The Day of the Doctor
Okay, so.
And pleased at how surprisedly pleased I am.
Let's start with what my issues have been with the past season. No, there is too much--let me sum up. I like the idea of Clara. I like the idea of Eleven, and I adored Amy and Rory. And I felt like The Angels Take Manhattan and everything after it was rather sloppily writing. At least, I did on first watch. (It's entirely possible in retrospect that I was so grumpy about TATM that I just couldn't let myself love anything after it properly.)
And I broke one of my own rules of television reception: wait until the plot is wrapped up before you pass judgment. Sometimes it means the end of the season, sometimes the end of a series...sometimes the end of an episode. The problem here is that there are SO MANY loose ends that Moffat's been leaving all over the damn place and then moving on, that I felt like he's just been sloppy.
I still think he's a bit sloppy, but I realize now that he's not nearly done with any of the larger plot arcs.
Silence still has yet to fall. The promos for the Christmas special make it clear we'll be coming back to that. Why did the TARDIS explode again? Still don't know. Trenzalore? Still coming. And yet, what we did get on Saturday, and what I started to see come together better after rewatching so many marathonned episodes this weekend, is a real long game.
Damn you, Moffat! *shakes fist in the air*
Anyway, I was all prepared to be disappointed by the special, while simultaneously holding out hope that they would have more than just Eleven, Ten, and the War Doctor involved (and yes, that's what I'm still calling them. I think Peter Capaldi may well be Thirteen, but Nine, Ten, and Eleven are still their own numbers. While they lived, they considered themselves so, and I'm not in favor of changing that.) I was entertained, but not moved, until the moment when all thirteen Doctors and their TARDISes helped to save Gallifrey, and then I lost it. Tears. Tears and sniffles, all the way down. And then Tom Baker!
Tom and Lorenzo had two givens at the beginning of their recap that I totally agree with: The Moment was Bad Wolf and The Curator was the retired Doctor, late in his life, recycling a favorite face. It makes absolutely perfect sense to me, and it's really the only thing that does.
This special adds a richness that was missing for me in the past season. I don't think I can rewatch The Angels take Manhattan again--except for research while I rewrite it--but everything else, now, I want to rewatch and piece back into place. Starting with Nine, to be honest. It's been a long time since I've felt that way, and it's all the special's doing. I feel so good to be a Whovian again. Yay!
Also posted at http://kouredios.dreamwidth.org/255966.html ; feel free to comment there if you so choose: add comment/
comments.
And pleased at how surprisedly pleased I am.
Let's start with what my issues have been with the past season. No, there is too much--let me sum up. I like the idea of Clara. I like the idea of Eleven, and I adored Amy and Rory. And I felt like The Angels Take Manhattan and everything after it was rather sloppily writing. At least, I did on first watch. (It's entirely possible in retrospect that I was so grumpy about TATM that I just couldn't let myself love anything after it properly.)
And I broke one of my own rules of television reception: wait until the plot is wrapped up before you pass judgment. Sometimes it means the end of the season, sometimes the end of a series...sometimes the end of an episode. The problem here is that there are SO MANY loose ends that Moffat's been leaving all over the damn place and then moving on, that I felt like he's just been sloppy.
I still think he's a bit sloppy, but I realize now that he's not nearly done with any of the larger plot arcs.
Silence still has yet to fall. The promos for the Christmas special make it clear we'll be coming back to that. Why did the TARDIS explode again? Still don't know. Trenzalore? Still coming. And yet, what we did get on Saturday, and what I started to see come together better after rewatching so many marathonned episodes this weekend, is a real long game.
Damn you, Moffat! *shakes fist in the air*
Anyway, I was all prepared to be disappointed by the special, while simultaneously holding out hope that they would have more than just Eleven, Ten, and the War Doctor involved (and yes, that's what I'm still calling them. I think Peter Capaldi may well be Thirteen, but Nine, Ten, and Eleven are still their own numbers. While they lived, they considered themselves so, and I'm not in favor of changing that.) I was entertained, but not moved, until the moment when all thirteen Doctors and their TARDISes helped to save Gallifrey, and then I lost it. Tears. Tears and sniffles, all the way down. And then Tom Baker!
Tom and Lorenzo had two givens at the beginning of their recap that I totally agree with: The Moment was Bad Wolf and The Curator was the retired Doctor, late in his life, recycling a favorite face. It makes absolutely perfect sense to me, and it's really the only thing that does.
This special adds a richness that was missing for me in the past season. I don't think I can rewatch The Angels take Manhattan again--except for research while I rewrite it--but everything else, now, I want to rewatch and piece back into place. Starting with Nine, to be honest. It's been a long time since I've felt that way, and it's all the special's doing. I feel so good to be a Whovian again. Yay!
Also posted at http://kouredios.dreamwidth.org/255966.html ; feel free to comment there if you so choose: add comment/
comments.