Yes, I'm well aware, that I'm super behind on my Doctor Who posts already, that being said, I'm going to give you a Who double feature for today's post (plus it gets me almost caught up! yay! we're both winners!) Also be forewarned! Spoilers ahead for the new episodes of Doctor Who!
First up: The Rings of Akhaten, check out this kick ass poster!
Where would you want to go if you landed in the TARDIS and the Doctor offered you a journey to anywhere in space and time? Yeah, I don't know either. There are so many amazing options, some point in Earth's history? Someplace in the universe no one's been?
Our new companion comes up with a suitable alternative: "somewhere awesome" Man, I like this girl already (and I also enjoy that she seems convinced that the TARDIS isn't fond of her). After last week's slightly disappointing outing, Steven Moffat&Co, have certainly stepped it up in this episode. 'Somewhere awesome' is the titular Rings of Akhaten, asteroid belts around a huge glowing star and not too far off, an amazing alien market that puts the Cantina in Star Wars to shame with its quirky amazingness.
Of course, the Doctor and his companions can't ever just enjoy an alien market, they find a problem to be solved. We get to see Clara in her element in this episode, it may have been a past life (or something) but she's definitely got that governess bone in her. So, obviously, when she sees a little girl in trouble, her first instinct is to help. Merry is the Queen of Years, tasked with knowing all the legends, stories and songs of her people, but she's also a little girl with stage fright. Clara comforts her and we get some exposition about her childhood and the love of a mother now lost.
After eluding some creepy whispery things and chatting with Clara, Merry is ready to take on the world...or the song. Little Emilia Jones who plays Merry can certainly sing like an angel, I totally buy that this joyful song would keep a restless god slumbering. That is until the dude she's singing with's voice breaks. Dummy, didn't he warm up first?!
While the Doctor and Clara had been enjoying the concert up until then, Merry gets snatched, and we all know that means the Doctor launches into action! Although Clara wasn't sure of this, but he explains it perfectly: "We don't walk away". There's something about this phrase that is so purely the Doctor. No matter how tricky or ridiculous a situation may seem, he never abadons those in need.
After rescuing Merry, it turns out there's a lot more to 'grandfather' than meets the eye, he's an insatiable sentient planet (I think) that feeds on stories, or souls, since our souls are made of stories. (I love this, what a perfect way to put it!). Here Matt Smith broke my heart a little bit. The Doctor is an old man, who's experienced unbelievable joy and untold pain in his lifetime and Smith put that all out there in his monologue. Luckily he didn't have to sacrifice himself, Clara came to save the day. She has to give up 'the most important leaf in the history of mankind' the leaf that caused her parents to meet. Within that leaf though was a life unlived, and as we all know from the Weeping Angels, the potential in a life unlived is exponentially strong, with all the possible ways it could have gone.
The lovely thing about this episode is that it encapsulates everything I love about Doctor Who, strange lands, strong storytelling, a little bit of comedy, a little bit of tragedy and in the end, the day is saved all the while reinforcing the ol' Doctor Who adage that "everyone's important"
Some other fun things in this episode:
The Doctor says, "I came here once before, with my granddaughter" - an illusion to the First Doctor in this 50th annivesary year?
He gets to use his sonic screwdriver on stone - it's generally rubbish on that type of matter
Next up we were back on Earth, but back in time! I love that this is now kind of standard for new companions, somewhere in space and then somewhere in time. Not only is the Doctor showing off for his new friend, but it's also SUPER fun for us as an audience. Not only have we gone back in time, but an old foe resurfaced in this episode, the Ice Warrior! (I'd never heard of them before, but apparently they first appeared way back in 1967 with the Second Doctor)
The Doctor and Clara are attempting to get to an Elvis show in Vegas, but of course they end up on a Soviet nuclear submarine, in the Arctic, in 1983. This episode is great for many reasons, first and foremost it was written by Mark Gatiss, you might best recognise him as Mycroft Holmes from Moffat's
other great BBC show, Sherlock. (on which Gatiss, is also a creator) But he's written a good chunk of the 'historical' Who episodes of late, 'The Idiot's Lantern', 'Victory of the Daleks', and 'The Unquiet Dead'. Needless to say, he can combine the Doctor and history like nobody's business! One great thing about having Who to write for must be that it gives writers opportunities to do fun little things like Gatiss does with the language. Obviously everyone on the sub is Russian, calling each other comrade and such, but since the Doctor and Clara are time travellers in the TARDIS they hear everything as the Queen's English, but the Soviets hear them speaking Russian. This little scene is hilarious.They then combine the top-notch writing of Gatiss, with some kick ass cinematography makes this episode stunning. Seriously, if you've already watched it, go back and have a look at how beautifully the enclosed space of the submarine is lit and shot, cool angles, lots of atmosphere, it's just awesome. Way to go Suzie Lavelle, I've never heard of you before, but I'll be on the look out for you from now on!
