DOCTOR WHO: THE NEXT DOCTOR -- Spoilers

[filkertom]

Lots of downloads and Bittorrents out there, so let's go, shall we?

Evil plotwise, pretty typical, if with a couple of fun turns now and then, such as the Cyberdog or monkey or whatever it was. There was a standard bit of Scooby-Doo/Charlie's Angels-style extrapolation in the middle, figuring out exactly what was wrong with Jackson Lake, but it's always the characters that make Doctor Who work, and David Morrissey was great fun as "The Doctor". The bit with his kid was really obvious, and the kid may as well have been a mannequin, but Morrissey himself hit exactly the right notes, and was more than brave enough to stand in for the Doctor if need be -- I bet we see him again. Velile Tshabalala was funny and sexy and devoted as his companion Rosita. Also great was Dervla Kirwan as Miss Hartigan, kind of an evil Mary Poppins, really.

And then, at the end, we get a Girl Genius fan's clanky dream: a hundred-foot-tall steampunk Cyberman. With death cannons. Hee. I'm still not sure exactly how the Cybermen self-destructed, but hey. And then Lake talked the Doctor into staying for Christmas dinner. Sigh. Poor, lonely Doctor.

Thoughts?

Comments

[marrael.livejournal.com]

The Cyberking was the best, best, best part. I squee'd. Loudly. Just that visual (and that the other TARDIS was used to defeat the Cyberking) justified the whole shebang.

And the actors' performances were brilliant as well.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

"and the kid may as well have been a mannequin"

In the Confidential, he's referred to as the best child actor ever. Huh?

[solarbird]

Because he DOESN'T SAY A GODDAMN THING.

Or at least that's my interpretation. ^_^

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

The Cybermen self-destructed, as far as I could make out, because the Doctor showed Miss Hartigan that being empowered and focussed and single-minded and all that was bad and wrong and made her scared enough to scream. Not sure of the message there. Also not sure it was time to start devaluing the Cybermen the way Berman and co did with the Borg--if one human can resist Cyber conversion then next time anyone will be able to, and then we'll get Cybermen asking "why?" and so on and so forth.

And if in nine hundred years, or however many, the Doctor hasn't managed to learn what the rest of us learn in less than seventy (and what his older selves always knew)--that having your heart broken sucks rocks but it's still better than being on your own--then my sympathy for his poorness and loneliness is going to be a trifle muted. He used to be wiser than this.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Earth-Shattering Kaboom was kinda weird. I think you could rationalize away the mechanics of it with something like "As Cyberking, she was acting as a link to ALL the Cybermen, and when she was restored to herself some internal failsafe collapsed and they all fried", but it leapt from A to N pretty drastically there. Look what you've become, Miss Hartigan... an electrified party balloon....

Apart from any meta-justification about how the writers have decided The Doctor Needs Teh Angst, I have a suspicion that it's because, finally, he's really really aware of his age. He's kept himself surrounded with people, yet emotionally closed off from them, and it hasn't worked, he still feels miserable, yet he doesn't know any other way and can't reason out a new way.

But then, I could be completely off. It's happened before. :)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

The Cyberking and Miss Hartigan were AWESOME. Finally a really cool villain who kicks ass AND has style! ;) And the whole steampunk battle at the end, with the big Cyberman and the Doctor in a BALLOON and oh, that was lovely!

There were only a couple of really gag-worthy lines for me, which for RTD's anvilicious writing is really doing quite well.

[braider.livejournal.com]

Not reading this post, but....how did you get to *see* it? Where can I go to see it, too?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Downloaded it from Bittorrent. There's an LJ group, doctorwho_eps, which has links and mirrors 'n' stuff.

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

I really liked the episode, and the video flashback was full of win. (Have to go 'tee hee!' to all the McGann-isn't-canon naysayers, but in a kind and gentle way...)

I loved Miss Hartigan, she was well done and even slightly chilling with her precise words, her Victorian/Dickensian-era manners, and I really liked the 'crown' they put on her head.

I like that the story had a bit of meat, but it also didn't take itself /too/ seriously.

Certainly a good Christmas present from Aunty Beeb.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah. When I realized they were going to show all of the Doctors, I was very satisfied to see him there. It was a kind of a lame, oddball little movie, but he had the Doctor vibe about him in it.

[zillafan.livejournal.com]

With metion of a "Cybermonkey" I now can not get Robot Monster out of my head!!!

I can't wait to see this one it sounds like good Whovian Christmastime fun to me.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

The cyberzookeepers are running around,
"Where's cybermonkey?" but he can't be found...

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

My entire family sat and watched this episode together last night. I loved David Morrissey (hey, we had a "proper Dave" and "other Dave"!) in this - enough that I wish he really was the next Doctor.

