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Entry tags:
More Christmas Specials, and a Darth Real Life announcement
Doctor Who:
Aka when happens when Stephen Moffat looks at the last decade or so of movies having a go at Superman, thinking "nah!" and "I want to do a Golden Age Superman story, dammit! And a Superman/Doctor Who crossover!", and proceding to do just that. ("Miss Schuster and Miss Siegel": I see what you did there, Moff.) The result is the most Moffatian thing that ever Moffated (seriously: Doctor makes child friend, proceeds to involuntarily influence/mess up/yet ultimately improve child's existence, Doctor having a high regard for babies, check, Doctor and child having quirky adorable scenes, check (not for nothing did RTD once write to the Moff that he's awesome with children), check, determined girl/ life long adoring and crushing caretaker guy, check, sort of emotional triangle involving superhero figure but with girl/adoring caretaker guy endgame, check, and it never occured to me before that this descriptions fits Lois Lane/Clark Kent/Superman as well as Amy/Rory/Doctor, check, River Song-Doctor relationship continuity impact, check, otoh Doctor behaves ooc at one point so plot can continue as planned, check (see also the crack matter in s5 and not looking for the little girl anymore after the start of s6).
Also a downside: setting the story in an extremely white contemporary New York where the only poc is offed early on, which the Doctor could have easily prevented but didn't because the plot required it.
The result is a story which does indeed do Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane far better than many a recent big screen effort. And I do appreciate the direct continuity to last year's The Husbands of River Song. Otoh, said direct continuity makes it even more obvious last year's was the far better Doctor Who story. In conclusion, I wasn't bored, it's very very Stephen Moffat, but I don't think I'll have any urge to rewatch.
Call the Midwife: Early on I was a bit sceptical whether "let's do a Christmas special that's set in 1962 South Africa is in any ways a good idea, because obvious white savior trope danger in Apartheid country is obvious, but it turns out they pulled it off, at least imo. Our gang was gradually made aware of the every day rottenness of the apartheid situation, and they didn't solve it, but the story wasn't about their enlightenment, either. It was about them doing what they always do in difficult circumstances, and in some cases succeeding, but not in all. . For example, I appreciated that Roza's phantom pregnancy was directly related to her being a black woman who'd lost her job as a secretary, with the ability to have children being the only thing she'd been left with to value, and that the solution for her at the end wasn't a sudden real pregnancy but being able to work as a secretary again. Meanwhile, in terms of this show's birth set pieces, the special gave us both the light hearted and the big drama variety, and what makes this show this show and good is that in both cases, the births said something about our regulars' characters and interactions - Nurse Crane drafting Fred as assistant was great fun, while Trixie and Barbara performing a Caesarean together was a magnificent pay off for all the build up between them - the earlier Tom related tension from last season, their different approaches to life yet shared deep commitment to their profession and utter trust in each other's abilities.
Meanwhile, Shelagh and Patrick Turner continue to be such a great husband and wife team (btw, that puts to lie the cliché you can't write couples who remain together as moving characters), and Sister Julienne does this very Sister Julienne thing where I had expected her to solve the Mr. Stark situation by giving him a stern talking to but no, she offered compassion (a far better woman than I, I'd have been raging given the contrast between his lawn being watered while Hope station was nearly dry) which actually got through to him. (Which is this show being its optimistic about human nature self, but you know what, given the awfulness of this year, I need stories optimistic about human nature now and then.)
I hadn't recognized Sian Cusack as Dr. Myra - I knew she felt deeply familiar, but I couldn't think of the name until the credits rolled. Anyway, she was great, too, and I liked that her having lost her faith long ago wasn't treated as something our heroines tried to dissuade her from or which needed to be changed; it just was, and she was no less committed a Doctor for it.
In conclusion: very much enjoyed this one. And now back to Darth Real Life; from now on, I'll have to drastically reduce my fannish life for a month or so in his service, so safe for some more Yuletide talk, you won't be hearing much from me until February.
