at all" which is similar to a line from theStardust film (can't remember if it was in the book).

This just makes me even more excited for The Awesome that is Gaiman.

I have to say (going back to the problematic fairy tale essences), that I found some of the dialogue delightful and annoying at the same time. For example, then they were talking about what to do when girls are crying, how the Doctor suggested talking about girls (and how it wasn't something he normally did, aww), the dangerous times combined with being boys - it was funny, and part of me enjoyed it (because Matt Smith is unendingly adorkable), but at the dame time it was just very gender-divided and I like my gender bended.


I know it sounds like I didn't enjoy it - even though I did on some sort of level. The frame of the story itself was sheer genius - they way Moffat took a well beloved Christmas story and changed it, made it science fiction and fairy tale while playing with ideas of change and time was great - but there needed to be more follow through. I thought the Doctor was brilliant - I fell in love with him all over again, and there were so many great lines there was no way I could possibly keep up with them all - but, at the same time, I honestly, think I would have enjoyed it more if it had focused on the idea that the Doctor had literally screwed with someone else's life without asking permission, which Sardic was not really pleased about at first - but these issues were never really addressed.

I guess such topics wouldn't be all warm, gooey, sugar-plumish enough for Christmas. :(

Hot Women in Science Fiction

One of the reasons I love Doctor Who is because it has a plethora of strong female characters. Such as Amy Pond:



Amelia - Amy - Pond. Newest companion to the Doctor. I liked her first off because she was so brave - even as a kid she wasn't put off by this mad raggedy doctor man. As an adult, she whacked him over the head with a cricket bat and then slammed his tie in a door! And I liked her because she thinks like the Doctor, which was demonstrated in episodes one and two (as evidenced the weird filming techniques). Brave and intelligent!

All that, of course, are only components of her most amazing quality: her self-assuredness. She's not afraid of her sexuality, which I really respect. I find it utterly refreshing that, though Amy is sexual (more so than the other companions I think, as evidenced by her snogging the Doctor and wanting to snog him later), it doesn't define her. She is so much more than the female companion/eye candy - she saves the day, she understands humanity in a way the Doctor can't because he's not human. She's bold and daring, insatiably curious (which isn't shown as a "bad" quality or fault -- ie, curiosity killed the cat, the Eve syndrome, etc).

From a slightly more English-Student point of view:

1. She's not a damsel in distress. As a woman, she's not there to be protected.

2. She's not the prop the big wigs use to say: Look at this cool woman who is so bad ass and not at all stereotypical. Let's make sure everybody gets it by having other characters (or even the female character herself) marvel how a woman could be so awesome (Butcher, I'm glaring at you). (I think the only show I've seen that actually pulled this off with any amount of success was Stargate SG-1, when Samantha said something along the lines of just because my genitals are on the inside than the outside doesn't make me less than any one of you or words to that affect.)

3. She's complicated. She's not just there to support the Doctor (though she does support him as he does her) - but she's on her own journey as well. She's grown as a character from the first episode to the last episode: in a nutshell, before she was running, and now she's not.

Like with Donna and Martha, the Doctor and Amy and even Rory are equally individuals and their relationship together fosters that instead of inhibits it. It's not like she has a gender role -- she's simply, beautifully herself.

Doctor Who: Fairy Tale From Space

I said at the end of the previous episode that I was going to be waiting for the Duckless Duck Ponds to appear.

And I think they did.

After all - in the first episode, the Doctor asks how Amy can know it's a duck pond if there are no ducks in them. And yet - Amy knows of the Doctor's existence even though there is no Doctor.

Beautiful really - the way the whole thing has been set up since the beginning - including the revisitation of my favorite scene from "Flesh and Stone" or how, even in that episode, the Doctor knew that a complicated time-space event such as himself would shut up the crack - and what does he do but go hurtling into the heart of the exploding TARDIS like a big damn hero.

This was a really big episode - I have so much to say that I'm not really quite sure where to begin exactly.

Fairy Tale or Science Fiction

I read an excellent blog entry the other day that really resonated with me (basically, the author concludes that Doctor Who is "A good fairytale"). And I agree - to a certain extent.

I've always considered Science Fiction to be an exploration of the soul - and I believe that Doctor Who, especially this season, has been all about that.

