Generally and Specifically - Who

[caz963]

You can tell it's still the school holidays, because I have time to write stuff like this!

Prompted by some comments and discussions I’ve been having here over the last couple of days, and by the number of reaction posts I’ve seen that are bemoaning the direction that DW is now taking (after only two episodes!), I had a few thoughts that I wanted to jot down as a result.

I try to be very careful about what I say here, because I know that fandom can be a dangerous place at times. It’s why I tend to steer fairly clear most of the time and am posting stuff like this at my own LJ rather than at one of the comms. I hope people will pick up on it and read it anyway, but that anyone who comments will respect the fact that this is MY journal and as such contains my opinions. I hope I never present anything I put here as anything other than my own opinion, and I’m perfectly happy for people to put points of view that don’t agree with mine and to have a friendly discussion with them.

Here, then, are a bunch of thinky-thoughts about the show in general and one particular thing that is annoying me.



The Beast Below wasn’t – IMO – the best DW episode. It wasn’t all bad, by any means, and it could have been worse - The Idiot’s Lantern springs immediately to mind – and of course, there have been many that are much better. Yes, there were a number of gaping plot holes, which many people have listed already (so I’m not going to), but this is DW and it’s not as though there have never been gaping plot holes before, is it? There’s just one of them that is really bugging me though, which I’ll come to later on.

I’m a lifelong fan of the show. I grew up watching it, and until Ten (and Donna) came along, Three was my Doctor, and Sarah-Jane was my companion. My earliest TV memory is of Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines being chased through a disused Underground station by a Yeti! My memories of Six and Seven are pretty non-existent though, because by that time, the Beeb was pissing about with the schedules so much that the show was hard to find – and also because I was working by that time, and rarely got home early enough to watch it (on the days when I’d been able to find it!)

I suppose the point of that is to say that I’m prepared to cut it a lot of slack. Why? I dunno. Nostalgia, maybe? Because there are a lot of TV shows these days that I don’t cut slack of any kind. If it’s not grabbed me within the first quarter of an hour, that’s it, I’m gone. Perhaps I’ve missed out on some good shows that way, but I don’t actually have much time to watch a lot of TV these says, so I tend to be very selective.

With DW though, I’m well aware that not every episode is going to be Human Nature or Midnight. Hopefully there will be some of those along the way as well as some Shakespeare Codes and Planet of the Oods – good, well written and well put-together episodes which still make Doctor Who one of the best shows on television, even on an off day.

What’s worried me about a lot of the stuff I’ve seen over the last year or so has been the belief by some that Steven Moffat is some kind of saviour who can do no wrong and who is going to do a far better job than Rusty did, because Rusty was crap and wrote shit and … you get the picture. Well, I don’t know what show they’d been watching for the past five years, but it wasn’t crap, and Rusty didn’t write shit. Were there things he did with stories and characters that I didn’t like? Yes, of course. But isn’t that going to be true of anything we watch or read? We’re all different and we’re all going to take a subjective view of these things. I didn’t like Rose Tyler all that much, but I know there’s a huge part of fandom that things the sun shines out of her arse (even though I can’t for the life of me think why!)

But because TBB had a number of… shall we say, inconsistencies? – I’m starting to see Moffat bashing in some quarters, which is just daft. TBB is only the second show of the series. I get that there are people out there who were just desperate for change, but blimey – give it a chance! He’s a good writer – we know he is, but writing one or two episodes a year for a high-profile TV show is a completely different thing to writing half of them and actually running said high-profile TV show. The Writer’s Tale gives some amazing insights into just what’s involved, from the big decisions to the nitty-gritty ones. I’ve said this before, but it’s a wonder RTD didn’t end up in a loony bin after the way his life has been for the past six years – and it’s no wonder he decided to call it a day, even though you can tell he had a fantastic time and wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

What I’ve come to realise – apart from the fact that it seems there will always be some people who will never be happy! – is that the people who didn’t like what RTD did and who have pinned their hopes on Moff are probably still not going to be happy, because no matter what he does, Moffat is writing the show HE WANTS TO WRITE and not the one THEY WANT HIM TO WRITE.

