Doctor Who 6x04, The Doctor's Wife
May. 14th, 2011 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wealhtheowAw junkyard planet, you are populated with fantastic actors! I loved Auntie and Uncle and Sexy. I loved seeing more of the TARDIS, loved seeing the last control room again, loved that the TARDIS had started collecting control rooms. Really I loved everything about the embodied TARDIS and her/its interactions. And I absolutely loved the interactions between Rory and Amy--they're more clearly a team, now. Amy's way of thinking of delight is her wedding to Rory! And of course, I loved the reminder of the Gallifreyans; the Doctor's expression when he got the first message box, and then his expressions when he saw the others. Lots of great lines (bunk beds! "Still shut up.") , and I love that Matt Smith can look entranced at a woman without seeming sketchy.
But here's the thing. This was Neil Gaiman's long awaited episode of Doctor Who, and I truthfully expected more. He called it a "weird game-changer," after all! The overall look of the episode was a little too try-hard-steampunk, lots of grimy Victorian corsets, ragged lace, goggles...it's a tired aesthetic to see on the screen (especially since Gaiman has been doing it for going on two decades), but it worked ok for this. The emotions the characters felt were great, on-point, but nothing new. The plot itself was barely sketched in. I liked this episode--but I expected to love it. I expected it would make me think about the Doctor a little differently, or his travels, or his companions, or the TARDIS, or his enemies. And instead, it was a sweet little fan-letter to Doctor Who. Nice, sweet, but not much meat to it.
But here's the thing. This was Neil Gaiman's long awaited episode of Doctor Who, and I truthfully expected more. He called it a "weird game-changer," after all! The overall look of the episode was a little too try-hard-steampunk, lots of grimy Victorian corsets, ragged lace, goggles...it's a tired aesthetic to see on the screen (especially since Gaiman has been doing it for going on two decades), but it worked ok for this. The emotions the characters felt were great, on-point, but nothing new. The plot itself was barely sketched in. I liked this episode--but I expected to love it. I expected it would make me think about the Doctor a little differently, or his travels, or his companions, or the TARDIS, or his enemies. And instead, it was a sweet little fan-letter to Doctor Who. Nice, sweet, but not much meat to it.