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I have finally seen Doctor Who!
YAY YAY YAY!
When I finally realized I'd gotten it all downloaded, I was like this:
And then I watched it, and I was like this:
And then like this:
It's not perfect. I've got some quibbles. But it was delightful.
And for once I have some thoughts before I read everyone else's! This is Lauren-reaction, concentrated.
Some thoughts I had while watching:
1. This episode was gorgeous. I don't know whether I just had a better quality download than usual, but it was so, so pretty. Such lovely colors! And so sharp looking! It fit the whole "sense of wonder" we're supposed to be getting from the show perfectly.
2. I kind of really wish that little Amelia was Eleven's companion instead of grown-up Amy. Not that Amy isn't going to be awesome. But how cool would it be to have the Doctor run around with this take-no-prisoners little girl? Who was perfectly cast, by the way! I would have loved that.
3. The figuring-out-his-tastes scene was adorable and awesome. "You're Scottish. Fry something." OH WOW. So, like, are Scots as totally obsessed with frying things as we Southerners are? WE SHOULD HAVE A FRY-OFF. Also, fish sticks and custard. Win.
4. The actual plot was just okay. It wasn't written as tensely as it could have been. But since the point was to get the characters introduced, that's okay. I forgive them.
5. I am totally confused about the whole Scotland-England thing. Okay, so in the first scenes, they're in Scotland, right? That's where Amy lives, and at the beginning he says something about crashing into Scotland. But then the rest of it happens and they're in England? WHAT? Her house is right there. Also, the Doctor says something about her having been in England for 12 years. What am I missing? I'm sure the answer is ridiculously obvious, but I'm not picking up on it.
6. I can't decide if Amy is really awesome and that's why I like her or if she just reminds me so much of my BFF whose names is also Amy and who has gorgeous pale skin and gorgeous-er shampoo commercial red hair and is snarky as hell. *ponders*
7. Nah, I think Amy's awesome. I was kind of shocked: has Moffat actually managed to create a well-rounded female character for the first time (to my knowledge) since Lynda in Press Gang? WE SHALL SEE.
8. Amy checking out Eleven while he changed made me lol so hard. There's potential that I might ship these two, which is kind of shocking, since DW is one of my non-shipping shows. (Yes! They actually exist!)
9. Sometimes when the Doctor starts talking really fast, I don't always catch everything he says, and it frustrates me because I'm sure it's something clever.
10. For no reason whatsoever, I kind of want Amy and Martha to be BFFs.
11. What's with the companion having a loser boyfriend trope? I mean, I liked Mickey, but haven't we done this already?
12. Everyone in this episode seemed very white to me. Am I right in thinking that everyone with a speaking line was white? Is Moffat going to have even more race!fail than RTD? OH GOD NO.
13. When she said the thing about being back before tomorrow morning, my heart sunk. AND THEN IT PANNED TO THE WEDDING DRESS. NO NO NO NO. We've done the Runaway Bride thing already! We married off Martha! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE WHOLE WEDDING THING NO!!!!! For some reason, this really irked me.
14. Everyone in town knowing about Amy's Doctor was AWESOME.
15. Trying on ties! Yes! And settling on the bow tie! Yes! The only way that could have been better is if he ended up in a seersucker suit. (The boy-BFF from growing up wears seersucker suits and bow ties. And constantly makes me laugh at him for doing so. It's a thing.)
16. I was a bit worried about the Kiss-a-Gram reveal, because in nearly every interview I've read, Moffat has gender!failed hard, and I didn't want them playing up the sexy-sexy thing. But! They didn't! It ended up being funny with the old woman and the "I touught you were a nurse" "I can be" exchange.
17. One thing: Smith seemed a little too Tennant-y to me. I realize he's just changed over, but I don't remember Tennant being that much like Eccleston at the beginning (when I think of brand!new!Ten, I think of the Lion King speech. Which Nine would never have given). I really loved that Eccleston was so distinct and then Tennant was, and I hope Smith ends up taking this version of the Doctor in incredibly new directions. He's obviously a good actor, and I like him a lot: I'm just looking forward to seeing how he develops Eleven.
18. I am so going to end up writing my first not-a-drabble DW fic about Amy during those twelve years. I already know it.
19. It was such a Doctor-y thing to do to call the aliens back and get all up in their faces, even if I feel like it was kind of an excuse to scroll through the other Doctors.
