Monday 27 January 2020

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 5 (Fugitive Of The Judoon)

(Putting a spoiler warning at the top because please go see this episode before you read this, it does spoiler things and you should react to them in the episode instead of hearing me summarize them for you.)

Oh great. Now I have to go and summarize that in a cohesive set of paragraphs? Can I go back to bed instead?


I suspect tackling this one is going to end up like my Spyfall 2 writeup, wherein I tried really hard to summarize stuff before I had to throw up my hands and talk about the thing I actually wanted to bitch about. Fugitive Of The Judoon... well, it's equal parts bitching and equal parts speculation. The ball has not been thrown in the air so much as it has been punted into the upper stratosphere. Chris Chibnall, that magnificently odd son of a bitch, has tossed shit into the mix that actually does feel new and exciting and grandiose in its implications and theories. It's a lot like Spyfall 1 in that regard, but note how let down I was by Spyfall 2's big reveal being "what if... a plot point from 2008... ... ...again?". There are definitely parts of Fugitive that feel like that, but other parts of it feel fresh. The danger one falls into, and I'm doing it here, is treating this as a solely Chris Chibnall script. There are two major additions to this episode that feel like his reach, given that they're arc shit, but the rest of this thing is ostensibly written by Vinay Patel. Holy shit, the same genius who wrote Demons Of The Punjab! Quite possibly the best episode of Series 11! Before we deal with Chibnall's grand reach, let's see what Patel has for us.

Tuesday 21 January 2020

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 4 (Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror)

Well, that's a very strong debut for Doctor Who.


It helps to start there, with the writer herself. Nina Metivier. She was actually around behind the scenes as a script editor for Series 11, tweaking both The Woman Who Fell To Earth and It Takes You Away. Both good episodes (ITYA being slightly better and on great tier), so whatever she did to make them consistent paid off. It's the former job I want to bring up in parallel to this, because I feel that it's key to understanding the main driving theme of Metivier's first Doctor Who script. The Woman Who Fell To Earth had many elements to it, key of which was defining the 13th Doctor. The episode itself settled on this sort of steampunk inventor archetype, and you got Jodie Whittaker wearing goggles and gloves while using Stenza tech and Sheffield steel to hash out her new sonic screwdriver. The idea of Whittaker as this clever handywoman has popped up here and there as her era has gone on, but it's that specific trait of hers that Metivier has locked on to as the theme of her episode. Every idea starts as a stray thought, a simple little seed that a good writer can water with creativity and trim with editing. I can almost see the idea seeds that Metivier's episodes would grow into. Simple thoughts while brainstorming like "Ooh, in her first episode, she was sort of a clever inventor, I should make a story about that" or "She should meet another famous inventor from history, that would be a neat parallel". Ideas like that, and consistency like Woman Who Fell To Earth or It Takes You Away, get you an episode like Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror. It's brilliant, it has a point, and let's talk about that point.

Tuesday 14 January 2020

The Harmony Of Hope And The Dirge Of Despair: Introduction (Elegy Of The Eternals)

(What this is all about will become clear in a moment, but here's your spoiler warning: There are spoilers for both Sailor Moon and Puella Magi Madoka Magica in here. Warning over.)

Well, here we are at last. Again. You may be wondering what in the name of God this winter venture of a deep dive is all about. It is my solemn job as writer to like, tell you. And stuff. I'm belaboring the point, I know, but I have my reasons. I'm getting a buildup of steam here, okay? Plus, I got a lovely compliment from someone I care fondly about regarding my words on this blog. They said my writing style is fantastic; that I made each of my pieces feel like I was sitting in a coffee shop with the reader, talking one on one. Let's take that angle, you and I, okay? It's you and I in the coffee shop, it's a chilly winter day, and we both need a little warming up. Sip your latte or your hot chocolate or what have you, and let's catch up, sweetie.

Monday 13 January 2020

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 3 (Orphan 55)

Ed Hime. You beautiful messy bastard. You're two for two. Spot on.


