day forty-one: doctor who s7 reaction roundup for jorge.
The song this episode opened with is totally from Shaun of the Dead, so I was immediately expecting zombies to lunge out. X^D
Clara's dad is such a smooth talker/hunkster -- there's quite a bit of Jim Sturgess in his face. And the Doctor is being suuuch a creeper, lololol.
I love Clara's outfits. I love Jenna-Louise's faaaaace. And her hair.
The Doctor simply saying that "It's what they believe; it's a nice story." when Clara asked if it was true or not, is strangely politic of him.
First Doctor reference: "I came here years ago with my granddaughter."
Using things of sentimental value as currency is sort of amazing.
I like that Clara immediately goes after Merry because she wanted to help -- what a good egg Clara is right off the start.
The guard dudes are suuuper creepy. I actually get a Cenobites-vibe from them. Whispering automatically makes them ten times creepier.
Awwww, Clara is so good with kids. A skill I never really want/will never have, but it's still sweet to see in action.
The Doctor is sort of a dick for making Clara give up her mum's ring when he could have given up his screwdriver -- YOU CAN MAKE A SECOND SCREWDRIVER, DOCTOR. Ugh. Pisses me off.
I did love the Doctor's "You are Unique" speech. That was just lovely. I wish there were more moments like that in recent episodes.
Okay, "Can you hear them singing?" just made me think of Les Mis, and I don't even LIKE Les Mis, lolol.
I will give Matt such props for that speech/acting -- man knows how to turn on the emotions, jfc.
I do love Clara -- she's so fierce and brave and self-sacrificing. Poor thing... I'm glad she got her mum's ring back.
Ghost reference: "Whoever she is, I'm not her. I'm not gonna compete with a ghost."
llolololol DAVID WARNER. "Ultravox -- I love them!"
Liam Cunningham is grrrreat. God, I love his face and voice. Whenever you need a crotchety dude to be noble and foreboding, you get Cunningham.
LOLOLOLOL MATT IN THOSE SUNGLASSES.
Why did the Doctor have a BARBIE DOLL in his pocket?!?
Aw, Clara had such a pretty dress on but now she has to be all covered up.
Clara is so cuuuuuute, ahhhhhh. THE SALUTE. THE GREETING. And she's smart enough to figure out that the suit was empty, because OF COURSE SHE IS.
The Doctor physically manhandling her out of the torpedo room. HANDS ON FACES. "This wasn't a test." | "I know, but how'd I do?!?"
The infamous "But the world didn't end in 1983!" moment -- just how many fucking times will the Doctor have to explain this particular scenario? Every companion, I guess. I understand that it's necessary for each newcomer, but the way it's set-up/phrased is almost exactly the same every time and it's starting to annoy.
"Yeah, that'd work, if this was Pinocchio." SASSY!CLARA.
"Do you know 'Hungry Like the Wolf'? Duran Duran? It's one of my favourites." BLESS THE PROFESSOR, he's too fucking cute.
"Stay here. Don't argue." | "Okay. I'm not." 900 YEARS OF TRAVEL IN SPACE AND TIME, AND FINALLY HE FINDS SOMEONE WHO WON'T RUN OFF.
"You've got to tell me! I need to know! ULTRAVOX! DO THEY SPLIT UP?" God, I love the Professor.
Clara reasoning with Skaldak -- Clara singing 'Hungry Like the Wolf' -- Clara hugging the Doctor. BELOVED.
Second Doctor reference: "I reset the HADS."
1970s England, Dougray Scott, ghosts, a total "Haunting of Hill House" vibe: YES GOOD.
"And you are?" | "Ghostbusters!" CLARA.
BAKER STREET IRREGULARS. Everything about Alec is perfectly tailored to fit my interests.
"I do love a toggleswitch!"
HE BOUGHT A HAUNTED HOUSE ON THE MOORS BECAUSE IT WAS HAUNTED. CAN I JUST HAVE AN ALEC FOR MY VERY OWN?
The Witch of the Well photos are so awesome looking. I give the prop dept. mad props.
Lolol "Your pants are so on fire."
