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Tag: Nu-Who

Same Song, Different ‘Verse

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Review of Let’s Kill Hitler
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

There was a lot going on in this episode. People (aka “fans,” aka “bloggers”) complain a lot about the sense of pacing in Moffat’s writing – how he seems to cram too much into the second half of a two-parter, for example – and I don’t see that changing in regards to Hitler. But for the front end of River Song’s story – from her perspective, anyway – we can hardly expect anything else.

I’ll admit it: by the time the opening credits rolled, I was thinking, “oh, god… this one’s going to be rubbish.” I certainly didn’t buy into the best-friend-we’ve-never-come-across-before thing, either. Before I could get too cranky about that, though, Moffat threw a bone to fandom with the temporal grace comment. “Hmmm…” I thought. “Maybe there’s hope for the episode yet.”

Once Rory got not only to punch Hitler but also to tell him to shut up, I was ready to roll with it. Anything that allows me to see Rory the Badass Roman lurking under that modern exterior is going to earn a few squee!‘s from me (e.g., tricking an officer into saluting long enough to deck him and steal his bike, or even just taking the mickey out of his wife a bit by mimicking her accent back at her (“‘Clues‘? What kind of ‘clues‘?”)). I like that the character development we’ve seen has been kept and expanded, so that he’s really a full-on, capable Companion now.

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The 30 Day Doctor Who Challenge

Now that I’ve completed the challenge, I thought I’d post it in its entirety here on the front page for folks to view. Day 1 is presented before the break to whet your appetite; click on the page title or the “continued…” link to see my choices and comments for all 30 days.

I’ve decided to play along with The 30 Day Doctor Who Challenge, as set up by one of the Time Vault podcasters on his personal blog.  Starting 21 Jun 2011, I will answer one question a day in the right sidebar and update the information on this page, too.  Post your own answers, if you like!

Day 1: Favourite / Least Favourite Doctor

The favorite is a tough call, but I’m going to have to go with “my” Doctor: Ten

The least favorite is easier, though I dislike him less than I once did: Six

To elaborate, I think anyone who does this challenge is likely to pick “their” Doctor for the favorite slot. The Doctor who really reels you in, the one who was there at your beginning, the one who made you love this crazy show – that’s “your” Doctor, and he will forever be foremost in your heart. Others may tug your heart in their own way, but “your” Doctor will never be superceded.

Conversely, one’s least favorite might change as you see more of various Doctors. For me, I’ve never been over-the-moon about Six. However, as mentioned above (see the linked Confession #7 for more details), I no longer hate him. I’ve come to appreciate him for what he does bring to the table. So there’s no one I truly dislike as the Doctor; Six just happens to be at the bottom of my list.

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The Cat’s (Partly) Out of the Bag

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Review of A Good Man Goes to War
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

This one was a real mixed bag for me. Sure, it was a huge-scale production, with epic tie-ins where the Doctor called in favors from across time and space. But it all felt a bit too much. Also – the Spitfires? I ~edit~ hate the Spitfires-in-Space (…which you’d already know if I’d been blogging last year and had published the scathing review I wrote of Victory of the Daleks)! So take out a few of those called-in favors to make it feel less cobbled together (seriously, it has the kitchen sink feel of some of RTD’s most egregious I’m-trying-too-hard ventures), and the story will drive it just fine.

There is, after all, plenty of drama. Will our heroes recover the baby? What is the real motivation behind her abduction? How far will the Doctor go down the path to the Dark Side? (How far can Moffat take a religious order created via an off-the-cuff text message?) Oh, yeah – and who’s River Song?

The episode started out on a wonderful high. I thought it was a lovely twist how Amy talked up the man who was coming for Melody, making the viewers think she was referring to the Doctor (“he’s the last of his kind”; “he looks young, but he’s lived for hundreds and hundreds of years”). That misdirection made for a wonderful skip-a-beat moment when she said that man was Melody’s father, and in turn gave a slightly different meaning to the episode’s title, if one cares to interpret it that way. Not only that, but it bolsters our view of the Amy/Rory relationship and gives the ring of truth to his assertion that “she always knows that I am coming for her!” in Day of the Moon. God, how I love Rory the Badass Roman!

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The Almost Plot

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Review of The Almost People
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

OK, I’ll be honest:  the specifics of the ending surprised me.  As for the general shape of it, though, I totally called it (see my previous speculation regarding the Creepy Eyepatch Lady). That part wasn’t as heavily telegraphed as the events of either the previous episode or this one, but it’s all there if you go look for it (“breathe, Pond”).

