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-... She's got a ticket to ride...-
- Eurovision Song Contest happened and made me want to die inside. This is why we should never win, we will just inevitably embarrass ourselves by being smugly superior about our alleged progressiveness (while simultaneously displaying exactly what needs working on-- pro-tip SVT, you don't fucking perform a parodic song that mentions Swedish egalitarianism with a dozen half-naked women dancing in the background). Buuuut what did I expect from a program led by Petra Mede? Idk. I think I'm taking this way too seriously (no I'm not, sexism should always be taken seriously).
Otherwise it was enjoyable though, in a... Eurovisiony sort of way. >___>
- My iPod is behaving strangely; it tends to skip a set track in an album (usually the first, but not always) regardless if how many times I press it. Then when I've played through the album, it usually works again. So it's not that the file is corrupted, or the touch screen is messed up, it just... doesn't want to cooperate. A mild annoyance at best, but might be problematic if I want to listen to audio plays I don't have in audio book format. :/
- The Myth of the Classic Companion is a thing I wrote for the Feminist Doctor Who Tumblr, because Classic Who needs more meta and I am so done with that particular trend.
- Apparently Yahoo bought Tumblr and I have no idea how to feel about that. As long as things don't *gulp* change, I guess?
- Aaand weekly Big Finish round-up (one day late, but whatev):
Thicker than Water: AND I CRY AND MY TEARS ARE THIS AUDIO. The emotional punches, they are not pulled. But unlike the prequels to this story (Project: Lazarus and Arrangements for War) it's not particularly tragic, or even bittersweet; it's just a very touching audio, where the emotional centre comes from the relationship between Six and Evelyn and their love for each other. It made me weepy, but in a good way.
The actual plot is also full of character drama in a political environment, which I tend to really like and this is no exception. And ugh, basically there are so many things I could say but to avoid spoilers I'll just go SDFGHJKL;
Scaredy Cat: Things... happened? And not particularly well? There's some pseudo-moralising bullshit about the nature of evil that they conveniently avoid actually making any statements about, the Doctor making more bad life decisions, and EVOLUTION DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY?? The plot seems like it was originally two stories, both which would have been better than this, probably. And the little girl's voice is really annoying.
Singularity: I really like Turlough. I don't think many people know this because I don't talk about it, but I really do; I have a weakness for sarcastic anti-heroes who hate their lives a little. And I do think this is an ok audio, but not more than that (actually this would be one of those rare occasions when New Who did something Big Finish has done better than Big Finish). Also, half the cast have to fake Russian accents and either that affects their performance, or they're really mediocre actors (and the accents just get annoying after a while).
Other Lives: This is secretly everything I want out of Doctor Who. Which apparently is: the Doctor & Companions being time tourists and getting lost, as tourists are wont to do. It's an astoundingly simple concept, which nonetheless manages to remain entertaining for almost two hours simply because of some well-crafted minor characters and enough of a plot to keep them on the move; it feels like a fresh take on historicals, in a way. There's some politics and the Obligatory Important Historical Person, but that is mostly on Charley's side of things while the Doctor and C'rizz get involved in considerably more local matters.
Basically: it's entertaining, well-written and an interesting change of pace from most stories, remaining small in scope without becoming uninteresting. I also like Charley better and better post-Divergent, possibly because she interacts more with people who aren't the Doctor (or the writers have finally got a better grasp on her, idk).
Pier Pressure: There might have been a sorceror who was evil for not entirely clear reasons? Possessed by alien intelligence things?? People getting killed for no reason and a character who is a comedian and a historical person, but also not actually funny??? Erm, yeah. Kind of flat.
