'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.

Moffat's beloved Paradoxes

There has been too many articles featuring Moffat-caused paradoxes lately, sorry for that. But I'm afraid this year's Red Nose Day 'Comic Relief' mini-episodes will just add to an already enormous list.

Although there is to say the Big Moff didn't give too many hints away when talking to SFX, it's still more than enough to tell us that this year's plot seems to focus on a paradox, again. We remember, in his last 'Comic Relief' contribution we had two Doctors, now it will be two Amy Ponds, who even end up flirting with each other. And if things weren't already complicated enough, because after all there might *be* an explanation for someone flirting with themselves (or is that just Amy?), Moffat made sure to introduce also the question of how a TARDIS can land in her own self. I hope this time it will be him solving his own canonical problems. And all that in less than 8 minutes.
Well, giving it another thought it may have something to do with the 'Clone-Doctor' of season 6. Which would be brilliant, BTW.

However, no matter what was on Moffat's mind when writing his 'Comic Relief' episodes, the fuss it's already making is certainly not bad for Doctor Who. And fans are also curious about how 'Life Abroad the TARDIS', as Moffat unofficially calls it, looks like. Furthermore, after several Doctor Who-less months I guess there aren't many of us who care that much about the scientific background anyway.

They killed Rory ... AGAIN!?

Cold Blood was a not bad Sillurian 2 parter, well, the only thing we could have asked for was a good plot, but according to this week's Guardian comments people seem to care less about that aspect as they used to. There was some tension, some weird set of sci-fi rules, some relatives of an "old" alien species, a nice in-between human story (actually there were two of them) and the Doctor more or less saved the day (again). Still, I cant' help thinking that the connection between these parts could have been a bit better.

However, it is very likely that we don't care much about the actual story anyway, because just after we started thinking that now they will be dashing off toward a new exciting place (or Rio), the crack reappears and Rory sacrifices his life for the Doctor and gets consumed by 'the light' and his own fiancée can't remember him anymore (some sort of a Donna-deja-vu, anyone?). Furthermore, as if this would not have been enough, the crack also seems to destroy the Doctor's TARDIS in the future.
Obviously, all these finale-teasers had to steal the Sillurians the show.

Now, I won't write about how complicated (and stereotypical) the Human-Sillurian relationship was in the first place, even without Ambrose killing Ayela out of a weird form of mother-love. Or what Chris Chibnall's idea was when writing it's human germs keeping the Doctor alive, because when looking at it form a biological point of view, also humans need germs to stay alive, so they could not have done the same with them either. And I definitely won't ask myself why the Doctor could pick that TARDIS-bit out of the crack without the light having an effect on him, while Rory was forgotten before the light/the crack even consumed him completely.

Because thanks to Moffat there are a bit more interesting things to write about.

So let's start with those famous last five minute which start with Rory's death.
I'm sure that an average fan must have liked him for giving us another (a more 'down-to-earth') perspective of the happenings. Sure, generally, he was not very heroic, still, he also knew how to shine, how to appeal to a/our human common sense, but not in a boring way. Somehow he was a bit of the counterpart of the Doctor. And that's why he was so likeable.
Additionally, many (traditional) fans were glad about him being some sort of a grantee that we won't have to sit through another 'season 2' storyline.

Still, despite Moffat apparently having something against him (all in all it was him who wasn't against killing Rory three times within only one season!), there is a chance that Amy gets the opportunity to live her life with Rory, because of the simple reason that the Doctor won't allow anything, no matter how terrifying it might be, to harm his beloved TARDIS. For this, he will find a way to get the crack-story-arch fixed (I just didn't feel like calling it a 'crack-problem') and through this maybe Amy and Rory will be reunited in the future.

And next week Vincent Van Gogh will see Amy and the Doctor, and I guess he is also in desperate need of one.