|
|
Post by Queen E on Apr 10, 2010 22:49:37 GMT -5
We've had the set-up for a new Doctor...now what?
Post your thoughts on the new Doctor and his ginger companion!
|
|
|
|
Post by spacecat1974 on Apr 17, 2010 0:33:17 GMT -5
LOVE HIM!!!! Two episodes and and he's just awesome. Loved how the companion saved the day rather than him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Apr 24, 2010 23:08:21 GMT -5
That was fun.
Starship UK looked like bits from every sf classic ever made, and that's not a bad thing. Liz X reminded me of Zoë from Firefly; I wonder if that was intentional.
Amy got to save the day because she could see what The Doctor couldn't, because The Doctor was too close to the situation. If that makes sense. I'm not sure I'm entirely clear; it's late-ish here and I've had a glass or two of California sparkling pink wine what used to be champagne before the French cracked down on the naming of such.
And another thing - Amy's an outsider again; the Scots have their own ship (of course), so she's just as much a misfit as she was in her village, if not more. And she seems to have decided that she isn't ready to get married just yet, either.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Apr 25, 2010 21:13:24 GMT -5
Dr Who! Eeeek! Scary elevator monster! Cool – flying outside the TARDIS, like a kite. “I never get involved” – ah ha ha ha ha ha! Glass on the floor – he did it, mysterious other person does too . . . Oh, Doctor! You send them off to do things and you know they always get in trouble! “It’s a . . . tongue.” “We’re in a mouth!!!” “This isn’t going to be big on dignity.”  “I’m the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule.” Heeee! Awesome! Pistol-packin’ Red Riding Hood is the Queen! Elizabeth the 10th. Queen taken to the Tower? That can’t be good.  Ah, the creature is what makes them move, by hurting it. Captured and being held there. Oh! Oh! The same 10 years over and over . . . forget or abdicate. “If I am watching this . . . ” Let it go and kill everyone or kill the brain of the whale . . . Surely there is another choice, yes? If this space whale thing came to them and used to guide ships, then can’t it do that without being trapped and hurt? Let it out and it will pull them or something? Ha! Yes! I was right! It showed up to help, let it, you idiots! Nice job, Amy Pond, nice job.  Ooooh, Daleks and Churchill, classic! |
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Apr 25, 2010 21:15:59 GMT -5
LOVE HIM!!!! Two episodes and and he's just awesome. Loved how the companion saved the day rather than him. **nods** Like, he couldn't see the solution because it was too close to him. |
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Apr 25, 2010 21:18:09 GMT -5
That was fun. Starship UK looked like bits from every sf classic ever made, and that's not a bad thing. It did, didn't it? ;D **nods nods nods** Definitely there's a "not sure if she wants to marry" thing going on. |
|
|
|
Post by Riff on May 27, 2010 2:16:23 GMT -5
That was fun. Starship UK looked like bits from every sf classic ever made, and that's not a bad thing. Liz X reminded me of Zoë from Firefly; I wonder if that was intentional. Amy got to save the day because she could see what The Doctor couldn't, because The Doctor was too close to the situation. If that makes sense. I'm not sure I'm entirely clear; it's late-ish here and I've had a glass or two of California sparkling pink wine what used to be champagne before the French cracked down on the naming of such. And another thing - Amy's an outsider again; the Scots have their own ship (of course), so she's just as much a misfit as she was in her village, if not more. And she seems to have decided that she isn't ready to get married just yet, either. I wonder if the Scots wanted their own ship because they couldn't stand the idea of torturing the star whale? Propaganda! |
|
|
|
Post by Riff on May 27, 2010 2:32:11 GMT -5
Dr Who! “This isn’t going to be big on dignity.” *laughs* Yes. A great line, brilliantly delivered. This ep is a good place to start looking for Smith channeling all his predecessors, part of the "same man looking through those eyes" idea, presumably. After every ep, DW fandom is awash with comments on how he delivers certain lines, gives certain looks, and uses his body in certain ways, all of which suggest previous Doctors (though not in the dreadful way some actors have tried to do impressions of their predecessors in post-regenerative trauma). I'm not suggesting Smith is not distinct, but there is an amalgam of all the others there, too. In the sixth months he had to prepare for the part, Smith watched all the classic and new series DVDs. His favourite, bless him, is Patrick Troughton in The Tomb of the Cybermen. This led him to want a bow tie for his Doctor, too. He actually talked Moffat into it. |
|
|
|
Post by Riff on Jun 3, 2010 13:41:10 GMT -5
