Doctor Who thoughts after 5.13
Jun. 29th, 2010 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rumpelsnorcackI feel almost wrong saying this, but I think this was my favourite season of New Who. There were a few episodes that I didn't care about so much, but that's been true of all the New Who (Planet of the Dead I'm looking at you, here ...). When this season started I was sure it couldn't be as good as the previous four and especially the last 2 parter. I was still completely wrung out from Ten's departure and I just couldn't fathom loving or even liking a new Doctor. By 'fish custard' I was almost reconciled; by the end of the episode I was entranced with Eleven and for a long time that seemed so wrong. I remember feeling the same way when Ten first appeared: I missed Nine so much but there was something about Ten that pulled me in. I guess I'll just have to reconcile myself to the idea that I'm just going to love all the new Doctors :D
As to why this was my favourite season ... well, there are several reasons. First, it had a point -- from the start it was all building to this, not random words and pictures slotted into the background, but pieces of all the plots seemed to combine to point to the ending we got. Some things that seemed almost to fit in the episodes that they were in, but were always a little odd, come into perfect clarity in the finale: the weird 'remember what I told you when you were seven' and how her parents carved faces in apples even though they clearly didn't exist. All these things become important now and I love that. I also love that it wasn't tied in a neat bow and that strings tie it into the next season.
Second reason I love this season is the characters: Eleven is just so wonderful. He's both impossibly old, tired and sad and young and vibrant. He has times where he's almost brutal, like at the end of The Beast Below, and times when he's an incredible softy. He is witty, fun, charming, silly, alien and I just love him. His wind back through his timeline was so affecting and dammit I want more Eleven right now!! The minor characters he takes us to meet are also really interesting. River is an amazing female role. I know a lot of people don't like her, but I love her. I love that she can face down the Doctor and she makes him uncomfortable, and I love her 'one more time' and 'it died' -- anything that can make a dalek quake with fear is awesome in my book. Vincent Van Gogh is fantastic too; what a lovely portrayal of such an iconic character, and I love that he sees beyond the surface and can see that there's something going on with Amy. Amy herself is lovely. I adored her by the end of The Eleventh Hour, and she grew on me more and more as the series went on. I love that she is torn between the fantasy life she dreamed of as a child and the man she knows she loves, and that in the end she gets to keep both *happy sigh*
That, of course, brings me to the character I love most. I've been watched Doctor Who all my life (spent a fair bit of time being terrified by the daleks as a kid and all) and this is the first time a secondary character has ever been more of a favourite to me than a Doctor. In fact I'll go so far as to say I think Rory is my favourite Who character of all time. I just adore him. Arthur Darvill is so sweet as the bumbling, insecure, patient, caring, stable person in Amy's life (the only one, as far as I can tell, that she ever had), and his Rory also grows up through the series. Especially after Amy's Choice when it became as obvious to him as it was to me (and apparently to the Doctor) where Amy's heart actually lay, Rory became a much more confident and secure character. There was always the seeds of that Rory in him but he let himself be insecure and didn't let it show. By the time of the last two episodes Rory is just fantastic, and that image of him waiting 2,000 years guarding Amy because he didn't want her to be alone -- there are no words for how awesome Rory is. Then, after the reboot, Rory is back to the slightly bumbly foolish one we met at the start (who I still love, by the way, and who still has the seeds to be the awesome man he becomes) and yet when the Doctor pops back into existence Rory starts to get back that steel he gained because now he remembers -- he knows what he's done and where he's been and the Rory who runs away with Amy and the Doctor is a lot closer to the Rory we had during the last few episodes. I hope that one stays with us and keeps growing, because one of the things I love most about him is his development through the series.
The last thing I love about this season is the shippiness and the happy ending. Happy ending!! And we get to keep Rory, and he's married to Amy! The whole season was one big 'Doctor ships Amy and Rory' and tries to keep them together. I love that he knows he's stuffed up so many people's lives and is determined this time to avoid that -- that he goes and picks up Rory because he wants Amy to have that stability and (hopefully) have something to go back to when it's all over ... someone who will understand her, everything about her. And the two of them together are so bloody cute. I love that they each have what the other needs: she's all fiery and impulsive and alive which shakes Rory up a bit and he's caring and stable and always there for her in a way that no-one else ever has been. Amy's Choice is still my favourite episode because there is so much lovely character development and it's such a shippy episode.
