You guys? Every time there's a new Doctor, I get a little wibbly. Because I love this show in all its incarnations and I have loved every Doctor eventually, but I always get caught up in missing the old one. I took it hard when Nine left, but I already knew Ten was coming because I caught on late. I took it really hard when Ten left, and I was sad when Eleven left, but you know what? There was that gap between seasons, and it let the pain scab over, and by the time we got here, I was mostly just happy to have Who back on my TV. And it was so good.
Here's my thoughts. First, the pre-show, because Chris Hardwick:
- Minutes away now!
- I love that metal chair!
- That one outfit Clara had looked like something from the 70s? Do we get a historical?
- Iffn you don’t want spoilers, I’m tagging doctor who and spoilers!
- I think the hardest part of being the Doctor would be not screaming in glee long enough to remember your lines.
And the show!
- Shush!
- You had me at dinosaur in London.
- Who invented this room?
- New opening sequence! New orchestration!
- You all sound all…English!*
- People are apes. Men are monkeys.
- Strax and his inability to tell what is even going on with people is still classic! And now, apparently, he has a lot more in common with the Doctor than usual!
- Poetic dinosaurs who may or may not have thought the weird new Doctor was flirting. Who knew?
- Ugh, commercials. Bad enough in our tv, a flat out crime in British shows!
- You might as well flirt with a mountain range.**
- No! Poetic big sexy dinosaur!
- How did she burn up so quickly?
- Don’t get it scratched or you and all your bloodlines will be eradicated from all of time and space!
- Clara is so lost!
- Enviable spleen, well done!
- And a big long scarf. No, I’ve moved on from that.
- He’s too weird for the drunk guy. I’m going to pretend that guy sobers up after that.
- These are attack eyebrows! You could take bottle caps off with these eyebrows!
- I’m Scottish now! I can complain about things!
- Thingie. The not-me one. The asking-questions one!
- Some more Seven in here?
- Nothing is more important than my egomania!
- It was the only one out of place! I was sure you’d want it killed!
- He just actually put and actual face on her face.
- Doctor Whovian London has so much random stuff under it, no matter what timeframe they’re in.
- Did he just say Sweeny Todd would be proud?
- Droids harvesting organs. That rings a bell…
- Sure or not sure. One or the other.
- Doctor no! What’re you even???
- Yay! Clara in context! Being tough and smart!
- What you can do is offer me my life. What you cannot do is threaten me. You can negotiate!
- Is this The Girl In The Fireplace after all?
- He grabbed her hand! That is a trope of visual media that I love.
- She called the police? We never do that! We should start!
- If Vastra is Sherlock, is this poor dude Lestrade?
- EW.
- Doctor just had a minor Ship of Theseus moment with himself.
- So, did he jump or was he pushed?
- There should be more round things on the walls. I used to have a lot of round things, I wonder where I put them.
- What the what the what phone call what??
- I’m not sure I’m a hugging person.
- I’m hoping she’s a crazy fan and not an actual new River-type…
- Overall? Yay!
And the aftershow***!
- Chris Hardwick and Wil Wheaton nerding at each other about nerd cred is one of my favorite things in the world.
- Wil Wheaton hitting it on the nose: “for the first time, the doctor feels out of time.”
- Hardwick Hears A Who. If #afterwho is a thing, this is what I’m calling it.
- Did Gatiss just get chocked up all these years later about Three’s regen? I want to hug him!
- Talking point: Missy as Tardis, Master, Rani, or New River Song? #afterwho
- Alton Brown just mentioned Davros and my cat woke up yowling. I think this about sums up the general reaction to Genesis of the Daleks. #afterwho
- Gatiss just said Missy is a crazy Mary Poppins, and that jives so HEADCANNON ACCEPTED!
- Wil: I think (Danny Pink) works for UNIT! -- This is a great idea!
- I adore the idea of UNIT using this school the Doctor keeps going back to to harvest sharp young minds for the cause…
- Did anyone see Gatiss twitching just a little? Which do you guess are “they’re too close must call Steven” and which are “that’s a fantastic idea why didn’t we think of that and where can we put it”?
You guys, I feel like I've waited a million years for this episode, and it was so great. The Doctor was clever and weird and out of place and not making sense. He was unreliable but also totally reliable, you just don't know how to read his cues yet. Clara got some context, if not actual backstory yet****, and got to stand up on her own and be brave and smart and clever. Vastra was there, Jenny got more story, and it looks like maybe there's something going on there between them? Something like Jenny becoming a proto-suffragette? The dinosaur was random and wonderful and tragic, and I hope they can find a way to go back and save her in a later episode. The main plot was pretty straight forward, which is exactly what we needed for a new Doctor ep, while at the same time it called back an old creepy story and possibly brought that into a proper storyline? I hope so!
Overall, it was amazing, and I'm sold on Twelve. Well, technically I was sold on him when they announced him and Capaldi just seemed so charmed to be him, but now I've seen him in motion, and I love him. My favorite thing the Doctor does is not be human, and Twelve is all sorts of awkward, strange, not-dumbed-down, and it's fabulous. I hope he stays a little bonkers as he settles into his new body.
This is me, waiting for next week:
NOTES:
*You've all developed a flaw!
**Unless you're a massively oversized t-rex.
***I really really hope the involvement with this special convinces BBCAm to make AfterWho a thing, because this is one of those shows you need to geek about when it's over, and Chris Hardwick wants to make it, and even if I worry about his stress-levels, I really do want to see it.
***Which she needs, because so much of her life happens away from the Doctor, with her habit of going home between adventures.
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