alias_sqbr (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alias_sqbr) wrote2011-08-28 08:25 pm
alias_sqbr) wrote2011-08-28 08:25 pm
Entry tags:
- doctor who,
- recs,
- review,
- sff,
- time travel,
- tv
Doctor Who: Let's kill Hitler
In short: flawed, but I really enjoyed it.
SPOILERS: They don't kill Hitler. (This line included for anyone who clicked by accident :))
Just before watching the episode I got a notification that my old Amy/River story had an new favourite. "I guess someone found them slashy rather than familial this episode and went searching for fic" I thought to myself. And having seen it: yeah, I was slashing them too, before we found out. Dammit Moffat, stop doing this to me.
When Mels was introduced I thought "Really, Stephen Moffat? ANOTHER River/Amy type character? And a black criminal to boot?" But in the end I thought she was a good character and cleverly done (though the racial subtext is still a bit skeevy)
Something I've been pondering for some time is how they were going to tie Melody Pond, helpless girl raised by evil aliens, to River Song, competent happy adult dating the Doctor. On the one hand, I wanted Melody rescued as soon as possible and given a happy life with her parents. On the other hand, even if I ignored how Amy and Rory raising a kid would mess with the format of the show, I really didn't like the idea of the Doctor meeting child!Melody knowing they were going to get together.
But this way Melody got as happy a childhood/adolescence as possible with her parents, and only met the Doctor somewhere in her twenties or so (it's not clear how old she was when she moved to Leadworth. Or who her "parents" were while there, for that matter. Silence agents?) And of course now we have absolutely no idea how old she is at any other point in the story. I should update my timeline!
On the other hand, having River study archaeology just to meet the Doctor means that thus far every single stage and major choice of her life is totally influenced by him, which bothers me. I hope we get to see her off having entirely autonomous adventures.
Gratuitous sexism why must you be so gratuitous, the Doctor asking Rory for permission to hug Amy, ug.
The Hitler part of the story was a blatant smokescreen and quickly dropped, which felt trivialising of such a heavy subject. The robot full of tiny people and killer robot jellyfish walked that Dr Who line between real scifi and silly cheese very nicely, though, with no time wasted on boring exposition, and the parallel with the Doctor worked pretty well.
I really liked Eleven this episode, he was caring and sweet and ridiculous and wise and sad and very old. I liked the nod to the RTD era companions as well, because that must all still weigh heavily on him.
Melody is exactly the sort of character I love, a young woman filled with anger and pain and a deep seated love of chaos and explosions who has aligned herself with the bad guys for complex reasons but has genuine if conflicted affection for the good guys. Though Melody may have turned mostly into River Song at this point, so that this episode is all the Melody we'll get to see. Still, given how much I love such characters AND how much I love characters who cross and influence their own timelines I can't complain. (and if you love both of those things, and can put up with a lot of aggravation and fail, you should check out Homestuck)
SPOILERS: They don't kill Hitler. (This line included for anyone who clicked by accident :))
Just before watching the episode I got a notification that my old Amy/River story had an new favourite. "I guess someone found them slashy rather than familial this episode and went searching for fic" I thought to myself. And having seen it: yeah, I was slashing them too, before we found out. Dammit Moffat, stop doing this to me.
When Mels was introduced I thought "Really, Stephen Moffat? ANOTHER River/Amy type character? And a black criminal to boot?" But in the end I thought she was a good character and cleverly done (though the racial subtext is still a bit skeevy)
Something I've been pondering for some time is how they were going to tie Melody Pond, helpless girl raised by evil aliens, to River Song, competent happy adult dating the Doctor. On the one hand, I wanted Melody rescued as soon as possible and given a happy life with her parents. On the other hand, even if I ignored how Amy and Rory raising a kid would mess with the format of the show, I really didn't like the idea of the Doctor meeting child!Melody knowing they were going to get together.
But this way Melody got as happy a childhood/adolescence as possible with her parents, and only met the Doctor somewhere in her twenties or so (it's not clear how old she was when she moved to Leadworth. Or who her "parents" were while there, for that matter. Silence agents?) And of course now we have absolutely no idea how old she is at any other point in the story. I should update my timeline!
On the other hand, having River study archaeology just to meet the Doctor means that thus far every single stage and major choice of her life is totally influenced by him, which bothers me. I hope we get to see her off having entirely autonomous adventures.
Gratuitous sexism why must you be so gratuitous, the Doctor asking Rory for permission to hug Amy, ug.
The Hitler part of the story was a blatant smokescreen and quickly dropped, which felt trivialising of such a heavy subject. The robot full of tiny people and killer robot jellyfish walked that Dr Who line between real scifi and silly cheese very nicely, though, with no time wasted on boring exposition, and the parallel with the Doctor worked pretty well.
I really liked Eleven this episode, he was caring and sweet and ridiculous and wise and sad and very old. I liked the nod to the RTD era companions as well, because that must all still weigh heavily on him.
Melody is exactly the sort of character I love, a young woman filled with anger and pain and a deep seated love of chaos and explosions who has aligned herself with the bad guys for complex reasons but has genuine if conflicted affection for the good guys. Though Melody may have turned mostly into River Song at this point, so that this episode is all the Melody we'll get to see. Still, given how much I love such characters AND how much I love characters who cross and influence their own timelines I can't complain. (and if you love both of those things, and can put up with a lot of aggravation and fail, you should check out Homestuck)