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Confession #22: I’m Ready for the Ponds to Leave

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By now most of you reading will have heard that Amy and Rory are slated to leave the show in Series Seven. The initial announcement, on 15 Dec 2011, stated that their story would be coming to a “tragic” end. Much as I love Rory (and don’t actively hate Amy), I’m ready for them to go. Here’s why.

First, Amy’s tenure on the show is unprecedented in post-Hiatus Who. Until the arrival of Eleven and Amy, there was a change in either Doctor or Companion (or both) at least every series. Though I found it slightly galling at the time, longing for a bit more stability, it kept things “fresh,” and I find that now the TARDIS crew is getting slightly stale. Three series is quite a lot, actually, and that’s borne out by reviewing the pre-Hiatus TARDIS crews, too.

Look at the longest tenure record-holders. According to the TARDIS Index File, we can consider individual episodes (in which Jamie comes out on top, with 113), total stories (Rose, with 26, including the Children in Need special and two “substantial” cameos), or calendar time (Tegan, just shy of 3 years, with Sarah Jane only a couple of weeks behind). Amy is fast approaching these latter two marks.

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Three Has Company

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Review of The Three Doctors: SE (#65)

DVD Release Date:  13 Mar 12
Original Air Date:  30 Dec 1972 – 20 Jan 1973
Doctor/Companion:  Three, Jo Grant, the Brigadier
Stars:  Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story:  The Time Monster (Three, Jo, the Brigadier)
Succeeding Story:  Carnival of Monsters (Three, Jo)

Whoever first decided the crazy idea of having all three Doctors in one story wasn’t so crazy after all (I guess that’s either producer Barry Letts or script editor Terrance Dicks, then) deserves an award, in my opinion. This first multi-Doctor story was precursor to many others, both on- and off-screen and I, for one, love that.

The story serves multiple purposes, too. Not only did it provide the fan service of bringing back the previous Doctors, but by the end Three had also regained his ability to leave Earth (which made subsequent story arcs easier, after so many invasion-of-Earth stories already in the can). And those social-interaction pieces of the story, at least, are plausible.

The science, on the other hand… ~sigh~ An antimatter universe? Through a black hole? No. Just… no. I think that – more than any other Doctor Who story – the “science” here is painfully awful. Most of the time, I can gloss over it, suspend my disbelief and say, “yeah, that sounds almost plausible,” and roll with it. This bit, though, is egregious enough that it regularly jars me out of that mental story-space. I can get past it enough to enjoy the story, but I kind of have to work at it. I think Letts said it best when he pointed out in the commentary (see below) that “this is really science fantasy, rather than science fiction. It bears no relation really to what … scientists think goes on in the middle of a black hole.” Makes for a pretty good story, though. So let’s move on to those good bits.

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Buried Treasure

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Review of The Tomb of the Cybermen: SE (#37)
DVD Release Date:  13 Mar 12
Original Air Date:  02 – 23 Sep 1967
Doctor/Companion:  Two, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield
Stars:  Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling
Preceding Story:  The Evil of the Daleks (Two, Jamie, Victoria)
Succeeding Story:  The Abominable Snowmen (Two, Jamie, Victoria)

This particular story seems to engender reactions on polar opposite ends of the scale. Either it’s the greatest Cybermen story of all time (it’s reportedly Matt Smith’s favorite), or it’s racist schlock. I personally find myself somewhere in the middle. There are distinctly racist facets, I can’t deny that. However, they don’t put me off the story entirely because I find I’m able to approach them as “historical context” – that is, I can recognize that society has evolved in the past 45 years, and like everything, Tomb is a product of its time. I don’t have to agree with the presentation of the dark-skinned Toberman as a nigh-mute servant (“dumb muscle,” if you will) to find the rest of the story entertaining.

If we’re going to nitpick about yesterday’s attitudes that irritate us today, we may as well talk about the women, too. As actress Shirley Cooklin (Kaftan) puts it (see Commentary Track 2, below), female characters in that day and age were primarily “set dressing.” The dark-skinned characters were the baddies; the ladies were there to look good. Interestingly enough, the character Victoria even comments with frustration on her lot when told she doesn’t get to go with the others down to the catacombs: “Who’d be a woman?” (It doesn’t help that the spaceship captain with the bad fake-American accent responds with “How would you know, honey?”, marking her as even further down the social ladder due to her youth.) Despite all this, I can’t help enjoying Tomb.

