Sometimes I Really Miss RTD.

I am so glad that I saw this review of "The Time of the Doctor." The review managed to deal with quite a few of my problems with Moffat-era "Who" ... especially his dealings with female characters. I still feel that there is a bit of inherent sexism in Moffat's era of "Who" that there wasn't in RDJ's era (and that it's something that colors most (if not all) of the female characters that he creates regardless of the show that he's working on at the time).

This bit really seemed to hammer it home (at least for me):

... these women [Rose, Martha, and Donna] were individuals, full-blooded characters with back-stories, motivations and quirks entirely their own. They were people, whom no one could ever confuse one for the other.

On the other hand, who was Amy Pond?

Er ... she was hot?

And who is Clara Oswald? Well, she's hot, too, but in a more coquettish sort of way. And, er ... that's it.

Take any of the Moffat-era stories, swap Amy for Clara, Clara for Amy, and what changes? Nothing, nothing at all.

Truest of true stories. Amy and Clara are not much more than set dressing, and I've said it before that we don't really know Clara at all (even if 11 might have gotten to know her a bit during adventures that we didn't see).

And also, the Trenzalore paradox ... yes. This. There is no way that any of series 7 can make sense if we take away the fact that he didn't actually die on Trenzalore ... unless the death happens sometime later, but I don't think that it will. I have the feeling that Moffat isn't going to go back to Trenzalore, and is going to try and timey-whimey handwave us into forgetting that Trenzalore happened, and that since there was no way that Clara could have gone into the time stream without there being a time stream there in the first place, she wouldn't have been able to become "The Impossible Girl."

'The Name of the Doctor' -- DW 7x13

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I am still having an issue with the idea of the doctor crossing his own timeline ... again. I didn't like it during the big bang 2, even though I was willing to handwave a little bit and try to convince myself that the whole universe was fucked anyway, and with it being so small, there was no way that he wouldn't be able to cross his own timeline at least once. But this time ... with the doctor and Clara going to his grave cuz some dude who was about to get hanged said something about it ... bollox. At what point do you go, "Ok, we've gotten this information from someone who may not be all there. Crossing your own timeline is also no bueno. How about we just don't tempt fate on this one and leave it alone? Cuz sometimes, going after something that you shouldn't will be what causes bad things to happen, not prevent them."

I will fully admit to only really liking River during the library episodes, and once we found out that the River that we were seeing in this episode was the copy from the library, it did make me wonder a couple of things. 1) How would she have been able to get into the conference call? It was essentially a dream that the other four were having, with a bit of "let's play with time" added in, so how would someone who is essentially a digital echo of someone get into the mind of people who are biological? The electrical currants of the brain might be able to interpret what was going on, but I'm still having a bit of a problem with having this jive inside my head without the others having been "jacked" into the system that she is now a program of (a la The Matrix or something). If anyone has any ideas on this that will make my brain not want to reject this out of hand, I would love to hear what you have to day. And 2) I keep going back to River's saying to 10 in the library that that was the youngest that she had ever seen him. The thing of that was that it implied (at least to my mind) that she had known more than one version of the doctor, which isn't outside the realm of possibility (since Rose knew 9 and 10, and Sarah Jane new 4 and 10). And even if River is somehow able to stay ... I don't know ... hacked? ... into his brain and come to know 12 and/or 13 (or even the doctor that isn't the doctor), that doesn't mean that real!River would know them. I guess that I just figured that she would have known more than 11 ... but then, this may mean that we will see less and less of River, which doesn't make me sad, since she annoyed me overall.

I want to call bullshit on Clara. I'm actually kind of ok with their explanation as to why she kept appearing everywhere (even though, I'm not buying the whole, "I couldn't ever seem to get his attention ... even though I've interacted with him before he was 11 (and am the one who apparently told him which TARDIS to steal). And so, he never remembers me until it is totes convenient for him to so that I can become a dues ex machina"), but the fact that she didn't die once she entered the "scar tissue" ... despite the fact that River just said that she would be disintegrated ... I'm calling bullshit on that. It would seems rather stupid to get rid of a companion that soon, but if you're going to have her told that if she does something, she is most certainly going to die ... and then, she doesn't cuz she's magic ... I call shenanigans and demand that they do a redo until someone comes up with something that doesn't contradict itself (cuz I'm not going to accept that she's too magic to die in the thing that she was told two seconds before would kill her).

