filmcrithulk
patreon
The DOCTOR WHO Rewatch Project - Season 6
🕑 Added 2023-11-07 15:37:48 +0000 UTCWe now hit the era of Doctor Who where my memory starts to get a little fuzzier. Yes, even though we are still in the biggest days of the fervent fandom, there’s just a ton of triple backflips with the narratives, which makes it a bit harder to remember what gets revealed when and how. And perhaps even because of this, this season is where another piece of conventional wisdom gets bandied about, which is: “this is where Moffat starts going downhill.” But I argue this is a bit of a mischaracterization.
In fact, I think season six has some of the best stuff in the entire show (or at least certainly most daring). The problem is that unlike a lot of other Doctor Who seasons, the first half is a little bit better than the second half, which gives this slight, yet noticeable feeling of thing going downhill (plus, I’ll characterize my problem with a few of the episodes that start to not work as well in that back half, too). So the thing I really want to do is fight for what WORKS about this season. Fight for what is wonderful. And fight for the highs that leave you smiling.
With that, let’s get to the episodes.
EPISODE REACTIONS
A Christmas Carol - I’m pretty sure that this is my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special? It’s at least true for all the ones we’ve seen so far. And this time they just go straight for the impeccable vibes with Dickensian Space London! And it’s a retelling of A Christmas Carol! Done with The Great Gambon as Scrooge! I mean, what’s not to love about this idea? But before we get into the proper plot, there’s an early moment I want to talk about. Because the opening moment where Matt Smith crashes down the chimney, gives a big funny speech that’s all over the place, all before ending on the tangent of “who’s she?” is not only a terrifically fun scene, it is THE moment that crystalizes Smith’s version of The Doctor. Do not get me wrong, you see all of the amazing zany stuff he’s got in season five, but now he is 100% locked in, especially with how his doctor is funny, sad, curious, engaged, and distracted all at once.
As for the story, I love every choice it’s making. From the characterization of Christmas as being “half way out of the dark,” to the classic Hollywood party references, to the way the Doctor first jumps into Gambon’s past on screen (and the way it plays back and forth from there) is just stellar. But I especially love the way it doesn’t split the story into three past / present / future acts, but instead becomes this wonderful story of every Christmas and trying to fix the young man’s soul all by slowly falling in love. And the way the “present” element comes back at the end with Amy and then ESPECIALLY the bait and switch with the ghost of Christmas future? My word. The moment it pans over and the young boy sees who he is to become is just the most incredible moment, because it’s showing the future to someone who is not yet resigned to it. It’s the exact kind of “OF COURSE” moment that shows Moffat at his best. It also shows that spark for understanding all the amazing things you can do with time travel stories again and again. It’s just spectacular and I’ll sing it’s shark swimming praises to the highest level.
The Impossible Astronaut - Landon’s response put it well: “fucking kicking this season of with a fucking mind melter!” But hoo boy, Moffat loves writing himself into corners, doesn’t he? But really it’s just that existential challenge. How do you go bigger than the Pandorica? Well, we have a seemingly dead doctor from his future timeline and it’s doing all the visuals that make it seem certain. But the other thing you may sense about this season is the sudden sense of scale! Because this is them coming from when the popularity of the show SKYROCKETED in America. And lo and behold, they go and film in America and boy does the location work look great! I remember on the first watch I really liked it, but I can’t tell you how much better it works now. Perhaps it’s the re-watchability of the little details adding up. Perhaps it's knowing what’s to come with the story. Perhaps it’s just me comparing its effectiveness to later seasons and being softer on it now. But either way, Moffat continues to be so damn good with the roundness of time (which is why this episode is more set up for the second episode). From the start we begin playing with everything that’s so fun. The TARDIS blue envelopes. The syncing of the diaries. And the wonderful inclusion of character actors William Morgan Sheppard and his son Mark Sheppard playing the husky-voiced future and past selves (which is just an amazing casting detail). And sure, the episode creates a ton of questions, but boy are the interesting ones. An astronaut. A girl calling Nixon. And the introduction of one of the coolest villains imaginable. Which brings us to…
Day of the Moon - The Silence are such an outrageously good idea (or I guess the Priests of The Silence within a sect, if we’re gonna get specific about what gets revealed later on). Landon’s response to the gags where people forget them gets at the dynamic completely: “that’s funny and terrifying at the same time.” And yes, Moffat is going to jump us right the heck into it and go a million miles per hour. Instead of seeing the invasion play out, it’s now 3 months later, they’re at war with the silence. And they are trying to figure out how the hell to pull this off. You have the perfect prison being the escape, the team coming together, and the tumble into the swimming pool (Landon was screaming). I just really adore the direction of it all too (and it’s Toby Haynes, who later directed episodes of Andor). By the time it leads to the climax of subliminal messaging earth during the moon landing with the “you should kill us all on sight” reveal is just incredible. Because it taps into this amazing IDEA that we’ve all secretly been bad ass killers who have been murdering members of The Silence for years without realizing it. I absolutely love that as a solution to a very difficult problem. That fact that we go from there into Schrodinger’s baby AND a little girl regenerating is incredible (and in real Moffat fashion, he’s putting the truth of the connection right in front of you). You just gotta see the pledge for what it is. So of all the “pure magic trick” episodes in Moffat’s oeuvre (that is to say that aren’t connected to the super personal character level ones), this is one of my faves.
