Doctor Who 10.01 - "The Pilot"

[lizbee]

WELL THAT WAS DELIGHTFUL.

Having stepped back from active participation in DW fandom, and been SO disappointed with so much of last season, I wasn't even going to watch "The Pilot" this morning. I was going to wait and watch it tonight, like I do with every other show.

But I forgot how much the UK loves untagged livetweeting, and there were so many opinions flying around that I realised I could either avoid social media for the whole day (AHAHAHAHA NO), or just watch it over breakfast. So I did, but I really do think UK viewers should consider tags, if not just holding off for a while.

Which reminds me, I really should do a spoilery Dance Academy post here, it's been WEEKS and I may explode if I don't talk about some stuff soon.



Bill is SO smart and curious and not whingy about having to work a greasy food service job instead of getting the education she clearly wants, and she is far too gay to function, I LOVE her.

I also wholeheartedly liked Twelve for basically the first time. Am I finally over Smiff leaving? Does it help that he's no longer with a companion I dislike? Probably a bit of both? Suddenly I wish he was staying longer -- especially since rumour has it he's being replaced by Kris Marshall, who really doesn't inspire me to give Chibnall!Who a chance.

Let me just make a list...

• The joke about Bill fattening up her crush with extra chips was kiiiiinda dubious, but since she was still into that girl, I don't think we're meant to interpret Bill as being massively fat-shamey.
• (A weird thing I've noticed in the last year or so is that people who aren't in the fandom tend to be very much into knee-jerk criticisms of problematic elements, whereas actual fans -- by which I mean people who are a lot more engaged with the show, its writers and its history -- tend to have more nuance. THERE I said a nice thing about Doctor Who fandom.)
• I just love that Bill has already caught the Doctor's eye with her intelligence and curiosity, and that they meet because he has singled her out. It's really the opposite of Martha's story, right down to the Doctor (a future Doctor, I think we can assume) instantly -- from Bill's perspective -- reversing his decision to keep her at arm's length at the end.
• Bill seems to be Moffat's attempt at an everygirl companion in the style of Rose, but his take on the "clever and unfulfilled service industry employee" is "she's handpicked to study physics with the Doctor", and I'm into it.
• I liked Bill and Heather while the episode was running, but now it's twenty minutes later and I can't really figure out what drew Bill to her, except that she is pretty and sad and has a star in her eye. Which, don't get me wrong, is ABSOLUTELY a valid basis for a crush, but definitely not for abandoning your human existence to be part of a liquid space ship.
• Having said that, I hope that Heather comes back, having adjusted to life as a space ship and regained her personality (I assume she has one) and she and Bill run off into the sunset together.
• I ... don't hate Nardole? But I hope that he's confined to the Earth-based plot with the Vault, and Bill doesn't have to share the Doctor full-time.
• I'm assuming that the Vault plot will all come to a head, and Bill will re-encounter Professor!Doctor and Nardole, presumably around the time of the season finale.
• ...is the Doctor keeping Simm!Master in the Vault? Is that it? I'm really not enthused at the prospect of his return, but that concept would make some of my friends happy, at least.
• BILL. *heart eyes emoji* I teared up when she looked through the pictures of her mother, and that's a good sign in terms of becoming attached to a character.
• I'm curious about her relationship with her foster mother -- she was friends with Bill's mother? They seem ... hmm, close but not overtly affectionate? I want to know more!

Comments

[miss_s_b]

I'm so happy you liked it! And lots of other people liked it! YAY!

[lizbee]

OMG YOUR ICON

IT'S AMAZING

I honestly don't think I've been this wholeheartedly enthusiastic about Doctor Who since ... okay, not as far back as before the Ponds left, but definitely not since the 50th Anniversary special.

[miss_s_b]

You can't beat a bit of Arachnia!Janeway ;)

And yeah, I feel like I've had the cobwebs blown away on my Who fandom. And partner #2 was almost in tears because he thought it was so wonderful, bless him (he makes me look lukewarm on Who in general, and last night it was like he'd seen Jesus risen from the dead).

[lizbee]

I feel like Moffat has been exhausted and on autopilot for the last couple of years, and now, with the end in sight, he's found a new wave of energy to see him through to the end.

[g_t_watch_list]

That makes sense as a theory, yup.

[g_t_watch_list]

... argh, sorry, this is miss_s_b adjusting the watch list for GT. Bloody bucks free press have broken the RSS for Colin Baker's opinion column, the swines...

[jesuswasbatman]

Simm!Master in the vault is very plausible, yes.

I thought that there were definitely deliberate Rose parallels in the episode - I think there was one shot of Bill waking up in the morning that was a deliberate copy of one in "Rose". I didn't get the Martha parallels until now, but I can see it.

[lizbee]

I think the Martha parallels are mostly external -- a Black companion, played by a relative novice (Pearl Mackie's resume is even shorter than Freema Agyeman's was), following an immensely popular white one, with a semi-romantic connection to the Doctor, who was played by an actress who had a profile before she joined DW.

[selenay]

I kind of just need to shout OMG YES to everything you said :-)

But also, I particularly loved that the Doctor handpicked Bill to teach because he could see her potential and they had all that time together to bond before the adventure started. It was so new and great! And I also teared up a little at Bill looking through the photos.

The fat comment can be seen as problematic, but at the same time, it felt very real? True? A thing that showed she's not perfect? And she clearly still fancies the girl, so I didn't mind it.

And! I bought the Bill/Heather thing because it was totally a crush, not true love, and people do ridiculous things for crushes when they don't know their crush-object very well. Bill ended up not going with her because she recognised was a crush, and even though she really liked Heather, they'd never got to know each other well enough to know if it was more.

I <3 Bill. I haven't had this total excitement about a companion since Donna. I haven't had this squeefulness about a new series since Eleventh Hour. It feels so good!

[ironed_orchid]

I was predisposed to like Bill, but so glad that she was adorable and so much an individual person. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season.