Back to the Doctor and Clara, onboard the sub they encounter Davos and Edmure Tully, oh! Sorry, wrong show, but seriously, how hilarious was it to have two Game of Thrones actors feature so prominently?! Liam Cunningham and Tobias Menzies are the Soviet Captain and Lieutenant on board the sub, and they don't take kindly to folks just appearing out of thin air in big blue boxes.
The TARDIS is acting up again and disappears as the sub plummets toward the Arctic sea floor. interestingly the Doctor decides time is of the essence and decides on honesty. No fooling, no psychic paper, straight out with the truth; he and Clara are time travellers. Not that it helps their case too much, but it does save them from dying frozen in the Arctic.
Prior to their arrival, the crew had found what they thought to be a remnant of the Ice Age and brought it on board. Unluckily for them, it was in fact Grand Marshall Skaldak, Ice Warrior from Mars. Once freed from the ice he may have been their ally, but the Lieutenant electrocutes him instead, labelling them as enemies. *eyeroll* Russians.
During the inevitable drama that ensues, someone is going to have to talk to the now imprisoned Skaldak. Knowing that everyone else would be identified as a soldier, Clara volunteers. There's this really wonderful moment where the Doctor is smiling because he's so proud of his new companion, but then quickly switches to appropriate indignation. It says a lot about the type of people the Doctor likes to travel with. Of course, it's for naught a Skaldak is now loose on the sub. And they do this wonderful thing where we only see glimpses of him as he races past the camera. It may be an old horror movie trick, but it's very effective.
I love the parallels in the episode, once the Soviets crash, they become exactly like Skaldak, waiting for their people to find and rescue them. However, once Skaldak believes no one is coming for him, he goes for all out destruction, lucky for him he's on a nuclear sub, eh?
Not so fast though, the Doctor is on board, and he may have a thing or two to say about blowing up the world. He and Skaldak are very much alike (parallel #2!). He explains that while Skaldak may be the last Ice Warrior, there's no need for revenge, but for mercy, something the Doctor knows a lot about. He asks 'Is this how you want to be remembered?' Which says a lot about the Doctor, I think, he's well aware of perception and the power it can haveNothing doing though, Skaldak's on the war path, so the Doctor gets a little angry, saying he'll blow up the sub before he allows the world to be destroyed. Before we can find out if the Doctor's act is convincing enough, the cavalry comes for Skaldak and beams him aboard their ship-but Skaldak leaves the nukes armed.Then we get the best part, the world is literally saved by a little Duran Duran. Clara sings a few bars of 'Hungry like the Wolf'. And the nukes are disarmed. It may seem random, but Skaldak emotionally recounted to them how he used to sing songs with his daughter on Mars, and our clever girl put two and two together. Day saved!
Fun things in this episode:
-whether it's purposefully or not (and with Moffat there's a good chance it's on purpose) there's a continuation of music and its importance going through these new episodes.
-Most excitingly we got to see the red setting on the sonic screwdriver. For those who may not remember when the Tenth Doctor meets River for the first time, she tells him to use the red setting on his sonic screwdriver, to which he exlaimed there wasn't one, and she responded "There will do." Oh Moffat, you're a mad genius.
That's all for now....and looking back, that's a whole LOT for now. Jeesh, no wonder it took me so long to get out.
