one sound can hold back a thousand hands when the pipe plays a tune forlorn
I had this amazing moment earlier when I put on The White Stripes and thought about how many songs Jack White has written about red-headed women (and of course now he has one of his own) and how he and the Doctor seem to share a ginger fetish. Which of course lead me to imagining an episode where the Doctor lands in pioneer America where Jack White plays a sort of cowboy perhaps (remember Cold Mountain? he held his own, acting-wise!), maybe a Firefly-like scenario. Which then made me remember sainfoin_fields' own personal fanon where Malcolm Reynolds was raised by his single mom Loretta Reynolds (née Lynn), but her favourite farmhand, John Gillis (people called him Jack) taught him everything he ever knew about the fine art of firing a gun. (Somewhere along the line this evolved from her personal fanon to ahem, mine.)
And then, with a big grin on my face, I realized how much I love fandom because somewhere out there, there is at least one person who is thinking, "Yes. YES. I know exactly what you mean."
In any case, here are some thoughts on The Beast Below.
Oh let me first say that MAGPIE ELECTRICALS SIGN, I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. (Maybe it's because I just did that epic Who rewatch, but remember, The Idiot's Lantern? Thank you.) Once again, stylistically, this episode was miles ahead of the Nine-Ten years. I just can't get over how beautifully this show is shot. They must have a lot more money for the budget, or they're using it more effectively. But even just the design of the city in the ship; it was real and felt like a retro-police state while still having a futuristic tint. Liz Ten's room! Oxford Street! And randomly enough, the lighting in the scene in which Amy discovers the starwhale's tentacle. Just the flashing of the torch, the red luminescence, it was insanely gorgeous whilst so, so simple.
I am not at all familiar with the Discworld series but I did watch The Color of Magic last year due to the epically hilarious poster that had been up at the Quad Cinema, and I am so glad I did, because when the shot pulled back at the end to show the starwhale under the Starship UK, I had this amazing feeling of, "Oh! I've seen that before!" I mean, mama raised this girl to have a grasp of world religions so I've always been fascinated by the world-on-a-turtle's-back legend, but especially the way this was shot (or rather, the CGI shot composed), it was definitely a reference. And it wasn't cheap at all, it was rather Adamsian in a way that I stand by, in that there are no multiverses or universes at all but just one Whole Sort of General Mish Mash, and if it is infinite, it will reflect itself, with slight variations, but it is all part of a whole.
Wow, isn't it nice, writing down my thoughts on an episode when I've had some sleep? Last night I got home from work (and then the subsequent drinks and even more subsequent trip to the diner) and watched the second half of the episode. I'd actually watched the first half before I left for work, because I snagged it quite quickly this week (though not quick enough to watch the whole thing) and spent the whole night making coffees and wondering who Liz Ten was and what was the horrible secret of the Starship UK. So, upon arriving home at some ungodly hour, still tipsy and slightly nauseated from the terrible diner food, I finished the episode. And promptly fell asleep and dreamt another version of the scene where Amy floated above the TARDIS, the Doctor holding onto her ankle, and as he brought her down into the doorway, they kissed.
Speaking of that. The Doctor/Companion relationship has always been a physically affectionate one, whether it's romantic or not. They're constantly holding hands, touching each other, and giving gigantic bear hugs and clinging onto each other like there's no tomorrow (oooh, time travelers, technically there's not). But that hug at the end.
"Hey..."
"What?"
"Gotcha."
"...Gotcha."
It was probably the most quiet, intimate moment I've ever seen the Doctor have with a companion, except maybe for my favourite moment in Fear Her (which I detailed extensively in my notes on S2 upon rewatch, which I have neither completed nor posted, obviously and shamefully), but it's basically just a look that the Doctor and Rose exchange after Chloe explains the Isolas' life travelling through the stars. But this moment, though. She's known him her whole life but he's only known her for a couple hours, and still they clutch each to the other, whispering, "Gotcha," into their clothes.