I agree about the son - that was a bit lame. The way he was being carried about, I suppose it was meant to be Tiny Tim-esque. Maybe he originally had one line - that line - at the end, but they cut it for being too tacky.

I mostly enjoyed the episode though. I liked the idea of a human actually believing he was the Doctor and being fairly good at it. The fob-watch bit was funny too, though I didn't believe Morrissey was a Time Lord at that point. Loved the flashbacks. The cyberpunk Cyber King was a hoot.

[sstaver.livejournal.com]

I thought it was great as a Christmas special. It's going to be difficult waiting for Easter for the next episode.

I liked the Doctor trying to figure out whether or not he was really one of his future incarnations.

Fun.

And gotta love the Blink shout-out, as well as the TARDIS (Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style)

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

I /adored/ the Blink shoutout, and I know one fan in Washington state who will go WOOHOO at the Sally shoutout too. :) As for the 'new' acronym. Oh yeah. :)

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Cyber King made it worthwhile.

I think I had Jackson pegged about when The Doctor figured it out; before it was explained, but once the pieces were in place. The kid was obvious as soon as there was clearly something else he wasn't remembering.

I recall hearing speculation, before it aired, that this Next Doctor was a human who'd modeled himself after The Doctor, hero-worship style. Thought that was weak. But making it a matter of memory and fugue states made it work a lot better.

It was good. But Russell Davies's "Doctor Christ" bit is kind of getting old. Maybe it's only appropriate that we're getting a new Doctor at the same time that we're getting a new showrunner.

Re: Messiah Doctor

[voiceofkiki.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it wonderful not to have the Doctor doing a Tinkerbell Jesus bit this year? I was very pleased. Not that the Christmas eps have the market cornered, but they do seem to have more than their fair share.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

I quite enjoyed the whole thing, the sonic screwdriver, the TARDIS, I am a Timelord. Once you knew the whole story it really made sense. I enjoyed all the bits and pieces, but lwas left feeling somewhat deflated. And a tiny bit mad at the doctor. (He made Donna forget him) I waited for so long and it just didn't live up my hopes. This is the first time I can say that. So I guess I shouldn't complain.

[deor.livejournal.com]

Is it on YouTube yet? I haven't seen it!

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

I have just one thought: when did the Cybermen capture the Doctor, force him to regenerate, and then steal his memories?? Did we just get the set-up for part of next year's Xmas special (Tennant's last episode)? Did the camera cut away so that we did not see the Doctor past Tennant when he was showing Jackson the recording (so maybe that part of the story is not Tennant's final one but a future Doctor's)?

I will admit, I did not catch in the Children In Need Special that Jackson had a regular screwdriver, other than I noticed his did not glow at the tip (I waved that off to being either a special effects glitch or Jackson hadn't triggered his yet). But that turned out to be a plot point later on in the episode. Nicely done.

I noticed the Cybershades (as they are called in the Confidential) are never explained in the episode. I wonder if that got cut for time/pacing.

Even as a human with just some of the Doctor's memories, the Doctor is still a hero through and through. While I don't think there is full spin-off potential there, I can see Jackson Lake and Rosita appearing in their own story set after this episode (where Jackson still retains a touch of the Doctor's memories, enough to help trigger his gadgettering knack to create the sparky solution to the problem they are facing).

And all that just on a single viewing :-)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's more of an uber-PowerPoint presentation the Cybermen put together for educating new conversions. All the info was common and obvious stuff. Something in the glitch turned it into a re-education for Lake. And, yeah, I'd love to see him and Rosita return.

[connor-campbell.livejournal.com]

i completely forgot all about the Christmas special! geez! and me stuck at home on a dial up connection...it'll be next week before i get to see it! (if i am even able to get it completely)

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Y'know, maybe Tokyo should send some people to London as monster invasion advisors? Seeing as how they're used to rebuilding from this sort of thing and all.

Thanks for the reminder BTW. I'd forgotten all about this. It should be done downloading before my oatmeal is ready.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Just finished watching it. Had to download it twice because the first version I found refused to play on my PS3.

I'm still not sure exactly how the Cybermen self-destructed

It seemed pretty straightforward to me. Ms. Hartigan still had control, even though she was suddenly "liberated." She took the same method she used to blast the exposed-brain Cyberman and ramped it up as a murder-suicide.

[braider.livejournal.com]

I'd like to make the Doctor a little less lonely for a bit. [Edit: Dangit, strikethrough doesn't seem to work on LJ comments....]

Fun writing as always. I did find myself rolling my eyes a bit at his perpetual "I'm so lonely, so I'll just stand here and look heroic" bit.

[cori-chronicles.livejournal.com]

I dunno if I'll dl or wait until it shows here in the US... but now I'm very eager to see the Cyberman! Squee!