And having a new "doctor" that isn't the doctor (cuz he did something that he didn't do "in the name of the doctor") ... isn't that essentially creating a 14? And would this alternate not!doctor be able to regenerate into other bizzaro!doctors (which could feasibly become a new adversary, a la The Master)? We already have Tinkerbell!10/10.2 ... and now we're getting someone else who appears to be outside of the normal 13. What is it with the doctor and having off-shoots of himself? I mean, really?

'Nightmare in Silver' -- DW 7x12

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Yet another episode that I wasn't altogether thrilled with. The thing is that it was something that really could have been fantastic ... and something that I think that under normal circumstances, I might have been pretty happy with. But I think that the way that I've been pretty underwhelmed with this series has colored the way that I've looked at episodes that I might have otherwise liked. Hell, the fact that Warwick Davis was in the episode, and that he turned out to be the emperor probably would have given me all kinds of fangirl glee otherwise ... but there was no glee, I'm sad to say.

But speaking of Warwick being the emperor ... good on the girl (whose name I am completely blanking on) that Clara is the nanny for, and her ability to pay attention to things that are around her. Being the only one to figure out that he was the emperor, even while everyone else was thinking that he was just another doode that was hiding out in the amusement park ... she gets a shiny star sticker for that.

And I'm not sure that the writers really did well enough with the whole, "wanting to get away from being emperor" thing. Sure, he felt bad about everything that has happened to humanity since the war, but it didn't seem like things were really bad enough for him to not want to be who he was (and to want to run away from his life). But part of it might have been the way that it was acted, with there not being enough sorrow there? Or a combination of the two, maybe? But whichever it was, I wasn't quite believing that there was really enough horribleness for him to want to run away from it and be someone else (and I get the feeling that I was supposed to).

Also, from the preview for this episode, I was under the impression that we were going to see Jenny again in this episode. But it turned out that the person that I thought was Jenny was someone else entirely. So, I suppose that we will have to wait for Jenny in some other episode (since, from what I understand, she is supposed to be in one this series).

'The Crimson Horror' -- DW 7x11

Warning: Spoiler Alert

While I was gratified to see Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax in another episode, since the three of them amuse me so very greatly ... I am still rather bored of this season. I'm even getting rather bored of the "mystery" that is Clara ... not that I was ever overly interested in finding out what is going on with her (the most that could probably be said was that I was mildly interested in finding out what is happening).

It would have been nice if the doctor would have actually answered Jenny's question about what the whole thing with Clara was all about, instead of blowing her off in that regard. For all we know, the three of them would have been able to put their brains to task and gotten some kind of answer for the doctor so that he can stop freaking out about what it's all about. They may not have, but we don't know that at this point; and besides, sometimes having someone else look at something may give a new perspective that may help in getting answers when you're stuck.

And really, I think that it's kind of amazing [/sarcasm] that the doctor is the one who is so in need of an answer about Clara. It's her life, and yet, she's not the one that needs to know anything about this great mystery. And the thing is, it seems as if the doctor had left her alone in the first place, there would probably have been no mystery to begin with. If he hadn't gone chasing after her, she would have just been a normal girl, and there probably wouldn't have been multiple versions of her. I would not be at all surprised if everything comes back onto the fact that she started traveling with the doctor, and the traveling is what threw her into different times (kind of like with River ... if he had just left Amy and Rory alone, Amy wouldn't have gotten pregnant while she was traveling with him, wouldn't have gotten kidnapped, Melody would never have gotten kidnapped and programmed to kill the doctor, and she never would have gotten herself some Time Lord energies).