When I woke up today, I watched the episode again. Let's talk about Liz Ten. (Marry me! /Maeby) I have had the biggest actor-crush on Sophie Okonedo since Hotel Rwanda (I told anyone who'd listen to me that she should have won that Supporting Oscar) and actually I've meant to mention this before now but during Christmas I rewatched the first series of Spooks (for the first time since the summer of 2003, when it aired on A&E) and have since caught up through 2x04, in which, guess who, badass Sophie played a main role. (And okay, now I'm doing some IMDb research and in January she played Mrs. Mandela in a BBC telefilm opposite David Harewood, aka the final DW special's Joshua Naismith? Must watch now! ...Also, to my total shame, I think I actually remember her as "The Wachati Princess" from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.) IN ANY CASE! How amazing was she? The Moff was right in the Confidential, she just brought this spunk to it, this humour and gunslinger sass. And I love how her accent was more posh in the video, like Sophie said in the Confidential, over the years she's gotten more common. ("I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule." ♥♥♥) I would totally watch a show about the adventures of Liz Ten. Elizabeth X. I didn't get it until she spelled it out for me, chips with Henry Twelve, Vicky was a bit conflicted, knighted and banished you in the same day. Again they bring up the deflowering Liz One, which is still infinitely hilarious to me. I love the idea that the whole history of the English royal family has had some sort of connection with the Doctor. I also love the way the episode was written -- she was both a hero and the villain of the piece. The villain in that she was the cause of all the things they were investigating.
One of the things that frequently irked me about the RTD years which I thought was merely a factor of Doctor Who itself -- the big bad villains with the big bad plan. They didn't use it all the time, but it happened more than a handful of times and when it happened I would just roll my eyes and it lead to my often-declared statement: I don't care about the silly plots and the shoddy science, I care about the characters and the adventure. But both The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below seem to have escaped that. Prisoner Zero was dangerous and killed people, yes, but all it really wanted was to escape. The Atraxi just wanted to capture it. No diabolical plans. The Smilers were terribly creepy, but as the Moff pointed out in the Confidential, they were based on fortune-telling booths at carnivals and fairs -- they're intended to be tame, but the smiles are too bright and just as scary as the demonic grimaces. The Smilers, the Winders, they're all working for the Queen, following her orders as she lives her ten year reign over and over again. She tortures this beautiful creature because it is the only way she knows how to save her people, and even the Doctor doesn't know any better solution. Only Amy does.
It's very possible that we're about to happen onto a big bad villain with a big diabolical plan (if not next week, who wants to bet it'll happen in the 4-5 two parter, my favourite time of the series! NOT.) but somehow I have a feeling that might not actually happen. Which just makes me filled with excitement and anticipation. There are cracks in the universe. Silence will fall. I never mentioned that as soon as the Olivia Colman form of Prisoner Zero said there are cracks in the universe, do you know why? -- I thought of Torchwood, and Doomsday. Torchwood kept punching a hole in the universe, and as Ten demonstrated even when they close the hole the cracks are still there, and the whole thing is easily broken. It's what I immediately thought of, but then Prisoner Zero realised that Eleven didn't know why the cracks are there. And I reconsidered. But they made such a big deal about it back then, rather, the Doctor did! I still can't give up that theory, it's too much of a coincidence.
"But I can and will remind you of two of the most important facts I know:
(1) Everything is part of it.
(2) It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
- the last line of Tom Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker (which, in further adventures in regaining my literacy, I finished reading
in one big chunk whilst lazing away the record-breaking heat in Central Park last Wednesday after spending over a year on the first hundred pages or so).
In the Confidential, the Moff talked a bunch about how Doctor Who above all things is a fairy tale. (I've been thinking more and more lately about how much I would have loved to grow up with this show, to grow up being terrified every Saturday night and loving it. Instead I had The Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, The Neverending Story and the BBC productions of The Chronicles of Narnia which all scared the living daylights out of me at parts but I remember with such love.) And he made sure to point out the significance of Amy flying away with a magical man in her nightie, the night before she has to grow up. I guess I hadn't really thought of the Peter Pan allusion so specifically, but as soon as I heard that I fell in love with Eleven and Amy even more. They're both running away from something, running towards adventure. They've so far had two exchanges about how she's grown up and he'll fix that. The Doctor is the epitome of not growing up. He's Peter Pan. And I think that why I love him so much, why no matter who plays him I'll always fall for him every single time.
