Doctor Who: The Next Doctor...

[fajrdrako]

I watched the Doctor Who 2008 Christmas Special The Next Doctor this evening. I had a video-party with maaseru, Beulah, Lyn, Sandi and Pat. After watching the show, we watched the Confidential.

A great time was had by all.

A few comments:

1. David Morissey was much more appealing than he ever was as Ripley Holden, a character I hated in Blackpool. Better script. Though much as I enjoyed his role in the story as Jackson Lake, I didn't find myself drawn to the actor.
   
   
2. Loved the whole set-up, with Lake believing he was the Doctor, and the real Doctor figuring out what had happened.
   
   
3. Loved, totally loved, the TARDIS as a balloon.
   
   
4. Loved the byplay with the fob watch. In fact, I loved the gadgets and the incidentals in this show: the steampunk styles, the sonic screwdriver that wasn't, the suitcases, the costumes, the look of the Cybermen. Wonderful!
   
   
5. Why did the Doctor go to London in 1851? He wasn't sure what year it was... Perhaps he let the TARDIS pick the destination?
   
   
6. Loved the Doctor's defeat of Miss Hartigan - making her see herself as she was. That's Doctor Who at its best.
   
   
7. I liked it that they raised the question of the Doctor's loneliness, and his lack of a companion.... The way he said they broke his heart. (Not 'hearts'?) I loved that because I think it hints at my contention: that he is afraid now of getting too close to anyone.
   
   
8. Loved the Cybershades. Scary.
   
   
9. I liked Dervla Kirwan's style. She was magnificent. On the other hand, I didn't find Velile Tshabalala as Rosita very appealing: she was a bit too tough, a bit too shrewish - I didn't like the way she bossed Lake around. And her heroism seemed second-hand, described but not seen. As a sort of second companion she seemed extraneous. I liked the way she ended up with Lake and Frederick, though, as a sort of surrogate wife/mother, though frankly, if I were Frederick, I'd want someone nicer as my nanny.
   
   
10. Lake's half-memories reminded me of the Doctor as John Smith in "A Family of Blood".
    
    
11. I totally loved the Victorian cyberfactory. Didn't recognize it as the Hub at all. That was impressive! The kids as workers was a nice chilling touch, too.
    
    
12. Miss Hartigan made me think of a slew of female Doctor Who villains of a similar type: Yvonne Hartman, Diana Goddard (my favourite by far), The Wire (maybe), and Miss Foster in "Partners in Crime". Miss Hartigan had the best end. There's something of the 'spinster schoolteacher' about these characters, though at least two of them are involved with children. I find them, on the whole, both compelling and scary; it's a certain way of handling authority.
    
    
13. So why was Miss Hartigan corroborating with the Cybermen? Because she had a grudge against men? They hinted she was supposed to be a 'lady of the night' but I thought that didn't come across very clearly. She seemed cold, not wanton.
    
    
14. Why were they horrified that a woman should come to the funeral? Was it because she was a fallen woman?
    
    
15. Why had the Cybermen changed? Where did the Cybershades come from?
    
    
16. Though by every reasoning I know I should hated the giant transformer CyberKing (as I did Abaddon), I liked him. I liked the way his hips were wheels and he moved as if he had gears.
    
    
17. I know it's the theme of the 2008-09 season, but I don't like seeing the Doctor without a companion. Now, I loved "Midnight", so obviously I don't need a Companion's presence, but it was really the relationship between the Doctor and his Companion (Rose, as it happens, and then Jack) that drew me into the story and made me a Doctor Who fan in the first place. It doesn't have to be a romantic relationship (though I prefer it when it is), but the ephemerality of his relationships with his acquaintances in the one-shot stories isn't enough of a compensation for me. This isn't really a complain, just an observation, perhaps a slight surprise - though I knew it all along - how very important that central relationship is to me.
    
    
18. In the Confidential, I particularly liked the part where they were talking about going up and down - the use of direction on the show.
    
    
19. Loved the moment when the Doctor, not realizing that Miss Hartigan was with the Cybermen, tried to save her.
    
    
20. Liked the ending, when the Doctor revealed rather a lot of himself, and went to Christmas dinner with Lake and family. I go the impression that the Doctor had a lot of fellow-feeling for Lake, and was rather fond of him.
    
    
21. The story had very little about Christmas in it, except in the colours and a few visuals. The snow looked more real than in "The Planet of the Ood", which might have the fakest-looking snow I've ever seen.
    
    
22. How long till the next Special?