Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "The Wedding of River Song"

THE STARS AND TIME ARE MY LONELY DESTINATION

Alas my expectations were not met. But I'm not sure why. This last episode of Season 6 fairly bounced along on a bouncy thing of its own internal logic and was a thoroughly entertaining ride and watch. I guess I expected to be more surprised than I was. That the revelations therein would be at the more extreme end of the mass speculation that this series has given arise to. Very last "Losty" in the end for me - though nowhere near the emotional deflation I felt watching the final moments of that series. In truth, it is a very rare gem that lives up to the anticipation of expection. We are slaves to our own perceptive reasoning and timey whimeyness. More fool us and is certainly no slight to those that strive to create through love and passion that which we all cherish.

No point in discussing the plot of the thing as I'd end up tying myself up in wishful thinking knots but here are some random bubble universal thoughts on this finale. The most important being the rebirth of the shadow Doctor. Applaud this loads. Bedone with the Jesus myth and begone this intergalactic Napoleon. Season 7 has a new gameplan with a more invisible Gallifreyan bouncing around singular episodes doing good deeds and keeping a low profile. Hopefully the writers can expand this return to the original horizons for the character. Gee whizz, maybe from the get go this was Moffats grand scheme of returning the show to pre-cancellation basics. Thumbs up if so. Went the long way around and did it the hard way though..

Liked the respectful nod to the Brigadier. More so because it changed the character of the Doctor. That in sadness he came to realise than no one can escape their ultimate fate. Smith was outstanding here. Loss, pain, realisation and resignation writ large on his oblong face. Even with wonky writing, Smith has the ability to rise above such ding dong dialog and make it matter.

So there was no second Doctor as I and many others had presumed. Instead we had a clockwork doppleganger who bit the bullets for the greater good. Loved that the "other" Tardis was actually inside the robot Doctor all the time. "Look into my eye." Indeed. Enjoyed that. Oooo, when was the switch then?

Bit sad that the River Song character arc sort of withered on the vine. And that her story really was nothing more than a plot whisper to create a fixed point in time. Though did enjoy that nice little scene with her and her parents in the garden at the end. Full circle. The Ponds were peripheral to the greater plot. Amy was hot in the suit. Rory didn't die again despite the best efforts and jive talk of the Silents. Cute coda that Amy and Rory will always find each other no matter what. Their overall destiny is that they are soulmates and destined to be together. Everything is right with the world when the geek gets the hot girl.

Design wise, very impressive look to the episode. Money on screen for sure. I could live in an alt-timeline like that. A sort of Vernetopia. How wonderful to see a British science fiction show done with such imagination and sheer bravura.

Despite my overall reservations "The Wedding of River Song." was a satisfying end to what has been a very enjoyable season. The feeling that the story has progressed and moved on is obvious. Another chapter in the tale of Doctor Who has been writ. Another piece to the jigsaw has been placed. Time is no longer standing still. The future is an exciting horizon. "Doctor Who?" said the head in the box as the Timelord stepped away from the limelight back into the shadows. Exactly. A new start. A new adventure begins. Roll on Christmas 2011 and Season 7.

Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "Closing Time"

THE ASTRONAUT COMETH

Well, that was kind of alright in a bubblegum sort of way. I approached this episode like trying to dodge the kissy kissy grasp of an over eager Aunt when it's your tenth birthday. Having survived the kitchen sink drama's of the RTD era, I feared armageddon was about to happen during a bout of heavy hoovering or ironing. And there was James Corden. Last season's "The Lodger" was perfectly fine mostly due to the eccentric watchability of Matt Smith. Pretty much the same here with "Closing Time." Smith again carried the day and the sense of impending doom/death was a nice counterpoint to the baby talk and poop. Corden was bearable - just. I thought the sprog had more gravitas than the rotund one and the funnier lines.

So, this was a 200 year older Doctor than the one seen in the last episode. I think. Since dropping Amy and Rory back into good old boring domesticated suburbia he's been galivanting around time and space having untold adventures which will all probably come out in paperback in the near future. But even a space alien cannot avoid the call of fate. Fate is a pain in the rear - especially when you know your own and the exact moment it happens. Heavy. You can only run so far for so long.

Liked the bit of the Doctor demonstrating the toys to the kids. Really liked the scene in baby Stormaggedon's bedroom where he transformed the projected singular stars into a whole epic galaxy spanning panorama of awesome wonderment. Loved when Amy and Rory appeared and that the Doc hadn't seen them for a very long time, was going to say hello, but thought better of it. Let them live whatever lives they're now living - Amy, a model!! Cool but not unexpected. So some nice little moments but not enough to make this rise beyond merely average. Pity the poor Cybermen. Boy, have they had a bum time of it lately. Stand up fall guys of the Universe. Arse kicked by the power of love. Ugh. Well, ok. This one is for the grannies and Titanic groupies. The ending was like being force fed head first into a candy floss machine. But there are worse things that could happen in space so I sighed and chewed harder on that bubblegum.

