Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour
Apr. 6th, 2010 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thornyrose42So Doctor Who...
Short version is that I loved it to little pieces. And then I took those little pieces and put them back together and gave it a big hug. Okay maybe the metaphor needs some work but still you get my general gist.
Now lets see where shall I start...
Eleven, can we just get a big round of applause for Mr. Matt Smith? He was utterly believable as the Doctor and, much as I love Ten, very refreshing. Ten was, by the end, so sad and so burdened that it was difficult to watch him. Sure he was looking for "fun" but even when he was at his most manic you could still feel the well of hurt and anger and despair bubbling somewhere beneath his bright smile. Now, as I have said on many occasions, I'm all for a good bit of Angsty!Doctor but by the end it just hurt to watch him. A lot of it was to do with having to leave Donna behind, he needs. and we as viewers need, a long term companion to see the universe through. Donna, and Rose and Martha, made travelling a joyful experience but with the fleeting companions... the relationship is too brief. Watching the specials was like watching the Doctor crack. Which is never something you want to see happening to someone you love. And, getting back to the matter at hand, watching Eleven was like watching a new, healed, man. Nine was basically in a sort of shell shock and Ten though he had a different way of coping, wasn't much better, guilt weighed them down, but Eleven well look at the little conversation between him and Amelia:
(Approximately)
Amelia: I don't have a mum and dad. Only an aunt.
Doctor: I don't even have an aunt.
Amelia: You're lucky
Doctor: I know
Maybe actually seeing the Time Lords again and getting a serious reminder of why he was right to destroy them has helped because he seems to finally have accepted his place as the Last of the Time Lords and realised that actually he's got what he originally wanted to get away from them. He is lucky.
And just in general Eleven feels like he is enjoying himself while at the same time taking the threat seriously. I particularly liked his interactions with little Amelia. At first there was a sense, helped by the lines, that he was still channelling Ten. I could imagine DT saying at lot of them. Which is obviously in the finest traditions of regeneration. But I could pin point where Eleven started to solidify into his own person. When he and Amelia dealt with the crack in her wall. Something shifted and it was wonderful to watch. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him.
As for Amy/Amelia well lets just say I completely adore her. Particularly Amelia. She absolutely broke my heart when she rushed to pack her suitcase and went and sat on it to wait. It has that sort of tragically inevitable fairy tale quality to it. And Amy feels very real to me, she isn't the girl she once was she doesn't entirely trust the Doctor and he has hurt her and is part of her past. Which will be really interesting to explore. I can't wait to see how their relationship develops. And it won't be romantically. Especially since at the moment the Doctor still think of her the little girl he just left behind. He gets a lot of quite avuncular lines such as the one where he complains about her job. (He should introduce himself as being worse than anyone's aunt though.) Amy is still very much unknown to us and the Doctor but I'm looking forward to finding out about her.
I did see a comment where someone complained about all the companions getting married which... okay I can sort of see your point but at the same time marriage happens. Lots of people want to get married and quite a few do. Maybe it isn't great that that is used as a short hand for "They're doing well and are happy." But at the same time we knew that Martha and Donna wanted that commitment before either of them actually tied the knot, Donna in particular. And you know what I'm just going to trust that Amy getting married will be handled well. Okay?
I've also seen quite a few people comparing Rory to Mickey in a sort of "This is a bad thing" way. There was even a comment that "Oh they've made him a nurse so he isn't as good as a doctor." Now this I will call bullshit on. I can't speak for Old!Who but having watched all of New!Who do you really think that they aren't going to use his profession again in a positive way? Come on what about Super Temp? Or Martha doing CPR or naming the bones of the hand? Nurses are not inferior to Doctors. They provide a vital health care service and are just as necessary to the patient as a doctor is. I mean just imagine going in to a hospital and not having any nurses. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience. And as for being like Mickey. Did Mickey not turn out to be awesome? Is he not now fighting alien threats to the planet on his own terms? Does his wife not have awesome hair? (Okay maybe I'm still a bit shallow.) I understand that people have been burnt and are wary, but could we make the judgements when we've seen more than one episode maybe?
