DW 5.4 reaction post
Not enthusiastic about the return of River Song. I didn't like her much the first time around. Too smug. I don't like smug. I don't like it when the Doctor is smug, I don't like it when the Companion is smug, and I don't like it when a guest star is smug. This is the main reason I didn't like S2, all the Ten-and-Rose smugness. Apart from "Girl in the Fireplace", 'cause, really, CLOCKWORK ROBOTS IN MASKS.
I like the idea of seeing things happening simultaneously now (for a given value of "now") and 12,000 years ago (for a given value of "ago"). They're watching what's happening just like we're watching. Sort of meta, isn't it? Come to think of it, Amy watched the Doctor on the TARDIS screen when he went out to talk to the little girl in "The Beast Below", and then she saw him again onscreen when he was on the Dalek ship.
Ergh, still smug. Go AWAY, River.
Oh, you are freaking KIDDING ME. He can't manage to get to Winston Churchill (or anywhere else) on time, but he was perfectly placed to catch River as she flew through space? Very Mary Poppins of her. Nice visuals, but it does feel as if River is Teh Moff's Perfect Rose. (Note: I didn't feel as if Rose was meant to be perfect. I just know that a lot of fandom thought she was being presented that way, and it made them irate.)
Did River not say that Ten looked younger than she'd ever seen him? And doesn't this have to be *before* that? Maybe she meant chronologically, not looks-wise, but how can you tell how far along someone is on their personal timeline just by looking? I may be misremembering; my dislike of River means I haven't re-watched those eps.
Is that a...pinball machine on the TARDIS console? Like everything else, I miss the old control room, but I'm kind of in love with the new design also. It looks like it ought to be in the City Museum in St. Louis.
LOL @ the Doctor doing his materialization sounds! Don't lose the materialization sound, pls? I love it also! Also, anything you can do, River Song can do better. This ep is not doing much to make me like her any more.
Ha, he's got hot and cold taps on his console! <3 And an old-fashioned speaking tube. Yes, at this point I am far more excited by the console than by the prospect of yet more smarmy River. We'd better get some excitement in here pretty darn soon. And by "excitement", I mean PANTS-WETTING TERROR.
"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me." Inside, the Doctor is still eight. This explains a lot about him. All of him.
Previously on Doctor Who, the Doctor took Amy on a side trip to Squornshellous Zeta. In a tragic incident which does not need explaining at this juncture, a colony of orange bean-bags was wiped out and all of Amy's clothing was ruined. The Doctor skinned one of the larger ones and fashioned a makeshift covering for Amy, and she continues to wear it to honor the memory of the colony.
Ha. The Doctor does not appear to be any more impressed with River than I am.
Cata...coombs? Is that how it's pronounced really? Huh.
Did Amy just say "rad"? How very 1980s of her.
Are we in the 51st century again? Aren't there any other centuries?
"You're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you." He doesn't actually look upset at the prospect.
Amy tries to unplug the TV. OH THAT REMINDS ME! The little girl saying the rhyme in "The Beast Below" (and my, doesn't Doctor Who love its creepy little rhymes and its creepy little girls?)--was that my imagination, or was she deliberately set up to look like the Test Card Girl from Life on Mars? She even had the pattern of lines behind her. Or, well, I suppose originally she was from the BBC and not from LoM, so maybe a British spaceship would have kept the image and idea for its broadcasts?
Ah, there's the pants-wetting terror! You know, if it weren't for the music stings, the Angels wouldn't be half so scary. I think.
"That which holds the image of an Angel itself becomes an Angel." OH CRAP LIKE THEY WEREN'T TERRIFYING ENOUGH, RIGHT? How many icons on LJ are EVEN NOW SUCKING IN INNOCENT SOULS?
It's like the reverse of the belief that a picture steals a soul. In this case, the picture *develops* a soul.
"He doesn't know yet, who and what you are." So she's MORE than his wife? Or is she his wife at all? OH NOEZ PLEASE DON'T LET RIVER BE AN ONGOING THING. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. NOOOOOOOOOO.
Okay, the underground city or temple or whatever it is with all the statues is BRILLIANT.
*sporfle* Sacred names. Christian and Angelo and Bob.
Wait, the angel killed Angelo and Christian? They're not supposed to kill people, they're supposed to bounce them back through time! "Let them live to death."
The church had laws against self-marriage. You just know that Jack was somehow to blame for this. HARKNESS! *fistshake* (Don't tell me he didn't get fitted with an extra head just so he could try it.)
Freaking creepy angels are NOT improved by having them look like half-rotted skeletons. Well, yes, actually in terms of fear factor they are very much improved, in fact.
Forget the two heads, why don't they have wings?
"I didn't escape, sir. The angel killed me too." AIIEEEEEEE. That is some CREEPY S#!T right there. I knew the voices over the radio reminded me of the "echoes" in those Library eps.
"And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families." Oooooh, I LIKE Father Whatsit.
Amy is turning to stone. This is not making a lot of sense. If everyone who looked into an Angel's eyes turned to stone, there'd be no one left. Sally Sparrow and her pantsless boyfriend would have changed, for instance; they were staring down those Angels like there was no tomorrow.
"Your teeth, have you got space teeth?" "Yeah, and you're alive, all I'm saying." This Doctor and Amy have a very Tenth-Doctor-and-Donna vibe. I really like it. I could totally see David Tennant biting Catherine Tate.
Um...you know what...no, no, never mind.
"We have faith, sir." Notice he didn't say in what. Or...who. *ducks*
This ep was only 40 minutes long. I haven't been timing the others. Didn't they used to be longer than that?