I always save the two parters to watch together. There’s nothing worse in Doctor Who world than watching an exciting episode only to find out that it ends the next week.

So, until this weekend, when the final episode was aired, all I had in my memory was The Lodger episode. I loved this episode. Though I’ve enjoyed watching Matt Smith play The Doctor, he did not become The Doctor until this episode. In fact, Amy Pond has been the standout for most of this season. Well, until these two episodes.

Recap: The Pandorica Opens

It starts with Van Gogh (whom I loved! My favourite single-ish episode character) right before he dies [is he the casualty of another Doctor death?] and a painting that obviously upsets him. The painting gets to Churchill (loved him!), who phones [phones???] the Time Vortex and gets Doctor River Song. River Song escapes from prison and heads to the Royal Collection to grab the painting and meets the bloody Queen (another great character from earlier in the season). Whatever the Queen sees makes her extremely sad.

Cut to The Doctor and Amy heading to a cliff made of pure diamonds with writing from the beginning of time. It says: Hello Sweetie with coordinates to Britain being attacked by the Roman Empire. There he meets Cleopatra (River Song) who shows him the painting – The T.A.R.D.I.S. being torn apart by time.

On the painting is time and coordinates, which leads them to Stonehenge and underneath it, the Pandorica. The Pandorica holds “a goblin or a trickster or a warrior – a nameless, terrible thing soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos and nothing could stop it or hold it or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.”

As the Pandorica unlocks from the inside, all of the beings that the Doctor has fought converges on the outside. Stonehenge is transmitting to EVERYONE and they are coming. The Doctor’s great plan is to get the Roman Empire to help him defend the Pandorica from all of the emerging enemies. Dalek. Cybermen. Sontaran. Slytheen, Judoon, Draconian… everyone we have seen in the past and the present, here for one reason. The Pandorica opening.

River goes back and shows her future weapons to the past Romans and though she barely gets the help of the leader, she does get a volunteer. Meanwhile, Amy questions The Doctor about the ring she found in his coat pocket. Amy feels something and the Doctor tells her “people fall out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces… nothing is ever forgotten not completely and if something can be remembered it can come back.”  The Cyberman arm that The Doctor stumbles upon earlier starts shooting, searching for “fresh meat”. Amy is attacked by the Cyberman head only to be saved by Roman Rory!

Rory, lost in the Time Crack, has been transported to the body of a Roman soldier, all of his memories of Amy with all of the knowledge of a Roman Centurion. Much to the astonishment of The Doctor. As the Pandorica enters the final phase of opening, all of the galaxy surrounds Stonehenge. He runs to the top and yells at them “Hello Stonehenge! Whoever takes the Pandorica takes the Universe… Who’s Got the Pandorica? Answer: I do. Next Question: Who’s coming to take it from me?… Look at me, no plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn oh and something else I don’t have: anything. to. lose… [if] you’ve got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who is standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you and then, AND THEN do the smart thing and let somebody else try first.”

River runs to the T.A.R.D.I.S. but something goes awry. She ends up back in 2010, back at Amy’s childhood home, which has been invaded by something. She discovers the things in Amy’s room, the book on the Roman soldiers with a captain that looks like the one River confronted and a book on Pandora’s box that imitates the Pandorica. River realizes something. Nothing is real. Something is using Amy’s memories and they are projecting real images – Something has been trying to lure The Doctor to the Pandorica. All of the Romans shut down and come back to life with an awareness of their reason for being. The Pandorica finally opens. Rory rages against his creation. He tries to get Amy to run. Rory declares himself, in much the way that Amy convinces the Professor Bracewell in Victory of the Daleks, to make himself real. She remembers him, but the Nestene Consciousness wins out and he shoots her.

“You have been scanned, assessed, understood. Doctor. Your limits and capacities have been extrapolated, the Pandorica is ready!” All of the Doctors enemies have assessed that he is the most dangerous being in the universe, that the Time Crack is his fault and to save their home worlds, they are locking him up. The Doctor pleads with them that he is not the cause, but the Pandorica closes and all the stars fade from view.