Except. There is one small problem with my definition of Science Fiction and that is that measure of quality should apply to all fiction, regardless of genre. I believe that Science Fiction is deeply more introspective than the typical fairy tale (not necessarily revisions of said fairy tales which, I think, is a sub genre all on its own but I could be wrong) - and I believe that Doctor Who fulfills this criteria as well. However, an introspective nature is not enough to make science fiction Science Fiction -- I think that a presence of technology is necessary to make science fiction SF, integral to the revelation of the human condition. To borrow the blog author's comparison, in BSG we have the idea of humanity presented in mechanic parts vs. organic parts, in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress we have the human condition acting out a what if question on the moon; in A Space Odyssey a mysterious obelisk provides commentary and a vision of humanity (along with some Romantic themes thrown in for good measure) -- when I was considering this, I realized that sure, Doctor Who's got a TARDIS and a nifty Golex sonic screwdriver, but technology doesn't often play a crucial role, or not as big a role as the stories listed above.

But the element is still there - the most striking of which was in "The Eleventh Hour" when the Doctor saved the day not with the usual futuristic what-if-we-had-this-sort-of-technology, but with technology we have right now. With a cellphone. A computer. The internet. This realization came to me in the shower - and it floored me.

We are really quite advanced -- we could do so much good -- we could be so magnificent.

More technology appeared in the second episode (along with a nursery rhyme - I love the folklore that threads its way through this series, absolutely glorious). A space ship exploiting a space whale - the relevance of this simple imagery is staggering and can be applied not only environmentally but to all sorts of things (humans exploiting nature, humans exploiting humans, and so on).

And those are the two major premises - I'm not counting Bracewell because - fairy tale.

So - what's my point? I think this series of Doctor Who is something new - I think it's both fairy tale and science fiction.

And honestly, I think that's what appeals to me so, so, so incredibly much with this Season of Doctor Who. It's Different. It's New.

(It's Blue.)

Fairy Tale Elements I Really Really Really Liked

Almost too obviously...



Rory. The boy who waited. And not even as a real boy - but as a plastic thing-gummy with delusions of humanity.

Oh Rory. My poor little Pinocchio given life by a good fairy. But Amy's better than any blue fairy, isn't she. Yeah.



Amy crying over the journal-Tardis was so evocative of Rapunzel for me. In the non-watered down tale, Rapunzel is cast from the tower and eventually finds her poor blinded Prince -- and Amy's "prince," Rory, is blind along with almost the entire Universe. They don't remember the Doctor. They don't realize how incredibly huge and fantastic and big the Universe really is. They don't really see.

And she weeps on that TARDIS, the air shakes with the sound of the universe and -- Rory remembers the Doctor. The wedding guests see that her imaginary friend was real and whole and brought back from memory into flesh.

Beautiful.

I liked the tweaked Creation Myth too:

River:The TARDIS is still burning - it's exploding at every point in history - if you threw the Pandorica into the explosion right into the heart of the fire - then let there be light.

I especially liked the juxtaposition of this idea of Judeo-Christian imagery with the idea of the Big Bang -- very cool.

Riversong

Dalek: Records indicate you will show mercy. You are an associate of the Doctor's.

River: I'm Riversong. Check your records again.

Dalek: Mercy.

River: Say it again.

Dalek: Mercy.

River: One more time.

Dalek: Merrrcccyyyy!

My god, Riversong! Who are you? What would make a dalek beg for mercy? Answers, Moffat, answers!

River: Rule One: the Doctor lies.

Rule 2: Riversong lies.

She told Amy that nobody would remember the Doctor (Amy, of course, having a crack in time on her wall, makes her an exception) -- but why did River remember the Doctor? And more to the point, how did she get to earth in that time without her time-vortex manipulator?

Yeah. I think she's cool as hell -- possibly one of the coolest women in all of the space-time continuum -- but I do not trust her. One bit.

Memory/the Big Reset

Memory's more powerful than you think - and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl -- grew up with a time crack in her wall, the universe pouring through her dreams every night.

I am not bothered that Amy was able to remember the Doctor back home. In fact, I believe that Moffat has been sleeping with some Vonnegut under his pillow. This idea of memory -- it reminds me so much of Tralfamadorian philosophy:

All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and once that moment is gone it is gone forever. - Kurt Vonnetgut, Slaughterhouse V

Moments of Amber.