Then there was the other ending. Alrighty, this is more like it. Holy smokes. Cool. But I'm worried. I loved the final episode of last season. "The Big Bang" was a pure joy for me. A magnificent blancmonge of time travel timey wimey that had me grinning like a loon whilst watching it. No more fucking gnomes, peek-a-boo Timelords or half assed Deux whatevers. No, I'm worried because I doubt whatever answers Moffat reveals in the final 45 minutes of this season won't meet the expectations I've built up as the season has progressed. Season 6 has been great. The fun of it hasn't really been what's shown onscreen but what's implied offscreen. So many theories. So many fantastical possibilities of multi-timelines and multi-characters. It's been brilliant. I hope Moffat can at least pull off his own literary ambitions and give us an ending of epic storytelling.

Time will tell. As it always does.

Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "The God Complex"

HE REALLY WAS JUST A MAD MAN IN A BLUE BOX

I hate goodbyes. Goodbyes suck. You should only say goodbye when you know there's a hello again around the corner. Which is exactly wot we got last night in the "God Complex", the latest episode of Doctor Who Season 6. A great big soppy onion of an episode that was. All sorts of deep meaning and deeper revelations where the main characters discovered their inner faith - or not as in Rory's case. That was curious. Was Rory shown the exit because his death would have greater significance than what was obvious? Maybe his death is one of those fixed points in time where nothing can affect its true outcome. Amy's faith was nicely done and an "of course!!" moment. Lovely scene with little Amelia sat on her suitcase staring out of the window waiting for him to return. That she realised he really was only a "mad man in a box" was the beginning of the end of her adventures with him. Smith and Gillan were splendid there and their companionship shone through. The Wizard had pulled back the curtain to reveal his true self. Awww.

As for what the Doctor saw in his own room 11 - ah, of course. Why spoil the fun and break a gazillion  threads of fevered speculation and argument.

The more I think of this episode the more I like it. So many little "Oooo's" to ponder. Did he really eat that apple? How many Doctors were in that room full of mirrors? Has there been more than one Doctor running around in front of us all this time? What's with the boots? Oh, and different coloured bow ties! Was that Jim the Fish the alien ate? Is there a connection between water and portals? Are we jumping between multiple time lines and dimensions in this thing? Is Plymouth really that bad? And those peculiar little time jump quirks with Rory. Is he still hearing banging in his head? But since he's said goodbye will we ever find out? I guess the answers to that lie in the future in the past.

To finish, those last moments as the Doctor returns Amy and Rory back to their new home with their new HOT car was a nice emotional way to bring their journey to an end and to keep them safe. Time to get on with living and to grow old with the one you love. But, by gum, it's been a fun journey. For me, the great thing about Seasons 5 and 6 is the sense that we actually have been on an incredible journey and that each character has both grown and learned from the experience. The most inmportant being those lessons learned by the Doctor himself. That, no matter how much fun it is galivanting around time and space, you should never forget who you truly are and where you came from.

Can we have that Victorian, whip cracking, leather wearing, lesbian silurian for the new companion please...

Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "The Girl Who Waited"

THE LIVES, LOVES AND DEATHS OF AMELIA POND

The more I watch of Moffat's Doctor Who the more I think this is his long planned magnus opus about the mechanics and heart of travelling in time. A story told not through the adventures of the last alien standing from Gallifrey but of the lives, loves and deaths of the impossible Amelia Pond. Moffat is weaving a web of multiplex time streams around the story of a little girl who grew up to be someone extraordinary who destroys and creates universes in her dreams. 

"The Girl who Waited." was 45 minutes devoted to those moments where we consider the time we've had and the time we have left from both ends of the aging spectrum, and how time becomes more precious as we grow older and try to hang on to its finite elixir. That the older Amy Pond wanted to live on no matter how complex the subsequent paradox to keep her within the same universe and space as the younger Amy Pond was beautifully realised and performed by Karen Gillan. It was also the story of how much Amy loved Rory. A love that crossed different worlds in two seperate time streams. The sudden dawning for the older Amy that her love for her devoted nerd was still strong after 36 years apart and that to make him choose between her and her younger self was a choice too far. A moment where time stands still and weeps emotional loss. Give up your life so that your lover can be with the you you once were but can never be again. A story of sacrifice for the greater good.

An excellent episode all told. The el cheapo one. Simple and effective design. Loved the beam me down droids. Smith, Gillan and Darville were all on top form again. We see a Doctor confused, desperate, determined and cold. A dark hand player who is playing for higher stakes and his ultimate fate. As Rory put it, "You're making me choose and that's not fair." No it's not. Moffat's Doctor Who is the story of a time traveller seen through the eyes of a little girl. Everything that ever happened or ever will. The Doctor knows his fate. The time, the place and the method. He just doesn't understand the why. He's spent nearly two seasons trying to find out. He needs to fix his fate and Amy Pond is the key. Kudos to all concerned for a first rate episode.

