Finishing season 8 Doctor Who - dark, dark Cyberdeaths

Um, well that was DARK...

And pretty disturbing.

Anyone else deeply uncomfortable with some of the places that the finale took us to?

This is really just a holding place for some random thoughts that I will fill out as and when.  For starters though:

1) still confused if consciousness continues beyond death in the Missy Nethersphere and exactly how she captured these 'dead souls'. Part of me wants to think everything we SAW happening in the Nethersphere was a fake representation to just amuse Missy (and her faux AI companion Seb) and not really what was being 'felt' by the dead, Danny included.  So he is 'brought back' as a Cyberman but does he mention the experience of the Nethersphere?  I don't think so... but I may need to watch again.

2) following the point above, on that basis really definitely not comfortable with the whole 'don't cremate me!' or the screams of organ donors (hope that can be unpacked / clarify or I forsee a generation of non-donors, and even fuller cemeteries).

3) love the mini-misdirect of Clara as the Doctor (including her eyes in the opening credits)

4) loved the reincarnation Missy - echoes the existing history whilst adding that special Michelle Gomez touch (barking mad, or as she put it "bananas")

5) Osgood! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

6) Brigadier! Awh/Nooooooooo [really ambivalent how well or if that worked.  My heart says yes, but I'm fully commit to it]

7) hugs ---- I'm a big fan of hugs, but they certainly can be a way of hiding behind a physical act.  As Clara and the Doctor proved...

8) whatever inconsistencies in tone or plot there may have been this season, surely no-one can doubt the conviction of the lead performances, especially Capaldi who excellent. I know not everyone has been convinced by the turn the character has taken, but I'm on board.  His impotent fury, and then lying to Clara, about (not) finding Gallifrey was heartbreaking.

9) Poor Danny Pink - half a character in search of real purpose, and desparate to avoid the sometimes incipient potential racism of the writers.  See the review in Doctor Who Magazine of 'the Caretaker' to see I wasn't the only one feeling a bit uncomfortable about P.E.  Echoes of that again in the plane towards  Colonel Ahmed ....

10) It's been Doctor Who!  With robots, Robin Hood, creepy simple psychological time-twisting with 'Listen', creepy plane-playing Flatline with its shrinking TARDIS, a Dalek story without a lot of Daleks, helpful trees, disturbingly rubbish but terrifying spider-things, a horrifying Mummy (with some great 1920s frocks), Victoriana and dinosaurs and the Paternoster gang, Moon-trips, cybermen, Missy, dodgy School-based shennanegins and more!

Doctor Who - reaching the halfway season point with Peter Capaldi

Well, this HAS been a bit of a turn hasn’t it? The first episode of the new series – Deep Breath – suggested some shifts, but they’ve been reinforced by the subsequent episodes in ways I hadn’t necessarily fully anticipated. It feels like there have been more deaths (certainly on-screen), even if there aren’t. The humour is still there but it is definitely different in tone. Moff also seems more actively involved in sharing scriptwriting duties (at least as far as the credits are concerned), which suggests he’s taking a different approach to that of RTD on script editing duties but nevertheless does indicate he’s wanting a bit more continuity of tone across the episodes (not sure that is entirely successful but that’s a different matter – the intention of continuity is apparent).

And as far Capaldi’s Doctor? Well, I like that he’s not likable. You can see aspects of past selves in his performance, just not necessarily the likable aspects. There is definitely less fun, but that isn’t to say there’s no funny. Rob Buckley talked on his blog about the Doctor being varying degrees of a ‘dick’ (even Eight, who got little chance on screen to be one, has had many moments of dickery in his subsequent adventures in audio/print). Rob, as ever, is kinda right, but getting the balance is crucial. There is a danger of us having another super-paternalistic, self-regarding version of the Doctor again (Three and Six, I’m looking at you – even if Six has rounded out his character a little more via the Big Finish productions). Now I love all the Doctors in different ways, so this doesn’t especially unnerve me, but I can see that as a long-term strategy it could be problematic. Then again, we shouldn’t be worried about ratings…should we?

And what’s happened with Clara? Well, she’s developed more of a character this time around, and I’d be sad to see her go too soon from the dynamic, but it depends what you want from a companion / assistant / fellow traveller. There is a settling into a new Doctor travelling pattern, and this one feels potentially fruitful. She’s prepared to challenge, but she does trust the Doctor, this Doctor – is that something that is going to bite her back?

Episode 2 – Into the Dalek

It’s a dalek episode, but without really having many daleks (til the ending). And yes, it’s Dalek (Eccleston episode) re-worked*. Nevertheless, I was rather taken with the turn it took, and the soldier theme that now seems to be running through the series gets a real kick-off here with the rather magnificent Journey Blue (SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN ONTO THE TARDIS!!!) and the crew of the Aristotle. Additionally, we meet former soldier turned teacher Danny Pink – who also has broader potential (and not just as Clara’s squeeze). We get more Missy mystery – and I’m saying now that I am avoiding speculation as well as spoilers, so keep your thoughts to yourselves people! There is also a definite sense of danger in the proceedings of the episode, with the repaired Rusty possibly outdoing even the other arriving daleks for destructiveness and dalekness, even if the budget could only stretch to three more daleks invading the ship… I didn’t even object to the Fantastic Voyage / The Invisible Enemy revisitation because the internal workings of the dalek were wonderfully realised.

