So, I finally got around to watching DAY OF THE DOCTOR.

[ladyhadhafang]

Mostly on my mom's insistence. We were intending to watch it earlier and stuff like that, but let's say that real life stuff got in the way. Anyway, how was it? It was really good! Loved it. :)

Comments

[coldthermistor]

I really enjoyed the episode, but once the feel-good was over, I had a few qualms about some of the plot that doesn't sit so well with me. (I loved War, and I loved what you pointed out--oh yes, he is like a Time Lord Wilfred Mott

[ladyhadhafang]

Very well-said about the reset button thing! Reset buttons can work well if done right, and Moffat does them right for the most part, but I think he overuses the reset button. It kind of gets tiresome after a while. And you're definitely right in terms of it defining Nine and who he is. That and it lends pathos to the character -- we see his guilt and his grief over the Time War, and we feel for him. (I think it was the same for War; we saw how disillusioned and grief-stricken he was, and we felt for him) And even when he's doing dark things, or at least things crossing into gray areas, we still sympathize with him, even understand him. Same with Ten, really. Doctor Who really has the matter of loss and grief as one of its many themes, and the Doctor definitely reflects it. I know there are some people who disagree about the Doctor not being human and whatnot and he shouldn't be portrayed as such, but really, I think in all things, one should at least find a way to relate to the main character, identify with them, no matter in what

[coldthermistor]

Yes, agreed about the human side thing. And I think arguments about the Doctor not being portrayed as human don't really work--because it seems to be that we don't really know what that would meaningfully imply for the Doctor. That he would push the button without blinking because he'd calculated the costs and weighed them against the lives saved? What?

I'm not really much of a Moffat fan, because I don't feel writers are entitled to use complexity if they're going to handwave those issues, but my issues nonwithstanding, I'll agree you've pointed out my main peeve--feels like the reset buttons are overused, and at least for me, this one isn't just a small reset button because it reboots Nine and Ten (not what they think about themselves, but who they fundamentally are as characters

[ladyhadhafang]

Exactly! And it really goes against the series' theme as a whole -- the matter of compassion, of no one being unimportant, of nonviolence, etc