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Tag: Ten

Confession #119: I Love Sharing Who With My Kids

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the immense pleasure of binge-watching Doctor Who with two members of the Target Market™. My daughters, who became fans by watching Twelve and Bill and later fell in love with Seven and Ace, have been getting up-to-speed on the modern storyline. It’s been a richly rewarding experience for me to watch them watch Who.

They liked Nine and Rose (especially Rose), and weren’t so sure about this weird-looking replacement guy. Pretty soon, though, they were fully invested in Ten and Rose (especially Rose). When Doomsday rolled around, there was ugly crying—which, I have to admit, they come by naturally; that was pretty much me ten years ago, when I first saw it. RTD did his job well, ripping out their hearts. They just weren’t quite ready for a new Companion.

But then they got to know Martha, and let’s be honest—she’s actually pretty damn awesome. Soon they were just as attached to her as they’d been to Rose (or very nearly). And when we got to Blink—well. Let’s just say all of their reactions were exactly what I imagine the production team envisioned with wicked glee as they wrote (Moffat) and created (RTD) the episode.

As the Series Three finale approached, the girls got nervous. How would Martha’s time with the Doctor end? They’d been burned before. One girl wanted me to tell her before we went any further; the other was in favor of a just-watch-and-see-how-it-plays-out approach (let no one ever tell you that identical twins are “the same”). I told the former in private just enough to satisfy her: after bad stuff happens, Martha chooses to stop traveling with the Doctor. Hers is the best departure (from the characters’ POV) of the modern era.

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Nu-View #21: Disgust & Side-Eyes

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Love & Monsters (Series Two, Ep. 10; 2006)
Viewed 15 Jan 2018

Doctor/Companion: Ten, Rose Tyler
Stars: David Tennant, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: The Satan Pit (Ten, Rose)
Succeeding Story: Fear Her (Ten, Rose)

It’s been some three-and-a-half years since I last did one of these. Aligning four adults’ schedules often enough to keep up on new episodes with the Ladies—let alone review old ones—has proven a serious challenge. We are, in fact, still in the middle of Series Ten. I’m hopeful we’ll get caught up with the Christmas episode by midsummer.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2006 BBC

When Verity! podcast released their Love & Monsters commentary a couple weeks ago, though, I knew it was time to relaunch a new version of the NuViews. It felt like Fate, because my 11-year-old twin daughters’ introduction to the modern show had paused right at that exact episode. If I could convince them to watch with me again, I could both get them back in the proverbial saddle and share their unique perspective with my readers.

The girls were game, and so we sat down (not without trepidation on my part) to watch Elton’s vlog about his encounters with the Doctor. I realized immediately that this would be a different kind of experience than watching with the Ladies. To start, H & V are still quite new to Who; they don’t have a whole lot of context upon which to draw for comparison. For another, they are for the most part still simply absorbed in the story; any comments they make tend to be direct gut reactions rather than the snarky comments of jaded adults. It’s refreshing, even if it means there are fewer mid-episode impressions to report.

Since it had been years since I’d seen the episode myself, it was almost as interesting to gauge my own reactions as to see the girls’. For instance, I got something of a Torchwood vibe from the pre-credits sequence (interesting in retrospect, since this is the series that led up to the whole Torchwood storyline).

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Confession #114: I’ve Come Full Circle on Rose

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Several months ago, I got my daughters to agree to watch an episode of Doctor Who with me—just one. I told them if they didn’t like it, they didn’t have to watch any more. It turned out, though, that they did quite like it, and we ended up watching another right away.

Since then, we’ve watched a number of stories together, from Series Ten to The Monster of Peladon to Dalek. With the summer holidays winding down and a new school year starting, we’ve come to something of a viewing standstill (though I’ll admit to not being overly anxious to push forward, as the next two episodes in the queue are Love & Monsters and Fear Her…), but now that we are ~85% through Rose’s time as a (regular) Companion, I have to say it’s made me think about her differently—again.

When I first started watching, Rose was my everything. I fell in love with the show and the Doctor through her, totally reading their relationship—starting with Nine—as romantic. I even had my own headcanon about exactly when each fell for the other, and when each ~realized~ they’d fallen for the other. I made notes (I’m that kinda nerd).

I spent a great deal of Series Four (which was airing as I caught up to it) waiting with bated breath for Rose’s return. It couldn’t come fast enough for me. Although Donna replaced her as my favorite modern Companion (until Series Ten), for several years I had nothing but fondness for Rose. Then I started interacting with The Fandom.