I do really enjoy the aesthetics of this episode. Such pretty lighting and framing and colours. And the FAAAAACES everyone's making are SO ACE. This show needs to have a ghost episode every fucking series.
Aww, Alec and the Doctor connecting over their bloody pasts.
Clara picking up that the TARDIS doesn't really like her, and the Doctor comparing her to a cat -- SO ACCURATE. I absolutely see the TARDIS as a giant, possessive cat. LOL.
"So... when are we going?" | "EXCELLENT!" *high-fives*
GHOST BEHIND THEM IN THE WINDOW IN THE LIGHTNING FLASH. sOOOOO COOOOOL.
"I'm a ghost. We're all ghosts to you."
ALEEEEEEEEEC. ALEC AND EMMA ARRRRGH I HAVE A NEW FAVE SHIP, THEY ARE SO TORTURED AND ANGSTY AND IN LOVE. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
Third Doctor reference: "Metebelis Three" gemstone amplifying natural psychic energy.
Lolol, the TARDIS interface. "I was right! YOU ARE A COW!"
THE TARDIS KNOCKING THE MONSTER OFF OF HIM, LOLOL.
The time traveler being their descendant! "How do sharks make babies?" | "Carefully?" LAWLS.
"IT'S NOT A GHOST STORY, IT'S A LOVE STORY." I really hope that ends up being the true theme of this series.
THE LIBRARY.
THE ECHOES OF THE PAST DOCTORS/COMPANIONS.
BESPOKE ENGINEERING. THE GALLIFREYAN ON THE LIVING METAL. TARDIS EGGS.
The Doctor's summation of Time Lords is sorta perfect. "Terrible dress sense, but SMART."
The "android" is by far the only redeemable one of the salvagers.
Fourth Doctor reference: Eye of Harmony - Time Lord tech that creates black holes.
Clara's outfit and hair in this episode are so freaking cute. Then again her outfits are by far the best of any companion in the reboot, I think.
"I always feel so good after we've spoken." Sassy!Clara is the best.
I legitimately feel bad for the salvage brothers.
HAND-KISSING.
Going through a rift in time and space, SURE, that's never been problematic before...
UGH I AM SO SICK OF THE DOCTOR RE-WRITING HIS COMPANIONS' MEMORIES. FUCKING STOP IT.
I feel bad for poor Ada.
Fifth Doctor references: "Tried to get a gobby Australian to Heathrow Airport." | "Brave heart, Clara!"
Lololol, Matt and Jenna-Louise's accents around Gillyflower.
TOMTOM. YOU'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME.
Jenny kicking ALL THE ASS.
Strax and Vastra busting in to save the day. "I'm gonna go play with my grenades."
Not enough Clara in this episode -- by far.
SHE HAS A FUCKING LEECH MONSTER ON HER CHEST. God, but Diana Rigg is pretty fucking hysterical. "Know what these are? THE WRONG HANDS."
Ada was easily the best thing about this episode.
The guy who can't stop passing out, lol.
Clara is SO the boss.
Okay, I like that the kids she nannies for totally uncovered her secret because they're clever and noticed the photos. And that they're totally unphased by the fact that she's a time-traveler.
The psychic paper FINALLY reappears.
The Doctor needs to get to be a big kid more often. "SPACEY ZOOMER RIDE! I'VE GOT A GOLDEN TICKET! FREE ICE CREAM!"
Gosh, Angie, please don't be the stereotypical moody pre-teen.
I love Warwick Davis so much. Allusions to the Doctor, "the guy who had to press the button."
So now the Cybermen can move super fast?
I do really enjoy seeing Matt switch through personalities. Threatening to use regeneration to burn out the cybermites, BEST.
Clara taking charge and kicking ass and YES.
Angie noticing that Porridge is the Emperor -- thank you, girl, for proving how observant/clever you are. And Porridge proposing marriage to Clara; AW. I like how all of the companions get hit on by powerful/successful dudes.
For this being a Neil Gaiman episode, it definitely did not feel like something he wrote.
The moment when Jenny says she's been murdered -- NO.
River Song: worst alarm clock ever.
