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chicafrom3I took today off work so I could watch Doctor Who and then, because BBCA didn't simulcast, I had to remove myself from social media for several hours to avoid spoilers!
This is somewhere in between a liveblog and a review, I guess; I'm going to try to put my thoughts here during the commercial breaks. (Yes, BBCA sticks commercial breaks in. It's terrible.)
Right off the bat, everything is happening at once! We've got a CyberMaster attack on a train, a mysterious child who is obviously Very Important, Rasputin (lmao I've seen the promo pics you can't fool me), Ace and Tegan (♥) investigating mysterious disappearances and Tegan having received a doll of a Cyberman (WE ALL KNOW THAT'S NOT A DOLL) from the Doctor (SHE OBVIOUSLY DID NOT GET THAT FROM THE DOCTOR), a farewell to Dan, and a request from a Dalek to wipe out the Dalek Nation.
That Dan goodbye scene seems weirdly placed. Just. Weird pacing. A lovely scene and I like the continuing arc of Thirteen really, really not liking goodbyes. But. Weird pacing.
Everything else is very fast and exciting! Lots of plot threads! Even knowing that Ace and Tegan were coming back I still made a very excited noise when first one and then the other showed up on screen!
That reveal of the Master as Rasputin would be much more ominous and shocking if they hadn't used those promo pics to death on all of the Doctor Who social media. And magazines. And literally everywhere. Good use of the Master's hypnotic powers ("You are the Master. And I will obey you.") which is wildly underused in New Who, tho.
I really like how fast this is moving. It's not giving the Doctor a chance to handle anything, which feels right. Just keep her off-balance. She thinks she's starting to get a handle on one thing and something else gets thrown at her. If she doesn't rescue the Quranx(sp?) by the end I'm going to be upset. (On a smaller note, I also really love how confident Yaz is in reading TARDIS screens. She's been around so long!)
"We used to be you, decades back."
It is 100% in character that Thirteen either has no idea how to handle this or does not want to handle this. I also love that Ace is impressed that the Doctor's a woman now and Tegan's annoyed that she's young.
Tegan and Ace both going o.0 at the news that the Master looks like THAT now: yes. Based on that meme that was going around, I'm choosing to believe that Tegan was thinking "the guy who murdered my aunt?" and Ace was thinking "the furry dude?"
"I'm a seismologist now!" That sounds like the title of a Jonathan Coulton song.
HOW'S YOUR AUNTIE VANESSA/THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU YOU WERE HALF-CAT OH MY GOD WAS THAT A REFERENCE TO THE MEME OR DID THEY INDEPENDENTLY COME UP WITH THE SAME THING I DIED A LITTLE
LMAO. Anyway.
The Master and Yaz have such an interesting dynamic. It's nothing like the Master's dynamic with Jo but it reminds me of that anyway.
"Your dad was an idiot."
The return of Vinder! And oh no he's stumbled upon the Other TARDIS. That can't be good.
Yaz is calling the Doctor out on never talking about anything! Which, I mean, this isn't the first time, but still. Call her out REGULARLY. Just keep doing it.
See, I called Tegan's 'toy' being the tissue-compressed Ashad but I did not call the Russian doll twist at all, that was wild. And I'm a sucker for any references to using gold on Cybermen, including any time it doesn't work.
I knew the meeting with the Dalek was going to go bad. And Yaz! If you have to ask yourself why you're talking to the TARDIS, you are not ready to try piloting the TARDIS!
"Got to dress for the occasion." SUBTLE.
The Master dancing to Boney M.'s Rasputin while the Daleks and Cybermen side-eye each other with clearly no idea what to do about this idiot is, uh. It's Camp.
Okay, as much fun as it is to see Sacha Dhawan being Camp in the Thirteenth Doctor's costume, I don't think that's how forced regeneration works. I'm willing to forgive it because it's fun, but: not how that works.
"Come on, Yaz. Let's go on an adventure!"
Ace in her jacket carrying her baseball bat is the lowest form of fanservice and I'm totally here for it.
Tegan making her stand against the Cybermen is really moving in a way I wasn't prepared for.
And then the Master!Doctor (I don't know what to call him) dresses up in a lunatic assemblage of the classic Doctor's costumes (at least I only saw classic Doctor costume pieces, maybe there were some revival Doctor costume pieces as well?) and gloats about destroying Earth. Yaz shoving him out of the TARDIS and the TARDIS stealing Yaz and running away is probably the best thing that could happen.