This is the future liberals don't want.
So yeah, we get to talk about Orphan 55 now! In the 90 minutes between the episode's end and me going to bed, I saw... a fair few takes. Most of them, a lot of them actually, calling this a goddamned mess. I don't think I can go quite that far. Nope, sorry. Is it messy? Yeah, a little, if we're being honest. The whole Chibnall-era aesthetic of a wild ride roller coaster with everything and the kitchen sink tossed in along the way is definitely still here, and the episode blasts through several different concepts/themes/ideas before eventually settling on something to anchor all this together... or attempt to, anyway. This is where the divisiveness comes in. If that anchor doesn't sell you, if you find it wanting in some way, then the whole ride is just a bunch of half-baked appetizers hurled into your face at 80 miles per hour with an ending that looks directly into the camera and preaches politics at you. You know what? I can just about see it from that perspective. I'm going to do my best to touch on the elements of the ride before getting into that political anchor of a main theme, but I have a feeling it may end up like the Spyfall Part Two writeup. There, after about three or four times of saying something to the effect of "Well this was part of the episode and was... okay... I guess...", I kind of just threw up my hands and talked about what I actually wanted to talk about. This episode is better than Spyfall Part Two for me. Why? Because the part I really want to talk about in Orphan 55 is better than the part I really wanted to talk about in Spyfall Part Two. Before we get there, I will do my very best to shotgun you through the ride the episode takes us, and the concepts left behind that still kind of resonate. Here's words on Orphan 55, and why I loved it. Yes. I loved it. I will bear the cross of being an easily-impressed contrarian if I must, but fuck it. I loved it. Here's why.

Monday 6 January 2020

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 2 (Spyfall Part Two)

Oh, Chibnall. Oh, Chris Chibnall. That was so close enough to fine that what I have to complain about almost hurts to do. I want to stress that last sentence again. Last week, I called Spyfall Part One the best story Chibnall has ever put out for Doctor Who. Now that Part Two has aired, I can't say that I want to take that back. Part Two is functional and good and a wild ride that kept me guessing up until the very end. The act of watching it was fun! It's a fine episode when you look at it from broad strokes; not quite as good as Part One, but still a solid like... 6/10, if you want to play the number game, where Part One is a 6.5 or maybe even a 7. Look, I don't know, I don't play the number game, numbers are bullshit. We've got to rip the band-aid off, though. Part Two's revelations, along with a handful of other teeny little nitpicks, compound together to form something that just does not gel with me. We'll get to those, but I really want to start this off with praise. We'll do that, and then I'll let my grievances out. Okay? Okay. Here's Spyfall Part Two.

Thursday 2 January 2020

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 1 (Spyfall Part One)

I play poker now. Poker is cool.
(Welcome back to Doctor Who First Impressions! This is your spoiler warning. There's a really cool thing this episode does that you should see with your eyes, rather than hear me spoil for you. Just a heads-up if you haven't seen this one yet. Don't let me be the one to ruin it for you. Let's get on with the show!)

Hot damn. Welcome back, everyone, and much sooner than I expected! I was looking over the post I did on Resolution, a year ago, and in that I was so damn sure that we weren't back until April 2020. color me surprised that we only equalled the Moffat gap year of 2016 by having it be exactly a year off. We're back at it again, and it's definitely a confusing and nebulous time that only exists here and now. This is absolutely First Impressions time, where we don't know what's coming and can only read what we got in light of... well, what we got. That means theorizing, looking at the episode carefully, making guesses based on what happens and what we might want to happen. Holy fuck. I missed this in 2018. I don't remember doing much of it during Series 11, because Series 11 didn't give me that much to do beyond watch it and complain about the mediocrity of the day. With the first volley of Series 12, on the other hand, I remain amazed... but still cautious. What's been laid out before us is... you know what? I'll say it. I'll recant it in half a week if this turns out to be a red herring to boredom, but I'll say it here. Spyfall Part One is the best story Chris Chibnall has ever written for this show. Its pastiche and energy make it a wild ride from start to finish, and the mysteries it sets up (along with the big things it reveals) actually make me excited and want to think about where the episode could go! I don't know if this is a case of improvement, or if absence merely made me grow fonder for new Doctor Who, but let's sit back and admire this set up and theorize where it could go before all is said and done.