@ Children In Need

Another pointless but not utterly bad 2 minutes well spent. Although Children in Need was not having a striptease in mind when they asked Doctor Whoto do something.

Lucky him that my TV remote does not have a red button; not as if...

Oh, and for the trailer. Last year's had a flying shark in it and you just can't beat that, but still, 'the Doctor, The Widow and the Waredrobe looks like fun. Just have a look at his explanations.

How Much Can You Cramp Into a Single Episode?

Moffat is usually not keen on revealing the finale's plot, but this season is some sort of an exception. This year he promised to fill those less than 45 minutes with answers, after all we all know what is going to happen, the only thing we don't know is how. Due to this maybe the most interesting question is 'what exactly is going to be answered?'

Let's start with the obvious, we know Moffat has to save the Doctor somehow; that's why it might be fair to assume that's what the biggest part of the story will be about. However, there is more, and no, I'm not referring to the colour of River's wedding-dress (if there should be one in the first place).

Like, will we get an explanation why the TARDIS exploded in season 5? Was it because of the Silence controlling it? Or is it something else hacking its really complicated system?

Then, do we get a reason for the astronautish-like footsteps in front of Amelia's house? Or does Moffat save these things for season 7? After all he can't cramp it into a single episode, can he? Well, it's just a day till we find out.

'The Lodger' Part 2

I hope Moffat makes Craig a once-per-season companion. I wouldn't be the one complaining.

Anyway.One of the first things you notice about 'Closing Time', is no, not the Doctor's coat, but that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are still in the credits. For a reason, as we find out several minutes and a near-death experience of Bitey the cybermat later. But never mind the two (ex-)'companions', because this time the Doctor has a new 'partner': good old Craig trying to spend a few days without Sophie but Stormageddon/Alfie the baby, alone, without anybody's help, least of all the Doctor's who turns up to say hello, or rather good-bye, however, things do not go exactly according to plan. So, instead of visiting the Alignment of Exedor the Doctor lives an average parent's life for a few days dividing one's time between working in a job (inclusive name badge!), playing the super-hero for one's own and optionally friend's offspring, babysitting, chasing Cybermats and fighting Cybermen and doing the cleaning at home in between.

Something a few fans may complain about is that again, love saved the day. Even though I hope that this is not becoming a re-occurring mantra, the idea of fighting Cybermen with love, literally, is not that cheesy as one might expect. But talking about cheese; I bet Doctor Who merchandise could make a fortune of Bitey, the cybermat. I'd get one for myself, if they didn't need batteries in real life.

But after about 4o minutes the Doctor's, as Moffat wants us to believe, last romp ends and although this episode does really not deserve it, the last scene is again beating the actual story: Doctor River Song is recruited to kill her love, the Doctor. But who does really think this is the season Moffat's contract for Doctor Who ends? Plus, we know there is a Christmas Special on its way (which hopefully does not have the very xmasy title 'The Ultimate Death of the Doctor', or something along that.) I for my part am just curious how Moffat does sort this timey-wimey fix-point-y mess out in 45 minutes only.

The Doctor's Choice

You should never ever begin with the end, but let's make an exception. Mostly because it did not make my eyes water, although I have the feeling that it wanted to. To be honest I'm a bit disappointed by that because in 'School Reunion' I was not too familiar with Sarah Jane's and the Doctor's common past, nevertheless I did not need to to feel the sadness when he said goodbye to her. And now, in spite of knowing all of Amy's and the Doctor's story, that certain sad feeling wasn't there. The reason for this might be that 'The God Complex's ending feels too much as being part of the plan. It seems the Doctor always intended to drop the Ponds there, not this soon, but he prepared the house and Rory's dream car for them, knowing where and when to find them, when needed. Moreover, with two episodes left, it appears unrealistic to believe that this was really the actual end.

Anyway. There is more to write about than the last minutes of yesterday's story; namely the Minotaur. I've seldom come across a better researched Who-story, and one which also uses the additional background information this sophisticatedly. The way Toby Whithouse turns the Minotaur's story into the Doctor's is a picture book exapmle of how to write good drama. Also the Doctor saving Amy by sacrificing her faith in him was genuinely touching. After all, he does need her all the same. Moreover, I'm glad that we did not see the Doctor's room, because it gives us something to speculate about.

