Doctor Who - The Eleventh Hour Picspam and Review
As I've mentioned, I have seen The Eleventh Hour and I loved it! I've loved the show and the Doctor for a long time so I was hoping to be happy and I think it delivered. To be honest, I'm pretty easy for Doctor Who. Give me an actor I can believe as the Doctor, interesting characters, plenty of shiny, keep things moving along (whether or not the plot makes any sense....ooooh shiny! What plot?), and I'll generally be happy. *g* Perhaps not to the rather intense level of fannish interest that I had in the previous few years, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
To get this out of the way: Tennant vs. Smith. I can't say that I'm interested in going there. Ten is Ten and he is my Doctor (something wildly unlikely to change), but all the Doctors are excellent in their own ways and I look forward to seeing more of how Eleven is excellent. I admit that I have been wondering this past year and a half just how Matt Smith was going to work as the Doctor, and, from this first hour, I'd say he works very well! He is the Doctor. Oh, I know his characterization is still settling. After all, the man just regenerated! He's not done cooking. But I like what I see. I think I may need an icon or two if I'm going to be talking about this season a lot.
Onto the review! Long review is long. I've had days to think about after all!
I am definitely a mad man with a box.
"Can I have an apple? All I could thing about. Apples! I love apples! Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new. Never had cravings before."
"Who are you?" "I don't know yet. I'm still cooking."
So Amelia and the Doctor meet. She's been praying to Santa Claus on Easter for help and it crashes into the back garden. (I have to say that I love that she's praying to Santa. Who brings the toys after all?) And the first thing he says starts the thread of apples and serpents in the episode. His desire for an apple actually has three purposes. First, to set up the food spewing scene where he hates everything until he tries fish custard. Which went on rather long especially on the second viewing. Second, so that Amelia gives the Doctor the apple her mother made for her and he can prove himself in the future. Third, to give us a new man (an Adam as it were) asking for an apple while the serpent hides in the house watching everything. That's a lot of significance placed on a couple of lines asking for fruit!
While I haven't quite made my mind up about Amy (though she does have an off-center quality that is appealing), Amelia Pond was lovely! They did a great job casting the actress both in looks and in acting ability. It would have been fun to have young Amy as a companion for a few episodes! Fearless, accepting of all the weird stuff that surrounds the Doctor, and not willing to take any shit from him. Good qualities in a companion. *hugs her*
"The crack isn't in the wall." "Where is it then?" "Everywhere. Everything. It's a split in the skin of the world."
And now we come to it! The plot thread that we'll be following all season! There are cracks in the universe and the Doctor doesn't know what they mean yet. At this point in the story he doesn't even know that prisoner Zero didn't make the crack in the first place. (Apparently it's possible to deliberately make one.) All he's thinking about is to close the crack and help out Amelia, but it's never that simple. The first complication comes in the form of a message on the psychic paper letting him know that prisoner Zero is with them. The second complication comes in the form of a cloister bell interrupting the Doctor just before he figures things out. We couldn't have that! The episode would be much too short. :D At least the interruption is plenty serious enough that the Doctor had no choice but to leave. It wouldn't be much of a show without the TARDIS. And the third comes in the form of a prophecy - The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall.
Awwww! Poor Amelia! I really hope that the sound of the TARDIS coming for her in the morning was real and not part of Amy's dream. I mean, I could see Amy dreaming about when she met the Doctor and she waited all night for nothing and just incorporate the real TARDIS sound into the dream before waking up.
"Look exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye."
Amy of course looks and then goes to investigate. Hee. An important skill for a companion. The skill of ignoring the Doctor's orders to stay put. I’m the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don’t ask stupid questions, and don’t wander off. It's one of the first things he says to her 7-year old self, but it obviously didn't work any better on her than it did on any of the others. It's damn lucky that they were saved by the Atraxi coming to destroy the planet. There's nothing like the imminent destruction of the Earth to bring on the Doctor's A game.
Just tell me that there's no attraction there. Go on. I won't believe you.
"Twenty minutes. I can do it. Twenty minutes - the planet burns. Write to your loved ones and say goodbye or stay and help me." "NO."
It's a good thing he had that apple in his pocket! It's damn hard to save a planet in twenty minutes when your companion has locked your tie in a car door until you've convinced her you do have the ability to really save everyone and you're not just jerking her around. One thing I like about this scene is that it brings Amy's oddness into focus. The whole town knows that she's a bit cracked (and not to argue with her when she's in a mood). It is an interesting insight into what can happen to a person just from a brief meeting with the Doctor. It can change your whole life. (Something we also saw in Love and Monsters; this episode is mercifully so much better.)
"How could he be real? He was never real! It's just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him!"