Episode 3 – Robot of Sherwood

It’s the daftest episode so far, but come on! It combines Robin Hood and Doctor Who: what’s not to enjoy?! Besides a bunch of laughs that work especially well for those of us of local Robin Hood persuasion (“Next ….Derby!”; “What about Worksop?”) the show bristles with delightful awkwardness in how to deal with a folkloric figure. Robin Hood is not ultimately explained away as a Robot, nor as part of the ‘cunning plan’ of the Sheriff and his robot pals to distract/cheer the locals, but actually I don’t have a problem with that. The plot and dialogue desperately try to explain Robin away – the impossibility of them having landed somewhere ‘real’ given his presence (“We’re in a mini-scope!” being an understandable favourite). But it is worth drawing that distinction between ‘fictional’ and ‘folkloric’ – from such folklore bases are myths and legends developed that become more fiction than reality, and the connection to the Doctor in that respect is pertinent. A romp, obviously. Still plenty of death though.

Episode 4 – Listen

The stand-out episode so far on so many levels: scary, brain-boggling and beautifully written, Moff once again uses time-travel as a central narrative device for constructing the development of character and events. From the initial to camera monologue about things hiding, to the realisation that fears form us always; from Rupert/Danny the soldier man to the ‘origins of “never cruel, or cowardly”; from Clara’s flailing date with her fellow teacher, to the potential that there is a happiness ahead for them; from the ‘just-a-kid’ under a blanket to the avoidable-but-thrilling ankle grab… this was a weave of rewatchable pleasures. Two thumbs up from both parties on the sofa when we watched this one!

Episode 5 – Time Heist

Hustle has never been one of the shows I’ve watched; I’m aware of it, but it never clicked with me. This episode presents an enjoyable reworking of that show, but it isn’t something I’d want to see lost of in future. I did like the prosthetics work of the Teller(s) though and the head/brain sucking was suitably disturbing. Mostly, I noticed the Wizard of Oz connections: a heart for the clone boss; brain/memories back for the enhanced human; courage and capacity to be herself for the copyist. The architect (wizard) wasn’t really a surprise, but the episode mostly seemed to suffer from its proximity to the delights of ‘Listen’. Probably better to watch in isolation and out of sequence to the series.

Episode 6 – The Caretaker

Not unproblematic – race felt like an issue here** – but overall I found this worked better than the Heist episode. Not sure why though… Rubbish monster, easily defeated: not a problem. Bit baffled why a former soldier would pick up flashing bomblike objects, let alone relocate them to the school hall, but the effect of his meddling was nicely handled. I did like the nosey and annoying Courtney and her wilfully hopeful parents (not QUITE as disruptive as last year!) which harkened back to a RTD style approach to everyday characters. I also liked that the Doctor didn't try going in as a teacher again (even though he was even more rubbish at blending in then Mr "Physics, Physics, Physics" Ten).  Mostly though I liked the re-appearance of Missy with her new assistant (Chris Addison!!) dealing with the baffled dead… intriguing!  Of course I'd like an explanation for the random start to the episode - how/when will they get out of the chains?! - but otherwise an enjoyable episode.

So overall, I'm pleased.  I like the series still, and happily several who I thought may go off it have also settled to the new style of Doctor.  Hurrah for transition, for change and new directions.  Into darkness indeed.





*Which of course was itself reworked from audio – Jubilee

**Seriously, I really hope the Doctor’s elision from soldier to PE teacher for defining Danny Pink wasn’t racial stereotyping. He’s a MATHS TEACHER.  Really he is.

The Vault: Doctor Who book review

It is pretty beautiful it has to be said.  I had been picking this up and considering it since it was released and resisted admirably.

Very glad I did, as it turned up as a very delightful Christmas present and as soon as I picked it up - wrapped - I felt the heft, the shape, and just KNEW what it was even before opening it!

The Vault is like a treasure trove of Doctor Who memorabilia and objects from the show's history up to date.  The images capture scripts, memos, toys, props, clothes, stills, designs... everything you could want to peek at and more.

The SFX review has very nice images illustrating sample pages but the glossy gorgeousness can't really be stated - it has to be experienced.

I'd like to visit the Doctor Who Museum though...

That end of Christmas TV review (2013)

Let's take these in order of broadcast even though they weren't necessarily watched in order.

Raised by Wolves
Caitlin Moran is awesome and always has been.  Her book 'How to be a Woman' is by turns hilarious, painful and angry.  If you can cope with the language (typically Moran-esque) then do read it.  It sits on the shelf alongside the equally wonderful Hadley Freeman's 'Be Awesome', which is another book that is hilarious, painful and angry.  Both should be recommended reading for any young woman who can cope with the swearing.

Anyway, all that is by extension a way in to discussing the pilot episode of a fictionalised drama by the Moran sisters Caitlin and Caroline about growing up in Wolverhampton - updated to the present day.  If anything that settng is actually its only downfall, as it makes it too much like Shameless for people who hated Shameless (me and he), when it could have been the equivalent of 'Everybody Hates Chris'.  But then again, Moran is nothing if not against faux-nostalgia, so why not update things? The two leads - the equivalent of Caitlin and her elder sister - are brilliant, the other kids in the large family are suitably adorable/kooky, and mum (played by versatile Rebekah Staton) uses 'David Cameron' as a swear-word.  Brilliant.  Okay, it was WEIRD seeing Inspector Japp from Poirot turn up as weed-smoking Grampy, but hey...

