This is the first time anything of the sort has happened in what snobs refer to as the New Series, which is why Mr Hartnell got a loud scream in our household. And all in lovely sepia! Nerds, nerdier than I have probably already identified and analysed where the clips are from, and what they secretly mean about the show. (I think one of them was Planet of Fire, but I'm not certain - Six's bit was almost certainly The Ultimate Foe - which counterbalances the fact I spent the whole episode nervously twitching off the heads of jelly babies when something touched a nerve)
After a slight intake of breath when they cut from Tom Baker (oh, it'd be just like them to pretend the 80s never happened...), m sister and I recovered for the span of a few doctors; then we had a second scream, for Paul McGann. While I've always liked him, a lot of people still cling to the idea that "he doesn't count." To be fair, that film was atrocious; but crucially, he was also the best thing in it. AND NOW HE'S OFFICIAL! Take that!
Obviously the episodes had many other merits. But sadly enough, that is my defining memory of it. This is clearly a bad thing - a bit like Journey's End in Season 4, there's a clash between the "we love gratuitous referencing!" and "we hate!" camps. 'Tis a sad, sad fact that episodes with heavy continuity are always regarded higher for it. Still, very very exciting indeed.
I suspect it was the highpoint for a lot of people - because this was the scene we'd been waiting for since Children in Need, the one which confirmed Morrisey is/ is not Doctor Eleven (still don't like using that phrase...) I was secretly hoping the BBC would announce that they'd made a mistake, and after Tennant's departure the role was actually to be played by the ex-Smiths singer, but you can't have it all...to be honest, all was pretty much as expected - the previous series have been great at cop out solutions:
Doctor's Daughter: "Hi dad!" "The Doctor has a daughter?! Romana's love child? Susan's mum? Miranda?" "Actually, she's just an artificial construct programmed to fight, dodge lasers and garner sympathy within 20 minutes so she can be neatly killed off by continuity, while ripping off Last of the Timelords."
Stolen Earth: "I'm regenerating!" "Oh no I'm not!
Journey's End: "Oh no! MILLIONS of Daleks!" *flicks switch* "I just wiped out MILLIONS of Daleks".
Even though I did, at times, want to believe it, especially as he demonstrated that most important Doctor skill of all - looking yummy in a cravat - I had never seriously thought it was him. And the explanation was good (it would have been better had those info cores had a role in the plot), and LOOK IT'S PATRICK TROUGHTON!
Ahem. Jackson was a cool character, and there's a great Doctor Who:Unbound audio play in there somewhere, where he teams up with Torchwood to save Victorian England. Air balloon! Sonic screwdriver! Ah, and he's so adorably decent.
As a multi-Doctor story, it failed - the two-doctor novelty factor was underused. They had about five minutes of quarrel time, which was adorable, and then Jackson might have been any random extra. They should have genuinely teamed up, genuinely helped each other out, instead of returning to Who-default after the initial gimmick wore off. As a concept, this genuinely deserved time to breathe. How much of the Doctor's life did he remember, considering that he couldn't recall Series 2-4 at all? Because memories shape who we are so drastically, how different was he from the original Jackson Lake; alternately, if he had all those memories as a Doctor, why was he so quick to crumble (anyone suggesting he was channelling the early 80s gets a smack in the head).
He was still interesting to watch, however, because like every other male character involved with the Doctor, he instantly takes on a traditionally female role. He needs to be rescued, taken care of, he asks stupid questions - all he needed to do is to scream and break his ankle...(before the old guard turn up to point out it's not true, Jamie was basically Jo Grant with a Scottish accent - adorably daft, but still adorable. Adric twisted his ankle in The Visitation, and Turlough's screaming record is best documented by Enlightenment.) The most obvious instance of this was the factory: why was Jackson not allowed to rescue his own son? Give the man a bit of initiative! Within 15 minutes, any sense of equality was out the window, and one in an obviously subservient role.
This is also the time to point out the combined slashability of Morrisey'n'Tennant is so high, that I may never be able to visit Livejournal* safely, ever EVER again...
*makes me come out in an angry rash at the best of times...
I twigged pretty quick there were children involved in his tortured past - I assumed they were very dead. I'm actually suprised there weren't any kids killed - Doctor Who has never been afraid to do that. And it's not like it was 100% tame - I mean, harlots* and dead priests at 6:15 on Christmas Day?
