Review Deep Breath Doctor Who

So if you have never read my reviews before be warned, I don’t do a standard blow-by blow review.  I’m more about what does it all mean, Easter eggs and predictions.  And cursing *shakes fist* MOFFAT!

First things first. “Girl in the fireplace” didn’t impress me.  There I said it.  I liked Tennant.  I liked Rose.  It just didn’t overwhelm me. Was it Mickey?  In fact when everybody was gushing over it, I went back and gave it a second go round.  Still no.  For period pieces, give me Liz I (Tooth and Claw)(Torchwood!!) or Shakespeare(The Shakespeare Code)(57 academics just punched the air). Maybe it was the bummer ending.  Maybe it was because Tennant was supposed to be in love with Rose and it was against character, I don’t know.  I just never sat well with me.  But oh well, we have a new baddie and I will have to go back and watch it AGAIN. –SIGH-

Can I pause here to say, THREE CHEERS for the PaterNostor gang?  I love these guys! This is how to handle multi-companion storylines without over doing it.  (Ahem, Peter Davidson era I’m looking at you!) The TARDIS seemed crowded when they had all those companions and since the TARDIS is infinite that’s pretty hard.  And here is where we shake our fists at MOFFAT! We heard more of Strax and Vastra’s back stories today. But what do we know about Jenny’s back story?  And then it hit me.  Jenny.  JENNY! Moffat always said he was going to bring her back but he never said he was going to bring Georgia Moffat back!   She could have regenerated!  She might not want The Doctor to know who she is.  And working for the PaterNostor gang would seem to fit in perfectly with the budding personally that Jenny (the Doctor’s Daughter) had. MIND BLOWN!

So, back to the regeneration of The Doctor.  I see a lot of Colin Baker’s regeneration in this regeneration, at least for now.  When Peter Davidson changed into Colin Baker there was much chaos and confusion.  In fact, the Doctor tried to kill his companion.  All in all, Peter Capaldi’s Doctor has adjusted slightly better to being doctor, I think.  But he is darker.  I don’t remember another Doctor advocating genocide. In fact in Genesis of the Daleks, he argues strongly against it! This darkness calls to mind the Valeyard.  I think that The Doctor is now the Valeyard! This accounts for the Timelords interference at Trenzalore and maybe even that last scene.  I’m betting that that is the Matrix.  But if that is the Matrix is this all a dream?  How far back?  I know everyone hated the tacked on ending at the end of Trial of a TimeLord, but series do that all the time now.  It wouldn’t be farfetched for Moffat to pull from old episodes.  And who is the mysterious woman at the end of the episode?  I heard lot of theories from Mary Poppins to Madame de Pompadour.  My personal theory?  The Rani! If that truly is the Matrix than the Time Lords could have put her there for punishment or is she in the Doctor’s imagination for some reason.

So those are my thoughts, at least for now.  I’m sure we’ll have many more clips and spoilers before next week’s episode.  Knowing MOFFAT, purposely misleading! Allons-y

P.S. I also write poetry if you like broody, or romantic or anything. Check out the rest of my blog! :) Thanks!

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12: Part 5- Trials and Tribulations

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

 Part 5- Trials and Tribulations 

An epic production of length, Trial of a Time Lord, finds the Doctor having to defend his life, his lifestyle and personal choices.  The punishment for being found guilty would be permanent death.  Several things are mentioned often about this episode that do not seem to fit in to traditional Doctor Who lore.  Many people objected to the death of Peri so they made it not happen.  There is a lot of jumping about, mental, in this episode and it doesn't seem to flow properly.  The internal issues at BBC had plagued Colin Baker’s tenure as the Doctor and would flavor even his death.  He didn't even get a proper regeneration.

UP NEXT Part 6

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12:Part 4- Strifes, Strikes and a Trial

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part 4- Strifes, Strikes and a Trial

Caves of Androzoni was not an overwhelming episode.  It played off the ideas of Phantom of the Opera with the ultimate goal of eternal life.  Why do evil masterminds never get creative?  They are always searching for ultimate power or eternal life.  For a regeneration story, this lacks pizzazz.  The Doctor sacrifices himself to save Tegan.  The budget restraints of the BBC again show their ugly head.  The regeneration sequences seem unfinished.  In later interviews the Director and producers et all, indicated that there HAD been more planned with the SFX and filming more dialogue to be shot.  There was a strike or two to work around.  Not a good beginning for Colin Baker’s Doctor.  His first story was Twin Dilemma.  A sub par plot of a would be tyrant trying to take over the universe.  This Who episode has some of the worst Doctor Who cliches, including rubber masks, running down endless corridors over and over again, and 1980’s SFX.  There is a second Time Lord present and we don’t get much information about him of the Time Lords.  Also he dies without regenerating!  Colin Baker went on to have the worst time in the TARDIS.  The threat of cancellation was constantly over head, and several strikes ending up closing down BBC for significant periods of time.  This causes The Doctor to be put on Trial.  In the show it was the Time Lord high counsel but in reality it was BBC.