Also, I thought it was kind of strange that the kids that Clara is a nanny for were able to happen across all kinds of pictures of her from different times. That seems like a bit of a stretch. And I don't see why they would necessarily think that it was her, or that their first instinct was to go for "ZOMG! She's a time traveler!!" when that isn't something that most people would really consider (even within the DW universe, there aren't that many humans who know who the doctor is, or that he can travel through time, so it doesn't seem like this would be most people's first reaction). And it kind of bothered me that the writers had her built up as being clever (even if it was something that came about cuz of something that was done to her), and she felt the need to correct them about where she had been in this episode. On the one hand, yeah, she's clever and maybe wants to be specific about where and when she actually was, but that still doesn't mean that she should tell the kids what is actually going on. Wouldn't it have been more clever to keep that information from them, and pretend like she didn't know what they were talking about? Especially when she doesn't know if the two of them will be able to keep the information to themselves? For all we know, they might tell their dad, who (if he believed them) might freak out and send her packing; and they might tell their friends (or whoever else) which might send "X-Files" type authorities to pick her up. It's not like traveling with the doctor is the safest thing that you can do; it's not just the danger that he puts you in while he's with you, it's also the fact that he has made so many enemies over the centuries who may use you to get to him.

'Journey to the Center of the TARDIS' -- DW 7x10

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm starting to get the feeling that cuz of the 50th anniversary stuff that is coming up, that the writers really haven't given as much attention to whatever else is going on in the season that is leading up to it. It would be fantastic if it felt like there was some thought put into what was going on, instead of feeling like they were just needing to fill up some space between what they were doing in series six and what will be happening with the anniversary.

I have absolutely no sympathy for either of the brothers who made the third think that he was an android. What they did was completely shitty and motivated out of a desire to get even with him out of resentments that they had (about him being the "favored son"). Just did it for a laugh ... whatever. And even if the truth was kind of copped to by the end of everything, I still don't have any sympathy for anything bad that happened with either of them.

I still twitch slightly whenever there is a "crossing of timelines" when it comes to the doctor or any of the companions. I guess that it really got drilled into my head that what should be happening (back with 9) was that they should never do that, cuz of all of the horrible things that could happen when they try to "fix" their own timelines (yes, I learned my lesson from "Father's Day"). I was kind of willing to let it go with "The Big Bang," since the universe had become so small, and they needed to do a bit of cross pollination to make sure that the universe was able to reboot itself ... even though I was still not entirely happy with what I felt like was a retcon of canon. But 11 throwing the grenade through the tear did not make me at all happy on the inside. It felt too much like the writers were being a bit lazy ... like they were borrowing old tropes from the show (having 11 deal with stuff like "The Big Bang," and having there be a rip in time like all through series five ... sure, that sort of thing could happen again, but using a rip in time again (which looks so much like the one that they used in series five, only standing vertically), and have it be so close to the rip that showed up through an entire series ... too soon).

The one thing that I can say that I liked about this episode was the fact that 11 finally came clean with Clara about what has been bothering him about her all this time. I didn't like the fact that he wasn't being honest with her about what was bothering him, especially since it's coloring at least some of his attitude of her (yeah, still very much bothered by the fact that he asked the empath in last week's episode what she was, instead of who she was ... like she might have been something less than person, but that may not have been the intent). Maybe they can finally start dealing with shit, instead of him trying to keep what he's actually doing from her while he's simultaneously trying to show her around and try to figure out what the hell is going on with her.

'Hide' -- DW 7x10

Warning: Spoiler Alert

So far this is the only episode that I haven't wanted to throw against a wall from the second half of this series ... which isn't saying a whole hell of a lot considering the fact that it still wasn't as great as one would have hoped that it might have been.

I am still kind of bovvered with the fact that 11 asked what Clara is ... not who she might be that would facilitate her showing out throughout history, dying at different points, and reappearing later or earlier on, but what she is. The thing that bothers me about the use of terminology with this question is that there seems to be an underlying assumption that she isn't human ... or at least that she isn't a person, but that she is a "thing". But the fact that 11 keeps referring to her as a mystery that he needs to solve, instead of just an interesting person that he would like to have travel around with him goes along with this train of thought as well (though to a bit of a lesser degree). Yes, he would like to know why she seems to keep popping up all over the place, and he doesn't know why that happens (which creates a tickle in his brain), but that doesn't mean that she should be referred to as anything other than just a person, especially since we have not been given any kind of information that would make us think that there is anything other than human about her; and at this point, it seems better to err on the side of "don't be a dick" than to start referring her to anything other than a person.