Worth a commission, but more Wolverhampton please. (Actresses Helen Monks and Alexa Davies are far left and right, with the Moran sisters in the centre of the image)

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor
As we were out on Christmas Day(and what a wonderful day it was!), there was a frantic drive to make it back in time for this and we made it by the skin of our skin.  The second that the TV went on and came to life, that was the second that the voice-over and episode started.  Cutting a bit fine.  Rather like the episode.

It would be hard to top the excess of emotions that came with the 50th anniversary episode (The Day of the Doctor), or even the season finale earlier in the summer (The Name of the Doctor), so this episode - carrying the weight as it did of being both Christmas episode and Matt Smith's farewell to the role AND being lumbered with a 'how-will-they-resolve-the-regeneration-problem?' - was always destined to be weighed down with more expectations than could reasonably be managed.  Tennant got two hours of farewell and got to leave on New Year's Day so he didn't have to have his departure carry the same weight as a 'jolly' Christmas episode.

As it was, the episode still managed to be lovely and charming and thrilling, just not in the proportions it probably should have been.  The Christmas bits were charming - even the madness of recognisable actors in blink and miss roles - and the Town called Christmas looked beautiful.  Moffat tied up a good number of the threads marked 'Later' - Silents, cracks, the Question - and Smith got a stunning farewell speech and a moment with Amy. Stuart quoted it:

His final speech is sheer poetry, good enough to put in an upmarket Christmas cracker. Here it is in full. “It’s started. I can’t stop it now, this is just the reset. A whole new regeneration cycle. Taking a bit longer. Just breaking it in. It all just disappears doesn’t it, everything you are gone in a moment like breath on a mirror? Any moment now, he’s a comin’ … The Doctor …. And I always will be. But times change and so must I. Amelia! The first face this face saw. We all change when you think about it. We are all different people all through our lives and that’s ok, you gotta keep moving so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.” Then his actual final line. “Hey.” Sob again.

There were funny moments in 'The Time of the Doctor' (yes, damn me, I did chuckle at the naked/clothes bit, but not half as much as the line about Ten being vain) but the episode was undeniably unbalanced in trying to juggle Christmas with the end of the Doctor.  It just felt.. rushed, pushed, cramped... it needed space to breathe.  It needed BUDGET not just in terms of money - though what was spent, looked well-spent - but also time within the schedule.  (I've forgotten where I read it, but someone repeatedly kept reminding us, 'budget, budget, budget'.)

What saved it?  Re-watching helps enormously.  Like several broadcasts that could charm enough first time around but benefit from the extra thoughtfulness of re-watching, this is a grower.  The love and mixed emotions of first time around glow brighter with each re-watch. But there was already so much there to love and cherish. Well, Matt Smith was pretty damn awesome, and not just when he was pretending that Caitlin Blackwood hadn't inevitably grown up a damn lot since being Amelia four years ago and he was having to fantasise about another young actress with red hair being the 'first face he ever saw'.  Nice touch to have grown-up Amy back though for one last goodnight for the Raggedy Man. Smith also aged well, bringing a Hartnell-esque presence to the final days of the Doctor protecting Christmas.

Jenna Coleman had to do a lot with little - and a turkey, and being reminded again that "the Doctor always lies" - and had to cope with having a rather wonderful gran and a difficult pairing of (not)dad and step-mother. But she did it well and I really want her to stay around a while with the new incomer (if only in the hope that Idris/TARDIS doesn't throw a complete hissy at not having anyone who knows how to fly her around). Orla Brady - beautiful, delectable Natasha Tem (an alt River Song - see Allyn Gibson's comment after Stuart's review) for the end of Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen's days) - brought her usual grace, elegance and mischief to the proceedings and proves again why she is gorgeous in everything (the angel housekeeper Mrs Sheringham in Eternal Law, a lovely guilt pleasure from last year, and especially as Peter Bishop's mother Elizabeth in Fringe). And that's before we get to weeping angels in the snow, a wooden cyberman, Handles the talking cabbage, Daleks being taken down in a flame of semi-controlled regenerative energy, and children's drawings.  Phew.... and breathe...

So, there was a lot to take in, at the end of this Doctor's time, and a lot of emotion to be caught and distilled.  In the end, it was what we probably needed to expect with some glorious extras to sweeten the pill.  Raggedy Man, Goodnight.

Downton Abbey - Christmas Special
What can I say?  Mother-in-law had coped with me harassing us home in time (just) for Doctor Who, so we let her watch Downton.  We have never watched Downton before.  We almost certainly won't again.  But 1923 is a VERY good year for frocks and hats and the narrative was sufficiently self-contained (with some 'you-couldn't-avoid-knowing-that' stuff) to be watchable for a pair of novices like Neil and I.

Did I mention I like the clothes?

Death Comes to Pemberley
I think that in some ways Pride and Prejudice and Zombies did greater justice to Austenesque writing, but this was an enjoyable period romp/murder mystery with a suitably utterly irksome Lydia (Jenna Coleman, paired again with Matthew Goode from Dancing on the Edge, one of the year's broadcasting highlights).  Of course, one key reason for me and Neil watching was to as ever worship at the feet of adorable Anna Maxwell Martin.  She made a wonderful older Lizzie Bennet, and Matthew Rhys a dark Darcy (he also made a fine John Jasper in the Edwin Drood adaptation of early 2012). Pemberley divided opinions apparently.  A shame, I think, as I rather agree with the Telegraph reviewer Sarah Crompton:

They weren’t Austen’s creations, they weren’t the characters conjured up by PD James – and they certainly weren’t Ehle and Firth. But they stayed in my mind as the credits rolled, as honourable incarnations of a great literary couple.

