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Watching Doctor Who again
We're up to episode 5x08, which was where we had to stop last night in order to SLEEP, even though it was a cliffhanger.
I'm finally getting sold on Matt Smith's Doctor. It's taken awhile; he's not as distinctive (compared to past Doctors) as Nine, and he's much more subtle than Ten, and all-in-all feels very Old Skool. But that's not really a bad thing, and I'm finally getting more comfortable with him as him, rather than sort of a Ten knock-off, which was how he struck me at first. I still wish they'd done more to distinguish his overall look from Ten -- when he was wearing the badly hand-knit sweater in 5x07, it made realize that half my trouble relating to him is simply that I don't find his particular, personal style especially appealing, or different enough from Ten's. I liked him in the sweater! But anyway, he's slowly but surely winning me over.
I still find Amy Pond a weird cypher of a character. I know that being focused on the Doctor to the exclusion of all else, including having an actual life, is part of her character, and I'm sort of hoping that a big part of her arc is going to be working out how to be a unique and individual person, without the Doctor as her lodestone. As it stands, though, she doesn't seem to have any particular hobbies, interests or opinions of her own, and the way she deals with Rory reminds me a lot of Rose and Mickey in seasons one and two. I really liked her when she was curious and excited about things (especially wanting him to show her a real! live! alien! planet!), but her general incuriousness about anything that doesn't interest her -- like the museums, or the drilling rig -- is a big strike against her for me. I certainly don't hate her; I just find her hard to like, and after eight episodes, I still don't really feel like I know her at all yet.
River Song, on the other hand, I adore. ♥ ♥ ♥ And I didn't expect to! In "Quiet in the Library", she left me cold. But apparently, River Song, Intergalactic Criminal totally pushes all of my buttons. I love everything about her, from her competence and bravery, to her interactions with the Doctor, to the way she talks and moves -- I just really like watching her. And how much do I love that she's a female action hero, with style and panache, being played by a woman in her late 40s? THIS, THIS, THIS MUCH. And I'm thoroughly delighted that, since we know she has an extensive history with the Doctor, she has to come back! A lot! (Unless they rewrite her history with the Doctor, which would make me Very Sad.)
Another thing that is making me Very Sad is that one of the very few spoilers I know about the show is that Rory dies (and if this is not in fact true, and simply me misinterpreting something I read, PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME; I'm not fond of character deaths, but I love death fake-outs, so right now I'm all braced to lose him! But if I don't actually lose him, I'd rather be surprised than know about it ahead of time). Anyway, along with River, Rory's probably my favorite character in the new cast. I especially love the actor's awesome deadpan delivery of his lines ("You may experience some ... bruising"), as well as his reluctant heroism and the extra element that he adds to the interactions between the cast. I've always been someone who prefers ensembles to one or two characters doing everything, and I much prefer the dynamic that you get when the Doctor is surrounded by a group of people with ongoing, shifting relationships, rather than just being one Doctor and one Companion all the time. I really enjoyed the way that the RTD-era Who built up an ongoing stable of characters who kept coming back, and I really hope to see the same thing from Moffat-Who.
Other thoughts, hmm. The Weeping Angels were just as awesomely creepy the second time around (the faceless angels, omg *shudders*), and as absurd as parts of it were, I think I loved 5x07 the best, because it was tense and fast-moving and absolutely frikkin' hilarious (I kept feeling guilty at laughing so hard at the attacking nursing home zombies, I really really did, but I couldn't help it). And while I can't figure out why ANYONE (including Amy) seriously thinks that a 900-year-old alien would be interested in her, I've actually been enjoying the way that the sort-of-love-triangle has been playing out, without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Anyway! I think we'll be mainlining some more of it tonight. Once again, no spoilers please!
I'm finally getting sold on Matt Smith's Doctor. It's taken awhile; he's not as distinctive (compared to past Doctors) as Nine, and he's much more subtle than Ten, and all-in-all feels very Old Skool. But that's not really a bad thing, and I'm finally getting more comfortable with him as him, rather than sort of a Ten knock-off, which was how he struck me at first. I still wish they'd done more to distinguish his overall look from Ten -- when he was wearing the badly hand-knit sweater in 5x07, it made realize that half my trouble relating to him is simply that I don't find his particular, personal style especially appealing, or different enough from Ten's. I liked him in the sweater! But anyway, he's slowly but surely winning me over.
I still find Amy Pond a weird cypher of a character. I know that being focused on the Doctor to the exclusion of all else, including having an actual life, is part of her character, and I'm sort of hoping that a big part of her arc is going to be working out how to be a unique and individual person, without the Doctor as her lodestone. As it stands, though, she doesn't seem to have any particular hobbies, interests or opinions of her own, and the way she deals with Rory reminds me a lot of Rose and Mickey in seasons one and two. I really liked her when she was curious and excited about things (especially wanting him to show her a real! live! alien! planet!), but her general incuriousness about anything that doesn't interest her -- like the museums, or the drilling rig -- is a big strike against her for me. I certainly don't hate her; I just find her hard to like, and after eight episodes, I still don't really feel like I know her at all yet.
River Song, on the other hand, I adore. ♥ ♥ ♥ And I didn't expect to! In "Quiet in the Library", she left me cold. But apparently, River Song, Intergalactic Criminal totally pushes all of my buttons. I love everything about her, from her competence and bravery, to her interactions with the Doctor, to the way she talks and moves -- I just really like watching her. And how much do I love that she's a female action hero, with style and panache, being played by a woman in her late 40s? THIS, THIS, THIS MUCH. And I'm thoroughly delighted that, since we know she has an extensive history with the Doctor, she has to come back! A lot! (Unless they rewrite her history with the Doctor, which would make me Very Sad.)
Another thing that is making me Very Sad is that one of the very few spoilers I know about the show is that Rory dies (and if this is not in fact true, and simply me misinterpreting something I read, PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME; I'm not fond of character deaths, but I love death fake-outs, so right now I'm all braced to lose him! But if I don't actually lose him, I'd rather be surprised than know about it ahead of time). Anyway, along with River, Rory's probably my favorite character in the new cast. I especially love the actor's awesome deadpan delivery of his lines ("You may experience some ... bruising"), as well as his reluctant heroism and the extra element that he adds to the interactions between the cast. I've always been someone who prefers ensembles to one or two characters doing everything, and I much prefer the dynamic that you get when the Doctor is surrounded by a group of people with ongoing, shifting relationships, rather than just being one Doctor and one Companion all the time. I really enjoyed the way that the RTD-era Who built up an ongoing stable of characters who kept coming back, and I really hope to see the same thing from Moffat-Who.
Other thoughts, hmm. The Weeping Angels were just as awesomely creepy the second time around (the faceless angels, omg *shudders*), and as absurd as parts of it were, I think I loved 5x07 the best, because it was tense and fast-moving and absolutely frikkin' hilarious (I kept feeling guilty at laughing so hard at the attacking nursing home zombies, I really really did, but I couldn't help it). And while I can't figure out why ANYONE (including Amy) seriously thinks that a 900-year-old alien would be interested in her, I've actually been enjoying the way that the sort-of-love-triangle has been playing out, without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Anyway! I think we'll be mainlining some more of it tonight. Once again, no spoilers please!