Having 11 be afraid ... in a way that was kind of refreshing, especially after Time Lord Victorious, and having our dear boy always assume that he's the most clever person in the room, and make sure that everyone else knows it. Sure, he may be the most clever person most of the time, but that doesn't mean that other people aren't clever as well, and won't be able to figure things out that he wouldn't be able to figure out (since they may have some kind of specialized knowledge about what's going on around them that will put them on better footing than the doctor would have).

Also kind of fab to have the "monster" of the episode not actually be a monster, and just be someone who is desperate to be back with the one that he loves. I love it when things get turned on their heads, and we see that we shouldn't judge others by what they look like.

'Cold War' -- DW 7x09

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I wasn't really impressed with this episode. It felt far too much like it was nothing more than filler material. It would be really nice if I didn't get that feeling about it, especially when we've been waiting for new episodes since December.

I'm really hoping that there's going to be some kind of pay-off when it comes to the anniversary special, what with this season not really being all that fantastic (and generally feeling like it is almost going to be made up of filler material.

Hopefully next week will be better ... but I don't think that I'm going to be holding my breath on that.

'The Rings of Akhaten' -- DW 7x08

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Was I the only one who thought that the Queen of Time (and the other people who worked at making sure that Grandfather stayed asleep) looked a whole hell of a lot like the priestesses who were in "The Fires of Pompeii"? It really was mostly the red that they were wearing, and I might not have thought that they looked so very similar if there hadn't been any of that there.

Also, the doctor came off as kind of a creepy stalker in this one. Yes, he wants to figure out what the deal is with Clara, and how it is that he's met her so many times now (in different times), how she's died in two of them, and how she keeps managing to be alive all over the place ... but that doesn't mean that following her around and watching her grow up can't be seen as kind of creepy.

And when the doctor gave himself up to Grandfather ... he came across as a bit suicidal ... at least, that's the way that he looked to me. It almost seemed like he was telling Grandfather to kill him, and he seemed like he was sad enough (probably about everything that has happened recently, and not just Amy and Rory, but probably Donna as well) that he wanted to stop going on.

Amy's glasses ... the glasses that she only wore in "The Angels Take Manhattan" ... I guess that they're a "thing" now. Seems kind of a weird thing for him to focus on (when trying to remember Amy), since she only wore them right there toward the end of her being a companion. You would have thought that he might have done something that was a bit more significant to her time with him, or have something around that she actually used more than once and left in the TARDIS. But maybe the writers were trying to give him something that made him look a bit more like your grandpa? Maybe? But it also makes me sad that he seems to have completely forgotten Rory; it only seems to be Amy's loss that is important to him. It doesn't really surprise me, however, since Rory was pretty much treated like a third wheel for the majority of the time that he was with them (even though he pretty much worked as the conscience of the group).

But I do have to say that I like the new jacket. I really like the fact that it's a bit longer, and only part of that is cuz of the fact that it's something that not everyone would necessarily wear. Hizzah! for being a little bit of an odd duck.

'The Bells of St. John' -- DW 7x06

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm still not sure how I feel about Clara, but part of that may be cuz I'm still not sure about the whole mystery that is surrounding her. I think that maybe if I knew what was going on with her, I might like her a little bit better. I'm also not entirely sure that I really like the fact that she got her smarts from being downloaded into the internet and returned to her body. It kind of feels a bit like cheating. That does make a bit of sense for later on, when she gets downloaded into a Dalek body (as far as possibly continuity goes), but it feels a little bit too much like the writers were saying that she needed some special boost to be able to keep up with the doctor.

I'm also not sure why the doctor would say that being a nanny is "Victorian," since there are nannies and governesses all over the place, and sometimes doing that kind of job is something that someone is suited for. Maybe it was something that Clara kind of fell into after the death of her mother, but that doesn't mean that she couldn't enjoy doing it (or that she isn't good at it). And even if she didn't particularly enjoy it (which there was no indication that she didn't), sometimes you have to take a job that you don't necessarily like so that you can save up some money to do things that you do enjoy. It may just be messing with his mind cuz the Clara that he ran into during the Christmas special was also a governess ... and she was only helping out for a while.

I really hope that whatever it is that is going on with her, we aren't disappointed by the reveal. Seems like there is a possibility of being all kinds of buildup, and then, having everything kind of fizzle out at the end.