The Thirteenth Tale
Hokum.  But superior hokum in the style of Virginia Andrews.  Great cast - the thankfully ubiquitous Olivia Coleman (may she keep being everywhere when she's this good) and the once again flame-haired Vanessa Redgrave.  Lucy Mangan does a good non-spoilery review which captures the insane twisty tale which waved flags at its explanation from relatively early on.  Who cares?  It was very watchable.

I suspect that all of these will turn up on Masterpiece (which seems to be co-credited on just about everything these days!) if it hasn't already been broadcast - Doctor Who breaks records now in the USA, even if it is just on BBC America.

Enjoy and happy new year!

Doctor Who | Goodbye Raggedy Man | Matt Smith 2010 - 2013

And breathe.... overload in the realm of Doctor Who - anniversary weekend madness

I'm still feeling a bit giddy actually, like I've had the biggest sugar rush ever invented: a total overdose of Doctor Who-ness.  Good for me?  No idea.  Probably not.  Don't care.

I kept my promise (mostly): no spoilers pre-episode.  I've been scarcely reading DWM for months (skipping with eyes closed over the news pages and even avoiding the covers on occasion).  I gave in over the mini-episode 'The Night of the Doctor' because the star of it created such a stir that I couldn't avoid or resist it.

But apart from the 50th trailer - bringing together the Doctors so far, I was good.

I stuck my fingers in my ears and la-la-la-ed my way through several weeks of speculation, building to a positive avalanching crescendo as the day approached.  Radio, television, everything.  Heck, even the BBC World Service joined in! It's a good job I frequently subvert the fact that I totally need glasses to read now and all-too often try to access social media on my phone: this helped in la-la-la-ing there as well.  If I can hardly see and I only post, well I couldn't get spoilered.

I wasn't alone in this venture: one of my students (bless her) was doing the same, and so was one of the staff at Nottingham's Broadway cinema, where we went to watch an encore screening today.  Like me, they too had succumbed to the pre-episode, but beyond that we had been 'good people'.  No I don't know how (or why) we did it: it just felt right.

Part of me wanted to be with the 'we' watching the live simulcast in cinemas, but I knew I needed to soak it at home first, in private.  What if it was truly awful?  Wouldn't it be horrible to be with others and feel nothing but total disappointment, confusion, despair? What if THEIR reactions rubbed off - negatively - on me? (And yes, I'm aware of those who truly felt that way about the episode: I respect them, and can see their points which are no doubt founded on sincere belief and interpretation, and yet with all my heart, I don't care and cannot go that way).

So for the first viewing I watched it at home, with my 'semi-we', the not-quite-anoraked but long-time part-converted Neil. (Despite occasional protestations about my obsessive interest in Doctor Who, we've worked out that his partial conversion phase has been going a LONG time. We calculated, pace the emergency TV purchase moment on Wednesday, that when we had bought a portable TV in haste many years ago when our first TV blew up - smokey cathode ray and all - that the timing of that rushed purchased, carryied portable TV across Wolverhampton, was for... yup, the Paul McGann TV movie of Doctor Who.  How nothing changes....)

At first we set up with just an upright standard lamp on: "too bright" said my semi-we, so into darkness we went with just the glow of the TV.  Save the day?  This was definitely The Day of the Doctor.  A dark room, a winter's night, and all of time and space ahead of us.

Oh my.  Was it what I wanted?  I honestly do not know.  Was it what I needed?  Yes.  Ten took a lot of hearts into him when he appeared and when Tennant regenerated it broke a lot of those hearts and it felt right and reflective that his parting words were "I don't want to go".  We didn't want him to.  Plenty have still not come to terms with Eleven (and as both an established and yet also Ten fan, I nevertheless have thought Eleven very good indeed, though not always well served by the scripts/direction). 

Anyway, this time around there was a smile to Ten re-uttering the departing words (not least because they had been deployed so magnificently by David Bradley as William Hartnell just two days earlier in the frankly BREATHTAKING 'An Adventure in Space and Time'*).  Ten's traits were both mocked and lauded, noted and admired... out there somewhere, the Tenth is still running and that will always be happening in our hearts.  Having him back, the same suit, the same smile, the same screwdriver... it felt like coming home, and yet also a coming home that was growing up.  Like going away to University. I'd have him back for good in heartbeat (or two), but as he'll always be there - part of whatever Doctor there is - and yet I also know I can't expect that it can be forever.  Change...?

I'm rambling: I've hardly slept in days - excitement and exhaustion in equal measure.  In between everything I went to see Bellowhead and had a great time, but ended up looking like I'd stepped from a shower of sweat.  It's kinda been a bit much really.

What I loved (too many things to list):

• Ten was back - romantic, getting it wrong, being cocky and confused with bunny-infused energy.  God, I've missed him.  He was also, as Tennant can also do, sad, weary, aware and regretful.  Loved it.
• Eleven and 'the Curator' in front of painting - brilliant.  And I was totally not expecting that thanks to avoiding spoilers.
• Zygons!  Love a bit of doppelganger shape-shifting.
• Kate Lethbridge-Stewart asking about "Codename Cromer", whose files were from "the 1970s or 1980s depending on the dating protocol".  Ah, U.N.I.T dating....
• The 3-D paintings - beautiful
• Shakespeare links - Jonjo O'Neill and Peter de Jersey.  *sigh*
• The grown-up mocking the boys: Oh, John Hurt, you are a star.
• Compensating sonic screwdrivers and water pistols...
• Cameos from the doctors, saving the day - with a near-miss from Eccleston 
• The relief that Rose Tyler WASN'T Rose Tyler, and that Ten wasn't half-Ten from the parallel universe (ably phrased at 8.20pm by the original not-we, the Wife in Space, Sue Perryman in the Guardian live blog - my response to this exchange between Neil and Sue got a thumbs up from them, which may qualify as my personal squee moment):
• I think it's safe to say that this is the real tenth Doctor and not the sex toy version given to Rose
• Sue: Every version of the tenth Doctor is a sex toy version, Neil.
• Peter Capaldi!  Looking forward already!