What was just as obvious as in The Rebel Flesh was the “mistaken” identities. I already pointed out last time that there were almost certainly two Ganger Jennifers (poor Rory – finally grew a pair, only to discover he’d been led around by them). The further hints laid out here were again copious (e.g., the machinery won’t recognize her as a valid operator), but hardly more so than the hints that Amy was saving her affection for the “wrong” Doctor. I’m not even sure how we were supposed to get fooled by that, since just about the only time we see the “distinguishing” shoes is the initial close-up on them; all we have to go on is the other characters’ reactions to the supposed DoppelDoctor. The only surprise would have been if they hadn’t mixed them up. After all, what’s more cliché than the Beast really being a Prince (unless it’s the inverse)?

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It’s Just Gunge

Review of The Rebel Flesh
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

Derivative much?  It’s been a long time since I saw a story so predictable; I knew the major plot points by the time last week’s trailer was over.  Great:  some sort of it-could-be-human-except-it’s-not-alive technology becomes self-aware and gets in a fight for its life with “real” humans.  ~yawn~

Not only does this echo countless science fiction/horror classics from Frankenstein to Blade Runner to Who‘s own Robots of Death (fear of the nearly-us-but-clearly-Other is deep-seated), the story is a ripoff of other, newer Who stories.  There are obvious parallels with stories as recent as The Waters of Mars and The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, not to mention smatterings of The Doctor’s Daughter, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and just about every Auton or base-under-siege story ever made. And did anyone not see the “cliffhanger” coming from the instant the Doctor first touched the Flesh?  If that had been any more heavily telegraphed, viewers would’ve had to set up little cable offices in their living rooms (or wherever they watch their Who) to take the messages down.So let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first. When our heroes first walk into the monastery, the camera POV from behind the stones is suggestive of someone watching them – like a Ganger already going walkabout. Later, it’s only Jennifer who’s not hooked up. Why? Is she already a stabilized, independent Ganger? Could be. Wouldn’t surprise me if that crops up next time (like the one Operator who keeps sneezing; Chekov’s gun much?). And does Ganger-Jennifer mean anything more than that she plans to disable her Operator-self when she says she’s going to “take care of the spare one running around out there”? Or is there a spare Ganger? Truth be told, I don’t really care. I just feel I need to speculate to stay awake…

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Sexy Is As Sexy Does

Review of The Doctor’s Wife
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

Oh, me of little faith.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

Even knowing Neil Gaiman’s work both by reputation and by example (e.g., the rather dark novel American Gods), I still doubted the likely quality of the episode he had written once I learned some of the details.   Specifically, when the news of Episode 4’s title came out, I groaned inwardly.  OK, sure, I was 99.9999% certain it was a red herring – nothing “new” and “notable” would be learned about the Doctor’s personal history, and there was going to be some tricky way in which there was and yet wasn’t an actual wife (spot on there) – but just the suggestion was enough to turn my stomach, especially since I knew there were going to be fans out there somewhere saying, “I knew it! Here’s where we learn about River!”

And then there was the Ood.  Now don’t get me wrong – the Ood are an interesting enough race, and they certainly have their place (I happen to believe that place is firmly in the RTD era…).  Regardless, the sight of an Ood at the end of last week’s trailer was enough to reduce my appetite for this episode by about an order of magnitude.  Thank goodness all of that was totally irrelevant.

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In the Manner of a Sorbet…

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Review of The Curse of the Black Spot
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I have to admit, I like a good pirate story as much as the next Deppophile, and what genre doesn’t get better when you add Doctor Who?  Well, maybe a pirate story…


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2011 BBC

I’m not saying there was anything wrong with Black Spot, but it was a rather run-of-the-mill, overall unremarkable kind of episode.  It was a classic romp – nice and fluffy – something to cleanse the palate between that meaty season-opener and the much-anticipated Gaiman-penned episode coming up next.  I’ve read that it was originally intended to be aired in the episode 10 slot, and I can see that working; there’s clearly no major story arc here.  There are, of course, a few nods at what has come before (e.g., a flashback to the Doctor’s death) and a few hints at things yet to come, like another appearance of Creepy Eyepatch Lady (CEL).

You have to wonder what the CEL signifies.  I think her lines are our biggest clue.  When we first saw her in Day of the Moon, she said something about someone “just dreaming.”  We can interpret that as we may, meaning The Little Girl, Amy, or someone completely different.  My latest hypothesis, based on her comments in Black Spot (“It’s done. You’re doing fine. Just stay calm.”), is that she’s speaking of (and to) Amy.  Might Amy not be undergoing some medical procedure (e.g., insemination with Time Lord DNA), and her current adventures are her subconscious or other-dimensional experiences during said procedure?  I admit that’s pretty out there, but it could fit the (admittedly sparse) data.

