The Day of the Moon

"No I think she's just dreaming..."

It still doesn't feel like my show, like something I am a part of. Instead, I am the salivating child pressed up against the sweetshop window, when before I was as good as employed there. Which is a shame, because this episode actually won at so many of my complaints. The moment between Doctor and Rory is, to me, one of the most memorable scenes from this era. We also learn "the Threat" are actually THE SILENCE - at long last! Now if only their names ahd bot been released until now. What a wonderful spineshivery, classic moment that'd be if you'd gone around with your fingers stuffed into your ears, and not checked the BBC website or read anything from the press.

But back to Rory. What is it about drippy males that makes so many fans angry? I'd speculate that the hatred of Mickey, Adric and Rory stem from the same source. We watch television for wish fufillment - we* are the Doctor; we don't like to be reminded that in life, we're actually a bit cowardly and rubbish and incompetant with females.

*working on the basis that your stereotypical Who fan is an incompetant male dwelling in mama's basis.

I've always had a soft spot for him - far more empathetic than Ms Pond - even while I despair of his dependancy on her. In discussions with my crowd, we feel the relationship is a realistic one - but it doesn't mean a small part of me doesn't want him to grow a spine. I admire his devotion, and despair of it at the same time. I can see what he sees in her to an extent - she's nice enough. She's not, however, 2000 years worth of nice. I liked this episode for acknowledging his character "flaws" as intentional character facets. Useless, but canonically so. His declaration that Amy can always hear him is really sweet, and pathetic, but still sweet in equal measure. Rory is hardcore! but still in a timid way. I like the momentary, chilling reference to the memory ghost recordings - one of my favourite all-time scenes - and this has a similar impact. We can hear Amy's distress, but there is no way of alleviating it. Very effective, very unpleasant.

Amy? Ouch. My heart just broke for him when Amy started calling for the Doctor. In fact, this was a poor Amy episode all round - what part of "record what you are seeing" did she interpret as "just scream cus none of what you're seeing's important"? Although I did admire her "just say no!" response to Silent interrogation, reminded me very much of the personal safety course I attended.

In general, I like the rather awkward interplay between the three of them. The Doctor's little look as he overhears Amy's message. Calling her on telling him about the baby first. Oh, Rory! I was particularly happy to see his Auton years tackled on screen - we'd all been wondering. Not just that they did it, or that the solution was so good, but that they did it so well

"No"
"Lying?"
"of course."

It's the thread I had been waiting for - this emotion runs all the way through. Has, perhaps, Moff taken my individual complaint on board due to my status as an inestimably important member of the Doctor Who fandom and world in general? Whatever it is, I hope it lasts - it restores what I felt was so badly missing last season. Long may it remain!

As predicted, part two changes tack entirely from the previous episode - instantly more expansive and, for me, less effective. I was entirely unenchanted at the time, but having mulled for a few days I'm feeling more positive. Nothing wrong with it. Why do I still have problems? I don't know. And the amount they cram in here requires a rather shoddy cliffhanger resolution, plus an elegant Rory-based exposition dump. I hope they will explain why they were all running from the Feds at the start, and that it's not just a gimmick to look cool. If there's a reason, I may forgive. If not? Oh look, the death counter is up yet again. Dramatic currency is extorted from
three dead companions - I'm not sure how far to push this, as they're not actually dead at any point - but then the same goes for the other "emotive" deaths they have survived. While we're Moffing, note again the critical role of a young child and the textbook "every time there has been a creak in your house, it's monsters FACT" speech. In fact, I'm sure he's used "corner of your eye" before in Eleventh Hour.

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house. or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall, or Moffat as your script editor..."

My feelings on River were more mixed in this episode, but in general, my antipathy has dimmed. For every pithy bit of banter, there was her tottering around buildings in daft shoes and going into Slaughter God Mode. That spin is especially painful, and especially not what Doctor Who is about - although I did like the Doctor's comment that he kinda likes it and isn't sure why. It also makes me wonder if there is a Reason for her awesomeness. That shooting was inhumanly good. Is she an android? A construct? Some other form of superbeing? Would explain a lot.