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The Timelessness of Robots

Review of The Robots of Death: SE (#90)

DVD Release Date:  13 Mar 12
Original Air Date:  29 Jan – 19 Feb 1977
Doctor/Companion:  Four, Leela
Stars:  Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Preceding Story:  The Face of Evil (Four, Leela)
Succeeding Story:  The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Four, Leela)

I’m not sure why I didn’t really take to Robots when I first saw it a few years ago. I liked it better during the Marathon, and better yet this time. (This trend can’t continue…) I guess part of the reason I’m enjoying it so much these days is that I can see how well it stands the test of time, especially compared to some other stories. The plot is pretty timeless, and as pointed out in some of the extras, the more retro design keeps that from looking dated, too.

At its most basic level, Robots is a cross between an Agatha Christie-style locked room murder mystery and an Isaac Asimov-inspired future-of-robotics thriller. But there are both deeper and more superficial ways to look at it, too. Is it a commentary on our society’s attitudes towards class? Is it a just a great way to get Leela into the swing of traveling with the Doctor? It all depends on how the viewer chooses to approach it.

One thing that particularly struck me, as a Neowhovian, was how blatantly the Heavenly Host from Voyage of the Damned were modeled off the robots here. The tone of voice, the pleasant visages, the creepiness of it all when their programming is subverted all can be traced directly back to this Sandminer. It’s almost insultingly obvious, once you see it.

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Old Face, New Face

Review of The Face of Evil (#89)
DVD Release Date:  13 Mar 12
Original Air Date:  01 – 22 Jan 1977
Doctor/Companion:  Four, Leela
Stars:  Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Preceding Story:  The Deadly Assassin (Four)
Succeeding Story:  The Robots of Death (Four, Leela)

As the story opens, a young woman is being cast out of her tribe. The scene sets up the character of soon-to-be-Companion Leela perfectly: she’s strong and outspoken, not willing to suffer fools gladly, and yet willing to subvert her own position for those for whom she cares. Conveniently for future exposition, she is soon orphaned (a bit subtly, actually) and cut off socially from her home. Why wouldn’t she ask the Doctor to take her with him?

From that perspective, it was nice finally to get to see Leela’s “origin story.” But aside from that, there were several interesting plot points that make one think a bit more, and clearly demonstrate that the production team were trying to stretch their storytelling muscles. Perhaps most in-your-face (~ahem~) is the idea that the Doctor has clearly been here before, as evidenced by the likeness of his visage carved in stone. He’s done his usual number of sticking his proverbial finger in the pie of the planet, only to have it backfire (“I thought I was helping…”). It’s a rare situation when we clearly see how fallible the Doctor can be.

There’s also the pretty major idea of an insane computer. Obviously this is not the only time in science fiction history that a sentient computer has gone mad (it’s not even the first time in Doctor Who – think back to BOSS in The Green Death, or even further back to WOTAN in The War Machines). The results, though, which include eugenics, linguistic drift (Leela’s tribe the Sevateem derive their name from their antecedents on Survey Team 6), and sociocultural evolution (a habitual motion among spacefaring folk has become a sign to ward off evil). It’s a rather fascinating quasi-academic study, if one wants to approach it that way.

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Confession #21: I Believe in the 13 Regeneration Limit

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Common fan knowledge puts a Time Lord’s Regeneration limit at 13. That is, a Time Lord can regenerate twelve times for a total of thirteen Regenerations (or incarnations). A couple of years ago, Russell T. Davies (RTD), the man greatly responsible for bringing Doctor Who back to our screens in 2005, once again added his own particular brand of fan-geekery to the mix, trying to show everyone in yet another way that he “knows better” than us.

In an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures called “The Death of the Doctor,” Eleven ends up visiting Sarah Jane and her gang again. SJS-Companion Clyde, who previously met Ten, is stunned to see this regeneration thing for himself. Whilst peppering the Doctor with questions (“Can you change color, or are you always white?” “No. I can be anything.”), he asks how often the Doctor can regenerate. The answer is a quick and flippant “five hundred and seven.”

Apparently, RTD thought that was a hoot. He could casually rewrite decades of “canon” (whatever that means) with a so-funny-he-makes-everyone-who’s-RTD-laugh line. Here’s what he has to say on the whole number-of-regenerations question:

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Confession #20: I Wish I Could Pay the BBC License Fee

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Given the recent furor over the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation here in the US, it seems an appropriate time to talk about access to content. Now personally, I don’t actually watch a lot of television – other than, obviously, Doctor Who. What I do watch, though, is (perhaps a bit oddly) skewed strongly towards BBC product. There are only two US shows I follow regularly, and the rest (all four of them) all come from the opposite side of the Pond.