And yes, Karen Gillan as a samurai ninja hot milf was just as good as I thought it would be.

Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "Night Terrors"

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Electric TV Review: Doctor Who Season 6 "Lets Kill Hitler"

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE KIDDING, MR HITLER?

 

Hello there, I'm a boney fido, card carrying, signed up member of the Time Travellers Guild for Temporal Displacement Junkies. To begin, I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank a certain Mr Moffat - all hail the mighty Grand Moff of Cricklewood - for giving me the kind of Doctor Who that I've always dreamed of watching as I grew up. Not so much the heroic adventurer in space but the bemused meddler in and of the time stream. Defeating pissed off pepperpots and sadistic bipeds dressed in tin foil is one thing but give me a flawed romantic who dabbles with destiny, tickles fate, laughs in the face of parallel triple paradoxes whilst wearing a fez and tux any nano second of the week. For me, this the stuff of mind wandering daydreams.

Moffat knows and understands the bonkersness of time. He also knows he has a limited time to play with it as his tenure as program show runnner is finite. The kid reading that Doctor Who paperback all those years ago has been given the best toy any toy giver can give. And so far he is running with it.  I remember watching "the Biggest Bang Evar!!" last season and sitting there with a silly grin spreading across my mugshot as the Doc suddenly appeared in the now wearing a fez and carrying a mop. Then he disappeared again making the now the then and the future the present in the blink of an eye. The resultant hijinks dancing along the viewer timeline was met with hearty chuckles from this chair - ably helped with a can of tizer and a packet of peanuts.Now THAT was a story about a time traveller. The questions and possibilites raised are what makes me enjoy this series so.

Despite being seriously disappointed with the last episode before the summer break, I thoroughly enjoyed Doctor Who - Season Six: "Let's Kill Hitler" which aired this weekend just gone. A fun trippy little adventure set in the early days of Adolf and his Third Reich that briefly touched on the whimsy that as we grow older our past takes on greater significance and meaning. That a girl born today of time travelling parents had grown up in the past when those parents were her childhood companions was a nice little rhyme that came to fruition as the story played out despite the now adult child being a dormant assassin with Gallifreyan murder on her mind. That the girl regenerated into River Song was nicely done though expected and obvious from the various themes that were sown during the season so far. As ever, the ensemble were on top form; though I must admit that when "Mel? who the hell is Mel?" popped up in the corvette as a sort of psychotic chav with an attitude I sensed a great disturbance in the force. So I felt a wave of "phew, thank fuck for that" relief when she got shot by Hitler and went on to blow the bloody doors off by regenerating like an enthusiastic firework. The thought that she might just be the new rumoured companion gave me a bad case of the hebeejeebies I can tell you.

Matt Smith is a joy to watch at times. It's the little moments that thrill. The look on his face, the slow "uh oh" pause, and whispered ".....it" when he suddenly comes face to face with Hitler is perfection. Arthur Darville is turning into the Tintin of the Doctor Who universe, Alex Kingston does a fabbo turn as an exhuberant domatrix trying to control her hormones, and Karen Gillan can massage a dollup of Vicks into my chest any time she likes.

So in brief summation: Very entertaining. And there were numbskulls in it. I mean NUMBSKULLS. HOW COOL WAS THAT?!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, psssst, another thing. The tux. What was that all about? AND those 32 minutes? What happened when he was in the Tardis for those 32 minutes????

 

Anyone got a Delorean?

Electric Snapshot:: Dr WHO "The Doctors Wife"

"HELLO DOCTOR."

I'm a fan of Doctor WHO but I'm not a Doctor WHO fan - if that makes sense. As far back as I can remember the Doctor has always been there in the background of my life. A constant flickering, sometimes noticed, sometimes not, during a Saturday tea time with fizzy pop, apple pies and cream buns. For all of my time on this planet, Doctor WHO has been there on a journey through time and space, written its tall inter-galactic and inter-dimensional tales, discovered its hybrid heritage and regenerated its own fan obsessed mythology. If ever there was something that defined classic longevity then it is the epic story of Doctor WHO.

Electric Snapshot is about frozen moments in time. Timeless moments that stand out amongst the normal static we endure. Doctor WHO has a fair few and I'm sure as time goes on I'll be devoting more posts about those classic moments I remember. For now, this is the first moment I've chosen. From NewWHO Season 6, this is from the episode "The Doctor's Wife" written by fantasy scribe Neil Gaiman and is a quiet moment when the eleventh Doctor comes face to face with his most faithful companion and devoted guardian - the soul of the TARDIS. It's moments like this which elevates this story of a time and space travelling alien above almost everything else on television. A story of someone who's best friend just happens to be the coolest thing ever invented/created in the known universe.

Retro Babes: Karen Gillan.

SOME WHOVIANS HAVE ALL THE LUCK

Hang on, so what regeneration is this?

Isn't he a little short for a Space and Time Traveller?

 Anyway, behold she of the "legs and fiery mane."