Due to various personal crises, I am, against my will, involved in that romance dammit. I guess the Doctor Is Asexual camp is defended by that same troop of stereotypical fans without girlfriends. I've never really been a member, though I am nontheless a tad peeved about them putting romance in my show. This is more personal than partisan - I like the dynamic, I like the show going somewhere it hasn't before, and I'm interested to see how both couples - I think we can say "couple" now - pan out. I just like my Saturday night entertainment to be about temporal warp ellipse cutout, and compensatory sonics and spaceships, and impassive sci-fi gimmicks that only I understand so I feel superior when explaining them...

Indeed, my biggest problem with the plotline has always been how-too annoying River is. I'm a big fan of Patience (Cold Fusion) and that three-orgasm chapter in the middle; I also think there's strong basis for believing 3 genuinely loved Jo. But River - I never saw what the Doctor saw in her. I still don't entirely, but I am appreciating 11's dialogue touches which are beginning to give a reasonable motive. Smug. Vicious. Quite unlike the other most important relationships in the Doctor's life: Rose, Ace and Jo stand out as particularly strong to me, and all three are built on enthusiastic naivete. None of them are especially smart, but they have guts and bravery and initiative. That'd be my template for the Doctor's Ideal Girl. Still is, but now it's been articulated on screen I can accept the idea that he is attracted to her for all the wrong reasons - "I should object to that; kinda do a bit". Perhaps simply because Matt Smith is carrying it off with such charm! I'm still enjoying the banter.

No qualms with the kiss at all. I like 11's awkwardness, but also the way he seems touched too amid the confusion. My heart broke again for River when she realised it was the last time.

Still, it wasn't all gloom and doom. Dragging Nixon around was one of the funniest Who jokes I've seen in a while - very silly. My anthropologist sister liked River's "archeology - I love a good tomb". Canton's dazed-but-accepting "whatever a videophone is" was a fine moment also, and I liked Amy's "you're ugly" retort. River's building dive set my teeth on edge; but I instantly forgave at the swimming pool gag. Wonderful!


Onto the Serious Themes And Stuff. I loved their use of the Neil Armstrong footage - there's something strangely pleasing about this nod to his importance. So much of science fiction's fates are intertwined with science facts, and seeing the Doctor explain its significance to viewers who may never before have seen it was a valuable harken back to the educational days of old. There's probably also a valuable bit of evidence here for any would-be essay On The Power Of Watching Telly. But I'll leave that for another time.

At the same time, there's a growing Who streak which I Do Not Like at all. Its interactions and interventions in history seem increasingly anti-humanist. When Tom Baker interacted with Shakespeare and Leonardo in City of Death, it was just that - interaction. He wrote out Hamlet, but did not write it. The Doctor was Leo's chum, but Leo's genius was his own. Nowadays, the gimmick is upside-down. Charles Dickens doesn't invent The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Shakespeare's skill alone does not create his witches. Vincent needs Amy to draw his attention to sunflowers. The Doctor goes on about humanity's invention, but whenever we go back and see it all I see is copying. And City of Death is hardly innocent - Scaroth built the pyramids and invented all the science. Last week, I loved the Doctor's statement that humans went to the moon "because it was there". Great, positive humanist statement. Indomitable!

It was, I guess, setup. Because this week, the Doctor changes his theory - humans were influenced to go to the moon because the Silence wanted a space-suit. And in addition, most of human history has been invisibly created and controlled by hypnotists. Oh. Really? Oh.

(I'm aware I'm using the word "humanist" here in a bit of a fuzzy sense; nevertheless, the Doctor is a humanist in terms of non-religious compassion and morality, and celebration of human achievement and dignity. Wiki "humanism" and you'll see what I mean)

And while we're talking about human dignity, I remember a bit of worry about the Americanisation of these episodes/series/show as a whole - probably by rightly-paranoid veterans of 1996. Simultaneous broadcast in America? Filming in Utah? All in the first episode?

If that was you, then you were wrong. I loved how subversive the episode was. In other words, despite all that, there was no compromise within the script. Moff made jokes about gun-toting - I particularly loved "Welcome To America". And as we all rather suspected, Canton is dating a man; but it only occured to me this week that his expulsion from the FBI is a fairly direct parallel to the debates on Prop 8. The type of message pushing I'd judge somewhere between irritating and morally unconscionable - if not for my complete, gobsmacked commitment to equal marriage. If you are going to go out of your way to appeal to a specific audience - here, mainstream America - then why not shoehorn in a message? I was also surprised by the mention of race, but of course - I kept forgetting, it's 1969. Nice parallel, although I expect the wankier corners of the web are already on fire for the comparison.