That’s what fanfic is for, guys! *g*

But there are times when I almost feel a bit sorry for him :-0 There’s a huge amount of pressure and weight of expectations on him. He’s inherited an incredibly successful show which has gone from strength to strength over the past five years. Not only has he got to top that, he’s got to try to keep happy those people who started watching in 2005 as well as those like me, who’ve been with it on and off over the years and those who are more dyed-in-the-wool fans than I’ll ever be. He’s got to do it in the spotlight, in a way that Rusty didn’t when he started, in the face of decreasing budgets and an audience that demands more and more from their television while at the same time suffering from an ever decreasing attention span. (Sorry – but kids today? Attention spans of gnats, a lot of them.)

So basically, I suppose I’m saying just give it a bit longer before deciding that Moff’s cocked it up. I didn’t hate Rusty (he gave us Ten after all, for which I will be eternally grateful) and never thought that Moff was the answer to all the show’s (perceived by some) problems. I think the show’s in good hands and as with the RTD era, we’re not all going to like all of it all of the time.

Hopefully, I’ll be saying the same thing in eleven weeks’ time.




As to the plot point in TBB that really bugged me, and issues arising from it.

Amy finds out this week – or, I suspect, has her suspicions confirmed (because really, he’s a mad man with a blue box that’s bigger on the inside that travels through space and time!) – that the Doctor is an alien, AND that he’s the only one of his race left. Okay, so no problem with either of those things, she has to find out some time, as do all the Doctor’s companions.

BUT. How does she know he’s really old? Okay, so she met him when she was nine or ten, and then again twelve years later and he hadn’t aged. But I don’t see why that would lead her to the conclusion that he was very old, despite his looks.

Ah, say some, but she was there when we got the slideshow of all the Doctors before him when he sent the Atraxi packing.

Yes, she was. But how is she to know that they were the different faces he’s had over the years? She saw the list of ‘greatest hits’ aliens, too and showed no recognition (um, yeah – cue lots of speculation about timelines etc, which I’m not going into here). And even if, by some amazing feat of mental prowess, she did know that they were all the Doctor, where does the “very, very old” thing come from?

I know there’s a lot of speculation out there as to who Amy really is and that the Doctor hasn’t just picked her ‘at random’ – so perhaps this is something that will be explained at the end of the series. Or it’s just another of those gaping RTD-style plot-holes that literally peppered the episode.

And now, it’s time for a rant. I know I’m almost certainly going to be in a small minority but I’m taking a deep breath and jumping in anyway.

If I hear (or read) one more comment about how Amy is so “feisty” and “challenges the Doctor like nobody else ever has” I think I’ll to scream. I came close to switching off the DWC on Saturday because of it! I know that to an extent this is the “party line” and that they always say stuff like that about a new companion, but… hello?? I’m not a fan of the Blessed Saint Rose of the Powell Estate, but she was feisty and stood up to the Doctor. Martha was intelligent and feisty and the Doctor trusted her with his life (because surely, he was banking on her reviving him after the incident with the little old lady with the straw!) right from the start. And if you look up “feisty” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Donna Noble staring back at you. She also proved to be capable of getting the Doctor to change his mind, which, by his own admission isn’t something that many people ever do.

I don’t know whether I like the character of Amy Pond yet, but all the hype about her is getting on my nerves. I’ve found her supposed quirkiness to be rather annoying so far – many of her physical mannerisms and facial expressions seem very affected (I’m thinking particularly of the “you’re late” scene in TEH) and for all people are going on about the chemistry between her and Matt, I’m not seeing it on the screen yet. In fact, he seems rather aloof so far – which I rather like. It appears that Eleven isn’t going to wear his heart on his sleeve - or his face - like Ten did, which certainly harks back to more than one of the Doctors of old.

