I'm not that down on Murray Gold to be honest. I think that he overpowers stuff every now and again, but honestly, the only point that really sticks in my head is from waaaaaaay back in season 2 during the Cybermen 2-parter. Right at the end, there an EMOTIONAL MOMENT outside the Tardis that loops the same overpowering theme ever 25 seconds. Apart from that, and the odd bit here and there, I don't have many problems with the dude. Much as I love you Spatch, I think you've got a tendancy to get caught on the little bits of annoyance and let them spoil your good times.
The Doctor in the Fez bit was, to me, perfectly played. The death of Amy and the hopelessness of Rory is the big crescendo to the last episode. From the start of this one, everything takes a left turn. We've already had the pre-credits where we know The Doctor has escaped and Amy is alive, even if we don't know how. When we're back in that scene, we know that things are brewing just outside of Rory's awareness. He asks for a ridiculous miracle, we KNOW one is coming, the music builds to it in tandem with our expectations and feelings as music should do (not building with the onscreen action, because we're not in an action scene, we're at the turn of an emotional one) till BOOM!.... The Doctor's there with a fez and a mop pulling the whole brain-fuck of what's about to come into what is currently. Gold recognises that's where the audience is and plays it accordingly. The levels are a different matter altogether and out of his hands. It sets up a playfulness that goes hand in hand with The Doctor's attitude. When things are bad and about to close in around him he goes mental and angry and desperate. As soon as the situation gains wiggle room he bounces back into the most irreverent person there.
Also, I notice the music in each episode for only two reasons. A: I find it incongruous or overbearing. B: It's at the forefront on purpose, as a tool of the TV medium, to ram home feeling that I already have. I get A from Murray Golds stuff, and I get B. But overwhelmingly, I don't notice it at all and just enjoy the show. And to me that means it's doing its job proper.
I really loved that episode. Was the total vindication of what I was hoping would be pulled out of the bag. There were bits I'd second-guessed, to a very partial degree, but it was proper Moffat in a "look how clever I am" sort of way. I've seen the guy interviewed and in person he does come across a bit as "I am very clever. Look at me", but when he does it in his writing it comes out totally in service of the story. There's just enough information seeded into what came before to set out the emotional roadmap of where he's taking you, but you'll never be able to guess the route you're going to take over the last five miles until its been taken. After it has, there's no other way you could imagine arriving where you are.
That's why I'm confident about River Song too. I don't think the writers (i.e. Moffat) have forced themselves into anything as much as they probably have a really good story to tell about her. If you think the story has now to be forced, then that means there's a million percent more room to surprise you with what actually happens. The Doctor lies. Maybe River does too. Maybe she does it for similar reasons and that's where the respect comes from. Maybe not. Who knows? Who gives a fuck until they tell it?
At the end of the day, I'm 100% certain I'd like to see her story told under the tenure of one writer who I really respect (and who invented her and has been her sole writer so far), than a series of writers/producers who are worried about continuity and pouring their own ideas in and diluting the character.
I've read superhero comics.
Can I just say.... Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something Blue.
Hahaha! Did I not laugh out loud and click my fingers and drum my knees at this point! From the moment he wakes up in the Tardis loving the fact he's escaped this all became the most delicious icing on the cake. What a sublime little moment that was pushing on from The Doctors speech next to little sleeping Amy (and Matt Smith's best moment in a pretty-much impeccably performed role). You could say that Amy Pond has been underwritten during the series, but it might be more true that she's been underplayed.
I like Karen Gillen. She has a really good feisty and smart onscreen energy, but I'm not sure she plays much more than the scene that's in front of her. She could, conceivably, play the same lines in such a way that gives the character much more continuity over the series. The startup of her damaged, four-psychiatrist self dovetails brilliantly with the ending, and how The Doctor manages to heal the universe and her (for this story, they are in... um... thematic resonance with each other) at the same time, but there could have been a greater continuity in how that was expressed over the whole season. But that's also true of the rest of the writing, and I'm also not an actor with my first big-break, playing that over several episodes of different genre, shot out of order with each other, so I'm cutting slack.
Generally speaking. I thought that was bloody fantastic. And was everything that Moffat does about playing with expectation, only stretched out over a season rather than two-parter episodes.
Loved....
Rory's transformation from the ineffectual character who is going to be resurrected into the heroic boyfriend who got ressurected in a very different manner than expected. At the start he was always dragging along behind Amy's 12-year obsession with the man who left her. At the end, he has far more experience than her on what it's like to wait for someone and proved his love more unconditionally than The Doctor ever could or would. That was a brilliant turn for the character and I can't wait to see him in the next series.
Also loved...
Showing how a typical RTD orgasmic monster buildup can be turned so completely into a situation that is true, left-field and satisfying.
I thought the music sucked. But hey, I wasn't on mushrooms, that would've helped.
Yeeeaaaahhhhh. But it helps more if you like the music first. Listening to music you hate while on mushrooms is a pure shite idea.
Also, it's the Doctor Who theme. I like Doctor Who.
And its theme. |