On that note, the use of guns really stood out for me here - investigating depictions of screen violence is one of my nerdier hobbies, and I plan a longer article once I've rewatched the New Series. In The Writer's Tale, I remember reading that RTD put a GUN RULE in place: "this show will not feature humans shooting other humans with realistic guns". Great idea! The last thing that kids need, and especially on such a human-positive show as Who. It's interesting to see how it erodes even throughout his tenure:

• in Age of Steel, the Preachers have realistic guns but do not use them. I believe this is the context in which the GUN RULE is mentioned.
  
• In the Last of the Timelords trilogy, there are a LOT of guns - Jack is gunned down; the Master's cronies shatter the back of their escaping car. I rather admired it in context - that trilogy is a cut above in the gritty-nasty standards and earns them by not being too gratuitous or glorifying.
• The next notable use is The Doctor's Daughter, in which Jenny is shot by a familiar pistol and the Doctor then picks it up and threatens another humanoid. Part of me thought "steady on!" even while watching, although that was mostly my incredulity at the dialogue.
• And then again, during The End of Time, the Doctor is armed with a pistol. This was another case in which context was clear and justified: we had a sense of the very high stakes. The Doctor moralises to Wilf on how weapons are not the answer, and ultimately chooses not to fire at anyone. He picks up that gun for that little word, that one exception - and by this point we were all invested in quite how important that word was.

Day of the Moon and it's friend are completely guntastic. The serial gunning down of companions is, I belive, the darkest use of guns within the New Series - there is no high-stake justification, it's characters we know and love, and we see it happen.

Even if the Silence are merely humanoid, I was also a little concerned at the implication they were about to be gunned down en masse. If the Doctor is so bothered by the Silence brainwashing humanity, why is it OK for him to condition them all to kill? Is this just the natural extention of Davros' claim that he turns people into weapons? A fabulously cheeky thread on GB asks how many Silence you think you've killed in your lifetime. Other people soften the blow by theorising the Doctor's plan merely makes Earth uninhabitable for the Silence, and it's a gamble to force them to leave. Still...the act of hypnotism is still there.

I also didn't like what River did next. It was gratuitous and ugly. You can't host an on-screen massacre without some sort of acknowledgement that that is what it is. A good comparison would be Warriors of the Deep - when people get killed, it's horrible and there are voices which say "this is horrible". No one comments on River's bloodbath - it's presented as a morally neutral image, and one that is repeatedly turned into a joke throughout the scene. Death isn't funny. Neither is killing your enemies. And neither of those are Who. Why couldn't they have run straight back into the TARDIS, not traded sexual repartee over the corpses? The scene is cooly directed, complete with wisecracks and badass spinning. Additionally, I felt considerable sympathy for the dying Silent. I don't mean this in a Mary Whitehouse sense - what children Should and Shouldn't be seeing is a matter for psychologists, never amateur commentators. But it is interesting.

But let's talk about that. This is one of my favourites, possibly my very favourite episode for the Eleventh Doctor himself. The first sense I've got of him truly distinguishing himself and demonstrating The Kind Of Man He Is. I suppose he has the evidence from Vampires in Venice that Silence are up to no good. Still. Engineering genocide on a global scale. He's done worse and he will again, but note how he does it - no angst a la Dix, none of 7's quiet remorse, no "Time's Policeman" entitlement or God-moding. He just does it. Even Six threw a wibbly after misjudging Lytton. The episode does not acknowledge consequences or guilt: this is a Doctor with a very tidy mind and nerves of steel. I kinda like that.

And look at his I'm-So-Clever-Speech-Confrontation-Scene. No "just go now!", no "Shadow Proclamation", no "let's talk about this over tea and muffins" or "I'm smart enough to talk you out of this!". Instead, he rules out forgiveness because "it's not Christmas", and offers up the show's most sardonic "sorry". Go give the Tennant a spin. Any episode, any season - it is made out of sorry. Look at that earnestness, the way that even if he'll do his best to forget the pain, in that one moment he means it. Now back to Smith. Now back to Tennant. Now back to Smith - the Doctor your Doctor should defeat evil like.