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Out Like Apathy

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Review of The Leisure Hive (#109)
DVD Release Date: 07 Jun 05 (Out of Print)
Original Air Date: 30 Aug – 20 Sep 1980
Doctor/Companion: Four, Romana II, K-9
Stars: Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, John Leeson
Preceding Story: The Horns of Nimon (Four, Romana I, K-9)
Succeeding Story: Meglos (Four, Romana II)

It’s the beginning of the end for the Fourth Doctor, as he takes one final victory lap around the universe before handing over the keys of the TARDIS to a younger, blonder version of himself. By this point the Four/Romana II team functions like a well-serviced TARDIS, comfortable with each others’ foibles and confident in each others’ roles in the partnership as much as their own.

As usual, I find Romana’s quiet competence to be one of the highlights of the story. The Doctor is mostly watchable as well, since Baker has yet to decide he’s So Done With the role, though the spring is certainly gone from his step. The guest cast also performs well—only as campy as the script requires.

The script, though… Well, it could be worse. In fact, I remembered it as being worse before I re-watched it for this review. But it’s certainly not a shining star in the oeuvre, either. Remembering that this is the season opener makes the director’s choice of spending nearly a full minute on an establishing shot panning across an Earth beach scene (Brighton) feel even more questionable; why would you think that would entice your audience to stick around for more?

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Nu-View #20: Brave New Worlds

New Earth / Tooth and Claw (Series Two, Eps. 1-2; 2006)
Viewed 05 Aug 2014

Doctor/Companion: Ten, Rose Tyler
Stars: David Tennant, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: The Christmas Invasion (Ten, Rose)
Succeeding Story: School Reunion (Ten, Rose, Sarah Jane Smith)

Our latest WhoFest was meant to be the first in my new home. The depressing fact that it wasn’t (and that our move is rapidly receding into the realm of myth) was somewhat alleviated by jO’s return to the fold after an extended absence.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2006 BBC

The early, jaunty Ten had been similarly absent from all of our Who viewing in recent years. “Look how young he looks!” exclaims jO. “When was this?”

I remind the Ladies that Series Two went out in 2006, and jE summarizes our common reaction perfectly: “We’re getting old.”

Old we may be, but at least we’re not hanging onto our youth in sheer desperation like Cassandra. And she’s a crafty one, redirecting Rose to her lair for her own nefarious purposes. “[Rose] knows she’s not on Ward 26,” observes jE. “Why doesn’t she just get right back in the lift?” It’s one of several plotting flaws we notice this evening.

I found it interesting to realize how I always think of this story as having a lot of Zoë Wanamaker (Cassandra) in it, when she actually only plays the character for a few minutes. With all the body-swapping, even Sean Gallagher (Chip) spent nearly as much time as Cassandra as Wanamaker did. And, by the way, kudos to Gallagher; Chip was a physically awkward character to play, especially running through corridors with his arms straight down at his sides.

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Nu-View #19: Enter Number Ten

The Christmas Invasion (Series Two, Ep. 0; 2005)
Viewed 08 Jul 2014

Doctor/Companion: Ten, Rose Tyler
Stars: David Tennant, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: The Parting of the Ways (Nine, Rose)
Succeeding Story: New Earth (Ten, Rose)

As the Ladies gather one last time at the current Chez Neowhovian, the impending move to a new house is top on everyone’s mind. Next time we get together (hopefully jO will finally be able to join us again; it’s been too long!), we’ll be at a completely new place.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2006 BBC

We barely even mention in passing that we’ve tried before to watch this episode (though there’s a little muttering about it as Mickey shushes his coworkers to listen more carefully to the TARDIS materializing). The next thing we know, Jackie’s delivering the classic joke line (“Doctor who?”) and the opening credits crash across the screen.

Poor Mickey is still getting the short end of the stick. “Can you just let it be Christmas?” he begs Rose. “Not so much,” jE answers for her. On screen, Rose herself is trying a little harder, nodding acquiescence.

“You promise?”

“Yeah,” she assures him.

“Well, yeah, until the life or death stuff,” amends jE. “Then I’ll renege on my promise.” And so it goes.

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Nu-View #18: Special Surprise

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Planet of the Dead (Series Four Special; 2009)
Viewed 03 Jun 2014

Doctor/Companion: Ten, Lady Christina de Souza
Stars: David Tennant, Michelle Ryan
Preceding Story: The Next Doctor (Ten, Jackson Lake)
Succeeding Story: The Waters of Mars (Ten, Adelaide Brooke)

Having finished the Ninth Doctor’s tenure last time, the Ladies and I are ready to leap into the Tenth Doctor’s debut. Fate is, however, against us.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2009 BBC

It turns out that my Doctor Who evangelism is as disorganized as the rest of my life right now. Around New Year’s I’d loaned my DVDs of Series Two to a friend whose kids were just getting into Who, and never asked for them back. I only discover this oversight for our WhoFest viewing plans as the Ladies are setting themselves up with wine and snacks.

