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 Tescelecta. 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.

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 whatever-coloured 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 word 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. But, 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 one of the many problems 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.

The second problem about "A Good Man Goes to War" is the war bit. The Doctor simply does not go to war. Not after the Great Time War. Never again. He knows a war's side effects, and he doesn't want to be the one responsible for them. Yes, maybe he isn't counting on things going wrong (which they do), but my overall impression is still that Moffat should have considered the past Doctors' personalities a bit more when coming up with the plot. Yes, it's made clear that he hates doing it. But considering the Doctor's remarkable history on sorting unpleasant stuff out without using violence but his wits (and many, many words), I have the feeling that there should have been another solution. I mean, that's the most attractive thing about 'Who': it's not those with the biggest weapons who win a war, but those making the best use of their brains. Which is usually the Doctor. So, I'm simply not buying this stuff. It's not real 'Who', it's one which could maybe work in a parallel universe, but not in this one.

Still, as already mentioned, thanks to the Big Moff we are only too willing to ignore these disturbing aspects, 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...

Shenanigans...

This was the best proper double-Doctor episode I've seen so far, and I'm glad that there wasn't a regeneration, even though only because this proofs the Daily Star wrong, if it was the Daily Star which claimed that. And it looks that Doctor 11b won't turn up at that lake in the US. It would have been a too easy way to solve that problem anyway, even though that problem will be solved. I'm sure.

So, what is there to love about these 4o-odd minutes? First, seeing the Doctors finishing each others sentences was one of the best moments in Double-Who history. It was also more than just logical that the Doctor had an 'identity-crisis' for a few seconds. All in all, he already had (at least) 11 different personalities, so creating a real double may be a bit complicated. And the way they said good-bye to each other was bitter-sweet: 'If I turn up to nick all your
biscuits, you'll know you were right'. Sadly, he will be wrong. At least most likely. At least as long as the Big Moff ..., anyway that guy has already too much power. Come on, he can destroy the universe at his will. How do you want to top this?

I could write a book on why the Doctor(s) was (were) especially adorable in this episode, but let's move on to the more important bits. Amy. And to this I just want to say the words every single scriptwriter longs to hear, even though this time it's rather the Big Moff than Graham who should be given credit: What a cliffhanger. No one did see that coming. That we have a flesh Amy from episode 2-something onwards was the most astonishing point of the whole story. Now also the whole 'TARDIS-is-not-sure-whether-she-is-pregnant-or-not' thing makes sense. And of course the Doctor knows what is going on. In fact, I can't think off another way of how this could have been explained away.

What I don't really get is why the Doctor sonics Amy number two, when he was so keen on letting anyone else live... but this is just a side-remark.
Somehow it was amusing that also the Doctor has his problems with these small things getting into his way when he wants to say something important, like Amy being pregnant. Well, some parents maybe had to explain the Doctor's 'Birds and Bees' comment to their offspring.

Anyway. Next week is the beginning of the end, or the Grand Finale, well, mid Grand Finale, to be most precise. Looking forward to it.

A Real Phonie...

IMHO it's not fair to judge a two-parter by its first 4o-something minutes, so I won't. Nevertheless, what you can, is comment on them. For that, here are my 'comments':

* This time even I noticed that Amy is not wearing a skirt.

* The Doctor does not tell Amy about the TARDIS not being sure about her being or not being pregnant...

* Matthew Graham is up to a double-Doctor story. And while some of us may be less amused by this, this has potential. I just can't wait to see the Doctor dealing with his own selves.

* Having said this, I'm sure that Doctor Number 11b is going to die sooner or later.

*Talking about dying... I'm glad that Rory has not yet and I hope he won't. That is starting to be ridiculous.

* What reminds me of the best line so far 'I think I died' - 'Welcome to my world.' And it's hard to top that.

* BTW, why is that guy keeping sneezing??? Is it important?

Anyway, let's hope that part 2 'The Almost People' will breath some new, preferable less artificial life into the story.

'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.

The Partners in Crime...

... talk Shakespeare.

