Yes, I’m posting about the new Doctor Who. Because if I do have a “thing” on this website, which I’m quite prepared to entertain arguments that I don’t, it’s that I’m the “Doctor Who guy”. And there’s a new half-season on, because the BBC is too cheap to fund more than about six episodes a year right now (I wouldn’t be so annoyed by this if the show wasn’t profitable as well as entertaining and popular and well-made–yes, it has a high production budget, but it makes it back and then some in merchandising.) And the first episode, ‘The Bells of St. John’s’, aired last Saturday. So let’s chat about it after the cut.
The first thing you notice is something that’s getting more and more apparent about Moffat as time goes on; he’s pretty much allergic to doing anything the way that anyone else does it. We no longer get “the Doctor lands somewhere and investigates and gets drawn into a mystery”. Moffat was over that structure by ‘The Beast Below’, and he’s constantly looking for a new way to start an episode. So here we get the Doctor joining a monastery in 1207 AD where he just sits all day and tries to figure out what the fuck is up with Clara, the woman he’s now met twice who’s died both times, only to be interrupted by a phone call from 2013 from the aforementioned Clara, who was apparently told by someone that he was tech support for her laptop. (In this case, “someone” is almost certainly River Song, because any time you have a mystery woman in a Doctor Who episode written by Steven Moffat it’s River Song. Which kind of makes her not much of a mystery but nobody cares because Alex Kingston is just so damn watchable.) The point is, you could not come up with a more convoluted way to start up a relatively straightforward episode, and we know because we’ve seen all the previous attempts.
That said, it’s an extraordinarily good scene (with one slight misstep–the “Is it an evil spirit?” “It’s a woman!” joke was unfunny and sexist) with some genuinely great dialogue and chemistry between the two leads. Smith plays the Doctor magnificently as someone utterly flummoxed, like a paleontologist suddenly finding a talking dinosaur in his kitchen, and Jenna-Louise Coleman matches him with a sense of utter certainty and preposession completely unrelated to whether or not she’s got anything to be certain about. Watching her, you can genuinely believe that the Internet has vanished, and that only the Doctor can bring it back. Even though you know she knows she’s being silly. It’s a good bit.
That’s the cue for this week’s monster to show up, and, um…it wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad. It was sort of there, a mechanism to get us to Moffat’s Scary Catchphrase of the Week, “I don’t know where I am.” Which, in turn, was sort of there as well. Not as good as “Are you my mummy?”, significantly better than “Donna Noble has been saved.” It plays off of a number of fears (the fear of screwing things up by clicking on a strange link, the fear of isolation in a strange place) to good effect, but doesn’t really go that next step further. That’s for later.
Because, after a good amount of Doctor/Clara banter and some fun scenes where the Doctor confronts a deliciously smug bad guy, we get the real dagger…the villain, in fact all the villains, have been brainwashed for years. Indeed, the villain you’ve been waiting to see get her comeuppance the entire time is the ultimate victim, nothing more than a five-year old child whose whole life was stolen by the Great Intelligence. (Not that I really needed to see the Great Intelligence return so soon, particularly not played by REG again, but that’s the reason you have recurring villains sometimes. Establishing a whole new psychevore bad guy immortal disembodied intelligence that infests networks and tries to enslave humanity is time that the episode just doesn’t have, so why not use the one that everyone remembers from the Christmas special?)
On the whole, I liked the episode, because it’s damn near impossible to dislike a Moffat episode. Even when his tics are showing, and he’s writing yet another episode that aggressively refuses to stick to the narrative structure that’s come to feel like comfort food over the last fifty years, and he’s writing another 50-minute episode that feels like it needed to be about 75 minutes long (complete with “antigrav motorbike” plot point that came out of nowhere because really, how do you foreshadow the idea that the Doctor has a motorcycle that can drive up walls without giving the ending away?)….he’s still so good at dialoguing, so flashy at plotting, and his stories move at such breakneck pace that you don’t have time to feel the flaws too much. It’s Doctor Who that doesn’t give you time to wear out its welcome, and that’s no small thing.
That said, I still think his tenure as showrunner will be judged on how well he wraps up the Silence plot, because we’ve really had about two and a half seasons of loose ends now, but that’s something we can come back to after the end of Season Seven.
