Friday, September 30, 2011

S06E12 - Closing Time

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Closing Time… well what can I say about it? Having waiting impatiently through several half-arsed episode of Doctor Who, I confess myself yet again disappointed, although this time by the lack of Cybermen within the episode as the concentration of the story was set more upon ‘oh no, I’m going to die… again’ from the Doctor, which is understandable, yes, but surely even he knows he’s going to outlive his own death? I’m sure ‘The Wedding of River Song’ is going to be another thrilling episode, most likely similar to ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’, but with Matt Smith already filming the Christmas Who episode, and having signed to another series, the whole arc this series about the Doctor finally dying seems to fall rather flat on its face. Personally this arc should have been used for when Matt Smith finally decided to leave – let the producers leave the casting of the Twelfth Doctor in shadow, film without fans knowing and THEN you can have a brilliant series, with the fan base actually believing it will be over for the Doctor hen suddenly bam, regeneration! Anyway, rant over, back to the episode…

I have to admit, despite my initial disappointment towards a lack of Cybermen, it seems a case of less-is-better, even if less means five or minus, although I would actually like to know one thing: two series in for the new Doctor, the new regime and Moffat himself, it would actually be nice to know if these Cybermen are Cybusmen or the original Mondas/Telos Cybers in their newest form due to the lack of Cybus Industries logo upon their chest plates – perhaps next series might explain something, if not another rant may be in order. Although, come to think of it, the use of Cybermats this time round might in fact be a massive clue, as the Moffat does like to lay down smaller things instead of tell people straight off. Nevertheless, the episode itself was actually much better than most of the rest of the series, probably not AS good as ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, ‘Good Man…’ or ‘The Girl Who Waited’, but definitely higher in rank than most of the others.

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What I was most interested to find out, besides Craig and Cybers, was what happened to Amy and Rory once the Doctor left and it was nice, if not a little coincidental, to see that in the form of a one-minute cameo, Amy having become a model, with the fantastic tag line ‘For The Girl Who’s Tired of Waiting’ to the perfume of ‘Petrichor’ – a reference to both the TARDIS, and something that saved the married couple from a troubled Ood…. Ahem. Although I would like to hope that Rory, as seen previously as nurse, has progressed to Doctor, something that obviously couldn’t be mentioned within the latest episode but maybe next week if Moffat doesn’t over-stretch unnecessarily, like in Let’s Kill Hitler.

Craig’s return! Wonderfully done, although the whole ‘checking up on old friends’ thing for the Doctor is definitely so Tennant-era, but an easy way to bring him back AND to see his little baby and the brief appearance of Sophie – the actress whom plays her probably unavailable for more than the tiniest appearance, all of which could have been filmed easily in one day. And adorable as though the Doctor’s Baby Talk can be, as established earlier in the series, it does get rather boring quite quickly, and almost a little repetitive, even with the nickname Stormageddon/Stormy to little Alfie – which even I have to admit, was cute. But it’s been done so don’t overdo it, please… Also, the final few moments of the ‘climatic’ battle, with Craig answering the cry of Alfie, although very emotional and gripping (I honestly thought Craig HAS been converted for a moment) was rather… old. Is that the right wording? It’s one of those things that’s been done over and over again in shows and movies that for it to be done in Who, although inevitable, seemed annoying and almost a letdown.

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Lynda Baron! Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in Doctor Who once more (having been in Fifth Doctor episode ‘Enlightenment’ and provide vocals for First Doctor episode ‘The Gunfighters’) was so fantastic to see. I, personally, love Lynda and her character Val, although not important to the episode in general, she was lovely to watch and a character I would love to have a conversation with. Getting the wrong end of Craig and the Doctor’s relationship, thinking them to be an actual couple was just fantastic, especially the Doctor, and eventually Craig’s, reaction, which was a brilliant laugh. In fact the episode had a lot of laughs to it; no doubt in attempt to keep spirit’s high, ready for next week’s doubtlessly mad-cap episode.

And that brings us in an almost full circle to those final few moments, with River and Madam Kovarian, the Silents and the Astronaut. Although a shocking and gripping few moments, the whole River-is-the-Astronaut thing was completely predictable, if even if a little questionable for, if the whole reason River is arrested was because she shot the Doctor as the Astronaut one needs to know who else was there to actually arrest her as there was only the older River, Amy, Rory and a Silent as seen in the first episode. Secondly, the Astronaut with River within went back into the water, most likely transported away and thirdly, as River was set up by higher powers for the purpose of killing the Doctor it would be seriously low, even for the Order of the Silents, to arrest her for something they made her do. Also, surely the River who witnessed the Doctor’s death knew she was within the Astronaut suit, considering the one within was only JUST starting and the River with the rest was much later in her timeline…? But it was lovely seeing Alex Kingston and Frances Barber once again anyway.

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And now…
  • The Doctor = 9/10 – Matt was fantastic as ever, but he felt repetitive, with regurgitations from the rest of the series like Baby Talk and playing with toys unnecessarily. And the use of the Stetson and the blue envelopes – completely unneeded; one doesn’t need to tie in everything with everything else!
  • Craig = 10/10 – Before the Lodger I admit I never liked James Cordon, but he’s just brilliant now, and Craig is the reason why. His return within this episode just boosted my love of Cordon… that is all.

Episodic Rating: 9 out of 10; not good enough for full marks but better than quite a few of the rest of the series, in fact, compared to Series Five, the Sixth has been terribly disappointing, which is a shame as, not only was it Darvill’s first full series but also this was the series where writers officially knew how to write for Matt Smith’s Doctor and despite that it’s still been worse than last series.

Now I shall reserve thoughts towards the finale episode, but having seen pictures from it, the prequel and of course that next time trailer, I feel it’s going to be yet another over-the-top episode with too much action and too less of good plot (including a Dalek even though Moffat promised NO Daleks this series, the stinking liar!). A good view definitely of course, Moffat can always assure viewers and fans of that, but in all it might just be too much for forty-five/fifty minutes of episode. All I shall say now about ‘The Wedding of River Song’ is that Silents are now models and like to strut their stuff in water tanks. Yes, indeed…

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