I had completely forgotten that this starts again! I used to be obsessed with this show and I think it's safe to say that this show was the starting point of my exploration of my own geekiness. During my childhood and early teenage years I was more of a book nerd so I missed out on watching a lot of things as they aired. I guess after I finally watched all of The Lord of the Rings films (extended editions of course) and fell in love with what film can do, I started catching up on what I missed. I watched the last 2 seasons of Lost having stopped watching it some time season 1 and then I discovered Doctor Who. I think I wanted to see it because it had David Tennant but being the person that I am, I wanted to start from the beginning. I mean, not from the sixties but with the first series of the new show. And I loved it. It had all the characteristics that I love in TV; it was fun, silly, didn't take itself too seriously but still had emotional storylines and made me care about it. I could not stop watching it. After DW I found my inner geek through Buffy and rest of Joss Whedon's work, watched all of Lost and Fringe and then Supernatural and so on.
I think by the time series 5 of DW aired I was all caught up with previous episodes and ready for more. Since then my excitement has mostly gone away. I have nothing against the actors, I think Matt Smith was a wonderful Doctor and I adored Rory. I confess, I never liked Amy because of the way she was written. Every female companion Steven Moffat has created has a mystery about her. It's not about showing the universe but solving her, and they all seem to fall for the Doctor. It was new and fun with Rose, but then there was Madame De Pompadour, Martha, River and probably others that I can't remember (not counting Joan Redfern, she fell for John Smith) so by the time Amy came along it was just plain boring. Here's another girl who grows up dreaming and obsessing about the Doctor, how exciting! At least River seemed different, at first. She knew everything the Doctor did, she put him in his place. And then one tiny line destroyed her entire character for me. In series 6 when she explains her relationship with the Doctor to Rory she says "I live for the days I see him". Really? This amazing, accomplished, independent woman lives for the days she sees a man? Somehow, this does not seem right...
Of course there are countless other sexist jokes/remarks all over the show which is also getting really annoying.
Another issue I have with the show since Moffat took over is the complexity of the plotlines. I love complex, multi-arc stories but I'm getting really tired of what Moffat is doing. From what I understand the Silence/Doctor dying/TARDIS exploding story is now over but I have to say I have no idea 1) what the hell was going on or 2) how exactly was it resolved. Lost was complex but at least it was enjoyable, and Fringe, in my opinion, got better once the other universe was introduced (Lincoln <3). Doctor Who had good series-arcs while RTD was in charge but now it just seems complex for the sake of being complex.
I hope series 8 will bring some of my excitement back. Like I said, I had forgotten about this show so I have not seen any previews, interviews or spoilers. I have no idea what to expect from the new series and the new Doctor. I like Clara, though I hated the mystery about her, and at least she is so far not crushing on the Doctor, or if she is then I have either forgotten about it or repressed it. I am looking forward to seeing what Peter Capaldi will do with the character and I am definitely a fan of his accent. Based on the Christmas special I expect this to deal with Gallifrey at least a little bit and I have to say I am a bit anxious about this plotline (damn 50th anniversary episode for undoing so much of what the new show and new versions of the Doctor have been).
Now about the episode itself, I love seeing Jenny and the rest. It's wonderful to see a lesbian couple as recurring characters and hopefully the show will continue to develop them, though maybe there is no need to point out every five minutes that Jenny and Vastra are married.
I don't really feel really comfortable to discuss most of the plot since it seems to be something that will continue in the future episodes. It seemed interesting enough, though that "promised land" seemed creepy. Not sure what to think of the droids harvesting parts and other references to past episodes. Are they just references or foreshadowing that will actually become important? I guess we'll see but there was so much focus on them that I hope they are not just references, but something that will be picked up on later episodes, otherwise, what's the point of recycling old ideas? But Moffat, don't you dare change the past again and make it meaningless.
I'm not completely sold on Capaldi yet. That was made clear by Eleven's appearance. It was fantastic to see Matt Smith again and I do miss his Doctor. I think that Twelve will be great and I do like him but it's going to take some time to get used to him.
I don't know yet if I'll make weekly posts about these episodes, I guess that depends on whether the show catches my interest again or not. If I do continue posting they'll be more detailed on the episodes, since I usually like to watch everything twice before writing about it but unfortunately I did not have time this week. Also the posts would go up either Sunday or Monday, depending on my writing schedule.
No comments:
Post a Comment