Doctor Who: A Pond Farewell
Sep. 30th, 2012 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xerinmichellexLet's get this done with. I've hidden the spoilery stuff under a cut so anyone who hasn't seen the episode (I'm looking at you, Rhoda) can skip to the bottom.
I KNEW IT! I fucking knew it. As soon as it was announced that the Weeping Angels were involved in the Ponds' final episode, I knew that both Amy and Rory would end up getting zapped in the past and they would live out the rest of their lives.
And oh my god, everything was so heavy-handed. From the Doctor screaming, "I hate endings!" to the graveyard scene. Even if we didn't know this was the Ponds' last episode, the plot was paved on Predictable Lane. Last week's episode didn't help either, what with finally showing us the Ponds' lives outside the Doctor and TARDIS. It was too little, too late. We didn't even see Brian afterward Amy and Rory got zapped back. Though, if I was the Doctor, I wouldn't want to show my face after promising Brian he'd bring Amy and Rory safely home. (Moffat, the subtlety, it burns.)
(Also: Am I the only one who got Rose vibes from the ending? I know it was Amy's choice--one I agree with--to go with Rory; but the never-being-able-to-see-the-Doctor-again thing reminded me of Rose falling through to the alternate universe, and it felt like Moffat trying to cut another corner so he didn't have to do any emotional leg work.)
(Also-also: My theory of "the fields of Trenzelor"/50th anniversary special is holding true. In fact, I think River Song all but confirmed my theory, which is at the fields the Doctor/someone is going to erase his entire existence from the universe. The question being asked isn't "Doctor Who?", as in his actual name, but "Doctor who?", as in "Who the hell are you?" And the "silence" is everything being ret-conned because Moffat loves a good ret-con/not following his own mythology.)
(Also-also-also: The Statue of Liberty is made out of copper. Do your research. Even a quick Wikipedia search would've cleared that up.)
I think my biggest problem was the marketing of the last 5 episodes was designed as the Pond Farewell Tour. Obviously, the marketing wasn't for me, as I've stated many times over that the Ponds needed to GTFO. However, Moffat really shot himself in the foot by even confirming that this would be the Ponds farewell. It would be like Hitchcock going to the studio and saying, "You know how we could get butts into the theater? Let's design the whole marketing of Psycho around that shower scene that happens 20 minutes into the movie." But he didn't. In fact, Hitchcock made the movie theaters prohibit anyone from buying a ticket to Psycho after the movie started so as not to ruin the impact of the shower scene. Moffat had all the emotional impact he could want in the story; but it's negated when he keeps giving interview after interview about this being the Ponds last season and their farewell would be heartbreaking. I thought he would've learned by the end of Season 6 that hype kills everything.
Here's the thing: You cannot tell someone how they're supposed to feel. Storytelling doesn't work like that. So the last ten minutes of the episode--which should've had such emotional resonance--is so "well, duh, of course" that it angered me because I'm reminded of my first Doctor Who experience. I happened to catch the last 15 minutes of "Doomsday"--around the time Ten is running around with the 3-D glasses on. Now, I knew absolutely nothing about Doctor Who, nothing about Rose and the Doctor,the TARDIS, the Daleks and Cybermen, etc.; I had no idea what was going on. HOWEVER! As soon as Rose got sucked into the alternate universe, and by the time we see her and the Doctor holding onto the wall because that's as close as they'll ever get to being together again, I was bawling my eyes out. Full on tears running down my face. And I knew nothing about these people. I just knew that they would never see each other again, and it was devastating because I could read it on David Tennant and Billie Piper's face.
Thus, that emotional response I had started the obsession with watching all the New!Who episodes. So, and this just may be me, but I hold a high standard for Doctor Who. Because if it could make me cry within ten minutes of flipping on a random episode, having two seasons and more devoted to the Ponds, when they say, "Goodbye" should rate higher. And...it didn't. And it's a shame because this episode is really good, and really creepy. "Blink" level of creepiness. (I seriously want to pretend like the two-parter from Season 5 featuring the Angles never, ever happened.) All of this could've been pulled off if Moffat would've kept his damn mouth shut. He is really his own worst enemy. I'd curious that, in a few years, when someone watches this episode without knowing anything going in, if the heartbreaking ending Moffat intended is achieved.