What didn't work as well:

• Eccleston doing Malekith in Thor instead of DW50: seriously dude, you were missed
• The not-we probably had a hard time keeping up, but was this really for them?
• The reboot of Gallifrey and the Time War - I'm ambivalent about this, rather than anti because I guess it depends on where we go next.
• Some of the 3-D effects felt gratuitous whilst other moments barely felt 3-D at all.  But that reflects my problem with 3-D and not this episode.

And after this, I watched 'The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot', which qualifies as the best way that the current production team could sanction including the old Doctors without having them in the episode itself.  All hail Five, Peter Davison, as magician for this witty and warm subversion of the anniversary.

As I said, today we did it all again in public (some couldn't quite manage to do this properly: 3-D jokes made by Tennant about things pointing out the screen.... oh dear).  This made the adventure alive all over again, with extra 3-Dness.  A pleasure to behold.  Overdone in parts, underdone in others.  But overall a pleasure: I wouldn't say Moffat did us proud (as the OTT after-show claimed) but it was what I needed.  A baffling celebration of something wonderful, confusing, and amazing.

I want to see the 100th anniversary episode, and not just because it will be in 12-D.

* 'An Adventure in Space and Time' was Mark Gatiss doing a hymnal to Doctor Who and to BBC Television Centre.  Beautiful, poignant, bittersweet and perfectly rendered on every level, this will for some be *THE* 50th Anniversary treat, perhaps more so than the anniversary episode itself.  They have different beauties to my mind, but Bradley deserves every award going for his portrayal of the First Doctor.

Daleks, Dinosaurs, Cyborgs, Cubes and Angels: the brief beauty of Doctor Who s7.1

Dear lordy Moff, you really do like to put us through the wringer don't you?

There's gonna be spoilers here folks.

Don't say you haven't been warned.

There'll be tears before the end.

There'll be chuckles along the way.

And there WILL

BE

SPOILERS....





Okay, so firstly you pull of that surprise with Oswin: companion to be, arriving early with a heartbreaking souffle.

We didn't see that coming.

The Pond-subplot for that one built nicely from a pre-series mini episode 'Pond Life' written by Chris Chibnall.  We've criticised CC in the past - and actually currently as well, sadly all to often with good reasons.  Here, in Asylum, his prequel was useful but not central to requirements.  What Moff did was make it proper emotional.

Yes, I said it: Moff can do emotional.  He doesn't do it like Rusty did, but he does pull the strings of heart.

"I didn't throw you out - I gave you up"

Sorry: I'm sobbing again.

We then went all Primeaval in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship with a dodgy sexist adventurer (what is it about Rupert Graves that gets him such roles?!) and Queen Nefertiti.  It was fun - mostly for the brilliant Mark Williams as Brian Pond (oh if ONLY Chibs had insisted on that character much earlier in the Pond life cycle...) who despite all insistence to the contrary was never going to be 'Brian Williams'.

However, it was also getting to be clear even if you hadn't been spoilered that the Ponds weren't going to be travellers forever.

The episode also had a great villainous turn from David Bradley who must have really lapped up this hyper-nonsense!  I could have done without the Silurian sub-plot (really Chibbers, we get that you like them!) but Bradley was monster enough to make up for the rather slight dinosaur threat --- the creatures were gorgeously realised on screen though!

The next move was into the West: with a vengeful cyborg being the 'good guy' as compared to his maker.  It was a small tale of morality and moral dilemmas and all the more enjoyable for that.

But most importantly, what had been spotted by then?

The changing title sequence.

I'd squeed anyway when I saw on 'Asylum of the Daleks' that the sequence had been tweaked.  Oooh it suddenly looked PROPER Doctor Who-ish with a retro/modern tone, dark and beautiful, ridding us of the Gavascon colouration of the earlier Moff series.

But then Frank Collins - one of my favourite reviewers - confirmed my suspicions.

Oh it was getting darker for sure.

Chibbers came back and amazingly didn't wreck the joint.  He bought back the brilliant Brian Pond and although it was an oddly balanced episode (lots of threads got left hanging), it had a typically Rusty momentum ---- moreover, how could I hate an episode that made Kate Stewart TV cannon?

And Jemma Redgrave was lovely as the daughter of our beloved and late Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

And so we got to Manhattan.

It was hard to avoid that we would be losing the Ponds in an episode promised to be scary and heartbreaking.

Damn, damn, DAMN you Moff.  You are cruel in the beauty of your story-telling.

It was noirish (Telegraph), and there was no punchline to rescue Rory - or Amy - this time around (Independent).  For an early evening family entertainment, it was a breathtaking move to even consider presenting a suicide pact (Den of Geek), let alone that it may be 'the right thing to do'.

So when that wasn't the end of Rory and Amy, when that final Angel appeared and took him as he read the gravestone, and we realised Amy would join him and leave the Doctor - her raggedy-man - to be with her husband....

