A little late this week – partly thanks to being rather busy, and partly thanks to the fact that I wasn’t exactly blown away by “The Vampires of Venice”. The Who rollercoaster of quality continues – a shorter TV-related ramble follows. And, as usual, fear the spoilers…
‘I knew you were going to say that! Did anyone else know he was going to say that?”
A brief delay, and we’re back. And let’s just say, I’m feeling a lot better about Who than I was at the end of ‘Victory of the Daleks’. As usual, fear the spoilers…
And there I was thinking I was going to get nothing to grumble about. No, I didn’t really like ‘Victory of the Daleks’ that much – so here we go again. And fear the spoilers…
Once again, it’s time to look at Who. I won’t be writing this much on every week (if only because on the current form, it’ll get very dull writing “Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are both brilliant” over and over again), but it’s time for me to get my teeth into an episode that may not have knocked my socks off as much as last week’s, but still had plenty of delights on offer. As usual, fear the spoilers…
Yes, it’s been a busy week. Yes, it’s taken me longer to write this than I wanted. And yes, I loved last Saturday’s episode. I’d have loved it even if I’d watched it on my own, but seeing it in a gigantic hall with hundreds of other sci-fi geeks, and then getting to hang out afterwards with friends and essentially go “Squeee!” lots, was rather amazing. As you’d expect, fear the spoilers…
‘Why does nobody ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listen to? Again?’
So. I’m in that situation again – a new series of Who is about to start, a new Doctor is about to be properly unveiled. And this time… I’ve actually done a pretty good job of staying away from spoilers. While I have watched the trailers, I haven’t seen too much of the upcoming episodes, and I like being in this situation. I haven’t even properly seen the TARDIS interior (beyond the small details on the main cover of the Radio Times – I haven’t opened up the ‘gatefold’ bit so I haven’t seen the whole thing), which means I’ll get my first proper glimpse this Saturday when I watch the episode with a whole bunch of people at Eastercon. And I like this. I used to go hunting for spoilers to a ridiculous degree, but I like being able to approach this with an open mind.
And while five years of ups and downs with New Who has certainly taught me to be cautious… I have to admit that I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. It’s possible I might end up eating my words (hell, I thought RTD doing Who would be a slam-dunk of brilliance before I saw it, and it took me a long, long time to get used to his style). I’m also not expecting this version of Who to be non-stop brilliance – I mean, Moffat is a fantastic writer, but he’s also had his ups and downs. And, as he’s said in interviews, coming in once a year, being brilliant for an episode and then disappearing off again is very different from actually being the head honcho. It is, though, going to be a bit weird to be almost thinking in the reverse pattern of the way I’ve approached New Who before – I spent big chunks of the show looking forward to the points where RTD wouldn’t be writing it (especially in the dark, dark days of Aliens of London and (*shudder*) World War Three), and now it’s going to almost be the reverse situation – in the upcoming season, there’s a whacking great six-episode run that’s free of Moffat, and which also has the slightly worrying prospect of a Chris Chibnall-written two-parter (anyone who saw either season finale to Torchwood will know exactly how horrifying that might be). Who knows? There’ll be ups and downs. There’ll be moments I love, and moments I detest.
But I really am liking what I’m seeing. A lot of the changes seem pretty sensible. It does look like the tone is shifting in a slightly weirder direction. It does look like the show is actually going to be… different, while still keeping lots of the original DNA. I’m sensing more of the kind of changeovers that happenned in Classic Who in the 1960s, where there’d be a slow but definite shift of tone, rather than some of the later handbrake turns (going from Horns of Nimon to The Leisure Hive, for example…). It’s nice that it seems like they’ve realised that while obviously they don’t want to break the show (especially now that it’s the most succesful it’s ever been), they also know they’ve got to keep it moving; that Doctor Who lasted for so long because of its capability to change and evolve with the times.
And I’m liking what I’m seeing of Matt Smith, too. I suspect it might take a little while to get used to his style, but from the clips I’ve seen, he does seem to be approaching the whole thing with a very distinctive sense of energy. And this also seems to be a very Doctory – it’s nice to see that we’ve actually gotten to the point where we’re allowed to have a posh Doctor again, and it’s good to see that it really does look like a different take on the character. Tennant’s Doctor did eventually acquire his own style and personality, but there was a while where it did feel like you could have slotted Christopher Eccleston into his episodes and it really wouldn’t have made that much difference (especially in S2). This does feel like we’re going a different way – time will tell whether it works, but I’m going to watch, and I’m going to see. And I’m sure I’ll be jotting my views down here (whenever I can fit them in between my current rather terrifying workload).
Who is back. A new phase is beginning. It’s looking like this is one fandom I’m never going to completely kick. And I’m actually quite happy with that…
…and the RTD era comes to an end. Fear the spoilers…
It’s the beginning of the end. Fear the spoilers…
It’s been several weeks, and this has been lurking around for a while – partly because I forgot, but also because this is the most ambivalent I’ve felt about New Who for a while. Some rather rambly thoughts follow, and – as usual – fear the spoilers…
Evian’s sponsorship deal with the new Mars colony goes… a bit wrong…
Okay, it’s been a slightly odd week for me. A combination of anniversaries have left me feeling a tad melancholy, I’ve been swept off my feet by a broadside of work, and I’m also still in one of those frustrating grey areas where I could get news that’s either exceptionally wonderful or kinda disappointing at a moment’s notice. And so, naturally, my reaction is to write some more about Doctor Who. Brace yourselves…
Arc of Infinity, Carnival of Monsters
Saxon Bullock 