I fully accept that my problems with Amy so far may be due to my own personal preferences and the fact that I’m clearly not the age group that the character is aimed at. But I’m not the age group that Rose was aimed at either, and while I make no bones about the fact that she’s not my favourite companion, she was instantly likeable, and I did like her (before she became a cow-eyed Ten fangirl!) Amy’s quite abrasive and full of attitude with – to my mind – little justification for it. So she had an imaginary friend when she was little and got so obsessed that she needed therapy. Other than that, she was brought up in a big house in a picture-postcard village where most of us couldn’t afford to buy a garden shed, let alone a house that size!

(And I’ll also admit that this is where “real life” probably interferes too much with my perception of this particular piece of fiction, because in my line of work, I come across kids with far greater problems than Amy’s appear to have been.

Oh, and please don’t come at me with “it doesn’t matter where she lives, she could still have had a hard life” – I know all that. Like I said I work with a lot of problem kids and I know that there are many, many contributing factors. It’s just that when you come across kids whose parents are addicts, or who go home to no food or company, or who are living in bedsits because their parents have thrown them out, it’s hard to see what she’s had to complain about, you know? And yes, I do know the difference between fiction and real life; that’s what I meant when I said that my perspective on this is somewhat coloured!)

I’m sure someone will point out that Donna was “full of attitude”, but I’m not complaining about her. Well, it’s true, she was full of attitude and made no secret of it. But early on, we were shown what I consider to be fairly valid reasons for that attitude. Of course, my opinion as to what’s a valid reason will be different to someone else’s. Donna was in her late 30s, had clearly suffered a lot of disappointment in her life and was always being put down by her mother. Amy’s barely in her 20s and has had a comfortable life. What has she got to complain about? Again, I admit that my personal experience of being around teenagers is probably colouring my view of her. But we don’t know much about her yet. She’s said she doesn’t have any parents (not that they’re dead or that she doesn’t live with them) and we haven’t seen the “aunt” with whom she lives, which may or may not be significant.

So I’m trying hard to wait before making up my mind – but all the wank about how unique and special she is currently makes me want to act like the starwhale and vomit big time.



So there ya go. Feel free to agree or disagree with me - I don't mind either way as long as we can all play nice!

Comments

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

err...sorry. Got a little distracted by your mood button. Gosh, is that the time?

I've detested the word "feisty" ever since the BBC used it in connection with Tracy Beaker, apparently as shorthand for "loud-mouthed, entitlement-obsessed brat with a plank on her shoulder." It's not a role model I'd want kids to be aiming at. BTW, I have two teenagers and work in a primary school library. And the Tracy Beaker Jac Wilson invented was a more subtle creature altogether.

Yeah, I've heard some ridiculous hype about both Karen and Matt over the last week or two - not that I don't like them, but they're types we've seen before, they're doing a good job, and they don't have to be God's gift to anybody to do that.

(OMG, that mood button is gorgeous...)

I think a lot of things in TBB were results of DW having to squeeze back into a 45 minute format. We're having the "old" Doctor pushed at us a lot this time around. I'd rather be shown than told these things but there ya go. And I did smile at the baying fans reaming out Moffatt for letting the Doctor throw Amy in at the deep end and not holding her hand - these folk either never watched Series One ("If you don't like it, go home!") or they've very selective memories.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yes, any picture of Ten(nant) is pretty distracting, although in a very, very nice way!

ITA with your shorthand for "feisty". My two daughters are 7 and 10, so I have the delights of teenager-dom to come, but I'm a teacher at a (fairly rough) secondary school, so yeah, it's a description I recognise all too well. And I think that's one of my problems with the character - at the risk of sounding like an old fogey, young-people of Amy's age are frequently quite immature, despite all we say about kids growing up too quickly.

I kinda like the "old" Doctor thing because I really hope it'll put paid to the whole romance thing which has dogged the show. Not that I disliked it per se, I just think we need a break from the Doctor falling in love every other season and then having his heart(s) broken.

