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karenorFirst, a post about Doctor Who. Then, a post about Christmas. Maybe. Priorities, all that. ;)
This Doctor Who Christmas special marked a few firsts. Obviously, the first one with the Eleventh Doctor. The first one I watched first on BBCA, and therefore the first I watched in proper HD (on first viewing). So, most of that was good.
The not good (nospoilery). 1. Commercials. I expected that, of course. But without editing (a good thing), the cuts were extremely choppy, especially towards the end. They should have had like an… intermission or something. However, the TARDIS infomercial thing was pretty funny. 2. Covering half the screen with the station ID, the show I was currently watching, and what was coming up next for like half the episode. Made me punchy.
The good (nonspoilery). 1. Well, not having to acquire the episode by other means. So not having to really worry about it. The wait was annoying, but it was only a couple hours once I was done with my Christmassing. 2. The aforementioned HD. I watched most of the ep on my parents tv, which is a real HD tv, not our old huge one in the living room, which is CRT, but was HD ready way back in the day, so can received HD broadcasts and it looks good, but not that good.
All right, that being said…
I liked it. Quite a lot. I even sort of liked that it was Amy/Rory light while still having them be important. I wanted to hug the Doctor so many times. The sad notes, especially for him, resonated SO well. With any Doctor, it can be easy to forget sometimes that he is all that have been before him. This episode, in particular, reminded me in several places that he is 900 mumble mumble years old.
I got teary-eyed. Just a bit. At the end. The bit about his beloved. Him being sad that it was over. Just him and Amy being kind of awesome.
I laughed, out loud, several times. The bit with Marilyn? Awesome. I think the Doctor should really just keep getting married to historical figures. Why not? Just that whole bit of him trying to talk to whatshisface and whatsherface while they were making out. The line about shutting himself up in his room to make a new screwdriver after he failed to kiss the girl? HA! Also, :(. But still, funny.
I loved the whole look of it. The blue filters on everything, the dustiness. The steampunk vibe, the sort of really smushed up THIS IS A DIFFERENT PLANET, NO IT'S ALL DICKENSIAN. That was really well done. I liked, also, that the people on this planet were human. Aliens are cool and all, but I love seeing those glimpses of what humans do in the future, and all. And what they retain from the past, and why, and how that changes. I love all of that stuff.
What wasn't working for me? Well... the overarching concept, I guess. The timey-wimey aspect, I mean. For one, I was screaming "DON'T TOUCH THE BABY" in my head at the part where old whatshisface hugs young whatshisface. After all we know about the delicacy of time lines... the whole concept seemed too dangerous for the Doctor to just pull off so... simply? I dunno, not the right word. You can say desperation lead him to it, Amy and Rory and 4000 other people were going to die, I guess. But all the trips? I mean, yeah, he was trying to change whatshisface into a good guy, but still. Awful risky. We KNOW relative time has some bearing on how things happen around the Doctor, so taking all that time out from the "current" time was... weird.
And as fun as all those adventures must have been. We have SO many particulars now... so many stories we KNOW must have happened, but have nothing but still images. Whatshisface (what IS his face? Kazeran?) and pretty chick were basically companions. They should get a book or something. I dunno. The images were poignant and all that, but it felt like we were being... like, deprived of those stories or something.
Oh but it was so great to see Doctor Who again. And Amy and Rory were cute as little cop kissogram and Roman shaped buttons. And Amy looked really pretty as a hologram, in that green light. And the little boy crying over the dying shark. Awww. That was a great little kid. And the snow! Just... *sniffle* I heart Doctor Who.
I did not watch the trailer. I do not wish to see the trailer! BBCA tried to force me. I saw the first frame, and I heard a sentence about 3/4 of the way through, because I thought it'd be over when I went back to live mode (it was like a minute long?). I don't want to know. But the promo of the Doctor and Amy in America was super cute.
I will watch Graham Norton later. I will probably have more thoughts on Doctor Who later as well.
Merry Christmas!
This Doctor Who Christmas special marked a few firsts. Obviously, the first one with the Eleventh Doctor. The first one I watched first on BBCA, and therefore the first I watched in proper HD (on first viewing). So, most of that was good.
The not good (nospoilery). 1. Commercials. I expected that, of course. But without editing (a good thing), the cuts were extremely choppy, especially towards the end. They should have had like an… intermission or something. However, the TARDIS infomercial thing was pretty funny. 2. Covering half the screen with the station ID, the show I was currently watching, and what was coming up next for like half the episode. Made me punchy.