Night Thoughts: This has the trappings of a good story in it, I think, not the least because it's full of things I usually love; a sort of "haunted house" backdrop, complete with inhabitants and their ~*deep dark secrets*~, with humans as the monsters and elements of a whodunnit. But the characters' motivations ring hollow, it has some plotholes/things left unexplained, and a resolution that feels simultaneously absurd and unnecessarily sinister. Can't say I enjoyed it much, despite some interesting concepts. Hex is very much growing into his role as a companion though, and he and Ace are just adorable. The Seven Ace & Hex Team TARDIS has the trappings of a really, really interesting dynamic and I'm looking forward to more of them.
Time Works: It's an ok audio, with interesting worldbuilding, but the side characters are rather bland and the pacing borders on agonising from time to time; had it been half an hour shorter or a bit more action-packed, it might've been better. Eight reflects a bit on having been Seven, which was interesting.
And then, the series 7 finale. Tbh I think I put off this post yesterday because I was afraid of the amount of stuff I had to say about it, and I'm-- still kind of put off by the mere thought of writing it down. It's a bit jumbled. Hopefully I'll get it all down, but still-- discussions are welcome.
This is an episode written by Steven Moffat, which obviously means I'll have very conflicted feelings about it, but I guess to start with I can say: it really wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I still found it a mess, but it averted some of the things I was afraid it would embrace. So yay for that. Let's start with the positive things:
- SDFGHJKL CAN YOU SAY: THE ENTIRE PRE-CREDITS SCENE?? LIKE I DON'T THINK FIVE SECONDS PASSED BEFORE I WAS SQUEEING. IT JUST. I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU MY FEELINGS ON THIS THEY ARE SO INTENSE (but omg One, One is the most precious and I love him so and he was in colour aaaaah, also GALLIFREYAN MECHANICS why hasn't fandom run away and constructed all the headcanons about these two yet?? also blank TARDISes how neat).
- River Song tends to be a lot more likable as a character when she's interacting with People Who Aren't The Doctor. I was afraid there'd be an epic cat fight between her and Clara, but they actually got along really well, which was nice.
- Ngl I thought he said his name was Ace at first. In my defense, I totally read that fic.
- "Oh the Great Intelligence is talking about what a dark and tortured soul the Doctor is, blah blah, old hat, I don't caaaare-- VALEYAAAAARRRD"
- THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR ISN'T IMPORTANT, IT'S THE REASON HE CHOSE IT. YES THANK YOU. My issues with the pseudo-religious imagery of New Who and the Doctor as The Most Important Being In The Universe are vast, and the power of a name plays into that. I'm glad it was subvertedeven though you could argue that One as we know him hardly had any particularly philanthropic reasons in mind when he chose it-- though of course he could have changed to the grumpy thing we get to know him as. The name as a promise both makes more sense and is more in tune with the spirit of the show, I feel, and could potentially explain why the use of names and titles are so jumbled among Time Lords (not all renegades have titles after all).
- The leaf. Clara's character arc has some major skeevy aspects - more about that later - but I do like that ultimately, the original Clara has her own past, her own origins, and that this is what brings her back. I just wish these things would've been more developed.
- Another thing I was really worried about was that the finale would mean a huge retcon of the classic series. As I'm choosing to interpret that Clara only interferes with the Doctor's lives where the Great Intelligence already did damage (which I think is supported by the clips used) I think that has been averted. Granted, Clara's confrontation with One in the repair shop reeks of Moffat trying to get his grubby hands on established canon - but there's no way One would actually do as he was told. Because he's One (and we all know the TARDIS chose him anyway).
Now for the things I had more... issues with. Some bigger than others.
- I'm... not sure why the Paternoster Gang was there. I like them, I do, and it was nice that we got some inklings about how they met, but ultimately it felt like they were there mostly to provide exposition.
- Drugging people into attending secret psychic meeting across time and space (wtf?) is not cool, yo.
- The Great Intelligence comes back! Great! I love me some Richard E. Grant. But: why is he doing all this? What is it for? Revenge, apparently, according to a throw-away line in the episode. Revenge against the Doctor, okay. Because he... foiled his plans several times over? That made him hate the Doctor to the extent he wanted to kill him a hundred times over and erase him from the timeline?