The Curse of the Black Spot - This one has the spirit of a Davies era one-off and I realize that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but it’s not! The episode is trying to work through something quaint and fun (Amy has a sword yay!) and kind of succeeds. What helps the most is probably having Downton Abbey / Paddington papa Hugh Bonneville anchor the guest roles (also hey, remember when already-alien-looking Lily Cole was EVERYWHERE for like two years!??!). It really does feel like a direct product of the Pirates movies. And I realize I have to give a whole lecture about how to make resuscitation scenes ACTUALLY work on a writing and cinematic level (hint, don’t turn into the danger THIS way with bigness / hysterics and force it, you have to make it way more slight and confident and then have the outlook get increasingly worse. Speaking of which the Paddington movies are incredible at moments of threat like this). But in the “all’s well that ends well” Davies mantra, the shot of Hugh and his kiddo going off to be space pirates is fun enough to leave you with a smile going out. And that’s the real key to episodes like this..
The Doctor’s Wife - Thanks, Neil Gaiman! What a great episode! Landon characterized it so nicely where there’s this indescribable “feeling at the beginning of an episode when you know you’re in for a treat.” And yes, this one starts popping off almost immediately. You get a droll comic performance from Elizabeth Berrington (Secrets and Lies), Michael Sheen voicing the bad house, and then especially Suranne Jones as “Sexy” AKA the fucking TARDIS in human form. It’s such a brilliant idea that makes you slap your forehead and say OF COURSE. It’s funny, playful, and even drops huge clues for the story later (with her kissing and showing off TARDIS power and the forest / river line). But I love crystalizing that idea that the Tardis has always taken him where he’s NEEDED, which makes sense given how it can see so much of time and space. And that last tearful goodbye that is instead a proper “hello” is just so beautiful. It’s a note perfect episode.
And when you look back at it, you realize that this little streak of nine episodes from “Vincent and the Doctor” to “The Doctor’s Wife” is probably the best run of Doctor Who imaginable? Just banger after banger and emotions running free in the best since. The fact that Landon and I watched it all in about 28 hours is even more absurd. To quote him, “my mind has been blown like 80 times tonight.” And that’s the thing about the Moffat era’s height. He’s a mind blower. And when done properly, boy oh boy does it land emotionally, too. But slowly we’re about to get a few more cases here and there it doesn’t. Especially when he’s not the one with the pen…
The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People - With some episodes they get going and I’m like “oh I remember this,” but this was the first episode where (outside of the very ending) I remember NOTHING about what happened. It’s like the episodes WERE The Silence themselves. But turns out there’s a reason for that: because everything about it doesn’t work. It’s boring and flat and rote and obvious. Unfortunately, these episodes are from the same writer as “Fear Her,” which I regard as the worst episode of the show that we’ve seen so far. Even the direction is boring (I’m so tired of white skies and flat cinematography). The fact that this got the two-parter treatment is mind-boggling to me outside the fact that they simply need to pad out episodes (and on a practical production level I get it). It also devolves into so much of the bad Star Trek “we are just as human as you are!” mantras and I can’t believe scenes go on as long as they do.