20. Yes. I like this. I like it a lot. Yay!
Now if you want to link me to your response posts, I'd love to read them! *hint hint*
When I finally realized I'd gotten it all downloaded, I was like this:
And then I watched it, and I was like this:
And then like this:
It's not perfect. I've got some quibbles. But it was delightful.
And for once I have some thoughts before I read everyone else's! This is Lauren-reaction, concentrated.
Some thoughts I had while watching:
1. This episode was gorgeous. I don't know whether I just had a better quality download than usual, but it was so, so pretty. Such lovely colors! And so sharp looking! It fit the whole "sense of wonder" we're supposed to be getting from the show perfectly.
2. I kind of really wish that little Amelia was Eleven's companion instead of grown-up Amy. Not that Amy isn't going to be awesome. But how cool would it be to have the Doctor run around with this take-no-prisoners little girl? Who was perfectly cast, by the way! I would have loved that.
3. The figuring-out-his-tastes scene was adorable and awesome. "You're Scottish. Fry something." OH WOW. So, like, are Scots as totally obsessed with frying things as we Southerners are? WE SHOULD HAVE A FRY-OFF. Also, fish sticks and custard. Win.
4. The actual plot was just okay. It wasn't written as tensely as it could have been. But since the point was to get the characters introduced, that's okay. I forgive them.
5. I am totally confused about the whole Scotland-England thing. Okay, so in the first scenes, they're in Scotland, right? That's where Amy lives, and at the beginning he says something about crashing into Scotland. But then the rest of it happens and they're in England? WHAT? Her house is right there. Also, the Doctor says something about her having been in England for 12 years. What am I missing? I'm sure the answer is ridiculously obvious, but I'm not picking up on it.
6. I can't decide if Amy is really awesome and that's why I like her or if she just reminds me so much of my BFF whose names is also Amy and who has gorgeous pale skin and gorgeous-er shampoo commercial red hair and is snarky as hell. *ponders*
7. Nah, I think Amy's awesome. I was kind of shocked: has Moffat actually managed to create a well-rounded female character for the first time (to my knowledge) since Lynda in Press Gang? WE SHALL SEE.
8. Amy checking out Eleven while he changed made me lol so hard. There's potential that I might ship these two, which is kind of shocking, since DW is one of my non-shipping shows. (Yes! They actually exist!)
9. Sometimes when the Doctor starts talking really fast, I don't always catch everything he says, and it frustrates me because I'm sure it's something clever.
10. For no reason whatsoever, I kind of want Amy and Martha to be BFFs.
11. What's with the companion having a loser boyfriend trope? I mean, I liked Mickey, but haven't we done this already?
12. Everyone in this episode seemed very white to me. Am I right in thinking that everyone with a speaking line was white? Is Moffat going to have even more race!fail than RTD? OH GOD NO.
13. When she said the thing about being back before tomorrow morning, my heart sunk. AND THEN IT PANNED TO THE WEDDING DRESS. NO NO NO NO. We've done the Runaway Bride thing already! We married off Martha! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE WHOLE WEDDING THING NO!!!!! For some reason, this really irked me.
14. Everyone in town knowing about Amy's Doctor was AWESOME.
15. Trying on ties! Yes! And settling on the bow tie! Yes! The only way that could have been better is if he ended up in a seersucker suit. (The boy-BFF from growing up wears seersucker suits and bow ties. And constantly makes me laugh at him for doing so. It's a thing.)
16. I was a bit worried about the Kiss-a-Gram reveal, because in nearly every interview I've read, Moffat has gender!failed hard, and I didn't want them playing up the sexy-sexy thing. But! They didn't! It ended up being funny with the old woman and the "I touught you were a nurse" "I can be" exchange.
17. One thing: Smith seemed a little too Tennant-y to me. I realize he's just changed over, but I don't remember Tennant being that much like Eccleston at the beginning (when I think of brand!new!Ten, I think of the Lion King speech. Which Nine would never have given). I really loved that Eccleston was so distinct and then Tennant was, and I hope Smith ends up taking this version of the Doctor in incredibly new directions. He's obviously a good actor, and I like him a lot: I'm just looking forward to seeing how he develops Eleven.
18. I am so going to end up writing my first not-a-drabble DW fic about Amy during those twelve years. I already know it.
19. It was such a Doctor-y thing to do to call the aliens back and get all up in their faces, even if I feel like it was kind of an excuse to scroll through the other Doctors.