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The observation has been made that Moffat seems sort of hell bent on making the companions weirder and mysterious than the Doctor. It’s certainly one way to skin the metaphorical cat of “How do I keep this show fresh after 50 years” and I won’t say that I’m not enjoying the ride, but I do sort of miss just having a companion who’s a viewpoint character for the audience, suddenly finding themselves whisked away to adventure by a madman in a box, running through corridors away from the monster of the week.
I saw on Tumblr that the antigrav Olympics thing was set up way back in the Rose Tyler years. So there you have it.
‘“Is it an evil spirit?” “It’s a woman!” joke was unfunny and sexist’
either that or it was unfunny and an unfair stereotype of medieval monks.
I care less that it’s River Song that gave Clara the phone number, because while watching it with a friend of mine we both said “It’s River.” at the same time which just shows how obvious it is (unless it’s a red herring, but we’ll see), and more as to why did River give Clara the number.
Well, we still don’t know what Clara is. So she could be an evil spirit and a woman.
(beat)
I’ll shut the door as I leave.
My understanding was that we’re getting a half seasonat the start of this year so that more episodes are occurring in the “50th anniversary year.” And that season 8 will also occurthis year. Has it been mentioned somewhere that is not the case?
For the most part I enjoyed the episode, although if we could please have no more instances of anyone saying “The Doctor? Doctor who?” EVER AGAIN that would be really freaking nice.
Although in all fairness, it does put the “gag” in “running gag” I suppose.
“how do you foreshadow the idea that the Doctor has a motorcycle that can drive up walls without giving the ending away?)”
I’d have had that be what he invented instead of the quadricycle ( sp ?) he knocked up whilst guarding Clara.
Few points:
* A number of people on the tumblrs think that Clara might be the reincarnation or what have you of Rose. Which I really hope is wrong, because Rose’s story is done, and I want to see a new story.
* And really, I would *love* Clara to actually be a Dalek stuck reincarnating, because who would be a better and different Companion for the Doctor than a Dalek?
* The Great Intelligence goes back much farther than the Xmas special. I kind of want to see an updated Yeti Robot, because wow, but I really just want to hear Eleven say “Yog-Sothoth.”
I’m able to take that evil spirit/woman joke if I imagine that it’s the Doctor subtly mocking monkish sexism he had encountered.
I think there’s absolutely no reason to believe that’s the original intent, but I can enjoy the joke in that sense.
I thought the mystery woman was Madam Vastra, as she’s set up Clara with the Doctor before.
@Jimmy James: Everything we’re currently hearing from the BBC is that 2013 will contain the back half of Season Seven, one (1) Christmas Special, and the 50th anniversary special. Season Eight will not occur until 2014. On the plus side, Matt Smith is committed to doing Season Eight, so we’re guaranteed a fourth season of Eleven, but it is a bit of a blow, and it’s apparently for budgetary reasons.
@Bryan Rasmussen: I’ve heard that argued (this is a whole thread right now on Gallifrey Base) but I feel that looking at the way the scene was framed and shot, the joke is not meant to be, “Hah, that monk, he’s got such crazy views about women!” but “Hah, that monk, he’s too old-fashioned to realize that you just think that sort of thing nowadays!” The Doctor’s reaction is telling–he doesn’t engage with the monk, he just sort of nods and turns back to the conversation. Combine that with a few other jokes along the same line (‘Wedding of River Song’, and there was one other where Amy was described as doing something irrational because “She’s a woman!” but I can’t place it off the top of my head) and you do start to feel like these are not accidental or coincidental. Which, just to forestall the inevitable criticism, is not the same thing as saying that Moffat is a terrible person or that he should be hung, drawn and quartered…just that he’s got issues. 🙂
I personally thought the Monk was crossing himself because a woman was seemingly communicating from Heaven/Hell/inside whatever insane dimension was trapped inside that mysterious blue box he’d heard nothing about. Monks of the year 1260 don’t usually get to ask who’s on the phone.
The way Moffat treats a lot of his female characters is… problematic. Individually, none of them is to egregious (although all of his issues seem to have gone full-blown with how he wrote Irene Adler) but taken together it starts getting weird when you realize just how MANY of the women he writes have “unhealthy obsession with a man” as a defining character trait.