The good (nonspoilery). 1. Well, not having to acquire the episode by other means. So not having to really worry about it. The wait was annoying, but it was only a couple hours once I was done with my Christmassing. 2. The aforementioned HD. I watched most of the ep on my parents tv, which is a real HD tv, not our old huge one in the living room, which is CRT, but was HD ready way back in the day, so can received HD broadcasts and it looks good, but not that good.
All right, that being said…
I liked it. Quite a lot. I even sort of liked that it was Amy/Rory light while still having them be important. I wanted to hug the Doctor so many times. The sad notes, especially for him, resonated SO well. With any Doctor, it can be easy to forget sometimes that he is all that have been before him. This episode, in particular, reminded me in several places that he is 900 mumble mumble years old.
I got teary-eyed. Just a bit. At the end. The bit about his beloved. Him being sad that it was over. Just him and Amy being kind of awesome.
I laughed, out loud, several times. The bit with Marilyn? Awesome. I think the Doctor should really just keep getting married to historical figures. Why not? Just that whole bit of him trying to talk to whatshisface and whatsherface while they were making out. The line about shutting himself up in his room to make a new screwdriver after he failed to kiss the girl? HA! Also, :(. But still, funny.
I loved the whole look of it. The blue filters on everything, the dustiness. The steampunk vibe, the sort of really smushed up THIS IS A DIFFERENT PLANET, NO IT'S ALL DICKENSIAN. That was really well done. I liked, also, that the people on this planet were human. Aliens are cool and all, but I love seeing those glimpses of what humans do in the future, and all. And what they retain from the past, and why, and how that changes. I love all of that stuff.
What wasn't working for me? Well... the overarching concept, I guess. The timey-wimey aspect, I mean. For one, I was screaming "DON'T TOUCH THE BABY" in my head at the part where old whatshisface hugs young whatshisface. After all we know about the delicacy of time lines... the whole concept seemed too dangerous for the Doctor to just pull off so... simply? I dunno, not the right word. You can say desperation lead him to it, Amy and Rory and 4000 other people were going to die, I guess. But all the trips? I mean, yeah, he was trying to change whatshisface into a good guy, but still. Awful risky. We KNOW relative time has some bearing on how things happen around the Doctor, so taking all that time out from the "current" time was... weird.
And as fun as all those adventures must have been. We have SO many particulars now... so many stories we KNOW must have happened, but have nothing but still images. Whatshisface (what IS his face? Kazeran?) and pretty chick were basically companions. They should get a book or something. I dunno. The images were poignant and all that, but it felt like we were being... like, deprived of those stories or something.
Oh but it was so great to see Doctor Who again. And Amy and Rory were cute as little cop kissogram and Roman shaped buttons. And Amy looked really pretty as a hologram, in that green light. And the little boy crying over the dying shark. Awww. That was a great little kid. And the snow! Just... *sniffle* I heart Doctor Who.
I did not watch the trailer. I do not wish to see the trailer! BBCA tried to force me. I saw the first frame, and I heard a sentence about 3/4 of the way through, because I thought it'd be over when I went back to live mode (it was like a minute long?). I don't want to know. But the promo of the Doctor and Amy in America was super cute.
I will watch Graham Norton later. I will probably have more thoughts on Doctor Who later as well.
Merry Christmas!
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 04:55 am (UTC)Yeah, this. I'm getting a little worn out on timey-wimey, to be honest. It rarely makes sense, which is fine, but can we have some things that don't make sense that aren't about time travel occasionally? And it's giving the Doctor powers that... it's not that I don't ~approve~ of them like some people get itchy about the "snap his fingers and the TARDIS opens" business, but it makes the stories too easily solved. So much so that Moffat always has to throw in some random wrinkle at the end ("Oh you've changed too much for these isometric controls to work") in order to make it less easy. There have always been rules about time travel that make it so that it doesn't magically solve problems, but those rules are sort of slowly being done away with. I don't, actually, watch this show because I ~loooove~ time travel, but Moffat seems to think that's what the whole shebang is 100% about. I'm getting tired of it.
Anyway, my reaction post, while marked as having spoilers for the trailer, really only contains one teensy spoiler of little consequence for it. I think it's safe for a spoiler-avoider.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 05:03 am (UTC)And one at the beginning ("the TARDIS can't lock on"). Because I was like, why can't he just load everyone on to the TARDIS. I mean, there's room for 4000 people. And it wasn't a 'fixed event,' clearly...
but it makes the stories too easily solved
Exactly. How many sticky spots could have been so easily gotten out of with a little fancy TARDIS footwork. Personal timeline, what?
