the one with sticks

[beingfacetious]

My "something productive" was making myself lunch and texting Kyle about how much he's going to like "Vincent." Good enough!

I know absolutely nothing about this episode, except a rumor that it's Amy-lite (kind of sad) and a picture I stole a look at on the Doctor/Rose Fix community (kind of the opposite of sad!!!) so this will be an interesting reaction post for me to do. Well, no, I also know from the preview that Mr. Guy loves Miss Lady but hasn't told her yet or something? That could be good. Please let it be good.



Oh no, trouble! Hey, that was a nice TARDIS interior shot! I'm warming up to the new TARDIS layout. The transparent floor is cool.

Oh geez, that's no small amount of scary. Let me take this time to say I feel no sympathy for people who do things like wander into flats that call to them, or stick their hands into soil that was previously smoking. They kind of deserve what's coming. How can you be so stupid? Aww, look how they like each other! Kind of adorable. She's adorable. He's not as much. But it's okay because the ceiling mold might destroy him. Oh no I don't want it to destroy her! She's cute! Oh good she got out. (I'd like to promise the rest of this post won't be this annoying.) Hey, he's got a Van Gogh postcard on his fridge! Way to have continuity, show. Haaa, you're such a cutie, Matty.

What is in his ear? But look see, the Doctor doesn't even just go running upstairs. "Call me the rottmeister! No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the rottmeister." Loon. Haaahaha, a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I never get tired of psychic paper jokes.

Oh no, TARDIS trouble! Hahaha, starting to look like the sofa. Bit of Ten doucheness. Like it. I really like how into his friendgirl he is! I'm a sucker for a wee love story. It's sad. LIRL, his shout. ♥

Oh, the thing in his ear is a bluetooth, really? Really?

...is she a hooker? Bluetooths and hookers? Could this episode be any more obnoxiously 21st century? No, sorry, that's judgey. After "Vincent" I've got to give it a fair shot. Also was that big stain supposed to be a crack? Probably not.

...could've done without the (albeit veiled) Matty-in-the-shower shot. Ooh, they just keep coming. DON'T GO UPSTAIRS, STUPID LOVESICK BOY. ahahahahaha, his hair!! Hahaha, this is so awkward. I hope one of them doesn't die or something. Um, sorry kids, Matty is not "gorgeous." Adorable, gawky, cute even, not gorgeous.

HA. "Where are you strongest?" "Arms." Oh dear. Also look at his wee skinny legs!! Oh wow, borrowing the football match music from Pirates of the Caribbean, are we? Poor Craig :-( Loved that scene, though, really I did! Football in Who! Brilliant! Why didn't Ten ever get to play football!?

dahu;lcfaulhaehulat SO SCARY. I thought the person was changing! It wasn't as noticeable when it was old-man-in-shadows to young-man-in-shadows. Amy, why so much screaming?

What's with the numbers? I saw 9s and thought of Eccleston. Haa. Anyone else?

ELEVEN, WHAT. DON'T SPOIL THEIR LUV. Wow, extra Eleven what. "Everyone's got dreams, very few people will achieve them." Oh, okay, reverse psychology. Better. Sorry show, for being so anxious to doubt.

Wait what just happened! Did he get burned by the not-rott?? Oh dear, not burned. Ahh, fixing people with tea. imissyou,ChristmasInvasion. Aw, Eleven's so nice. I can't decide if it's nice that the Doctor is working for him. But it's definitely not nice that Craig's brushing off Sophie! She asked you if YOU thought she should go, dude!

OH HAI ROSE, LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE THE ONLY PREVIOUS COMPANION IN THE DOCTOR'S CLIFFNOTES VERSION OF HIS LIFE, I WONDER WHY THAT IS AND WHO SNUCK IT IN WHEN THE MOFF WASN'T LOOKING
Thank you, show. I did need that.

Oh dang it, I knew Sophie was going down. Oh my gosh, there is no upstairs. That's suitably terrifying. lol, perception filter what? I didn't think they were ever going to use those in this series!... Haaa, Troy Handsome. Oh, Craig, you had to say "geronimo."

