DW 6x13 - The Wedding of River Song
Oct. 2nd, 2011 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963I've been away from the computer for a couple of days - the weather has been so bloody good; far too good to waste it sitting inside hunched over a keyboard! But I can't let the weekend pass without some thinky-thoughts on the Doctor Who finale.
There was good and bad - but mostly I'm pretty ambivalent about it. I don't feel quite as let down as I did by The Big Bang, but I suspect that's because my expectations weren't very high to begin with.
The good: I thought Matt Smith was excellent throughout, especially in the scene where he learns about the Brig's death, (And that was a nice shout-out, by the way - kudos to Moffat for that one).
Going to all of Jack's stag-dos on one night! (heh)
The scene between River and Amy towards the end. I'm not sure exactly when it's supposed to have happened for Amy, but it was a nice touch all the same.
More bad-ass Rory.
The creepy skull-pit!
The deadly chess game.
Simon Callow's turn as Dickens
Knitting for Girls!!!
Steam trains - and offices thereon
Amy finally acknowledging the pain of never seeing her baby again (although that moment was still no substitite for seeing her actually deal with the momentousness of losing her child)
The bad:
Somewhat of a recycling of last year's finale - two Doctors, alternate universes...
It was obvious, as soon as the "previously" included the Teselecta, how the Doctor was going to get out of it. (And I freely admit that the "previously" may not have been Moffat's doing, IDK.)
I really don't like the whole "child of the TARDIS" thing. I realise that may just be my own personal preference, but for me, the Doctor is one of a kind and the idea that making a part-Time Lord is as simple as baby-making while in the vortex makes me want to throw things. And although I'm saying a "part" Time Lord, from what we've learned of River, she was - until she gave up her remaining regenerations - more or less the real thing. And that really bothers me.
The wtf?
Why did the Silence go to all the trouble of putting River into a Spacesuit in a lake? (Okay, I get that if she hadn't been in the suit, she'd have drowned!). Was the fact that they stuck her in Lake Silencio their idea of a joke? I can't believe they wouldn't have had other chances to dispose of the Doctor, or couldn't have found a less convoluted way to do it. I'm assuming the reason they blew up the TARDIS in S5 was in order to get the Alien Axis of Evil together to lock him in the Pandorica and when that didn't work, they tried something else. Clearly, the Silence (or whatever their name was!) suffered from a surfeit of "over-the-top-overblown-and-nonsensical-plot-devices" if they thought the best way to be rid of him was, in the first place, to unite every species in the universe who'd ever hated him, and then to rear someone to kill him and immerse her in a lake.
How come eye-patch!Amy knew the Doctor, but didn't know who her husband was?
A mega-transmitter that can contact the entire universe? (She could just have used Twitter!)
Why does the Doctor have to marry River in order to set the Universe right? I may have missed that bit - but if all they had to do to push the reset button was touch each other, I'm sure they could have managed a quick snog without that necessity!
And he's happy to leave her in prison for a crime she didn't commit? But oh, I forgot - she gets out at night and he whisks her away for "adventures" *nudge, nudge-wink, wink!* And this woman, who at first seemed so fiercely independent, is prepared to accept that. Gah. I can't even think about that any more. I know that when River first appeared many people - including me - had a bit of a hard time liking her (but I like AK, so I made the effort!) By the time she reappeared in S5, I was prepared to like her, and I did, very much, right through the rest of S5 and into S6. But I think there was too much emphasis on River in S6 and in the end I stopped caring very much as to who she was and what was her role in the Doctor's life. And after the Melody "revelation", I'd had enough. I wouldn't mind seeing her again, because I like AK, but I think most of her story has played out.
If it was permanently 5.02pm, how come people were able to move around and do stuff? If time's stopped, then surely everyone would have been standing around like statues. And if all of history was happening at once, surely the planet would have been ridiculously overcrowded?! I suppose it's a nice, wibbly-wobbly idea if you don't stop to think about it too much. Which could, now I come to think about it, be the problem with SM's episodes as a whole - neat ideas that don't hold water if you start to actually think about them.
Word is that S7 won't be so arc-based, and I have to say, that's a relief. Especially if we get high-quality standalones like "The Doctor's Wife", "Night Terrors" and "The God Complex".
It's no secret that I've never been a fan of Amy, but I think that even if I had been, I'd be thinking that it's time for a change of companion. Most companions in Classic Who stuck around for a couple of years because (I think) the producers thought it was necessary to keep things moving along to have some fresh faces every so often. I'll be sorry to see Rory go, but I think that the Ponds' story is played out, and its time for them to leave.
Verdict on S6? A few very good standalone episodes, but it didn't really hold together as a series, because the "plot arc" episodes were so obviously separate from the rest (if that makes any sense). The mid-series break was a huge mistake when there were so many elements to remember from one half of the series to the other.
There was good and bad - but mostly I'm pretty ambivalent about it. I don't feel quite as let down as I did by The Big Bang, but I suspect that's because my expectations weren't very high to begin with.