What I'm less sure about are a few other loose ends. E.g. what was that fuss about the goldfish? I have the feeling it was never meant to be there. Or is it secretly called Jim? And why didn't Amy tell the Doctor before he left her that she knew about lake Silencio?
Well, maybe it's just Moffat being really clever and trying to confuse us with a few hints regarding the finale. Even though I'm not too sure about that. IMHO whatever happened in the 8Os hotel has not much influence on season 6's closing episodes.

What was in the Doctor's Room?

Well, this is hopefully not THE Question of the universe which could make the Silence fall, still, it's a pretty interesting one, even if, admittedly, it may never be (finally and officially) answered. Nevertheless, we do have hints, and I guess the internet is being flooded with entries trying to answer exactly the same thing.

Chances are high that room 11 was where either loneliness, responsibility or both were kept. We know whatever it was it made the Doctor understand how the Minotaur's system works, which should explain the way he saved Amy. Being familiar with how much series love dramatic situations, it may be not too unreasonable to assume that by rescuing her he made his own fears come true. Moreover, hr appears to have encountered his worst nightmare many a time for when looking at it he almost seems to be bored . For these reasons it is possible that door 11 lead him into an empty TARDIS, one without Amy and Rory. Because this is one of the images which can cover both, responsibility and loneliness; responsibility for whatever he had done so that he ended up on his own again, which is usually the stuff Doctor Who finales are made off. Only that this time he used a shortcut. He knows being responsible for something else than their house and Rory's dream car could be even worse.

However, maybe 'The God Complex' is not part of the Big Moff's master-plan, and then things can change. After all, in my humble opinion, the story seemed to be a bit too rushed towards the end. What's more, we know that the Ponds are in the finale.

Who Facts - The Minotaur

Moffat wants us to spend tomorrow's evening watching 'The God Complex' and one of the characters featuring it is a Minotaur, a creature some of us should be familiar with from... was it history, English or something in between? Anyway. There are a few things about him which may be interesting regarding the episode.

Something most of us do not have difficulties to associate the Minotaur with is his home, the labyrinth in which he was kept, a house with open doors, rooms and endless corridors. So, why does this remind me of the trailer? Furthermore every 9th year, or depending on your source, every year, he demanded a sacrifice, 14 youth, which was the reason for his death.

But there is more. He had a name, Asterion, "the ruler of the stars". This ties in with something the story The House of Asterion deals with. There he compares his home to the universe, thinking that maybe he is its creator and just forgot about it. Additionally, he has a somewhat odd notion to death. To him killing people is a favour he pays to them. As for his own, the story describes his end as the following 'The Minotaur scarcely defended himself.' which may be an intentional or unintentional reference to the opening minutes of 'The Impossible Astronaut', but maybe I'm reading too much into it. Nevertheless, the chances of the Minotaur surviving the next episode are not too high...

Well, it should not be too difficult to write a good episode with such a mythological background. I would be disappointed if Toby Whithouse didn't make use of it.

The Greatest Love Story Gone Timey-Wimey

If Shakespeare had added time-travel to his Romeo & Juliet he could not have written it better than Tom MacRae wrote his 'The Girl Who Waited'.*

Maybe I am repeating myself, but I have seldom seen a comparable emotional episode which was as 'comfortably' cheesy-less as this one. However, I have to admit, that even if this episode is the creation of a genius, am I the only one thinking that Amy asking 'where is she' is not the last scene in the actual script? How can the know-Amy remember that anyway? It never happened to her, she never had to make that choice. I wouldn't have minded if she had remembered it for a second, but only that long, because her whole timeline got changed and the mechanics of time being rewritten involve that people's past does change.
But apart from that, thumbs up, after all who can't be in love Amy's and Rory's very own episode?

There are many greatly written moments to chose from, but maybe the most notable thing about this story is how MacRae uses the way the companions see the Doctor as a plot device, something until know only the Big Moff was famous for.

