Any major change in personnel is going to have a major effect in Doctor Who and the shifts for this season have been as large as any except for the 2005 revival. Doctor, Companion, Production Team..... only Murray Gold seems to be left of the major credits. When these changes take place some will be thrilled and some will be utterly disdainful. There are many who think it's all been downhill since Tom Baker left and there are probably people in their late fifties who are still in a sulk over the firing of William Hartnell. Heck, there are undoubtedly a couple of people who think that Colin Baker was the Best Doctor Ever.
Now that Season Five is over, it's a good time to look not only at this particular episode but the season in total. And it all comes down to Your Mileage May Vary. In fact, I guarantee it will.
As a general statement, the characters and plotting of this season have been a lot more complicated than under Russell Davies' tenure. Not only have stories been told in their usual one- or two- episode formats, but the season's story arc has been fairly tightly integrated from the start, an arc, that it now has been apparent, will stretch into Season Six. The stories have been shifted to highlight the seeming paradoxes of time travel, the complications of the universe and a lot of physical comedy -- as a lover of silent and slapstick comedy, I heartily approve.
However the characters in general and this Doctor, in particular are far more complex -- appropriately so -- it certainly makes sense for someone like the Doctor, a 900 year-old alien who has destroyed his race, saved the universe and suffers occasional major changes in body construction that carry with them major changes in psychology -- but also, well, less accessible, particularly when Matt Smith emphasizes the clowning more than his two familiar predecessors and who plays the big emotional scenes quietly rather than broadly. This can't be helped and while I understand that it's not to everyone's taste, I enjoy both sets of story.
There has also been a greater diversity of stories than under Davies' tenure. Davies had a consistent taste for dark stories, particularly in the 2009 'Special' season, in which the Doctor was constantly emotionally battered. Was this his reward for saving the universe again and again? Perhaps this was Davies' method of cutting the Doctor down to size and making him more accessible, but I like to see the good guys get their rewards.
In short, I think this season has been as good as any, with a couple of lousy episodes and several brilliant ones. Yes, the writing is more complex and therefore less accessible. Yes, Matt Smith is not David Tennant. But he is excellent on his own terms; and his companions are as good as any, the actors able to shift from comedy to tragedy as the scripts veer through their courses. The monsters are more perfunctory, sometimes being giant invisible parrots, but given some of the monsters over the last 47 years, that's fine. Steven Moffat knows what really disturbs us: the commonplace things that we don't quite understand.
Now, briefly to discuss this episode, which is the second of the series ender -- describing the plot would take several pages -- perhaps, at this point, I should write several MORE pages -- but as an SF fan for fifty years, I find it the sort of highly enjoyable space opera that DOCTOR WHO has always been in writing and, since its revival, in production, too. For me, the pleasure in this episode were the playing with time that Moffat enjoys, with the Doctor jumping between 102 AD and an alternate 1996 but, even more important the characters; Arthur Darvill as a 2000-year-old plastic Rory maintaining his humanity merely by force of will; Alex Kingston's fiercely and bloodily loving River Song; Nicholas Briggs' spot-on and hilarious Dalek asking for mercy; Matt Smith's tired and scheming doctor talking quietly to a sleeping child; and best, the moment when Karen Gillian wakes, her life restored to her, and a happy smile washes across her face as she realizes it is, indeed, her wedding day. All fine bits of acting.
I'm satisfied and a bit annoyed: no more WHO until the Christmas special!
Now that Season Five is over, it's a good time to look not only at this particular episode but the season in total. And it all comes down to Your Mileage May Vary. In fact, I guarantee it will.
As a general statement, the characters and plotting of this season have been a lot more complicated than under Russell Davies' tenure. Not only have stories been told in their usual one- or two- episode formats, but the season's story arc has been fairly tightly integrated from the start, an arc, that it now has been apparent, will stretch into Season Six. The stories have been shifted to highlight the seeming paradoxes of time travel, the complications of the universe and a lot of physical comedy -- as a lover of silent and slapstick comedy, I heartily approve.
However the characters in general and this Doctor, in particular are far more complex -- appropriately so -- it certainly makes sense for someone like the Doctor, a 900 year-old alien who has destroyed his race, saved the universe and suffers occasional major changes in body construction that carry with them major changes in psychology -- but also, well, less accessible, particularly when Matt Smith emphasizes the clowning more than his two familiar predecessors and who plays the big emotional scenes quietly rather than broadly. This can't be helped and while I understand that it's not to everyone's taste, I enjoy both sets of story.
There has also been a greater diversity of stories than under Davies' tenure. Davies had a consistent taste for dark stories, particularly in the 2009 'Special' season, in which the Doctor was constantly emotionally battered. Was this his reward for saving the universe again and again? Perhaps this was Davies' method of cutting the Doctor down to size and making him more accessible, but I like to see the good guys get their rewards.
In short, I think this season has been as good as any, with a couple of lousy episodes and several brilliant ones. Yes, the writing is more complex and therefore less accessible. Yes, Matt Smith is not David Tennant. But he is excellent on his own terms; and his companions are as good as any, the actors able to shift from comedy to tragedy as the scripts veer through their courses. The monsters are more perfunctory, sometimes being giant invisible parrots, but given some of the monsters over the last 47 years, that's fine. Steven Moffat knows what really disturbs us: the commonplace things that we don't quite understand.
Now, briefly to discuss this episode, which is the second of the series ender -- describing the plot would take several pages -- perhaps, at this point, I should write several MORE pages -- but as an SF fan for fifty years, I find it the sort of highly enjoyable space opera that DOCTOR WHO has always been in writing and, since its revival, in production, too. For me, the pleasure in this episode were the playing with time that Moffat enjoys, with the Doctor jumping between 102 AD and an alternate 1996 but, even more important the characters; Arthur Darvill as a 2000-year-old plastic Rory maintaining his humanity merely by force of will; Alex Kingston's fiercely and bloodily loving River Song; Nicholas Briggs' spot-on and hilarious Dalek asking for mercy; Matt Smith's tired and scheming doctor talking quietly to a sleeping child; and best, the moment when Karen Gillian wakes, her life restored to her, and a happy smile washes across her face as she realizes it is, indeed, her wedding day. All fine bits of acting.
I'm satisfied and a bit annoyed: no more WHO until the Christmas special!