Recap: The Big Bang

This episode starts with where we started at the beginning of the season. Since the Doctor has been locked in the Pandorica for thousands of years, he can not come to Baby Pond’s rescue. No stars illuminate the night sky. She draws them, maybe remembering them, but stars do not exist in this Doctor-less world. Baby Pond brings her Aunt to the museum where they see the Pandorica, somehow unearthed from beneath Stonehenge along with frozen in stone Daleks. She goes up to and touches the Pandorica and when it opens we find…

Amy Pond!

Quelle Surprise!

Back in time to 102 AD, Rory is talking to an obviously only dying Amy. Asking for a miracle, The Doctor appears in a fez with a mop to give Rory his sonic screwdriver. He gets the Doctor out of the box. They put Amy in the box, held in stasis for 2000 years until the box could get a reading of her living DNA. Rory stayed to guard the box, since he was living plastic and thus begins the best love story I’ve ever heard.

Plastic Rory devoted his life to protecting Amy. Just the thought of it makes me tear up a little. As The Doctor pops back in to get back with Amy and crew, a Dalek awakens and starts shooting. This let’s The Doctor know that the light from the Pandorica is a restorative light and a little bit of molecules from every part of the universe exists in that light. As soon as he works it all out, he is shot by the Dalek, who powers down. Amy and Rory run to the Doctor’s body while River Song stays to deal with the Dalek. River meets them downstairs to find The Doctor’s body gone. He is in the Pandorica and he has worked out that if he puts the Pandorica in the center of the exploding T.A.R.D.I.S., exploding at every point in time, which means the Doctor has to stay with it, being forever lost.

His time stream begins to rewind and we learn that when he speaks to Amy back in Flesh and Stone (the Weeping Angel two parter) the second time, it is the unraveling Doctor who implores her to remember what he said to her 7 year old self. Seconds later, he finds Baby Pond, waiting for him the first time. He carries her off and tells her his story, of his borrowed new ancient blue box and on her wedding day, the former day of destruction, she remembers him (with a little help from River) and tells him that he is late for her wedding! He appears, he dances, he takes a little break and runs into River, to give her back her diary. She tells him that they will meet again real soon and that this meeting will change everything. Then she vanishes. Amy and Rory go to collect the Doctor, but a phone call about a Egyptian deity on the Orient Express propels them into next season.

Thoughts:

Whew! What a crazy roller coaster of craziness. Good craziness that is. I loved these two episodes.

My favourite parts:

Seeing Rory come back was awesome! I loved how he stood watch over Amy in the Pandorica. I loved how the legend of his devotion was part of the history, so that Amy saw that devotion, making their reunion all the more sweet.

I LOVE River Song. The fez incident – after being rescued from the time loop on the exploding T.A.R.D.I.S., her first question was about the fez. When she looks to Amy, Amy snatches it from his head and River shoots it. It was a very fun moment in the midst of a very dark episode. The thing that makes me wonder what the history books says about River Song comes when the Dalek shoots The Doctor and everyone leaves to find The Doctor’s body, The Dalek pleads for mercy. It is the first time in the history of Dalek-dom that this has happened. On the second viewing, it is even more badass – even more frightening.

Amy standing up in the middle of her wedding making everyone cringe at the thought that she might be going crazy. I don’t know if I would be brave enough to do it… well, I guess if it was The Doctor…

Watching all of the villains of Doctor Who working together to get rid of the most dangerous being in the universe… The line I quoted in the recap is what The Doctor says while exploring the Pandorica (The Pandorica holds “a goblin or a trickster or a warrior – a nameless, terrible thing soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos and nothing could stop it or hold it or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.”). When he says this line, I try to think of what is more terrible than a Dalek or the Cybermen or any of the other league of bad guy that has inhabited the show. But the truth is, the line more aptly describes The Doctor. Because we love him, because we love to see him run, we forget the times he’s had to destroy because we knew that destruction was to save many, many more. He has to make choices that are not fair for any one being to make. But in truth, The Doctor is the most dangerous being in the universe and that is something that we can’t forget. Rory came back to us and we got our happy ending this season, but I can’t help but remember what happened to Donna and how the writers can never give her the happy ending she really deserves.