Aka when happens when Stephen Moffat looks at the last decade or so of movies having a go at Superman, thinking "nah!" and "I want to do a Golden Age Superman story, dammit! And a Superman/Doctor Who crossover!", and proceding to do just that. ("Miss Schuster and Miss Siegel": I see what you did there, Moff.) The result is the most Moffatian thing that ever Moffated (seriously: Doctor makes child friend, proceeds to involuntarily influence/mess up/yet ultimately improve child's existence, Doctor having a high regard for babies, check, Doctor and child having quirky adorable scenes, check (not for nothing did RTD once write to the Moff that he's awesome with children), check, determined girl/ life long adoring and crushing caretaker guy, check, sort of emotional triangle involving superhero figure but with girl/adoring caretaker guy endgame, check, and it never occured to me before that this descriptions fits Lois Lane/Clark Kent/Superman as well as Amy/Rory/Doctor, check, River Song-Doctor relationship continuity impact, check, otoh Doctor behaves ooc at one point so plot can continue as planned, check (see also the crack matter in s5 and not looking for the little girl anymore after the start of s6).
Also a downside: setting the story in an extremely white contemporary New York where the only poc is offed early on, which the Doctor could have easily prevented but didn't because the plot required it.
The result is a story which does indeed do Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane far better than many a recent big screen effort. And I do appreciate the direct continuity to last year's The Husbands of River Song. Otoh, said direct continuity makes it even more obvious last year's was the far better Doctor Who story. In conclusion, I wasn't bored, it's very very Stephen Moffat, but I don't think I'll have any urge to rewatch.
Call the Midwife: Early on I was a bit sceptical whether "let's do a Christmas special that's set in 1962 South Africa is in any ways a good idea, because obvious white savior trope danger in Apartheid country is obvious, but it turns out they pulled it off, at least imo. Our gang was gradually made aware of the every day rottenness of the apartheid situation, and they didn't solve it, but the story wasn't about their enlightenment, either. It was about them doing what they always do in difficult circumstances, and in some cases succeeding, but not in all. . For example, I appreciated that Roza's phantom pregnancy was directly related to her being a black woman who'd lost her job as a secretary, with the ability to have children being the only thing she'd been left with to value, and that the solution for her at the end wasn't a sudden real pregnancy but being able to work as a secretary again. Meanwhile, in terms of this show's birth set pieces, the special gave us both the light hearted and the big drama variety, and what makes this show this show and good is that in both cases, the births said something about our regulars' characters and interactions - Nurse Crane drafting Fred as assistant was great fun, while Trixie and Barbara performing a Caesarean together was a magnificent pay off for all the build up between them - the earlier Tom related tension from last season, their different approaches to life yet shared deep commitment to their profession and utter trust in each other's abilities.
Meanwhile, Shelagh and Patrick Turner continue to be such a great husband and wife team (btw, that puts to lie the cliché you can't write couples who remain together as moving characters), and Sister Julienne does this very Sister Julienne thing where I had expected her to solve the Mr. Stark situation by giving him a stern talking to but no, she offered compassion (a far better woman than I, I'd have been raging given the contrast between his lawn being watered while Hope station was nearly dry) which actually got through to him. (Which is this show being its optimistic about human nature self, but you know what, given the awfulness of this year, I need stories optimistic about human nature now and then.)
I hadn't recognized Sian Cusack as Dr. Myra - I knew she felt deeply familiar, but I couldn't think of the name until the credits rolled. Anyway, she was great, too, and I liked that her having lost her faith long ago wasn't treated as something our heroines tried to dissuade her from or which needed to be changed; it just was, and she was no less committed a Doctor for it.
In conclusion: very much enjoyed this one. And now back to Darth Real Life; from now on, I'll have to drastically reduce my fannish life for a month or so in his service, so safe for some more Yuletide talk, you won't be hearing much from me until February.