The stickler, then, becomes access. How do I get to watch my shows? Well, my options are actually pretty bleak. Depending on what I want to watch, different networks here in the US will be the providers. There’s BBC America, SyFy, even PBS. Note, though, that with the exception of PBS – which has its own issues that I’ll address in a moment – these are cable networks. In fact, if I want to get BBCA, I have to get at least the 2nd tier of cable package. Remember – I’m watching maybe four shows all year, something like 40 episodes all told, for those being broadcast on cable. That’s comes out to about $12 a pop, before taxes, various fees, etc. For a single episode of television.

At least PBS is free, network TV. But wait! That’s not as straightforward as it sounds, either. PBS is the network that gets Sherlock. Eventually. Although the second series aired in the first half of January this year (and was available on DVD and bluray in the UK before the end of that same month), those of us in the US have to wait until early May for it to be shown on PBS. That’s four extra months – a third of a year! How do these people expect me to stay spoiler-free for four freakin’ months?

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I Wish I Was Back at Gallifrey

Ever since I heard Paul McGann sing a verse of “I Wish I Was Back in Liverpool” at the interview panel at Gally (I believe this was Friday afternoon), I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. In case you haven’t seen/heard it, here’s a video of that moment, as uploaded to YouTube by nerdchik:

Just to be sure you’ve got all the lyrics sussed, here’s a transcription for you.

I Wish I Was Back in Liverpool

I wish I was back in Liverpool
Liverpool town where I was born
Where there ain’t no trees, no scented breeze
No fields of waving corn
But there’s lots of girls with peroxide curls
And the black-and-tans flow free
And it’s six to a bed by the old pierhead
And it’s Liverpool town for me

Now I can’t remember how it first popped into my head, but somehow I started singing it to myself as “I wish I was back at Gallifrey.” From that moment on, it was only a matter of time till I came up with a full spoof version based upon our favorite con. I’m sharing with you here what I devised. I encourage you to add your own alternate versions – ones that you think scan better and/or relay the spirit of the con more completely – in the comments. So, without further ado, here it is.

I Wish I Was Back at Gallifrey

I wish I was back at Gallifrey
Gallifrey One where I had fun
Where there ain’t no pets, no Internets
No lovely LA sun
But there’s lots of girls from the Doctor’s worlds
And Daleks, guests, and geeks
And it all carries on at LobbyCon
And it’s Gallifrey One for me

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A Regeneration for the Ages

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Review of The Caves of Androzani: SE (Story #135, 1984)
DVD Release Date:  14 Feb 12
Original Air Date:  08 – 16 Mar 1984
Doctor/Companion:  Five, Perpugilliam “Peri” Brown
Stars:  Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant
Preceding Story:  Planet of Fire (Five, Turlough, Peri)
Succeeding Story:  The Twin Dilemma (Six, Peri)

There are plenty of Long Term Fans out there (and polls, no doubt) that will tell you that The Caves of Androzani is The Best Doctor Who Story of All Time. I’d heard that about Caves ever since I started immersing myself in Who, and was really eager to get to it that first time, some three-and-a-half years ago. I have to admit I was underwhelmed.

Don’t get me wrong; I liked it well enough. I just didn’t think it was “all that.” Recently, I was discussing it with an Internet friend who is a Long Term Fan. I eventually decided that, in part, it was because I first saw it while I was still largely unfamiliar with the pre-Hiatus canon. Having now re-watched it both during my pre-Gallifrey One Marathon and for review of the Special Edition DVD release here, I have to conclude that most of it is more likely to be a difference in the Long Term Fan v. neowhovian perspectives.

There are unarguably some brilliant facets. The regeneration – more correctly, the series of events that lead up to the regeneration – is the most poignant, selfless, Doctor-y one ever. I am in complete agreement with those who cite it as The Best Regeneration of All Time. If for nothing else than being able to see the Doctor completely swept along with events out of his control and paying the ultimate price in order to pull it out for his friend at the last moment, you should definitely go watch this one. But I’d be lying if I told you I thought there were none finer.

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Gally 2012 Recap

I have been seeing all sorts of great recaps of the Gallifrey One 2012 experience all over t3h intarwebs, and wish I’d been coherent enough to be half as clever as some of these thoughtful folks. For example:

There are loads more from much more popular blogs than this one, but those are a few that caught my attention. In fact, i09’s article has now got me thinking about what I might be able to pull off in the way of crossplay/femme cosplay myself next year. Hmmm…

But there’s something I’ve been promising you for a few weeks now that hasn’t come to fruition yet – the IAN shirt photo! Here’s what I advertised would happen:

 

Ian shirt + William Russell = squeeing fangirl
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