See, the lack of a proper answer to this question annoys me, because: it could actually be really simple. What the Great Intelligence wants, and has always wanted, is a body. That's. That's it. That's its greatest beef. It influences people, machines, other constructs, because it doesn't have a body of its own and can't exist properly in this realm. The body of Simeon, too, is revealed to be nothing but a husk. So why isn't he prioritising that over getting back at the Doctor?
Especially when he could be stealing the Doctor's body.
Maybe it didn't jive with Moffat's overall idea for an arc? In which case: use another villain, Moff. Like, oh I don't know, THE FUCKING SILENCE THAT YOU STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN A COMPREHENSIVE MOTIVATION FOR.
- How the hell have we made it through half a season setting up the Great Intelligence as the Big Bad without ONE SINGLE YETI IN SIGHT? I am so very distressed over this. Especially since the Whisper Men are never properly explained and kind of rubbish. They're There. And they're Scary, because Moffat makes them recite nursery rhymes. Ugh.
(I am also aware that this is the Classic Whovian in me whining. But seriously, yetis.)
- River is dead at this point in the timeline. It's quite firmly established. She's a collection of data that's only present in Clara's mind because of an established link. I can buy that it turns out the Doctor can see her, but... the door opens because she says something when she doesn't have vocal chords? He's capable of embracing and KISSING her because of... The Power of Love??? You cannae change the laws of physics Doctor. :/
- Speaking of River, why was a fake tombstone with her name erected on Trenzalore? Okay, a decoy, I get that, but why River? She'd be dead for a long time at that point. Speaking of which, who'd install the secret passage? Did the Doctor do it before he died? But it's implied he died in battle, no? I guess he could have done so as Eleven, or even earlier (*cough* after Revelation of the Daleks at least) but I do so hate predestination paradoxes...
- The Doctor saying good bye to River would probably be a lot more touching if their relationship wasn't super creepy and kind of non-existant on-screen for most of the past three seasons (we're supposed to assume they do meet, and are really close, but this is a classic telling instead of showing problem Moffat's narrative has). I'm also really sick of the entire "the Doctor doesn't like good byes" schtick-- the Doctor may not like them, but after a millennia he should damn well be able to face them and not be a selfish git about them (although wtf, Ten didn't lock you up in a digital library because he didn't want to say good bye, but because he felt responsible and also has a massive saviour complex? Idek).
It was nice to see hints that River actually at least partly resented her existance in the Library, though. Because SitL/FotD was skeevy as hell in that regard.
- I hatehatehatehateHATE the Doctor being portrayed as the Atheist Messiah and basically the reason the universe still EXISTS. The web of time is presumably more resilient than that (and didn't we already HAVE a universe without the Doctor? You know, Big Bang II? That managed just fine? Idk). I could probably write an entire essay on why I feel this way, but for now I'll just say: I was Not Impressed.
- Clara. Oh, Clara. You know, besides the fact that she's been massively underwritten for the entire season - she kind of stagnated after The Rings of Akhaten - her self-sacrifice is very eurgh. It could have been a strong character moment, or at least a chance to demonstrate agency, but... the episode doesn't frame it that way. Right from the beginning, we're told she was "born to save the Doctor". She chooses to jump into his time stream because she remembers that the Doctor has told her that he's already met her time-splintered selves. No other reasons are given; not that the universe is DYING, that the people she cares about at home might or might not exist anymore, nothing like that. It's because the Doctor has told her it'll happen. It's a predestination paradox, something Moffat can't seem to keep out of every damn episode he writes (and also something I loathe, because free will is a pretty damn vital part of Doctor Who ideology).
- Back to the leaf: the leaf is a symbol of Clara's life. That leaf is the reason she exists. The Doctor brings her back with it, singles her out as the blueprint, so to speak - because she's the first Clara, and the only Clara that doesn't exist because of the Doctor. That wasn't born and won't die (well, hopefully) because of the Doctor. Out of lord know how many time-splintered Claras there are there.