I also liked that the weird moment in the 2nd part of the Weeping Angels episode was when The Doctor was traveling back through his time stream. It was always weird to me that he did that in the middle of going to the rescue. There was always something slightly off about it. His words made me re-watch the first episode again and again because, up until the finale, there was only one time he was with Baby Pond. That it was explained was awesome.

I like them connecting everyone from the past, present, and future in getting the message to the Doctor. I loved every character they used. Van Gogh was my favourite. I wish he could travel with the Doctor. I love that actor. Winston Churchill was my second favourite. From everything I’ve read about Churchill, this actor really delivered. Next, I loved the Queen. She had spunk and attitude. Basically, she ruled. But that moment when she sees Van Gogh’s painting and her whole face gets sad, I am immediately sold on how bad it’s going to be for The Doctor.

Things I didn’t like:

I love happy endings, but Doctor Who has gotten me to the point where I know I won’t always get them. This ending was too happy, like the whole season was just a preview for the upcoming season. Not that it was a waste of time, mind you, but that it was like telling the unnecessary parts of a Doctor Who adventure. I didn’t feel like I was going to lose anything. Threatening to get rid of The Doctor is hard to swallow. Some kind of expedition should have had to be mounted. If Amy can bring Rory back (even though it was with the unwanted help of the Nestene Consciousness), then she can bring The Doctor back. There was soooooo many clues that she had the power to do that, it was obvious what was going to happen at the end.

Despite loving how they brought all the characters together, I think Van Gogh’s painting wasn’t anything new. We saw that the T.A.R.D.I.S. was going to be ‘sploded in the time crack. We knew that somehow he was going to have to make a choice that would mean the destruction of a part of himself. I think that if we had been marching toward his “death” and had known that the whole time, a la David Tennant during the specials, then I think we would have been a bit more on edge. As it is, all we got were clues that The Doctor was going to be alright.

Well, with only one entrant, hats were unnecessary!

I received my copy of Being Human. I caught the episodes I wasn’t able to catch on BBC America (I missed the first episode, in particular) and I really love the show. Can’t wait for Season 2 to begin!

Our winner is @AutumH! Contact me by email – thisgirltv [at] gmail [dot] com – for the best way to get your prize. Contact me today and it will be FedEx-ed to you so that you can watch before the Season 2 premiere. I hope you enjoy your free Season 1 DVD of Being Human!

My first giveaway! I’m like a giddy little school girl!

You may not know this, but I love BBC shows. Of course, being American and all, I get to watch them all (even if it’s later than I want *grumble, grumble*) on the fantastic BBC America. One of the shows to catch my fancy is Being Human, the story of 3 supernatural being who live in a flat together in Bristol.

Synopsis: (from BBC)

Being Human is an extraordinary look into the lives of hospital porters George (Russell Tovey) and Mitchell (Aidan Turner). Toiling anonymously in Bristol, England, they lead lives of quiet desperation under the burden of a terrible secret – Mitchell’s a vampire and George is a werewolf. Deciding to start life afresh and leave behind the dark side, they move into a house, only to find that Annie (Lenora Crichlow), the ghost of a woman killed in mysterious circumstances, haunts it. As the three deal with the challenges of their new lives together, they’re united in their desire to blend in with their human neighbors. However, with unwelcome intruders into their world, a threatened revolution from the vampire underworld, constant threats of exposure, and the day to day issues faced by young people – the only thing they may be able to rely on is each other.

I know, I know, it sounds a little bit ridiculous, but believe me, you will love this story, fall in love with the characters and enjoy the many aspects of their secret lives.

The Giveaway:

Each day, starting today, I will ask a question. The names with the right answer will be put into a hat (really, a box) and drawn at random Tuesday morning, the day of the DVD release of Being Human, Season One. The winning person will be notified through the site and a copy of Being Human Season One will be mailed out in time to catch up before the July 24th Premiere of Being Human Season Two on BBC America.