Outstanding. Weird. One To Watch. I love all the Doctors in their own way, both the woobies and wisecrackers. And in one of my hearts, I'm a committed Sixgirl - someone has to be - with a real soft spot for his practicality and flair. But unlike Six, who is merely well organised, it looks like Eleven has Bastard!Mode too.

"Let's rescue Amy!"
"Then what?"

I'm sorry, repeat? You can hear your companion crying, right? This is definitely new, and a clear difference to Six who turned into a steamroller the moment Peri was the least bit imperilled. Seven could be insentisive, but he never put Ace second quite so explicitly. I'm definitely interested in this wholly new development. In other news, I'm rather fond of his suddenly improved piloting skills - and rather loved the beard. But there's something...wrong...with his hair - a bit too well trimmed and not half bonkers enough in this episode.

Everything else.

I adored the orphanage - very hokey, but in a fun sort of way. It reminded me of the Little Sister's realm in Bioshock: the trapped girl, the run-down nursery, the mechanical suit. I also liked the American Gothic keeper - his dozy performance, that wonderful lazy accent and shabby clothes.
I think without him, the set would have rankled more - instead, he contributed marvellously to the atmosphere. Although I'm also not sure why they go back to the warehouse to examine the spaceman. I'd like to tidy up some canon here, but frankly, the TARDIS is a far more sensible choice and I'm fairly sure they simply didn't have the sets. I also loved the technology - the palmblips were simple but cool, while the talleys were a very effective lo-fi equivalent.

The music got mixed feelings from me. The odd motif, like the snazzy zinging over the White House, was really exciting. On the other hand, I am feeling Eleventh Doctor Theme fatigue. Yes, it's exciting. Yes, it's probably one of the three best pieces of Who-music ever created (The other two are "This Is Gallifrey" and the theme tune). Yes, it can generate a teraquadrupletonne of
anticipation-energy without even trying. But a piece of music that strong needs to be savoured, held back to make its useage all the more important. Rather like Casino Royale bravely ignoring the Bond theme until right at the very, very end; or the A-Team movie using that wonderful iconic tag oh-so sparingly. The last two episodes, I've really noticed it in the background, used in a rather tired and lazy fashion. No. When you use that music, it had better be the most important thing in the scene. Not just something zippy to smother with exposition.

The ending? Was marked by my housemates asking me why my empassioned swearing had just ricoched around our flat. Still not sure whether it was surprise or rage. I'm intrigued. There's a strong, partisan part of my brain going Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong, but if I can shut that up for long enough I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this plotline. All the same. Gallifrey is special, and I forsee epic anger if its resolution does not meet my exacting standards..

Just as I was beginning to wonder, the NEXT TIME confirmed that it's going to be a bit more episodic now. As much as I love the idea of proper overarching plots ("Torchwood" meme? Please...), I do feel it takes a little away from the show too. It's definitely something worth trying, but I'd hate this to become the pattern - it reduces its accessability, especially given quite how smart the current arc is.

And this one left a lot unanswered. Why does the Silence want Amy to tell the Doctor about his death? Why were the Feds chasing the companions? Why is the Doctor in the "perfect prison" (and wasn't that the Pandorica?) I am excited to learn what the little girl is needed for and, of course, who shot the Doctor. And don't get me started on last season - we still don't know who organised the Pandorica Party in the first place. Additionally, my writer's nouce says that they'd be fools if the Doctor didn't figure out his future death of his own accord - perhaps several episodes before he admits it. The drama of it is irresisteable, and I absolutely cannot wait.

But it was well constructed in that this episode - Day of the Moon - was sufficiently involving tha
t these things didn't matter during viewing. I cross my fingers for a tidy resolution, but my contempt for the Big Bang tangle left me too raw to blog, and not wholly optimistic.