Did Amy go "ugh" about them being in love? :-(

Okay, now I'm going "ugh." That's a bit much for me. And I don't care if it's joking, I don't like the idea of coupling off meaning "ruining our friendship." I see Moff snuck back in there.

Ah, there you are, cracky crack! I knew you couldn't be gone long.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REMEMBER. PLEEEEEEASE.
Come on my girl. A little bit.
WHAT!? NICE ENDING, GUYS. NOOOOOOOOT.

Oh I'd forgotten about Stonehenge!!!! STONEHENGE!!!...is the Pandorica? lol. Wait, aren't there only two episodes left in the series? Is there enough time in two episodes for TARDIS exploding, Daleks, Cybermen, all the other Who baddies there's ever been, plus a wrapup of this storyline? And more River song? Is this going to be, in fact, the single most rushed series finale of all time?



Well, I enjoyed that. It's no "Amy's Choice" or "Vincent."

Kyle has just informed me via text: "I have liked this season of Doctor Who, though! Aside from a few poor episodes, I really have liked it!" I said I thought it was a fine season of TV, just not a particularly good season of Doctor who. (see what I did there?) But it's prompted me to take a look back and see how accurate that really is. So, let's see here...




The Eleventh Hour

I do like this one a lot. I watched it too many times in too small an amount of time, but it's a nice intro episode! I think it nicely introduced the characters and set up the story arc, and the bits of homage to RTD's era were mostly really nice.

The Beast Below

I honestly adored this episode. I loved the ongoing characterization of Amy and I liked the "future Europe" vibe and yes, I even really loved the starwhale. There were some things that were overdone, but that didn't detract too much from the episode on the whole. This is in my top three maaaaybe.

Victory of the Daleks

This one probably comes in at #4, if Beast Below is #3. Winston Churchill! Daleks! Okay, I wasn't crazy about the new technicolor Daleks, but I did really enjoy the Union Jack-bearing Daleks and the tea quips.

Time of Angels

I do love a Stone Angels episode. I didn't hate River Song in this, so there's automatic points there. It was suspenseful and felt very high-stakes-Who. I liked it a lot.

Flesh and Stone

Amy's countdown was one of the scariest things I've seen in New Who, and I loved it. I also really liked the way Amy's character shifted, even if I didn't so much care for the manifestation of that. This reminds me, though, that the end of the world is supposed to be all to do with Amy and the day of her wedding, right? So surely that means Rory will be back!...

Vampires of Venice

I'm not crazy about this one like many people seem to be. It was fine. Excellent to have Rory along for an adventure.

Amy's Choice

WE ALL KNOW HOW CATEY FEELS ABOUT THIS EPISODE. LIKE THIS: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
#1 in my top 3.

The Hungry Earth

Yeah. I was bored mostly. Even Kyle admits that "nothing freaking happened." Also, it seems to me that there's a huge emotional disconnect between Amy's Choice and Hungry Earth. But more on that later. Nasreen was real cool though.

Cold Blood

Nasreen could not save this episode.

Vincent and the Doctor

#2 favorite. I just did this one though, so.

The Lodger

Final assessment here is not bad at all, but definitely not the best ever. As far as scary episodes with very little companion action go, Midnight wins forever.



So, flist, I'm curious. Pre-finale re-evaluation. Do you feel you've been too hard on this series? Not hard enough? Just the right amount of hard? How much hope do you have for the finale and for s6?

Comments

[professor-spork.livejournal.com]

Sigh. When you break down this series episode by episode like that, it seems fine--but it's just... that doesn't account for random wibbly-wobbly shit (like the maybe future Doctor in Flesh and Stone, for example) or the SUPREME BETRAYAL that was offing and then erasing Rory. It's not about plot or structure-- it's about *attitude.*

[beingfacetious.livejournal.com]

Mmhmm. The episodes are (mostly) all fine, even pretty good, and if they could all take place towards the beginning of the series it would be really good. But my problem is something I actually think I saw you say, somewhere: as a series that should be progressing, in storyline and in character development, it doesn't really make any sense. It doesn't feel like it's coming together to form a whole, as a story. And emotionally it feels watered down. I mean, I was so crushed when Rory was erased, but I felt it almost on a shallow level because the emotion that needed to be there just wasn't quite, for me.