You're spot on about the selective memories.

[lilachigh.livejournal.com]

DWC irritated me beyond belief - especially with Matt going on and on about how wonderful Karen is. Methinks someone is being just a leetle too enthusiastic! My problem with her is that whereas Amelia was wonderful, real and completely believable, Amy is all shiny and hard and I find it impossible to believe she is that great little girl grown up. And so her imaginary friend didn't come back? And that's ruined her life and turned her into a stripogram? No, I just can't take that. And please, can she have clothes in the next episode. Nightie's getting old now.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

You know what? Amelia was more of a grown-up than Amy is.

From all the speculation there's been about Amy, it may well be that there is a reason why we don't know more about her or her family. Maybe we've become used to the very quick brushstrokes that Rusty used to show us who these characters were (think about Donna and Martha - we knew who they were within minutes) - and Moff isn't going that way becuase he's got something else planned. I dunno. But Amy's yet to earn her place on the TARDIS as far as I'm concerned.

[katherine-b.livejournal.com]

RTD vs Moff - 100% agreement. What's going to be really interesting is to see how the fans react to non-Moff-written eps because if they're rubbish, Moff will no doubt still be blamed. I do worry (and have always worried) that while Moff can do great single episodes (and two-parters) he could reasonably struggle with an entire series. That said, I really do want him to do well overall, because I love this show and don't want it to falter.

The real problem IMHO is that this is the second episode. If it were the fifth, and the previous four had been strong, people would have said, as you did, "Oh, well, he can have one bad one." Because it came so soon after TEH, though, which was very strong for an introduction of both a new Doctor and a new companion (which we haven't faced since Rose), it looks weaker than it probably is. (Keep in mind that I haven't actually seen it yet, just read a lot of reviews and summaries. I'll watch it when it airs on TV in Australia in a couple of weeks. However this does mean I don't want to discuss plotholes with you because I don't know the details.)

As for Rose vs Martha vs Donna vs Amy, I suppose that was fairly inevitable. When people find "their Doctor" then part of that discovery is because of the companion, being the audience touchstone, so it's understandable that they think Amy is so wonderful. And as far as the promotion goes, they almost HAVE to trumpet her as the best thing since sliced bread, don't they? I mean, they're hardly going to say "And his new companion, who's pretty good, but really, you wouldn't have done better to watch the last few series. Why aren't they around anymore? We-ell, we did some nasty things to them - but it was all in the name of creativity and cliffhangers, you know, and you've got to have them in TV these days!" Apart from anything else, how do you fit that into a newspaper ad?!

One specific point though. I would argue (while agreeing with you) that Donna's attitude had both relevance and similarities to what she went through with the Doctor. She'd longed for her whole life to get married and he interrupted that, so she snapped. Fair enough. But clearly Amy's abandonment issues (which I what I see as the primary motivation for the way she treated people in TEH, as well as what I've heard about TBB) come from her parents first and then the Doctor. So she's projecting, rather than being able to blame him directly. After all, he at least did come back eventually, unlike Amy's parents. And it clearly hasn't occurred to her that she's abandoned Rory (presuming that's the intended groom) just as much as the Doctor abandoned here - and surely she knows that she's not going to be dropped back on time. I mean, if the Doctor has been so late coming back to her, why would he be any more punctual bringing her with him?

Thank you so much for your rant, which was wonderful reading, and I apologise for the essay I've left in response. ;-)

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Heh - I don't mind essays ;-)

I'm sure you're right about the shoving-Amy's-wonderfulness (!)-down-our-throats thing; as I said, they sort of do it about every new companion, but it was getting to the point where I'm actually becoming determined NOT to like her because of it. But I'm sure they could have come up with a better way to endear her to us. Because what they're doing now ain't doing that for me!

We don't know anything about Amy's parents yet, just that she "doesn't have any" and lives with her aunt, who we've also not seen.