This first part of Season 7 has left me feeling "meh"; not in the least because I feel like the Ponds overstayed their welcome. I mean, let's look at the seasons before Moffat's era: Every season ended with some sort of companion/Doctor shake-up that breathed a freshness to the series. I'm so ready for this new companion. Can it be Christmas already?
I KNEW IT! I fucking knew it. As soon as it was announced that the Weeping Angels were involved in the Ponds' final episode, I knew that both Amy and Rory would end up getting zapped in the past and they would live out the rest of their lives.
And oh my god, everything was so heavy-handed. From the Doctor screaming, "I hate endings!" to the graveyard scene. Even if we didn't know this was the Ponds' last episode, the plot was paved on Predictable Lane. Last week's episode didn't help either, what with finally showing us the Ponds' lives outside the Doctor and TARDIS. It was too little, too late. We didn't even see Brian afterward Amy and Rory got zapped back. Though, if I was the Doctor, I wouldn't want to show my face after promising Brian he'd bring Amy and Rory safely home. (Moffat, the subtlety, it burns.)
(Also: Am I the only one who got Rose vibes from the ending? I know it was Amy's choice--one I agree with--to go with Rory; but the never-being-able-to-see-the-Doctor-again thing reminded me of Rose falling through to the alternate universe, and it felt like Moffat trying to cut another corner so he didn't have to do any emotional leg work.)
(Also-also: My theory of "the fields of Trenzelor"/50th anniversary special is holding true. In fact, I think River Song all but confirmed my theory, which is at the fields the Doctor/someone is going to erase his entire existence from the universe. The question being asked isn't "Doctor Who?", as in his actual name, but "Doctor who?", as in "Who the hell are you?" And the "silence" is everything being ret-conned because Moffat loves a good ret-con/not following his own mythology.)
(Also-also-also: The Statue of Liberty is made out of copper. Do your research. Even a quick Wikipedia search would've cleared that up.)
I think my biggest problem was the marketing of the last 5 episodes was designed as the Pond Farewell Tour. Obviously, the marketing wasn't for me, as I've stated many times over that the Ponds needed to GTFO. However, Moffat really shot himself in the foot by even confirming that this would be the Ponds farewell. It would be like Hitchcock going to the studio and saying, "You know how we could get butts into the theater? Let's design the whole marketing of Psycho around that shower scene that happens 20 minutes into the movie." But he didn't. In fact, Hitchcock made the movie theaters prohibit anyone from buying a ticket to Psycho after the movie started so as not to ruin the impact of the shower scene. Moffat had all the emotional impact he could want in the story; but it's negated when he keeps giving interview after interview about this being the Ponds last season and their farewell would be heartbreaking. I thought he would've learned by the end of Season 6 that hype kills everything.
Here's the thing: You cannot tell someone how they're supposed to feel. Storytelling doesn't work like that. So the last ten minutes of the episode--which should've had such emotional resonance--is so "well, duh, of course" that it angered me because I'm reminded of my first Doctor Who experience.
Thus, that emotional response I had started the obsession with watching all the New!Who episodes. So, and this just may be me, but I hold a high standard for Doctor Who. Because if it could make me cry within ten minutes of flipping on a random episode, having two seasons and more devoted to the Ponds, when they say, "Goodbye" should rate higher. And...it didn't. And it's a shame because this episode is really good, and really creepy. "Blink" level of creepiness. (I seriously want to pretend like the two-parter from Season 5 featuring the Angles never, ever happened.) All of this could've been pulled off if Moffat would've kept his damn mouth shut. He is really his own worst enemy. I'd curious that, in a few years, when someone watches this episode without knowing anything going in, if the heartbreaking ending Moffat intended is achieved.
This first part of Season 7 has left me feeling "meh"; not in the least because I feel like the Ponds overstayed their welcome. I mean, let's look at the seasons before Moffat's era: Every season ended with some sort of companion/Doctor shake-up that breathed a freshness to the series. I'm so ready for this new companion. Can it be Christmas already?