However, my favourite moment by far occured during Amy's orphanage ramble. It was so unexpected that I was too distracted to write it in my notes, and forgot it entirely until rewatching today. How apt. Unless this was the mysterious "oooh unexpected. WOW" I'd scrawled. Something which sticks out so much you just don't see it. It was so inexplicable, so out of context, and so very exciting. A window opens where there is no window, a strange woman in white says "no I think she's just dreaming". Woman and window disappear. No idea at all what is going on there. And I can't wait for that either!

Other Points

• The world's worst continuity error? When Amy is being chased at the beginning, the long shot reveals that is clearly a slope, not a cliff. I don't normally notice these things - I prefer to simply believe - so if I am picking up, then it must be glaring.
• Creepy as it is, I don't see the point of charcoaling tallies on your face. Logistics if nothing else.
  
• Did you all notice this like following on from last week: "You have to trust me and no one else" says Eleven to Nixon. Trust!
  
• My notes also read that someone says "Never going to forget you". I wonder who? If I did remember, then this would surely be another significant use of memory to pick up on.
  
• UM. RECURSION. Shouldn't Eleven's TARDIS landing inside the "very aikman road" TARDIS cause bizzarity and surreal?
  
• Did Scaroth the Jaggeroth know of the Silence? Wouldn't their agendas have clashed rather?
• If you remember my demoralised reviewlets last season, my one big Lodger flaw was the Doctor's procrastination. It irked me beyond belief that he was mucking around in a call centre, and not simply going upstairs to save lives. Considering the Silence's powers, maybe the Doctor periodically forgot it was there? It's an otherwise good episode, so I'd be happy to rehabilitate it in this manner.
• If the Silence truly have been there since the dawn of civilisation then is it reasonable for the Doctor to say this is "incorrect" and unleash freedom on the human race? I mean, natural for humanity is evidently being watched and manipulated. It's all they've ever known. There is no pastoral state for them to return to.
  

Notable Lines
"Tape everything that happens in this office" - good advice, but the irony of it has only just struck me...

"Safe? No of course you're not safe. There's a billion other things out there just waiting to burn your whole world. But if you want to pretend you're safe just so you can sleep at night, ok, you're safe. But you're not really."

"Today the battle begins" - really? Battles aren't your style...aren't they?

"I believe the word you're looking for right now is... Oops! Run... Guys, I mean us - run!"

"What's the point in two hearts if you can't be a bit forgiving now and then? All right, you got me, I'm lying. I'm not going to let you go so easily; nice notion but it's not Christmas."

"This isn't an alien invasion, they live here. This is... their empire. This is kicking the Romans out of Rome!"
"Rome fell"
"I know, I was there"
"So was I"

Speculation

I am not interested in discussing this in any detail, because I'm just tossing around ideas. The moment theories get indepth, you're storywriting and setting yourself up for a fall when yours is better. Like my extreme disappointment when last year's megatheory went to pot. However:
Notes that I don't understand now but may in the future

• One idea I did have viz the mysterious FBI chase was hypnotism. If the Silence are hypnotising people, and they know the Doctor is a threat, then that may just explain it. I'm hoping for this to be addressed in canon really though.
  
• Has Amy been hypnotised? In particular, the direction of the almost-creepy scene when she is trapped in the bedroom suggests this is a possibility. Why else do they let her leave, and with such a strange expression?
• Please tell me that child isn't Amy's. I had an inkling of it last week, when the pregnancy bombshell and the spaceman's appearance coincided; and now it looks rather sure with the appearance of that baby photo. Hrm. Sounds a bit awful, but I'll wait to see how this pans out.
• I am not so happy with the implication that this may somehow be the child of the Doctor and Amy. Chatup lines like "Let's tangle our artron energy streams!" are why we fans can't get girlfriends...This would indeed be an awfully cringy turn of events.
• That said, I'm not going to totally rule it out as feasible, due to one most unusual Short Trip in Life Sciences. Don't laugh, but "The Reproductive Cycle" features the TARDIS and Kamelion having a child together, which is then raised by Six and Peri in a ghastly mockery of domesticity. It's also superlatively wonderful, I mean really just a slice of fried genius. And not what you'd expect from a story in which the central cast wind up married and the TARDIS get laid. So. Teaspoon and an open mind.
  

Notes that confused me but I may one day understand
Of course.
Click!
"But you're not really"
guns in TARDIS
Jump! cool.