20. Yes. I like this. I like it a lot. Yay!
Now if you want to link me to your response posts, I'd love to read them! *hint hint*
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It did feel a tad gratuitous but actually sort of laid the foundations for Eleven for me. I think he's going to be more confrontational than Ten but in a very nice, but hardline way if you know what I mean? I also think he's going to be off his nut. Which I look forward to.
I want this fic asap.
I think the reason Matt's a tad Tennanty is because the regeneration was very different. I can't speak for Classic Who but Matt regenerated into Tennant and kept running and so, I think there was a little bit of Tennant seeping through because it wasn't entirely out of his system? More over I actually think it's less to do with Matt himself and more that the writers are having to write for a new Doctor and they hadn't quite got that ironed out yet.
I was really worried about the short-skirted policewoman thing. But when she was revealed as a Kissogram it totally made sense. And usually, that would totally set my feminist alarm bells off but I felt that the reason she took the job is literally to pay the bills. I'm not entirely sold on Amy yet but she's sassy, she's confident ad most importantly, she's apparently very sexually confident which is nice to see in a young woman, because Rose, though I love her, was never really a sexual being, if that made sense? It was all romance. And Martha's fail was that she mooned like a 12 year old which was entirely unfair to what could've been an awesome, awesome character; whereas I think Amy, now as an adult, is part childhood worship and part 'Oh I fancy a bit of that'. I don't know, I saw it her job as less of a 'sexing up Doctor Who' move and more, 'this is a quick way to introduce Amy as being practical and confident'.
I loved that everyone knew about the Raggedy Doctor, I thought that was adorable.
I so called the wedding thing. I think it is hackneyed and silly but there's not much to be done about it at this point. I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but that seems to be the trait with the redheads.
I think the overly Caucasian was possibly part of it being set in a relatively rural, tiny village where there's been little influx of inhabitants over the years. From what I can tell, it shouldn't be that bad actually. I think there are a couple of POCs in The Beast Below from what I could tell of the trailer. But on that we'll have to wait and see. I'd like to believe in Moffat so giving him the benefit of the doubt.
I think the loser boyfriend was wonderful and sincerely hope he makes more of an appearance. Yeah it was a tad Mickey esque but I feel like the Doctor might like him? Idk. Again, hackneyed but nothing much to be done.
I so ship Amy/Eleven. Which I almost feel a little bit weird about but I sort of love it because I feel like, had Martha lived up to her fierce potential in early S3, we'd have this kind of dynamic. And I love this kind of dynamic.
See, I count Susan from Coupling as being quite well-rounded. By necessity everyone in that show is a stereotype but I loved Susan because she was confident, she was good at her job, she was sexually confident and devoid of embarrassment and generally a little bit awesome.
The Scotland-England thing was entirely badly explained. They were in England the whole time but he thought it was Scotland because she was Scottish. I think.
The plot was a bit fail but since it's primarily an establishing episode, I can deal.
LITTLE AMY WAS ADORABLE, I WANT HER BACK EXCEPT WE CAN'T BUT SHE'S ADORABLE. And they found out, at the first readthrough, that actually she and Karen are cousins. Which endlessly amused me.
I think it was shot in HD? It did look stunning. The director talked a lot during the Confidential and it's clear he paid attention to every single second so I'm really pleased. I mean it looked beautiful.
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i love finding you random places on my flist. never leave me, bb.
oh i missed the race part of this post. bbc is usually BETTER about race than us tv is, but that is saying next to nothing. martha was awesome because, unlike with gwen on merlin, her status as a black woman was an explicit PART of her character but did not in any way hinder her character, and that was GOOD. i do dislike how gwen's blackness gets completely ignored, because i don't LIKE race blindness. SHE'S A PERSON OF COLOR AND SHOULD GET APPRECIATED AS SUCH GOD DAMN. even though gwen as a black person has never made sense ANYWAY but it was ballsy of bbc to do and i fucking love it. i just wish they carried it as well as they carried martha. because martha made passing reference to the fact that as a black woman the world judged her and then they made it explicit in human nature and it was beautiful and i love martha i wish they had treated her better.
/tangent.
