such_heights | Doctor Who Christmas Special

+ The bad out of the way first: I really disliked the way Abigail was handled. She was LOVELY, but also there to be pretty and selfless and uncomplaining and a source of manpain and dead - and literally refridgerated, wtf. So, you know, there was that. *already plotting fix-it fic*

+ The solstice and Christmas are the only midwinter holidays, show? Really? Eesh. The halfway out of the darkness motif was lovely, though.

+ Also, a lesser complaint really but not NEARLY enough Amy! Her as the ghost of Christmas present was awesome but I wanted moooore! AMY! (Her moments with both Rory and the Doctor were completely adorable and lovely, though. *draws hearts around them all forever*)

+ Things I loved: the time-travel and memory stuff in this that was all very Moffat-y and also great. A lot of really lovely little moments, like the Doctor being terrible at card tricks, hee! <3 And just in general, ELEVENTY, DOCTOR OF MY HEART, how so awesome? :DDD Also, space fish! Again! I approve.

+ THE TRAILER OMG. a;lsjdas; SO EXCITED, MUST ACQUIRE TO WATCH MANY TIMES. Things I noticed to squee over this time around: the Ood! Amy not telling the Doctor everything! RIVER! NAKED RIVER! RIVER SHOOTING THE DOCTOR'S HAT OFF! The spaceship from The Lodger! a;lsdjas We can has season 6 now?

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OMGS I DID LOVE IT.

I agree there needed to be more Amy, though at least she was very Amy in the few scene she had, and it looks like she'll be front and centre next season.

I honestly could not even begin to explain why I wasn't kind of eeeshed about Abigail and the way she was handled, but I just sort of went with it because the whole thing was so charming. Again, I can't really refute what you're saying, I was just BRAINWASHED BY ELEVENTY MAGIC. I think part of it was that at the end, it was also the end of Kazran's life, sort of. I mean, not literally that day but it was pretty much too late for him to change the fact he'd spent most of his time bitter and alone despite opportunities otherwise. And part of it is that I think if we lived in a happy sexism-free fantasy land, it would have just been a moving story; the issues I can see with it are less internal to the story and more that yet again, this TYPE of character goes to the beautiful, doomed woman while the main character is a dude?

Which probably shouldn't mitigate it like it does, but um, I fail. Possibly because it was the first Christmas special in five years I didn't hate...

ALSO SPACE FISH. And all the wonderful one-liners. Pretty much EVERYTHING Eleventy said to baby!Kazran to start with, and STUFF.

Also, OMFG NAKED RIVER. NAKED RIVER. NAKED. RIVER. I am honestly surprised my television didn't explode at that point after despairing of ever showing anything that awesome on its screen ever again.

BRAINWASHED BY ELEVENTY MAGIC is very understandable! And agree, the problems with the episode were more extrinstic than intrinsic. There were many other things to love!

NAKED RIVER \o/ STILL NOT OVER IT.

NAKED RIVER.

Did you say "NAKED RIVER"? Did the words "NAKED RIVER" actually appear in this entry?

adhafsdiuejfjeijeajksjdiwjkiowefjkejk

Ahem. I may need some time to digest. *fans self*

Back after I see this episode!

YES, YES THEY DID. :D

I was really irked and saddened and angered by Abigail. :/ But I'll rewatch later and if I'm over it then, I'll probably enjoy it a lot more.. The trailed made me squee a lot though! :D :D :D

The trailer was so awesome! eeee is is time for S6 yet?

IS IT NEXT SEASON YET????????

I was seriously disappointed that Rory didn't then get to be the ghost of Christmas future. But I guess he'd had enough roleplaying for one day.

I really didn't like most of the middle -- it felt like a leftover 10th Doctor special that got crammed into 11th Doctor format by chucking the actual companions aside to make room. I would've much preferred something that actually had Amy and Rory in it as more than cameos.

IT'S A STETSON. I WEAR A STETSON NOW. AND A FEZ.

Yeah, I was hoping Rory would get to do that too! Alas. Looking forward to the series and seeing Amy and Rory properly in action again!

