I'm not gonna lie; I am a shipper.
For those unfamiliar with the phrase, a shipper is a person who roots for a particular romantic relationship that won't happen in 'real life'-relationshipper-shipper. If you are a shipper, then you're used to rooting for something in a scene or an episode that will probably never happen and you're fluent in subtext that doesn't need to be there. Because of my shipper training (I started when I was young, watching reruns of MASH and longing for Margret and Winchester to kiss already), I fell right into the group of people who imagined what the TARDIS would do if she were able to speak to the Doctor. Not in a romantc way, but I felt that sometimes when the TARDIS was throwing everyone around that it was the only way she could give the Doctor a slap upside the head and tell him to calm down. I felt that she and Donna got along great because the two are alike; they give the Doc a hug when he needs at as willingly as they give him a slap.
So when I heard that they were bringing the TARDIS to life in a way, I was nervous. It's happened enough to everyone that we want something to happen with a character and it happens, but not in the way that we want it. I had a sinking feeling that the canon TARDIS would not be the TARDIS who I saw in every episode. Luckily, I was wrong. Suranne Jones plays the TARDIS aka Sexy, in such a way that she is just as I imagined. Although the other cast were great, it was Sexy who made the episode worth watching. I love the relationship between she and the Doctor, and how they both have such love for each other. It's not entirely romantic and it's clear that they are each others sole mates no matter what happens. I love that she called him her thief and that she knows that she stole him when he thinks that he stole her. The TARDIS would have to have wanted to go, but he is so stubborn to believe that he tamed her.
The Rory/Amy storyline didn't gel with me; I think that it would have made more of an impact if it hadn't been such a short amount of time between young Rory and old Rory. It happened to fast that I didn't believe it to be true, and it annoyed me that Amy did. I also would have liked to have seen more of the inside of the TARDIS rather than just the same hallways that the couple were running through. I wanna see the pool, the library, the wardrobe, and all of the other rooms that Sexy is capable of making. Alas, that may never come to be.
I can't honestly say if I would have liked this episode if Sexy wasn't the incarnatin of the TARDIS that I was hoping for, and I'm glad I don't have to say.
What did everyone else think? Did you like the TARDIS incarnation, and the homemade version she and the Doctor made together? Did you think that Rory had aged? Let me know in the comments.
Kathy
Tags: Doctor Who, Amy, pregnany, Rory, TARDIS, sexy, Suranne Jones, Doctor's, Wife, The Doctor's Wife
I really enjoyed the episode, I especially got exited when Neil Gaimans' name came up in the opening credits. I knew he was writing an episode this season, just wasn't expecting it so early. The sets were great, the atmosphere was creepy, the visual effects were excellent for TV, and I enjoyed the performances. I'm happy it was a stand alone episode too, not that a two-parter is bad, but it's nice to watch a tightly contained story.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the Rory / Amy storyline Kathy, but I guess they needed to be in some sort of danger/torment in order to raise the stakes a bit. I still can't grip the fact that Rory actually recalls his 2000 year experience protecting the Pandorica but still has only a small character arc for someone who has technically had two millenniums to develop.
The idea that there are several control rooms, backups, and deleted rooms within the TARDIS was great, it explains more about how the TARDIS functions and gives a more technical, less magical quality to when it 'changes' and 'fixes' itself.
That 70's TARDIS that the Doctor and Sexy built was a laugh too, very classic! Her character was great too, and how she said that she actually stole him by letting him steal her; brilliant. Hopefully that has taken some of the guilt of the Doctors back.
Oh, and did I hear a reference to River in the closing minutes of the show?
BTW, Great Blog Kathy!
Thanks Callum!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about Rory, it's still annoying to me that he does have all of these memories, and therefore he must retain some form of his plastic self, and yet we never see it. I'd like to see some mention of that at some point this season, it would be odd if there wasn't any.