Time to meet the kinda boyfriend turned fiance two years later - Mickey Rory. Yeah, Rose never got to the point of marriage with Mickey, but what if the Doctor showed up and then disappeared for the second time without even a goodbye? Two years for it to sink in that it didn't look as though he was coming back, and, if he did, who's to say it wouldn't be twenty years? He turned 5 minutes into 12 years after all. As for Rory, I hope he grows on me like Mickey did. Right now he seems rather weak and dull. However, even if he does grow on me, I don't think it will ever stop being weird that she made him dress up as the Doctor. Can you say dysfunctional love triangle?
"Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get."
I find it interesting that he didn't tell them that he was the Doctor. I suppose that it would be hard to prove since this version of him hasn't had time to meet anyone besides Amy, but he didn't even mention it as he gave them his genius credentials.
One thing I really liked about the episode is that the Doctor had to keep scrambling to come up with new plans to save the world. He's already burned through his first plan - use the sonic screwdriver to get the attention of the Atraxi. *wipes away a tear for the old sonic* Moments later he's put together plan number two - use Rory's cellphone and a computer virus to give them a location and all the multiform's current bodies. Which also doesn't quite work since Zero can take Amy's form, though it does focus the Atraxi on the hospital. Leading to plan number three - get Amy to visualize prisoner Zero. And, finally, he has saved the planet!
"I'm saving the world. I need a decent shirt."
The Doctor has done this before. It's not enough to give the aliens what they want so they go away, he needs to make sure that they know not to try this again. A tactic only worthwhile to use on the more 'reasonable' aliens he meets. However, the Atraxi have laws and they are familiar with galactic law and the Shadow Proclamation. I think right here we've achieved Moffat's Doctor that River described. He's not exactly turning back armies simply by appearing since the Atraxi were leaving anyway, but it's close. (And he snaps his fingers to open the TARDIS at the end.) When you get right down to it, the universe may be a very big place but it's not surprising that the Doctor would have a reputation by now. 900 or so years of stomping on alien threats would get around I think. Moffat at least seems to like that idea quite a bit. We saw it in Forest of the Dead and now in this episode as well. 'I'm the Doctor. Look me up.'
I would like to note as well that Eleven fans have gotten very lucky indeed. It was three years before we saw Ten shirtless and now Eleven is changing right in front of us with less that an episode to his name. :D
Why me? "Do I have to have a reason?" "You always have a reason." "I've started talking to myself all the time." "You're lonely." "Just that! Promise."
Hmmmm. Why do I think he's not being completely honest here? *g* Yes, I'm sure he's lonely and the Doctor does like to have companionship. We certainly know that he can get weird without it. However, the bit where his instrument is making a line in the same shape as the crack in her wall (right in the background of this conversation even) makes me think that Amy is important to solving the whole silence will fall issue. Mind you, that's a good issue to solve. I like the universe. However, they are starting their travels on a lie and I wonder if that is going to come back and bite him.
All caps from The Medusa Cascade
To get this out of the way: Tennant vs. Smith. I can't say that I'm interested in going there. Ten is Ten and he is my Doctor (something wildly unlikely to change), but all the Doctors are excellent in their own ways and I look forward to seeing more of how Eleven is excellent. I admit that I have been wondering this past year and a half just how Matt Smith was going to work as the Doctor, and, from this first hour, I'd say he works very well! He is the Doctor. Oh, I know his characterization is still settling. After all, the man just regenerated! He's not done cooking. But I like what I see. I think I may need an icon or two if I'm going to be talking about this season a lot.
Onto the review! Long review is long. I've had days to think about after all!
I am definitely a mad man with a box.
"Can I have an apple? All I could thing about. Apples! I love apples! Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new. Never had cravings before."
"Who are you?" "I don't know yet. I'm still cooking."
So Amelia and the Doctor meet. She's been praying to Santa Claus on Easter for help and it crashes into the back garden. (I have to say that I love that she's praying to Santa. Who brings the toys after all?) And the first thing he says starts the thread of apples and serpents in the episode. His desire for an apple actually has three purposes. First, to set up the food spewing scene where he hates everything until he tries fish custard. Which went on rather long especially on the second viewing. Second, so that Amelia gives the Doctor the apple her mother made for her and he can prove himself in the future. Third, to give us a new man (an Adam as it were) asking for an apple while the serpent hides in the house watching everything. That's a lot of significance placed on a couple of lines asking for fruit!
While I haven't quite made my mind up about Amy (though she does have an off-center quality that is appealing), Amelia Pond was lovely! They did a great job casting the actress both in looks and in acting ability. It would have been fun to have young Amy as a companion for a few episodes! Fearless, accepting of all the weird stuff that surrounds the Doctor, and not willing to take any shit from him. Good qualities in a companion. *hugs her*
"The crack isn't in the wall." "Where is it then?" "Everywhere. Everything. It's a split in the skin of the world."
