TIME LORD OF THE RINGS

Not sure what it is this week, whether it's the unseasonably warm weather here on the East Coast of the US that has us cranking up air conditioners or the wave of negativity that crashed down on Who Land after the broadcast of "The Rings of Akhaten" that set me off, but I am finally gathered and writing my thoughts on the episode.

We have The Doctor starting his investigation in to “The Twice Dead Woman” by going back into Clara’s past, back as far as her parents’ first meeting, and after his witnessing their meeting, engagement (via leaf that blinded Clara’s Dad), the birth and eventual adolescence of Clara (nice job on that), he is no more the better for his poking into her past proclaiming her to “be impossible”.

And yet there she is.

This episode was a mixed bag for me, parts were good and there were parts that were a bit too formulaic.  Maybe I’m being too hard on this episode, but onto . . . . . . . . .

WHAT I LOVED

The entire first three minutes, basically the "The Life Of Clara".  It was sweet and sentimental and it answered a lot of questions, which is a good thing, and even I shed a bit of a tear when Clara did at her mom's graveside.

NO SPECIAL DATES HERE - THAT I KNOW OF

We had  a potential return of The Doctor's Venusian Akido after his being hit in the head by a ball kicked by a very young Clara - nice touch.

Definite kudos go to the young lady who played Merry, I wish I had been that together at 10 years old (here's what else she's been in  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4454223/?ref_=tt_cl_t5 )

Queen of the Years

WHAT I LIKED

All of the aliens. The Millennium FX prosthetics crew must have had continuous orgasms when the orders for aliens came in for this episode, and they did a great job.  

I ESPECIALLY LIKED THAT RED EYED GUY

. . . . . as did The Mill with their CGI efforts.  Definitely a bravo for the special effects.

The Doctor comparing an event that happens every thousand years in the Rings of Akhaten to "Pancake Tuesday", that terribly British version of Mardi Gras, the day before everyone is supposed to clamp down and give up all kinds of things for Lent.  While the rest of the world is feasting on all kinds of craziness and drinking themselves numb, the Brits and their other former colonies are having pancakes (from the looks of them they look more like French crepes, not like real American Pancakes.

REAL AMERICAN PANCAKES!

Back to Clara's story - I like that she seems to have been born and, up to her first run-in with The Doctor, in "The Bells of Saint John", seems to be a pretty normal (aside from her lack of Internet knowledge), mid-20's woman. All of the stops in her life . . . . . .  .

After The Doctor tells Clara that she reminds her of someone. . . .someone who died. . . .  Clara's retort . .  "I'm not going to be a bargain basement stand-in for someone else . . . I'm not going to compete with a ghost!"

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

As much as I liked the bazaar scenes with all of the aliens, Clara’s first trip aboard the TARDIS was reminiscent of Rose’s in “The End of the World”, with the Doctor’s companion being exposed to all kinds of aliens on their first trip.

In the Rings of Akhaten there were layers upon layers upon layers of appeasing the local sun (more on that later).  There were there guys (who I actually thought were cool looking):















Then this guy:

Just to get to this guy - the Grandfather . . . 

That is a sun which will be put out by a leaf













QUESTIONS
OK - so The Doctor and Clara basically put out the sun that keeps the Rings of ZAnkhaten together and then get out of town.  In other words - they save the denizens of the Rings from "The Grandfather" and then leave them to their entire solar system to collapsing.  Seems a bit weird to me.
FAVORITE LINES
Not once, but twice, The Doctor took on the concept of organized religion, which I found interesting.  First, on their arrival in the Rings when  The Doctor was explaining what the deal with the Rings was.

Doctor: Seven world orbiting the same star, all of them sharing the belief that all life in the universe originated here, on that planet.

Clara: All life?

Doctor: In the Universe.

Clara: Did It?

Doctor: No, it's what they believe, it's a nice story.

The second was his  "Cabbages and Kings" pep talk to Merry.

THE CONTINUING MYSTERY OF CLARA
We still have no idea who the "shop girl" is who gave Clara that IT support number, but some theories have popped up from either IMs or in chats with other Who fans.

Our suspects are . . . . Rose (a shop girl), River (not a shop girl but who has time travel capabilities so could know the actual identity of Clara - it would not surprise me if that were the case and that she knows that Clara - in the end - makes The Doctor immensely happy), Sally Sparrow, not seen since "Blink", but another "shop girl".  I definitely get the feeling that whoever it was who gave Clara the support number to The Doctor's phone is known to us, as in she's appeared in the series before.