... well, it all tears, all the time.

It wasn't as if this was an episode that didn't tug at you all the way through: I particularly liked this passage from the TV.com review which included an exchange of lines I really choked at.

After River freed herself from an Angel by breaking her own wrist and then lying to the Doctor in an attempt to convince him that they'd changed the future foretold in the book, she clued us in to what marriage means in one of the most moving scenes of this series. Why did she lie about her wrist? "When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a 12-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage." "It must hurt." "Yes, the wrist is pretty bad too."

Break my heart already Moff.

As the Guardian put it, 'love didn't save the day' --- but arguably, it DID save the days of Rory and Amy: they spent the days together, in love, happy.

And quite by chance, I went back in my mind to last Sunday, listening to 6Music when they had a Ben Folds focus to the Playlist show.  I requested "The Luckiest", and although the age is 'wrong' in the lyrics (but heck even that gravestone doesn't seem right!) the final verse strikes me as very much suited to the end of Rory and Amy.

Next door there's an old man
Who lived to his 90s
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away.
I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way
To tell you that I know we belong
That I know
That I am
I am
I am
The Luckiest 

Thank you Ponds.  We've loved having you around,

UPDATE: Stuart does the most gorgeous and appropriate review of Angels.  Just lovely,

And for those missing DW Confidential:

Doctor Who title sequences this season

Am SOOOO glad that the brilliant Frank Collins is back reviewing Doctor Who.

I've been hopping up and down each week about the title sequence being better this season and darker.  And then Frank goes and nails it. (SPOILERS AHOY OBVIOUSLY!)

Each episode's title sequence is getting darker. Compare Asylum's opening titles with this episode's and you'll see the vortex is closing down, becoming sickly green and darker by the week. 

He's not wrong you know.

TV of 2011 - highlights from the Rullsenberg/Roberts household

A bit early yet I know, and there have been other things I've enjoyed this year on TV, but these are my personal awards for the year. And you'll spot No Downton Abbey. Sorry. Not my cuppa, as much as I love the frocks.

Best International programme

Forbrydelsen

So back in January 2011 The Killing crept into our house and took our hearts. Sarah Lund for heroine of the year? Enjoying Forbrydelsen II but the roller-coaster of the first series swept us away.

Best Documentary

Educating Essex - Although this hit me during my erratic period of not blogging much, this was certainly documentary of the year without a doubt. Broke my heart every episode with its honesty and humanity (as I commented on FB). Best advert for comprehensive education ever.

Update: and an honourable mention for The Agony and the Ecstasy about the English National Ballet - beautiful and agonising in equal measure.

Best Fantasy Drama

The Fades - It almost felt too good to be true when it started. It was like it ticked EVERY possible box for Rullsenberg. Gothic horror? Check. Teen Drama? Check? Name-checks and hat-tips to fantasy, sci-fi, horror? Check, Check, Check. It could have been too formulaic for its own good, but instead it was charming and horrific in the best ways possible. A second series would be lovely - but this was too perfect to damage if it means a drop in quality.

• Honourable mention for Being Human season 3, which intermittently presented us with the sort of gory glory it should have had all through the season.

Update: Best Conspiracy Drama
The Shadow Line - although Hidden was very enjoyable, it was lightweight compared to the density of The Shadow Line. With wonderfully atmospheric music (courtesy of Emily Barker's "Pause"), sound and photography, along with some cracking performances - Eve Best, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Ecclestone, Stephen Rea, Lesley Sharp, Antony Sher, Rafe Spall and more - it proved a tense highlight of the television year.



Best ongoing series setting up for the future

Doctor Who - As you will know I applauded at the end of "The Wedding of River Song". After a season that included such pleasures as the super-creepy Silence, the magnificent Neil Gaiman's beautiful "The Doctor's Wife" (and its companion Confidential episode, a work of pure pleasure), the punch-the-air revelations of "A Good Man Goes to War", the madness of "Let's Kill Hitler" and all the heartache around Rory and Amy, well.... anyway, suffice to say I'm so excited by the prospect of the Xmas special it almost hurts.

Doctor Who finale 2011 (the 'proper' one?) - "The Wedding of River Song"

Belatedly completed I know - but Blogger kept eating the post (or Firefox turned my text into Alien Form Shakespeare).

Anyway I was glad to find that SOMEONE liked the end of Doctor Who season 6 / Fnarg plus 1 / season 32 (Thanks On The Box). And even MediumRob was fine with it having been intermittently disappointed by the 2011 two half series.

And guess what? I liked it too.

In fact - as I noted everywhere - I applauded at the end. It just felt spontaneously right to do.

Some of the things I liked

• The eyepatches explanation. Made perfect sense suddenly. Why didn't I get that earlier?
• Madame Kovarian getting a good dose of Amy Pond: proving that River is very much her mother's daughter.
• Rory 'dying' for Amy - and her return to save him. Just lovely.
• The 'wedding' and the name of the Doctor. Oh playful Mr Moffat.
• The phone call to rally the troops - the reveal that the call the Doctor makes is a too-late invitation to the Brig for a final adventure hit me in the throat and had me reeling. A lovely and perfect farewell to a much-loved character and actor.
• The final line - such an obvious 'ultimate question' and yet so satisfying!

