Entry tags:
Doctor Who 6.04 The Doctor's Wife
In which Neil Gaiman does what Neil Gaiman does, and I feel smug (in a good way) because I hoped one of the key plot twists would be the case since I heard the title.
I hadn't said anything because I didn't want to get my hopes up. Back when it was announced the temporary companion for Voyage of the Damned was called Astrid, a lot of people, including yours truly, hoped that since Astrid was an anagram for TARDIS this could be the episode using some extended universe canon about a (or the) TARDIS manifesting in human shape. Which wasn't the case. However, when I heard the episode was called "The Doctor's Wife" I thought, wouldn't it be like Neil Gaiman to have a shot at my one true Doctor Who pairing, the OTP of OTPs and if it isn't you're just plain wrong, gentle viewer? Why yes, he did. And without having to drag in extended universe canon, too.
Doctor/TARDIS forever!
The spooky junkyard planet with the doll like people built from many parts was very Neil G., of course, and so was House as an opponent, into game playing and defeated (which in turn was very Doctor-esque) by using his hubris and powers against him, tricking him into creating a situation where the TARDIS could re-enter her matrix. It's also a treat for long time fans, both Classic and New Who, with the emergency message boxes from War Games - and wow, what a great and emotionally resonant way to bring them back without actually bringing the Time Lords back - the TARDIS interior beyond the console room (ah, many an Old Who companion raced those corridors in many a filler scene back in the day, Amy and Rory), and the console room from the RTD era. (And by now one wonders whether Rory, poor guy, must get a fake-death in every episode.) But above all and beyond, it was the tale of a TARDIS and her Time Lord who stole each other a long, long time ago and will be there a long time to come, no matter which companions come and go.
The Doctor stealing the TARDIS is Old Who canon, but I am absolutely delighted to have the fanon of the TARDIS choosing the Doctor as well, and Neil Gaiman letting her say she wanted to see the universe and the Doctor was the only Time Lord mad enough to go for it was perfect. As was her reply to his complaint that she's not reliable and doesn't always bring him where he wants to go - that she always brings him where he needs to go (err, TARDIS = female Joss, if you recognize that quote?), and him agreeing. Their conversation was so married and so how I wanted a TARDIS and Doctor conversation to go if she ever got verbal, I just want to draw sparkly hearts around every line.
The TARDIS considering Rory "the pretty one": another great detail. Amy figuring out that the opening code has to be send telepathically because that's the TARDIS' normal way of communication: excellent! Rory's nurse background used when he watches over the woman-shaped TARDIS dying before she re-enters her matrix - love that!
Sidenote: I suppose the line about River is the Moff's sole contribution to the episode because it's the obligatory arc nod, and it reminds me of Neil Gaiman's Babylon 5 script, Day of the Dead, where he asked JMS for a line that Kosh could send as a message to Sheridan which was JMS' sole contribution to that script.
As you might be able to tell by now, I loved every bit of this episode.:) But I think the cream on the cake, the dot on the i or whatever you want to call it was the scene with the TARDIS and the Doctor overlooking the junkyard. Because that - what the TARDIS sees (the corpses of her sisters) and what she knows the Doctor sees (the chance to escape and save the day) and the way they both know that about each other really sums up in the relationship in a non-joking manner.
Now, can't wait to rewatch with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
monanotlisa!
I hadn't said anything because I didn't want to get my hopes up. Back when it was announced the temporary companion for Voyage of the Damned was called Astrid, a lot of people, including yours truly, hoped that since Astrid was an anagram for TARDIS this could be the episode using some extended universe canon about a (or the) TARDIS manifesting in human shape. Which wasn't the case. However, when I heard the episode was called "The Doctor's Wife" I thought, wouldn't it be like Neil Gaiman to have a shot at my one true Doctor Who pairing, the OTP of OTPs and if it isn't you're just plain wrong, gentle viewer? Why yes, he did. And without having to drag in extended universe canon, too.
Doctor/TARDIS forever!
The spooky junkyard planet with the doll like people built from many parts was very Neil G., of course, and so was House as an opponent, into game playing and defeated (which in turn was very Doctor-esque) by using his hubris and powers against him, tricking him into creating a situation where the TARDIS could re-enter her matrix. It's also a treat for long time fans, both Classic and New Who, with the emergency message boxes from War Games - and wow, what a great and emotionally resonant way to bring them back without actually bringing the Time Lords back - the TARDIS interior beyond the console room (ah, many an Old Who companion raced those corridors in many a filler scene back in the day, Amy and Rory), and the console room from the RTD era. (And by now one wonders whether Rory, poor guy, must get a fake-death in every episode.) But above all and beyond, it was the tale of a TARDIS and her Time Lord who stole each other a long, long time ago and will be there a long time to come, no matter which companions come and go.
The Doctor stealing the TARDIS is Old Who canon, but I am absolutely delighted to have the fanon of the TARDIS choosing the Doctor as well, and Neil Gaiman letting her say she wanted to see the universe and the Doctor was the only Time Lord mad enough to go for it was perfect. As was her reply to his complaint that she's not reliable and doesn't always bring him where he wants to go - that she always brings him where he needs to go (err, TARDIS = female Joss, if you recognize that quote?), and him agreeing. Their conversation was so married and so how I wanted a TARDIS and Doctor conversation to go if she ever got verbal, I just want to draw sparkly hearts around every line.
The TARDIS considering Rory "the pretty one": another great detail. Amy figuring out that the opening code has to be send telepathically because that's the TARDIS' normal way of communication: excellent! Rory's nurse background used when he watches over the woman-shaped TARDIS dying before she re-enters her matrix - love that!
Sidenote: I suppose the line about River is the Moff's sole contribution to the episode because it's the obligatory arc nod, and it reminds me of Neil Gaiman's Babylon 5 script, Day of the Dead, where he asked JMS for a line that Kosh could send as a message to Sheridan which was JMS' sole contribution to that script.
As you might be able to tell by now, I loved every bit of this episode.:) But I think the cream on the cake, the dot on the i or whatever you want to call it was the scene with the TARDIS and the Doctor overlooking the junkyard. Because that - what the TARDIS sees (the corpses of her sisters) and what she knows the Doctor sees (the chance to escape and save the day) and the way they both know that about each other really sums up in the relationship in a non-joking manner.
Now, can't wait to rewatch with
monanotlisa!
no subject
But ah, well: more next time!
no subject