The good: I thought Matt Smith was excellent throughout, especially in the scene where he learns about the Brig's death, (And that was a nice shout-out, by the way - kudos to Moffat for that one).
Going to all of Jack's stag-dos on one night! (heh)
The scene between River and Amy towards the end. I'm not sure exactly when it's supposed to have happened for Amy, but it was a nice touch all the same.
More bad-ass Rory.
The creepy skull-pit!
The deadly chess game.
Simon Callow's turn as Dickens
Knitting for Girls!!!
Steam trains - and offices thereon
Amy finally acknowledging the pain of never seeing her baby again (although that moment was still no substitite for seeing her actually deal with the momentousness of losing her child)
The bad:
Somewhat of a recycling of last year's finale - two Doctors, alternate universes...
It was obvious, as soon as the "previously" included the Teselecta, how the Doctor was going to get out of it. (And I freely admit that the "previously" may not have been Moffat's doing, IDK.)
I really don't like the whole "child of the TARDIS" thing. I realise that may just be my own personal preference, but for me, the Doctor is one of a kind and the idea that making a part-Time Lord is as simple as baby-making while in the vortex makes me want to throw things. And although I'm saying a "part" Time Lord, from what we've learned of River, she was - until she gave up her remaining regenerations - more or less the real thing. And that really bothers me.
The wtf?
Why did the Silence go to all the trouble of putting River into a Spacesuit in a lake? (Okay, I get that if she hadn't been in the suit, she'd have drowned!). Was the fact that they stuck her in Lake Silencio their idea of a joke? I can't believe they wouldn't have had other chances to dispose of the Doctor, or couldn't have found a less convoluted way to do it. I'm assuming the reason they blew up the TARDIS in S5 was in order to get the Alien Axis of Evil together to lock him in the Pandorica and when that didn't work, they tried something else. Clearly, the Silence (or whatever their name was!) suffered from a surfeit of "over-the-top-overblown-and-nonsensical-plot-devices" if they thought the best way to be rid of him was, in the first place, to unite every species in the universe who'd ever hated him, and then to rear someone to kill him and immerse her in a lake.
How come eye-patch!Amy knew the Doctor, but didn't know who her husband was?
A mega-transmitter that can contact the entire universe? (She could just have used Twitter!)
Why does the Doctor have to marry River in order to set the Universe right? I may have missed that bit - but if all they had to do to push the reset button was touch each other, I'm sure they could have managed a quick snog without that necessity!
And he's happy to leave her in prison for a crime she didn't commit? But oh, I forgot - she gets out at night and he whisks her away for "adventures" *nudge, nudge-wink, wink!* And this woman, who at first seemed so fiercely independent, is prepared to accept that. Gah. I can't even think about that any more. I know that when River first appeared many people - including me - had a bit of a hard time liking her (but I like AK, so I made the effort!) By the time she reappeared in S5, I was prepared to like her, and I did, very much, right through the rest of S5 and into S6. But I think there was too much emphasis on River in S6 and in the end I stopped caring very much as to who she was and what was her role in the Doctor's life. And after the Melody "revelation", I'd had enough. I wouldn't mind seeing her again, because I like AK, but I think most of her story has played out.
If it was permanently 5.02pm, how come people were able to move around and do stuff? If time's stopped, then surely everyone would have been standing around like statues. And if all of history was happening at once, surely the planet would have been ridiculously overcrowded?! I suppose it's a nice, wibbly-wobbly idea if you don't stop to think about it too much. Which could, now I come to think about it, be the problem with SM's episodes as a whole - neat ideas that don't hold water if you start to actually think about them.
Word is that S7 won't be so arc-based, and I have to say, that's a relief. Especially if we get high-quality standalones like "The Doctor's Wife", "Night Terrors" and "The God Complex".
It's no secret that I've never been a fan of Amy, but I think that even if I had been, I'd be thinking that it's time for a change of companion. Most companions in Classic Who stuck around for a couple of years because (I think) the producers thought it was necessary to keep things moving along to have some fresh faces every so often. I'll be sorry to see Rory go, but I think that the Ponds' story is played out, and its time for them to leave.
Verdict on S6? A few very good standalone episodes, but it didn't really hold together as a series, because the "plot arc" episodes were so obviously separate from the rest (if that makes any sense). The mid-series break was a huge mistake when there were so many elements to remember from one half of the series to the other.
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 11:21 pm (UTC)Understood --- so why did they put her in the spacesuit??? XD
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 11:26 pm (UTC)The thing that really saddens me is that now it's really big in the US, new viewers will think this is what it's all about and will demand it stay like it.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 12:24 am (UTC)I preferred the Eccleston/Tennant years to Moffatt's reign, but the format is as much of a change as the writers & actors. While Rusty liked his twists, Moffat seems to have taken them too far. Whatever happened to just telling a decent story? Although the Doctor travels in time, he never used to keep crossing his own timeline so much that everything got completely messed up. We had goodies and baddies and a cushion to hide behind.