Things I was less keen on

• Two seasons: 6 or 7 episodes scarcely ever feels enough. 13 sometimes felt like a short-change: this split just feels limited.
• No Mark Sheppard! oh sadness! (I nearly typed that as Badger: highlighting my love of Serenity/Firefly) For some reason I was really looking expecting another appearance from Canton Delaware Everett III...
• I'm still not sure I quite get why Madame Kovarian worked with The Silence (or what they achieved/didn't achieve)
• Teselecta ex machina - really should have seen that coming (as lovely as it was to see inside and watch the Stetson wave)

Still: It was just such a blast - and whilst lacking the glorious 'how-could-we-have-doubted?' oomph of The Big Bang/The Pandorica Opens, it was nevertheless a darn fine finale. I think part of the reason why it lacked that previous punch is tied to my floored reaction to the episode 'The God Complex' a couple of weeks earlier.

I'd got to the end of that episode - Amy and Rory's departure after an emotionally wrecking farewell to the innocent faith of Amelia Pond - and promptly felt like my stomach had been pulled out. I'd known that my friend would be watching it after first broadcast and worried frantically how she's take it. Once she watched it she immediately ended up texting me and we exchanged messages about how in bits we both were. The departure was both perfectly handled - companion departures don't NEED to be the crux of every finale - and utterly heart-breaking in its casualness, its ordinariness of them needing to go - of the Doctor needing them to go. He (had to) destroy that innocent faith - all too misplaced - of young Amelia Pond, and after that he couldn't keep the couple with him.

Which made the scene in the garden at chez Pond/Williams all the more lovely as mum and dad got some good news from their daughter to unravel the wibbly-wobbly-ness of Rover's timeline and relationship to the Doctor.

And I also loved the Confidential episode - full-length of course - with its timeline of River beautifully edited to make it clear to those who hadn't kept up.

What next?

Moffat - get a handle on show-running. RTD had many faults but keeping all the balls of other people's writing for the series in check was a strong point. The inconsistencies of tone and portrayals between writers are just a bit too glaring sometimes. Whip them troops into line. And whilst I appreciate you getting the show into the autumn period, I'm not best keen on the 6-7 episodes a season set-up. But I'm being greedy I know...

Smith - if you haven't already, get your exit strategy planned. I love your portrayal of the Doctor dearly: far more than my Tennant-love thought possible (but which I hoped would be won over by my inner-geekness and long-term love for Doctor Who the series). Nevertheless, there's an anniversary coming up and you need to know how to get out of being sucked into 'what comes next'. Doctor Who will be forever - in some form, some way - but it needs regeneration. In the meantime, keep giving this show the energy it deserves. You've made the part your own and it is a brilliant and dazzling thing to behold. Keep making it yours.

Here's to 2012 and to 2013. And beyond.

The TARDIS here in New Zealand?!

Oh yes...

All courtesy of the entrepreneurial spirit of New Zealand as one man turns his shed into a weekend nostalgia museum. Enter through the TARDIS.


And when the museum is open, his home made dalek stalks the lawn!

Torchwood and Doctor Who

Critical faculty hats off everybody: Rullsenberg tackles the difficult questions of whether Torchwood was worth watching and whether Doctor Who still has IT.







Didn't you spot the 'switch off your critical faculties' line?



What can I say that hasn't already been written? In an age where the internet - especially Twitter and Facebook - mean that every faultline, every contradiction, every incoherant plot thread and every bit of over-emotional music scoring can be dissected within seconds of airing, to the world even before they've had chance to watch themselves... how can it even be possible to comment after the event?

But the point is that all that 'noise', the immediacy of comment, doesn't necessarily make for considered opinion. Not as I am promising considered opinion, but in these fast-moving times I suspect that even something written around 12 hours after the end of the UK screening of Torchwood, and at the mid-point of the second run of episodes for Season 6/Fnarg-plus-one-point-five/32-ish of Doctor Who will appear 'thoughtful'.

For what it's worth then, here are my thoughts (you'd be silly not to anticipate some spoilery remarks:

Torchwood
Well it was bonkers wasn't it? It certainly wasn't up there with Children of Earth level creepiness or emotional wrenching, but neither did it hit the (nevertheless entertainingly awful) lows of some of the episodes of S1 and S2. There were moments when the American-ness of the series threatened to overwhelm everything and turn it into 24, and I could have done without some of the awful "here-are-the-differences-between-the-American-and-English-language" puns, riffs and 'explanations'. But then it worked out more of what it wanted to do and there were some brilliantly unsettling aspects to the story. I was glad that we caught episode five before we travelled (as I would have been really cross to not have the horrors that presented to depart on) and there was something wonderful about squashing in four episodes to a couple of days on our return ensuring we were primed for the finale in tandem with the rest of the UK.

Am I 'pleased' with the ending? Not yet sure. It made no sense at all, but hey: it's Torchwood (kinda like Chinatown but less well written). I liked that it killed Vera off and let Kitzinger survive, and felt utterly baffled that there wasn't more general social chaos post-miracle given that effectively the world had been governed by people prepared to decide who lived and who died (and burning their inconvenient asses in the process). But you know what, I was glad to have it around and it sure beat lots of the other stuff on TV (esp as we don't have access to US TV generally nor most of the cable channels in the UK). A solid 7.5 overall I'd figure (with Children of Earth hitting a good full point or more higher).

Best episodes: The New World, The Categories of Life, Immortal Sins, and (just for sheer bravado nonsense) the finale The Blood Line.


