Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice...

[fajrdrako]

Every week I like the Eleventh Doctor a little more, and I think this week it may just have slipped over into something like the love I feel for Ten and Nine. Why? Oh, so many reasons!

Not that I really like vampire stories, but I can make an exception for bloodsucking alien fish. Not that they looked like fish to me. They looked more like shrimp.

Reasons to love the Doctor:

1. I thought they would take Amy's kiss and ignore it. She kissed him, he preserved his honour, and that would be that. But no. He took the issue right to the depths of Rory's stag. Told him what happened, and why. Brought Rory into the TARDIS. This was all so incredibly honest, and incredibly cool, that I wanted to hug him.
   
   I think Amy liked it, too.
   
   I loved it that the Doctor told Rory that Amy was really good at kissing, partly because it was so honest, partly because he wasn't indifferent to her kiss, partly because of Rory's reactions.
   
   
2. Just as Mark Gatiss is one of my least favourite writers of Doctor Who, Toby Whithouse is one of my favourites. He's smart, he's witty, he's intelligent, he writes the characters the way I like to see them.
   
   
3. Venice! The Doctor likes Venice, one of my favourite cities in the world. I can live with that. I liked it that he took Amy and Rory there as a sort of date.
   
   
4. Rory in the TARDIS. I thought at first Rory was just a new version of Mickey, the bumbling boyfriend, but no. He isn't. For one thing, the Doctor likes him. For another, he's up for adventure, and not cowardly in facing, say, man-eating alien vampire fish.
   
   
5. I loved the scenes between the Doctor and Rosanna Calvierri. Not simple antagonism. They're ask-a-question/answer-a-question had me grinning in joy. This reminded me of Ten's interaction with Mr Finch - which, now I think of it, may not be so surprising, given that Toby Whithouse wrote "School Reunion" too.
   
   Times like this I believe in the Doctor's power, and his alienness. Why didn't he invoke interplanetary law and the Shadow Proclamation?
   
   
6. Because of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Lucian Msamati is an actor I love. What a treat to see him here as Guido, Isabella's father. Again, in a sympathetic role, and a great costume.
   
   
7. Loved seeing Guido in the red T-shirt with "Rory's Stag" written on it.
   
   
8. I liked all the costumes, but I wish Amy had changed into the fashions of 1580. Or maybe not. I love her outfit with the miniskirt and it was fun see her walking around in 1580 Venice with it, so carelessly.
   
   
9. Loved it when Amy kissed Rory after the sword fight.
   
   
10. Enjoyed seeing the Doctor showing Rory the TARDIS, especially the bit about how he likes people saying it's bigger on the inside.
    
    
11. Loved the moment in which Rory thought Amy was simply ditching him for the Doctor, and was preparing himself to say good-bye, and instead got taken along. I liked it that he had enough sense of adventure to go for it, for all his protestations.
    
    
12. Loved the penis-size joke, and I was going to say I hadn't heard a joke like that in Doctor Who before, but actually I have - in the banter beween Nine and Captain Jack. I loved it then, too.
    
    
13. Amy sneaking into the pseudo-school to talk to Isabella reminded me of scenes from Harry Potter.
    
    
14. Scary scene, when Isabella couldn't escape because of the sunlight.
    
    
15. The scene with the mirror was good, too.
    
    
16. I found the Confidential ("Death in Venice" - cute!) very impressive. I love it when Doctor Who goes into our historical past rather than to outer space or two the future, but I never expect much in the way of research to go into the history. Whithouse obviously took great care to get things right, and half of the Confidential was like a historical documentary - thumbs up from me.
    
    
17. I liked the swan, and the lady with the goat.
    
    
18. I find it interesting the way Steven Moffat steps back and lets his writers talk, in contrast to Russell T Davies, who liked to be front and central in every Confidential. We seldom saw much of the other writers.
    
    
19. Loved Matt Smith's coat.
    
    
20. Beth Willis is a brave, brave woman.
    
    
21. We meant to avoid the trailers, but I wasn't quick enough on the trigger finger with the remote and it sucked me in. Next episode looks interesting. Alternate futures?
    
    
22. Amy's two boys. Heh.