Doctor Who: "Closing Time"
Sep. 25th, 2011 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbee(Apologies if anyone saw this and was spoiled before I fixed the cut tag!)
THAT WAS GREAT. NOT PERFECT, BUT GREAT.
A brief list of things that made it not perfect:
- apparently the Cybermen were particularly keen to target people of colour. WHY SO SUBTEXTUALLY DODGY, SHOW? I mean, don't get me wrong, "subtextually dodgy" has been Doctor Who's watchword since 1963, but this particular pattern has been going since 2005, and it's gross. (I actually wonder if the Moff would be open to criticism on this point. I know RTD thought himself incredibly ~edgy~ and ~politically incorrect~ but since Moffat, on being called on the lack of gay people last year, said, "Oh hell, I've failed" and set about fixing it, it seems not implausible that he'd have a similar reaction if the dead PoC pattern was pointed out.)
- the Cybermen were a bit rubbish. But they haven't actually been cool or scary since "The Invasion", so that's nothing new.
- that is all
- I mean, I was going to be eyerolly at the lack of Sophie, but then she was actually in it, and Craig talked about her, and since this, unlike "Night Terrors", was not actually a story about Grave Revelations About The Child Itself, the conveniently absent mum was less glaring.
- and I was actually on the verge of eyerolling at "BLEW THEM UP WITH LOVE" but then the Doctor said what I was thinking, and I lolled instead.
EVERYTHING ELSE WAS GREAT.
I mean, I really like Craig and the way he's Gareth Roberts' BLATANT SELF-INSERT but doesn't feel like a Gary Stu. Probably because we only ever see him for an episode at a time, and he's so relentlessly average.
Fandom has already commenced fat-shaming him, which kind of just makes me like him more, to spite people. If Craig was thinner, there would have been lots of Eleventy/Craig fic between "The Lodger" and now. Well, now canon itself has served the pairing up on a plate. I'M JUST SAYING.
I do love watching Eleventy interact with men; m/m slash isn't usually my thing, but Eleven sometimes tempts me to change my mind.
UNEXPECTED PONDS. When the little girl asked for Amy's autograph, I was hoping that the dreams of fandom had come true and she had become an author of picture books. Then I was like, "She's a model? THAT IS SO IMPLAUSIBLE," even though she is played by KAREN GILLAN, and probably modelling is easier work than being a kiss-o-gram while still leaving sufficient spare time for having zany adventures. One of my friends at Borders moonlighted as a model (or was it the other way around?) between selling books and going to uni. Stranger things have happened.
(Also, for those keeping track, the perfume for which she's modelling is called Petrichor, the smell of dust after the rain.)
(Actually, that and the tag line, "for the girl who's tired of waiting", make me wonder if perhaps Amy herself had something to do with creating the product. But probably I'm over-thinking.)
(For some reason I was reminded of the "why wait for a man to buy you a fur coat?" ad in Mad Men. WHEN DOES MAD MEN COME BACK? WHY AM I SO OPPRESSED?)
BABIES. I did like little Alfie, and the comedy of SAVING THE WORLD with a baby. I predict that by this time next week, my younger nephew will be known as STORMAGEDDON, DARK LORD OF ALL.
Oh, and there was UNEXPECTED RIVER. That was great. Her horror as she realises that she never really escaped, and however much she's overcome her programming ... yeah. DON'T WORRY, RIVER, IT WILL BE OKAY. I hope.
THAT WAS GREAT. NOT PERFECT, BUT GREAT.
A brief list of things that made it not perfect:
- apparently the Cybermen were particularly keen to target people of colour. WHY SO SUBTEXTUALLY DODGY, SHOW? I mean, don't get me wrong, "subtextually dodgy" has been Doctor Who's watchword since 1963, but this particular pattern has been going since 2005, and it's gross. (I actually wonder if the Moff would be open to criticism on this point. I know RTD thought himself incredibly ~edgy~ and ~politically incorrect~ but since Moffat, on being called on the lack of gay people last year, said, "Oh hell, I've failed" and set about fixing it, it seems not implausible that he'd have a similar reaction if the dead PoC pattern was pointed out.)