E.g. 'Still, anything beats a fez, eh?' is not only a witty statement, or marks the first time future-Amy laughs in 36 years, but it creates a bond between her and Rory. It brings back all those other memories she and 'her Rory' shared a long time ago, and this may be the moment she starts to give the two of them a second chance.
Another remarkable scene of this kind is Rory's 'You're turning me into you.' which may certainly not be the bit most viewers are going to remember. According to the rules of old-'Who' the companion is not there to criticise the Doctor, even though I know that this also occurred back then. However, in this episode it is the point the story stops belonging to the Doctor and starts being that of Amy and Rory, even though I personally can't imagine the Doctor doing something else in that situation than handing the responsibility of making a choice to Rory. Usually we have the Doctor playing this part, choosing between possibilities and feeling sorry for the outcome because of the situation not offering a perfect solution.

Nevertheless, MacRae develops this idea further, into something we are not unfamiliar with. 'Sometimes knowing your own future is what enables you to change it.' And this is what Amy does, she takes her future into her own hands, even if it means to cease to exist. Well, knowing what happened in 'The Impossible Astronaut' there is obviously more to it than that...

The scene most people do remember, and are never going to forget, is when Amy makes her choice. 'Three Words: "What about Rory?"'. This and begging her husband to keep that door shut, no matter what was my 'Who' moment of this season (up to know), because it is there for only one reason: showing how much she loves him. This Juliet is willing to commit suicide because she knows that after that her Romeo will be able to live happily ever after with the version of the Juliet he should have grown old. Although a part of herself is fighting this idea, in the end she loves him more than herself, what makes her willing to pay the highest price only pure love can pay. And although I did not have tears in my eyes, I think Shakespeare himself could not have plotted it better than this.

________
*I'm one of those people whose teacher made them read Romeo & Juliet, twice, and I did not really enjoy it. Up to the balcony scene it was ok, but after that I felt like wasting my time...

Moffat's AssignmentX Interview

This is a shortish AssignmentX interview with the Big Moff. Actually, there is not much we would not already know about, expect of two rather interesting statements, and here they are.

On the chances of producing more episodes in the USA:

"If we’ve got a story for it. I mean, that’s all it’s about. It is story-driven, so if we’ve got a really great idea set in America, we’ll do it."

On how much the Doctor changes after each regeneration:

"I think fundamentally it’s the same man. It’s the same man for a very long time, in very different ways."

Moffat on HitFix

Here is another Steven Moffat interview done in August (I know, I am lagging behind a bit), and this time it's HitFix who is doing the enquiry. Here are a few interesting bits, but it's not a mistake to read the whole thing.

On what did Matt Smith do so that Moffat cast him as the Doctor:

"The same performance you see on the show now. I still have it on my laptop. It's the same performance he gives now. He was just brilliant. He was by far the best."

On why the Doctor is able to cross his own timeline and doing other wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff, he, according to canon, should not be able to do:

"The fact that he says it's a rule doesn't mean he's going to stick to it. "

On writing challengingly complex story archs for a series which is meant for children:

"And if there's something that maybe makes them say, "I didn't quite understand that, Dad, what happened?" and they have a conversation about it, can someone tell me what's wrong with that? "

On his busy schedule for doing Sherlock and Doctor Who at the same time:

""Manageable" is the wrong word. It's "survivable."

The Big Moff's Sexy Beast Interview

This is a 3-pages long interview Sexy Beast did with The Big Moff in August. And although it is not brand new anymore, there are some interesting topics which are covered. And BTW, you can take the answer to the third question, which is about Doctor Who's budget, as the reason of why the Doctor won't die at lake Silencio.

But there are also a number of other things they talk about. To give you a short overview, her are a few Moffat quotes which should tease you into reading all of it. It's worth it.

On River's story arch:

"The great thing about the River Song conundrum is that every time you get an answer, it makes you ask another question."

On leaving Doctor Who:

"It would be really hard to feel that the Doctor isn’t mine anymore…"

On why the Doctor is always leaving his companions (inclusive Rose) behind:

"In one of the upcoming episodes, he sits in this room and says, “I can’t keep doing this to them.”"

On the art of writing (for) Doctor Who:

"It’s an exercise…in clever exploitation of limitations."

The Scariest Place in the Universe...