A friend posited that it might be Susan Foreman, The Doctor's granddaughter, since she was mentioned in this episode, and I think it's possible, but very unlikely since she was left off in 22nd century Earth (even accounting for her appearance in "The Five Doctors"), but I guess The Doctor could have dropped her off in 2013.

The TARDIS key . . .. as mentioned before.  The Doctor, in a bit of a fake reaches into his pocket and hands Clara not the key to the TARDIS, but the ring she traded into to the Crazy Dog Talking Moped Lady, which i all kinds of full of Clara's memories of her mom.

WELCOME TO THE SNOG BOX

We’re finally back into Season 7 (Series 7 for the Brits reading this – I will never understand that) and we’re with The Doctor and his beginning of his search for the “Twice Dead Woman”, Clara “Oswin” Oswald.  Eight glorious weeks of being once again in the Whoniverse and I love it!

The BBC and Company even provided us with a prequel - in case you missed it - here it is (it was kind of predictable).

Overall it was a good, not great, episode.  It was a good start to this season’s two issues.  As season 6 started with the Ponds and the origins of River Song as well as their having to deal with The Silents, season 7 gives us the mystery of Clara and the establishment of “The Great Intelligence” as, as we call it here in America, this season’s “Big Bad”.

I think in this series of reviews, I’ll add a new section dealing with the mystery of Clara and my speculations as to what her deal is.  Enough babbling and on to . . . . . .

WHAT I LOVED

We’re back!  Once again my friend to the show that might not end – Doctor Who!  After far too long a break from the Christmas episode (OK, OK – it could have been longer if Easter was later this year), we have The Doctor and The Mystery of the Multiple Claras to try to solve.

WHAT I LIKED

Clara actually – as far as we know – survived the episode – so as of right now – she is not the “Thrice Dead Woman”.

I'm not sure what they did to Matt Smith for his time as the monk in this episode - but he seemed a bit softer in the face and hair - and I actually liked it a lot better - not to say I hate his normal look - just liked the Monk look better - must have been the hair and that it had a less sleek look.The Doctor: "It's 1207."
Clara: "It's only half past three.  Am I calling a different Time Zone?

The Doctor: “You really sort of are.”

Amy was busy writing in her time!  Nice touch.

The never ending phone cord

The Doctor’s Dresser Drawer

Nice reference to one of the few actual Police Boxes left - the one at Earl's Court:


Mahler: "Are we sure this time?  Earl's Court was an embarrassment."

The essential British motorcycle - the Triumph! 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
Just a nit picky thing like . . . .

It seems that everyone in London has forgotten what a Police Box is.  Anyone who referred to the TARDIS (aside from Clara) referred to it simply as "The Blue Box" - just seemed kind of weird.

That whole silly "Doctor Who" thing when The Doctor first arrived to see Clara at the door, seemed too silly.

I'm still not sold on the latest TARDIS interior - I think it's the spinning "rotors" at the top.  I get the Gallifeyan script on the and near the doors, but the old familiar up and down of the "Time Rotor" (which in hindsight really made no sense) that I am missing - now that we have a Time Rotor that actually rotates - on 3 levels no less.

BEST LINES

Clara: "When you say ‘mobile phone’, why did you point at that blue box"?

The Doctor: "It’s a surprisingly accurate description."

The Doctor:  "Human souls trapped like flies in the world wide web, stuck forever, crying out for help."

Clara: "Isn’t that basically Twitter?"

Clara: "Clara Oswald for the win!  Oswin!"

The Doctor: "I can't tell the future I just grew up there."    I think this is what he said.

Hmmmmm - we look like Time Lords - or Time Lords look like us????  I'm referring to what The Doctor told Amy in their 1st off world adventure "The Beast Below" when he told her that humans look like Time Lords.  This is why I look at this bit of a throw away line:

A confession - with the 50th anniversary coming up - I sketched out a story where I proposed that the original Gallifreyans were human colonizers - who through  a series of massive events - became the Time Lords - even called it "The Golden Moment" in honor of the Golden Anniversary - it all made basic sense on paper - just never really fleshed it out.  Could Moffat have been laying clues all along???