Speculation is rife as to why...

[katherine-b.livejournal.com]

Fingers crossed that it tones down a bit in a few weeks' time. I agree that the knee-jerk reaction is not to like her when we're told we have to. (I also think that's one of the reasons I don't like Rose, because I only really watched the show properly in S4, when it felt like she was being shoved down our throats then at how wonderful she was. Going back and watching S3 after that didn't help. I think that's why I like S1 so much, because they didn't do that then.)

And it will be very interesting to see what happened to her parents. I just worry that she's going to be some wonderful, mystical, perfect character with super!speshul!skillz. The only probably being that I'm sure I read somewhere that she's only signed on for this one series. If she turns out to be a Time Lady who regenerates, I shall be rather pissed off...

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that she's only signed on for this one series

I saw that, too, and right now, am rejoicing at the fact! But that's probably just my knee-jerk reaction to all the hype. Actually, I'm thinking it's about time we had a companion who stayed for more than one season again - although maybe not her. *g*

[katherine-b.livejournal.com]

Yes, I certainly hope it doesn't last too long. Let's wait and see...

[luinel-anduril.livejournal.com]

Wow, i really agree with everything you say... though i will admit that i was extremely frustrated by TBB that i was overreacting a bit, but i don't have the history with the show that you do. i didn't feel that there were any great problems with the show until Donna was mindraped, and i still enjoyed the specials until EoT went off the deep end (and even it had its moments). Of course, in hindsight i do have some complaints, but while i was experiencing it for the first time i wasn't feeling alienated by TPTB or ready to throw in the towel. i think a lot of people are very passionate about this show, have very different opinions about what should happen next, and none of us are going to agree, so it will be hard for Moff to deliver. For my part, my biggest issue at this point is Amy (most of which you were able to voice more clearly than i was able to).

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wasn't having a go at you - please don't think I was! I think it's a good thing that there are so many people who feel so passionate about the show, it's just that sometimes, it seems to turn nasty which is when I head for the hills.

I think that most of us tend to look for the good and concentrate on that rather than look for the bad and waste time poking it with a stick. There are always going to be some things we like more than others; I was just trying to clear my head of the jumble of thoughts and reactions that have been whirring around in it all day!

And now, I'll go back to trying to write fic!

[luinel-anduril.livejournal.com]

Nah, i didn't think you were! i was just commenting on the fact that i had done my usual thing and got all passionate to the point of overreacting.

Yeah, i try to look for the good. Even if there's bad stuff i generally keep plugging along.

Oo, yes please! i haven't really been having much success with writing fic, but reading more Ten/Donna in particular makes me HAPPY!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm trying with the fic. Trouble is that - a)I'm a perfectionist so (most) things get fiddled with a lot before I regard them as finished. It's probably stuff that nobody but me would notice, but still... b)I keep starting things when I've not got enough time to write properly, so I end up writing down the stuff that's "fully formed" in my head, and outlining the rest to go back to... 4) I'm currently writing something I said I'd neverwrite, so I'm second-guessing myself all the time.

Sometimes I'm lucky, and something writes itself, like When the Rain Stops or Footprints in the Sand. It's the exception rather than the norm though, sadly...

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

I 100% agree with your assessment of the Moffat situation - his era can't be judged yet. We need to see this whole season before any genuine, honest, relevant comparisons can be made. (When I first saw Rose, I hated that episode so much I didn't watch the series again until I caught up on the first two seasons all at once! Whereas I wish I'd watched End of the World, because that episode is a much better story without being saddled with all that launch the series/introduce the characters/burping rubbish bins stuff!)

I quite like Amy, but there's a reason I don't watch DWC - A) one hour show looking at the making of a one hour show is MADNESS, B) too much self-congratulatory nonsense. I don't need to be told how to feel about the characters, I should get that from watching the show.

