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OMG New Who!
I had to wait TWO WHOLE DAYS! :P BBC America was running all the S6 eps so far, plus a bunch of the "best of" shows (WHY are all those Whovians third-rate American celebs?!). It's weird watching it on actual tellie with commercial breaks (and ugh, the weird Amy voice-over intro that reminds me of early run Buffy). I also don't like how they pretend that Eleven is the only Doctor ever. I get that they're trying to catch people up on this Doctor and that it's probably too much to ask for people to do what I did and burn through Nine and Ten, much less the Entire History of Doctor Who Ever. But they should clarify that's what they're doing and call it "Best of Eleven" or something.
LOVED the new episode and have watched it ... like five times. I liked that the title had so little to do with the actual episode (was wondering why they were going to have a WW2 adventure when they were supposed to be looking for Melody), but the Hitler sequence was really great. Rory is so badass he PUNCHES HITLER IN THE FACE AND TELLS HIM TO SHUT UP! The whole thing with Mels felt forced until I watched it again. It makes sense to me, narratively, that we'd never seen or heard of her, and LOL that she's basically responsible for her parents getting together. (And HOW ADORABLE is tiny!Rory?! The little actor's name is Ezekiel Wigglesworth, which sounds straight up like a character in the Potterverse, y/y?) Loved the whole thing of Amy thinking Rory was gay because he'd never shown interest in a girl - HOBVIOUSLY because he was only ever interested in her and didn't dare let her see THAT.
The Doctor's first appearance was classic - Crop circles? Really? :P As was his comment about dancing with everyone at Amy's and Rory's wedding ("The men were ... a bit shy."). There wasn't really a purpose for their going to 1938 Berlin, though, which was a bit strange. The Teselecta robot was an interesting concept, given that they know they can't change history but want to exact more justice on history's monsters than history actually gave them. Sadly, I think it's very believable that human beings - at least Americans - would do that if given the gift of time travel, once they figured out they couldn't use it to change things, and I don't think it's an accident that what the Teselecta does with the war criminals they track down basically amounts to torture. Oh, but the Antibodies were hilarious - "You will experience a tingling sensation, then death."
This episode has some of my favorite Matt Smith moments so far. There's the GREAT stumbly scene, which I thought very Chaplin-esque, especially since he's wearing a tux. And his conversation with the Teselecta was pretty incredible as well. As was maybe the best flirting he's done yet with Melody/River. BANANA SWAP OMG!
Which brings me to Alex Kingston, who makes her most memorable appearance yet as Melody/River. She must have had the most fun doing this episode. Her absolute joy at her new body was HILARIOUS (LOL at her being so impressed with her own ass, apparently - jodhpurs!). The "Hello, Benjamin" was not lost on me, though it seems to have been lost on the Doctor, who apparently knows who Mrs. Robinson is but hasn't seen The Graduate. :P I want a GIF of that shot of River after being shot at by the officers during her regeneration where she's just dancing around in the TARDIS energy. And LOL "gay gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled."
I don't think it's that unrealistic that Amy and Rory have so little obvious reaction in this episode to the tragedy of having had their daughter taken from them and trained to be an assassin. And that's all I'm saying about that at the moment.
This episode gives a lot of answers (Sexy taught River how to fly her!), but it raises even more questions, which is not at all surprising. Though it's not as definitive an answer as showing the face behind the astronaut's helmet, I think Moffat has made it clearer than ever that the Doctor is the "good man" River killed and that she killed him that day in America. The Teselecta refer to her (to Melody, rather) as "the woman who kills the Doctor" and even say that he's not supposed to die in 1938 but at Lake Silencio (I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, STEVEN) in 2011, when we saw it happen in "The Impossible Astronaut." Presumably she can't remember exactly how it happened, as she was a child at the time and was muddled with the brainwashing, which would explain why she showed no awareness such as a facial expression that said "hey, this is the day I killed the Doctor" or "I killed him right by this lake." The presence of one of The Silence at the lake could also be a factor, as perhaps their power of post-hypnotic suggestion and the amnesia effect could have made her forget as well.
Maybe my favorite little moment, though, was the Doctor giving her the Tardis-blue diary that we know will eventually be filled to bursting with their adventures together. It's really the first time he's acknowledged that all that is going to happen instead of just being bemused by this relationship he's supposedly had but doesn't know anything about yet.
I'm a bit sad that there weren't any incarnations between Nina Toussaint-White and Alex Kingston, since because River used up all her regenerations we won't see the character anymore once Kingston decides she doesn't want to do the show any longer. Her appearances are typically some of my favorite moments of the show, and the Indiana Jones-ish sense of fun and adventure she brings to the character is such a refreshing thing to see a woman in her forties get to play. I think it's wise not to make her a full-time companion, though. Characters like that tend to lose their popularity when they get more exposure. I'm intrigued by the title of episode 13 (which I won't spoil here for those avoiding such information). I'd love to see an episode that followed a bit of River's timeline.
OH! OH! Forgot the other best bit - shout-out to Rose, Martha, and Donna! Love that "someone I like" was Rose, and that Donna's appearance seemed to bring the most guilt of all. Ten got to be inextricably linked to Nine through Rose, but Eleven has felt so disconnected from Nine and Ten despite the little nods to previous incarnations of the Doctor (as in "The Eleventh Hour"). That was great to see.
