(Sat Oct 01 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) The season 6 finale, the Wedding of River Song, was an amazing story but within five minutes of finishing the first watching an anger over the episode erupted. I recorded some of that anger in audio feedback for The Doctor Who Podcast, hopefully they'll play it. Anyway... it was an excellent story with lots of depth, as we've come to expect from Stephen Moffatt, but there's a bit at the end that is just griping me out to no end.
(Sun Sep 25 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) It's the morning after the showing of Season 6b episode 12, 'Closing Time', and for the fourth time this season we are shown a dad finding his fatherhood to be with his son. Makes me long for a father who would have done that, but let's not take that detour. Each of the three episodes would appear to be 'standalone', as does Closing Time. At first glance they don't seem to be part of the overall season arc, but when there's four episodes with similar themes in the same season we have to pay attention and take a look. Especially when the season also contains portrayal of the twisted childhood of one of the most enigmatic characters ever in Doctor Who history, River Song.
(Thu Aug 25 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) The next season of Doctor Who is coming up - and the BBC has released this bit of a video to tease our appetite. The first half of season 6 left us with lots of questions.. like, why was that little girl regenerating? The trailers they released also leave lots of questions and tantalize with many new things. The entrance into Hitler's office is - well - fitting. It's clear the arc here is about The Doctor actually dying, or not. And clearly we're gonna see more of Eye Patch Lady, and somehow River Song has an Eye Patch at some time? Why would that be. Perhaps River Song doesn't get rescued from the Eye Patch Lady until she's an adult? Or..what? What's going on? Imagine Germany on the "eve of WWII" with a bunch of Doctor Who'ish crazy timey wimey stuff. Okaaaaayyy...
(Sat May 21 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) What happens when Doctor Who meets a twisted version of Frankenstein? What we get (this time) is Rebel Flesh, that is Flesh that goes on a rebellion. What happens when the creations of our technology take on a life of its own, starts running around making its own decisions, having its own offspring, and engaging in rebellion or perhaps what they might think of as a war of liberation? That's what we have in this story, a technology which can program "Flesh" to be "anything" hence create life, and what happens when it takes on a life of its own?
(Tue May 17 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) Okay, why are the black spots on the palm of the right hand, and in the episode before the recording gizmo thingies were punched into the palm of the right hand? Yeah, you noticed that too, eh? What do you think is the reason? I haven't a clue. Leave a comment below.
(Tue May 17 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) After the screwball tightly interwoven story arc laden season opener (Review: Doctor Who S06E02: The Day of the Moon and Review: Doctor Who S06E03: The Curse of the Black Spot), the powers that be must have realized we needed another "straight adventure" story with not a lot more than the episode in mind. That's more or less what we have - except the topic turns out to be something which fans for decades have pondered. Is the TARDIS alive, and what would the TARDIS be like as a person. That they got Neil Gaiman to do it is fabulous and the story which came out of it is simply beautiful. And, for once, the companion Doctor Who Confidential episode is actually worthwhile watching because it too is phenomenal.
(Sun May 01 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) In Matt Smith's first season it was the Cracks in Time which was the puzzle. They appeared in every episode and we were told that "Silence Will Fall" the "Pandorica Will Open" etc. Part of the Pandorica/Big Bang episode was the destruction of the Universe and silence (as in no noise) throughout the Universe. Indeed the ending of Vampires of Venice had the Doctor go "shhh" and ask Rory to listen to the silence (no noise). It was fair then to assume when they talked about Silence Will Fall that they meant no noise silence. Instead it's clear now it's showing the unconscious mind, shadow self, as described by the likes of Dr. Freud and spiritual traditions from the millennia. Many aspects of recent Doctor Who has been explicitly exploring this subterranean part of each of us.
(Sat Apr 30 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) Before the opening credits we see both Amy and Rory shot (apparently dead), River Song jump out of a skyscraper, and The Doctor as a prisoner in Area 51. Yup. Before the opening credits. What happens from there is a twisty story which took 3 viewings to begin to understand. I recommend taking this show in the appropriate dosage. Several times.
(Tue Apr 26 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) Season 6 of "new Who" opened last weekend with an enigmatic story (the Doctor dies!) containing an enigmatic murderer and many references back to prior Doctor Who episodes. To me the contents of An Impossible Astronaut point strongly to Silence in the Library. Inside the astronaut's facemask is the face of a little girl who we briefly see who, to me, looks like the little girl from Silence in the Library. (Well, it wasn't the exact same girl because in the credits we see "Sydney Wade" playing the "Little Girl" in this episode, while in Silence in the Library it was "Eve Newton") I'm expecting Day of the Moon to be even more strongly connected with those episodes.
(Sun Apr 24 2011 00:00:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)) We were rewarded for our long wait since the end of Doctor Who's last season with an inscrutable episode title: The Impossible Astronaut. The episode does feature a strange astronaut character but leaves us with a zillion questions. Of course that's to be expected for the first part of a two-part story, because we are clearly in the throes of "all h__l breaking loose". It was an excellent episode that's also a huge departure from the norms of Doctor Who.
(Sun Dec 26 2010 00:00:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)) Typically you'd think a Doctor Who episode named "A Christmas Carol" would involve traveling to 1800's England, meeting THE Charles Dickens, and having an adventure with him that somehow inspired him to write A Christmas Carol. There are plenty of Doctor Who stories where they do this, visit some actual historical place or event, meet historical people, etc. This episode doesn't involve any such thing, while still being heavily influenced by the Dickens story. What we have instead is the, uh, spirit of A Christmas Carol while not having any actual connection to the author and not retelling the exact story.