To me, Amy remembering the Doctor back into existence is just an extension of this kind of philosophy, an abstract idea made flesh.

It also reminded me a lot of some of the Romantic or Modernist writers who believed that the mind - that memory - could recreate experiences (a la the Lime-Tree Bower my Prison and A Midsummer's Evening). Again, it seems Moffat's furthered this particular idea beyond the mind and into the universe.

Beautiful.

Meta Aspect

Funny -- I thought if you could hear me, I could hang on somehow. Silly, silly old Doctor. When you wake up, you'll have a mum and dad and you won't even remember me. Well, you'll remember me a little - I'll be a story in your head. That's okay. We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one eh - 'cause it was you know - it was the best! The daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away - did I ever tell you that I stole it? Well I borrowed it, I was always gonna take it back. Oh that box, Amy - you'll dream about that box. It'll never leave you - big and little at the same time. Brand new and ancient and the bluest blue ever. And the times we had, eh? Will had. Never had. In your dreams, they'll still be there. The Doctor and Amy Pond and the days that never came. I don't belong here anymore. I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind - I hate repeats. Live well - love Rory. Bye bye, Pond.

This quote just about broke my heart as a writer. Wouldn't it be amazing and tragic if all those stories we want to tell, those stories bubbling and percolating and brewing, just waiting to come out - had really happened to us, and now they're only barely remembered, a dim shadow of what Could Have Been but will now Never Be?

Or even when Amy is remembering the Doctor:

There's someone missing - someone important, someone so, so important. Sorry, sorry everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend. The Raggedy Doctor - my raggedy doctor - but he wasn't imaginary. He was real. I remember you! I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home too! Raggedy man, I remember you and you are late for my wedding! I found you - I found you in words like you knew I would. That why's you told me the story - the brand new, ancient blue box! Oh, clever, very clever.

Words. Stories. Language. The most powerful things in the universe.

Remarkable Moments



I really loved the use of art in this series. I know they weren't like major plot points or anything - but with the Van Gough episode (especially because of the Van Gough episode), they just seemed so appropriate - added that little touch of Something.

I love how Amelia slurped her drink in front of the Dalek. So irreverent.

And speaking of the museum --



I really, really liked the Doctor's handwriting. Bold, forward, strong.

Doctor: Me from the future. I've got a future - that's nice!

I really like Moffat's dialogue.

Rory is magnificent:

Doctor: All of creation has just been wiped from the sky - do you know how many lives now have never happened, all the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe.

[Rory punches the Doctor]

Rory: She is to me!

Doctor: HAHA! Welcome back RORY WILLIAMS!

Doctor: Why do you have to be so ...human?

Rory: Because right now I'm not.

*wibble*

Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue.

I love how Moffat plays with these traditional, folklore-ish things -- it's so...I just would never have thought to compare the TARDIS in such a way. Brilliant.

And, as Amy is clambering over the table (loved that, btw) - is Rory saying that he was plastic? I think that's awesome because, even though it's a reset, it's not really a character reset which is the absolute worst.

Amy: You may absolutely, definitely kiss the bride.

Doctor: Amelia - from now on I shall be leaving the kissing to the brand new Mr. Pond.

Rory: No, I'm not Mr. Pond - that's not how it works.

Doctor: Yes it is.

Rory: Yeah it is.

Besides the nice little nod to "Vampires of Venice," hello Gender-Bender alert.

And:

Oy! Where are you off to - we haven't even had a snog in the shrubbery yet.

I really like that, even though Amy's married, it's not like she can't acknowledge her attraction to other men -- while still not pidgeoning that kind of attraction into a romantic, let's-be-married-forever-and-ever kind of relationship. As I said back in "Amy's Choice," I like the new perceptions of friendship and family that seem to be at work here.

Also, when Amy entered the TARDIS first without Rory, I was terrified for a moment that Rory wouldn't be coming with her but then there he was - and I clapped and cheered because finally! Finally! he seems to be an official companion - providing even more new aspects to the show (I know that Classic Who has had more than one companion on occasion, but, besides that brief stint with Mickey, New Who hasn't so much), which will be fascinating and interesting and utterly lovely.