Worse, it’s dreadfully repetitive where this is shouted a static conflict every scene with all delay tactics. The fact we saw his hand go in the goo at minute five and took THAT long to reveal a second doctor is, like, inane. And the fact they can’t even make the two doctors element FUN is particularly egregious. At one point, Landon even yelled “SHUT UP” at the characters were talking endlessly. And right when characters start creating havoc just for the sake of fake conflict Landon also made the great Uncut Gems Letterboxd review joke “If i were him, I wouldn’t do any of that.” But I immediately made the followup joke, “if THEY were them, they would do any of that.” Because everything is SO unmotivated. But that’s the problem when someone can’t rise above basic trope copying. I mean, it’s the kind of episode that has an honest to god line where a character says “who are the REAL monsters?” when even screenwriting 101 is about learning how to say it without saying it. I realize all this may not seem that bad to you. Like there’s nothing so terribly jarring and the episode is just boring (hence it’s 7/10 rating). But it goes to that tangible details thing. There’s no huge glary error that rubs against people the wrong way. But to me it is just textbook incompetence that MAKES that boring and that’s what drives me up the wall. I’d rather see competence make a few big swinging decisions and sometimes fail then something like this EVERY single time… But hey, at least it built up to something! Fake Amy go pop! Now we’re onto better things!
A Good Man Goes To War - Right when you’re worried about the show, Moffat comes back swinging. It’s funny how much better this one (and really the first half of the season) works on the second go round when you see the big twist coming. But perhaps that’s just a product of seeing how cleanly the River Song stuff ties together with the whole of it (and we’re kind of at the midway point of her whole story). Because getting to the RIVER IS THEIR KID of it all is the timey-wimey roundness gone full tilt. I guess there is a very pertinent question as an audience member: how do you even relate to something absurd like that? How do you make it feel human? But it’s also the thing that makes all the character building work. The connection, the understanding, and the point. But there’s the episode that builds it up.
Much of the fun is in the details. The opening bait and switch with there’s a man coming” and it being Rory in Centurion Mode is so well done. The Headless monks are scary and gross. We also get Christina Chong from Strange New Worlds being a friend! But best of all may be the introduction of Strax, the Sontaran nurse who Moffat just has an uncanny ability to write. He’s absolutely hilarious. Perfect. Adorable. Scathing. And he’s so damn good that even in death Moffat was like “we gotta resurrect his clone ass” and later put him in London. But that last moment of “Rory, I’m a nurse” pays off so good on every count.
The one hang up I have is somewhat slight, but the talking about how The Doctor will fall further than he ever has and the whole thing about an army under his command is… we’ve seen him fall WAY further in the past (and fairly recently) in a way that just doesn’t quite click? Like it’s the right idea, the dramatization of what we have seen (particularly in how The Doctor doesn’t play it TOO angry) just seems far away from what River is actually invoking? Either way, it’s a real episode at the end of the half season break that sends us with all sorts of fun ideas about what the second half of the river song epic could entail given the reveal of her parentage! And when the show comes back, it does something rather unexpected…
Let’s Kill Hitler - So I think this is it. This is one of the most fundamental episodes when it comes to the fulcrum of the entire Moffat discussion. Because on paper you could argue that it all “works.” Or at least works in the sense that you see all the A to B mechanics of an incredibly daring hour of television, all with setups and payoffs and this and that. But THIS is the one episode where I honestly think Moffat tries to do too much, too quickly. I understand that some people describe this sensation while watching Moffat in general, but the breakneck pace has never, even been what bothered me before this episode. Nor do I think he rushes the emotions of episodes prior, but instead lets them sneak up on you with the big moments. But THIS one tries to do it all. And I honestly think it’s enough of a tactical error for me to be like “hold up.” Not a mission critical one for everything going forward, but an error nonetheless.
It all starts with the deploying of Mels, who instantly suffers from “Cousin Oliver” disease as she is someone being thrust into an existing group as if she was already there. Retconning, even in a show like Doctor Who, can feel frustrating, especially if it’s not handled with care. Instead, they choose the wrecking ball path and have her come in and change the temperature of everything. To be clear, the show knows this is an emotional problem and it does its best to paint the smooth backstory and all her frustrations with The Doctor and all the like. Which is charming in a way! Because she’s a lot of fun! But of course, not much is actually done with it once we get into it, because about 1/3 of the way into the episode she’s shot and regenerates into, of course, River Song, which brings us to a number of reactions.
