Doctor Who 5.13 The Big Bang
Right now, that episode seems close to perfect. I'm sure there are problems with it - especially if you object too much to fantasy in your SF - but it was just stunningly executed.
I'm pretty much guaranteed to love stories about stories, stories about narrative power, and The Big Bang was full of that sort of thing on several levels. The script talked about it openly, and also repeatedly dragged your attention to the meta-narrative, and how intricately plotted this whole season was, and how clearly this is part of a multi-season arc, too. Amy was less the audience's viewpoint character this season than she was Moffat's own viewpoint character - the universe was put together out of her head and her memories and the stories she told herself, and, eventually, told others.
There have been hundreds of theories flying around the internet, and I didn't see a single person guess that Amy was in the Pandorica. Everyone knew about Jacket!Doctor, of course, in the Angels episodes, and I wasn't surprised to see that was true - I wasn't particularly surprised either that the less obvious sightings of Jacket!Doctor people were suggesting didn't turn out to be him. It's all timey-wimey, of course - the Doctor gave Rory the sonic to let him out so that he could give him the sonic, etc - but complaining about time paradoxes in Doctor Who seems a bit pointless. (I saw someone complaining loudly that the episode BROKE THE LAWS OF TIME TRAVEL. Ahem.)
We were straight-out told that the Doctor was a big enough space-time event to close the crack, in the Angels eps. Such blatant, blatant foreshadowing, and again it wasn't something the theorists (including me) really picked up on. It was foreshadowed again about 15 minutes before it happened in this ep, and I spent that time going "Fuck. No. Fuck. GodDAMMIT, Moffat." I did think that Amy's parents had been eaten by the crack, because of the phrasing in the first ep when she said she "didn't have parents". And the different universes were kind of bleeding into each other through Amy's memory, or in Amy's memory, which presumably explains why the pond in crack!Leadworth was still a duck pond in her mind. (Speaking of Ponds - hello, Mr Rory Pond, you are made of awesome and win. And plastic.) And the Pandorica being able to restore things was explained early on and then extrapolated into the "amplify it using the TARDIS explosion" plan, so that all made sense in-story. The Vortex manipulator seems to be a much more reliable time-travel device than the TARDIS, they should keep that. Handy.
I'm still a bit ambivalent about River Song - sometimes I love her, and sometimes Alex Kingston seems to be ACTING, DARLING, and it's really bloody grating. But I liked how she fit into the story, and I am intrigued to see where it goes next season. Glad to see the little blue book back and playing a key part - how amazing was the slow unfolding of the Something Blue punchline? Beautifully done. And Amy crying because she subconsciously remembered the Doctor, and how we knew immediately what was happening because we saw it happen when she was subconsciously remembering Rory in Vincent and the Doctor. I keep marvelling at how well this season was put together. The base structure is mostly contained in The Eleventh Hour, the Angel episodes, Vincent and the Doctor and the final two-parter, but there were little finale shout-outs to all the episodes, like the approaching TARDIS being signalled by ripples in the drinks at the wedding (from The Beast Below).
Apart from River Song, all the acting was fantastic. Matt hit it not just out of the park but halfway to the moon in his portrayal of an old, old man and his weird box. Karen showed more range than she has all season, and Arthur Darvill gave a really solid performance as Rory. (Who is now older than the Doctor, by the way, and should totally meet up with Captain Jack for a drink.)
I have forgotten many things, I'm sure, and this is a bit all over the place. Because my head is. Still so much thinkiness! Some combination of the number of hints dropped and the faith the fans had in Moffat and his plotty timey-wimeyness gave this season the most intellectually involved fanbase I've seen for a while - as opposed to emotionally involved, like a lot of the reaction to Rose's story arc, and even Donna's - and I love it. I love that there were theories all over the place, and people debating and screencapping and comparing notes. And from what I've seen of the reaction, most people have been sastisfied with the resolution. We trusted Moffat, and he delivered with wit and heart and panache.
Analogy rating: Like being in the countryside on a clear night and watching the stars, when you rarely leave the city. And then watching them swoop and whirl like Van Gogh's Starry Night.