*a comment, some in the background, Miss Hartigan's dig at Rosita; and was there a dead subtle rape allusion in Miss Hartigan's speech at the very end, or should I just get out of denial and admit the show is actually aimed at the under-12s?
If Jackson Lake (wasn't that an obscure 70s prog band?) was slightly underused, then what of Rosita. It's amusing to think that the first thing Doctor Jackson did was think "hmmm, I need a companion - what about this irritating 20 year old with a "Landan" accent?" Maybe she was deliberately written to be an amalgam of the three previous companions (most obviously Rose[ita] the right hook was pure Donna; maybe the "really dull" was Martha's contribution?), but the fact she was completely without period touches was frustrating and dull. Also, considering they managed to get all 9 previous Docs, she is officially demoted to the 13th most interesting character in the episode...
One aspect of the episode which I expected to irritate was Mercy Hartigan - smug, camp female villainesses always do. Turns out she was quite excellent - somehow she managed to do something new with "power hungry human makes deal with aliens who obviously have ulterior motives", and do it sympathetically. Top of that, her red dress was fantastic, and I'd give blood for that umbrella (speaking of umbrellas, anyone spot the Doc channelling McCoy when fighting off the cybs with one?)
And the Cyber King is cool, even if the robot is daft, which begs the question why AGAIN do they introduce a potentially interesting piece of ongoing mythology, then kill it within twenty minutes? It's a flick the switch resolution again, which is starting to get frustrating. Not to mention with Jackson on the ground, inflating the Doctor's ego even more than the "Lonely's God, Last of the Timelords, Sole Bastion of Truth and Justice" is already. I laugh at anyone still holding to the idea that Colin Baker's Doctor was the one with the obnoxiously self-centered one (he was in the episode, did you know...?)
That final scene - the "stop now, or I'll have to stop you" one we see most episodes - made me think about the real Doctor Eleven more. I've already settled on a costume - something period, please, preferably with a three corner hat. I don't believe in real people, so I've avoided the "which actor?" argument entirely. But I am interested in where the character is going to go, and now I've got an idea.
Regenerations tend to crystalise a big change in the Doctor's personality. Three spends his entire life stuck on Earth, stuck with the military, stuck with idiot capitalist ministers - then changes into freewheeling, wacky Four. Five is just a bit too optimistic to cope with the universe, and looks so young not even his companions take him seriously. So he regenerates into Six - forceful, loud and with an outfit which cannot be ignored. Nine's a reaction to the Time War, and so on. How to follow Ten, who really does combine all the best bits of the past.
The clue's in "no second chances". Doc 10 is one of the most pacifistic of the lot, committed to finding a humane solution. But the instant someone abuses his trust, he sledgehammers in and destroys them utterly. Perhaps 11 will grow tired of trying, and become our first "shoot first, ask later" Doctor? I'd be getting pretty demoralised if I were him. It's the first idea I've had characterwise. Will it happen? Maybe not - previous experiments in darker Doctors either annoyed everyone (Colin Baker...) or annoyed me (New Adventures...), and Steve Moffat's sense of humour is so wacky I'm expecting the show to get funnier, not more grim.
I forgot to mention Tennant, actually. Good as ever. Always worth watching, and I'm more fond of him than ever. Redundant comment, but I'm going to miss him a lot, even while the montage also assured me I'll get over it soon enough...
Um...satisfactory effects. Great Victorian feel! Average music.
I did like it. Looking above, it seems a bit like I didn't, which is wrong - I feel it's maybe the best of the Christmas specials. It certainly tried hardest in some areas. But it extended its reach - it wanted to be interesting, and non challenging at the same time. Too short to deal with the concept of Jackson-Doctor in any depth - which should really have got Human Nature treatment - and there was an exceptional lack of squee. As if fob watches, Blink, Donna and Tom Baker weren't enough. I'm going to be watching the first half a lot though. Overall, my brain was screaming out the problems even while I was enjoying it.
And look! It's Peter Davison!Final thought: ooooh! Planet of the Dead! There are already people on the web suggesting Skaro or Galifrey as cool, dead planets. Unlikely, but we live in hope. Very old school title though. Let's hope it's more Planet of Fire and less Planet of the Spiders...
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