The Season One DVD includes deleted scenes, behind the scenes featurettes, video diaries, character profiles and an interview with creator Toby Whithouse. All prizes courtesy BBC.

So what are you waiting for?

Today’s Question: Russell Tovey was rumored to be up for the part of the title character for what show? Leave your answers in the comments and good luck!

(pictures courtesy BBC.co.uk)

When we see the face of Matt Smith peaking over the edge of the crashed T.A.R.D.I.S., the excitement is very palpable. The very striking little girl, who only moments before had been praying to Santa about the crack in her wall, stands as bemused as we are. Who is he? What is he doing here? What is going on?

Our questions are similar, though the little girl’s questions, little Amelia Pond, are much less complicated. We, the viewers who have loved the Doctor since we were first introduced, have gone on this journey with him as he sacrifices himself for the good of mankind. My first Doctor was the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, found courtesy of PBS. I only got an abbreviated view of that Doctor’s life and from here looking back, we know that each incarnation has brought its fair share of doubters that the next Doctor would match up to the previous but that the newDoctor has been great.

That’s what I want here, of course. To see Matt Smith succeed. I am kidding myself if I say that I will stop watching if he’s rubbish, but I know that he is not. From the moment he shows up in this episode, he is wearing off the remnants of David Tennant, giving us a “what. What! WHAT?!” in this episode that brought tears to my eyes.

Tonight’s story revolves around little Amelia Pond, with the scary crack in the wall and a manic stranger on her hands. They bond in the way that only children can with an amazing, impossible person and when he quiets the crack in her wall, promises to take her with him on his adventures. As he takes off to save the T.A.R.D.I.S. from exploding, she packs and waits.

And waits and waits and waits. 12 years later, he shows up again and doesn’t realize until much to late that the tall redhead dressed in the police uniform is the little girl he said he’d get in 5 minutes. They also realize that Prisoner Zero, the escaped convict from the wall 12 years earlier, has been living in Amelia’s house behind a perception filter. It has been found by the aliens guarding it and those aliens are prepared to destroy the earth to get Prisoner Zero.

As the Doctor and Amelia storm to the city center, the Doctor still looking like he did 12 years ago in the suit that Tennant died in, we meet a cast of characters who know who he is. But Amelia is not as trusting as her younger self was and she is questioning everything that is the Doctor.

Having only 12 minutes to save the earth from certain destruction, the Doctor using the resources of a cell phone to stop the coming alien horde. He dispatches Prisoner Zero by using the mental connection it has with its victims (Prisoner Zero takes on their appearance, but leaves them alive to feed the psychic connection, so that he can walk around undetected) to turn it into its original form so that it can be captured before the deadline.

In a scene that was both informative and victorious, the Doctor warns the Atraxi (those aliens trying to capture Prisoner Zero at the cost of the planet) that he protects the planet by asking them to search The Doctor. In the old news footage style video the Atraxi plays, the face of every incarnation of the Doctor plays and as they fade from Tennant, Matt Smith walks into the video and he is dressed in the uniform that will be our remembrance of his Doctor.

This episode is great, a wonderful blending of old and new Doctors. Karen Gillan is great at Amelia Pond, as well as Caitlin Blackwood, the young lady playing young Amelia. She also happens to be a cousin of Karen Gillan, so any resemblance is actually real. I like that little girl. I hope we see her again…

The first episode also introduces a series long story arc that deals with the crack in the wall. Prisoner Zero taunts the Doctor, right before capture, about not understanding why the crack is there in the first place. I believe we will begin to see that crack again. Here’s hoping the crack, should it actually be in space and time, doesn’t actually call back Rose to view this new Doctor. I hope that storyline has been laid to rest.

Overall, this initial episode has given me hope for the future of the series and I’m hoping Matt Smith can be as iconic as Eccleston was in one season, as iconic as Tennant, who influenced my own style of dress, and iconic as every Doctor we have ever grown to love.