I'm not even going to go into how immensely problematic that is.
- If there's a Clara on Gallifrey, she was supposedly not human, right? Does that mean there were a bunch of non-humanoid Claras scattered across space as well (space and time is a big place after all)? Also, have I dreamt this or does the Doctor say at some point earlier in the season that Clara always dies young? In which case everything becomes even MORE fucked up.
(Wouldn't the Time Lords notice a time disturbance of that scale on Gallifrey itself, though? ... Actually that could explain how that particular Clara died once the Doctor and Susan were gone...)
- Clara has been saving his lives all this time and he DOESN'T REMEMBER HER AT ALL? This is why we stay away from the retcons.
- "You're my impossible girl"-- she's not yours and she's fucking 26 years old Doctor, kindly cease this infantilising bullshit.
- More carrying incapacitated companions bridal style. *SIGH*
- I. I don't even know how to feel about John Hurt!Doctor. It's a potentially interesting concept, but it... kind of rubs me the wrong way. We have five still living classic Doctors, one of whom is Paul McGann, who has approx. an hour and a half of screentime, whose Doctor is supposed to have fought in the Time War that's been so crucial to the new series' tone and development, who has said he'd gladly come back to the show, and we... invent a new Doctor? Really?
(I know Moffat doesn't want a "fan fest" for the anniversary, but I really couldn't disagree more with that notion. I WANT a fan fest. I want to be reminded about all the things I love about this show. Heck, The Pirate Planet might've been my first classic serial, but it was The Five Doctors that made me want to watch the damn show, so I speak from personal experience when I say that fan fests can be good things. I'd rather want a light-hearted party episode than another "blockbuster" episode, special or not.)
Also, what... is there left for the Doctor to do that could be so terrible he'd renounce one of his own selves? He's committed genocide more than a dozen times over, he blew up his own planet, he's cruelly tortured living beings and messed about with their time streams. Like. What is there left for him to do??
Am I nitpicking? In some respects, I'm probably nitpicking; some things will hopefully be cleared up later. Still, I don't think watching a 45-minute episode should make me ask so many questions at all. But overall: series 7 was a mess, this episode was a mess (although not as terrible as it could have been). I'm more excited about the Gatiss-penned documentary about the Hartnell era than I am about the anniversary special.
Now excuse me, I have a shower to take and an audio play to listen to.
Otherwise it was enjoyable though, in a... Eurovisiony sort of way. >___>
- My iPod is behaving strangely; it tends to skip a set track in an album (usually the first, but not always) regardless if how many times I press it. Then when I've played through the album, it usually works again. So it's not that the file is corrupted, or the touch screen is messed up, it just... doesn't want to cooperate. A mild annoyance at best, but might be problematic if I want to listen to audio plays I don't have in audio book format. :/
- The Myth of the Classic Companion is a thing I wrote for the Feminist Doctor Who Tumblr, because Classic Who needs more meta and I am so done with that particular trend.
- Apparently Yahoo bought Tumblr and I have no idea how to feel about that. As long as things don't *gulp* change, I guess?
- Aaand weekly Big Finish round-up (one day late, but whatev):
Thicker than Water: AND I CRY AND MY TEARS ARE THIS AUDIO. The emotional punches, they are not pulled. But unlike the prequels to this story (Project: Lazarus and Arrangements for War) it's not particularly tragic, or even bittersweet; it's just a very touching audio, where the emotional centre comes from the relationship between Six and Evelyn and their love for each other. It made me weepy, but in a good way.
The actual plot is also full of character drama in a political environment, which I tend to really like and this is no exception. And ugh, basically there are so many things I could say but to avoid spoilers I'll just go SDFGHJKL;
Scaredy Cat: Things... happened? And not particularly well? There's some pseudo-moralising bullshit about the nature of evil that they conveniently avoid actually making any statements about, the Doctor making more bad life decisions, and EVOLUTION DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY?? The plot seems like it was originally two stories, both which would have been better than this, probably. And the little girl's voice is really annoying.
