Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013

[Mr. Analog]

The best roles have been filled by actors who could ad lib like maniacs, so hopefully lots

[Lazybones]

Interesting that Peter Capaldi has appeared as other Characters on both Torchwood and Dr. Who.

[Mr. Analog]

Interesting that Peter Capaldi has appeared as other Characters on both Torchwood and Dr. Who.

Similar thing happened with Lalla Ward who played both Princess Astra and Romana II.

In terms of production she appeared as Astra during the Key to Time arc in Season 16 and then came back in the season 17 opener as a regular.

[Lazybones]

Reminds me of a few StarTrek actors that appeared in early seasons or in earlier series..

[Mr. Analog]

Reminds me of a few StarTrek actors that appeared in early seasons or in earlier series..

Like Mark Lenard, who was Spock's dad, the Romulan Commander from my favourite episode (Balance of Terror) and the first Klingon to be seen with head ridges (in Star Trek the Motion Picture)



(or Majel Barrett, or lots of other actors too )

[Thorin]

For Christmas specials, I'd say The End Of Time (part 2) is my #1, followed closely by Voyage Of The Damned.  But then, I'm a pretty big Tennant fan.  I did like A Christmas Carol, but more for the darkness surrounding Abigail and her incurable disease and Kazran trying to decide when he will return her from cryo-storage for her last day alive.  Such darkness within an episode that is supposed to be all about hope for the future really caught me.

As for that infographic, it seems to count the old multi-part episodes as single episodes.  For Tom Baker (4th doctor) for instance, it lists 43 episodes.  Well, I have 42 folders with (usually) 4 x 22 minute parts for each episodes, coming out to 178 x 22 minutes.  Given that NuWho uses 45 minute episodes, then to compare we'd have to say Tom Baker did about 89 episodes.  I think if we went back and counted episode length, we'd find in order of least to most: McGann (8th), Eccleston (9th), Matt Smith (11th), Colin Baker (6th), David Tennant (10th), Sylvester McCoy (7th), Peter Davison (5th), Jon Pertwee (3rd), Patrick Troughton (2nd), William Hartnell (1st), then topping them all is Tom Baker (4th).  I haven't done the actual counting, though

As for threaded themes, remember Fenric who was introduced in the fourth doctor's time, and was still a continuing thorn in the side of the universe in the seventh doctor's time?  Ace (aka Dorothy) was supposedly a trap Fenric had set for the doctor...  Then he figured it out and she became one of his companions.  Even in NuWho, the threaded themes have existed since the beginning.  For instance Bad Wolf, which we saw in almost every episode of the first season, only to find out it was Rose calling herself from the future.

One of my favourite eleventh doctor episodes was Cold War, set entirely within a submarine.  I liked it because it was suspenseful and because it tied into things mentioned during episodes from decades ago (for instance the HADS system of the TARDIS).  I understood that they did this episode because they needed to stay within the season's budget, but ultimately that didn't matter.  Being up close and personal with a singular deadly alien (who just happens to have been first introduced 36 years prior and last used 29 years prior) and having the doctor have to figure out how to talk to said alien without it destroying the entire world for a personal slight, I thought was genius.

Things I really liked about this latest Christmas special were:

Spoiler

- explaining why Silence Will Fall (those creepy monsters turned out to be priests? really? cool!)
- the doctor showing patience and appreciation for one of his biggest enemies, in particular a cyberman's head
- answering the fans' long-held questions about how many regenerations he really gets (so he _did_ hit the limit? but he gets more regeneration energy as has been mentioned decades ago in story arcs like Trial Of A Time Lord? thank you for putting it in canon!)
- did you catch that the doctor and Clara were both actually naked when they hugged? those clothes were just holograms...
- seeing the doctor finally give up, completely despondent after 300 years of staying in the same place; this makes the doctor seem so much more human-like, as we would all eventually give up in those circumstances

[close]

I'm not sure I'll like Capaldi's doctor all that much; it depends on just how angry they make him.  Capaldi's got that already-angry-face thing going on, so I hope to see him delighted and happy at times.  Tennant was good for that, switching between heavy and dark then over to light and breezy.  It's what I really liked about Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy as well.

[Darren Dirt]

Overall I agree ^ but just a quick couple of nits

-From the way the ep was shot, I thought it was actually way more than 300 -- the aging visuals @ "300 years later" were way less ... agey ... than in the final act of the ep... Clara's multiple "visits" seemed to break up the time into distinct chunks, but maybe that's just my own interpretation...

-Capaldi's got the dramatic chops for sure -- and he can and does smile (some of the Google image search results from my above links = him NOT looking angry) (only some, though ) But they will definitely take full advantage of his Big Voice , plenty of third-act-speechifying soon to come I am sure...


and just a quick Q: did they ever directly explain the head (aka "Handles") ? Or is it more of a "let the audience speculate for 9 months" type of relatively-minor-but-still-worth-discussing-over-the-water-cooler plot device?




*then again, maybe it's not just me: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Trenzalore

Spoiler

For three hundred years the Doctor protected the planet from small incursions by various enemies with the help of the now-renamed Church of the Silence who dedicated themselves to stopping chaos from happening. A faction led by Madam Kovarian broke off from the Church to try to stop these events but only ended up causing them by creating the cracks in the first place.

Eventually the TARDIS returned with Clara, but the Church had been turned into Dalek puppets. Though the Doctor and Clara escaped with Tasha's help, the force field protecting the planet fell and the Doctor's enemies attacked in force. The Doctor sent Clara home once again and spent centuries more protecting the planet with the help of his former enemies, the Silence.