Jelly baby, anyone?
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 12:32 am (UTC)Omg loads of parenthesis!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 11:18 am (UTC)I like her, too, but it's been pretty clear from the start that River was Moff's Rose, I think.
I remember thinking way back, before SM took over that I wondered what impact being the showrunner and having to contend with accountants and the like would have on his writing. I still think Moffat writes well... what I'm not convinced about is the way he hangs it all together. I can't believe he didn't realise what a truly terrible idea it was to bring the baby plot in.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 02:02 pm (UTC)The baby thing was bizarre. I know a lot of people think it reduced Amy to a plot point in River's story, and while I don't see it like that I can understand where they get that from. And DW is pretty much just not up to dealing with that sort of emotional fallout.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 11:12 am (UTC)IA. And it's not just that it's not up to it, it's that it shouldn't really have to deal with it in the first place. It's a family show that has a very large number of kids watching it, and while I applaud DW for some of the themes it's tackled in the past, and I certainly think that it's right for kids to be challenged to think about all sorts of stuff, I think that two of the main characters losing their baby was a challenge too far.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 11:15 am (UTC)I'm sure I read somewhere that Moffat had said that his stuff is quite simple really - and if you take this episode as an example, I suppose it is. Basically - the Doctor used a copy of himself to avoid dying. BUT, it all got extra complicated because River decided to NOT kill him and thereby screwed up a fixed point in time, and that only happened in the last episode. All the rest of it was a lot of foreshadowing (the gangers, the Teselecta, the two Amys, lots of mirrors) and stuff about River that wasn't really handled very well.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 11:05 am (UTC)Seriously, I can understand him being a gentleman and all that, but if River didn't want him to touch her, she didn't have to let him touch her, married or not. I just doesn't make sense. River's been this BAMF, kick-ass character all this time, and suddenly, she turns into a subservient, simpering miss at a proposal?
And then, just because they're married, she changes her mind about not letting him die?
I'm sorry - and I'm not trying to be rude - but it makes no sense.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 12:19 am (UTC)I think it's that he just wanted to and so used that as his means of touching her. "WELL IF YOU LOVE ME SO MUCH WHY DON'T YOU MARRY ME?" possibly also.
I love the Amy but it's totally time for someone new. Two years feels like forever somehow. (Less forever than when we had Rose though!) Rory I can take or leave, Amy I like, but I'll probably like the new one as well, so. I tend to like most companions, and most of the reasons I don't like some of them probably wouldn't happen these days anyway. I mean can you imagine them doing a deliberately stupid companion? Or one who hated the Doctor? Or one... I was gonna say one played by Bonnie Langford, but then I remembered BARROWMAN, so.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 11:06 am (UTC)Heh.
But you know, I rather like Mel in the audios. It took me some time to listen to one with her in it, but I've heard a few with her in now (with Six, who I also adore in audio form!) and she's really quite good. But then I suppose in audio, you're able mto get over the fact that it's Bonnie Langford!! because you can't see her :-)
Two years does feel like an awfully long time in DW. I mean, much as I loved Donna and wish we could have had a second series of Tennant 'n' Tate, I think two would have been enough as it gets difficult to find anything new to say about them and anything new for them to see or do, doesn't it?
I wouldn't object if River became the companion for a bit, but I suppose as she's in prison, that's unklikely.
I read that KG had been around on location for the Xmas episode, but not if she'd actually filmed anything!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 02:00 pm (UTC)It might be that the companion's the one who gets backstory and development so after two years theyve been strip-mined bare? I mean Rusty even seemed to run out of stuff to do with Rose in her second year. Compare it to her first and it's astonishing. And Amy did do rather less in those terms this year. After a point they have to go, which is why I'm always saying Ace should have left if they hadn't cancelled her.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 11:05 am (UTC)Yes, that's what I meant, but you said it right!!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 10:55 pm (UTC)This bit game me my biggest headache, and it's not just me it seems, even hubby turned to me during it and said WTF?
No matter how I try to get my head around it, I keep coming back to two things about that scene;
1. The snog itself makes no sense at all as far as restarted the clock goes, because they didn't actually touch, she kissed the Teselecta, not him, so it shouldn't have done a damned thing.
2. The doctor only married her to get her to agree to do what he wanted her to, go off and kill him.
Or am I missing something? I'd love to know if I am, if only so I can get rid of this headache, and try to explain it to hubby, who is equally bemused.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 11:09 am (UTC)Ahem. Apart from it not being the 19th century, what happened to River the BAMF? Did she just turn into a Mills and Boon heroine who goes all mushy at the idea of tying the knot with the man of her dreams? (In fact, I think today's M&B heroines are probably more feisty than that!)
I haven't had a chance to catch up with reviews from other LJ-ers, but I bet there's a fair bit of discussion about that!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 07:20 pm (UTC)most comments I've seen have been of the WTF? variety, and almost everyone has questioned why they got married.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 02:10 am (UTC)