Happy Easter!
I'm still accepting questions for this meme, if anyone's interested. ;)
So, today, I went to my paternal grandparents' house for Easter and ate gluten-free strudel that my mother made (yeah, I kept thinking of IB while I ate it---that must be some kind of illness). My other young-adult/teenaged cousins and I got to hide the eggs for the egg hunt, which is actually just as fun as looking for the eggs: it's strangely entertaining to pick out a weird spot to stash and egg and then watch to see if the kids find it, and I'd feel a strange tension when I saw one they missed.
My cousins, my dad, Peter, and I also looked at my grandmother's stamp collection, which included lots of historically-related and vacation-destination-showcasing stamps, but also had a stamp featuring the Ultimate Lightsaber Battle(TM) from Star Wars---Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I asked Grandma why she had that one, and she said it was "for the cultureshock." She can be cryptic like that---I think it has to do with being raised by very German maiden aunts.
Then I came home and Peter and I watch the Series 5 premiere of Doctor Who, "The Eleventh Hour":
I did like this episode, but I have to agree with visiblemarket: plot elements from previous episodes were riddled throughout the plot. (I think kassie_opia brought this up, too.) I think this was to remind the kids, families, and rabid fangirls that this was the same show. After all this ridiculous bitching about how the Eleventh Doctor looked like Edward Cullen and that the show was going to devolve into Twilight, I think that' what the fanbase needed: a big "Hey, calm down, folks! Eleven may be younger, but he's still the Doctor. He's still a slightly arrogant science geek who fights evil aliens and tells people to 'Run!' So just chill."
That said, I believe I love Eleven. I'm pretty sure he's moving on past his Time-War-induced and Rose-related angst, back to being a wacky adventurer. I also love that, like Nine, I can't say he's got any direct influences from past Doctors---for instance, if you watch an old Fourth Doctor episode, you'll find that Four and Ten have almost identical speech patterns, but Ten's are just faster, while Ten acted younger, like Five (Four and Five were David Tennant's childhood Doctors). But back to Eleven: he's young, but also has an odd professorial, feel to him (evidence of Einstein-ian influences).
I didn't get super-strong romantic vibes for Amy on his side; I felt like he was a child who wanted to find his playmate again (no innuendo intended). I saw that Amy is clearly crushing on him, but since she lost her parents and had a distant aunt, I think he may have been the strongest positive influence in her childhood---he faced the monster hiding in her bedroom with her and promised to show her an adventure. I know this may sound bizarre, but I kind of loved seeing all the drawings and crafts she'd made of the two of them together---yes, clearly there are some influences from "Girl in the Fireplace," but I believe Moffat wrote that, too, so he's just cribbing from himself, and this seemed much more innocent to me somehow. Also, GitF is one of my favorite episodes (I love all things Versailles-related and I admire how past and future were seamless joined together), so I'm cool with that.
I'm glad I finally got this episode, since it helps me write my current crossover WIP, but I reflected on how I'd previously characterized Eleven, just based on previews and clips, and I'd realized that he's pretty IC in Chapter 1, but he got too dark and serious in Chapter 2, at least compared to what we saw in this first episode---it's totally possible that he may appear darker in future episodes. I think I was still channeling a bit of Ten, unfortunately, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I'm trying to lighten him up in Chapter 3; I really shouldn't be too hard on the writers for recycling plot elements, because I'm sort of doing that as I try to write an AU Series 5 about Sgt. Donny Donowitz as a companion, and I'm giving him the familiar companion iniations (hand-grabbing---later subverted, "Run!", (re-)visiting a famous author, etc.).
Must go back to school tomorrow. Meh.
So, today, I went to my paternal grandparents' house for Easter and ate gluten-free strudel that my mother made (yeah, I kept thinking of IB while I ate it---that must be some kind of illness). My other young-adult/teenaged cousins and I got to hide the eggs for the egg hunt, which is actually just as fun as looking for the eggs: it's strangely entertaining to pick out a weird spot to stash and egg and then watch to see if the kids find it, and I'd feel a strange tension when I saw one they missed.
My cousins, my dad, Peter, and I also looked at my grandmother's stamp collection, which included lots of historically-related and vacation-destination-showcasing stamps, but also had a stamp featuring the Ultimate Lightsaber Battle(TM) from Star Wars---Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I asked Grandma why she had that one, and she said it was "for the cultureshock." She can be cryptic like that---I think it has to do with being raised by very German maiden aunts.
Then I came home and Peter and I watch the Series 5 premiere of Doctor Who, "The Eleventh Hour":
I did like this episode, but I have to agree with visiblemarket: plot elements from previous episodes were riddled throughout the plot. (I think kassie_opia brought this up, too.) I think this was to remind the kids, families, and rabid fangirls that this was the same show. After all this ridiculous bitching about how the Eleventh Doctor looked like Edward Cullen and that the show was going to devolve into Twilight, I think that' what the fanbase needed: a big "Hey, calm down, folks! Eleven may be younger, but he's still the Doctor. He's still a slightly arrogant science geek who fights evil aliens and tells people to 'Run!' So just chill."
That said, I believe I love Eleven. I'm pretty sure he's moving on past his Time-War-induced and Rose-related angst, back to being a wacky adventurer. I also love that, like Nine, I can't say he's got any direct influences from past Doctors---for instance, if you watch an old Fourth Doctor episode, you'll find that Four and Ten have almost identical speech patterns, but Ten's are just faster, while Ten acted younger, like Five (Four and Five were David Tennant's childhood Doctors). But back to Eleven: he's young, but also has an odd professorial, feel to him (evidence of Einstein-ian influences).
I didn't get super-strong romantic vibes for Amy on his side; I felt like he was a child who wanted to find his playmate again (no innuendo intended). I saw that Amy is clearly crushing on him, but since she lost her parents and had a distant aunt, I think he may have been the strongest positive influence in her childhood---he faced the monster hiding in her bedroom with her and promised to show her an adventure. I know this may sound bizarre, but I kind of loved seeing all the drawings and crafts she'd made of the two of them together---yes, clearly there are some influences from "Girl in the Fireplace," but I believe Moffat wrote that, too, so he's just cribbing from himself, and this seemed much more innocent to me somehow. Also, GitF is one of my favorite episodes (I love all things Versailles-related and I admire how past and future were seamless joined together), so I'm cool with that.
I'm glad I finally got this episode, since it helps me write my current crossover WIP, but I reflected on how I'd previously characterized Eleven, just based on previews and clips, and I'd realized that he's pretty IC in Chapter 1, but he got too dark and serious in Chapter 2, at least compared to what we saw in this first episode---it's totally possible that he may appear darker in future episodes. I think I was still channeling a bit of Ten, unfortunately, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I'm trying to lighten him up in Chapter 3; I really shouldn't be too hard on the writers for recycling plot elements, because I'm sort of doing that as I try to write an AU Series 5 about Sgt. Donny Donowitz as a companion, and I'm giving him the familiar companion iniations (hand-grabbing---later subverted, "Run!", (re-)visiting a famous author, etc.).
Must go back to school tomorrow. Meh.