'Night Terrors' is the stuff usually Moffat episodes are made off. But only on the surface. It has the the basic fears of children as main topic: night, darkness, monsters (weather in the cupboard or under the bed is not that important), with the only difference that Moffat writes better scripts.

What I really loved about it was the old fashioned creepiness, and come on, you can't do much wrong when setting a story into a giant dolls house occupied by giant, snobbish dolls living on posh wooden food, can you? Yes you can. Am I the only one thinking the solution of letting George's dad save the day was a bit off the track. I'm not saying that parental love is not powerful, but Mark Gatiss could have backed things up more. This way it felt a bit as if he had recycled a few things from other episodes: The relationship between the parents and the child who does not feel to be accepted is clearly inspired by Moffat's very own 'The Empty Child', while George having the power of letting his fears become real has 'Fear Her' written all over it. And then there was the Doctor who is trying to act human-like and fails which was an homage to last year's 'The Lodger' (not to mention the perception filter). Even though I have to admit, that listening to the Doctor mentioning some of the Gallifreyan good-night stories belongs to its best scenes.

To sum up, the story did not turn me into a big Gatiss fan, but neither against him. Some of the dialogues were top, most of them were a rather stupid, but all in all, it could have been worse. Maybe we are just too Moffat-spoilt...

Let's Kill The Doctor

I guess that was the original title of the recent episode, but it would have been too obvious. After all, Moffat's latest masterpiece was not really about Hitler; who spent most of it in a cupboard.

Actually, 'Let's Kill Hitler' is nothing else but a demonstration of what you can do when you are the one and only headwriter of Doctor Who. Nevertheless, this does not save it from coming pretty close to parodying our beloved series, but let's start with something different first.

It's only fair to admit it has its moments and in addition also the certainly most unforgettable quote of this season: 'I was on my way to this gay gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled when I suddenly thought, ‘Gosh, the Third Reich’s a bit rubbish, I think I’ll kill The Führer.'

But back to those 'moments'. The prequel is certainly one of the most imaginative one we had this season, come on, you can't open a season much more spectacular than letting the Doctor's companions search for him via crop-circles. Not to mention Mel ruining the effect with a sports car... and with the trio, sry, quartet ending up involuntarily saving Hitler from being tortured to death and beyond by the Teselecta, the champions of justice. And that's when things start to be a bit ridiculous. But only a bit, because it gets compensated by Hitler being locked up in the cupboard, the magnificent quote I just mentioned in the foregoing paragraph and Mel proposing to the Doctor just before she dies.... and regenerates. What brings me to the next point on my imaginary list of random things.

Good, Melody is Mel who is River, only that she doesn't know yet. Or throughout the plot of this episode. And while most of us can live with the unrealistic fact that this is the first time the Doctor learns about his companion's childhood friend's existence (her not doing weddings is not a real excuse) the one really amazing thing about this is that nobody, not even Rory or Amy are too surprised by their daughter's let's say timelady qualities. Come on, when did they exactly catch up on their daughter being less human and more timelord, or on regenerations, to start with. And isn't particularly Rory's behaviour a bit odd?

Another thing which is odd is the Tesceleca. Although we don't know much about River Song, going by their records the fact that she is the one who killed the Doctor seems to maker her a bigger criminal than Hitler himself. Isn't that a tiny bit exaggerated? Or am I just failing to switch off my real-life history lessons?

But the biggest issue is certainly the 'Goodness, is killing you going to take all day?'-part. In fact I'm getting used to the Doctor dying about every third episode.
So she does successfully poison him and he dies a rather painful death, but not before finding out that he is not supposed to die then and there, as on the top of it the 22nd April at Lake Silencio seems to be a fix-point in time. And just after the Doctor takes his last breath River decides to save him, by using up all her regenerations left. So goodbye Berlin in WW2 and hello Utah, although, mark my words: the Doctor won't die there either. Even if Moffat has to (re-)reboot the whoniverse to change that silly fix-point. In fact, changing a fix-point in time may turn out to be pretty handy, Moffat could use it to claim that a few things which happened in the last seasons were changed by that. Not as if Moffat really needed to give us explanations.

