'Who' Minisodes

One of the reasons why Whovians are so keen on the Beeb releasing the Who DVD boxsets is that to shorten the ridiculously long waits between seasons (and episodes; season 8 won't start till autumn 2o14, just saying) they generally feature minisodes. And also this year Moffat and his team have not disappointed us. So, dear fellow Whovians, here they are. This year's 3 minisodes. Please, press the play button and enjoy.

The quality is a mess, and this year they are a bit silly, less spectacular and informative. But having them is still better than having nothing to watch till 'The Day of the Doctor'.

'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' on BBC Radio 4

Funnily enough most of my friends know Neil Gaiman as the grand writer of awesome short-stories and fantasy, while to me he has been the guy who wrote 'The Doctor's Wife', which is, by the way, one of the most beautiful episodes in my humble opinion.

Luckily, the media has been busy correcting my personal (rather distorted) image of him, as recently his new novel got published: 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane". 

Frankly, as much as I love books and Neil Gaiman, I wouldn't have been drawing this to your attention, because I hate showing people what I can't give them access to. However, the lovely Beeb announced that they got Michael Sheen to read the book for BBC Radio 4’s Book At Bedtime strand. It's going to be broadcast in July, Monday to Friday at 10:45 pm which means that you'll be able to listen to the programme life, no matter where you're living. Plus, if you should miss it you're going to be able to catch up with it later via their lovely site. So, save the date.

An Impossible Game of Chess

You remember how I mentioned that Gaiman got our expectations up impossibly high? I was wrong, he did meet them, somehow. It wasn't quite full marks, but it wasn't an actual nightmare in silver as some people expected.

So, the Cybermen are scary again, the kids weren't annoying, well, not unintentionally, even though at times they did feel a bit pointless, Clara turned down a wedding proposal, and Matt Smith said 'Allons-y!', although I'll have to re-watch the whole thing to make sure which version of the Doctor actually said the tenth Doctor's catch-phrase. But I have to say that his... 'version' of the former Doctors (that should have been 9 and 10 I guess) weren't that authentic. To say it with 11th words: Let's never do that again. And all this was set between the ruins of an old amusement park. Which was rather spooky, even though IMHO they did not make proper use of it... Oh, and I LOVE the final shot: a cybermite floating through space.

One thing to nag about, except the lost opportunity of not really involving the CGI-ed amusement park, is that  again, an episode failed to add anything to the *big* who-is-Clara story. That is fine for 'causal' viewers, I guess. But isn't giving hints and teasers throughout the series the way Moffat has been writing 'Who' these days? Or are we just too stupid to see those supposedly red herrings this time? Or is that just me?

Anyway, Nightmare in Silver' is still rather good. I love the fact that the crucial plot device was the Doctor bluffing in a game of chess he was playing against himself, or rather the Cybermen's hive-mind. Oh, and chess was invented by the mighty Time Lords now? Didn't know that bit. But we'll make sure to add it to the big chunk of fun-facts of the Whoniverse*.

And it's episodes like this which make it even worse that Neil Gaiman does not feel like becoming the new showrunner of 'Who'. I just wanted to make that point clear.

Next week is the last time we get 'Who' on screen before the big 5oth anniversary.  So better make it a good one then.

___

* ... and to Wikipedia.  After all, you could quote Neil Gaiman as reasonable source.

Neil Gaiman Talks 'Who'

Maybe our expectations for Neil's "Nightmare in Silver" have become so high that it's physically not possible to live up to them any more. For one, it's not helping that last year's "The Doctor's Wife" originated from his mind, and this interview SFX did with him is not helping either. Because he really knows what freaks people out (Silent Cybermen? And it took almost 5o years to come up with that idea? Even though realising it seems to take even longer.) And I can't help but love his way of thinking and the explanation behind the 'new' Cybermen design.

The one bad thing about that interview is that Neil Gaiman seems to be pretty certain about not become the next showrunner of 'Who'.

'But this was when we talked...'

