THE END OF TIME:
We're just back from Callum's Mum's house - and a good time was had by all - and I have a couple of job applications to finish, and a load of shit to get done for the Council (Council Tax and Housing Benefits stuff, it's all supposed to be done by the same people), but I needed to sign in and log my first reactions to 'The End of Time part one' before I read too much of what the ming mongs had to say about it.
- Bernard Cribbins is a fucking legend. Fuck the BAFTAS, he deserves a knighthood. Impeccable comic timing, he can make me cry by just looking sad. The scene with Claire Bloom in the TV (I was originally like, 'The Wire is back! She got fatter!'), and the stuff about Wilf not having killed anyone in the war... heart-breaking. Lovely man.
- The scene in the cafe is one of the best things RTD has written for Doctor Who, just a nice, quiet moment between two bloody good actors in the middle of this big, mad thing. And then, Donna. 'She could make you larf again'. Yes, yes, yes, yes she could, YES SHE COULD. God I hope she makes it out of this unscathed...
- Donna and Sylvia's Christmas day banter was brilliant, too. Interesting, to see Sylvia still being snide, but making an effort. And Donna, back to her old self, cackling like it never happened. The two of them laughing when Wilf went up to get the gun; this is good stuff, the sort of detail I wouldn't even expect of 'serious' drama, right in the middle of this weird old sci fi show. God, I'm going to miss RTD. I've complained about him before, and he's not perfect, as a writer, but he gets Doctor Who, and he gets how interesting these relationships are, the companions and their families. God, I'm going to miss RTD.
- And, The Master. Quite fancying John Simm in his hoody and even more in Naismith's daughter's pink dress and heels, I don't even know what that's about. And it was another bloody good performance but... I don't know. Some of it wore its influences right out on the front of its teeshirt - the resurrection scene was pure Harry Potter, and then The Master shooting The Doctor with his LAZARS was Marveliscious - but... didn't... feel... right? I don't think I like him having superpowers, it takes something away from him. And the food stuff went a bit too far, it became narm. The Cookie Monster Master, scarfing down a turkey. OM NOM NARM, if you will.
- Love, love, loved The Master Race, though. Audacious.
- The Time Lords are back! There's a big old juicy clip of part two on the BBC website that would be almost enough to convince me - for the first time - that McGann was going to make a turn, especially after those hush-hush things about him being at Upper Boat during filming, doing ADR for something else he'd been in. What else has he been in, in the last ten years? Exactly. There was a nice theory on Ming Mong Base about McGann have a Time War cameo as a way of saying to kids, 'This is The Doctor, this is what he does, this episode is dark and scary but he'll regenerate, he'll be a new man; don't worry, he'll be back'. Which is the only decent reason I can think of for putting McGann back into Doctor Who.
- But, anyway, bugger that: the Time Lords are back! Not sure what to make of it, to be honest. They complicate things. They're old and mad and boring and all about councils and sitting in a room in funny hats going 'blah blah blah' in a weird mix of sci fi and fantasy terms that sends me to sleep. And them being gone has made the last five years interesting; it gives The Doctor a sadness and a mystique, the kind of mystique they were aiming for with the later McCoy episodes but never quite arrived at. But I've never wanted to see the Time War. And... they seem... a bit cross, don't they? We'll wait and see. Bit iffy about it, but we'll wait and see.
- Next time: like the look of Wilf in an AT-AT, firing lazers.
- In all, this kind of suffered from the curse of Half Blood Prince; the penultimate episode of a grand, epic story, there's an expectation that it'll pay off certain plot points, that it'll answer questions, but it was more about sliding the players into place for the grand finale. There's so much of these two episodes I've spoilered, but this was all brand new, and I'm not sure how or where any of the other stuff - Jack and Midshipman Frame, Rose and Jackie, Donna's wedding (Callum think past, present, future, which I quite like) - is going to fit into it all. Which is good, is how it should be. And then, The Regeneration.
- This is going to be a long, long week.
- Questions: is Wilf a Time Lord? (No.) Is Claire Bloom a Time Lady? (Probably.) Is Donna going to live through this? (She had fucking better.) Will we see Martha in the next episode? (I hope so.) How are the going to get a regeneration out of all of this DEATH AND DOOM AND GLOOM and steer this show into an easy landing for Moffatt to pick up, rather than crashing it, burning, into the ground? (Fucked if I know.)
Eeh. Excited, excited.
EDIT: I stole this from curlybeach, this is literally how excited I am whenever I think about 'part two':
Oh! Wasn't the Catherine Tate special odd? Good, though, she's a good character comic, and the structure really worked for it. I've given up on soaps, so mostly we just watched anything with Tennant in it, and flicked between Nigella's Christmas thing and Bear Grylls: Born Prick Tease, because Callum was waiting for him to get his bum out.