Doctor Who
Three to go. I had to catch up on Let's Kill Hitler once we returned from our travels, thus getting a little out of step with the series as we had caught Fear Him (sic: thanks be to Rob) whilst over in the USA. Hence The Girl Who Waited was my first ep watched in company 'real-time' back on home soil.

Is the series of 2011 as strong as the 2010 one? Not sure. In some ways its better - much more consistent and hey, I like dark (even kids-TV dark). For all the failings others spotted, I've largely loved it --- Pirates! 'Gangers! bonkers eye-patch cobblers! enough wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff to make your eyes bleed!

Seriously though, I haven't felt the disengagement that others have; I've enjoyed the emotional manipulation of old Amy/young Amy (and younger Amy - ah, Amelia Pond, we're ALWAYS happy to see you, even if you are a projection); I've enjoyed seeing Rory become less of a cipher and Matt Smith is still proving to be every bit as good as the Doctor as we wanted him to be from first seeing him in The Eleventh Hour. Are there still unanswered questions? Of course - and I'm not sure I will want or like all the answers to them (not least the 'absolutely killed him' issue of astronaut Melody and the Doctor).

But I'm fully signed up for the ride, and as long as they keep using my old furniture as props (seriously: that wardrobe in Night Terrors had clearly meandered from Nottingham to Cardiff via the charity shop we passed it to), then I will remain happy.

Going to the Doctor Who Experience -- Neil takes my picture

Neil zooms in on Rullsenberg... with stripey scarf.

Doctor Who Experience, London Olympia - Monday 25 July 2011

Rullsenberg and Neil face their first Dalek together!

What can I say?!

Frank went and I thought... you know what I really DO want to go to the Doctor Who Experience at Olympia in London!

So when the lovely Mark (Neil's brother) offered for us all to go whilst the NZ family was in London - well I was VERY excited!

Pre-view of the exhibition space in the waiting area

The interactive bit may not be as long as some would like (I was certainly tempted to pay the extra £4 to go back around again!) but it is nevertheless a brilliant experience. You're not allowed to take photos or video in the interactive section and I totally appreciate why.

At first it seems like a fairly innocuous play through of the universe and the Doctor's role in it, but then the crack appear and we're into the really fun part - and Matt Smith's 'conversation' with the shoppers pitches just perfectly to involve both adults and children alike. The appearance of the TARDIS is enough to make a giddy fan girl's heart beat faster, and the scares... well, they're pretty damn scary. And 3-D was never better used. I don't want to spoiler it too much for people, but suffice to say you're really close and it feels really REALLY exciting for those of us not lucky enough to get in to the real set and filming (actually, given how filming works - lots of setting up, shooting the same ten seconds from four angles, standing about in the Cardiff rain - it's probably the best fun to be had anywhere).

And then you're through to the exhibition section, which may be static but provides just as much excitement. The initial stuff you see before going into the interactive section proves to be just a taster. Once in the main exhibition, it is costumes, monsters and images a-go-go.

Rullsenberg and Neil in front of an iconic Radio Times cover featuring David Tennant (above) and the many Radio Times covers for Doctor Who (below)

Having been through the latest incarnation of the TARDIS interior, in the exhibition they've reassembled the coral forms of the 9th/10th Doctor's TARDIS... and oh my it is LOVELY to see it up close...

9th/10th Doctor TARDIS

Not least because on the wall of the space, they've got a stonking large screen projection of the regeneration of the 10th Doctor into the 11th Doctor (from the moment when Ten enters the TARDIS to 'Geronimo!')

Yes, including the 'ever-causing-a-lump-in-my-throat' moment of "I don't want to go".

No, I'm NOT saying how many time I watched that clip.... or how often I sighed and said that line along with him...

Just seeing a TARDIS up close, just seeing the costumes of all the Doctors so beautifully displayed... that alone would be worth the time you can spend in the exhibition (which brings together even more stuff than Helen and I saw in Cardiff in January 2009 - where photography was definitely a little less permitted).

Rullsenberg in front of the TARDIS (and a rather dodgy figure supposedly representing Matt Smith - poor man deserves better!)

As it is there are many, many more things to go SQUEE about --- the TARDIS interior from c. Five to Seven (eliciting much sighing from true Who geeks in the exhibition); a lovely section on the sound of Doctor Who with Stuart Maconie singing the praises of Delia Derbyshire; a 'walk like a monster' teaching session - with loads of space to stomp out your inner Cyberman; companion costumes; a collection of the changing Dalek forms ... enough to scare anyone...

....and Cyber-heads (lovingly recreated where dilapidated originals cannot be found); a Zygon (WHEE!!!); the Silence, and a creepy gas-mask wearing child.

Rullsenberg is feeling unnerved...

For the smaller sized, there is even a Dalek you can sit in and operate! (I couldn't quite justify booting out my lovely niece to have a go myself...)

Oh: and did I not say? There is also a super green screen area where you will HAPPILY part with additional cash to be photoshopped into various scenes and objects. They have the Pandorica seat for those addicted to the props (background only required for the green screen on that), and there are several other locations to be imaginatively dropped into including the TARDIS, and a rescue mission from outside the TARDIS ...

Between us, we all made an appearance on the great green screen of wonder and had a blast doing it!

Rullsenberg and Neil in the TARDIS!

Neil rescuing Lisa into the TARDIS!

We were in the whole thing for the best part of two hours, and had no objection to going to the shop ("hello shoppers" indeed) at the end of our time in the interactive and exhibition spaces.

The only thing is, how can I schedule going again before it leaves for Cardiff? And then who can I get to go with me again to Cardiff?!