Doctor: Sorry, something's come up - this will have to be goodbye.

Amy: Yeah I think it's goodbye - do you think it's goodbye?

Rory: Definitely goodbye.

Amy: GOODBYE!

To days to come...

Doctor Who: Graffiting History One Cliff Face at a Time

I really, really liked that the beginning was about the episodes that seemed to have little to do with the Crack in the Skin of the Universe theme -- Vincent Van Gough, Bracewell and Churchill -- Liz 10, brilliant as always. And I'm the bloody queen.

What do they call that -- spunk?

And speaking of spunk -- and pure cheekiness -- what about Doctor Riversong?



(and what about that corset she was wearing when she stole the painting?)

I got a very Indiana Jones feel from her this time around -- only very much cooler. Seeing her in prison, putting micro-explosives in people's wines, not having an apparent qualm in purchasing a

A vortex manipulator - fresh off the wrist of a handsome time agent.

I'm pretty sure Riversong is a Slytherin -- if the Harry Potter 'verse and the Who-verse collided. But really! The poor Time Agent - I felt my latent desire to write fan fiction stir -- I need more time!

But what I really loved about this episode was its core theme of perception.

Even the hallucinogenic lipstick is all about perceptions - and I'm pretty sure I could add in some comment about how Riversong uses her sexuality to muddle things up a bit - but I love how she's so much more than that. A true adventurer.

But what about the big perception, the nice, juicy twist at the end of the episode.




I know last week I mentioned that there were rumors that the thing in the Pandorica was the Doctor because the way the Doctor described the thing inside seemed to be descriptive of the Doctor himself (or so people said).

I never really got that.

River: [The Pandorica] was built to contain the most feared thing in the Universe.

Doctor: And it's a fairy tale, a legend - it can't be real!

[. . .]

Doctor: If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history.

[. . .]

Doctor: There was a goblin or a trickster or a warrior - a nameless, terrible thing soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos - and nothing could stop it or hold it or reason with it. One day it would just drop down out of the sky and tear down your world.

Amy: How'd it end up in there?

Doctor: oh you know fairy tales - a good wizard tricked it.

Maybe it's because I haven't watched Classic Who - but I don't really get that sort of vibe from the New Who Doctor. Except for the fact that he's a trickster - he after all tricked the Daleks by threatening to blow up the TARDIS with a pastry (seems a bit ironic now). But a warrior? A thing that destroys worlds? I mean, the Doctor does has blood on his hands - but he usually attempts to help them (unless they're just downright nasty like daleks) first (I'm thinking of 9's Slitheen, 11's attempt to keep the Vampire-Fish lady from throwing herself into the water, etc).

I think that "Amy's Choice" really hinted at the darker bits of the Doctor rather nicely - and I don't think it matches the description of what he thought was in the Pandorica. Or even the second episode with the space whale - how he said he'd have to change his name from "Doctor" -- and doctors are the opposite of warriors. Anyway, I wasn't expecting to find the Doctor inside - one way or the other. So the twist was really surprising and jaw dropping for me and omg wtf-ery -- especially because of how it's playing with this idea of perception.

The Doctor and who we might consider the "good guys" might not think that the Doctor is a blood-soaked warrior -- but the people on the losing side would be more inclined to paint him differently, especially if they've been manipulated by the person who keeps on saying "Silence Will Fall."

(I also like how the Doctor's perceptions of his enemies blinded him to figuring out why they weren't just attacking him outright -- because, though I really enjoyed his speech and all -- Guess who! -- and generally thought it was brilliant, there was just no way they wouldn't blast him off that rock unless they had ulterior motives -- and, since I was thinking of these people as the typical big bads -- and hoping against hope we wouldn't have another shoot out like seasons 1, 2, and 4 -- I also didn't think they'd be working together.)

This depiction of the Doctor in different roles seems to be another ongoing theme. Vincent being even more intense than the Doctor, the Doctor living a domestic life as a lodger (positively nightmare-ish), the so-called Dream Lord -- it continues here by putting the Doctor as the most feared man of the cosmos and positing the Big Bad of the Season as the good guy/wizard (from a purely character based point of view of course). Gods, I love this exploration of character!

So who's the Good Wizard that out-tricked the trickster?

