Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Just assume that I wrote an actual post with words in it, all about how I love Amy Pond to bits and pieces, okay? Because I love Amy Pond TO PIECES. And Karen Gillan has the best face; the scenes where we're looking at Amy through the computer screen ("How about a picture? For me?") were delightful.
Also, Rory goes around collecting cool bits of medical technology from different planets. That is my new favorite thing, I love you, Rory. [I am incapable of Proper Thoughts about the relationship between Rory and his dad, but there seemed to be something going on there, with the whole "What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel?" thing, and then Rory's quip about finally showing off his nursing skills to his dad - about Rory being a man in his own sort of way.]
And I love that as far as Eleven is concerned, there are people, and there are Ponds. So of course Brian Williams (oh, tea and sandwiches and space, I love him TOO) is actually a Pond, by the end. It is only right and proper. (Also, he goes traveling around the earth! He doesn't just mean to, but find it unsatisfying, the way that Donna did! The Doctor changed his life and gave him a bit of adventure he could take away into his own life, instead of re-centering it around the Doctor the way he so often does, and I loved that.) (I also loved Amy's yellow polka-dot blouse, but that is neither here nor there.)
Really liked the guest casting - Nefertiti was wonderful (and Amy being a "big fan" of her made my day, plus it's consistent with Amy's general school interest in the classical world), and I was totally prepared to hate Ridell (sp?), but the fact that Nefertiti and Amy refused to put up with his sexist opinions made me not hate him as much as I would otherwise have? The whole Hemingway-esque thing has never been my scene, though, so I was kind of put out by the last scene with him and Nefertiti. Oh well, she has to go back home eventually, I assume, because of, you know, history and all that. The Indian Space Authority was pretty nifty, and I liked that Eleven respected Indira's priorities and didn't go all "six words" on her like Ten in "The Christmas Invasion." (Or get all snippy, like Ten did over the Osterhagen Key.) Obviously Eleven is Not Happy about the missiles, but the episode is firmly focused on the fact that it's the Doctor's responsibility to keep the ship from crashing into Earth, rather than Indira's responsibility not to blow the ship up. I liked Indira, too: she was calm and grave and clearly grieved over what she had to do, but she did it anyway, because it's her job to protect the Earth.
Anyway, all the things with the Ponds were my favorite things, of course. It makes so much sense that Amy can't settle down, that she's always still listening for the TARDIS, and I rather love that she is that rootless girl still, that she hasn't figured out how not to be the Girl Who Waited, not yet. [I am also incapable of Proper Thoughts about this, and how I suspect there's going to be a lot of "Amy is a sexist character/Moffat is a sexist writer" and "Amy's life revolves around the Doctor, why can't she have a proper career like Other Companions?"* stuff, and I want to be articulate about the way that thought bothers me, but I don't quite know how. Of course she hasn't figured out how to settle down without the Doctor yet; she's hardly ever been without him, without what the act of his crash-landing in her back garden did to her as a little girl. I love that those ripples have continued - and I also don't understand the intolerance toward the idea that a character might not have every single thing in her life figured out yet, Doctor or no Doctor. So Amy doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up? Join the club!]
Ahem. Anyway. It's when the Doctor gets defensive that he's telling us what he really thinks of himself - so his "So it's my fault?" when Amy says she can't settle is telling. Also, forehead kissing for always; I've missed that. As much as I love that the Doctor has his Pond family to go back to, though, and the pull between his love for them - his inability to stay away - and his knowledge that they have lives of their own, I do wonder how they will resolve this by the time of the Ponds' exit. If it's their choice to leave him - and the ending hinted at that, when the Doctor assumed that Amy and Rory would be coming with him but they actually wanted to go back home; and the Doctor's face when they're all at the TARDIS door, full of love and pride and sadness and worry, was bittersweet and dear - then that would be the best ending, I think. I just wish I weren't worried that something bad is coming for them; I just want everyone to part ways happy and still loving each other.
There were dinosaurs, and that was...fine? I liked all the character bits, but felt like the plot itself was a bit too crammed, or rushed, or something. Like it could have used a bit of an edit, between the dinosaurs and the robots and the Silurians and the bounty hunter and the Egyptian queen and the missiles and Finch the space pirate... Everything was sort of fighting for space - so I liked much of it, but never really had a chance to catch my breath and digest it. Ah well. It was still fun.
*This criticism makes very little sense to me, since I only ever see people making it about Amy, and comparing her solely to New Who companions, when the only New Who companion to have a proper career at time of introduction was Martha, and Donna, as far as we know, remained a temp. Which is not a bad thing! Not everyone even *wants* a career! But if we're going to make comparisons, Amy fits right in.