At the moment she feels so close to Donna (or a Donna "type") that I feel comfortable with the way she challenges the Doctor, but I don't think it's unique at all. I like her backstory and while she has abandonment issues, I'm yet to feel like she's so completely broken by them. Time will tell. In any case, I like that she actively disagreed with/disobeyed the Doctor in TBB - even if it was based on some faulty logic (or a giant leap of logic). (I actually thought it was based on "last of a species" rather than the whole "ancient race" thing, but I've only watched once.)

I will say, though, I'm not sure where you get "comfortable life" about Amy. I don't think we know enough to make that judgement yet. I would guess that she's not that well educated if her job is a kissagram, but she may be doing that to pay her way through school? It seems like she's without family now and Rory is her main connection to the world. The show seems to suggest she's tough because she's had to be, but exactly why I'm not sure. I guess lots of people have worse lives, but it's all relative.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Last paragraph first - I know I'm making a sweeping judgement there, and all I'm going on is what I've seen so far of the house she lived in (nice, big, well stocked) and the area she lived in (waaaay out of my price range!) I hear you about the abandonment issues, but it's mostly hints so far. I'm sure there's more to it, though.

The Confidentials can sometimes be really interesting - the one for Midnight for example was utterly fascinating because it went into the technical challenges faced by the sound team on that episode and I love stuff like that. But yes, this week's was definitely stretched rather thin. I'm sure that back when S2 aired, they were only 30 mins, whereas since S3 (I think) they've been 45.

I don't see Amy as a Donna clone at all really - I don't fimd her as likeable as Donna. I know there are many who didn't like Donna at all in TRB, but I identified with her straight away - maybe becase I'm closer to her in age, maybe because we're from the same part of the world, maybe because there are a lot of character traits we share.

I really am trying not to make a snap judgement on Amy - but all the "she's so different" stuff is pushing me in the wrong direction. I'm going to try to avoid it and go by what I see in the episodes.

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

I think we need to find a word other than "feisty" to describe strong female characters who don't take anyone's crap. The word is too overused to the point now that it reads as a bit demeaning.

I know Donna and Amy aren't that similar and the red-hair, wedding-dress stuff is surface comparison only, but their take-no-crap attitude is similar - just their vulnerabilities stem from different issues. Donna was put down by her mother; Amy doesn't even have a mother!

I like the Confidentials to an extent, but they are hit-and-miss for me. I have to really love an ep to want to watch the Confidential. I watched the 11th Hour one because I just needed more of a Who fix!

[mjlmaranatha.livejournal.com]

Thank you -- yes! The "feisty" thing is patronizing. (If the Doctor traveled with a male companion who didn't take any of his crap, would the male companion be called feisty? Sheesh.)

Anyway, random comment from someone who agrees with you. :)

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

I like random comments from people who agree with me :D

[mjlmaranatha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, kind of a nice treat, isn't it? :)

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

You're right. Random comments are so often from disagreeable types!

[mjlmaranatha.livejournal.com]

I just totally do not get why someone would want to randomly be crabby like that. Bleah.

Um, that icon...oh guh...! Wow.

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

Nice, isn't it? :D

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Definitely. Methinks some of these people need a thesaurus. And what's said below about it not being applied to a male companion is so true. I think it's about time we had one of those actually... but I imagine the chances are pretty slim.

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

Even if, by some chance, Rory goes traveling with them this season, he'll still feel like Amy is bringing her boyfriend/fiancee along for the ride, rather than a real Companion that the Doctor has chosen for the ride.

[mjlmaranatha.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the bashing; I'm in such agreement with you! I really try to avoid all the criticism -- I rarely even read it. I'm way too emotionally attached to the show to ream it to bits like that. I just love my Doctor Who even if it's a bit corny at times! (I've been a long-time fan like you. I'm coming to grips with the fact that I'll never grow up.) It's nice to be in contact with someone who's on the same page.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Welcome. And I don't mind talking to people who aren't on the same page as long as we can be civil about it!