The first is that if this is the big bait and switch reveal, I genuinely think you RUIN yourself with this kind of structuring the reveal with the introduction so damn close. It so desperately needs a set-up episode of its own, where Mels crashes into their adventures at an earlier (say in the curse of the black spot episode or something) and you lay all the groundwork with the character (plus it actually inspires the Melody naming moment instead of feeling backward and the other way around). And so when she comes back here, there’s a sense of understanding and weight for when she shows up again and the turn actually comes. Moreover, I get that this is effectively a “solve” for the fact that you don’t want The Doctor creepily going up to younger woman being like “we’re going to be dating later!” But again, this is also such an inelegant, rushed way of trying to push past all that.
To be fair, the episode is well-directed and still filled with little fun moments, from the 2000s clothes, to the Nazi glibness, to the all the good set-up with the time-traveling robot hunter (and its set-up for the finale). But there’s SO MUCH shoe leather you have to buy into for all the arguments of how Mels got put into the position she was placed in / giving up regeneration / not remembering / etc. And I’d argue the BIGGEST problem is how quickly it rushes to her being in love with The Doctor and getting back to the status quo. I just don’t buy the change of heart from those two actions. She might SAVE him because of his sacrifice. But it should be the start of her loving turn / realizing the Doctor is not so bad, etc. Especially because it would be SO MUCH more fun to have her still being the baddy going into the endgame (especially considering its themes) and that being the final pull back so that they can finally get to their honeymoon period going forward. But instead of it all feeling cathartic, I feel on my heels. Again, it’s not that the IDEA is too lazy. It’s that you can’t rush the emotional math that gives the plot math its weight.
Night Terrors - It’s at the point where Landon sees Mark Gatiss’s name on the writing credits and goes “oh no!” And look, I NEVER like picking on a writer, but from an analytical perspective, seeing how different storytellers tackle the show often becomes the best way to view to analyze the way the show actually works best. To be fair, with Gatiss, I always see the broad outline of an idea, along with how that idea could be fun! We think it’s a child who is under attack, but it’s a child who is secretly an alien and whose fears are manifesting! (I mean, lest we forget again that they’ve tried something like this and “Fear Her” is one of the show’s worst episodes). But hey, there’s even the great character actor Daniel Mays, whose likable round mug is one of my favorite parts from films like Vera Drake and Atonement. But it just all comes down to execution. The episode feels like it’s “taking too long” because the conflict repeats again and again with no progress. Worse, once it tips the hands we watch the characters be behind the audience for way, way too long with little dramatic irony. And usually the great joy of the Doctor is how he’s often a few steps ahead. And that’s the whole thing, it’s NEVER fun to watch the doctor be dumb. And it’s even worse to watch the writing do the same.
The Girl Who Waited - Once again we go Timey Wimey, but this time with some “watch your loved ones grow up waiting rooms as you die,” which sounds about right for this sneaky brutal episode. To be fair, there’s SOME fun in this. Whether it’s the Disneyland Klom reference or Robot Rory, but the thing it really stands out for is showing the range of what Karen Gillan can really do. You love the way she’s become a hardened warrior while at the same time, tucking the soft, hurt, angered interior right inside (the little moment where she puts on the lipstick for past Rory is so well performed). And also I think the old age make-up for Amy is pretty damn good? Anyway, you get the lovely poignancy of lines like “I don't mind that you got old, I mind that we didn’t get old together” and the way it cascades into a story about Rory having to choose between them and the sanctity of her life? Again, it’s just BRUTAL, especially, the way she gets left. The response to it all is perhaps best put by Landon, who after watching the episode says to an imaginary Pond couple: “that’s rough, buddy.” Thus invoking another wonderful show.