Also, Rory goes around collecting cool bits of medical technology from different planets. That is my new favorite thing, I love you, Rory. [I am incapable of Proper Thoughts about the relationship between Rory and his dad, but there seemed to be something going on there, with the whole "What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel?" thing, and then Rory's quip about finally showing off his nursing skills to his dad - about Rory being a man in his own sort of way.]
And I love that as far as Eleven is concerned, there are people, and there are Ponds. So of course Brian Williams (oh, tea and sandwiches and space, I love him TOO) is actually a Pond, by the end. It is only right and proper. (Also, he goes traveling around the earth! He doesn't just mean to, but find it unsatisfying, the way that Donna did! The Doctor changed his life and gave him a bit of adventure he could take away into his own life, instead of re-centering it around the Doctor the way he so often does, and I loved that.) (I also loved Amy's yellow polka-dot blouse, but that is neither here nor there.)
Really liked the guest casting - Nefertiti was wonderful (and Amy being a "big fan" of her made my day, plus it's consistent with Amy's general school interest in the classical world), and I was totally prepared to hate Ridell (sp?), but the fact that Nefertiti and Amy refused to put up with his sexist opinions made me not hate him as much as I would otherwise have? The whole Hemingway-esque thing has never been my scene, though, so I was kind of put out by the last scene with him and Nefertiti. Oh well, she has to go back home eventually, I assume, because of, you know, history and all that. The Indian Space Authority was pretty nifty, and I liked that Eleven respected Indira's priorities and didn't go all "six words" on her like Ten in "The Christmas Invasion." (Or get all snippy, like Ten did over the Osterhagen Key.) Obviously Eleven is Not Happy about the missiles, but the episode is firmly focused on the fact that it's the Doctor's responsibility to keep the ship from crashing into Earth, rather than Indira's responsibility not to blow the ship up. I liked Indira, too: she was calm and grave and clearly grieved over what she had to do, but she did it anyway, because it's her job to protect the Earth.
Anyway, all the things with the Ponds were my favorite things, of course. It makes so much sense that Amy can't settle down, that she's always still listening for the TARDIS, and I rather love that she is that rootless girl still, that she hasn't figured out how not to be the Girl Who Waited, not yet. [I am also incapable of Proper Thoughts about this, and how I suspect there's going to be a lot of "Amy is a sexist character/Moffat is a sexist writer" and "Amy's life revolves around the Doctor, why can't she have a proper career like Other Companions?"* stuff, and I want to be articulate about the way that thought bothers me, but I don't quite know how. Of course she hasn't figured out how to settle down without the Doctor yet; she's hardly ever been without him, without what the act of his crash-landing in her back garden did to her as a little girl. I love that those ripples have continued - and I also don't understand the intolerance toward the idea that a character might not have every single thing in her life figured out yet, Doctor or no Doctor. So Amy doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up? Join the club!]
Ahem. Anyway. It's when the Doctor gets defensive that he's telling us what he really thinks of himself - so his "So it's my fault?" when Amy says she can't settle is telling. Also, forehead kissing for always; I've missed that. As much as I love that the Doctor has his Pond family to go back to, though, and the pull between his love for them - his inability to stay away - and his knowledge that they have lives of their own, I do wonder how they will resolve this by the time of the Ponds' exit. If it's their choice to leave him - and the ending hinted at that, when the Doctor assumed that Amy and Rory would be coming with him but they actually wanted to go back home; and the Doctor's face when they're all at the TARDIS door, full of love and pride and sadness and worry, was bittersweet and dear - then that would be the best ending, I think. I just wish I weren't worried that something bad is coming for them; I just want everyone to part ways happy and still loving each other.
There were dinosaurs, and that was...fine? I liked all the character bits, but felt like the plot itself was a bit too crammed, or rushed, or something. Like it could have used a bit of an edit, between the dinosaurs and the robots and the Silurians and the bounty hunter and the Egyptian queen and the missiles and Finch the space pirate... Everything was sort of fighting for space - so I liked much of it, but never really had a chance to catch my breath and digest it. Ah well. It was still fun.
*This criticism makes very little sense to me, since I only ever see people making it about Amy, and comparing her solely to New Who companions, when the only New Who companion to have a proper career at time of introduction was Martha, and Donna, as far as we know, remained a temp. Which is not a bad thing! Not everyone even *wants* a career! But if we're going to make comparisons, Amy fits right in.