Steven Moffat isn’t a big fan of writers' agendas in popular culture, partly because he doesn’t see why the opinions of a television writer should have more going for them than anyone else's, and partly because it seems wrong for his opinions to be put into “the mouths of the beautiful” and broadcast at primetime to a mass audience. Yet here he seems to have gone against his own… agenda.  There is little doubt that The Beast Below is a critique of democracy. It isn’t just the plot, even its overt references, like the Doctor saying, “And once every five years everyone chooses to forget what they’ve learned. Democracy in action.” The original context of the episode is that it was broadcast in the UK only weeks before a general election. The fact that the story takes place on “Starship UK” only emphasises this context. And to democratic idealists Mr Moffat is saying the unsayable - the majority, the vast majority, can get it utterly wrong. Other aspects are equally interesting: people willingly forget about the realities of their society, the few who are prepared to make a stand and disagree are mercilessly killed, a society built on the back of suffering and slavery (not like us and the developing world, not like we choose to push that reality from our minds most of the time, not like that at all…), an ostensible democracy actually masking a self-imposed police state. Then there is the novel idea that the head of state is both tyrant and victim, both conservative and freedom fighter. I’m not suggesting Steven is anti-democratic, but he is pointing out that, as a system, it is far from perfect. But to say this social satire is what the episode “is about” would be a mistake. It is really a character piece about the Doctor, about Amy, and about how they discover each other’s natures. After the dark fairytale opening in the school, we are taken into a light fairytale of Pete Pan and Wendy. As Amy flies through space in her nightdress (or, rather, as the Doctor holds her ankle and flies her like a kite, grinning as he looks up her nightdress with happiness), we see the tenuous and fragile innocence that sometimes manages to make it to the surface of her personality. Next we discover that the Doctor intervenes in the troubles of a world because he can’t just observe while children cry. This then sets everything up for the denouement with the star whale. Importantly, Amy does not hit the forget button to spare her own feelings; she does it to spare the Doctor from an impossible moral choice. When this fails, she is able to find a more acceptable means of saving him from an act that would haunt him the rest of his life. Yes, Doctor, you do need a companion. Amy is able to make the right decision because she isn’t prepared to resign herself to the grim reality of the situation. Crucially, she instinctively understands the star whale’s motives because she can see the parallels between it and the Doctor: very old, very kind, and the last of its kind - it and he cannot remain aloof while children cry. Following this we have another scene of closeness between the two of them, one more profound than the opening “flying” scene. Again the two of them are connected, but at a much deeper level. A call from Winston Churchill, and then on with the fairytale. The monster’s-gonna-get-you poem from the start of the episode becomes a goodnight-sleep-tight poem at the end, voiced by Amy (or is that Amelia?) Pond. But, hang on a minute, isn’t that the crack from Amelia’s bedroom? This dream must end. |
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Jun 11, 2010 20:30:21 GMT -5
Dr Who! “This isn’t going to be big on dignity.” *laughs* Yes. A great line, brilliantly delivered. This ep is a good place to start looking for Smith channeling all his predecessors, part of the "same man looking through those eyes" idea, presumably. After every ep, DW fandom is awash with comments on how he delivers certain lines, gives certain looks, and uses his body in certain ways, all of which suggest previous Doctors (though not in the dreadful way some actors have tried to do impressions of their predecessors in post-regenerative trauma). I'm not suggesting Smith is not distinct, but there is an amalgam of all the others there, too. In the sixth months he had to prepare for the part, Smith watched all the classic and new series DVDs. His favourite, bless him, is Patrick Troughton in The Tomb of the Cybermen. This led him to want a bow tie for his Doctor, too. He actually talked Moffat into it. Now that you've pointed me to this, I'm going to be on the lookout for bits of previous incarnations peeking thru.  |
|
|
|
Post by Anne, Old S'cubie Cat on Nov 11, 2011 10:33:58 GMT -5
This is way late to the discussion, but I just ran across it in connection with something else entirely, and thought it might be worth sharing. There's a LeGuin story, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Summary, nicked from Wikipedia: In the story, Omelas is a utopian city of happiness and delight, whose inhabitants are smart and cultured. Everything about Omelas is pleasing, except for the city's one atrocity: the good fortune of Omelas requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness and misery, and that all her citizens should be told of this upon coming of age.
After being exposed to the truth, most of the people of Omelas are initially shocked and disgusted, but are ultimately able to come to terms with the fact and resolve to live their lives in such a manner as to make the suffering of the unfortunate child worth it. However, a few of the citizens, young and old, silently walk away from the city, and no one knows where they go. The story ends with "The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas."And I thought, now, what does that remind me of? Oh, yes, "The Beast Below". Interestingly, the Younger Daughter, when I described the LeGuin story to her, made exactly the same connection. So there it is, do with it what you will. |
|