This week Gaiman brought the only love-story involving the Doctor to screen about which not a single fan is ever going to complain. And you can't beat this one. Giving the TARDIS a human body, showing the relationship the Doctor and 'his old girl' have and wrapping this up into a genuine story; these are the secret ingredients for writing the perfect episode. The only down-side is that you can use them just once; but a great once.

Maybe the most interesting part of the whole thing was to see the story out of the TARDIS' point of view. According to her it was she who chose the Doctor because he was 'the only one mad enough' to show the universe to her. So indeed, the Doctor is a mad man with a box, or vice versa.

We also learn finally that it is not only the Doctor's navigation-skills which are to blame when he does not end up where he originally wants to, even after having spent 7oo years fiddling with her consoles. 'But I always took you where you needed to go.' She could not have put it in better words.
And there is also the bit about Time Lords being able to change sex when regenerating, even though I think that we should not get there. But talking about 'sex issues'; Amy and Rory 'complaining' about their sleeping-arrangements is the latest addition to our Doctor Who-related in-jokes list. Loved it, almost as much as seeing the old control-room for a change...
Oh, and the Ponds and the Doctor talking about the Timewar was just excellent. It more than just made sense.

Furthermore those of you who are reading this blog regularly, know that usually I'm not one of those to whom hankies belong to the standard equipment when watching finals, or heart-breaking story-lines, but the scene in which the Doctor was about to say 'goodbye' to Idris some kind of got me. There was something bitter-sweet about it. They won't be separated, but the scene in which he asks her whether she can still hear him in the very end was simply touching. Because she can, she will never stop being there for him, but she will never be able to talk/kiss/bite 'her' Doctor ever again.

All in all, this may be the best episode I've ever seen. And in spite of running the risk to say something stupid, it almost seems that Gaiman is what Moffat has been during RTD's era. So I really hope this is not the last bit we've seen of his genius.

I've seldom seen...

... someone declaring their love to Doctor Who in a more beautiful way.

While the Whoniverse is 'melting the internet' due to Neil Gaiman having his Who debut this week DenOfGeek published an interview with the newest addition to the big club of Who writers, and here is the result of the inquisition.

It is one of those classical must-read-interviews with a lot of interesting points mentioned, however, the most relevant ones are about Doctor Who's complicate-ish heritage, and why fans should be appreciating plot holes, or the mythos of Who as Neil Gaiman puts it. While he promises that his own episode is settling a number of things, he also mentions that it is these missing bits which keep Doctor Who alive. And if you are honest with yourself you know he is right. If we knew why the Doctor was living with his granddaughter on Earth, if we knew every single detail about his family, Galilfrey, the Timewar and so on, things would stop being interesting. Luckily we do get some answers now and then, but we have to face it that a few big chunks are never going to be reviled, at least if forth-coming script-writers know what is good for Doctor Who...

So, if you feel like reading an interview with maybe the happiest Who fan on this planet ATM, go for it.

Let's Not Jump to Conclusions...

...even though the title of Neil Gaiman's episode has been revealed.

It is... 'The Doctor's Wife' and I know what you're thinking, moreover Moffat knows what we are thinking and that approxy 1o1% of us are not amused by this choice.

But before starting an anti-Moffat/Gaiman demonstration, let's remember the last time we had to deal with such a... less favourable episode title e.g. 'The Doctor's Daughter' or 'The Next Doctor'. And, it wasn't what we expected it to be.Furthermore, during Moffat's reign the number of misleading episode titles has been increasing. E.g. I'm still wondering what 'The 11th Hour' has to do with the actual episode being named that way (11th'S Hour would have made more sense to me; or 'VAMPIRES of Venice' (which has, strictly speaking, a certain lack of actual Vampires in it), not to forget about Flesh and Stone' (yes, everyone besides the angels are not made of stone, at least when observed by others, but when I 1st heard the title it was a bloody ritual coming to my mind). And I bet Moffat has plans to keep up this rather new-ish tradition. After all, misleading titles are certainly not bad for getting some extra attention. So let's hope for the best.

EDIT: Giving it another thought 'The Doctor's Wife' might turn out to be an episode about River Song without her being actually in it. At least this is the most sensible thing I can come up with ATM.