I am confuse.

[qthewetsprocket]

So I've seen a goodly range of people across t'internet saying that The Doctor's Wife was the first episode of the season with any real heart or emotion. And putting aside the fact that it's only the fourth episode out of thirteen...what?I thought watching the Doctor get murdered in front of his helpless traumatized friends was pretty damn

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[gritsinmisery]

I don't usually try to get ahold of the Confidentials because they were just so blatantly self-congratulatory during the RTD era that I became completely turned-off. But I shall definitely grab this one, after reading this.

[qthewetsprocket]

It's a delight, mostly due to Gaiman's fanboying the whole thing and looking like a kid in a candy store. :)

[gritsinmisery]

He's such an unabashed fanboi -- I remember he and Simmy squeeing all over each other on the red carpet at the premiere of Stardust. It's a delight to see somebody "famous" not bothering to be all "cool". *shakes head fondly*

[kateorman]

Surely you "pull to open" the little panel with the phone.

BEANS

I will beam this information at once into the minds of cafe managers throughout Sydney.

BEANS YOU FOOLS BEANS

[qthewetsprocket]

I just want to hear the other ideas Gaiman pitched to Moffat that they didn't use.

"So it turns out the Time Lords are the children of The Endless and the whole of Gallifrey is actually archived in Lucien's Library and the Master is really Loki in disguise..."

[jblum]

This Confidential didn't so much hit my nostalgia buttons, as be a full-fledged nostalgia keyboard mash. Wheee!

And Neil's *stage directions* are better written than a bunch of novels I've read! *whimper*

[qthewetsprocket]

The Tardis's character arc reminded me a lot of Death: The High Cost of Living. If you've never read it (or Sandman), you should definitely give it a look.

[jblum]

It's on my bookshelf right next to "The Wake", and coincidentally right behind my copy of Lance Parkin's "A History Of The Universe", which is propped up at an alarming angle in front...

[jblum]

On the main subject... I think what people might be reacting to is that in the other stories recently, there's other stuff going on in the big emotional moments, which can get in the way for some people. Particularly wondering what's really going on.

E.g, when the Doctor dies, only part of you is in the moment, because the other part is going "Okay, how's he going to get out of *that*?" and theorizing about timey-wimey stuff. The Amy/Rory material is fighting for space in our head with all our questions about what the Silence have just done to Amy in the childrens' home.

But in this episode, by the time things get emotional we know the situation, there's no mysteries to distract us. So like Rose on the way to Bad Wolf Bay in "Doomsday", the scenes just are...

(Me, I was hit dead-on by a bunch of emotional bits in the first few episodes; I can just see how other people might not have been!)

[qthewetsprocket]

Could well be. *nods* I wondered if maybe people were getting a little bit of angst overload...the first three eps have been pretty intense. But angst is still an emotion, and I honestly can't see the lack of "heart" in any of the stories we've had so far.

(Personally, if we never get a repeat of the kind of "emotional" content of the Bad Wolf Bay scenes, I will be enormously pleased. I overloaded on that kind of thing watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer...) :P

[radiantbaby]

(sorry for the late reply. *so* behind on LJ)

So I've seen a goodly range of people across t'internet saying that The Doctor's Wife was the first episode of the season with any real heart or emotion. And putting aside the fact that it's only the fourth episode out of thirteen...what?

Yeah, I'd pretty much said the same thing on Twitter. I mean, what show are these people watching? My boyfriend lamented that they might just be too used to RTD's OTT emotion that they can't always notice the subtleties, but then there have been very emotional scenes as well (such as the ones you mentioned), so, yeah, I'm totally at a loss myself. Oh, fandom.

[qthewetsprocket]

they might just be too used to RTD's OTT emotion that they can't always notice the subtleties

I wondered this as well...maybe they were so used to the Big Emotional Markers like the companion sobbing with mascara streaking down her face making proclamations of undying love while the strings swell in the background. And I just...I suppose that's emotion of a sort, yeah, but I always end up feeling manipulated during scenes like that. For me, the things that are the most heartbreaking are the things that speak so quietly they almost whisper, like River's single line that speaks volumes: "First time for everything!" "...And a last time." Augh!