Singularity: I really like Turlough. I don't think many people know this because I don't talk about it, but I really do; I have a weakness for sarcastic anti-heroes who hate their lives a little. And I do think this is an ok audio, but not more than that (actually this would be one of those rare occasions when New Who did something Big Finish has done better than Big Finish). Also, half the cast have to fake Russian accents and either that affects their performance, or they're really mediocre actors (and the accents just get annoying after a while).
Other Lives: This is secretly everything I want out of Doctor Who. Which apparently is: the Doctor & Companions being time tourists and getting lost, as tourists are wont to do. It's an astoundingly simple concept, which nonetheless manages to remain entertaining for almost two hours simply because of some well-crafted minor characters and enough of a plot to keep them on the move; it feels like a fresh take on historicals, in a way. There's some politics and the Obligatory Important Historical Person, but that is mostly on Charley's side of things while the Doctor and C'rizz get involved in considerably more local matters.
Basically: it's entertaining, well-written and an interesting change of pace from most stories, remaining small in scope without becoming uninteresting. I also like Charley better and better post-Divergent, possibly because she interacts more with people who aren't the Doctor (or the writers have finally got a better grasp on her, idk).
Pier Pressure: There might have been a sorceror who was evil for not entirely clear reasons? Possessed by alien intelligence things?? People getting killed for no reason and a character who is a comedian and a historical person, but also not actually funny??? Erm, yeah. Kind of flat.
Night Thoughts: This has the trappings of a good story in it, I think, not the least because it's full of things I usually love; a sort of "haunted house" backdrop, complete with inhabitants and their ~*deep dark secrets*~, with humans as the monsters and elements of a whodunnit. But the characters' motivations ring hollow, it has some plotholes/things left unexplained, and a resolution that feels simultaneously absurd and unnecessarily sinister. Can't say I enjoyed it much, despite some interesting concepts. Hex is very much growing into his role as a companion though, and he and Ace are just adorable. The Seven Ace & Hex Team TARDIS has the trappings of a really, really interesting dynamic and I'm looking forward to more of them.
Time Works: It's an ok audio, with interesting worldbuilding, but the side characters are rather bland and the pacing borders on agonising from time to time; had it been half an hour shorter or a bit more action-packed, it might've been better. Eight reflects a bit on having been Seven, which was interesting.
And then, the series 7 finale. Tbh I think I put off this post yesterday because I was afraid of the amount of stuff I had to say about it, and I'm-- still kind of put off by the mere thought of writing it down. It's a bit jumbled. Hopefully I'll get it all down, but still-- discussions are welcome.
This is an episode written by Steven Moffat, which obviously means I'll have very conflicted feelings about it, but I guess to start with I can say: it really wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I still found it a mess, but it averted some of the things I was afraid it would embrace. So yay for that. Let's start with the positive things:
- SDFGHJKL CAN YOU SAY: THE ENTIRE PRE-CREDITS SCENE?? LIKE I DON'T THINK FIVE SECONDS PASSED BEFORE I WAS SQUEEING. IT JUST. I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU MY FEELINGS ON THIS THEY ARE SO INTENSE (but omg One, One is the most precious and I love him so and he was in colour aaaaah, also GALLIFREYAN MECHANICS why hasn't fandom run away and constructed all the headcanons about these two yet?? also blank TARDISes how neat).
- River Song tends to be a lot more likable as a character when she's interacting with People Who Aren't The Doctor. I was afraid there'd be an epic cat fight between her and Clara, but they actually got along really well, which was nice.
- Ngl I thought he said his name was Ace at first. In my defense, I totally read that fic.