And now we come to it! The plot thread that we'll be following all season! There are cracks in the universe and the Doctor doesn't know what they mean yet. At this point in the story he doesn't even know that prisoner Zero didn't make the crack in the first place. (Apparently it's possible to deliberately make one.) All he's thinking about is to close the crack and help out Amelia, but it's never that simple. The first complication comes in the form of a message on the psychic paper letting him know that prisoner Zero is with them. The second complication comes in the form of a cloister bell interrupting the Doctor just before he figures things out. We couldn't have that! The episode would be much too short. :D At least the interruption is plenty serious enough that the Doctor had no choice but to leave. It wouldn't be much of a show without the TARDIS. And the third comes in the form of a prophecy - The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall.
Awwww! Poor Amelia! I really hope that the sound of the TARDIS coming for her in the morning was real and not part of Amy's dream. I mean, I could see Amy dreaming about when she met the Doctor and she waited all night for nothing and just incorporate the real TARDIS sound into the dream before waking up.
"Look exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye."
Amy of course looks and then goes to investigate. Hee. An important skill for a companion. The skill of ignoring the Doctor's orders to stay put. I’m the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don’t ask stupid questions, and don’t wander off. It's one of the first things he says to her 7-year old self, but it obviously didn't work any better on her than it did on any of the others. It's damn lucky that they were saved by the Atraxi coming to destroy the planet. There's nothing like the imminent destruction of the Earth to bring on the Doctor's A game.
Just tell me that there's no attraction there. Go on. I won't believe you.
"Twenty minutes. I can do it. Twenty minutes - the planet burns. Write to your loved ones and say goodbye or stay and help me." "NO."
It's a good thing he had that apple in his pocket! It's damn hard to save a planet in twenty minutes when your companion has locked your tie in a car door until you've convinced her you do have the ability to really save everyone and you're not just jerking her around. One thing I like about this scene is that it brings Amy's oddness into focus. The whole town knows that she's a bit cracked (and not to argue with her when she's in a mood). It is an interesting insight into what can happen to a person just from a brief meeting with the Doctor. It can change your whole life. (Something we also saw in Love and Monsters; this episode is mercifully so much better.)
"How could he be real? He was never real! It's just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him!"
Time to meet the kinda boyfriend turned fiance two years later - Mickey Rory. Yeah, Rose never got to the point of marriage with Mickey, but what if the Doctor showed up and then disappeared for the second time without even a goodbye? Two years for it to sink in that it didn't look as though he was coming back, and, if he did, who's to say it wouldn't be twenty years? He turned 5 minutes into 12 years after all. As for Rory, I hope he grows on me like Mickey did. Right now he seems rather weak and dull. However, even if he does grow on me, I don't think it will ever stop being weird that she made him dress up as the Doctor. Can you say dysfunctional love triangle?
"Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get."
I find it interesting that he didn't tell them that he was the Doctor. I suppose that it would be hard to prove since this version of him hasn't had time to meet anyone besides Amy, but he didn't even mention it as he gave them his genius credentials.
One thing I really liked about the episode is that the Doctor had to keep scrambling to come up with new plans to save the world. He's already burned through his first plan - use the sonic screwdriver to get the attention of the Atraxi. *wipes away a tear for the old sonic* Moments later he's put together plan number two - use Rory's cellphone and a computer virus to give them a location and all the multiform's current bodies. Which also doesn't quite work since Zero can take Amy's form, though it does focus the Atraxi on the hospital. Leading to plan number three - get Amy to visualize prisoner Zero. And, finally, he has saved the planet!
"I'm saving the world. I need a decent shirt."
The Doctor has done this before. It's not enough to give the aliens what they want so they go away, he needs to make sure that they know not to try this again. A tactic only worthwhile to use on the more 'reasonable' aliens he meets. However, the Atraxi have laws and they are familiar with galactic law and the Shadow Proclamation. I think right here we've achieved Moffat's Doctor that River described. He's not exactly turning back armies simply by appearing since the Atraxi were leaving anyway, but it's close. (And he snaps his fingers to open the TARDIS at the end.) When you get right down to it, the universe may be a very big place but it's not surprising that the Doctor would have a reputation by now. 900 or so years of stomping on alien threats would get around I think. Moffat at least seems to like that idea quite a bit. We saw it in Forest of the Dead and now in this episode as well. 'I'm the Doctor. Look me up.'
I would like to note as well that Eleven fans have gotten very lucky indeed. It was three years before we saw Ten shirtless and now Eleven is changing right in front of us with less that an episode to his name. :D
Why me? "Do I have to have a reason?" "You always have a reason." "I've started talking to myself all the time." "You're lonely." "Just that! Promise."
Hmmmm. Why do I think he's not being completely honest here? *g* Yes, I'm sure he's lonely and the Doctor does like to have companionship. We certainly know that he can get weird without it. However, the bit where his instrument is making a line in the same shape as the crack in her wall (right in the background of this conversation even) makes me think that Amy is important to solving the whole silence will fall issue. Mind you, that's a good issue to solve. I like the universe. However, they are starting their travels on a lie and I wonder if that is going to come back and bite him.
All caps from The Medusa Cascade