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That is the one thing they never fucked up with Martha which I have to say I do love. I mean, I have such issues with Martha (because a) Freema really wasn't the best actress back in the day and b) I was so looking forward to her being a no-nonsense, awesomesauce doctor who didn't fall for the Doctor's shit and was like fine 'don't want to shag me? I will find someone worthier of my time tyvm' but the show decided not to go there until like, the end of the series which frustrates me so much because GUYS SHE COULD'VE BEEN AWESOME AND YOU LEFT IT TOO LATE. See: Torchwood. She was excellent in that. /tangent) But they actually handled the race thing quite well. There's the slight issue of no-one making an issue of the fact that she was black when they saw Shakespeare but that was down to how much they wanted to make her the Dark Lady so, I sort of understand their ignorance of history there. But kjhsfhksdf Human Nature is fabulous, I love it so much.
Gwen on Merlin - I mean, colour-blind casting is all well and good and making a black Guinevere is huge and really interesting, as long as you actually do something with that. I love her principle, but her character is a huge example of showrunners doing a 'tell and not show'. Stop telling me she's good and wonderful and perfect ant show me that. OR, you could show her with the slightly confused morals and bordering on insanity that her current situation would undoubtedly leave her with. They do such a good job of making everyone else seriously questionable when it comes to their morals but somehow Gwen, who of them all in the myth has perhaps the most questionable morals (bar perhaps Morgana), comes out as some kind of paragon of virtue. Which again, I'd be okay with if I actually saw her being virtuous as opposed to being a servant girl that gets fallen in love with and falls over quite a bit.
SORRY I THINK THAT WAS ALL A MASSIVE RANTY TANGENT :(
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And admittedly, I've not watched it recently so I could've built this up as being more prevalent than it was, but I do remember loads of little instances where he's rattling on and she's just looking at him like he's perfect and wonderful and all she could want when actually she's worth so much more than him and deserves better. I say that as someone who did like Ten but my god he was such a twat to Martha. I always felt that had Martha dealt with her feelings for the Doctor by episode 2, I would have enjoyed that season so much more. Eventually she did, she led the resistance, she left him, she got engaged (to TOM. BECAUSE I AM NOT OKAY WITH THE MICKEY THING) and generally did awesome. Which is why I much prefer the end of S3 when she's sort of got over it.
Does that make sense? I'm not sure it made sense. I need to rewatch S3. I need to rewatch a lot of things.
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MICKEY THING WILL NEVER MAKE SENSE. They don't know each other and bam they're married. The hell. And yes, DOCTOR TOM. I really really hate when shows drop things like that with zero explanation. Those two were perfect.
But no, I def agree that they should've had Martha react to him being an ass, which he was and not take it and let him know that. I was always half-expecting her to explode into a rant mid-episode and she never did.
Which is why whenever Donna let him have it I CHEERED.
OH DOCTOR WHO. I have too many feelings about you. And I know. Though really I should stop inhaling new shows left and right so I can do rewatches.
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also re: 5, they're in england - amy has just moved to england to live with her aunt from scotland because her parents are -- well, i'm not sure if they're dead or left because amy seems to suggest they left? idek. discussions.
re: 13, yeah, bitch isn't getting married. i hope she isn't. because i ship it and she is too good for that awkward boyfriend of hers. things i've learned over the years: companions fall in love with the doctor exactly when they shouldn't. the only one who got out of it was donna.
also mickey and martha getting married is still fucking absurd who came up with that plot and where is doctor tom.
- ftr, unlike you, and most people on my flist apparently, i ship the FUCK out of who. and most people on my flist have A Ship but i ship EVERYTHING that is not involving rose tyler because the fandom ruined that shit for me a long time ago. but i have shipped doctor/martha and /donna and now /amy and probs some other ships along the way. i have a problem. it's a significant problem. my hope is that one day i will fall in epic loff and then the fictional relationships will stop having so much pull because i'll have my own.
discuss, this is my theory about myself. LIVING VICARIOUSLY it's a problem of mine. tv has ruined my expectations for the real world.
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I HAAAATED THE WEDDING THING. THANK YOU. And not for shippy reasons because I do not ship these two at all. You're right we've been there before and I kind of watched season 1 and 2 really quickly i.e. two weeks time, but the one thing I always hated was the Mickey desertion. That scene where Rose has been gone for ages and Mickey is trying to talk to her and OOOOH SHINY DOCTOR and she runs off and just leaves him? DNWWWW.
And coming out of the age of Donna, where they actually managed not to go the romantic route and how AWESOME it was, I'm just really bitter that we're hit with all of this one episode in.
And I hate that the boyfriend is cast into the 'loser' role because he isn't the Doctor. I hate that the show sets it up that way. Like Amy, my dear, if you don't want to be with him, don't be with him. The fact that she's marrying him and isn't at all invested there just WHY. Why not make her single? Or him just a close friend at best? Why even go there? I don't even want to think of the future break up scene.