The God Complex - The tough episodes just keep coming hard, huh? I also completely realize how close this is to the Hotel episode in Chainsaw Man! I wonder if it was inspired by this? Anyway, the episode mostly works. I like The Doctor picking up a possible new companion who is smart and Landon realizing that totally makes her dead now (also that’s Amara Karan of The Night Of and The Darjeeling Limited). But everything that makes this episode strong comes in the last fifteen minutes. Because really, it’s not just about the character’s worst fears, but his pride and vanity in taking her in the first place. In his wanting to be adored. And it’s finally about healing the original wound left in telling her to wait. Along with how that ties into finally letting her go and live “the bigger scarier adventure waiting for you in there” which leaves Amy and Rory to a life of domesticity. It’s one of the best kinds of thematic bait and switch, putting the characters in a new place emotionally. And creating a great unexpected goodbye… or at least the start of one.
Closing Time - I did the big Corden rant last column, but now that the Doctor’s on his own again, it makes a weird amount of sense that he’d come back to Craig? Whatever I can say about these episodes there is a really good sense of comedy from the ways these two are funny together. But this time it’s all about the hijinks of The Doctor speaking baby and the kid calling himself Stormageddon and his dad “not mum,” and The Doctor working in a toy store and all the tangible delights of farce that go along with it. Still, the little ending beat of Craig overcoming Cyberman-Dom with the power of Dadness is cute enough to propel a sense of “awww,” which is really the whole goal of the episode. Is it the big epic push that sends us into the final with a sense of grand purpose? Nope! But sometimes it’s still enough.
The Wedding of River Song - I’m going to be 100% honest in that I fully forget what my granular defense of the plot logic in this one was going to be, but I suppose that’s the nature of the lark? Time is out of sync. At the start, the Doctor doesn’t die because River now loves him (again, this really should have been built back up stronger or handled in this episode), but the whole thing is mostly an excuse to do a big fun crushed together timelessness with Dinosaurs and Cyberpunk Skycrapers and Pyramids and a murdery Amy with an Eyepatch. But it all comes to the titular Wedding with River Song which feels a bit obligatory instead of rightfully achieved (again, why I want her falling in love with him in THIS episode if that makes sense). And the Tessalecta is at least well set-up enough, but again there’s that question of “if The Doctor isn’t REALLY dead, can time itself really be tricked by simply people believing it? Or is them simply believing the REAL timeline? OR was it all just part of the Silence’s control anyway?” Such questions are the way to madness.
But again, it’s sort of the whole tricky thing about what Moffat is trying to pull off with this season. He tells us “The Doctor lies,” but in many ways he’s saying so does the showrunner. But for all the ways it writes into corners, it’s tough that the most satisfying climax to that corner was in the second episode “Kill the Moon” and the second biggest climax was at the halfway point of the season. And by the time we come to the wedding, as connected as it can be to the plot of this and that, the most damning thing is how LITTLE I have to say about the episode in general. As if part of a law of diminishing returns about “oh that’s neat!” and so desperately wanting the emotional fireworks that make all the timey wimey fun and games come to life outside it. For that, we’ll have to wait once again for some moments next season…
But for now, quote times!
BEST LANDON QUOTES
5. Upon learning there is a cinema in Amy’s Hospital area…
Landon: “She could watch CATS in there!”
4. *Having just watched “Let’s Kill Hitler.”*
Landon: “Know what’s fun about that episode? Very, very little Hitler involved”
3. Us witnessing a rea dialogue line from the Rebel Flesh episodes
Monster: “Who are the REAL monsters?!??!”
Landon: “… My mind is blown”
2. Also in the Rebel Flesh episodes, The Doctor instructs them to change policy…
The Doctor: “Make things you say in that room count”
Landon: “Yeah, say things good!”
1. On Landon coming around to liking Amy a lot after this season
Landon: “Yeah, I just needed to see her old. I needed to see her kick ass. And I needed to see her with an eye patch.”
TOP 27 BEST JOKES / QUOTES
27. The Doctor: Goodbye Dorium.
Dorium: The first question! The question that must never be answered! Hidden in plain sight! The question you’ve been running from all your life! “Doctor Who?” “Doctor Who?” “Doctor Who!”!
26. Strax: I can produce magnificent qualities of Lactic fluid!
25. The Doctor: Yes it can. ’Course it can. Planets and history and stuff, that’s what we do. But not today, no. Today we’re answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the universe. A child’s bedroom.
24. Amy: So, you and me. We should get a drink sometime.
Rory: Okay.