What did you think? Did Matt Smith, in his first full episode outing, meet or exceed your expectations, or did he disappoint? What about Karen Gillan? Are you also halfway in love with her, or do you the the new production team could have done better?

You just don’t know how frakkin’ stoked I am for the return of Doctor Who.

So.Frakkin.STOKED!

And it doesn’t make the heart palpitations stop now that I can watch videos like this:

and this:

It Begins, indeed. BBC America is promoting the shit out of the premiere and rightly so. David’s Tennant finale episodes, while not the best written, was the most emotional moment of television for me. The last twenty minutes in tears while the viewers and all of the Whoniverse said goodbye to that incarnation of the eponymous Doctor was both depressing and enlightening. Depressing because David Tennant was one hell of a Doctor. Enlightening because we got a glimpse of Matt Smith as the Doctor and because the last time we got a new Doctor, we got David Tennant. Don’t get me wrong, Christopher Eccleston will always have a soft spot in my heart, but if Matt Smith lives up to the writing of Steven Moffat, we will have a newly crowned champion Doctor.

April 17, 2010 is not that far away. As we think about the previous seasons of Doctor Who, I remember Steven Moffat penned episodes in particular. The one that comes to mind in particular is the two parter The Library/The Forest of the Dead. Maybe not the best of the Moffat written episodes (it’s a toss up between Blink and The Family of Blood for me) but my favourite for the Doctor Who continuum.

PS, this is the best season of Doctor Who, with the best companion ever. She got SHAFTED.

ANYway. The new series, with Matt Smith taking Tennant’s spot, shows us Alex Kingston (aka Professor River Song) in the trailer. You hear her voice and she is one of the speakers in this BBC America clip about the Dalek.

Now, I just said that Donna Noble, the series 4 companion of the Doctor, did not get a great end. It was okay. She married some bloke who will be good to her, but she doesn’t remember a damn thing and that makes me mad. Don’t get me wrong. I respect the work of Russell T. Davies and his direction for the last 4 seasons, but it broke my heart to see Donna end the way she did. However, my disappointment aside, the good writing from the season and the superb acting on the part of Catherine Tate makes her the best companion in my book.

That means Karen Gillan, playing the new Doctor’s new companion, has some big shoes to fill. But then again, haven’t they all. Everyone who fell in love with Rose and cried their eyes out when she was saved from the void but lost the Doctor (seemingly) forever were not eager to accept Martha. And after Martha, especially with the Catherine Tate Christmas special fresh in our minds, we wondered if Davies was out of his mind. But as season 4 went on, when we realized that the tension that was created by the other companions didn’t exist for Donna, we were able to explore who the Doctor really was. What will Amy Pond add to that discovery, I wonder?

I am heartened, however, by one line in the first trailer in this post. “They’re afraid of me.” That is the Doctor I know and have grown to love. If Steven Moffat holds up his end of the writing deal, and Matt Smith is as able as Moffat claims, then we are in for some damn good television. Well, in my opinion, anyway.

I don’t like it now. Why? Because the old symbol is so iconic to me. Maybe it is the sound of the T.A.R.D.I.S. alone that gets my heart to skipping that extra beat, but there has always been something about the orange eye that scrolls across the screen before showing the title DOCTOR WHO, something that tells me that I am in for a thrilling ride.

I watched the trailer for the upcoming 5th season of Doctor Who starring Matt Smith and it is exciting. Vampires, Daleks and Blink, oh my! Also seen very quickly in military fatigues is River Song – Maybe not professor yet… Her appearance in the 5th series is maybe the most exciting for me. Yes, I’m excited about the new season, but I’m not getting that good ol’ lovin’ feelin’ when I see this logo.

Do I hate it though? No. To be fair, the current logo and sound/song is revamped as well and I didn’t complain too much. And who knows, maybe the first episode with Matt Smith will be so spectacular that I can’t help be go all Pavlovian over the symbol. Of course, that is my hope, but for now, every change only solidifies the death that we have already experienced. That, I am not excited about.