Cheerio, Michael. xxx
- Bernard Cribbins is a fucking legend. Fuck the BAFTAS, he deserves a knighthood. Impeccable comic timing, he can make me cry by just looking sad. The scene with Claire Bloom in the TV (I was originally like, 'The Wire is back! She got fatter!'), and the stuff about Wilf not having killed anyone in the war... heart-breaking. Lovely man.
- The scene in the cafe is one of the best things RTD has written for Doctor Who, just a nice, quiet moment between two bloody good actors in the middle of this big, mad thing. And then, Donna. 'She could make you larf again'. Yes, yes, yes, yes she could, YES SHE COULD. God I hope she makes it out of this unscathed...
- Donna and Sylvia's Christmas day banter was brilliant, too. Interesting, to see Sylvia still being snide, but making an effort. And Donna, back to her old self, cackling like it never happened. The two of them laughing when Wilf went up to get the gun; this is good stuff, the sort of detail I wouldn't even expect of 'serious' drama, right in the middle of this weird old sci fi show. God, I'm going to miss RTD. I've complained about him before, and he's not perfect, as a writer, but he gets Doctor Who, and he gets how interesting these relationships are, the companions and their families. God, I'm going to miss RTD.
- And, The Master. Quite fancying John Simm in his hoody and even more in Naismith's daughter's pink dress and heels, I don't even know what that's about. And it was another bloody good performance but... I don't know. Some of it wore its influences right out on the front of its teeshirt - the resurrection scene was pure Harry Potter, and then The Master shooting The Doctor with his LAZARS was Marveliscious - but... didn't... feel... right? I don't think I like him having superpowers, it takes something away from him. And the food stuff went a bit too far, it became narm. The Cookie Monster Master, scarfing down a turkey. OM NOM NARM, if you will.
- Love, love, loved The Master Race, though. Audacious.
- The Time Lords are back! There's a big old juicy clip of part two on the BBC website that would be almost enough to convince me - for the first time - that McGann was going to make a turn, especially after those hush-hush things about him being at Upper Boat during filming, doing ADR for something else he'd been in. What else has he been in, in the last ten years? Exactly. There was a nice theory on Ming Mong Base about McGann have a Time War cameo as a way of saying to kids, 'This is The Doctor, this is what he does, this episode is dark and scary but he'll regenerate, he'll be a new man; don't worry, he'll be back'. Which is the only decent reason I can think of for putting McGann back into Doctor Who.
- But, anyway, bugger that: the Time Lords are back! Not sure what to make of it, to be honest. They complicate things. They're old and mad and boring and all about councils and sitting in a room in funny hats going 'blah blah blah' in a weird mix of sci fi and fantasy terms that sends me to sleep. And them being gone has made the last five years interesting; it gives The Doctor a sadness and a mystique, the kind of mystique they were aiming for with the later McCoy episodes but never quite arrived at. But I've never wanted to see the Time War. And... they seem... a bit cross, don't they? We'll wait and see. Bit iffy about it, but we'll wait and see.
- Next time: like the look of Wilf in an AT-AT, firing lazers.
- In all, this kind of suffered from the curse of Half Blood Prince; the penultimate episode of a grand, epic story, there's an expectation that it'll pay off certain plot points, that it'll answer questions, but it was more about sliding the players into place for the grand finale. There's so much of these two episodes I've spoilered, but this was all brand new, and I'm not sure how or where any of the other stuff - Jack and Midshipman Frame, Rose and Jackie, Donna's wedding (Callum think past, present, future, which I quite like) - is going to fit into it all. Which is good, is how it should be. And then, The Regeneration.
- This is going to be a long, long week.
- Questions: is Wilf a Time Lord? (No.) Is Claire Bloom a Time Lady? (Probably.) Is Donna going to live through this? (She had fucking better.) Will we see Martha in the next episode? (I hope so.) How are the going to get a regeneration out of all of this DEATH AND DOOM AND GLOOM and steer this show into an easy landing for Moffatt to pick up, rather than crashing it, burning, into the ground? (Fucked if I know.)
Eeh. Excited, excited.
EDIT: I stole this from curlybeach, this is literally how excited I am whenever I think about 'part two':
Oh! Wasn't the Catherine Tate special odd? Good, though, she's a good character comic, and the structure really worked for it. I've given up on soaps, so mostly we just watched anything with Tennant in it, and flicked between Nigella's Christmas thing and Bear Grylls: Born Prick Tease, because Callum was waiting for him to get his bum out.
Cheerio, Michael. xxx