And we're back to Thirteen! UNEXPECTED DAVID BRADLEY!ONE CAMEO. ♥♥♥
UNEXPECTED COLIN BAKER!SIX CAMEO ♥♥♥
UNEXPECTED PETER DAVISON!FIVE CAMEO ♥♥♥
UNEXPECTED PAUL MCGANN!EIGHT CAMEO ♥♥♥ "I don't do robes"
UNEXPECTED SYLVESTER MCCOY!SEVEN CAMEO ♥♥♥
"This is the place you pass through, during the process of regeneration."
"There's always a way! :D Things always work out! :D Right?! :D" *Everyone is gone*
Yaz and holograms of the Doctor = heartbreak
So now we've got Yaz and Vinder seeking out a last-ditch effort due to extreme circumstances (yes, I would say these are extreme circumstances, Doctor) and Tegan and Kate seeking out a different (and horrible) last-ditch effort due to extreme circumstances. Everything is awful!
"Ace, how would you feel about me dropping you under a Bolivian volcano so you can stop the Daleks from flooding the world with lava?"
"WICKED."
The scene with the Fifth Doctor hologram and Tegan just shattered me. "Adric."
"All children leave home sooner or later. The joy is to watch them fly." And then we get Ace getting to talk to the Seventh Doctor and I'm just in TEARS.
Graham and Ace interacting is everything I never knew I wanted. "I'm Ace." "Yes you are."
"I was like you. Weak and feeble." "Actually, I'm neither." I love Kate so much you don't understand.
OH NO DON'T CONVERT KATE
OH NO WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO TEGAN
Jo Martin!Fugitive!Doctor cameo! (I'm really enjoying how many of these cameos weren't spoiled. Jo Martin was pretty much spoiled but because the other ones weren't I'd basically forgotten her.)
Yaz's plan is pretty brilliant, I have to say. And Vinder's "Actually, I'm freelance" moment is pretty badass. (Also, the Master's "don't make me go back to being me" moment is...weirdly sad?)
Annnd we have Thirteen back! And not in good shape although she's pretending, which is 100% in character!
All of the Cyberman scenes in UNIT HQ are SO STRESSFUL.
"We used to be friends, him and me."
"...So...how do we fix all those problems?"
Vinder, bb.
Graham and Ace just very efficiently taking care of the Dalek problem.
And then Kate and Tegan a little less efficiently but more dramatically taking care of the Cyberman problem.
"Remind me never to mess with either of you."
"I THOUGHT THAT WAS A GIVEN."
Aw, the Ryan shoutout. Was Tosin not available to film? I swear I remember spoilers leaking that he was spotted on set. Anyway the scenes of everyone working together are wonderful, like a more-dramatic/less-cheesy Journey's End. And even in the middle of all of this we still get "she's still not explaining anything". Thirteen's character flaws: very consistent.
She went back to free the Quranx! Yes!
"If I can't be the Doctor...neither can you."
Oh my God, Yaz carrying the Doctor back to the TARDIS is an image that I'm just going to hold forever. "She's fine!"
Yaz dropped everyone off at home. Well, Croydon. Close enough. (That's such a Doctor thing to do.)
"One last trip. Where would you choose? And what flavor ice cream?"
My HEART.
(Did they. Did they get vanilla? I respect you but you're wrong.)
"Nobody else got to be us. Nobody else got to live our days. And my heart is so full of love for all of you. I have loved being with you, Yaz. And I have loved being me. I think I need to do this next bit alone."
"Let's not say goodbye."
SHE KNOWS HOW MUCH THE DOCTOR HATES GOODBYES.
Oh my God Graham and Dan are friends and that's the second best thing ever. Second best because the BEST thing ever is because there's now a canon Companion Support Group. WITH IAN CHESTERTON AS A MEMBER.
"Oh, the blossomiest blossom."
"Tag -- you're it."
We have an outside the TARDIS regeneration!
But seriously where was Tosin
Farewell, Jodie. I loved you and I will miss you enormously.
Next time on Doctor Who,
it's 2006 again apparently. I've already expressed my feelings about that so we don't have to go into here. There's a brief shot of Ncuti in the 2023 trailer and he looks glorious.