I had to wait TWO WHOLE DAYS! :P BBC America was running all the S6 eps so far, plus a bunch of the "best of" shows (WHY are all those Whovians third-rate American celebs?!). It's weird watching it on actual tellie with commercial breaks (and ugh, the weird Amy voice-over intro that reminds me of early run Buffy). I also don't like how they pretend that Eleven is the only Doctor ever. I get that they're trying to catch people up on this Doctor and that it's probably too much to ask for people to do what I did and burn through Nine and Ten, much less the Entire History of Doctor Who Ever. But they should clarify that's what they're doing and call it "Best of Eleven" or something.
LOVED the new episode and have watched it ... like five times. I liked that the title had so little to do with the actual episode (was wondering why they were going to have a WW2 adventure when they were supposed to be looking for Melody), but the Hitler sequence was really great. Rory is so badass he PUNCHES HITLER IN THE FACE AND TELLS HIM TO SHUT UP! The whole thing with Mels felt forced until I watched it again. It makes sense to me, narratively, that we'd never seen or heard of her, and LOL that she's basically responsible for her parents getting together. (And HOW ADORABLE is tiny!Rory?! The little actor's name is Ezekiel Wigglesworth, which sounds straight up like a character in the Potterverse, y/y?) Loved the whole thing of Amy thinking Rory was gay because he'd never shown interest in a girl - HOBVIOUSLY because he was only ever interested in her and didn't dare let her see THAT.
The Doctor's first appearance was classic - Crop circles? Really? :P As was his comment about dancing with everyone at Amy's and Rory's wedding ("The men were ... a bit shy."). There wasn't really a purpose for their going to 1938 Berlin, though, which was a bit strange. The Teselecta robot was an interesting concept, given that they know they can't change history but want to exact more justice on history's monsters than history actually gave them. Sadly, I think it's very believable that human beings - at least Americans - would do that if given the gift of time travel, once they figured out they couldn't use it to change things, and I don't think it's an accident that what the Teselecta does with the war criminals they track down basically amounts to torture. Oh, but the Antibodies were hilarious - "You will experience a tingling sensation, then death."
This episode has some of my favorite Matt Smith moments so far. There's the GREAT stumbly scene, which I thought very Chaplin-esque, especially since he's wearing a tux. And his conversation with the Teselecta was pretty incredible as well. As was maybe the best flirting he's done yet with Melody/River. BANANA SWAP OMG!
Which brings me to Alex Kingston, who makes her most memorable appearance yet as Melody/River. She must have had the most fun doing this episode. Her absolute joy at her new body was HILARIOUS (LOL at her being so impressed with her own ass, apparently - jodhpurs!). The "Hello, Benjamin" was not lost on me, though it seems to have been lost on the Doctor, who apparently knows who Mrs. Robinson is but hasn't seen The Graduate. :P I want a GIF of that shot of River after being shot at by the officers during her regeneration where she's just dancing around in the TARDIS energy. And LOL "gay gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled."
I don't think it's that unrealistic that Amy and Rory have so little obvious reaction in this episode to the tragedy of having had their daughter taken from them and trained to be an assassin. And that's all I'm saying about that at the moment.
This episode gives a lot of answers (Sexy taught River how to fly her!), but it raises even more questions, which is not at all surprising. Though it's not as definitive an answer as showing the face behind the astronaut's helmet, I think Moffat has made it clearer than ever that the Doctor is the "good man" River killed and that she killed him that day in America. The Teselecta refer to her (to Melody, rather) as "the woman who kills the Doctor" and even say that he's not supposed to die in 1938 but at Lake Silencio (I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, STEVEN) in 2011, when we saw it happen in "The Impossible Astronaut." Presumably she can't remember exactly how it happened, as she was a child at the time and was muddled with the brainwashing, which would explain why she showed no awareness such as a facial expression that said "hey, this is the day I killed the Doctor" or "I killed him right by this lake." The presence of one of The Silence at the lake could also be a factor, as perhaps their power of post-hypnotic suggestion and the amnesia effect could have made her forget as well.
Maybe my favorite little moment, though, was the Doctor giving her the Tardis-blue diary that we know will eventually be filled to bursting with their adventures together. It's really the first time he's acknowledged that all that is going to happen instead of just being bemused by this relationship he's supposedly had but doesn't know anything about yet.
I'm a bit sad that there weren't any incarnations between Nina Toussaint-White and Alex Kingston, since because River used up all her regenerations we won't see the character anymore once Kingston decides she doesn't want to do the show any longer. Her appearances are typically some of my favorite moments of the show, and the Indiana Jones-ish sense of fun and adventure she brings to the character is such a refreshing thing to see a woman in her forties get to play. I think it's wise not to make her a full-time companion, though. Characters like that tend to lose their popularity when they get more exposure. I'm intrigued by the title of episode 13 (which I won't spoil here for those avoiding such information). I'd love to see an episode that followed a bit of River's timeline.
OH! OH! Forgot the other best bit - shout-out to Rose, Martha, and Donna! Love that "someone I like" was Rose, and that Donna's appearance seemed to bring the most guilt of all. Ten got to be inextricably linked to Nine through Rose, but Eleven has felt so disconnected from Nine and Ten despite the little nods to previous incarnations of the Doctor (as in "The Eleventh Hour"). That was great to see.
awake
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