(May I take this moment to point out that if the Writers-That-Be wanted John Simms to reprise his role as the Master it would have been better to have brought him back for this story line rather than that ridiculous-let's-pretend-it-didn't-exist two part Christmas special that was just absurd and not in a good way. Also? It would have added a bit more irony since Ten wanted to lock him up in the TARDIS, nice safe and out of the way, though not quite so dramatic a statement as the Pandorica.)

But I honestly have no idea who the "Good Wizard" might be. But then again, I try not to predict stories - I feel it's sort of like those people who try to finish your sentences and sometimes they get it right but it's just annoying (especially since predictions come with pre-conceptions which can sort of miss out what the story might be saying - but that's just my personal opinion).

I'm pretty sure the Good Wizard is the voice that says "Silence will fall" - but then I'm not really sure why he's using the usual bad guys to lock the Doctor up safely out the way. They're doing it to save the universe from the cracks (some of which have silence on the other side from the vampire-fish-from-space episode), so why does he say that silence will fall in such a confident, prophetic manner unless he's using the cracks to manipulate the Daleks, Cybermen, and everybody else in order to gain other ends? If he knows that Riversong threw a stick in master scheme to keep the TARDIS from going kaplooie then why wouldn't he let her out if his intention was to stop the cracks and therefore the silence? I'm hoping this means there's going to be even more complexities to this already complex season. =}

Speaking of fairy tales -- the Pandorica, Amelia Pond, whose name is just a bit fairy tale -- perhaps the next episode will address duckless duck ponds?

And speaking of Amy - the perception of memory? And the return of --



RORY!

*Happy dance of glee!*

I had seen his name on IMDB before the first episode - but I had honestly thought he'd just return as a flashback of some sort.

I was so, so happy because I love Rory and his presence was more than I had expected.

I loved how it was a unpredictable reaction to his re-appearance both from the Doctor and from Amy.

Doctor: Romans! Good, I was just wishing for Romans. Good old River. How many?

Rory: 50 men up top, volunteers.

Doctor: 50 -- not exactly a legion.

Rory: your friend was very persuasive - but uh, it's a tough sell.

Doctor: Yes I know that Rory I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious but we need everything we can get. Okay! Cyberweapons! This is basically a sentry box - the headless wonder here was a century. Probably got himself duffed up by the locals - never underestimate a celt.

Rory: Doctor -

Doctor: Hush Rory -- thinking -- but leave a cyberman on guard unless its a cyberthing in the box but why lock up one of their own okay no not a cyber thing but what, what -- noooo missing something obvious Rory, something big something right slap in front of me -- I can feel it.

Rory: yeah I think you probably are.

Doctor: I'll get it in a minute. [pokes Rory] Hello again.

Rory: Hello

Doctor: How've you been?

Rory: Good. I mean, Roman.

Doctor: Rory! I'm not trying to be rude - but you died.

Rory: Yeah I know I was there.

Doctor: you died and you were erased from time you didn't just die you were never born at all you never - existed!

Rory: Erased, what does that mean?

Doctor: how can you be here?

Rory: Well -- I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy - well, I died and turned into a Roman - it's very distracting.

And then, and then - this heartbreaking explanation the Doctor provides Rory for his existence:

The universe is big - it's vast and complicated and ridiculous and sometimes, very rare, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. and that's a theory - in nine hundred years never seen one yet. but this would do me.

And it's not miraculous at all - it's just heartbreaking and sad and tragic because Rory's an Auton - a "thing" as he called it -- oh my god, poor Rory.

It makes this end even more tragic because there's no clapping of the hands and a sweet I do believe I'm human, I do, I do like there was with Bracewell.



Crying out, I'm Rory, I'm Rory! isn't enough - it just isn't. Amy remembering him isn't enough. The ring isn't enough.

Oh my poor Rory (is it just me, or are the companions having a rougher time than usual this season? Not that I mind, it's just so incredibly sad in a good way).

Other Remarkable Moments (though the whole episode was pretty much remarkable)



So he's seen the fragment of TARDIS, he's seen the painting - and he's still so excited to go poke something unknown and weird with a stick. I love it, I love his child like wonder...(I think Wordsworth would approve...)



