Sonntag, 15. Mai 2011

Then You Stole Me. And I Stole You. - Doctor Who 6x04 "The Doctor's Wife" Review

Neil Gaiman is my hero.


So, "The Doctor's Wife" is (except for "Vincent and the Doctor") the first episode of "Doctor Who"'s Steven Moffat era that I really truly enjoyed. 
I attribute that to Neil Gaiman. That man is a genius.

I don't want to say that the episode was perfect, but it sure was quite brilliant. It was exciting, scary, funny, original and above all, it had the heart that I had been missing since RTD handed the show over to Moffat. 



"Yeah. But I was writing the first draft before even Matt had auditioned. So I was doing what Moffat did in his first draft of The Eleventh Hour, which a lot of people did during season five, which is that you’re really writing for a hypothetical Doctor. And you kind of had David Tennant’s voice in your head, but you know it’s not going to be that, so it’s getting a bit bland.

What was great for me was, having already written my version, the first draft, the point where my episode got bounced from episode 11 of last season to episode four of this season, I had the luxury that nobody else had of, at that point, I got to watch Matt. I got to rewrite all of Matt’s dialogue, going, I know what he sounds like now. I got to go in and un-Tennant any lines of dialogue that were Tennant-y. Even though they were good Tennant-y things."

Neil Gaiman


I think you could see that and feel that Gaiman wrote the episode before series 5. It had more of the RTD vibe and wasn't as Moffat-y.
I can't help it, I just like that better.


I really liked the character of Idris and I think Suranne Jones did a great job portraying her. She had some kind of Helena Bonham Carter thing going on and I think it fit perfectly (would have been even better if Helena had played the role). 

The idea that she became the impersonation of the TARDIS was just marvelous. I mean, we always knew that the TARDIS was more than just a machine, that she has a soul and that the Doctor really loves her like she was a person. Being able to interact with her as a person, that must have been his secret wish all along. 

I loved her scenes with the Doctor. Matt and Suranne worked together perfectly and managed to portray such a range of emotions: The fighting like an old couple (well, the Doctor and his TARDIS kind of are) over the most ridiculous things, the kind of flirtatious scenes, the sad goodbye (I really was crying at that point). 

It was also fun because you got to know more about the TARDIS (now that she had a voice) and her perception of the Doctor.
Also: TARDIS stole the Doctor, not the other way around! That's just... one of the best things ever.


“I wanted to see the Universe so I stole a Time Lord and ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.”

These two are just perfect for each other. (Yeah, I ship it)



I also really liked the parts with Rory and Amy fighting for their lives in the TARDIS - that is: the police box, not the person.  You could see how much Amy really does care for Rory, although he might still doubt it at some point. And also, how guilty she still feels because Rory waited all these years by the pandorica, just for her. Although it's kind of mean that they keep killing and torturing poor Rory.



Further highlights:

The TARDIS graveyard. It was sad, but it made it clear again that a TARDIS really is a living thing.

The TARDIS/Idris thinking that Rory is "the pretty one".

The Doctor calling TARDIS/Idris "Sexy" and TARDIS/Idris calling the Doctor "My Thief". <3

The return of the RTD era TARDIS-console. That was and will always be my TARDIS, and it felt really good to be home again. It really did feel like coming home.

Amy's and Rory's bedroom has bunk beds!!!! I just love this idea. Every child loves bunk beds and the Doctor (especially Eleven) really is still a child at heart. Of course he would give them bunk beds!




Yeah, I really liked the episode. I enjoyed not having to think about the Silence, or Amy's non-pregnancy or any other of Moffat's mind fucks. Because that's one of the things I really dislike about him as a show runner.
RTD did place subtle hints leading to something bigger in all of his episodes too: We had the Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Vote Saxon, the disappearing planets... but it was never as in your face as with Moffat. It was still very easy to enjoy the episodes separate from these hints. With Moffat I always have the feeling that he riddle gets bigger and bigger with each episode and you just have to figure out what it means and in the end it's complete mind fuckery again and everything is going to be different and... yeah. It reminds me a little bit of LOST in that way and that was the reason why I stopped watching that show.

But this episode wasn't like that. Yeah, we did have  little Moffat-y thing: "The only water in the forest is the river". No idea what that's supposed to mean, but my initial reaction was: <u>River</u> Song dies in the episode "The <u>Forest</u> of the Dead"!!! I'm sure it has something to do with her, just not sure about the forest part.




All in all: I do think there was still some Tenth Doctor feel to the episode. I really could imagine some scenes with Ten in them and they would have worked just as brilliantly as did with Eleven.
For example the whole sorrow for the dead time lords, the building a new TARDIS, the scenes between the Doctor and TARDIS/Idris (maybe not all of the flirting, but the fighting and the emotional goodbye). I did hear Tennant's voice in my head sometimes.


What can I say? 

Neil Gaiman for new "Doctor Who" headwriter!!!!







"Doctor Who has never pretended to be hard science fiction … At best Doctor Who is a fairytale, with fairytale logic about this wonderful man in this big blue box who at the beginning of every story lands somewhere where there is a problem."
Neil Gaiman