Season's Greetings...and Goodbye, Eleven...
Less than 24 hours to go, at least here in the UK, until Eleven bites the big one and Mr Peter Capaldi takes up the Doctorly mantle. In the meantime, please allow me to extend the best wishes of the season - and of whichever midwinter holiday you may or may not be celebrating - to all of you. Have a good one. :)
And thinking of Eleven, and my own sadness tinged with excitement concerning his impending demise, I thought I'd just run through eleven of my favourite Eleven stories and why I like them:
11. The Crimson Horror. For me, this was one of the real picks of the most recent half-season, just beating out Mr Gatiss's other contribution, the base-under-siege-tastic trad-Who throwback "Cold War". Here Gatiss is returning to his The League of Gentlemen roots with weird Hammer Horror vibes, silly comedy and a very classy guest star in Diana Rigg hamming it up wonderfully as the Victorian villain - you can't really argue with any of that.
10. The Girl Who Waited. Pretty much the opposite of the previous story in a lot of ways, keeping it simple and low key and taking a bleak look at the terrible consequences of simple mistakes, mortality and lots of other weighty stuff. Mainly, though, it's all about Amy and Rory who remain for me "the" Eleven companions. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill both give heartbreaking performances - we'll not see their like again in a while, I'd be willing to bet.
9. The Lodger. Love or loathe James Corden's rl "celeb" persona, I don't think anybody seriously doubts that he's a talented comic actor. So, as it happens, is Matt Smith, as he gets to demonstrate amply in this story. Also does the conceit of the Doctor basically being inherently incapable of living a normal everyday life better and funnier than "The Power of Three" did later on. This just beats out the very similar "Closing Time" by virtue of not having rubbish Cybermen in it.
8. A Christmas Carol. You could write essays about the dodgy gender politics on show in this story, and some have, but I mainly remember it as the first Doctor Who Christmas special since "The Christmas Invasion" that was actually a decent Who story in its own right. And the other thing it has going for it is that it is pretty much entirely the Matt Smith Show (with classy support from Michael Gambon, of course) - imho he burns up the screen in this with one of his most outstanding "turns" as the Doctor.
7. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. After the barnstorming "The Eleventh Hour" (of which see more, below) there followed a couple of perhaps less immediately confident and engaging stories (which is being very, very kind to "Victory of the Daleks"), but then the Eleven era really hit its stride and spread its wings with this two-parter. River Song before she outstayed her welcome; the Weeping Angels reinvented and made if anything even scarier; Iain Glen knocking it out of the park as the doomed Octavian. And the regulars are pretty awesome too. One of the iconic moments of NuWho: Eleven taking aim with that pistol at the cliffhanger - BLAM!
6. The Snowmen. Another Christmas special, and after what I thought was a dip in form with "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe", another good'un that only improves on subsequent viewings. And just as "A Christmas Carol" was The Matt Smith Show, this is The Jenna Coleman Show. She is great in this, topping her previous extremely impressive turn in "Asylum of the Daleks" and giving hope to those of us who were still mourning Amy and Rory. Too bad she hasn't really been given the chance to shine since as the "real" Clara, although she showed signs in the 50th Anniversary special - here's hoping Clara gets the chance to be for Twelve what the Amy/Rory combo were for Eleven.
5. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. It's hard to remember how intriguing and exciting these "arc" stories were before the whole River thing turned out to be a huge shaggy dog story. This is a good one on its own merits as well - cool 60s setting, fantastically unpleasant villains in the form of the memory-wiping Silence, and Matt Smith giving another brilliant turn as an Eleven who's visibly and audibly 200 years older than he was last time we saw him and isn't messing around any more. Plus legendary genre TV "hey, it's that guy" Mark Sheppard is just ace as smart-mouthed guest character Canton Everett Delaware III - this generation's Duggan (but not as thick)? ;D
4. Death of the Doctor. Yeah, it's a Sarah Jane Adventures story, but I'm counting it anyway. I was, and am, a huge SJA fan; so many great stories, and on the occasions when it directly crossed over with the parent show (or when the Brig showed up!), real event telly as far as this Who fan was concerned. But seriously; RTD returning to the fold with a great little script - Matt Smith giving it just as much welly as he ever has in "proper" Who - Lis Sladen and Katy Manning! - a roll call of old series companions namechecked - and the Doctor interacting again with the greatest companion he'll never have in the form of Clyde - how can you not love that?
3. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. Another Eleven-era classic from S5, and really the perfect ending to what may be (imho, anyway) the most consistently good new Who series to date. At the time, I don't think we even cared that much that the exploding TARDIS was never properly explained - the thing we'd all noticed about Eleven's shirt cuffs in the Angels story turned out to be true! In all seriousness, though, this is a really strong story with some great performances - Smith, Gillan, Darvill, Kingston, all knockouts again - and some real hairs-at-the-back-of-the-neck iconic Who moments. Eleven's speech at young Amy's bedside is the new series' "people made of smoke and cities made of song" for me, and the TARDIS's reappearance at the wedding - something borrowed, something blue! Makes me get something in me eye, it does.
2. The Eleventh Hour. What can you say about this story? It's amazing, not only in terms of storytelling and quality, but just for the sheer verve and confidence with which it establishes a new era of Who. It's the only way Moffat and Smith really could have approached picking up from the end of the Ten era, imho - just to come out swinging and lay down a marker, defying anybody to doubt that this was the same show, only regenerated. It shows in the writing, good-naturedly taking swipes at various RTD-isms while going off on its own path, and especially in Matt Smith's electrifying performance. He comes bouncing onto the screen, grabs the audience by the scruff of the neck and doesn't let go for the whole duration of the story. Peter Capaldi can only hope he gets such a good opening story that lets him showcase himself and his Doctor so effectively. Honourable mention also goes to Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill again, who establish their characters very winningly and effectively too.
1. The Doctor's Wife. There could be only one. When the time comes to tot up the all-time classics of Doctor Who, I think this is one of the new-Who stories that will be right up there with some of the big beasts of the original series. So much hype attended this one when it first aired - Neil Gaiman writing for Doctor Who couldn't really be any other way, I suppose. The thing was, it transcended the hype and turned out to be a genuine masterpiece. Another outstanding Matt Smith performance, ably abetted by a great supporting cast, both regulars and guests. And it told all of us Who fans something new about our favourite show, yet something we'd known all along in our hearts of hearts - that's pretty special, whatever way you look at it.
There were certainly a number of others that would have made the list had it been longer, or had I been compiling it on a different day. The only reason The Day of the Doctor didn't make it is because I don't think it counts as purely an Eleven story...and because I'm still recovering from it a month later and can't really offer an objective assessment as yet. I'm sure all of you will have your own that you would have included in such a list while being quietly appalled by some of my choices. Who fandom - I hope it never changes. :) Please feel free to discuss any serious omissions I may have made in the comments to this post.
This entry has also been posted at http://jjpor.dreamwidth.org/207308.html. Please feel free to comment either here or there.
And thinking of Eleven, and my own sadness tinged with excitement concerning his impending demise, I thought I'd just run through eleven of my favourite Eleven stories and why I like them:
11. The Crimson Horror. For me, this was one of the real picks of the most recent half-season, just beating out Mr Gatiss's other contribution, the base-under-siege-tastic trad-Who throwback "Cold War". Here Gatiss is returning to his The League of Gentlemen roots with weird Hammer Horror vibes, silly comedy and a very classy guest star in Diana Rigg hamming it up wonderfully as the Victorian villain - you can't really argue with any of that.
10. The Girl Who Waited. Pretty much the opposite of the previous story in a lot of ways, keeping it simple and low key and taking a bleak look at the terrible consequences of simple mistakes, mortality and lots of other weighty stuff. Mainly, though, it's all about Amy and Rory who remain for me "the" Eleven companions. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill both give heartbreaking performances - we'll not see their like again in a while, I'd be willing to bet.
9. The Lodger. Love or loathe James Corden's rl "celeb" persona, I don't think anybody seriously doubts that he's a talented comic actor. So, as it happens, is Matt Smith, as he gets to demonstrate amply in this story. Also does the conceit of the Doctor basically being inherently incapable of living a normal everyday life better and funnier than "The Power of Three" did later on. This just beats out the very similar "Closing Time" by virtue of not having rubbish Cybermen in it.
8. A Christmas Carol. You could write essays about the dodgy gender politics on show in this story, and some have, but I mainly remember it as the first Doctor Who Christmas special since "The Christmas Invasion" that was actually a decent Who story in its own right. And the other thing it has going for it is that it is pretty much entirely the Matt Smith Show (with classy support from Michael Gambon, of course) - imho he burns up the screen in this with one of his most outstanding "turns" as the Doctor.
7. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. After the barnstorming "The Eleventh Hour" (of which see more, below) there followed a couple of perhaps less immediately confident and engaging stories (which is being very, very kind to "Victory of the Daleks"), but then the Eleven era really hit its stride and spread its wings with this two-parter. River Song before she outstayed her welcome; the Weeping Angels reinvented and made if anything even scarier; Iain Glen knocking it out of the park as the doomed Octavian. And the regulars are pretty awesome too. One of the iconic moments of NuWho: Eleven taking aim with that pistol at the cliffhanger - BLAM!