I still don't understand how the Great Intelligence has such a vendetta against the Doctor. I mean, he only thwarted it the once, and it hardly seemed epic enough to warrant such an epic/powerful showdown.
Glad that Clara's status as "The Impossible Girl" has been explained in a relatively straight-forward manner. I mean, at least it wasn't too twisty turny to be difficult to follow/accept. And I enjoyed seeing the flashes of her interacting with the previous Doctors; all of her outfits and the awesome editing/splicing involved. And I do love Clara -- I do. BUT. I think the revelation that she's been there since the beginning, and has essentially saved/shaped the Doctor into who he is now right from the get-go is a bit... Hard to swallow. I wish we had gotten to have more time with her as a character and more time to see her relationship with the Doctor develop before such a revelation. At this point, it just feels like there's not enough there in both her characterization and their relationship to make her repetitive sacrifice reasonable or truly poignant. All of this means that Clara has been the Doctor's longest and most constant companion -- but he didn't truly interact with her until his 11th incarnation? Her lot is to always be ignored and unknown and in the shadows, to constantly sacrifice herself just for this one dude she's only truly known for a short amount of time? I mean, the universe was blinking out of existence and entire solar systems were being destroyed -- rather than make her "the girl born to save the Doctor", why not place more of an emphasis on the fact that her choosing to be split into hundreds of pieces in order to save the Doctor ALSO saved the universe as a result?
Moffat, I am shaking my head at you.
Though the bringing back of the leaf and its significance was lovely, and that reunion hug was glorious. And finally a moment where the Doctor proves that he loves River back just as much as she loves him -- that was a grand declaration and kiss, although I can't help but feel it was slightly too little too late, at least at this point. I hate how unbalanced their relationship has become (especially since s6), with River always being forced to give too much and the Doctor having to take too much.
And as for the John Hurt as the Doctor thing -- I am side-eying so hard right now. It's been established in canon, through the audio adventures and then some, that Eight was the Doctor who died in the Time War and Nine was the first after it. Unless Hurt's Doctor is some way-in-the-future Eleven, or a future Doctor beyond Eleven, or the Valeyard, I just... I don't see the point. There's all these implications that he's connected to the Time War and such and I just don't see HOW logically. Moffat needs to stop fucking rewriting every bit of Who canon. There needs to be a line somewhere. CREATE NEW STUFF, STOP CHANGING EVERY DETAIL OF WHAT'S COME BEFORE. That's just lazy and sloppy and disrespectful, I think.
Final thoughts/summation of feels for the back half of this season: It was definitely better than s6, though that's a pretty low fucking bar to beat. I enjoyed that most of these episodes felt lighter and more like the standalone adventures of the early seasons. I DO wish that Moffat would bring back two-parters, because I think you can achieve some things in terms of character development with two-parters that you can't with standalones. I was glad that the overarching theme of this bit of the season wasn't being perpetually shoved down my throat. Clara is delightful and I want her to be developed further/be given more to do in the next series. There wasn't quite as much to anger me in these episodes; at least the misogyny and sexism wasn't always glaringly front and center. And it was certainly a gorgeous set of episodes in terms of cinematography, sets, costumes, and SFX. But it still rang a bit hollow to me; I want more heart and emotion, I want to be truly invested in everyone again, and things still feel a bit shallow with so much importance placed on the artifice and special effects. "Hide" was easily my favourite episode for gothic romance reasons, and I'm glad the Doctor had a couple of great speeches full of meaning.
And I'm glad I caught up, but I'm hardly foaming at the mouth for the next batch of episodes. I'll easily survive the wait for the 50th anniversary, mainly because there's very little about it to truly excite me. And even if it's late 2014 before we get s8, I'm in no rush. It's a sad fact that my show is no longer truly my show any longer: I have gone from rabid Whovian to a casual viewer, but this is the price to be paid when the quality of the show goes so downhill. I am eager to see when Moffat will finally be leaving, and will continue to hold onto hope that the next show-runner will reinvigorate my beloved DW and restore its lustre in my eyes. I look forward to that (hopefully not so far away) happy day -- until then, I'll keep watching; but only with half my attention.