September 9, 2014
Well, it’s been a good while since I’ve peculated these pages with my reviews on Dr. Who.
What did you expect? It just came back on air you pissant self-righteous morons.
Anyways…
I decided to pause until I had a few episodes to absorb before I started to post my reviews. After all, when I last saw the Doctor the Princess emphatically stated that she didn’t like the ‘new’ Doctor. So, I clearly couldn’t review the new Doctor on a cursory one episode view. No, if I did that I would challenge the wrath of the Princess.
All that being said, the Princess and I settled in and watched Deep Breath, Into the Dalek, and Robot of Sherwood in the span of a week.
Now, once again, you won’t be seeing a play-by-play review of each episode from me. If you remember, I have either too much respect for you as a Dr. Who fan or merely a total disdain for what I perceive is your total ignorance in basic life functions…
My take on the current incarnation of the Doctor: Nice, very nice.
The new Doctor appears to have the wonderful one-mindedness of the First Doctor, the arrogance of the Third Doctor, and, my favorite trait, the callous decisiveness and lamenting sadness of the Tenth Doctor. Gone, thankfully (oh, I’m waiting for the spitballs to be thrown in my direction) is the playful ways of the Eleventh Doctor.
Yes, this Doctor after he got done with his ‘lost’ sense and settled into being the Doctor his personality began to shine through.
While all three episodes display the Moffat traits of setting us up for the future, the highlight episode so far has been Into the Dalek.
Into the Dalek is a wonderful re-telling of everyone’s all time favorite pictures: Fantastic Voyage, which was written by Isaac Asimov.
Much like Nightmare in Silver from the prior season, Into the Dalek gives us a new take on one of the Doctor’s oldest foes. And, for eagle eyed Whovians a hint at was it really Clara as a Dalek?
The other episodes, Deep Breath and Robot of Sherwood good episodes in the vein of the more pedestrian Dr. Who episodes. Although, to be honest, Robot of Sherwood felt like a Star Trek the Next Generation episode.
So, what is there to say about our 12th doctor?
I hate to take this cop out but it is my column so I’ll just say that the jury is still out. I find it difficult to be completely unbiased towards him. Having the wonderful Jenna Coleman as Clara (In my opinion the best companion of the modern incarnations) with him just seems to make him seem that much more enjoyable.
So, until the next episode drives me to comment I will take my leave.
Oh, in case your wondering, the Princess still doesn’t quite like him, yet.
December 26, 2013
The holidays.
It’s a time for joy and a time for emotional anguish along with a good, stiff, belt.
If we allow it to be, that is.
Now, there are two families that most of us have naturally, if we’re lucky enough. There is the family we are born into and there is the family that we made.
Usually, at certain times, both these families tend to rub us abrasively, even though at our core we love both with all of our hearts and soul.
And, there is no need to explain how both sets of families can cause us to imbibe too much and praise old King Bacchus.
Now, as a recovered(?) alcoholic, tolerance is a lesson learned with repeated skull bashing.
I don’t think I need to expound upon that statement.
In addition to our natural families, there is the family that we adopt fictionally. That is, the soap operas that we watch where we get emotionally attached to the characters. As most of you may know by now, Dr. Who is one such family for me.
Yes, the holidays. A time for family, and for the past several years, a time for the annual Dr. Who special (My personal favorite being Voyage of the Damned, but that’s another drunken tirade to come).
Excuse me as I pour a glass of Guinness with a chaser of port.
Yes, this was it, the farewell to the Doctor I did not want to embrace but began to feel with time as though he was one of us.
Now, let’s be honest to ourselves: To review the Matt Smith era is an exercise in redundancy. It has been done before and will be done since. Therefore, why run laps that have already been run?
As arguably the most popular Doctor in the Dr. Who mythos to Americans, his exploits have been analyzed ad-nauseum.
No, this is a rant on my feelings of the last episode, and of the Princess’s.
After a fantastic 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor ” anything less would feel anti-climatic. Even though we knew that “The Time of the Doctor” was going to be Matt’s farewell, it couldn’t be helped but to approach it with trepidation. After all, how were they going to top the 50th?
Well, to put it kindly. They didn’t (let’s be honest, how could they?) but what they did was give us a wonderful Christmas/Final episode that many of us will enjoy for a long time.
Moffat, again the principle writer for the episode, did a wonderful job tying up all of the series’ loose ends. Additionally, he gave us all of the best villains. Including the Weeping Angels!
Reflecting on Smith’s interpretation of the Doctor, he is/was the most accommodating. He was the Doctor that you would truly want to hang out with. Now, this isn’t a slight to Tennant’s version, but, you always had the impression that Tennant’s Doctor knew that he was superior to you. While, Smith’s was the one that you could go to the pub or watch television with. And, it always felt that as much as Tennant’s doctor said that he cared about us (humans), Smith’s doctor seemed to truly mean it.
