Still not Ginger!

Monday 17 July 2017

So the new Doctor is going  to be Jodie Whittaker, with whom the incoming showrunner has worked extensively on Broadchurch.  She is white, thirty-something and not ginger.  I may have been just a tiny bit wrong about the gender*, but apart from being female the casting seems completely in the usual pattern and therefore unremarkable.

So, leaving aside the competing and equally blinkered views of 'finally, a woman!' and 'it's ruined and I'm never watching again', what are we to make of the casting?

Firstly, Jodie Whittaker is an excellent actor. Her role in Broadchurch mainly involved a lot of emotional angst as a grieving mother, so it will be interesting to see how she deals with the more quirky aspects of the Doctor's personality.

Secondly, the publicity photos remind me quite a lot of Romana 2. (I mentioned this to my German colleague at work, but he had never heard of the Time Lady in question.  I am disappointed in him.) Will the Thirteenth Doctor actually turn out to be rather like Romana?   And if so, can we have a K9 substitute?  An electric parrot or a talking cabbage would be good.

Thirdly, will we now get a new male companion?  The last two series have ended with a female companion of the Doctor flying off to explore the universe along with another female character (Clara and Ashildr/Me last year and Bill and Heather this year), so two women flying around the space time continuum has been done. Perhaps Chris Chibnall could find a way of reintroducing Rory? It is important to have some sort of gender balance in the TARDIS.  If all else fails, Captain Jack will do nicely.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Christmas.

*I'm open-minded about this.  I don't see any need for the Doctor to change gender, but don't mind as  long as it has been done in order to take the series in new directions and explore new stories, rather than as a gimmick or to appease the feminist lobby. 

Quoth the Raven...

22 November 2015

"Nevermore!"

Anyone vaguely familiar with Poe's poem The Raven (1845) might have guessed that this would be Clara's final episode, though knowing how Doctor Who works, it remains to be seen whether this is the last we see of Jenna Coleman. I suspect not - isn't Clara still splintered in the Doctor's timeline, 'saving the Doctor?'

I found this episode far more watchable than Sleep No More. I suspect though that over time and repeated watching the latter episode may become regarded as a classic, whereas Face the Raven may not have longevity.

I liked the fact that this was a smaller, ostensibly low stakes episode, where the threat at least appears to be only to a single person, rather than the whole fabric of space and time. Though the true explanation of what is going on will only be revealed in the season finale.

I'm not sure I understood how the shade/raven thing worked, and how and why Ashildr acquired control of it. Or why the 'refugees' needed to disguise themselves as human in a street that was hidden anyway (other than costume budget reasons).

No doubt all will be revealed (probably in about two years' time).

Doctor Who Festival 2

After the Millennium FX talk we had three hours or so free for visiting the main exhibition area (we hadn't booked for any of the photo sessions).

I for once succumbed to the merchandising, buying a Pandorica scarf for £27. The day before I had been tempted by an Escher Metamorphosis scarf at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, but thought £75 was a bit steep, so I was an easy target.  I also bought a Dalek soft toy for my German colleague.  Yes, I did use the words 'Dalek soft toy'.  (The Dalek is now keeping up the grand tradition of adorning an office in a major university).  My husband dithered about buying a burgundy 4th Doctor scarf and eventually succumbed - with unfortunate consequences.

We caught the end of an ‘Act Like a Monster’ talk with Nick Briggs and Barnaby Edwards and later watched a ‘Director’s Class’ with Douglas Mackinnon, who took some volunteers through the Rupert Pink’s bedroom scene from Listen.  They did pretty well, considering the script had been thrust into their hands just a moment or two before, but having seen that, I appreciate the talent of the professionals all the more.

The prop and costume exhibition was all from the latest series.  It's difficult to get excited about Clara's costumes, which are just normal clothes. Missy, Osgood and Lady Me/Ashildr's costumes were much more interesting.  I probably wouldn't have recognised Leandro's costume without a label, as he really didn't make that much of an impression.  The exhibition also included a Zygon pod and the confession dial. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of that...

Zygon pod

Missy's new costume

Lady Me's costume

Osgood's costume

Props