Amy: And married.
Rory: Fine.
23. *Having just witnessed The Doctor die and wondering who the fourth person he brought to witness was*
River: When you know it’s the end, who do you call?
Rory: Your friends, people you can trust.
River: Number One. Who did the Doctor trust the most?
*Earlier version of The Doctor walks casually out of the back*
River: This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold.
22. *To President Nixon*
The Doctor: I’m going to need a SWAT team ready to mobilize, street-level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve jammie dodgers and a fez.
21. River: Apollo Eleven’s your secret weapon?
The Doctor: No no. It’s not Apollo Eleven. That would be silly. It’s Neil Armstrong’s foot.
20. Madame Kovarian: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules.
The Doctor: Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.
19. Craig: What are you doing here anyway?
The Doctor: Yes, he likes that, Alfie. Though personally he prefers to be called Stormaggedon, Dark Lord of All.
Craig: Sorry, what?
The Doctor: That’s what he calls himself.
Craig: How d’you know that?
The Doctor: I speak baby.
Craig: Of course you do.
18. The Doctor: Be careful!
River: Careful. Tried that once. Ever so dull.
The Doctor: Shout if you get in trouble.
River: Don’t worry. I’m quite the screamer. Now there’s a spoiler for you.
Me, watching at home: “Ohhhh myyyy!”
17. The Doctor: “C’mon Rory it’s not rocket science, it’s quantum physics”
16. Nixon: Because I’m the President at the beginning of his time. Dare I ask, will I be remembered?
The Doctor: Oh Dicky. Tricky Dicky. They’re never going to forget you. Say hi to David Frost for me.
15. River: This was exactly you. All this. All of it. You make them so afraid. When you began all those years ago, sailing off to see the Universe, did you ever think you’d become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name. “Doctor.” The word for healer and wise man throughout the Universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means “Mighty Warrior.” How far you’ve come. And now they’ve taken a child. The child of your best friends. And they’re going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you.
14. Future Amy: Don’t you lecture me. Blue Box Man, flying through time and space on whimsy. All I’ve got, all I’ve had for thirty-six years is cold hard reality. So, no, I don’t have a sonic screwdriver because I’m not off on a romp. Call it what it is. A probe. And I call my life what it is. Hell.
13. The Doctor: Have I forgotten something?
River: Oh… shut up.
{she kisses him}
The Doctor: Right. Okay. Interesting.
River: What’s wrong? You’re acting like we’ve never done that before.
The Doctor: We haven’t. Oh, look at the time. Must be off. But it was very nice. It was good. It was unexpected. You know what they say, “There’s a first time for everything.”
River: … And a last time.
12. Rory: How can we be outside the Universe? The Universe is everything.
The Doctor: Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside.
Rory: Okay.
The Doctor: Well it’s nothing like that.
11. Rory: What did you mean— what you said to Amy. There’s a worse day coming for you?
River: When I first met the Doctor—a long long time ago—he knew all about me. Think about that. Impressionable young girl and suddenly this man just drops out of the sky. He’s clever and mad and wonderful and… and knows every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl.
Rory: I don’t really have to.
River: Trouble is, it’s all back to front. My past is his future. We’re traveling in opposite directions. Every time we meet I know him more, he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him. But I know that every time I do he’ll be one step further away. The day’s coming when I’ll look into that man’s eyes—my Doctor—and he won’t have the faintest idea who I am. And I think it’s going to kill me.
10. Idris [The Tardis]: Are all people like this?
The Doctor: Like what?
Idris [The Tardis]: So much bigger on the inside. I’m— Oh, what is that word? It’s so big. And so complicated. And so sad.
9. Cyberman: What is the Doctor’s message?
{the enemy fleet explodes behind Rory}
Rory: Would you like me to repeat the question?
8. River: Demons run when a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
Demon’s Run, but count the cost
The battle’s won but the child is lost
7. Adolf Hitler: Thank you. Whoever you are. I think you have just saved my life.
The Doctor: Believe me. It was an accident.
6. The Doctor: You didn’t always take me where I wanted to go.
Idris [The Tardis}: No, but I always took you where you needed to go.
5. The Doctor: I mean you’re right. There’s still heaps of stuff out there to look at. Did you know, there’s a planet whose name literally translates as “volatile sex.” Or maybe there’s a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there.