I don't set out to read the criticism - but I've been reading more lately I think because a) the show has just come back with a new team and b)I'm on school holidays (I'm a teacher) so I have time to think about it!

[mjlmaranatha.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know what you mean. I'm so tempted to read what everyone has to say, (especially now like you mention) but my heart sinks when I see mean or icky stuff. I'm torn between wanting to know what everyone thinks and not wanting a bunch of negativity. Our lives have enough negativity as it is without our fictional worlds getting blasted by it, I think!

I really am happy that the new series seems to be doing well so far. Yay yay yay!

Ooo, do you teach music? I played clarinet all through those important formative years and so music got woven into my bones -- I'm so grateful for that. (In fact, during my sophomore year of high school our concert band toured England and Scotland. --sigh-- So cool for a Yank like me who has English roots.)

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's my subject (and I'm a clarinettist, too). I spent a long time working in the music biz before this though - I went into teaching as a "second career", after I'd had my kids :)

[mjlmaranatha.livejournal.com]

Oh yay! Good for you!

[vervet-monkey.livejournal.com]

Agree!

Except this bit...

It’s just that when you come across kids whose parents are addicts, or who go home to no food or company, or who are living in bedsits because their parents have thrown them out, it’s hard to see what she’s had to complain about, you know?

Well, actually, I do agree... but only because I DID the whole 'My life is so hard' bit while living in a nice neighbourhood with the most understanding amazing parents anyone could wish for. Thing is, I didn't realise until I got out into the real world and saw that I didn't have anything to complain about.

But that's a bit of a moot point really, because the spoilt thinks she has life so hard but doesn't really Amy is definitely not an improvement...

Having said that I quite like Amy, but I've not really connected to any companion ever anyway, and I don't see me with her either.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess that attitude is common to all teenagers. It's just that the vibe I'm getting from Amy is pretty hard to describe. It's undoubtedly coloured by my own experiences with young people and from the things I see and hear and read about the irresponsible behaviour among that age group in general these days. Which I know is beside the point because this is fiction - I'm still struggling to find the right way to express what I'm feeling about the character at the moment. I'm definitely not seeing the awesome that many are going on about.

[sciathan-file.livejournal.com]

Hello, back again because you have interesting and thoughtful posts.

I think you're right on with the RTD versus Moff debacle. I also think, weirdly enough, that the Moff's previous stellar episodes are more of a burden than a blessing to him at this moment in time. It almost seems to me that everyone is expecting every single episode to be as brilliant as "Blink" was and, not only would that get boring and hurt my brain after awhile, but some episodes need to put into place things beyond just convoluted plot lines. (For example, episode 1 should have had a less demanding plot because new characters, new setting, new new new new, well, everything is hard to handle! and TBB seemed to be not only developing that new relationship between the main characters, but actively anchoring what we've seen back into the continuity we have witnessed thus far). Is what we've seen mind shatteringly brilliant? Nope. But you have to establish a certain amount of stuff to do that creditably, too.

That being said, IMHO, I haven't seen anything to indicate that he's cocked it up at all yet. For the first time in a long time, I'm laughing and thinking in the course of the show. The fairy tale ethos he's subtly (or not so subtly with some of TBB's rather heavy handed metaphors) weaving into it make it a rush and an adventure again.

As for Amy, I like her so far and think the playing of her up is just half marketing. Also, when things are shiny and new, people have a general tendency to hold absolute opinions about them to the detriment of their predecessors. I don't think her life is horrible (I also am in a profession wherein I see kids with a lot more terrible lives). But I think - and the show dances about this - she also has a sense of loneliness about her. A huge house and garden aren't worth a fig if you've no one to see it from your perspective. In this way she could be Donna-esque because that swagger may cover up something else. But I dunno, I look to like, usually, being fairly mild mannered.