Be warned: Spoilers Abound

Russell Davies, why must you make me cry on my birthday?

The first part of the last episodes showing David Tennant as the infamous Time Lord was almost a complete travesty. The only truly memorable scenes, besides John Simm’s The Master’s inexplicable new mutant powers (he did kinda look like a Misfit, right?), were the scenes comprised solely of Tennant and Bernard Cribbons, Donna’s enthusiastic grandfather Wilfred Mott. From the silver cloak to the scene where he tearfully urges The Doctor to take his antiquated pistol. At the end of the first part, I was dreading what the second part would bring and I knew I wouldn’t be able to bear it if Tennant wasn’t given a grand and proper send off.

Davies redeemed himself with the second part. Not necessarily by the resolution of the story featuring The Master playing the part of the whole world or the Time Lords jumping time to take over the Earth’s place in space, though it was satisfactory, but by the goodbyes The Doctor was allowed to have that caused those of us watching to spend the last 20 minutes (plus 5 after the introduction of Matt Smith) in tears.

Like every companion throughout the 46 years that the show has run, I’ve grown to love each portrayal of the Doctor. Christopher Eccleston was a stone cold fox, so I cried at his regeneration because I wouldn’t be seeing his face every week. David Tennant started out as the stranger with The Doctor’s knowledge but, like Rose, I grew to love him in the role as well. That the loss of a television character could cause actual mourning is ridiculous, but I have never claimed not to be ridiculous. Matt Smith’s start is very promising. His Doctor had me laughing at the apex of tears. We will miss The Doctor. David Tennant’s Doctor will never be forgotten.

Now, we look forward to Matt Smith, the new Doctor Who logo, the new T.A.R.D.I.S. interior, the new companion and the new executive producer who has written some of the best episodes of Doctor Who I’ve been fortunate enough to watch. Steven Moffat taking over the reins is an exciting proposition to me. I know he won’t be writing them all, but I feel as if he’s had an idea of a direction and I’m encouraged that he wrote the Professor River Song episodes (because I want to see THAT story!) and I’m excited because I’ve seen previews for the next season and I’m very excited. And the end is most definitely the beginning.

Warning: This post most definitely contains spoilers if you haven’t caught the Children of Earth Miniseries.

Whatever you expected from Season 3 of Torchwood, I know that Russell T. Davies and Euros Lyn exceeded those expectations. Before Season 3, we were met with stand alone episodes with a connecting theme that was explored by the end of the season, monster of the week serials where our intrepid crew dealt with the supernatural, love, sex, pain, fear. Dubbed the “grown up Doctor Who”, we got many, many, many steamy scenes of Captain Jack Harkness kissing anything that walks and it was great. Torchwood: Children of Earth was not your typical season of Torchwood. First, it was only five episodes, but those episodes packed so much punch, that the the Who-niverse will never be the same. Continue Reading

Sounds a bit ominous, doesn’t it?

Season One of Torchwood was our “out of season” connection to Doctor Who. Despite the fact that there were some badly written episodes, there were also some gripping ones. Owen falling in love with a woman out of time, and Suzie Costello coming back from the dead. Her exposition on life after death was riveting. Season 2 was better, leading to the game changing ending which we were still reeling from when the end of the 4th season of Doctor Who came along. So there is eager anticipation as the “Season 3” miniseries, Children of Earth begins here on BBC America starting July 20, 2009.

The Children of Earth miniseries was probably the best written of all seasons of Torchwood. I’m not going to give anything away, but this is the kind of drama, anticipation, heartache and triumph that should be in any well written drama. Now we wait for the remaining of the 2009 Specials for Doctor Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures, where we get to lay eyes on our beloved David Tennant once more with Sarah Jane Smith as his companion before he goes out forever (or not) and Matt Smith takes over the role as Doctor for the 2010 fifth season. If you like scifi (and who doesn’t?) then you have to tune in to the Torchwood miniseries. Even if you haven’t seen the previous ones, you’ll only be a little lost, but you’ll be a lot entertained.