Now, that trait of humanness credit goes plainly to Smith himself. I know that the Princess and I didn’t want to accept him at first. We came up with the usual lame excuses, he’s too young, he doesn’t look right, etc… but, to his credit, Smith won us over. His on-screen persona was so buoyant and warm we couldn’t help but be roped in.
As the series went on his acting became more engaging. In fact, I venture to say with certainty that in his final episodes he literally carried the show by himself. Especially in the Gaiman penned Nightmare in Silver, where he battled against himself.
This isn’t to say that he wasn’t a good actor prior, it’s just that he seemed to grow into the role more towards the end.
Yet, Isn’t that always the way? Just as we become attached to something it’s taken away. Gone to be appreciated later in memory, or, in this case, replays.
I realize that this missive isn’t like the usual ‘reviews’ of Dr. Who, but, as I said prior, it isn’t. It’s a personal rant, so deal with it (or not, in that case stop reading while I pour myself another drink).
Thus, for all of our kibitzing on how we were’n t going to enjoy the Matt Smith doctor here we were on the edge of our seat grasping every word that was spoken on screen. We watched a Time Lord age on screen and we bit our lips at every twist just waiting for Smith’s doctor’s end.
In the end, it was obvious the place in our heart that he occupied, as his regeneration was complete and the ‘new’ doctor arrived. Just as the new doctor asked Clara “How do you fly this thing?” the princess uttered, “Nope, don’t like him!”
Thus, once again, we have a new doctor to learn about, and hopefully embrace.
Thanks, Matt, for everything. Sorry to lose you in the family.
The Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor.
November 23, 2013
The Day of the Doctor
“Two point four seven billion”
With that line, the whole special came into light like the perfect pour of a pint of Guinness. Yes, I’m talking about the 50th anniversary show of the venerable BBC series Dr. Who, The Day of the Doctor.
I realize to most of you self-important geeks that, “yes, I knew he would say that, I know everything about Dr. Who” it is a moot statement.
To all of you, I say piss off.
How the fuck would you pissant little wanna-bes know anything about the Doctor? The only fucking thing you know is what you heard. I know for a fact that most of you weren’t even a thought in your parent’s mind as they fumbled in the back seats of their parent’s cars and you were procreated in a drunken accident. Yes, I’ve figured out why you’re entire generation has the arrogant, belittling attitude that you do.
You were all mistakes, unwanted, little bastards.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest like the top of a bottle of fine Kentucky bourbon that is wedged and won’t come out as you desperately need a drink to numb your mind as your wife/companion is prattling on about her mother. I shall proceed into my intended purpose: the review of The Day of the Doctor.
Now, let’s be clear: I used to watch episodes of Dr. Who back in the days of only three networks. I had to find the Doctor on the PBS rebroadcasts of the original BBC programmes. Imagine that, I/we didn’t have Youtube, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc… No, when we wanted to watch an episode we had to be cognizant of the TV guide and the broadcast. In fact, it was so primitive we also didn’t have the ability to ‘tape’ an episode.
Again, enough of my whining, I’m starting to sound like most of you. Now, lets proceed to the aforementioned review before I light another cigar.
The Day of the Doctor, Dr. Who’s 50th anniversary special has been teased to us for the past year. Yes, it was going to include all of the prior Doctors, because, as all of us know (either by life experience or the internet) there have been a total of eleven actors to have played the role of the Doctor in the past fifty years (twelve if everyone gets their head out of the rear end of an NBC reporter blindly supporting the current President and acknowledge Peter Cushing in the motion pictures.)
Even better, it was going to be simulcast to 75 countries at the same time.
Of course, once I heard that I planned my entire day around that. And, perfectly, it was early enough in the day that I would not only be coherent, but assuredly sober enough to remember it clearly.
Without revealing any spoilers, it is an episode to be seen by young and old fans of the Doctor.
Stephen Moffat, the heir apparent of the Who franchise from Russell T. Davies gave all of us a great adventure. And, he answered a great question in the modern Who mythos.
What happened in the Time war that caused him to eradicate his home planet of Gallifrey.
Moffat gave us almost everything we could want. The two most familiar Doctors, old villains, and the most popular of the Doctor’s companions.
Granted, I could have stood to see more of the Daleks, perhaps the Cybermen, and definitely the Weeping Angels, but, his use of the Zygons, a Who villain from the 70s, sets the pace for the homage theme of the episode.
Many more great touches are the interaction of the Doctors, the brilliant use of the daughter of the Brigadier, and especially the different incarnations of the Tardis.
But, what Moffat did best is the use of the Doctor mythology. His use of the little seen 8th Doctor (yet, the most prolific in other medium. Remember, he was even a feature Marvel Comic!) was merely extraordinarily clever. In fact, it borders on fan fiction.
The interaction of the two Doctors, Tennant and Smith, and the Warrior, Hurt, is everything a fanboy could ever ask for.
