Doctor Who 5x13 Review, Part 1
Jun. 28th, 2010 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The Big Bang
This episode was less of a ‘wow’ than the previous but still really good and I enjoyed it tons. I was expecting something with a bit more punch and certainly with a lot more of the angst as I’ve come to expect with Doctor Who finales but it was actually a really nice change from RTD’s emotionally draining and rather bleak finales. It’s nice to finish a season for once with everyone happy and together and looking towards their next adventure. It was a very satisfying ending.
• The Pandorica proved to be a lot easier to escape from than I thought it’d be. I loved Rory praying for a miracle and then the Doctor showing up because so often that’s exactly what he ends up being. Rory’s expression after the Doctor handed him the sonic screwdriver and then disappeared again was perfect. That almost might be my favourite piece of acting in the episode. I re-watched it a couple times.
• I love that Rory covered Amy with a blanket before leaving her body and then later covering the Doctor’s ‘body’ before they left it. They were two small moments but they said so much about him and I loved it.
• My first thought when the Doctor was pouring instructions into almost-dead Amy’s mind was that of course she wasn’t getting the head-butt treatment. I knew that he could pass information like this, ie: gently, but it does make me wonder why the head-butt with Clive in ‘The Lodger’ then? Also this was yet another moment in the finale that pointed back to something that happened earlier in the season. I love that.
• I loved seeing Amelia again. I just wish we could have seen her adventuring with the Doctor.
• Rory staying with Amy’s trapped body for almost two thousand years – guarding her, protecting her, even at times saving her – wow. Oh, Rory. I don’t even know what to say to that. “The Lone Centurion” How ridiculously fairy tale! It’s like they were meant to be – two fairy tale people coming together.
• I loved that the ‘sun’ that was preserving life on Earth wasn’t actually Sol but was the TARDIS burning up. That was awesome. And it was a lovely visual. I have to wonder is this how TARDIS’s normally die cause it’s a bit flash?
• “The emergency protocols – the TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put her into a time loop to save her. She’s right in the heart of the explosion.” – Doctor. I love that the TARDIS moved to save her.
• Question: How is it that the exploding TARDIS is the sun and yet when River opened the door she was met with a wall of rock? Where did that rock come from and where did it go? How could it be blocking her if she was in space? ... hmm, was it an asteroid perhaps?
• I liked River and Amy’s silent agreement over the Fez and them working in concert to get rid of it (permanently). I do wish they’d had more interaction this season though because that would have made the scene work better.
• River and Amy were looking fabulous. I really noticed how great they were looking after the Doctor ‘died’ at the museum. River, especially, looked stunning over these last two episodes.
• I like that it’s River that tackles the Amy when the Pandorica takes flight. A small thing but it made me happy.
• When River was explaining what would happen to the Doctor it seemed a bit contradictory to me. “...Trapped in the nether space, the void between the worlds. .... All memory will be purged. He’ll never have been born.” So which is it? Will he be trapped in the Void (and I’m assuming it’s the same Void in Doomsday) or will he be erased from memory/never been born? Because I don’t think both can happen. I suppose he could be trapped in the Void and while in there all memory of him would be erased (until he escapes and then it’s back) but the whole ‘never been born’ doesn’t. I feel like there should be a Rose/Bad Wolf possibility in him being trapped in the Void. Hmm.
• “Oh, okay, I escaped then. Brilliant. Love it when I do that.” – Doctor. That’s pretty much every day for him.
• I love that it really was a different Doctor who went back to see Amy in the Angel filled forest. I also loved that he picked sleeping Amelia up from outside and put her to bed and that she didn’t spend the whole night out there waiting (and thus didn’t wake up like that.)
• The Doctor calling himself a ‘daft old man’ and the love in his voice when he talked about the TARDIS also made me happy. The first part calling back to the ways Eleven has seemed older, that it’s been made obvious that he only looks young.
• “I think I’ll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats.” – Doctor. Nooo! I want the repeats! For a minute there I actually thought we might get it – not any interactions of anything pre-season five of course but clips of the Doctor all the way back to the very first Doctor – because we’ve gotten a lot more mention and looks at previous Doctors this season then we have in the previous four. This finale has been amazing at referencing back to past episodes/occurrences and for a second there I thought that all those sightings of previous Doctors (and the First more than any other) was all foreshadowing to getting to see the Doctor ‘rewind’ back through his whole life. Damn.
• I loved the turnaround of Amy having forgotten Rory and then finding herself crying inexplicably with sadness to Amy having forgotten the Doctor and finding herself crying inexplicably with sadness. The foreshadowing and call-backs this season are so wonderful. The show keeps doing it and I keep loving it and this was one of my favourites.