Clara is a trap. Someone or something created her to be interesting, and is seeding her through time to either get something from the doctor, or to distract him long enough to achieve some other goal. THAT is who gave Clara the phone number… whoever is baiting the trap.
We’ve seen the Silence (the Order not the creatures) is playing a very long con against the Doctor… and is happy to ‘lose’ so they can win. Best way to beat the Doctor is to keep him thinking he’s more clever than you, and to let him keep winning.
I think River was actually a prototype weapon / sleeper agent, and Clara is a the Real Deal.
John you silly fool…the Silence plot is over. Didn’t you see the second season? He finished them off. No need to reflect on them again. Why create River? Because, that’s why. Why not just have an invisible Silence shoot the Doctor? Because, that’s why. Why blow up the TARDIS? Because, that’s why. Who said “Silence has fallen?” Because, that’s why.
I have an idea… Dust bunnies…they’re everywhere..under the couch, under your bed….but I bet they’re really scary..like shadows, and books..and statues..and nick nacks..and wifi signals..Or aglets! yeah…The plastic tip on the end of shoelaces are called aglets…their true purpose is sinister.
(1) The next companion should be a normal everyday person who has no overarching mystery or cosmic purpose, if only for variety’s sake. I mean, many people still consider Sarah Jane Smith to be the best companion in the history of the show.
(2) I absolutely loved the “Doctor… who?” joke back when they would use it once every five or six years or so. Now it is getting grating. STOP THAT!
(3) Woman in the shop could be River, Rose Tyler, or another version of Clara (but then she’d likely recognize herself). Longshot: Gwen Cooper.
No, the Silence isn’t finished with.
I mean, I don’t think we’ll ever get explanations for how they blew the Tardis up… but I do think ‘Silence will fall’ IS a key part of S7’s end.
Sometimes I feel like I’m a bad Doctor Who fan.
I don’t see the big deal about Christopher Eccleston, Rose, River, or Sarah Jane.
I’m conflicted about Amy. (Okay, honestly I only like that the actress is gorgeous and the character’s husband is awesome)
I wish someone would hit Donna with a truck.
I do love David Tennant, Martha, and Rory though.
I submit that your “thing” is ‘MGK-Lite’. Or possibly, ‘Guy who Overanalyzes Star Wars‘.
” but I do think ‘Silence will fall’ IS a key part of S7′s end”
I certainly would like to think so. But really, we spent two seasons with it quite pronounced, like every other episode some reference to it. And then nothing? It’s starting to feel like Moffat does feel like he has satisfactorily settled it.
Which if so, man do I agree he should be judged by how well he settled it. I’m thinking eternal damnation.
“How well he settled it?”
There was no resolution whatsoever for any of it.
Bryan – yeah, but the ‘Fall of the 11th’ isn’t something he’s going to drop.
” profitable as well as entertaining and popular and well-made”
I keep seeing internet comments on how the shows ratings have tanked in the moffat era but in fairness none of those people ever back their assertions up with numbers or anything so idk
@Tim O’Neil: But it’s not done yet. If I put down a book halfway through, I don’t get to complain about all the loose ends. 🙂
Isn’t Clara the exact same character as Amy? Its like they were created out of a mold in order to meet the industry approved standard of a strong capable woman™. I know they are weary of the reputation of Old Who having the girls scream at the monsters but the moves too far in the other direction and beyond all traces of believability. Its all a bit superficial really and thats the problem with New Who pretty much. They are to busy being intertextual, gazing inwards while constantly referencing the shows own past that they end up retreading old cliches, presenting them as new innovative. Its for these reasons I dislike Moffat as a writer, plus you do get the feeling that he and the rest of the writing team are more than a bit smug.
The first person I thought of after hearing ‘the woman in the shop’ gave her the TARDIS phone number was Donna. Kind of like how she gave Wilf a book that was a clue without really knowing she was doing it.
But, in retrospect, River is a much better guess based on Moffat’s writing quirks.
What I think is most interesting about Clara is the way she’s almost being set up as a kind of modern Mary Poppins. Which potentially also speaks to Moffat’s baggage with women.
Still, I’m curious to see how it turns out.
I’ll admit… anytime anyone speaks about Doctor Who, or the odd occasion I’ve looked at more than two minutes of it, my eyes glaze over, and I’m completely lost.