[miracleofmercy.livejournal.com]

I liked this episode because it was plain old FUN.

Um, sorry kids, Matty is not "gorgeous." Adorable, gawky, cute even, not gorgeous.
HAR HAR HAR HAR. Well, yes, I agree. See comment on previous post re:Ten-beats-everyone's-face.

I think Amy went 'ughhh' because she was in danger of flung into the time vortex and lost forever while Craig and Sophie were declaring their love for each other. LOLOLOLOL

Really? Not a particularly good season of Doctor Who? Hmmmm. I don't know. Maybe I have lower expectations. :p Or it could be because subconciously I know that everything will be new this series so I'll have to look at it a bit differently. I'll reserve final judgement until after the two final episodes. Hopefully all the timey-wimey makes sense and we get some really huge character bits in it. Hurrah.

And you MUST COME READ MY REVIEEEEWWWWWS. *not-very-subtly-hinting*

[beingfacetious.livejournal.com]

It WAS fun! It kept me giggling and that was nice. A nice little light break between srsbiz episodes. Hahaha.

Amy's new aversion still love and marriage still huuuurts me :-( I've heard it theorized that "of course she's not 'the marrying kind' because Rory was her The One so if he's not there..." And that makes sense to me, absolutely. But it still makes me sad when she says something about it. :-(

Seeeeeee, here's why I think this about the series. I think when RTD and Julie were in charge, they were absolute nazis about everything making continuous sense, with the characters individually and in their relationships. So you could go through s2 and feel that it was a process of falling in love for Ten and Rose, and feel that in s4 Donna absolutely blossomed and that she was increasingly good for the Doctor to have around, and even in s3 that Martha went from frustrated to about to crack under the pressure of Ten not noticing her the way she wanted him to, so that her storm-off made sense. I think the Moff and producer-guy (Piers?) don't care as much about that. So there have been some really interesting, intense episode, like the Angels ones and the vampire one, because that's their forte: the sci-fi part of Who. And I like that part of Who, but it's not what had me falling madly in love from the beginning of s1. So for Kyle, who likes Who because it's "really cool" (I'm not making fun of that at all; he's right, Who is freakin' awesome) this series is pretty great. But to me, it makes minimal sense on an emotional level. The character continuity doesn't make very much sense to me (my big example of this: at the end of Amy's Choice, Amy's all soft and sweet with Rory, determined to treat him better, has had a revelation that she's never told him he loves him, and then in the following two-parter she's back to being rude and running off without him, AND he waits a full minute before noticing she's gone when he meets up with the Doctor, which absolutely does not make sense for him). And the emotion throughout has seemed a little bit watered down; like, in Beast Below the kid is crying and that's sad and I ASSUME it's because she misses her friend, but it's just a passing reference so you never really know, and in VotD the girl is crying about her boyfriend but it's just like, who cares? Even when Rory got erased, I cried and I was so sad, but there was some kind of connection that I felt was lacking.

Well wow, how's that for a novel?

But seriously, that's my only small quibble. And I think it's that Moff has young sons who like the alien-y part of Who, so that's a bigger focus for him. And that's fine, I guess.

(I don't feel like my complaints are overlarge! At least I don't, like, hate Amy!)

[miracleofmercy.livejournal.com]

Oooooooh okay now I get it. (I'm sure you're tried explaining this to me before but I never really fully understood!) I totally get your point here, especially with the examples you've given because I've felt the same way when I watched those scenes too. Riiiiiight. Yes yes yes I quite agree. AND, I love how you just described Russell and Julie as "total nazis". LOLOLOLOL

[beingfacetious.livejournal.com]

Hurray! Yeah, it's been hard for me to nail that thought down before, but that really is what it comes to. That's why "Vincent" was such a huge relief for me because Curtis (who also did Notting Hill by the way, which I love immensely!!) really seemed to inject that sense of emotional swell that hadn't quite been done yet. ♥

Everyone's a nazi every now and then! :D