Now I need a TARDIS to flip forward through the year. Two things I am waiting for don't turn up til November or later *sigh* I guess there will be re-watches galore until then. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Harry Potter trailer to wait for ...
As to why this was my favourite season ... well, there are several reasons. First, it had a point -- from the start it was all building to this, not random words and pictures slotted into the background, but pieces of all the plots seemed to combine to point to the ending we got. Some things that seemed almost to fit in the episodes that they were in, but were always a little odd, come into perfect clarity in the finale: the weird 'remember what I told you when you were seven' and how her parents carved faces in apples even though they clearly didn't exist. All these things become important now and I love that. I also love that it wasn't tied in a neat bow and that strings tie it into the next season.
Second reason I love this season is the characters: Eleven is just so wonderful. He's both impossibly old, tired and sad and young and vibrant. He has times where he's almost brutal, like at the end of The Beast Below, and times when he's an incredible softy. He is witty, fun, charming, silly, alien and I just love him. His wind back through his timeline was so affecting and dammit I want more Eleven right now!! The minor characters he takes us to meet are also really interesting. River is an amazing female role. I know a lot of people don't like her, but I love her. I love that she can face down the Doctor and she makes him uncomfortable, and I love her 'one more time' and 'it died' -- anything that can make a dalek quake with fear is awesome in my book. Vincent Van Gogh is fantastic too; what a lovely portrayal of such an iconic character, and I love that he sees beyond the surface and can see that there's something going on with Amy. Amy herself is lovely. I adored her by the end of The Eleventh Hour, and she grew on me more and more as the series went on. I love that she is torn between the fantasy life she dreamed of as a child and the man she knows she loves, and that in the end she gets to keep both *happy sigh*
That, of course, brings me to the character I love most. I've been watched Doctor Who all my life (spent a fair bit of time being terrified by the daleks as a kid and all) and this is the first time a secondary character has ever been more of a favourite to me than a Doctor. In fact I'll go so far as to say I think Rory is my favourite Who character of all time. I just adore him. Arthur Darvill is so sweet as the bumbling, insecure, patient, caring, stable person in Amy's life (the only one, as far as I can tell, that she ever had), and his Rory also grows up through the series. Especially after Amy's Choice when it became as obvious to him as it was to me (and apparently to the Doctor) where Amy's heart actually lay, Rory became a much more confident and secure character. There was always the seeds of that Rory in him but he let himself be insecure and didn't let it show. By the time of the last two episodes Rory is just fantastic, and that image of him waiting 2,000 years guarding Amy because he didn't want her to be alone -- there are no words for how awesome Rory is. Then, after the reboot, Rory is back to the slightly bumbly foolish one we met at the start (who I still love, by the way, and who still has the seeds to be the awesome man he becomes) and yet when the Doctor pops back into existence Rory starts to get back that steel he gained because now he remembers -- he knows what he's done and where he's been and the Rory who runs away with Amy and the Doctor is a lot closer to the Rory we had during the last few episodes. I hope that one stays with us and keeps growing, because one of the things I love most about him is his development through the series.
The last thing I love about this season is the shippiness and the happy ending. Happy ending!! And we get to keep Rory, and he's married to Amy! The whole season was one big 'Doctor ships Amy and Rory' and tries to keep them together. I love that he knows he's stuffed up so many people's lives and is determined this time to avoid that -- that he goes and picks up Rory because he wants Amy to have that stability and (hopefully) have something to go back to when it's all over ... someone who will understand her, everything about her. And the two of them together are so bloody cute. I love that they each have what the other needs: she's all fiery and impulsive and alive which shakes Rory up a bit and he's caring and stable and always there for her in a way that no-one else ever has been. Amy's Choice is still my favourite episode because there is so much lovely character development and it's such a shippy episode.
Now I need a TARDIS to flip forward through the year. Two things I am waiting for don't turn up til November or later *sigh* I guess there will be re-watches galore until then. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Harry Potter trailer to wait for ...
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-29 03:40 am (UTC)And Eleven is pretty awesome too! :) You must just have good taste. (And I love even more that your children are following suit!)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-29 04:56 am (UTC)Edit: dammit, I need to remember 'default' picture not always valid haha.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-04 09:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-05 07:32 am (UTC)