It hurt and shocked me so much when he said, "Doesn't matter, when we're done I'm taking you home to Leadworth." (And oh, "No one human gets to talk to me!" A first touch of the anger we know lies inside, yes Matt Smith that was nice, please can I have some more?) I loved her response to that, she knew she deserved to stay and travel with him, and she looked and listened and she saved the day. ("We're going faster!"/"Yeah, now that you're not torturing the pilot!") In that way she is greater than Wendy (oh, definitely a bit of Tiger Lily in there), and that is why, at the end, when she joined Eleven staring out the immense windows of the Starship UK, all she needed to do is tell him she knew how to save the British people and the starwhale because she understood the Doctor. Perhaps a small part of him was still wondering if he should take her home. But she tells him what she has known since she was seven and asks him, "Sound familiar?" and he draws her onto her tiptoes and wraps her into his arms. And she wraps him in hers.
"Gotcha."
In conclusion, did the line, "Help me Doctor, you're my only hope!" make no one else collapse in giggles? It was said so straightfacedly, with no in-joke winking, but come on, you KNOW the Doctor's seen Star Wars a million times.
I really, really, really hope the Moff can convince at least one of the Coupling actors to come on the show. I think Gina Bellman would fit in really well with the Doctor Who vibe and if JackDav came on I think my pants would spontaneously fall off, but if Richard Coyle was on, if the man who was Jeff Mu'fuckin' Murdock entered the Whoniverse ...I don't even know. There are no words for that kind of joy.
Jeff: I was seven. I didn't realize television could do that! I started watching it all day every day, just in case it did it again.
Steve: I'm with you on that one.
Jeff: My parents thought I was in love with the TV set.
Patrick: Cos you were watching it all the time?
Jeff: Well...yeah.
Steve: With you there, too.
Jeff: But also, I'd get aroused the moment it was switched on. You know, even if it was just the news or Doctor Who.
Steve: Okay, not quite so with you now.
ETA: HOLD THE PHONE. So, apparently Steven Moffat was NOT joking in the Confidential when he said that Karen Gillan is 5'11" (a girl on television, who is actually taller than me?!?) and according to my internet research Matt Smith is "5'10" on a good day"? Is there some Gillian-Anderson-style apple-box-standing going on? And somehow in my "how tall is Matt Smith" Googling, I discovered this interview from 2008 from when he was on the West End, doing Swimming With Sharks with Christian Slater (WHICH I ALMOST BOUGHT TICKETS TO BACK IN FALL 2007, Y'KNOW, WHEN I LIVED THERE) and OMFG:
His passions aren’t unrelated, either. The thrill he gets from music is something he wants theatre to be able to transmit. Of his favourite band, Radiohead, he says, with typical exuberance: “That’s it. That’s what I want when I go to the theatre, when I’m in a play, is them, and that experience that I get from them. I admire the musicianship, I admire the soul that goes into it, and the execution and the work, the preparation. Everything is done right, I think, and done with good intention and soul and heart and good spirit. They are a lesson to us all.”
MARRY ME.
And then, with a big grin on my face, I realized how much I love fandom because somewhere out there, there is at least one person who is thinking, "Yes. YES. I know exactly what you mean."
In any case, here are some thoughts on The Beast Below.
Oh let me first say that MAGPIE ELECTRICALS SIGN, I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. (Maybe it's because I just did that epic Who rewatch, but remember, The Idiot's Lantern? Thank you.) Once again, stylistically, this episode was miles ahead of the Nine-Ten years. I just can't get over how beautifully this show is shot. They must have a lot more money for the budget, or they're using it more effectively. But even just the design of the city in the ship; it was real and felt like a retro-police state while still having a futuristic tint. Liz Ten's room! Oxford Street! And randomly enough, the lighting in the scene in which Amy discovers the starwhale's tentacle. Just the flashing of the torch, the red luminescence, it was insanely gorgeous whilst so, so simple.
I am not at all familiar with the Discworld series but I did watch The Color of Magic last year due to the epically hilarious poster that had been up at the Quad Cinema, and I am so glad I did, because when the shot pulled back at the end to show the starwhale under the Starship UK, I had this amazing feeling of, "Oh! I've seen that before!" I mean, mama raised this girl to have a grasp of world religions so I've always been fascinated by the world-on-a-turtle's-back legend, but especially the way this was shot (or rather, the CGI shot composed), it was definitely a reference. And it wasn't cheap at all, it was rather Adamsian in a way that I stand by, in that there are no multiverses or universes at all but just one Whole Sort of General Mish Mash, and if it is infinite, it will reflect itself, with slight variations, but it is all part of a whole.