6. The Snowmen. Another Christmas special, and after what I thought was a dip in form with "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe", another good'un that only improves on subsequent viewings. And just as "A Christmas Carol" was The Matt Smith Show, this is The Jenna Coleman Show. She is great in this, topping her previous extremely impressive turn in "Asylum of the Daleks" and giving hope to those of us who were still mourning Amy and Rory. Too bad she hasn't really been given the chance to shine since as the "real" Clara, although she showed signs in the 50th Anniversary special - here's hoping Clara gets the chance to be for Twelve what the Amy/Rory combo were for Eleven.
5. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. It's hard to remember how intriguing and exciting these "arc" stories were before the whole River thing turned out to be a huge shaggy dog story. This is a good one on its own merits as well - cool 60s setting, fantastically unpleasant villains in the form of the memory-wiping Silence, and Matt Smith giving another brilliant turn as an Eleven who's visibly and audibly 200 years older than he was last time we saw him and isn't messing around any more. Plus legendary genre TV "hey, it's that guy" Mark Sheppard is just ace as smart-mouthed guest character Canton Everett Delaware III - this generation's Duggan (but not as thick)? ;D
4. Death of the Doctor. Yeah, it's a Sarah Jane Adventures story, but I'm counting it anyway. I was, and am, a huge SJA fan; so many great stories, and on the occasions when it directly crossed over with the parent show (or when the Brig showed up!), real event telly as far as this Who fan was concerned. But seriously; RTD returning to the fold with a great little script - Matt Smith giving it just as much welly as he ever has in "proper" Who - Lis Sladen and Katy Manning! - a roll call of old series companions namechecked - and the Doctor interacting again with the greatest companion he'll never have in the form of Clyde - how can you not love that?
3. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. Another Eleven-era classic from S5, and really the perfect ending to what may be (imho, anyway) the most consistently good new Who series to date. At the time, I don't think we even cared that much that the exploding TARDIS was never properly explained - the thing we'd all noticed about Eleven's shirt cuffs in the Angels story turned out to be true! In all seriousness, though, this is a really strong story with some great performances - Smith, Gillan, Darvill, Kingston, all knockouts again - and some real hairs-at-the-back-of-the-neck iconic Who moments. Eleven's speech at young Amy's bedside is the new series' "people made of smoke and cities made of song" for me, and the TARDIS's reappearance at the wedding - something borrowed, something blue! Makes me get something in me eye, it does.
2. The Eleventh Hour. What can you say about this story? It's amazing, not only in terms of storytelling and quality, but just for the sheer verve and confidence with which it establishes a new era of Who. It's the only way Moffat and Smith really could have approached picking up from the end of the Ten era, imho - just to come out swinging and lay down a marker, defying anybody to doubt that this was the same show, only regenerated. It shows in the writing, good-naturedly taking swipes at various RTD-isms while going off on its own path, and especially in Matt Smith's electrifying performance. He comes bouncing onto the screen, grabs the audience by the scruff of the neck and doesn't let go for the whole duration of the story. Peter Capaldi can only hope he gets such a good opening story that lets him showcase himself and his Doctor so effectively. Honourable mention also goes to Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill again, who establish their characters very winningly and effectively too.
1. The Doctor's Wife. There could be only one. When the time comes to tot up the all-time classics of Doctor Who, I think this is one of the new-Who stories that will be right up there with some of the big beasts of the original series. So much hype attended this one when it first aired - Neil Gaiman writing for Doctor Who couldn't really be any other way, I suppose. The thing was, it transcended the hype and turned out to be a genuine masterpiece. Another outstanding Matt Smith performance, ably abetted by a great supporting cast, both regulars and guests. And it told all of us Who fans something new about our favourite show, yet something we'd known all along in our hearts of hearts - that's pretty special, whatever way you look at it.
There were certainly a number of others that would have made the list had it been longer, or had I been compiling it on a different day. The only reason The Day of the Doctor didn't make it is because I don't think it counts as purely an Eleven story...and because I'm still recovering from it a month later and can't really offer an objective assessment as yet. I'm sure all of you will have your own that you would have included in such a list while being quietly appalled by some of my choices. Who fandom - I hope it never changes. :) Please feel free to discuss any serious omissions I may have made in the comments to this post.
This entry has also been posted at http://jjpor.dreamwidth.org/207308.html. Please feel free to comment either here or there.