{points to home and a life of quiet domesticity}
4. The Doctor: She’s a woman. And she’s the TARDIS.
Amy: … Did you wish really hard?
3. The Doctor: I stole your childhood and now I’ve led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens. Forget your faith in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you, glorious Pond. The Girl Who Waited for me. I’m not a hero. I really am just a madman in a box. And it’s time we saw each other as we really are. Amy Williams. It’s time to stop waiting.
2. House: Fear me. I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords.
The Doctor: Fear me. I’ve killed all of them.
1. The Doctor: Swear to me. Swear to me on something that matters.
Amy: … Fish fingers and custard.
The Doctor: My life is in your hands, Amelia Pond.
LAST LOOKS
I feel like that about covers it? Especially because next time, we have season seven.
And that’s where the analysis starts to get a little more complicated…
<3HULK
Comments
Brian Block
See, I'm an old-school (20th-century) Who fan, but this makes little sense to me. Moffat's individual episodes tend to be intensely well-constructed, and he can switch genres from episode to episode, and moods even scene to scene, as mercurially as the show ever did before him. The whimsy level is high: the 11th and 12th Doctors are in their own ways ridiculous figures, to say nothing of the world building in episodes like (for series 6 examples) "Let's Kill Hitler", "Closing Time", or "Wedding of River Song". And of course, by the Capaldi/ Bill/ Nardole era, Moffat had *completely* abandoned "pretty white people" protagonists, in a way the show never previously had. Moffat was big into designing self-contained stories with visible dangling threads around the edges that would be woven into a tapestry, and often that worked for me and sometimes it was aggravating. But his "reveals" were never the central point, and over time he even began to lampshade that (WHO IS that impossible girl who keeps dying? She's a brave, frightened, clever young woman with needs and boundaries who needs to be related to as a person, not a mystery. WHAT IS the Doctor's real name? As irrelevant as chasing down a trans person's deadname. Etc...).
I feel like the Scrooge stuck in the mud miserable guts, cause I was one those people that bounced off HARD when moffart became show runner I remember finding his storytelling... breathless? A bit insecure? Smug on its own cleverness? The fact the tradis crew where all now young white attractive people boring? And more than anything else just disliking his philosophy with the show; everything has to be so BIG and SIGNIFICANTtm and allll connected to HUGE AMAZING reveal wooahhh. I grew up on reruns of the old-who and individual eps of the Davis (I’ve never seen his finales which people are so salty about but that’s my point, you don’t NEED to) era so for me DW always going to be more episodic, whimsical, slower and often more scary/unsettling than anything moffart could offer (Blink not withstanding, he can write an ep) While other people in my friend group where loving the show and all the Amy/Rory drama and it was blowing up the USA (I’m in Australia) I felt the show I enjoyed slipping away. Sad, cause in an episode like The Doctor’s Wife it could still be that show it just mostly chose not to be. So it goes, I suppose now that everything has to be a connected mini series I was drawn to the more old episodic fashioned tv style of old who and the Davis era. In the end I don’t want to be wowed I want to know someone and question the little corner of the world I live in. Love your writing hulk, respect!
Matthew Kay
It’s weird, at this point in the series for me, Mark Gatiss was one for four. And even Unquiet Dead I thought botched the ending. Following that, Idiot’s Lantern, oof, Victory of the Daleks, OOF! And Night Terrors is one of the least memorable episodes of the whole series. I regularly forget that it exists. But I still never had that “oh crap” feeling seeing his name pop up and I think it’s because, even though I think half of his episodes are some of New Who’s most disastrous, there’s this germ of quirky, kitschy wonder in his scripts that can only come from the brain of an Avengers, Adam Adamant fanboy trying to revive that particular slice of late 60s Brit TV adventurism, that at the very least make his failures distinct and memorable, Night Terrors excepted. Or maybe that’s all just hindsight because in my mind, his series seven episodes are where he channels these inspirations perfectly and finally sticks the landing. I’m still only halfway through series 6 myself so I may be forgetting another episode, but as I’m remembering it now, Gatiss’ episodes steal series 7 and Crimson Horror in particular is one of my Smith-era highlights.