- the Cybermen were a bit rubbish. But they haven't actually been cool or scary since "The Invasion", so that's nothing new.
- that is all
- I mean, I was going to be eyerolly at the lack of Sophie, but then she was actually in it, and Craig talked about her, and since this, unlike "Night Terrors", was not actually a story about Grave Revelations About The Child Itself, the conveniently absent mum was less glaring.
- and I was actually on the verge of eyerolling at "BLEW THEM UP WITH LOVE" but then the Doctor said what I was thinking, and I lolled instead.
EVERYTHING ELSE WAS GREAT.
I mean, I really like Craig and the way he's Gareth Roberts' BLATANT SELF-INSERT but doesn't feel like a Gary Stu. Probably because we only ever see him for an episode at a time, and he's so relentlessly average.
Fandom has already commenced fat-shaming him, which kind of just makes me like him more, to spite people. If Craig was thinner, there would have been lots of Eleventy/Craig fic between "The Lodger" and now. Well, now canon itself has served the pairing up on a plate. I'M JUST SAYING.
I do love watching Eleventy interact with men; m/m slash isn't usually my thing, but Eleven sometimes tempts me to change my mind.
UNEXPECTED PONDS. When the little girl asked for Amy's autograph, I was hoping that the dreams of fandom had come true and she had become an author of picture books. Then I was like, "She's a model? THAT IS SO IMPLAUSIBLE," even though she is played by KAREN GILLAN, and probably modelling is easier work than being a kiss-o-gram while still leaving sufficient spare time for having zany adventures. One of my friends at Borders moonlighted as a model (or was it the other way around?) between selling books and going to uni. Stranger things have happened.
(Also, for those keeping track, the perfume for which she's modelling is called Petrichor, the smell of dust after the rain.)
(Actually, that and the tag line, "for the girl who's tired of waiting", make me wonder if perhaps Amy herself had something to do with creating the product. But probably I'm over-thinking.)
(For some reason I was reminded of the "why wait for a man to buy you a fur coat?" ad in Mad Men. WHEN DOES MAD MEN COME BACK? WHY AM I SO OPPRESSED?)
BABIES. I did like little Alfie, and the comedy of SAVING THE WORLD with a baby. I predict that by this time next week, my younger nephew will be known as STORMAGEDDON, DARK LORD OF ALL.
Oh, and there was UNEXPECTED RIVER. That was great. Her horror as she realises that she never really escaped, and however much she's overcome her programming ... yeah. DON'T WORRY, RIVER, IT WILL BE OKAY. I hope.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:03 am (UTC)Also, there had better be loads of Eleven/Craig after this. Or at least some. Any at all would be nice, really.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-28 08:20 pm (UTC)http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/10765983149
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:14 am (UTC)...not as much fun as I remember. :/
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:27 am (UTC)And then they DID NOT SHOOT LITTLE POISON DARTS. BELIEVE ME, I SHALL BE WRITING AN OUTRAGED LETTER TO THE BBC.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 01:39 am (UTC)I do love watching Eleventy interact with men
Ack, yes, I really love it too. He's so touchy-feely and kind and intimate and comfortable with people like Craig and Rory and Vincent and it's just gorgeous. Ah, lack of gay panic and enforced heteronormative masculinity, I do enjoy you.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 02:24 am (UTC)...it's entirely possible that my contact with DW fandom has become so limited that it is just you, but it seems like a vast proportion of the fandom to me.
Ah, lack of gay panic and enforced heteronormative masculinity, I do enjoy you.
IT'S GREAT! HOW CAN PEOPLE SAY ELEVENTY IS THE MOST A/HETEROSEXUAL?