I loved the way the Doctor used his hands in this episode - the thumbs up to danger, the exaggerated hand movement when he whispered to Rory, "how are you here," the multiple times he bopped his head with his sonic screwdriver. I really think the emotional tone they hit here with his body language and physical dialogue was just right -- the music when they dragged him to the Pandorica, his intense pleading (that didn't sound desperate or weak) combined with his tangible fear -- very good (and I liked they focused more on the less predictable emotions that would have been involved).

Amy: Oh I know. My favorite topic in school. Invasion of the Hot Italians. Yeah, I think I got marked down for the title.

As a future English teacher, I want to say that I wouldn't have marked her down for it (if the essay itself was good) but on the other hand, I could see why they would have marked her down for it...bloody school! Sucking all the fun out of everything. ;)

Doctor: That's a memory. Friend of mine, someone I lost. Would you -- mind? People fall out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces. Little things we can't quite account for: faces in photographs, luggage, half eaten meals -- rings. Nothing is ever forgotten not completely and if something can be remembered - it can come back.

More on the perception thing - very nice.

When you fight barbarians what must they think of you? Where do they think you come from? Where do I come from? Your world has visitors. You're all barbarians now. A fool would say the work of the gods - but you've been a soldier too long to believe there are gods watching over us.

I don't want to beat my hobby horse too much - but I do like this quote an awful lot.

Yeah it's just like being an organ donor only you're alive and sort of... screaming

Also? The Cybermen reached a new level of creepiness - my skin crawled when the face split down the middle, and then it crawled even more when it flapped it's little metal face-cupboards at Amy -- *shiver*

Rory, I'm sorry but you're going to have to be very brave now.

*sniffle sniffle*



Still -- if the Pandorica is a play on Pandora's Box - then, though Amy referred to it as holding all the "worst things in the world," there really was only one thing left in it when it was closed again -- Hope.

Oh, the different perceptions of Pandora's Box combined with the different perceptions of Doctor Who is very interesting.

Doctor Who: Triumph of the Sopha Man

First, the preliminaries:

1. I loved this episode because I thought Matt Smith was brilliant in it.
2. I hated this episode from a writerly perspective.

Spoilers beneath the fold:


The Mere Devices

• The Ear Piece.

So the episode opens with the TARDIS taking off without the Doctor. Awesome. Because what and who is the Doctor without the TARDIS - an idea that was kinda/sorta addressed in Blink but again the story wasn't really about the Doctor being without the TARDIS - and I believe that this would have been an interesting episode in which to develop that relationship more. Or am I just crazy for wanting that?

The audience is given hints that the Doctor is a bit off -- not just his delightfully bizarre behavior when he shows up as the Lodger, but in his apparent identity crisis:

I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor. Don't know why. I call me the Doctor too. [pause] Still don't know why.

or even

Call me the rotmeister. No I'm the Doctor don't call me the rotmeister.

and then an almost overzealous affirmation of his identity, as if he has to convince himself who he is:

Football player: We're going to annihilate them!

Doctor: Annihilate - no, no violence do you understand me not when I'm around not today not ever I'm the Doctor the oncoming storm and you basically meant beat them in a football match didn't you?

(Though I also think that last bit served dual purposes: poking a bit of fun at the life and death world in constant peril theme that weaves into the Doctor Who mythos -- showed up even in "The Lodger" because if he touched the thingamabob the solar system would go kaplooie; but I still think it also reveals a driving need to somehow reaffirm to himself that he is the Doctor.)

In my mind, this would be an interesting concept: TARDIS gone. Without the TARDIS, how can he be the Doctor? What about Amy? Oh my gods, how will he ever live his life again - will he be confined to a life of domesticity (as seen in "Amy's Choice") - a life which he described as a "nightmare?"

Instead, all that danger and tension is removed because of this:



This. Really. Irritated. Me.

Where did he get it? He tells Amy not to wreck his "new earpiece" - but where did he get it? And, more importantly, why did he have to have a new ear piece. It removes so much of the Danger aspect this episode had the potential to have. I felt cheated.

Instead of being completely separated from the TARDIS and Amy, he's still got a tenuous connection - which just...I mean, we already know it's going to work out alright in the end - why not just go all out and play with the idea of the Doctor being TARDISless for a while?

• The Non-technology Technology.

It's art! A statement on modern society! Oo! Ain't modern society awful.