QUESTIONS

Just who was that shop girl who gave Clara the number for the “best Help Line in the Universe”?  Perhaps a certain Doctor Song????  Not sure River would pop back to be a "shop girl" - she seems a bit old for that - but who knows - maybe "shop girls" over in England grow to be old LOL  But then again - River can flit through time and space - could have been her

The only actual shop girl that we know is Rose Tyler.  Not sure what department Rose worked in at the department store she worked at  - perhaps Electronics?  But that would mean she would have have to have had to have come back from the parallel Earth where the 10th Doctor left her with his sort-of self.

“That wasn’t a leaf, that was page 1” -  What the heck does that mean?????

THE MYSTERY OF CLARA
I've talked to a few local friends about just who Clara is - some think she is a creation of the Daleks (in a reversal of our souffle loving entertainment officer on the ALASKA).  I think that's laughable - not really - I just don't think that's it.

What do we know about the three iterations of Clara?

2 mentioned souffles
2 have been governesses/nannies
3 have said the magic words "Run you clever boy and remember"
1 had a double life - governess and bar maid

My theory - of this moment - is that she is a creation of The Great Intelligence - she has no idea of this of course - and different versions of 1 master version of Clara Oswin Oswald - exists somewhere - a place that will not be arrived at until the 8th episode in this run - the untitled (as yet) episode that will - according to Moffat - both reveal something we never knew about the Doctor and will lead straight to the 50th Anniversary special in November.

It could be that there is a 3rd player in this game - someone aside from The Doctor and The Great Intelligence who is controlling Clara - we'll see as we go along.Let me know what you think :-)

Jayne

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE SOUFFLE LOVING WOMAN

THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE SOUFFLE LOVING WOMAN

And  . . . . We’re . . . .  back . . . .for a little while at least!

Sorry this is a bit later than planned, it’s just been a kind of depressing holiday season this year.  Not going to get into the “whys” about it, it just has been and thanks to Laredo and Kat for being there for me, but The Doctor is back!

It’s Christmas Day and time for the annual Christmas Day Special and I have to say that while it was partly what I expected and it was much darker than expected, which I liked.

OK – so the Granthams are headed off to the Highlands and there are men in skirts . . . . sorry, wrong Christmas Special.

Let’s start of with the new – and improved in my opinion – opening credits.  It appears that Moffat and Company are in full 50th Anniversary mode.  The appearance of The Doctor’s face in the opening credits harkens back to the first ever appearance of The Doctor's face in the opening sequence during Patrick Troughton’s reign as the 2^nd incarnation of The Doctor.

And the ending vortex effect seems to be an update on the vortex effect of the 1974 version of the Tom Baker era opening credits.

I do like the re-mixing of the show theme – being a bass player in real life I admit to being drawn to the lower end of the musical scale and the latest version “goes there” with that cello filled beginning.  

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first, that being the new console room.  I know that in the olden days the TARDIS console would change with no particular reason given – it just changed – mostly in the Time Rotor, but the Console Room would remain basically the same – a white room with roundels and a monitor to the outside world with a 6 sided console – which we returned to at the end of “The 11^th Hour”.  OK – the rest of the console room was rather copper plated and such, but the basic 6 sided console was back after the clock inspired console of the Eccleston/Tennant era.  Was a change really needed??   Don't get me wrong - I do like the new one - and it might be nice if an explanation for the change was thrown into the mix at some point, I mean we got to see the Eccleston/Tennant one pretty much destroyed and out into storage, it might be nice to hear an explanation for this change, like The Doctor, in his self-imposed exile, became a brooding TARDIS interior decorator and confided his design ideas only with Sexy.


Doctor Brood

And I will state right here that I am in LOVE with Jenna-Louise Coleman – actually – not much of a statement since I fell in love with her during her nailing up the boards scene in “Asylum of the Daleks”.  Now for some more gratuitous J-L C.  Enjoy :-)

OK – let’s get on with the episode.

WHAT I LIKED
It’s the flipping Christmas Episode – after a hiatus of almost 3 months – and for just that reason we need to love it – but this year’s episode was even better than usual – I give it a 9 out of 10.   In this episode the writers brought back a “Bad guy” from 1967 (the Patrick Troughton era - more on this later), The Great Intelligence and we were re-introduced to Jenna-Louise Coleman!

Amy's Glasses - nice touch

“Those were the days.”  A little tear jerky, but I liked it.