Wow, isn't it nice, writing down my thoughts on an episode when I've had some sleep? Last night I got home from work (and then the subsequent drinks and even more subsequent trip to the diner) and watched the second half of the episode. I'd actually watched the first half before I left for work, because I snagged it quite quickly this week (though not quick enough to watch the whole thing) and spent the whole night making coffees and wondering who Liz Ten was and what was the horrible secret of the Starship UK. So, upon arriving home at some ungodly hour, still tipsy and slightly nauseated from the terrible diner food, I finished the episode. And promptly fell asleep and dreamt another version of the scene where Amy floated above the TARDIS, the Doctor holding onto her ankle, and as he brought her down into the doorway, they kissed.
Speaking of that. The Doctor/Companion relationship has always been a physically affectionate one, whether it's romantic or not. They're constantly holding hands, touching each other, and giving gigantic bear hugs and clinging onto each other like there's no tomorrow (oooh, time travelers, technically there's not). But that hug at the end.
"Hey..."
"What?"
"Gotcha."
"...Gotcha."
It was probably the most quiet, intimate moment I've ever seen the Doctor have with a companion, except maybe for my favourite moment in Fear Her (which I detailed extensively in my notes on S2 upon rewatch, which I have neither completed nor posted, obviously and shamefully), but it's basically just a look that the Doctor and Rose exchange after Chloe explains the Isolas' life travelling through the stars. But this moment, though. She's known him her whole life but he's only known her for a couple hours, and still they clutch each to the other, whispering, "Gotcha," into their clothes.
When I woke up today, I watched the episode again. Let's talk about Liz Ten. (Marry me! /Maeby) I have had the biggest actor-crush on Sophie Okonedo since Hotel Rwanda (I told anyone who'd listen to me that she should have won that Supporting Oscar) and actually I've meant to mention this before now but during Christmas I rewatched the first series of Spooks (for the first time since the summer of 2003, when it aired on A&E) and have since caught up through 2x04, in which, guess who, badass Sophie played a main role. (And okay, now I'm doing some IMDb research and in January she played Mrs. Mandela in a BBC telefilm opposite David Harewood, aka the final DW special's Joshua Naismith? Must watch now! ...Also, to my total shame, I think I actually remember her as "The Wachati Princess" from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.) IN ANY CASE! How amazing was she? The Moff was right in the Confidential, she just brought this spunk to it, this humour and gunslinger sass. And I love how her accent was more posh in the video, like Sophie said in the Confidential, over the years she's gotten more common. ("I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule." ♥♥♥) I would totally watch a show about the adventures of Liz Ten. Elizabeth X. I didn't get it until she spelled it out for me, chips with Henry Twelve, Vicky was a bit conflicted, knighted and banished you in the same day. Again they bring up the deflowering Liz One, which is still infinitely hilarious to me. I love the idea that the whole history of the English royal family has had some sort of connection with the Doctor. I also love the way the episode was written -- she was both a hero and the villain of the piece. The villain in that she was the cause of all the things they were investigating.
One of the things that frequently irked me about the RTD years which I thought was merely a factor of Doctor Who itself -- the big bad villains with the big bad plan. They didn't use it all the time, but it happened more than a handful of times and when it happened I would just roll my eyes and it lead to my often-declared statement: I don't care about the silly plots and the shoddy science, I care about the characters and the adventure. But both The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below seem to have escaped that. Prisoner Zero was dangerous and killed people, yes, but all it really wanted was to escape. The Atraxi just wanted to capture it. No diabolical plans. The Smilers were terribly creepy, but as the Moff pointed out in the Confidential, they were based on fortune-telling booths at carnivals and fairs -- they're intended to be tame, but the smiles are too bright and just as scary as the demonic grimaces. The Smilers, the Winders, they're all working for the Queen, following her orders as she lives her ten year reign over and over again. She tortures this beautiful creature because it is the only way she knows how to save her people, and even the Doctor doesn't know any better solution. Only Amy does.
It's very possible that we're about to happen onto a big bad villain with a big diabolical plan (if not next week, who wants to bet it'll happen in the 4-5 two parter, my favourite time of the series! NOT.) but somehow I have a feeling that might not actually happen. Which just makes me filled with excitement and anticipation. There are cracks in the universe. Silence will fall. I never mentioned that as soon as the Olivia Colman form of Prisoner Zero said there are cracks in the universe, do you know why? -- I thought of Torchwood, and Doomsday. Torchwood kept punching a hole in the universe, and as Ten demonstrated even when they close the hole the cracks are still there, and the whole thing is easily broken. It's what I immediately thought of, but then Prisoner Zero realised that Eleven didn't know why the cracks are there. And I reconsidered. But they made such a big deal about it back then, rather, the Doctor did! I still can't give up that theory, it's too much of a coincidence.
