What Do You Mean, You Haven’t Seen…

Forgive my extended absence from the blog. I really haven’t got a good excuse. Since my last update, wondrous things have happened, not least of which were The Hunger Games, Avengers, Catching Fire, The Conjuring. I would’ve liked to shriek with joy about Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and grit my teeth in irritation at the annoyance of my Jonathan Rhys Meyers’s wasted voice in Dracula.

But no. I’m a lazy cow, and have let the blog go to waste. Time to wake back up, dust off the cobwebs, and see if I can’t use my brain once more.

I could make an entire blog series titled, “What do you mean, you haven’t seen ____?” I’ve been scolded repeatedly for my lack of television watching when it comes to the Big Fandoms. See my previous entries regarding Lost and Battlestar Galactica (still haven’t seen the final season). The two major ones, naturally, are Doctor Who and Game of Thrones.

The former is fandom the likes of Buffy back in the day (and to an extent, to this day), so I understand the gasps of horror when it’s discovered that I don’t know which Doctor is which, and when I hear companions, I think Inara, not Rose, Donna, or…those other people. My knowledge is shaky at best. The facts I could state before attempting any watching:

1. There’s a big blue box that they travel in. It is called a Tardis.

2. There’s weird mechanical things called Daleks, that say things like “Exterminate”. Also something about tea, though I think that’s a fandom thing, not a show thing.

3. David Tennant is one of the doctors, and he is very pretty.

4. You are not supposed to abbreviate Doctor.

5. Angels are bad.

6. Fans cry and scream a lot.

Number six is kind of a gimme. Every good fandom is prone to crying and screaming.

Christmas of last year, I made a promise to my friends that I would attempt to watch something of Doctor Who. I never gave it a proper shot because from what I’ve gathered, this show has been around since the 60’s, there’s multiple incarnations of the Doctor, multiple season ones, and that is just a level of fandom I am unprepared for.

“Watch Blink,” they said. “You’ll like it,” they said.

An hour’s worth of screaming later, I decided to give it a shot.

The suggested episode after Blink was the Season 4 two parter, Silence in the Library and The Forest of the Dead. In downloading those, I ended up with six seasons of the show on my hard drive all at once.

After I’d finished screaming, and sobbing, I started Season 4 from the beginning. Once I got accustomed to Tennant’s rapid fire delivery of lines (and rewound his dialogue repeatedly), I began to enjoy myself. Few of the episodes had the same punch as the first three, but they were harmless enough.

I adore Donna Noble. Their first sighting of each other in Partners in Crime let me know that I would be enjoying her for as long as she lasts as a companion. I am not spoiled on what happens to her, but obviously since I’ve heard a million other names in the meantime, I know she goes away eventually. Sassy redheads always hold my heart.

The Ood are creepy. I don’t know what to make of them, so the less said at the moment, the better. I assume they will reappear again, and if not, yay. Creepy little polite tentacled buggers.

I stopped Season 4 on Midnight. I was warned it was another creeper, but it was kind of enh for me. And then I stopped watching for awhile. Figured I would finish the season eventually, but let it slide away until my library decided to be cruel and order all of the current series of Doctor Who on DVD. So, Season 1, let’s go.

Let’s start out with the obvious. Billie Piper is breathtakingly gorgeous. Just seriously beautiful. I blame the lips. And the curves. I don’t even usually like blondes.

The production value on Season 1 is…questionable. Considering it was off the air for quite some time, and this is British programming, which while I adore it to itty bitty pieces, is not quite the same as American (or it wasn’t in 2004), so it’s always jarring to my eyes. But the mannequins, and the Slitheen, who I mostly giggled at…it takes away from the oogity boogity feeling.

Christopher Eccleston is a fantastic actor. Though I was spoiled by having watched David Tennant’s episodes first. Tennant has an energy that Eccleston doesn’t match. He has the magic occasionally, such as in the episode The Doctor Dances, but he’s a lot sadder and more introspective, from the little I’ve seen of both Doctors. They work in different ways, but I seem to prefer Ten to Nine.

I didn’t expect to fall in love with each episode, but almost every episode had something in it that kept me hooked. The bitchy trampoline Cassandra, for example, in episode 2. I couldn’t stop giggling, mostly because I picture the Real Housewives morons rushing to their plastic surgeon when the flatness craze takes off. Though they never would’ve stood for their eyelids being so puffy.

Though her choice for “iPod” lineup left much to be desired. I had Toxic stuck in my head for hours.

The Dalek episode was the first of this season to make me teary. I have no point of reference for the Daleks, as mentioned above. I don’t understand why they’re scary. I can appreciate that they have no emotions, no logic, no reasoning, which makes them immensely dreadful, but seriously, have you seen them? They are not scary looking.

But then you have this sad little creature, chained up, and even the Doctor gets emotional talking to him about being the only survivors of their kind, and then he can’t exterminate Rose, and it’s just all very sad. Then we open the Dalek shell and there is….an oyster with tentacles.

Seriously, what the hell was that thing?

But it’s all sad and dying and needing sunlight, and I am still not clear why they are scary. Obviously, this will require further viewing to understand what I’m afraid of.

Now, if you want to talk about fear, let’s discuss The Empty Child. Because there was much face shielding and while there weren’t any screams, there were moments where I may have flung myself backwards from my desk, and walked away a few times.

I don’t like creepy children. It is at once my favorite and least favorite horror movie trope. Guaranteed to make me scream my fool head off, which is, of course, exhilarating, but also makes me want to live in a cave where children can’t climb.

I am no one’s mother. And I will keep it that way just to avoid ever having a child say to me, “Are you my mummy?”

I am desperately hoping for a better explanation of what the hell happened at the end of the season. I get that the doctor absorbed way too much timey wimey power, and had to regenerate. But Rose looking into the Tardis and then being the Bad Wolf, and having a “turn around, bright eyes” moment? Yeah, I watched that part twice, still not a clue what’s going on.

I think that about sums up my thoughts. I may have more as the seasons progress, perhaps I’ll remember to make entries about them.

Oh, right, one last thing.

I would ride Captain Jack Harkness so. very. hard. My first introduction to him was a very…special…episode of Torchwood, which I’ve never actually forgotten, but….ah.

He does appear in seasons with Tennant, yes? Please?