Not to waste one of our increasingly rare opportunities to spend time together with each other and the Doctor, we decide to postpone our watch-in-order exercise for another time and select an episode that we collectively know less well, at jE’s request. It’s an unexpectedly good choice; not only has jE seen it only once, but we discover that jA has never seen it at all! (I’m not sure how this egregious error came about; it’s good we’re correcting it now!)

So off we go on the Lonely God’s last “romp.” First we meet our bored, aristocratic cat burglar as she takes advantage of the “worst security system ever” (as jA puts it). For someone who’s meant to be so clever, Christina’s a bit of a dullard for ripping off her identity-concealing mask whilst still inside the museum she’s in the process of robbing.

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Retcon of the Doctor

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

I said recently that I could forgive Moffat almost anything about this anniversary special; I knew not everything on my personal wishlist would make the cut. And as it turned out, plenty I’d have liked to see happen didn’t. Overall, though, there wasn’t much to forgive.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2013 BBC

From the get-go, there were plenty of nods to the past. Starting with the original opening credits—down to the policeman strolling by Totter’s Lane—certainly set the right tone. I could go on for pages listing all those little moments, but I’m sure someone else will write up a definitive list you can find, if that’s your cup of tea. I’ll just say that I personally loved the reference to the UNIT dating controversy and one of the Brigadier’s reactions to the events of The Three Doctors (“Codename: Cromer”—and I really do recommend watching that tenth anniversary special if you’ve not seen it.)

So much happened in these seventy-five minutes that it could be a little difficult to wrap one’s brain around it all on a single viewing; I agree with others who have commented that it’s all clearer the second time around. The things I liked the first time, I still liked, and the things I didn’t… well, they didn’t irritate me quite so much when I knew they were coming.

The entire Zygon gambit felt secondary—and honestly, I quite think it was there simply as a way for the meeting of these three Doctors not to be boring as all get-out—but made surprising sense by the end. It was at least self-consistent, which is more than I can say for some episodes. The entire idea of the Zygons is great, too; they’re a well-loved adversary that was long overdue a return. As executed, they were proper scary, even if the change from human back to Zygon form was too CGI to be believable. At least it was gross.

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More Relatable Than Ever?

Review of The Doctors Revisited – Tenth Doctor

It still feels really weird to me to think of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor as an “old” or “past” Doctor. Since it was his episodes that cemented my fandom, and I don’t think of myself as having been a fan for very long, even though it’s been five years now, at a gut level I can’t help but think of them as quite recent. Yet it’s been nearly four years since Tennant’s last appearance. So it was with a strange combination of “walk down memory lane” and “didn’t we just get these episodes?” that I watched as BBC America Revisited my Doctor.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2013 BBC

Whether it’s because this Doctor isn’t yet very far removed, or some other reason, the list of interviewees in this episode is longer than any other: Doctor actors David Tennant and Peter Davison; Companion actors Freema Agyeman, Noel Clarke, and John Barrowman; Companion family member actors Camille Coduri, Bernard Cribbins, and Jacqueline King; supporting character actors David Morrissey, Dan Starkey, and Adam Garcia; writers Neil Gaiman and Tom McRae; and producers Marcus Wilson and Steven Moffat. All had glowing things (as always) to say about this particular Regeneration, and how he differed from all who came before.

The Tenth Doctor was a starkly different man from the Ninth. Less someone suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he had an easier manner—like someone you’d know, it’s pointed out—and was someone the audience could relate to, in terms of both fashion sense and mode of speech. Yet the darkness was still just under the surface. He doesn’t cut his enemies much slack (“no second chances”), nor the friends who have disappointed him. As Tennant himself put it, “He can destroy a government by whispering in someone’s ear. That’s the essence of the Doctor. That sums him up.”

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Confession #43: I Love/Hate the Ten/Rose Ship

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There’s one thing that can divide a fandom faster than the Vashta Nerada can skeletonize a human: shipping. And the Dallas Cowboys (or Man U) of Who fandom ships—the one you either love or love to hate—is the Tenth Doctor and Rose. Let me break down the two camps, in terms of very broad generalizations (we’re talking horoscope broad, so obviously, YMMV).

On the one side, you have hardcore Ten/Rose shippers. They see Ten and Rose as an OTP (or “one true pairing”)—the ultimate ship that cannot be sunk, no matter what else is written before, after, for, or about the couple. As far as I can tell, some of these shippers go so far as to deny that any story that doesn’t involve Ten and Rose is innately inferior, and thereby beneath their notice, or at least a questionable use of their time.

On the other, you have Ten/Rose shipper-haters. These fans actively hate the Ten/Rose ship, and in many cases even extend that distaste to fans who do ship it. Further, a fair number of these anti-shippers believe that the Doctor does not (or should not) ever be in a romantic relationship of any sort. A non-negligible subset of these fans seem to think very little of the post-Hiatus show is worth their time.

And here I sit in the middle.

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