(x-posted to doctorwho)
I'm pretty much guaranteed to love stories about stories, stories about narrative power, and The Big Bang was full of that sort of thing on several levels. The script talked about it openly, and also repeatedly dragged your attention to the meta-narrative, and how intricately plotted this whole season was, and how clearly this is part of a multi-season arc, too. Amy was less the audience's viewpoint character this season than she was Moffat's own viewpoint character - the universe was put together out of her head and her memories and the stories she told herself, and, eventually, told others.
There have been hundreds of theories flying around the internet, and I didn't see a single person guess that Amy was in the Pandorica. Everyone knew about Jacket!Doctor, of course, in the Angels episodes, and I wasn't surprised to see that was true - I wasn't particularly surprised either that the less obvious sightings of Jacket!Doctor people were suggesting didn't turn out to be him. It's all timey-wimey, of course - the Doctor gave Rory the sonic to let him out so that he could give him the sonic, etc - but complaining about time paradoxes in Doctor Who seems a bit pointless. (I saw someone complaining loudly that the episode BROKE THE LAWS OF TIME TRAVEL. Ahem.)
We were straight-out told that the Doctor was a big enough space-time event to close the crack, in the Angels eps. Such blatant, blatant foreshadowing, and again it wasn't something the theorists (including me) really picked up on. It was foreshadowed again about 15 minutes before it happened in this ep, and I spent that time going "Fuck. No. Fuck. GodDAMMIT, Moffat." I did think that Amy's parents had been eaten by the crack, because of the phrasing in the first ep when she said she "didn't have parents". And the different universes were kind of bleeding into each other through Amy's memory, or in Amy's memory, which presumably explains why the pond in crack!Leadworth was still a duck pond in her mind. (Speaking of Ponds - hello, Mr Rory Pond, you are made of awesome and win. And plastic.) And the Pandorica being able to restore things was explained early on and then extrapolated into the "amplify it using the TARDIS explosion" plan, so that all made sense in-story. The Vortex manipulator seems to be a much more reliable time-travel device than the TARDIS, they should keep that. Handy.
I'm still a bit ambivalent about River Song - sometimes I love her, and sometimes Alex Kingston seems to be ACTING, DARLING, and it's really bloody grating. But I liked how she fit into the story, and I am intrigued to see where it goes next season. Glad to see the little blue book back and playing a key part - how amazing was the slow unfolding of the Something Blue punchline? Beautifully done. And Amy crying because she subconsciously remembered the Doctor, and how we knew immediately what was happening because we saw it happen when she was subconsciously remembering Rory in Vincent and the Doctor. I keep marvelling at how well this season was put together. The base structure is mostly contained in The Eleventh Hour, the Angel episodes, Vincent and the Doctor and the final two-parter, but there were little finale shout-outs to all the episodes, like the approaching TARDIS being signalled by ripples in the drinks at the wedding (from The Beast Below).
Apart from River Song, all the acting was fantastic. Matt hit it not just out of the park but halfway to the moon in his portrayal of an old, old man and his weird box. Karen showed more range than she has all season, and Arthur Darvill gave a really solid performance as Rory. (Who is now older than the Doctor, by the way, and should totally meet up with Captain Jack for a drink.)
I have forgotten many things, I'm sure, and this is a bit all over the place. Because my head is. Still so much thinkiness! Some combination of the number of hints dropped and the faith the fans had in Moffat and his plotty timey-wimeyness gave this season the most intellectually involved fanbase I've seen for a while - as opposed to emotionally involved, like a lot of the reaction to Rose's story arc, and even Donna's - and I love it. I love that there were theories all over the place, and people debating and screencapping and comparing notes. And from what I've seen of the reaction, most people have been sastisfied with the resolution. We trusted Moffat, and he delivered with wit and heart and panache.
Analogy rating: Like being in the countryside on a clear night and watching the stars, when you rarely leave the city. And then watching them swoop and whirl like Van Gogh's Starry Night.
(x-posted to doctorwho)