I realize that this ‘review’ stands a little sparse and devoid of much detail, but I have no desire to belabor the obvious. And, let’s be honest, if you’re reading this you obviously have an interest in Dr. Who. Therefore, why I would I want to rehash what most of you already know just to inflate my ego about my knowledge of the Doctor. Unlike the majority of you self-aggrandizing clowns I have no need to inflate my self-worth, I wasn’t an asterisk to my parent’s marriage.
See it. That’s all I have to say. See it. In fact, join many of us on the night of the 25th and see it in 3D on the big screen. Me, I’ll be there with my favorite bottle of Merlot to finally see the Doctor on the big screen.
Till then, I’ll pour myself another drink and tip my glass to the wonderful pairing of Tennant, Smith, and Hurt along with Moffat’s great story.
Additionally, I’ll get ready for the last episode of Smith’s doctor and the introduction of the 12th doctor!
The Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor!
Dr. Who!
Posted on November 19, 2013 by Edward
First off, a confession from a lifelong Sci-Fi junkie. Yes, the same guy who used to watch Star Trek, Space 1999, UFO, Dr. Who, and Kolchak on a 13” black and white television in his own room.
I came in late to the new Dr. Who incarnation.
My first encounter with the newer Doctor with no name was on a late Saturday night on PBS. In fact, I had no idea I was watching an episode of Dr. Who. Here was this guy with an English accent, long trenchcoat, suit, and converses on his feet battling a werewolf.
Converses and a suit.
Huh? Then , as he continued to talk it dawned on me, this is Dr. Who! But he wasn’t the stodgy old Dr. Who that I remembered watching. This wasn’t Tom Baker, no, this Doctor was young (well, young to me) in fact, he was close to my age.
While I continued watching, the effects were displayed. Yep, it had to be Dr. Who. The special effects were cheap as ever, a BBC tradition with the Whos.
As an aside: Now, you have to realize that when I was watching Dr. Who, they were all old to me.
Thus, started a Saturday night tradition with me and eventually, even the Princess. In fact, I knew this show was something special when she started to watch it. At first she did the usual “What the hell are you watching” and then she started to get into it (as with most programs with her highness that don’t include the words ‘sex’ or ‘city’ in them).
She began to ask me questions about the Doctor and his previous shows. Of course, I didn’t really have too many answers for her concerning this ‘new’ doctor. In fact, I didn’t even know where to begin without belaboring her with the convoluted history of the previous Doctors.
Fortunately, due to the shows increasing popularity and the evolution of Netflix, we were able to catch up on everything that we had missed and then some.
Needless to say, we were hooked.
Hooked so much that the Princess and I became so attached that we didn’t miss a new episode, hissed at the Master, bemoaned the ambiguity of Rose’s last episode, and even so much as lamented loudly the demise of ‘our’ Doctor and then grew to love the ‘new’ Doctor as portrayed by Matt Smith.
Now, we anticipate another ‘gut wrencher’ as we battle within ourselves to say goodbye to the ‘new’ Doctor and welcome a ‘newer’ Doctor.
The Princess and I could go on and on about which was our favorite episodes, our favorite or disliked companions, etc… but let’s just say this: the Doctor is simply a part of our lives now.
And, in my opinion, we owe it all to one man, Russell T. Davies.
If I have one thing to say about Russell T. Davies, it’s this: like Rick Berman of Star Trek fame/infamy, he made a dry, limited audience, Sci-Fi show into a cultural phenomenon. With his inventive writing he re-created the Doctor into something new audiences could embrace and old time viewers wouldn’t feel left by the wayside.
And, it worked. The old Doctor would never dream of obtaining ratings that it does now especially for a show from ‘across the pond’.
Russell was able to make us care about these characters and cross the gender gap. Then, his successor, Stephen Moffat took it even further.
Which brings us full circle to another ‘final’ episode.
And, this new episode is so big that they are showing it in 3D in theaters the Monday following the premiere! Finally, Dr. Who back on the big screen!
To tell you the truth, I’m more excited than I ever have been. In fact, I really have to say, that I haven’t been this stoked to see a picture as I have this episode.
Screw Batman and Superman. Did you see the promo pictures? I have the two ‘New’ Doctors in one episode! And that’s not to mention all of the previous Doctors! (Will they include Peter Cushing?! (and yes, I realize he’s not an ‘official Dr. Who but it would be neat, wouldn’t it?))
I’ll say it again: I. can’t. wait.
You know, we all have so many picayune things that bother us on a daily basis that it is pure joy to lose ourselves within a fictional program for a while (of course, to many who know me, it can be argued that I lose myself too often in fictional stories whether they be comic book, motion picture, etc… to them I say: well, yeah. Your point?)
So, to wrap up a clearly personal rant, I’ll end with this: I hope to see you there at the theater, to see Dr. Who in glorious 3D!
The Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor!
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