- "Oh the Great Intelligence is talking about what a dark and tortured soul the Doctor is, blah blah, old hat, I don't caaaare-- VALEYAAAAARRRD"
- THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR ISN'T IMPORTANT, IT'S THE REASON HE CHOSE IT. YES THANK YOU. My issues with the pseudo-religious imagery of New Who and the Doctor as The Most Important Being In The Universe are vast, and the power of a name plays into that. I'm glad it was subverted
- The leaf. Clara's character arc has some major skeevy aspects - more about that later - but I do like that ultimately, the original Clara has her own past, her own origins, and that this is what brings her back. I just wish these things would've been more developed.
- Another thing I was really worried about was that the finale would mean a huge retcon of the classic series. As I'm choosing to interpret that Clara only interferes with the Doctor's lives where the Great Intelligence already did damage (which I think is supported by the clips used) I think that has been averted. Granted, Clara's confrontation with One in the repair shop reeks of Moffat trying to get his grubby hands on established canon - but there's no way One would actually do as he was told. Because he's One (and we all know the TARDIS chose him anyway).
Now for the things I had more... issues with. Some bigger than others.
- I'm... not sure why the Paternoster Gang was there. I like them, I do, and it was nice that we got some inklings about how they met, but ultimately it felt like they were there mostly to provide exposition.
- Drugging people into attending secret psychic meeting across time and space (wtf?) is not cool, yo.
- The Great Intelligence comes back! Great! I love me some Richard E. Grant. But: why is he doing all this? What is it for? Revenge, apparently, according to a throw-away line in the episode. Revenge against the Doctor, okay. Because he... foiled his plans several times over? That made him hate the Doctor to the extent he wanted to kill him a hundred times over and erase him from the timeline?
See, the lack of a proper answer to this question annoys me, because: it could actually be really simple. What the Great Intelligence wants, and has always wanted, is a body. That's. That's it. That's its greatest beef. It influences people, machines, other constructs, because it doesn't have a body of its own and can't exist properly in this realm. The body of Simeon, too, is revealed to be nothing but a husk. So why isn't he prioritising that over getting back at the Doctor?
Especially when he could be stealing the Doctor's body.
Maybe it didn't jive with Moffat's overall idea for an arc? In which case: use another villain, Moff. Like, oh I don't know, THE FUCKING SILENCE THAT YOU STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN A COMPREHENSIVE MOTIVATION FOR.
- How the hell have we made it through half a season setting up the Great Intelligence as the Big Bad without ONE SINGLE YETI IN SIGHT? I am so very distressed over this. Especially since the Whisper Men are never properly explained and kind of rubbish. They're There. And they're Scary, because Moffat makes them recite nursery rhymes. Ugh.
(I am also aware that this is the Classic Whovian in me whining. But seriously, yetis.)
- River is dead at this point in the timeline. It's quite firmly established. She's a collection of data that's only present in Clara's mind because of an established link. I can buy that it turns out the Doctor can see her, but... the door opens because she says something when she doesn't have vocal chords? He's capable of embracing and KISSING her because of... The Power of Love??? You cannae change the laws of physics Doctor. :/
- Speaking of River, why was a fake tombstone with her name erected on Trenzalore? Okay, a decoy, I get that, but why River? She'd be dead for a long time at that point. Speaking of which, who'd install the secret passage? Did the Doctor do it before he died? But it's implied he died in battle, no? I guess he could have done so as Eleven, or even earlier (*cough* after Revelation of the Daleks at least) but I do so hate predestination paradoxes...
- The Doctor saying good bye to River would probably be a lot more touching if their relationship wasn't super creepy and kind of non-existant on-screen for most of the past three seasons (we're supposed to assume they do meet, and are really close, but this is a classic telling instead of showing problem Moffat's narrative has). I'm also really sick of the entire "the Doctor doesn't like good byes" schtick-- the Doctor may not like them, but after a millennia he should damn well be able to face them and not be a selfish git about them (although wtf, Ten didn't lock you up in a digital library because he didn't want to say good bye, but because he felt responsible and also has a massive saviour complex? Idek).