Short version is that I loved it to little pieces. And then I took those little pieces and put them back together and gave it a big hug. Okay maybe the metaphor needs some work but still you get my general gist.
Now lets see where shall I start...
Eleven, can we just get a big round of applause for Mr. Matt Smith? He was utterly believable as the Doctor and, much as I love Ten, very refreshing. Ten was, by the end, so sad and so burdened that it was difficult to watch him. Sure he was looking for "fun" but even when he was at his most manic you could still feel the well of hurt and anger and despair bubbling somewhere beneath his bright smile. Now, as I have said on many occasions, I'm all for a good bit of Angsty!Doctor but by the end it just hurt to watch him. A lot of it was to do with having to leave Donna behind, he needs. and we as viewers need, a long term companion to see the universe through. Donna, and Rose and Martha, made travelling a joyful experience but with the fleeting companions... the relationship is too brief. Watching the specials was like watching the Doctor crack. Which is never something you want to see happening to someone you love. And, getting back to the matter at hand, watching Eleven was like watching a new, healed, man. Nine was basically in a sort of shell shock and Ten though he had a different way of coping, wasn't much better, guilt weighed them down, but Eleven well look at the little conversation between him and Amelia:
(Approximately)
Amelia: I don't have a mum and dad. Only an aunt.
Doctor: I don't even have an aunt.
Amelia: You're lucky
Doctor: I know
Maybe actually seeing the Time Lords again and getting a serious reminder of why he was right to destroy them has helped because he seems to finally have accepted his place as the Last of the Time Lords and realised that actually he's got what he originally wanted to get away from them. He is lucky.
And just in general Eleven feels like he is enjoying himself while at the same time taking the threat seriously. I particularly liked his interactions with little Amelia. At first there was a sense, helped by the lines, that he was still channelling Ten. I could imagine DT saying at lot of them. Which is obviously in the finest traditions of regeneration. But I could pin point where Eleven started to solidify into his own person. When he and Amelia dealt with the crack in her wall. Something shifted and it was wonderful to watch. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him.
As for Amy/Amelia well lets just say I completely adore her. Particularly Amelia. She absolutely broke my heart when she rushed to pack her suitcase and went and sat on it to wait. It has that sort of tragically inevitable fairy tale quality to it. And Amy feels very real to me, she isn't the girl she once was she doesn't entirely trust the Doctor and he has hurt her and is part of her past. Which will be really interesting to explore. I can't wait to see how their relationship develops. And it won't be romantically. Especially since at the moment the Doctor still think of her the little girl he just left behind. He gets a lot of quite avuncular lines such as the one where he complains about her job. (He should introduce himself as being worse than anyone's aunt though.) Amy is still very much unknown to us and the Doctor but I'm looking forward to finding out about her.
I did see a comment where someone complained about all the companions getting married which... okay I can sort of see your point but at the same time marriage happens. Lots of people want to get married and quite a few do. Maybe it isn't great that that is used as a short hand for "They're doing well and are happy." But at the same time we knew that Martha and Donna wanted that commitment before either of them actually tied the knot, Donna in particular. And you know what I'm just going to trust that Amy getting married will be handled well. Okay?
I've also seen quite a few people comparing Rory to Mickey in a sort of "This is a bad thing" way. There was even a comment that "Oh they've made him a nurse so he isn't as good as a doctor." Now this I will call bullshit on. I can't speak for Old!Who but having watched all of New!Who do you really think that they aren't going to use his profession again in a positive way? Come on what about Super Temp? Or Martha doing CPR or naming the bones of the hand? Nurses are not inferior to Doctors. They provide a vital health care service and are just as necessary to the patient as a doctor is. I mean just imagine going in to a hospital and not having any nurses. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience. And as for being like Mickey. Did Mickey not turn out to be awesome? Is he not now fighting alien threats to the planet on his own terms? Does his wife not have awesome hair? (Okay maybe I'm still a bit shallow.) I understand that people have been burnt and are wary, but could we make the judgements when we've seen more than one episode maybe?