But, until she sits him down in a chair and makes him the Doctor do as she says a la Martha in "Gridlock", I don't believe this standing up to the Doctor thing. :D

[caz963.livejournal.com]

But, until she sits him down in a chair and makes him the Doctor do as she says a la Martha in "Gridlock", I don't believe this standing up to the Doctor thing. :D

Oh yes, absolutely. Or starts a domestic in the middle of a Pompeiian market!

A huge house and garden aren't worth a fig if you've no one to see it from your perspective

I agree with that as well - like I said, I'm finding it hard to pin down exactly what it is I'm not liking much about her. It can't just be because I think she's young and immature - so was Rose and I didn't dislike her so much (at the start). I think that Amy's a bit "bratish" actually...

I think that TEH clearly showed that Moffat can "do" fun episodes, and as someone here has said, perhaps if TBB had been the fourth or fifth of the run it might not have felt like the bit of a letdown it undoubtedly did to me on Saturday. I confess there was actually a moment that I looked at my watch.

But it's early days and I'm still more than willing to wait and see :-)

[malicehaughton.livejournal.com]

I see Amy not so much feisty as not grown up. She says she has, but really? She's that kid still, having a temper tantrum at the world :P

So far I think that the only reason I think I'm going to enjoy this season more than I have 1-4 and the specials has nothing to do with who the head writer is at all. It's that I instantly liked and wanted to see more of the eleventh Doctor. It was like the Doctor was the Doctor again, after Ten turned the emo up to eleven O_o

I'm not a big fan of some of RTD's scripts in the show. Until the specials though, I didn't really think them bad, just...it's like he gave up on character development and didn't care at all about his own continuity, sometimes in the same episode *headdesk*.

My favourite episode, Midnight, was RTD's. And while I liked the characters for SitL/FotD, I didn't really like the episodes themselves, and that was SM's. So they both have episodes I like and didn't like as much.

With only two episodes in with SM, it is too soon to tell whether he'd be any better as the runner of the show, but it has a different feel. Not necessarily better different, just different different. I'm enjoying it though :)

So, agreed with what you say! Hopefully what I said made sense...

Also, I don't know how and can't think of a reason why, Amy knows the Doctor is 'so old' either...that was one thing that bugged me about TBB. Well, that and the pacing of the episode. It needed to be slowed down a bit IMO.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I see Amy not so much feisty as not grown up|

Yes, absolutely. I said here somewhere that I thought Amelia was more mature than Amy.

Different-different is fine though. Given where Ten ended up emotionally, there's no further to go along that road, and I'm fine with that. What I'm missing though (and sensiblecat wrote an excellent post about this yesterday) is the emotional punch that Rusty's episodes packed - whether they all worked or not, he wrote from the heart and/or the gut and I've been coming to realise that that's the style I prefer. Again, not better, just different.

[malicehaughton.livejournal.com]

Oh, I liked all the emotional things, until it got way too out there, with the Doctor refusing to regenerate and going on his little "It's my reward" tour of his companions...felt more like he was torturing himself.

That...wasn't the Doctor for me.

And I think SM is writing with emotion. It was certainly there in TBB. Eleven's still hurting from everything, but it's toned down and more a distant hurt...after the way Ten got, I find that very refreshing.

I think the regeneration was exactly what he needed. And I found it hilariously funny, though maybe I shouldn't have, that Eleven got angry at Amy for choosing for him, since he just stopped being Ten who made choices for everyone. And then it got all serious again when he said he'd have to choose a new name because he wouldn't be the Doctor anymore.

[ms-lilith.livejournal.com]

I mainly had a problem with her being covered in foul smelling sick and then drying rather prettily. Did she have time for a shower and tumble dry while visiting Liz X? I want to know.

Other than that, I'm reserving judgment till i see more.

I often find the confidentials are a bit too self congratulatory bollocks for me. I dont like being told what to think, so when they say "Amy is so feisty she really gets him" "rose and the doctor are so in love they need another universe to split them up cos nothing else will do it..." it makes me go 'Huh?' when i was fine suspending my disbelief before.