ALSO WTF I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN THAT EPISODE AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL. MICKEY AND MARTHA WHHHHHY. Especially since Martha belongs with the doctor who sacrificed himself for her in The Last of the Time Lords.
I really wish grown up Amy was half as awesome as bb!Amy though. I don't really care about Amy Pond and it hurts my heart because Karen Gillian is brilliant and so lovely and I've watched all her little interviews and I so want to like her character.
The way they played it I do not even believe the twelve psychiatrists thing. You know when you're watching something and you think it's going one way and then it goes THE OTHER WAY and you are convinced your way would've been superior? Basically.
I would've liked Amy a little more unhinged, a little more distrusting. A little more traumatized about the whole Doctor is back wth. It would've made much more sense to me had she rationalized him away and it was then left to him to gain back her trust and make her believe and I know Moffat said just as much when he asks her to believe for twenty minutes, but eeeh, I didn't buy it.
Matt Smith, who I was so wary of, was pretty good, but I do agree with you, he's borrowing a lot of David and I don't blame him nor do I mind a whole lot. There is a lot of hate for Ten, but I kind of love him to death so seeing shades of him in Matt's portrayal doesn't irk me.
But yeah, I see myself enjoying the episodes, but unless they do something drastic re: Amy, I don't see myself caring for her a whole lot and will remain the one person who doesn't want her with the Doctor.
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How sad is it that I kind of expected that with the casting of the Doctor and the companion? Or maybe I'm just really cynical.
IDK the most balanced example of race on television is probably always going to be Degrassi. Say what you will about the show (they have their issues omg), but it's at the very least an honest reflection of the population it is supposed to be representing (i.e. teenagers in Toronto.) And on top of that actually gives the same screen time to white characters as it does POC characters. IT'S NOT IMPOSSIBLE, GLEE, BUT YOU KEEP PRETENDING IT IS.
Also that was four psychiatrists, twelve years. I knew that. My fingers as they typed that did not though.
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I LOVE AMY I DO I DO I DO and I also love Mickey II (his name is Rory but he will always be Mickey II to me). I do hate the whole "men who aren't the Doctor (or Jack Harkness, when he's around) are silly losers" angle that they're constantly pushing, pushing, pushing, but I loved Mickey II's 'he sent the aliens away and now he's bringing them BACK??' thing.
But yeah, back to Amy: I love her. I love wee!her's snarky awesome. I love her for her four psychiatrists she wouldn't stop biting. I love her hitting the Doctor with a cricket bat. I love her handcuffing him to the radiator. I love her slamming his tie in a car door. I love her pretending to be a policeman and her making her boyfriend dress up like her "raggedy Doctor" and everyone in town knowing who he was too and AMY, OMG. I thought I could never move on from Donna, but I was so wrong, and I am happy for it.
It was such a Doctor-y thing to do to call the aliens back and get all up in their faces, even if I feel like it was kind of an excuse to scroll through the other Doctors.
I LOVED THAT. I'm such a sucker for badass speeches that somehow involve listing off past badassery. I've never even watched old Who and I nearly threw my hands into the air and screamed when they did that and finished it up with "Basically? Run." Aaaaaaack.
He's obviously a good actor, and I like him a lot: I'm just looking forward to seeing how he develops Eleven. Worrrrd. I can see why he might make an actual acting choice to not be too different right away, since Tennant is so SUPER FAMOUS and iconic in fandom now and I feel like he's got a lot stacked against him; I've seen so much pre-premiere hate on the Internet for him you'd think they hired Paris Hilton or something.
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The girl who played little Amy is Karen's RL cousin. This makes me very happy!
So, like, are Scots as totally obsessed with frying things as we Southerners are? WE SHOULD HAVE A FRY-OFF.
Deep fried Christmas Dinner. Deep fried Mars Bars. (I kid you not!) By all means, have a fry-off! :)
I didn't see Rory as a 'loser' - he has a good job (that he's good at), and is obviously observant and clever. I'm hoping he'll be a Rhys, and not a Mickey! :) (Mickey became awesome, of course, but...)
The Doctor at the hospital was Asian. (And a woman.) But yeah - English village people are very white.
Anyway I have to run, but my review is here! :)
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I no longer watch Gossip Girl for a number of reasons...but Chuck and Blair have a special something.