Coming Next Part 5

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 Part 3-For whom the Bell Tolls

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part three- For whom the Bell Tolls

When Tom Baker decided to leave I’m sure the BBC was in a lurch.  Would the show survive?  But this is what regenerations are made for!  In a three part series, The Keeper of Trakken/ Logopolis/ Castrovalia, Tom Baker left the show and Peter Davison took over the role of The Doctor.  Logopolis is a kind of messy episode, jumping all over the place.  This is the first time the Cloister Bell is heard, sounding alarm.  The Doctor decides to fix the chameleon circuit after who knows how many years it’s been broken.  Then the Master shows up.  Then we are on an alien planet to fix the TARDIS and the Master follows.  It seems like a script writer was given certain elements and told to make it work.  But it doesn't.  Then we have the Doctor crossing his own time stream.  Don’t cross the streams.  Then the Doctor has trouble with his regeneration.  What do his companions decide to do?  They play “Which Way” with the TARDIS, immediately falling into a trap set by the Master.  It is not till the end of Castrovalia that we get a idea of what the new Doctor is about.  This may have been done on purpose to place more time between Tom Baker and Peter Davidson.  When we do get the Doctor new clothes, it is an outfit of cricket clothes(that aren't really cricket clothes) and celery.  I’m sure at the time no one knew what to think.  Later producer said that this costuming was because of a newly growing American audience.  We also have a superfluity of companions.  No Doctor until David Tennant has ever had more “companion” in the TARDIS at once.  This overload of characters caused issues with plot development.  They were eventually written out to help concentrate on character development.

Regenerations #1-11 Part Two Leftbridge-Stewart and More

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part Two- UNIT, Leftbridge-Stewart and More

So now we know the Doctor can regenerate, although it was not called that yet.  The term renewal is used.  The Doctor has resumed his traveling ways.  He has new companions and new adventures.  Most of these adventures are missing due to a cleaning at the BBC.  Those who were alive should count themselves lucky to have seen such Classic Doctor Who.  But all good things must end. (Where have I heard that before?)  For Pat Troughton’s last episode we find the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie literally in the middle of a war zone.  It turns out that the Time Lords are having war games with each other.  They are using humans from different historical periods to fight their battles for them. (Could this be a foreshadowing of the Time War to come perhaps?)  When The Doctor finally figures out what is going on he has no choice, he must contact the Time Lords.  The Doctor has been a fugitive from his own people and they intend to punish him for it.  They force him to regenerate.  This is the first time we are shown that Time Lords have powers other than just having the ability to travel through time.  It is also shown that Time Lords can control regeneration.  There is a glimpse of the mental powers that Time Lords have but it is never quiet fulfilled either to the audience’s satisfaction.  End scene, fade to black, Hello new doctor.  A rock fall from space and according to the Time Lords, an Angel has fallen from grace.  The Doctor is now to be confined to Earth under the sentence of the Time Lords.  The TARDIS is barely functional.  How will the new Doctor handle this?  With aplomb, wit, and cool rides apparently.  The Doctor is now an advisor to UNIT(which at this point stands for United Nations Task Force) He’s the superspy granddad kids wish they had.  He also has a new enemy, The Master, a ying to his yang.  He does rather rant occasionally about not be able to leave Earth.  He also spends much time trying to fix his TARDIS.  The third doctor’s first episode establishes this more proactive character, a more theatrical incarnation.  He is also very physical, due to the fact that Jon Pertwee had been in the Navy.  He was the only incarnation of The Doctor to have a tattoo.  It was never mentioned, mostly covered and occasionally seen.  The Doctor is paired up with his old Friend Leftbridge-Stewart.  He has the distinction of having met the most incarnations of the Doctor. The restriction of remaining on Earth was due to the BBC, not the Time Lords.  These budget cuts affected the show if you look, although the series did begin to shoot in color. 