(Despite my comments below, watching the Doctor do mad science with his suspenders looped off and wrists cuffs rolled up was very...nice in an oddly, adorkable, attractive sort of way.)

But that said - I just honestly didn't get the point of this contraption. No traces of technology, all too normal -- and then there's a wanna-be-tardis on the roof. Even if the sensor was boggled with the Perception Filter (or the Doctor's ability to read it right)...I don't know, it just seemed like an excuse to get Amy to look at the plans of the house (which sounded so Supernatural to me). Which isn't bad in and of itself - plot basically consists of cause and effect - but this felt a bit too...cheap to me.

• The Psychic Connections

(Kitty!!)

The Doctor was able to pull a Spock on Reinette, but being able to talk to cats? Has he ever talked to animals before (I haven't seen Classic Who so honestly don't know if it's truly out of character)? It's like the writers said, Oh the Doctor needs to find out that people go in but they never come out and since he hasn't observed this for himself we'll just have the cat tell him.

Uh huh.

Yeah, that really...no.

Personally, I think it would have been cooler and slightly more terrifying to have the people go upstairs-that's-not-upstairs for a spot of tea - the Doctor says hello, the rot grows, and then they never come down. Because then the audience would have been shown that and experience it with the Doctor instead of knowing what he doesn't know, precipitating the boring reading of the cat's mind scene to catch him up with the audience.

It's not that I don't like knowing something the protagonist doesn't know - I just find it boring when the character has to be "caught up" in a scene with a character telling another character what the audience already knows like a walking, talking billboard. It's not too bad when there's a Big Reveal about something the audience knew when there are different character dynamics at stake - intrigues and desires and so on and so forth.

But this was a cat.

It peeved me.

Plottable Inconsistencies

• What's in the Second Floor?

So, at the beginning of the episode, they thought they were on some moon or other. Then the TARDIS leaves the Doctor behind. Then somehow he knows that there's something stopping the TARDIS and that it's upstairs in that flat. But how does he figure all that out? Did he talk Amy through it with the ear piece? If so, why couldn't the audience have seen that too?

(I am aware that I watched this all hodgepodge and that I'm writing this review days after I've seen it instead of hours -- so I probably missed something -- enlighten me?)

• The Psychic Connection (again)
  

Reinette: intimate.
Kitty: sweet.
Craig: violent.

Wha?

The Theme

Earlier on the episode we have a scene that is a reprisal of the Being Best of Humanity scene in "The Hungry Earth" but only on a much smaller, but still relevant scale:

Doctor: Well perhaps that you then - perhaps you'll just have to stay here secure and a little bit miserable till the day you drop. Better than trying and failing eh?

Sophie: You think I failed.

Doctor: Oh everybody's got dreams, Sophie. Very few are going to achieve them so why pretend. Perhaps, in the whole wide universe, a call center is about where you should be.

Sophie: Why are you saying that -- that's horrible!

Doctor: Is it true?

Sophie: Of course it isn't true, I'm not staying in a call center all my life, I can do anything I want.

Doctor: It's a big old world, Sophie - work out what's really keeping you here, eh?

Perhaps, simply because of where I am in life right now, I really, really liked this little speech -- even if it was slightly cheesy (but I like cheese, so).

Earlier, we had this exchange between the Doctor and Craig after Craig said he wasn't much of a traveler:

I can tell from your sofa -- you're starting to look like it.

With just the tiniest bit of disapproval - of course, Craig and the Doctor are polar opposites: one travels the whole of space and time, and the other can't even see the point of London. Or Paris. Or anywhere without Sophie (which really, really irritates me -- he'd rather be a sofa than actually do something with his life -- to live it to its fullest potential).

And then he saves the day because he is "Mr. Sofa Man" - even after being inside the Doctor's head. An entire universe and not one bit of him wants to go and be magnificent? Not only that but Sophie -- the girl who was going to do something with her life -- decides to stay, give up her dreams (because she helped turn off the machine, meaning she no longer wanted to stay) because Craig loves her.

I hate that idea. Again - it may be just because I'm in a particularly bad spot with my own relationship and it's coloring my interpretation -- but still. It rubs me the wrong way. And even though Craig said that he could see the point of Paris with Sophie -- I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting.