Straxx as comedy relief.   He was great – between his bout with the Memory Worm ("Sir, it appears that I've been run over by a cab" to his calling the Doctor on his impersonation of Sherlock Holmes (nice shoutout to Tom Baker’s wearing the Holmesian deerstakler hat and coat in “The Talons of Weng-Chiang”) he was priceless. 

 

Will the real non-Sherlock Holmes please stand up!

The entire “One Word” sequence.

Overall, this episode was slightly darker than previous Christmas episodes, though thinking back, “Voyage of the Damned” and “The Christmas Invasion” had their dark moments.  I guess that Matt Smith’s previous Christmas specials had been more light-hearted and were simply OK whereas I really loved this one.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
OK – I know that weather over in England is not the same as here in the US.  When there’s snow on the ground and show in the air we wear parkas and boots.  Was there something special about Victorian era snowy weather over there that allowed the English to throw a scarf on over their normal everyday clothes and be completely ready for the snow???    It just seems like every time you see Bob Cratchet or any other Victorian character – they are wearing gloves with no fingers, a threadbeare scarf and a suit against the winter cold.  While I know they didn’t have today’s parkas – or anoraks - it just seems weird.

FAVORITE LINES
There are almost too many to mention here – but here are the ones that I loved:

“My Bustle is stuck” (I hate when that happens)

”Eyes front soldier.” (either every Englishwoman says this, Moffat is sloppy or it’s a clue to Clara’s origins since Amy said the same thing to Rory on occasion – hmmmmmm)

“Good Evening, I’m a Lizard Woman from the dawn of time and this is my wife.”  Totally cracked me up!

SHOUTOUTS

This secton will be where allusions to the past are recorded and in this Christmas episode there were tons.

The Great Intelligence, as I said earlier, first appeared in the 1967 6 part story, "The Abominable Snowmen" in which the Great Intelligence was able to gain a human form in the body of The High Lama Padmasambhava (say that 3 times fast) - here's a link to a synopsis of that story, if you'd like to read up on it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/abominablesnowmen/detail.shtml

The Great Intelligence returns in "The Web Of Fear" another 6 parter from 1967 in which the Great Intelligence and his robot Yeti come to Earth and set up shop in the London Underground (and a certain young Colonel Alistair Lethbridge Stewart - soon to be a Brigadier General - enters Doctor Who history) - now you know why both he and Vastra make reference to it in this episode - the Doctor gave the Great Intelligence the idea to attack from there.

THE GRAND CLARA THEORY
We have now seen the same person die twice, once as a Dalek and once in Victorian England and yet she turns up in present day England walking over her own grave.  Here’s my theory, for the moment, and I am sticking to it.

Since it’s been established that this season is going to be a bit of a nostalgic season, and rigthfully so, what with the showing the birth of the Great Intelligence, the aforementioned return of both the deerstalker cap and the 6 sided TARDIS console, along with the Doctor’s face returning to the opening sequence and the vortex somewhat reminiscent of the “Pretwee/T. Baker era, I am going to go out on a slight limb here and predict that Clara is a clone that has been sent to trap The Doctor for the Black Guardian. The Black Guardian has had dealings with the Doctor twice, once in th “Key to Time” Series with Tom Baker and with a 3 story arc during Peter Davison’s run where Turlough was introduced.  Both times the Bolack Guardian went down to defeat – perhaps the third time is the charm???

My Grand Clara Theory will evolve as the season commences (whenever the hell that is).

COMING SOON
I would really love to know what the BBC’s definition of “soon” is.  From what I have read on-line April is when The Doctor and Clara will be back – to me that’s not “soon”.  I know they are stretching things out for the 50^th anniversary, but this is ridiculous.

The end of another Dalek Saucer

Followers of this blog will know we occasionally like to cause havoc and destruction on what we build - especially saucers!. Well today our Saucer, above London Village, took a beating!
 

 

Dastardly pepperpots. Minding their own business.

 

Can't have them minding their own business!

And the saucer is no more! Thanks to Simon Osei for a great build, we still have the schematics! It may return! But not before our update! 

The Paradox is Working . . . or not.

The night was moist and it was that night that he walked through my door. This is a town of hundreds of stories and his was just one . . . . . . . . .

