The Doctor's Junkyard Blues (Spoilers for The Doctor's Wife)

[sensiblecat]

Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all ladders start
In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.

(WB Yeats, The Circus Animals' Desertion) - see link for a brilliant analysis of the poem.

My initial response to TDW - very enjoyable. Written by a hardcore fan with a really deep respect for the spirit of the characters and the show, and

Comments

[altariel]

there's something rather 1940s about Matt Smith's acting style

Very interesting. In a conversation I had recently about Matt Smith's acting style, a friend pointed out how much it owes not just to Troughton, but how it's almost as if Smith is doing the performance that Doctor Who would have required in the 1960s. That's what makes his Doctor seem so old-fashioned and oddly out-of-time with the rest of the show. (Troughton of course learned to act in the 40s.)

[sensiblecat]

Ooh, that's a fascinating observation. It's all about pace, isn't it? Getting right away from the bang, bang, bang, climax every few minutes, of the Tennant era.

I think I first spotted the 1940s link when I saw him on the cover of RT as Isherwood. That man was born to wear a fedora. And I remembered him saying, rather endearingly, in a Confidential that when he first heard he'd got the part, he went home posing as Sinatra and watching himself reflected in shop windows.

[altariel]

Pace, and economy and precision of movement. Television happened on a much smaller screen in the 1960s: more close-ups and two-shots, no widescreen, no ambitions to being film-like. A small space: the intimate screen.

[parrot_knight]

A great review, particularly your comments on Matt Smith's acting and where the programme is taking the Doctor now in relation to his companions. I'd not thought of David Tennant's Doctor as theatrical even though I've seen him on stage and noticed how his Doctor used a lot of Tennant's technique turned up to at least eleven.

[azalaisdep]

I enjoyed this one, too - lovely bit of meta-as-episode, I thought. "Look, it's Doctor Who - it's all about being about corridors, and bigger on the inside

[sensiblecat]

The goggles were very steampunk. I thought of Dasterdly and Muttley's flying machines, and all those 1960s movies of that type.

You could argue that the Ten to Eleven change totally vindicates the decision to send Rose off with 10.5. To live with that change in a person you love would be heartbreaking. I've only ever seen it done once in fic, in a late chapter of rabid1st 's epic D/R romance, "Dishevelled." She's one of those rare writers who looks fearlessly at all the implications of the Doctor staying with one partner.

As for the jumping on him, couldn't agree with you more. My own theory, which I journalled right after TIA, is that it's a hangover from an earlier series plan SM had when he thought he'd have Tennant involved.

[azalaisdep]

My own theory, which I journalled right after TIA, is that it's a hangover from an earlier series plan SM had when he thought he'd have Tennant involved.

I remember your theory, and I found it very convincing. Shame that either there wasn't time to rewrite it, if that's true, or that no-one noticed quite how badly it didn't work with Eleven.

And yes, cannot begin to imagine Rose with (in any sense) Eleven [boggles...]

[alienfish]

I was delighted with the episode, but am mildly exasperated with the return to "Can't go an episode without someone trying to stick their tongue down The Doctor's throat."

I've really been enjoying Matt Smith's physical style. To me it felt loose and disjointed. I mean, Tennant (whispers "I really could not find myself greatly attached to Ten, in fact I was glad to see him go.") He was always very clenched in. Yes, Matt is wonderfully free in his movements and delightfully projecting "Guess what, I am not a human. Shhh!" In retrospect, the Doctor I know best is Four. I imprinted on him, after all. The Doctor I liked least was Six. I miss Five's entourage, and I sure miss Seven! Never got to know Eight, the movie wasn't enough. I was awfully sad that we lost Nine so soon, though.