Coming next-

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 Part 3-For whom the Bell Tolls

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part One- DOCtrine, cannon whatever you choose to call it, Numbero Uno, The First

William Hartnell was the first.  When he decided to leave the show for health reason the BBC had to make a decision cancel the show or continue on.  They didn’t want to cancel the show and they didn’t want to cover it up like the American stations did on Bewitched(look it up)  Footage is rare except that of the actual regeneration, although at the time it was called a renewal.  Unfortunately most of the episode Tenth planet is missing.  I can’t say how Harntnell acted out his last lines, or how Pat Troughton went about establishing his person and quirks.  This regeneration also sets up the tone for how all future regenerations are experienced.  If it had failed, we would not be talking about a man in a blue box today.  This is the only pre/post regeneration sequence I have not PERSONALLY seen, excluding the clips that remain.  The transcripts I believe are available due to zealous fans who recorded the audio for TV shows so they could “watch them again and again.( Go, right now, kiss your DVR! Then kiss wherever  magic device you use to surf the web.  It is thanks to them, and people who imagine bright futures watching shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, no other TV show will ever have this problem again.)  There have been rumors floating around for years that these tapes actually exist.  If they were mine I would make sure the world could have them.  That being said maybe they are holding them for the 50^th. 

UP NEXT- Two goes into Three how manytimes? War Games and Spearhead from Space

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Trailer

So we kinda got a fiftieth trailer… Well the 2000 people that were at comic con got a trailer.  The rest of us got the promise of a trailer sometime in the future.  We also got threatened if anything leaked to YouTube that there would be no more goodies at comic con for us(them).  Well the trailer for “An Adventure in Time and Space” leaked already.  Guys, if you were gonna leak a trailer and get us in trouble you leaked the WRONG ONE!!!! Fortunately several media outlets had coverage and described the trailer in detail for us.

Here’s a link to the beebs review of comic con http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/07/doctor-who-panel-recap-matt-smith-says-thank-you-to-the-fans/

It doesn’t seem to reveal anything that wasn’t in the “press kit”, excuse me, media coverage from April when the “filming” went on.  There were no real “gotcha” moments.  We knew the Daleks would show up.  We knew there would be a wand weighing, sorry, sonic screwdriver comparison.  The catchphrases MUST be used.  Everyone had pretty much guessed that the Time War would be involved.  I wanted some new details.  I want to know who else is in it.  We know like 10 cast members.  How can you do a 1 to 2 hour movie with 10 cast members?  How long is it?  I’ve heard anywhere from 1 to 2 hours.  John Barrowman said he wasn’t involved.  When Moffat said Jack might be back, was he just being mean?  Is River going to show up?  Will the other Doctors be involved either live or digitally?  Moffat is just plain mean!  Oh well, we get to stew for another 4 months.  Or until they put up a REAL trailer!

P.S. BBC has already pulled the one leaked trailer so if you missed it you weren't fast enough!

P.P.S. Check out my Regenerations twelve part review and other blogs.

My FIRST Doctor...

So everyone says you always have a soft spot for your first doctor.  I think I like Doctor Who despite my first doctor. My first episode was the first episode of the new version.  I am too young and too American to have seen the original.  There had been no expectations.  I had watched other modern BBC programming but never a sci-fi.  For some reason there is no vivid recall of a lead up to that first episode. I don’t remember a great advertising campaign, or someone telling me about it. I just remember watching it.  Then suddenly the doctor was a part of my life, as much as if I had grown up watching the original serials on Saturday mornings in Britain. 

Chris Eccleston may be other things but he just will not be remembered as Doctor Who. The only important thing he did was further the plot. He introduced us to Rose and Jack. For that we should be nothing more then grateful but as the doctor he just didn’t impress me. 

Then… REGENERATION

David Tennant will always be my first doctor no matter who I actually laid eyes on in which temporal order, after all this is the doctor. Here was this bright eyed intelligent young old alien, quick witted who had morals and cool adventures every week. Every episode was fast paced and full of these great little puzzles.  The doctor was always there to save the day, but there was a big picture going on too.  American television, with a few exceptions, had been lacking these key ingredients. The good shows had a tendency to either get cancelled or bounced around from night to night.  Every Saturday night, I got to see my doctor, all summer. 

Then Jack got his OWN show, TORCHWOOD.  I made it through the off time between Doctor Who by surviving on this spin-off police procedural.  It was battling aliens every week, X-files but everyone knew what was out there.  Of course, there was that unerringly British inclination to kill someone off every week too, but it keep you guessing.  Who will be the last man standing? (Please, dear god, let it be JACK!)

Five years, I had my wonderful, quirky doctor.  Times were great. Then the clouds started to gather.  Rumors began that David was leaving the show. NOOOO!!!  It couldn’t be true, could it? I not only faced losing my first doctor but would the show even go on without him?  And what about the fate of Torchwood?  Would I lose all my television show at once like a nuclear bomb?

Then REGENERATION…