This episode was less of a ‘wow’ than the previous but still really good and I enjoyed it tons. I was expecting something with a bit more punch and certainly with a lot more of the angst as I’ve come to expect with Doctor Who finales but it was actually a really nice change from RTD’s emotionally draining and rather bleak finales. It’s nice to finish a season for once with everyone happy and together and looking towards their next adventure. It was a very satisfying ending.
• The Pandorica proved to be a lot easier to escape from than I thought it’d be. I loved Rory praying for a miracle and then the Doctor showing up because so often that’s exactly what he ends up being. Rory’s expression after the Doctor handed him the sonic screwdriver and then disappeared again was perfect. That almost might be my favourite piece of acting in the episode. I re-watched it a couple times.
• I love that Rory covered Amy with a blanket before leaving her body and then later covering the Doctor’s ‘body’ before they left it. They were two small moments but they said so much about him and I loved it.
• My first thought when the Doctor was pouring instructions into almost-dead Amy’s mind was that of course she wasn’t getting the head-butt treatment. I knew that he could pass information like this, ie: gently, but it does make me wonder why the head-butt with Clive in ‘The Lodger’ then? Also this was yet another moment in the finale that pointed back to something that happened earlier in the season. I love that.
• I loved seeing Amelia again. I just wish we could have seen her adventuring with the Doctor.
• Rory staying with Amy’s trapped body for almost two thousand years – guarding her, protecting her, even at times saving her – wow. Oh, Rory. I don’t even know what to say to that. “The Lone Centurion” How ridiculously fairy tale! It’s like they were meant to be – two fairy tale people coming together.
• I loved that the ‘sun’ that was preserving life on Earth wasn’t actually Sol but was the TARDIS burning up. That was awesome. And it was a lovely visual. I have to wonder is this how TARDIS’s normally die cause it’s a bit flash?
• “The emergency protocols – the TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put her into a time loop to save her. She’s right in the heart of the explosion.” – Doctor. I love that the TARDIS moved to save her.
• Question: How is it that the exploding TARDIS is the sun and yet when River opened the door she was met with a wall of rock? Where did that rock come from and where did it go? How could it be blocking her if she was in space? ... hmm, was it an asteroid perhaps?
• I liked River and Amy’s silent agreement over the Fez and them working in concert to get rid of it (permanently). I do wish they’d had more interaction this season though because that would have made the scene work better.
• River and Amy were looking fabulous. I really noticed how great they were looking after the Doctor ‘died’ at the museum. River, especially, looked stunning over these last two episodes.
• I like that it’s River that tackles the Amy when the Pandorica takes flight. A small thing but it made me happy.
• When River was explaining what would happen to the Doctor it seemed a bit contradictory to me. “...Trapped in the nether space, the void between the worlds. .... All memory will be purged. He’ll never have been born.” So which is it? Will he be trapped in the Void (and I’m assuming it’s the same Void in Doomsday) or will he be erased from memory/never been born? Because I don’t think both can happen. I suppose he could be trapped in the Void and while in there all memory of him would be erased (until he escapes and then it’s back) but the whole ‘never been born’ doesn’t. I feel like there should be a Rose/Bad Wolf possibility in him being trapped in the Void. Hmm.
• “Oh, okay, I escaped then. Brilliant. Love it when I do that.” – Doctor. That’s pretty much every day for him.
• I love that it really was a different Doctor who went back to see Amy in the Angel filled forest. I also loved that he picked sleeping Amelia up from outside and put her to bed and that she didn’t spend the whole night out there waiting (and thus didn’t wake up like that.)
• The Doctor calling himself a ‘daft old man’ and the love in his voice when he talked about the TARDIS also made me happy. The first part calling back to the ways Eleven has seemed older, that it’s been made obvious that he only looks young.
• “I think I’ll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats.” – Doctor. Nooo! I want the repeats! For a minute there I actually thought we might get it – not any interactions of anything pre-season five of course but clips of the Doctor all the way back to the very first Doctor – because we’ve gotten a lot more mention and looks at previous Doctors this season then we have in the previous four. This finale has been amazing at referencing back to past episodes/occurrences and for a second there I thought that all those sightings of previous Doctors (and the First more than any other) was all foreshadowing to getting to see the Doctor ‘rewind’ back through his whole life. Damn.
• I loved the turnaround of Amy having forgotten Rory and then finding herself crying inexplicably with sadness to Amy having forgotten the Doctor and finding herself crying inexplicably with sadness. The foreshadowing and call-backs this season are so wonderful. The show keeps doing it and I keep loving it and this was one of my favourites.