This is somewhere in between a liveblog and a review, I guess; I'm going to try to put my thoughts here during the commercial breaks. (Yes, BBCA sticks commercial breaks in. It's terrible.)
Right off the bat, everything is happening at once! We've got a CyberMaster attack on a train, a mysterious child who is obviously Very Important, Rasputin (lmao I've seen the promo pics you can't fool me), Ace and Tegan (♥) investigating mysterious disappearances and Tegan having received a doll of a Cyberman (WE ALL KNOW THAT'S NOT A DOLL) from the Doctor (SHE OBVIOUSLY DID NOT GET THAT FROM THE DOCTOR), a farewell to Dan, and a request from a Dalek to wipe out the Dalek Nation.
That Dan goodbye scene seems weirdly placed. Just. Weird pacing. A lovely scene and I like the continuing arc of Thirteen really, really not liking goodbyes. But. Weird pacing.
Everything else is very fast and exciting! Lots of plot threads! Even knowing that Ace and Tegan were coming back I still made a very excited noise when first one and then the other showed up on screen!
That reveal of the Master as Rasputin would be much more ominous and shocking if they hadn't used those promo pics to death on all of the Doctor Who social media. And magazines. And literally everywhere. Good use of the Master's hypnotic powers ("You are the Master. And I will obey you.") which is wildly underused in New Who, tho.
I really like how fast this is moving. It's not giving the Doctor a chance to handle anything, which feels right. Just keep her off-balance. She thinks she's starting to get a handle on one thing and something else gets thrown at her. If she doesn't rescue the Quranx(sp?) by the end I'm going to be upset. (On a smaller note, I also really love how confident Yaz is in reading TARDIS screens. She's been around so long!)
"We used to be you, decades back."
It is 100% in character that Thirteen either has no idea how to handle this or does not want to handle this. I also love that Ace is impressed that the Doctor's a woman now and Tegan's annoyed that she's young.
Tegan and Ace both going o.0 at the news that the Master looks like THAT now: yes. Based on that meme that was going around, I'm choosing to believe that Tegan was thinking "the guy who murdered my aunt?" and Ace was thinking "the furry dude?"
"I'm a seismologist now!" That sounds like the title of a Jonathan Coulton song.
HOW'S YOUR AUNTIE VANESSA/THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU YOU WERE HALF-CAT OH MY GOD WAS THAT A REFERENCE TO THE MEME OR DID THEY INDEPENDENTLY COME UP WITH THE SAME THING I DIED A LITTLE
LMAO. Anyway.
The Master and Yaz have such an interesting dynamic. It's nothing like the Master's dynamic with Jo but it reminds me of that anyway.
"Your dad was an idiot."
The return of Vinder! And oh no he's stumbled upon the Other TARDIS. That can't be good.
Yaz is calling the Doctor out on never talking about anything! Which, I mean, this isn't the first time, but still. Call her out REGULARLY. Just keep doing it.
See, I called Tegan's 'toy' being the tissue-compressed Ashad but I did not call the Russian doll twist at all, that was wild. And I'm a sucker for any references to using gold on Cybermen, including any time it doesn't work.
I knew the meeting with the Dalek was going to go bad. And Yaz! If you have to ask yourself why you're talking to the TARDIS, you are not ready to try piloting the TARDIS!
"Got to dress for the occasion." SUBTLE.
The Master dancing to Boney M.'s Rasputin while the Daleks and Cybermen side-eye each other with clearly no idea what to do about this idiot is, uh. It's Camp.
Okay, as much fun as it is to see Sacha Dhawan being Camp in the Thirteenth Doctor's costume, I don't think that's how forced regeneration works. I'm willing to forgive it because it's fun, but: not how that works.
"Come on, Yaz. Let's go on an adventure!"
Ace in her jacket carrying her baseball bat is the lowest form of fanservice and I'm totally here for it.
Tegan making her stand against the Cybermen is really moving in a way I wasn't prepared for.
And then the Master!Doctor (I don't know what to call him) dresses up in a lunatic assemblage of the classic Doctor's costumes (at least I only saw classic Doctor costume pieces, maybe there were some revival Doctor costume pieces as well?) and gloats about destroying Earth. Yaz shoving him out of the TARDIS and the TARDIS stealing Yaz and running away is probably the best thing that could happen.