All in all, this week Moffat proved again to be the master of timey-wimey stuff, especially timey-wimey love stories. And although he promised us answered, it seems there is at least one question remaining open to speculation: just who let Hitler out of the cupboard?

Interview Round-Up Volume 2

This is a Moffat interview by SFX with the eye-caching title 'The Acceptance Interview You Never Read' It does not mention anything new, especially as we've already seen the mid-season final, but it's nice to read how Moffat sees the Whoniverse and the Doctor, like 'his superpower is just that he’s a really good improviser'. Furthermore, it's also lovely that Moffat thinks that Sherlock Holmes is more alien than the Doctor, which is more than just a bit ironic when you think about it.

Then, I guess ATM there are not many Doctor Who blogs which manage not to mention Fright Night. So fulfilling my pleasant duties, here is a Collider interview with David Tennant on guess which topic... He talks about how it was to do a remake of something attracting people who already learnt to love the original (as if he would not have already some experience with that) and other stuff. And here is a 2nd one, this time by Shock Till You Drop (erm, right) and he is answering more or less the same questions but also talks a bit about Doctor Who.

Karen Gillan on the Fall-Episodes

Karen Gillan gave an interview to UnrealityPrimetime on the 2nd part of season 6.

The only thing she mentions I did hear for the first time was the name of the monster from 'Let's Kill Hitler' (Teselecta) and a few pretty obvious things regarding Amy's and River's relationships to each other... oh, and there is also a Rory Williams in that wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey constellation. Furthermore, her comment's prove that DoctorWhoTv made a great job when analysing that trailer. And, I almost forgot, in the first part she teases something we've been knowing all along.

Interview Round-Up

Somehow I forgot to include this into my previous post, so here is a Matt Smith interview by Digital Journal, for the US, and he is talking about season 6 and he also mentions the upcoming episode, 'Let's Kill Hitler', shortly.

Then the 21st century remake of Fright Night had it's premier and this is a short interview with David Tennant on the carpet.

The 'Let's Kill Hitler Prequel

Is it wrong to say that the Doctor's answer-phone recording was the best bit of it?

Season 6 Fall News Round-up

I'm sorry for the delay, but it has beeen a while since I last felt a keypad at my fingertips. So here are the more important bits which have been revealed since my last log in:

The Comic-Con BBC America Trailer for the Fall-episodes with DoctorWhoTV's really precise analysis of it here.



A BBC Trailer for the Fall-episodes with DoctorWhoTV's analysis here.



And another BBC America Trailer for the Fall-episodes



And on the 15th August we are going to get a prequel of 'Let's Kill Hitler'. At least they make sure we get some Doctor Who during this rather long-ish summer-break.

Misquotes and Misunderstandings?

The recent news regarding Doctor Who are causing quite a fuss, mostly because there seem to be only a few people who know what is going on, but they are not too willing to share their news with us...

But before opening a new round of speculations about Doctor Who's future I just want to mention, that we should not believe everything out there, even if they claim to base their assumptions on reliable sources.
A textbook example for this is the latest BBC article dealing with this topic, however, the Whoniverse's very own Big Moff sees things a bit differently. His twitter statement reads:

The scheduling of Dr Who has got NOTHING to with Sherlock. On the plus side THE BBC SPELLED MY NAME RIGHT!!!!

So I don't know whom the BBC article does quote, but Steven Moffat seems to have different sources, and I have the feeling that he knows best what is going on ATM.

Another question fans are asking themselves is what has caused this fuss?
Yes, ratings could have been better this season, but I think the BBC knows better than butchering its cash-cow. Another option is that Moffat has a small problem with being in charge of Sherlock and Doctor Who at the same time. Or is it that Moffat wants to keep the current spring and autumn schedule for the forthcoming seasons, maybe not only for the sake of budget or ratings, but also because Doctor Who was originally meant to be aired in the cold months. Well, it would work for me. Or is it all of these points?
Still, no matter how things will turn out to be, I'm willing to trust Moffat saying (or rather twittering):

Dr Who: misquotes and misunderstandings. But I'm not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before we're ready. Hush, and patience.

And somehow I rather take his words over the BBC's. So there is some 'cool stuff' on its way. We'll wait and see...

Demons Run...