Also, the new interior of the TARDIS ... am I the only one who doesn't particularly care for the TARDIS changing? I still miss the look from back when nine and ten were in there. I kind of got used to the interior from when the Ponds were there, even though I didn't like it as much. But this one ... it doesn't make all kinds of sense to me if they're really going to have buttons and knobs that the doctor (and whoever else) need to deal with that aren't on the main control panel. It doesn't seem very efficient to make him run all around (and not have the things he needs right in front of him) if there's an emergency. But maybe it was only something that they were having him do this once, or something that Matt thought would look cool, or something?

Even though Moffat has said that there isn't going to be an over-all story-arch for series seven, I have a feeling that we are going to see the Great Intelligence again at some later point. The only thing that makes me think that maybe that is going to happen is that the face that we saw at the end that was supposed to represent the Great Intelligence was the same guy who played Doctor Simeon in the Christmas special. So, if we're going to keep seeing a reoccurrence of Clara, maybe we're also going to see a reoccurrence of baddies that are surrounding her that all kind of look like this one guy (otherwise, why use the same actor in the introduction of the new companion in the Christmas special, and then, again when she comes onto the series proper?).

'The Angels Take Manhattan' -- DW 7x05

This post brought to you by the best Easter Egg ever ... and also by the second best Easter Egg ever.

Ok, I do have to say that Amy and Rory went out of the show like pimps. With as much as Amy typically got on my nerves, I was glad at how she reacted when Rory decided that he was going to jump off the building to create the paradox. He has always seemed like he was willing to do more for her than she has been willing to do for him, so it was nice to see that she was willing to jump with him, instead of making him do it alone. It really made me think that she loved him, and that beyond it all (no matter how much she cares for the doctor), she really is in love with Rory and doesn't regret being with him. That and even more so when the angel unexpectedly gets him, and she decides that she is going to let herself be taken by the angel as well, just on the off chance that she might be able to be with him again. And yeah, at first I thought that River was only telling her what she wanted to hear when she said that Amy would end up in the same time and place as Rory, but after thinking about it for a bit, I wonder if she didn't already know that the angels were going to get Amy and Rory cuz she had already been with them after it happened. And I also wonder if River hasn't studied the angels and has a bit of a working knowledge of things that might happen when dealing with them; and if the only reason why the doctor doesn't know things for sure about them cuz he hasn't really paid that much attention to them ... I mean, he knows that they're there, but he hasn't really gone out of his way to figure out how and why they tick.

And as far as the angels being in NYC, I don't see how that would be a good idea for them. It's an awesome idea for a story, but when you are in the city that is famous for "not sleeping," how do you get around the fact that there are people around all of the time (night and day), and there is bound to be eyes on you all of the time? It makes things far more tricky for getting your meals (when you can only get them when you aren't being watched) than I would think they would want to put up with. And the Statue of Liberty being a weeping angel, also a very cool idea, but how does no one notice the Statue of Liberty walking around? Especially when she's creating minor earthquakes when she does it? At some point, someone (probably many someones) is going to look outside to try to figure out what the heck is going on.

There also seemed to be a whole hell of a lot of people turning their backs on angels and having dick happen to them. We've been led to believe up until this point that even blinking will ensure that you are fucked when it comes to the weeping angels, but there wasn't nearly as much of the "I'm going to eat your face ... and also your future" that we've come to know and love from the angels in this episode (at least it seemed like that to me), and that made me kind of sad.

I am also really wondering what the doctor is going to tell Rory's dad, seeing as how the doctor promised that they would be alright. Sure, we as the audience were likely to be made suspicious (at least I was) when the doctor told Pops about his previous companions and how some of them had died, but still, he promised. Well, in a way they are ok ... it's just that they're in the past, and there is no way for the doctor to go get them since they're now fixed points in time (but why 10 and Martha weren't fixed points in "Blink" as far as continuity within the show is concerned is going to make my head hurt if I start thinking about it too much). I started wondering after I watched the episode if Amy and Rory would go try to find Brian when he's a kid and see him (at least from a distance). He might not know that they're there, but they would at least be able to see him and know that he's alright. Someone I'm friended to on LJ wondered if River would be able to use the vortex manipulator to bring them forward in time, but if the two of them are time locked now, I'm not sure that would work (even if the vortex manipulator is able to get into places that the TARDIS isn't able to).