And we're back to Thirteen! UNEXPECTED DAVID BRADLEY!ONE CAMEO. ♥♥♥
UNEXPECTED COLIN BAKER!SIX CAMEO ♥♥♥
UNEXPECTED PETER DAVISON!FIVE CAMEO ♥♥♥
UNEXPECTED PAUL MCGANN!EIGHT CAMEO ♥♥♥ "I don't do robes"
UNEXPECTED SYLVESTER MCCOY!SEVEN CAMEO ♥♥♥
"This is the place you pass through, during the process of regeneration."
"There's always a way! :D Things always work out! :D Right?! :D" *Everyone is gone*
Yaz and holograms of the Doctor = heartbreak
So now we've got Yaz and Vinder seeking out a last-ditch effort due to extreme circumstances (yes, I would say these are extreme circumstances, Doctor) and Tegan and Kate seeking out a different (and horrible) last-ditch effort due to extreme circumstances. Everything is awful!
"Ace, how would you feel about me dropping you under a Bolivian volcano so you can stop the Daleks from flooding the world with lava?"
"WICKED."
The scene with the Fifth Doctor hologram and Tegan just shattered me. "Adric."
"All children leave home sooner or later. The joy is to watch them fly." And then we get Ace getting to talk to the Seventh Doctor and I'm just in TEARS.
Graham and Ace interacting is everything I never knew I wanted. "I'm Ace." "Yes you are."
"I was like you. Weak and feeble." "Actually, I'm neither." I love Kate so much you don't understand.
OH NO DON'T CONVERT KATE
OH NO WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO TEGAN
Jo Martin!Fugitive!Doctor cameo! (I'm really enjoying how many of these cameos weren't spoiled. Jo Martin was pretty much spoiled but because the other ones weren't I'd basically forgotten her.)
Yaz's plan is pretty brilliant, I have to say. And Vinder's "Actually, I'm freelance" moment is pretty badass. (Also, the Master's "don't make me go back to being me" moment is...weirdly sad?)
Annnd we have Thirteen back! And not in good shape although she's pretending, which is 100% in character!
All of the Cyberman scenes in UNIT HQ are SO STRESSFUL.
"We used to be friends, him and me."
"...So...how do we fix all those problems?"
Vinder, bb.
Graham and Ace just very efficiently taking care of the Dalek problem.
And then Kate and Tegan a little less efficiently but more dramatically taking care of the Cyberman problem.
"Remind me never to mess with either of you."
"I THOUGHT THAT WAS A GIVEN."
Aw, the Ryan shoutout. Was Tosin not available to film? I swear I remember spoilers leaking that he was spotted on set. Anyway the scenes of everyone working together are wonderful, like a more-dramatic/less-cheesy Journey's End. And even in the middle of all of this we still get "she's still not explaining anything". Thirteen's character flaws: very consistent.
She went back to free the Quranx! Yes!
"If I can't be the Doctor...neither can you."
Oh my God, Yaz carrying the Doctor back to the TARDIS is an image that I'm just going to hold forever. "She's fine!"
Yaz dropped everyone off at home. Well, Croydon. Close enough. (That's such a Doctor thing to do.)
"One last trip. Where would you choose? And what flavor ice cream?"
My HEART.
(Did they. Did they get vanilla? I respect you but you're wrong.)
"Nobody else got to be us. Nobody else got to live our days. And my heart is so full of love for all of you. I have loved being with you, Yaz. And I have loved being me. I think I need to do this next bit alone."
"Let's not say goodbye."
SHE KNOWS HOW MUCH THE DOCTOR HATES GOODBYES.
Oh my God Graham and Dan are friends and that's the second best thing ever. Second best because the BEST thing ever is because there's now a canon Companion Support Group. WITH IAN CHESTERTON AS A MEMBER.
"Oh, the blossomiest blossom."
"Tag -- you're it."
We have an outside the TARDIS regeneration!
But seriously where was Tosin
Farewell, Jodie. I loved you and I will miss you enormously.
Next time on Doctor Who,
2023 trailer spoilers
it's 2006 again apparently. I've already expressed my feelings about that so we don't have to go into here. There's a brief shot of Ncuti in the 2023 trailer and he looks glorious.
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