The Problem with Amy

And no - not referring to the widening of the crack because of her ring. She had like - nothing to do in this episode. She was just -- there. Would have been much more exciting if, in the same way the Doctor had to deal with being without the TARDIS, she had to deal with learning how to fly the TARDIS.

Oh god. I cannot believe I am about to say this considering how much I really disliked Rose as a character but --

Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS. And then she flew that thing right back to the Doctor. Amy, on the other hand, is so much more amazing than Rose (imo) - and what does the audience get? Just her pulling the zig zag thing, generally telling the Doctor to hurry it up, and just being there. In the background. All static and boring. With the obligatory necessary piece of info towards the end, of course. No character development at all.

And towards the end, she asks the Doctor why he can't find her a fella - right after she told Van Gough that she wasn't the marrying type. Though it does solidify her relationship with the Doctor as a nonsexual, nonromantic one - which is nice.

The Good Bits

But, divorcing myself from the structural aspects of the story, I really did like this one.

For example, I liked that they continued the theme of putting the Doctor out of his element, which they also did in "Vincent and the Doctor."

I love the Doctor's absolute cluelessness:

Less of a young professional more of an -- ancient...amateur. But frankly, I'm an absolute dream.

Have some rent. That's probably quite a lot, isn't it. Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell. Don't spend it all on sweets, unless you like sweets. I like sweets.

My room? Oh yes, my room. My room. Take me to my room.

I believe this sort of thing enhances his alien-ness. Really, really well done. And not only his alienness, but they're also emphasizing more the fact that he's a Time Lord, which I don't recall being mentioned so often as it has been here:

Craig: Where did you learn to cook?

Doctor: Paris in the 18th century. No hang on. That's nto recent is it. 17th? No no no 20th. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order.

Craig: Has anybody ever told you you're a bit weird?

Doctor: They never really stop.

It just seems more time-lordy to me when they address the fact that he does experience time differently - which has been mentioned before, but never in such small, everyday ways (like the bit with Van Gough when he muses on how time passes normally...really slowly). It's just nice to have the different perspective on what we earthlings would consider normal. Makes him more three dimensional.

As always, I like how they continue to portray sexuality in the show:

Craig: [when Craig told the Doctor to shout] in case you'd want to bring someone round, a girlfriend or ... boyfriend...

Doctor: Oh I will - I'll shout if that happens.

They touched on this when he was 9 with Captain Jack (when Rose thought she should distract the guard when he was actually not into girls at all -- bit of a commentary on society's assumed hetero-as-the-norm perspectives) - but it was nice to see that it wasn't portrayed as weird or abnormal, sort of like how it is in Caprica. The Doctor doesn't care - he's more concerned with the shouting bit...and totally misunderstanding this earthly custom of which Craig is speaking.

And while I'm on the subject of sexuality, what about gender?



You know, usually it's women who are portrayed as those who nurse people back to health -- but here we have the Doctor doctoring and being heroic when those are roles usually reserved for two different people - one who is considered masculine and the other feminine. Really complicates and three dimensionalizes the Doctor as a person/character.

I love how smiley and child-like he was when he was jumping on the bed. :)



I think that 11 misses the brainy specs - first goggles, then snazzy shades that could see body heat, now this? Definitely.

Hello. Oops. Sorry. Don't worry I wasn't listening...just reconnecting all the elctrodes - it's a real mess. Where's the on switch for this?

Ah, 11, socially clueless as ever. =)



And the hair - the crazy hair, the madcap hair!

Yes. I did love Matt Smith's performance. I did fall even deeper in love with 11 than I had been before -- even though I still think it would be cooler if certain aspects of his character had been explored with more nuance and subtlety.

Which leaves me with the Perception Filter.

I didn't put it with the Plot Devices because I don't think it is one -- it does appear to be the recurring theme though, and I'm hoping that the finale episodes coming up will have something to do with perception, how people see things, that sort of thing.

All your life you live so close to truth it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye. And when something nudges it into outline, it's like being ambushed by a grotesque. -- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

I've heard the speculation that, in the preview for the Pandorica, that the person the Doctor is describing is actually the Doctor -- which I'm not sure how I feel about that. I hope it's something a bit more complex than that - because in "Amy's Choice" we already got to see the Doctor's darker self -- hoping for something a bit new, more in the corner of your eye sort of thing.