missprint

Quelle horreur, I forgot to watch Doctor Who on Saturday but thanks to the BBC determinedly milking Who for all its worth, I caught the repeat on BBC3 last night. And oh my, Steven Moffat you spoil us with a crunchy clockwork robot exterior and creamy shipper goodness inside. Slurp. I can only imagine what the hardcore Whovians over at Outpost Gallifrey (where no-one can hear you scream) had to say about the Doctor getting a chance to use his previously "new and unused" parts. (Although, according to this week's commentary, Moffat maintains that the dancing metaphor was merely flirtation and not a big ol' carrot for the viewers and undoubtedly filthy-minded fanfic writers.) I find myself feeling increasingly spoilt with the consistent high quality of season two so far but I wasn't immediately won over by this episode (unlike Tooth & Claw or School Reunion). Nevertheless, the more I thought about it, the more this episode grew on me:

- Over at the TWoP forums, poor Sophia Myles is taking a bit of a bashing but I thought she was an excellent guest star. It was a tough role I think, trying to portray one of the most accomplished women of the age and also trying to get across why Reinette was a match for the Doctor in 45 minutes. Note the Doctor's incredulity when he discovers that this gorgeous girl who randomly plants one on him is also the mistress of the King of France. He is more than a little starstruck and smitten. Then watch Reinette's scene with Rose, I loved how eloquent Reinette was in articulating her dismay at her life being invaded by 51st century clockwork droids. Now think about how Rose would have handled it. That's why the Doctor fell head over heels for Reinette.
- Continuity! I'm a big fan of continuity and obviously Steven Moffat is too with the repeat mentions of bananas and dancing.
- However, I would forego any continuity with bananas if it meant that the drunk Doctor scene was cut out. It's hard to take a Time Lord seriously when he has his tie wrapped around his forehead.
- Then again, any flaws in this episode were made up for by the presence of Arthur. Let's take a moment to ponder the amazingness of Arthur, the 51st century space horse:



It's a horse! On a spaceship!! AMAZING.
- Brace yourself for more amazingness of the Doctor/Arthur the space horse variety:



Okay, a little misleading as Arthur has been replaced by a man and some scaffolding but the Tennant straddling something part of the equation is still there.
- Thank god we've been given a break from the constant Torchwood references. Anvillicious much? As if the JJ Abrams whoring of MI:3 on last week's Lost double-bill wasn't enough.
- I was disappointed to see Micky and Rose getting along so well after Billie's donning of her best bitchface at the end of last episode. It has been subsequently been explained that Moffat didn't read the end of the script for School Reunion and that's why they're getting along so well at the start of this episode.
- The clockwork robots were gorgeous and incredibly creepy. The "insane but logical" reasoning was marvellously chilling.
- As was the creeping realisation that the spare parts that they were referring to was actually the crew.
- This wasn't as much of a sobfest as last season's Father's Day but it was pretty close. Not only was Dame Billie of Piper fabulous in the scene in which Rose gazes up at the broken mirror, broken-hearted. It's a nice continuation of last week's themes, Rose is slowly coming around to the realisation that she isn't going to be the only girl for the Doctor (although clearly the Doctor still loves her). It's also nice to see Tennant do something outside the register of chirpy and bouncy or very! angry! protector! of! stupid! humans!

So, all in all, hurrah!

On the not-so-hurrah front (and also at Stuart's behest), this is le conseil noir for this week:



Yes, so pretty much writing writing writing for me this week. However, next week is my final deadline (hoorah, knees up Mother Brown etc etc) which means that after Monday, I am free to laze about in bed, watching back-to-back episodes of my favourite cult television programmes (and St Elsewhere which I was excited to find that more4 are running during their 2pm daytime slot now. Yay for ridiculous endings) and scarfing down peanut butter and grape jam on toast. (Ah yes, the cornerstone of any nutritional diet.) Anyway, if I am ever to reach the light at the end of this particularly torturous tunnel, I'd better stop scouring eBay for cut price cosmetics and expensive shoes and start on my mountain of writing. Pip pip.