"But I can and will remind you of two of the most important facts I know:
(1) Everything is part of it.
(2) It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
- the last line of Tom Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker (which, in further adventures in regaining my literacy, I finished reading
in one big chunk whilst lazing away the record-breaking heat in Central Park last Wednesday after spending over a year on the first hundred pages or so).
In the Confidential, the Moff talked a bunch about how Doctor Who above all things is a fairy tale. (I've been thinking more and more lately about how much I would have loved to grow up with this show, to grow up being terrified every Saturday night and loving it. Instead I had The Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, The Neverending Story and the BBC productions of The Chronicles of Narnia which all scared the living daylights out of me at parts but I remember with such love.) And he made sure to point out the significance of Amy flying away with a magical man in her nightie, the night before she has to grow up. I guess I hadn't really thought of the Peter Pan allusion so specifically, but as soon as I heard that I fell in love with Eleven and Amy even more. They're both running away from something, running towards adventure. They've so far had two exchanges about how she's grown up and he'll fix that. The Doctor is the epitome of not growing up. He's Peter Pan. And I think that why I love him so much, why no matter who plays him I'll always fall for him every single time.
It hurt and shocked me so much when he said, "Doesn't matter, when we're done I'm taking you home to Leadworth." (And oh, "No one human gets to talk to me!" A first touch of the anger we know lies inside, yes Matt Smith that was nice, please can I have some more?) I loved her response to that, she knew she deserved to stay and travel with him, and she looked and listened and she saved the day. ("We're going faster!"/"Yeah, now that you're not torturing the pilot!") In that way she is greater than Wendy (oh, definitely a bit of Tiger Lily in there), and that is why, at the end, when she joined Eleven staring out the immense windows of the Starship UK, all she needed to do is tell him she knew how to save the British people and the starwhale because she understood the Doctor. Perhaps a small part of him was still wondering if he should take her home. But she tells him what she has known since she was seven and asks him, "Sound familiar?" and he draws her onto her tiptoes and wraps her into his arms. And she wraps him in hers.
"Gotcha."
In conclusion, did the line, "Help me Doctor, you're my only hope!" make no one else collapse in giggles? It was said so straightfacedly, with no in-joke winking, but come on, you KNOW the Doctor's seen Star Wars a million times.
I really, really, really hope the Moff can convince at least one of the Coupling actors to come on the show. I think Gina Bellman would fit in really well with the Doctor Who vibe and if JackDav came on I think my pants would spontaneously fall off, but if Richard Coyle was on, if the man who was Jeff Mu'fuckin' Murdock entered the Whoniverse ...I don't even know. There are no words for that kind of joy.
Jeff: I was seven. I didn't realize television could do that! I started watching it all day every day, just in case it did it again.
Steve: I'm with you on that one.
Jeff: My parents thought I was in love with the TV set.
Patrick: Cos you were watching it all the time?
Jeff: Well...yeah.
Steve: With you there, too.
Jeff: But also, I'd get aroused the moment it was switched on. You know, even if it was just the news or Doctor Who.
Steve: Okay, not quite so with you now.
ETA: HOLD THE PHONE. So, apparently Steven Moffat was NOT joking in the Confidential when he said that Karen Gillan is 5'11" (a girl on television, who is actually taller than me?!?) and according to my internet research Matt Smith is "5'10" on a good day"? Is there some Gillian-Anderson-style apple-box-standing going on? And somehow in my "how tall is Matt Smith" Googling, I discovered this interview from 2008 from when he was on the West End, doing Swimming With Sharks with Christian Slater (WHICH I ALMOST BOUGHT TICKETS TO BACK IN FALL 2007, Y'KNOW, WHEN I LIVED THERE) and OMFG:
His passions aren’t unrelated, either. The thrill he gets from music is something he wants theatre to be able to transmit. Of his favourite band, Radiohead, he says, with typical exuberance: “That’s it. That’s what I want when I go to the theatre, when I’m in a play, is them, and that experience that I get from them. I admire the musicianship, I admire the soul that goes into it, and the execution and the work, the preparation. Everything is done right, I think, and done with good intention and soul and heart and good spirit. They are a lesson to us all.”
MARRY ME.