... when a good Man goes to war.

Finales are special. And season mid finals are no exception. And there are two things all of them usually have in common: a, the Doctor loses someone in the end, and b, the plot is on the edge of being dull when watched as a single story and could be roughly summed up in less than 14o's twitter characters, well, almost: Demons run when a good man goes to war, but they are not fast enough. However, the afore mentioned good man and his allies still lose the main cause which they where fighting for, even though in the end this does not seem to matter that much. You see what I mean? Then again Moffat knows how to distract his audience form the main plot by what I like to refer to as the story's wrapping: We have Headless Monks, scenes which would have fitted into any Star Wars-ode and we find out about River's identity, for which we've been waiting for more than 2 season. However, let's not forget that there is just one part of that original question answered which the Doctor asked her in the Library. We are still waiting for the 'Who are you to me?'-bit.

And here we are, at the biggest problem of the story: River Song's identity. There aren't many people who can't claim their brownies for something they predicted, said, wanted to say but thought it to be too obvious to say, or something along those lines. So, River is a Time Lord, well, Lady; she is Melody Pond; the Ponds are her parents. Did I forgot anything? To quote Dan Martin's not improvable words 'It feels as if every possible theory anyone has posited has turned out to be correct. That's either totally genius or horribly foolish.' This may be the reason for why watching it for the 2nd time does improve people's opinion on it: There are no expectations left.

Still, as already mentioned, thanks to Moffat we are only too willing to ignore this, for the story's wrapping is more than just breath-taking at certain points, not to mention the cracking dialogues. And the cherry on this cake is that although 'A Good Man Goes to War' will be famous as the episode in which River Song's identity was revealed, it also gives us a few hints at the Doctor's past. Because the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name is right, 'Good men don't need rules'. And maybe one day if we are lucky, we'll indeed learn while he has so many. But before that, let's try and make the best of the upcoming involuntary summer-break.

Alex Kingston and Moffat's Anti-Teaser Policy...

... may or may not be in conflict. Just make up your own mind.

Today this blog has a premier, for as far as I know I've never posted an interview with Alex Kingston before. So this is an 'London Evening Standard' interview with the woman playing the Doctor's love-interest.

Somehow, she manages to drag that wild sweetness she seems to occupy on screen to that questioning, when talking about her family situation, her age 'troubles' and her wish of playing Shakespeare's Cleopatra. Although, strictly speaking she already did that, well it was not exactly Shakespeare's, rather Moffat's, but after all, the name was identical.

Of course she also mentions a few things Doctor Who, and mostly nice ones... Then again, most of us may not care too much about it being "the closest thing to theatre" on television. However, something we do care about is her way of 'explaining' the obvious age difference between her and Matt Smith, and the fact that they are still playing some sort of a ... couple, which is not the precise word, I know. She says, and this is a (longish) quote

'It plays with the notion of an older woman being in love with a younger man, who in his own funny, confused way loves her but doesn't quite know why, because it's a love in his future, in a different body. I'm not sure you'd get that kind of dynamic in America. At first I thought, my goodness, children aren't really going to understand or respond to River Song because of the age difference. But it seems they don't notice that.'

And in fact, they are not noticing it, because while Matt Smith may be younger than Mrs. Kingston, the character he is playing is not. And this is all the explanation fans and children need to cope with it. Sometimes I think it's remarkable how much adults forget what kind of explanations they were willing to believe when they were kids. As I already mentioned in an older post, Doctor Who makes much more sense when you forget about having grown up and try to watch it with the eyes of the child you are somewhere deep inside. Anyway, this is not what I planned to write about...

So, back to the quote. There is also something else pretty remarkable about it. Namely, I'm not sure whether she was supposed to give us a teaser regarding something we've been wondering about since the very first time she appeared on our screens, or not, even though latter one is much more likely; thus, the question of 'just who is her Doctor?' And when saying that 'it's a love in his [the Doctor's] future, in a different body' we kind of get the answer... Season 6 and 7 are according to this not the last ones she seems to be in. At least if looking at the canonical side of it. Knowing Moffat's love-hate relationship he has with spoilers, our Big Moff is maybe not amused by her spilling the beans, or should I say jelly-babies...