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A Pregnant Silence

Review of Day of the Moon
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.  It also contains profanity.  Proceed at your own risk.

This being the first story of the series, I wasn’t expecting resolution for many of the dangling plot threads in the second half of the two-parter. However, I don’t think I expected as many new ones to be woven in, either. And frankly, I’m not convinced that the threads that seemed to get tied up really are. Oh, what a tangled web Moff weaves…

Starting things off in style with a beautifully wrought mind-fuck allows the production team to squeeze in a few more shots of the good ol’ US of A (I have to say, it’s slightly amusing in Confidential to watch the Brits wax poetic about the American landscape; I suppose it’s a grass-is-always-greener situation, since I find the backdrops here beautiful but almost blasé in their familiarity, while I’d be walking around London and surrounds like a slack-jawed yokel, myself), and puts the viewer off-kilter for a beat.

But soon we’re back to the more familiar, with the Doctor having done something incredibly clever (watch him *snap* the TARDIS open), and River having trusted him with her life yet again. A little bit of exposition later, and it’s on to a truly hide-behind-the-sofa-worthy haunted house. I have to say this is one of the creepiest (darkest, if you will – that seems to be the adjective the production team is using) episodes I’ve ever seen, from any era.

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Something That Matters

Review of The Impossible Astronaut
Warning:  This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

Wow.  Where do I start?
Maybe it’s best to back up and explain that in the lead-up to Series Six, especially in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been doing my desperate best to avoid seeing any spoilers for the series – I’ve even avoided some of the official BBC news items.  Hopefully this attempt at isolationism will allow me to come to the series with a suitable sense of surprise as new plot points are revealed to the Doctor and his Companions. (If you’ve already read all the spoilers, you’ll probably be able to tell me exactly where I’m going wrong in my analysis and speculations, but please don’t.  I really want to find out in my own time, by watching the episodes.)  I have to say, I found plenty of surprises, but even more tantalizing tidbits that could be either clues or red herrings (with Moffat you never know).
From the moment in the prequel when Nixon assures his caller that “there are no monsters in the Oval Office” (a beautiful political double entendre that you can apply to your administration of choice), it’s clear that we’re in for a doozy.  And the action really is pretty much non-stop from the rapid strides of an irate monarch right through to the moment we hear the sting into the credits.
As I understand it, one of Moffat’s goals was to make the season opener feel more like the finale in scope and drama.  For my money, he’s done it.  Surely there has never yet been a single episode so crammed full of quotable (and quite possibly notable, in terms of story arc) quotes.  Some are just plain hilarious (like the exchange when the Doctor’s asserts that River’s wearing her “‘he’s hot when he’s clever’ face”), some are poignant (“We do what the Doctor’s friends always do:  what we’re told.”), and some set off little alarm bells (“You lot.  Thought I’d never get done saving you…”).
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Confession #5: I Have My Own Theories About River Song

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This is more an “admission” than a confession, but hey – it’s my blog.

Especially with Series Six coming up in a matter of weeks, and a promise that “everything changes,” ideas about who River Song “really is” are as abundant as fans who watch Nu-Who (if not more so).  I figured now was as good a time as any to put forth my own.

Perhaps I should start with a brief list of the most common hypotheses that I don’t buy.  For example:

  • She’s the Doctor’s wife.  Yeah, right.  They may act “like an old married couple” and there have been hints dropped left and right that they are, but I just can’t credit it.  Undoubtedly, there’s a romantic (or even just sexual) component to the relationship, but if River is the Doctor’s wife, then that is only a fraction of the whole story.  Otherwise, the rest makes no sense.
  • She’s a future incarnation of the Doctor.  This idea clearly comes out of certain fans’ long-standing desire to see a female Doctor, but River Song is no Valeyard.  While she clearly knows how to handle herself in the TARDIS and such, she’s much too comfortable with violence in general, and guns in particular, for me ever to believe she’s the Doctor.
  • She’s another Time Lord.  I’m more willing to believe this one than some of the others, but it still doesn’t ring true to me.  If she’s traipsing around the 51st century, why is the Doctor convinced all through the rest of Nu-Who that he (or, for a time, the Master) is the last of the Time Lords?  Supposedly he can sense other Time Lords, regardless of where (or, presumably, when) they are.  None of that fits with what we know of River.
  • She’s the Doctor’s mother/daughter.  Are these people on drugs?  There is nothing either maternal or filial in River’s attitude toward the Doctor.  If there were, then other comments would be distinctly incestuous in nature, which is far too creepy for someone like Moffat to include in a show that is – at least in Britain – specifically aimed at a family audience.  I’d sooner believe the Woman in White from The End of Time had either familial relationship with the Doctor (most certainly not my interpretation) than that River does.
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