Episodes with flying space sharks should not make you cry.

And I think I fell heartily in love with Abigail, so much so that I sort of shushed the instant "wait, what the hell kind of male generated plotline is this?" and enjoyed her voice and face and tralalala living in denial.

Denial is a good place to be! WE DIDN'T SEE HER DIE OKAY, IT'S ALL FINE.

On Abigail: how much more interesting would this have been if Kazran had been a lonely little girl instead (JUDI DENCH AS OLD!KAZRAN, OMG), and Abigail had become her BFF? I mean, Abigail still would have been fridged. But is fridging really fridging if a dude isn't involved?

DEEP THOUGHTS: I have them.

ALSO someone has surely written the Amy/Rory dress-up pr0n that immediately precedes the episode, right? I LOOOVE THEM.

The dress-up porn amused me, because I'd basically already written something similar after seeing the photo in the season finale. Personally, I'm assuming that Amy and Rory had decided this leg of the honeymoon was too boring, and were creating their own fun.

On Abigail: how much more interesting would this have been if Kazran had been a lonely little girl instead (JUDI DENCH AS OLD!KAZRAN, OMG), and Abigail had become her BFF? I mean, Abigail still would have been fridged. But is fridging really fridging if a dude isn't involved?

I would have LOVED it if Kazran had been female (and PLAYED BY DENCH! ZOMG). Though, I'd prefer that there still be a Dench!Kazran/Abigail romance. Though, IDK -- I guess that would fall prey to cliches about how one part of a lesbian couple dies in fictional stories? Hmmmm.

Though, I'd prefer that there still be a Dench!Kazran/Abigail romance. Though, IDK -- I guess that would fall prey to cliches about how one part of a lesbian couple dies in fictional stories? Hmmmm.

Yeah, that's why I wasn't wishing for that particular plot. Otherwise, yay lesbian couples! (That is one thing I miss about the RTD era: the shiny gay agenda.)

The other reason is that while there are all kinds of literary precedents for tragic male friendships, there aren't really for female friendships. In fact, when thinking of female friendships in film or literature, all I can come up with are ones in L.M. Montgomery books: Anne and Diana, Emily and Ilse. I guess there's Elizabeth Bennet and Charlotte Lucas, too. And Buffy and Willow. Or even Beatrice and Hero. But none of those are really the center of their respective stories.

That would have been fabulous, yes! AND WHY HASN'T DAME JUDI BEEN IN THIS SHOW YET, FOR SERIOUS.

It speaks to how tired I was watching the episode that I didn't even think about how fridged Abigail was. *facepalm* Otherwise, it was quite lovely! And I was glad Amy and Rory were in there at all, since I was watching some of the old Christmas specials during BBC America's marathon (yay), and there wasn't much in the way of the usual companions.

WHEN IS SEASON SIX PREMIERING I NEED IT NOW

I NEED MORE TEAM ELEVENTY NOW OMG OMG. :D

I didn't care for the plot much at all. I think a couple years ago the fridging wouldn't have bothered me and I could have just wallowed in the angst (I love angst, really, like, Ten's manpain never even bothered me much until those last couple specials) but at this point it just felt tired, frustrating, and I missed Amy and Rory a lot when they weren't there.

BUT WHEN THEY WERE THERE THEY WERE AWESOME. THEY WERE ROLLPLAYING POLICEWOMAN AND ROMAN AND THEN THEY TOOK TIME OUT TO SAVE THE WORLD. AND ELEVEN WAS AWESOME and the kid was really good. So! Yay Doctor Who, bring on the naked River (and moar policewoman!Amy)!

That's the thing - ultimately, I still love them all so much, so that's the main thing. :D eee!

It was quite a lovely episode -- Eleven was so adorable I could forgive anything else -- but the "every planet celebrates the middle of winter" line made me snort. Down here, Christmas is the middle of summer, hot and sometimes stiffling, and the middle of winter is endured but not celebrated in any way.

But I like the halfway out of the darkness theme, and I suspect that's going to appear a few times next season.

Haha, for real, I thought about that too! *facepalm*

Doctor Who Christmas Special

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