I mean, it's almost like you have to throw in the towel and NOT think too much about it. Which was always the case, I guess, but this was stretching it a little too much, I thought.
I mean, I did love so much about it, and without that concept, it wouldn't be the same story, so I don't want to bitch too much, I just think it is sort of doing away with rules that are there for a reason. That reason being (partly) we can wrap our heads around it.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 05:43 am (UTC)I always come across as way more critical of episodes when I'm commenting than when I do my own reaction posts. I was legit choked-up and had something in my eye and may or may not have punched the air once or twice. Totally.
But yeah, my only concern is the potential for "Well, why can't he go back in the timeline of the Zogobians of the Planet Zog and make them not have this terrible war?" The answer to that was always, "Because he can't, because he can't, okay?" Well, the real reason is "Because then there would be no show." But if he can just go back in everyone's history after he meets them and there are no reapers and everyone gets to have a bittersweet and doomed romance with an opera singer and party with Frank Sinatra then... why can't that always be the solution?
I can handwave it to a certain extent, but if it happens too many times then it ceases to be handwavable and starts to just be the all-purpose fix-it and I stop being able to suspend disbelief because I'll just be sitting there going, "Just go back in time and fix it, gawd."
no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 06:01 am (UTC)Me too. I do try to discuss both positives and negatives, but sometimes I'm overwhelmed by WHO!YAY!
if it happens too many times then it ceases to be handwavable and starts to just be the all-purpose fix-it and I stop being able to suspend disbelief
Yes, this. And the rules are always changing. People who were meant to die can live and it doesn't eff up everything (say, Fires of Pompeii, or Waters of Mars), whereas one dude alive (Pete, Father's Day) almost ends the world (okay two copies of them weakened the fabric of time blahdiblahdiblah. But it has been fairly consistent that once the Doctor and the TARDIS are in the middle of something, they can't just hop around and change stuff. Well, okay there was some of that last season. But this ep was ABOUT that. A bit hard to swallow.
I was legit choked-up and had something in my eye and may or may not have punched the air once or twice. Totally.
Oh yes. Me too. Plus young but adult Whatshisface? Kinda hot. Which always helps. And I liked the little fishiies. :D And them in their Christmas fezes!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 06:29 am (UTC)And the rest: the only big prob I had with this ep, and I'd love to do my own post about it but I know I won't, was Abigail's sister's kids and the relative ages thereof. I mean, we meet the *same kid* at the beginning, playing the sister's spunky, coal-throwing son, and the rewind at the *very least* 40 years (tho I'd not believe he was a day under 60) and he's essentially the same age and not playing nice with the Doctor's card tricks! Whut???
That aside?? Win win win. Gripping, moving and just a teeny bit chilling and cute. And then the magic snow hit me especially hard seeing as how my holiday season was stacked against me and then I got time off and a white Christmas...it is so healing :) I loved all the caroling and this was also the year that I Finally read "A Christmas Carol". This ep felt really personal to me.
Also? The isomorphic controls weren't as squinty to me as the idea that Abigail was the only voice on the planet that could save them...but that might've been TD being TD, also no time for auditions :D
All in all a fine end to a brilliant day! Snow killed our dish for the moment so I was glad I'd cheated out of sheer impatience! We watched the first half twice because when they pulled out the crackers, we yelped and ran for ours lest they be forgotten and we'd had an unexpected guest turn up to watch with us @ the same time so we started over! And I just watched most again on BBCA (yays!). I'm also happy that we can announce having watched it in mixed company now ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 09:30 am (UTC)I like it though. I think it's going to be Eleven's trademark. To play with time jumping back and fourth. He is a different person than Ten and obviously doesn't worry too much about damaging timelines *shrug*
I really enjoyed it, it was clever and for most of your reasons for enjoying it too :D
no subject
Date: 2010-12-27 07:19 pm (UTC)I think that this comes down to the overall theme that seems to have emerged since last season that "Time can be rewritten". That was the impression I got anyway.
I'm glad you enjoyed it for the most part as I did too. It was the first time I really truly just enjoyed Eleven as Eleven. And I might be the only one, but I liked the timey-whimey storyline, but I like timey whimey and am okay with handwavey explanations, so maybe I'm just weird.