It was nice to see hints that River actually at least partly resented her existance in the Library, though. Because SitL/FotD was skeevy as hell in that regard.
- I hatehatehatehateHATE the Doctor being portrayed as the Atheist Messiah and basically the reason the universe still EXISTS. The web of time is presumably more resilient than that (and didn't we already HAVE a universe without the Doctor? You know, Big Bang II? That managed just fine? Idk). I could probably write an entire essay on why I feel this way, but for now I'll just say: I was Not Impressed.
- Clara. Oh, Clara. You know, besides the fact that she's been massively underwritten for the entire season - she kind of stagnated after The Rings of Akhaten - her self-sacrifice is very eurgh. It could have been a strong character moment, or at least a chance to demonstrate agency, but... the episode doesn't frame it that way. Right from the beginning, we're told she was "born to save the Doctor". She chooses to jump into his time stream because she remembers that the Doctor has told her that he's already met her time-splintered selves. No other reasons are given; not that the universe is DYING, that the people she cares about at home might or might not exist anymore, nothing like that. It's because the Doctor has told her it'll happen. It's a predestination paradox, something Moffat can't seem to keep out of every damn episode he writes (and also something I loathe, because free will is a pretty damn vital part of Doctor Who ideology).
- Back to the leaf: the leaf is a symbol of Clara's life. That leaf is the reason she exists. The Doctor brings her back with it, singles her out as the blueprint, so to speak - because she's the first Clara, and the only Clara that doesn't exist because of the Doctor. That wasn't born and won't die (well, hopefully) because of the Doctor. Out of lord know how many time-splintered Claras there are there.
I'm not even going to go into how immensely problematic that is.
- If there's a Clara on Gallifrey, she was supposedly not human, right? Does that mean there were a bunch of non-humanoid Claras scattered across space as well (space and time is a big place after all)? Also, have I dreamt this or does the Doctor say at some point earlier in the season that Clara always dies young? In which case everything becomes even MORE fucked up.
(Wouldn't the Time Lords notice a time disturbance of that scale on Gallifrey itself, though? ... Actually that could explain how that particular Clara died once the Doctor and Susan were gone...)
- Clara has been saving his lives all this time and he DOESN'T REMEMBER HER AT ALL? This is why we stay away from the retcons.
- "You're my impossible girl"-- she's not yours and she's fucking 26 years old Doctor, kindly cease this infantilising bullshit.
- More carrying incapacitated companions bridal style. *SIGH*
- I. I don't even know how to feel about John Hurt!Doctor. It's a potentially interesting concept, but it... kind of rubs me the wrong way. We have five still living classic Doctors, one of whom is Paul McGann, who has approx. an hour and a half of screentime, whose Doctor is supposed to have fought in the Time War that's been so crucial to the new series' tone and development, who has said he'd gladly come back to the show, and we... invent a new Doctor? Really?
(I know Moffat doesn't want a "fan fest" for the anniversary, but I really couldn't disagree more with that notion. I WANT a fan fest. I want to be reminded about all the things I love about this show. Heck, The Pirate Planet might've been my first classic serial, but it was The Five Doctors that made me want to watch the damn show, so I speak from personal experience when I say that fan fests can be good things. I'd rather want a light-hearted party episode than another "blockbuster" episode, special or not.)
Also, what... is there left for the Doctor to do that could be so terrible he'd renounce one of his own selves? He's committed genocide more than a dozen times over, he blew up his own planet, he's cruelly tortured living beings and messed about with their time streams. Like. What is there left for him to do??
Am I nitpicking? In some respects, I'm probably nitpicking; some things will hopefully be cleared up later. Still, I don't think watching a 45-minute episode should make me ask so many questions at all. But overall: series 7 was a mess, this episode was a mess (although not as terrible as it could have been). I'm more excited about the Gatiss-penned documentary about the Hartnell era than I am about the anniversary special.
Now excuse me, I have a shower to take and an audio play to listen to.