I guess if you are a David Tennant and/or Catherine Tate fan you do not need a longer introduction to read this Telegraph interview in which the two of them are speaking about their upcoming Shakespeare-production Much Ado about Nothing. In fact it is the sweetest thing I've come across during the past months. Loved the way David said Catherine has been the perfect Beatrice in his head. Now that's a compliment. And it was just sweet how Catherine's commented as his 'publicist' that he won't answer the question of how he is going to cope with doing Shakespeare and being a newly minted dad at the same time. But knowing some of his interviews I guess we did not seriously expect him to answer that question anyway.

So, I really hope someone will adapt Much Ado about Nothing for film for those of us to whom London is not just round the corner... And until then we'll have to wait for some reviews.

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.

Welcome Back...

...to the ghasty RTD era.

Do I need to say more? Even though I have to admit that I did enjoy 'The Curse of the Black Spot' slightly more than the opening line of this really short review-ish something might indicate. In fact, up to the 'twist' everybody was teasing us about, it was even enjoyable and I dare to say that I've seldom come across better lines in a non-Moffat episode than in this one; just pick any of those which the Doctor said, really. And while these points alone should be more than enough to write a good episode, Stephen Thomson screws up things really badly towards the end...

Just out of curiosity... are they going to kill Rory every time when a story needs a bit of tension? And what is the point in Toby and his father being stranded with the pirate crew on a star-ship/whatever? How can they steer it anyway? It's not like steering an 18th century pirate ship would be so much the same. And are the strange, cryptic, spooky abilities of the Siren going to be explained in a *never-going-to-be-screened* part 2? There are more than just a few explanations missing.

All in all, although this one started off really promising, it ends up being one of this year's fillers, and one of the worse ones by definition. Which is a pity, because doing a pirate episode in Doctor Who could have worked so well...

Anyway, next weeks' story looks more than just promising, so let's hope for getting some compensation for this weeks rather ghastly masterpiece.

Lots of Questions and Some Answers

You watched 'The Day of the Moon' to find answers? Well, Moffat gives us more questions first.

It is fascinating that the internet is still up and working, instead of exploding with speculations after yesterday's episode.
Those 45 minutes started with Moffat invents the pre-titles-cliffhanger. Well, sort of. Some of the scenes were pretty fun but incredibly needless, come on, River jumping from the sky-scrapper and landing in the famous TARDIS swimming-pool, even if going by the scene it seems to be rather set into one of the walls of the library, than on the ground... And let's not get into details of why the water is staying at its place. But that is just a side-remark.

Anyway. There are a number of more serious points to speak about. Like, the really creepy Silence. But are they able to control time somehow? I mean, just before Amy went inside 'her' child's room (more about this later) there was this woman looking outside the small window on the door. Who is she? Where did she went and why did the door look different afterwards? Moreover, apparently Amy spent several months, if not years being a prisoner of the Silence. She seems to have forgotten everything about it. But how did they do that? And why does she not seem to have been missing for such a long time. Maybe the fact that the TARDIS can't make up her mind whether Amy is pregnant or not (it does show both) is a hint at this. Time also may be a bit more bumpy than usual, what could be an indication for them having changed something in the past after all (and I'm thinking at the picnic at the lake in the desert in 2o11...)

So, there was also that little girl with a bunch of timelord-genes whom the whole season seems to be about in the first place.
Funnily enough, the Doctor is out of question. We all remember why he got Rory on board of the TARDIS; I'm quite sure there is nothing left for interpretation there. It seems that either Rory or Amy is a Timelord (or a Timelady) then, however, I think that Rory is the more possible options. This is because we do know a few things about Amy's parents and her aunt, and they appear to be quite human. at least to me. On the contrary Rory's relatives are pretty much a mystery. I don't even know for sure whether they have been at the wedding of their own son... Additionally, he waited 2ooo years for Amy, and although he was 'plastic' during that time, he still remembers it and he is dealing with it the same way as the Doctor is dealing with his past. Which is a bit odd in my humble opinion, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

Another point is River Song. Who is she? We still don't know for sure (or at all) but at least we got another bit supporting our 'wife' theory. The kissing-scene was somehow intentionally unintentionally funny. And if her last comment did not make you said go and get a heart. Nevertheless, this was not the last kiss for her. She mentioned in 'Silence of the Library' (what a introspectively spooky title) that before she left he turned up on her doorstep with a bunch of flowers and so on... There is a touch of tragedy about her character. I'm really looking forward to the next time she turns up.

But first Amy, Rory and the Doctor are having an adventure with pirates and an optically not unattractive monster, for a change.