[close]

[Lazybones]

Spoiler

- explaining why Silence Will Fall (those creepy monsters turned out to be priests? really? cool!)
- the doctor showing patience and appreciation for one of his biggest enemies, in particular a cyberman's head
- answering the fans' long-held questions about how many regenerations he really gets (so he _did_ hit the limit? but he gets more regeneration energy as has been mentioned decades ago in story arcs like Trial Of A Time Lord? thank you for putting it in canon!)
- did you catch that the doctor and Clara were both actually naked when they hugged? those clothes were just holograms...
- seeing the doctor finally give up, completely despondent after 300 years of staying in the same place; this makes the doctor seem so much more human-like, as we would all eventually give up in those circumstances

[close]

Spoiler

Until they get the tardus down to the planet and get dressed ALL of the Doctor interactions are especially awkward from the the moment he shows up at Clara's apparent for dinner etc..

[close]

One favorite plot elements are from the series has  to be "The DoctorDonna"

Spoiler

The DoctorDonna is NOT the Doctor and Donna but the two combined when she gains time lord powers, which ultimately means that Donna has to have her memory wiped.

[close]

[Mr. Analog]

As soon as I saw the Seal of the High Council I knew they were going to offer more regenerations as they did the Master in The Five Doctors, where the seal first appeared. It is those little details that keep me happy as a fan of old and new

I was surprised to see the Ice Warriors come back, then again I was surprised to see a return of the Silurians, the Sea Devils and the Sontarans.

As for "how long" each Doctor or companion stuck around, well that's going to be just about impossible to figure out. The best choice (which I think is what was used in the infographic) was based on story. For a very long time Doctor Who episodes were 25 minute episodes done in ~4 part serials, later for North America there were hastily cobbled together "omnibus" editions for PBS that would try to cram stories into larger almost movie-like blocks (this is what I grew up with). Then you have the new series which is 45 minutes (so it fills an hour)... On top of that you have books and audio stories, comics, video games, etc which further complicates things. So I think doing it by story is the best.

I am also happy that Trial of Time Lord and The Five Doctors are both considered canon, some people may argue about the Valeyards very existence but he's a big fat liar and who knows who he really is anyway

[Darren Dirt]

As for "how long" each Doctor ... stuck around, well that's going to be just about impossible to figure out.

Hmmm...

-From the way the ep was shot, I thought it was actually way more than 300 -- the aging visuals @ "300 years later" were way less ... agey ... than in the final act of the ep... Clara's multiple "visits" seemed to break up the time into distinct chunks, but maybe that's just my own interpretation...

*then again, maybe it's not just me: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Trenzalore

Spoiler

For three hundred years the Doctor protected the planet from small incursions by various enemies with the help of the now-renamed Church of the Silence who dedicated themselves to stopping chaos from happening. A faction led by Madam Kovarian broke off from the Church to try to stop these events but only ended up causing them by creating the cracks in the first place.

Eventually the TARDIS returned with Clara, but the Church had been turned into Dalek puppets. Though the Doctor and Clara escaped with Tasha's help, the force field protecting the planet fell and the Doctor's enemies attacked in force. The Doctor sent Clara home once again and spent centuries more protecting the planet with the help of his former enemies, the Silence.

[close]

...Looks like I didn't imagine it in the Christmas Special, it WAS "300 + unknown" so MAN this new Doc is OLD!
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor%27s_age#Eleventh_Doctor]

Spoiler

The Doctor spent 300 years defending the world of Trenzalore, making him at least 1500 years old by the time Clara saw him next; Clara was then sent away, and he aged another unknown amount by the time she returned. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

[close]

[Mr. Analog]

Each regeneration is implied to be very long lived, yep!

[Darren Dirt]

Off-Topic kinda, but anyone hating on that apparently-expensive* art piece by the intersection of Whitemud and Fox Drive, that big pyramid of steel balls ...




... well, maybe behind the design is great intelligence?


(see also https://www.google.com/search?q=doctor+who+control+sphere+pyramid&tbm=isch )







*if you consider 592k "expensive" -- its name is allegedly Talus Dome but just in case that's just a codename I think it would be prudent to have an audio pick-up nearby recording at all times watching out for the voice of Ian McKellen...

[Mr. Analog]

One thing you can say about Edmonton: we got balls

We also have abstract catchers mitts and a not-to-scale metal bat that rotates every 30 minutes?

Giant Legs at Southgate??

WHAT'S THE DEAL EDMONTON?

[Darren Dirt]

We also have ... a not-to-scale metal bat that rotates every 30 minutes?

The damn thing used to FREELY ROTATE MANUALLY! When my kids were very young (i.e. right after NAIT) I used to walk with them to that bat, lift them up and place them on the bottom part of the bat and get them to hold on tight, then I would walk as I pushed (like a swing, only it would just be in a forward direction), I'd keep walking in circles slowly accelerating my pace and it would slooooooowwwwly build up speed, never getting too fast (but in hindsight certainly reaching a quite dangerous speed (just not a LUDICROUS speed!) ) ... eventually they added something in the base to limit the maximum speed, then after that they even locked it completely... probably because some unsupervised kids did what I did with my kids, and got injured #sigh

But yeah Edmonton's art scene is as weird as Moffat's Whoverse is canon-modifying.




ps: FUN FACT -- due to marrying his own daughter* , "Ten" is the Real Life son-in-law of both "Five" and "Trillian" from the HHGG miniseries ... wow the BBC family is tight!

*in-universe, of course! http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Georgia_Moffett (no relation to similarly-sounding Steven Moffat...)

[Mr. Analog]

He's also a Pokeyman...





INTENSE BROW ACTION