Talk about horrible pulp fiction openings, but that was the level of writing back in the late 30's and the 40's, before TV there was radio and books written cheap and quick and published on pulp stock were the biggest entertainment and what better genre, than the one that gave us both the “hardboiled detective” and lots of good old Sci-fi to use as inspiration for this story. If you'd like to read up on pulp fiction head here: http://www.vintagelibrary.com/pulpfiction/introduction/What-Is-Pulp-Fiction.php

For a long time now we have been prepared for the departure of Amy and Rory, as we have been prepared for the departures of Doctor 9, Doctor 10 and all of the companions, but damn it, even though I knew this would be a tear jerker, I wasn't prepared for how much of a tear jerker it would be. I say that and it's not really that it was Rory and Amy, the story could have been about two characters that we had just met and invested a lot in. I have to give props to Mister Moffatt, even though most will not.

WHAT I LOVED

Kudos to all three of our main characters, they did an amazing job.

Amy's reading glasses – she looked hot!

WHAT I LIKED

Nice slightly ironic use of Sting's “Englishman In New York” with its lyric "I'm a legal alien"  the opening titles, was kind of cute. Might have been even more interesting had they used his “When the Angels Fall” near the end, maybe as Amy and Rory fell off of the building and the angels were zapped by the paradox.  Anyway - for your entertainment, the complete "Englishman in New York".

We have seen The Doctor mad enough to kill, or at least cause others to be killed, as seen in “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”, saddened whenever anyone gives their lives for his quests for good, but Amy's choice to join her one true love and have somewhat of a “normal” life with him and The Doctor's anguish was incredible. His emotion was born out of pure selfishness, to be sure, but it was true. There was no way he was going to “figure something out”, in my opinion, he just wanted that first face that he saw with his current face to be there all the time, or at least available to him all the time.

The flipping Statue of Liberty as a Weeping Angel – too funny – but it made sense since it is the ultimate statue in both New York and the United States.

Hello There!

Killing off the Weeping Angels, or so it seems, except for that last annoying one in the cemetery They were great for 2 stories, this and their birth in “Blink”, but their time had come and gone, but you'd have to explain to me how one could have survived the paradox to still be there, hanging around a grave yard 74 years later (1938 to 2012), just waiting for Rory???  I mean what was so special about him that the Angels had to get him out of the way??

Matt Smith's party scar on his head was pretty prominent. Maybe I had missed it before, actually I do remember it from earlier, just noticed it more this time for some reason.

“One psychopath per TARDIS.” Great line!

Bouncing off of 1938 – very cool.  If there was a year worth bouncing off of it was 1938!

BOING!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

OK – I have been to New York and there is no way for the Doctor and Amy to have travelled from Times Square (sight of the ONLY New Year's celebration that matters) to where the TARDIS was parked in the time it took The Doctor to answer Amy's question about how Rory could be in a book – it takes 17 minutes in a car – I know The Doctor travels through time and all that, but he ain't that good.  Pretty crummy to keep Amy waiting an hour, or more, for an answer to her Times Square question (approximate walking time).

“The TARDIS can never come back to New York, the time lines are too scrambled,” said The Doctor. But then he goes back and gets Amy's “Afterward” from the book – hmmmmmmm. Maybe it was just going back to 1938 he was referring to.

A friend of mine brought this up and I am not really sure if I don't like it or it's just a nit pick. Bringing in Brian Williams for 2 episodes, setting up the importance of Rory's family and what might happen to anyone traveling with The Doctor, and not one mention of Brian or even Amy's family for that matter, not even a “Tell our families we love them.” from Amy before she backed into the angel. Maybe a bit nit picky, but I saw my friend's point.

I know New York City is a pretty international kind of place, but nowhere is there a Winter Quay (pronounced “key”) - or anywhere else pronounced that way in NYC.

Last but not least - with all of this talk about paradoxes and such, The Doctor goes back to Amelia in her back yard to tell her of all of the adventures Amy had with him???  I realize that people do weird things when in mourning - and he was in mourning - but we already know that Amy had no idea what happened to The Doctor after he left her in the back yard.  I know it was a nice qway to bring her story full circle, but it kind of made no sense, ut then it you're REALLY picky, you could argue that her entire story made no sense.

WHAT I HATE

Having to wait for the "official" debut of Jenna-Louise Coleman at Christmas.  I get why Moffatt and The Beeb split the season in two - 1) to compartmentalize "The Departure of the Ponds" and 2) so Moffatt could work on his other cash cow, "Sherlock", but I still hate waiting until Christmas and then still not knowing when the rest of the season will be broadcast (shakes fist at Moffatt and the BBC).