Who in Review - now with added caffeine!

It's nearly midday and I've had only two small cups of Diet Coke. It's weird; I thought I'd've polished off a whole bottle by now.

My very good friend reminded me that the new season of Doctor Who started yesterday, something which I'd completely failed to realise. Last season left a good taste in my mouth with a very solid ending, belying the hugely shakey beginning, and so I've been looking forward to this season. With luck, we shall have more actual characterisation of Amy and less cardboard cutout SpunkyGirlSidekick#47, more Vincent Van Gogh historical figures and less cartoon Churchill stereotypes, more DreamLord and less iDaleks.

I've just realised that all three of my complaints combined in one episode last season (although certainly were not limited to it!). No wonder I hated that one.

It goes without saying that here there be spoilers. I'm going to attempt to LJ-cut it, but it's going to be very difficult cross-platform.

So, if it doesn't work and you haven't seen the episode, please don't read the rest.

Spoilers coming in...

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Did that work? I think that worked.

If it did, then I always had faith. If it didn't... well, sorry. If you're looking to stay unspoiled, kindly piss off.

Immediate first impression was of boredom. The show started very slowly. I mentioned to a friend of mine when editing her story that any fiction which describes the characters being bored is, almost by definition, likely to be boring. And once the Doctor gets involved and livens up their lives, he gets killed.

This was intriguing the first time they pulled this trope. Unfortunately, after The Next Doctor and The Stolen Earth, I'm a little bit bored of promises of the Doctor's death. I found TND really intriguing until I found out he was a fake. And I found the idea of a sudden and unexpected regeneration hugely bold and compelling, until it was revealed how they were going to wriggle out of it. The trick is now old and boring - you know you're not going to kill him, I know you're not going to kill him, so why are we even pretending? The start of the regeneration was utterly boring; I never believed Matt Smith would change, so why should I give a damn?

The point is doubly ground in by the hoo-hah and publicity over Tennant's regeneration. I understand that you've got to make the most of the publicity and promote your show, but it means that nothing surprising can ever happen in that vein. At least with Eccleston's regeneration you could've conceivably avoided the spoiler if you stayed away from fandom. With Tennant's, they did everything but put up billboards. Call me naive, but in The Stolen Earth, I had a moment of belief of, "Bloody hell, they kept that quiet. Brilliant story-telling; I wonder who the next one is going to be?" before cynicism kicked back in. Now I know for a fact they'll never be daring, the Doctor's life/regeneration is never truly in danger.

That was a longer tangent than I thought it would be. Anyway, we're off on a whirlwind adventure of grief and "Oh no, the Doctor's dead"ings and I have no empathy with the characters whatsoever. Not a good start.

However, it did pick up from there. River is less annoying and superior and gets another very good speech when picking the lock. I wish they'd use Alex Kingston a bit more this way. I'm not interested in perfect-Song, I'm more interested in damaged-and-vulnerable-Song. Her predictions of the future make me want to go watch Silence In The Library again. Rory is still impressive as the analogue for the viewers. He's a sympathetic coward; the everyday man in the presence of heroes, who really does mind a little bit about being asked to go down the sewer tunnel. Amy spent most of her time being overwrought and precious, but at least she has extenuating circumstances this time.

Things that will bring me back next week:
- Badger from Firefly/Lampkin from Battlestar Galactica as Canton Delaware III (waits for the sci-fi fans in the audience to go, "Oh, that's where I know him from!"). Great actor and I love him in everything he's been in. Interesting fact: the older Canton Delaware III is played by his father.

- The awesome idea of the aliens that you forget as soon as you look away. Very creepy.

- Matt Smith's quipping - "I'm up here being brilliant and none of you are there to pay me any attention. What is the point of me having you all?"

- Curiousity to see whether they'll actually use Nixon at all.

- The ending. I did not see the kid being in the spacesuit at all and Amy shooting first was perfect. I'm going to lay 2p that her shooting is what causes the Doctor's 'death' in the first place. Gotta love predeterminism theory.


Things that could keep me away:
- The knowledge that I'll be watching in expectation of the cheap trick that resurrects the Doctor without regeneration. I predict it won't be good enough to be worth the merciless beating of the deceased equine.


PJW