Doctor Who fic: Knitted (1/1)

Title: Knitted (1/1)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 832
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory
Timeline: Set at the end of "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe"
Summary: The Doctor visits with Amy and Rory at Christmas and Amy gifts him with an interesting present.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to the BBC.
A/N: A sort of companion piece to this manip I made. Merry Christmas!

( The Doctor fingered the tag attached to the white ribbon tied around the box. In Amy's neat writing was written, "To the Doctor. Love Amy." )

"Winter is coming."

Hmm, has Moffat been watching Game of Thrones? ;-)

In all seriousness, though, this year's Christmas Special wasn't that bad. Better than last year for sure, but it wasn't really great either. I think it's because it has to do a number of things. It has to be a) a Christmas Special b) the introduction story of the new Companion, and c) a continuation of the season. It's weird, having the special in the middle of the season instead of before it. Moffat had to keep more continuity in the story than usual.


I'm going to save my thoughts on Clara to the end. So, "The Snowmen". The main plot was all right. Some disembodied voice needs a body, so it's doing creepy things in Victorian London. But killer snowmen? You could take a hair dryer to them and they would melt. ;-) I think the plot just needed a villain and, as always, Moffat picks something every day and makes it threatening. I hope people go out and make killer snowmen tomorrow. But it's cool that they got Ian McKellen to play the voice of the Snowmen. He makes them sound threatening when all they do is just stand there and grin at you.

I'm not sure I got the whole thing with Simeon and the Snowmen. Or the Great Intelligence, apparently. When Simeon called it "the Intelligence" early on in the episode, I immediately thought "Hey, they used that name already." Imagine my surprise when it's hinted at the end of the story that the Intelligence animating the snow is most likely the Great Intelligence from "The Abominable Snowmen" and "The Web of Fear". I'm really not sure what Moffat's doing. On the one hand, great, a reference to the show's past. But on the other hand, it's kind of confusing for people who aren't familiar with the original series. I think I'll need to watch the episode again.

I think the important bit was the Doctor's side of the story. He's so not over losing Amy and Rory so he's brooding on a cloud in Victorian London. Strange place to end up, but maybe he wanted to get away from 21st century Earth. He even stopped dressing in his normal clothes. But as sad as he is, you know he's going to end up travelling the universe again. I mean, it would be cool to have him based in Victorian London with Vastra and Co. as recurring cast, but that's not really something you want to do in the show's 50th anniversary year. The Doctor doesn't expect to take on another Companion, but he can't deny it when he runs into someone who is perfect Companion material. It kind of felt like he was testing Clara or maybe he was testing himself? Seeing if he was ready to open his hearts up again?

So, that brings me to Clara. Clara Oswin Oswald. Or Moffat, you cheeky bugger. It makes sense, though, in the sense that of course it's not straight forward. Why would it be? And here I was hoping that the new Companion was from the past and we would have a past Companion for the first time in a long time, but no. We have... Well, I don't know what we have. Oswin from "Asylum of the Daleks" and Clara here are clearly the same person. So what does it all mean? At first, I thought the Doctor would recognize Clara/Oswin; then I totally forgot that he never saw her face. Duh. So, ancestor, maybe? Nope, seems more complicated than that. I think Clara is some sort of alien who embeds herself in people's memories to survive and that's how she can look the same in 1892, the present day, and the far future. Because I was watching "Asylum of the Daleks" earlier today (Space was having a marathon) and I watched Oswin's last scene again and she very purposely turns to the camera when she says, "And remember." So the remembering thing must be significant. Maybe Clara's an Eternal and she wants to experience life as a human? Or she's a plant. The Silence created her and put her in a position to become the Doctor's new Companion.

Also, Clara's birthday is, supposedly, November 23. Important? Or just Moffat being a big fan? I like to think it's important. Maybe it'll all tie in to the 50th anniversary special.

But why can't we have a normal Companion...

And great to see Vastra, Jenny, and Strax again. I was wondering how Strax could be around if he died in "A Good Man Goes to War". Sounds like Vastra brought him back for unknown reasons, which is neat. You have a very strange group there, but it works. Vastra's the kick-ass leader, Jenny the loyal companion (and wife!), and Strax is the muscle and overly obsessed with grenades and acid. He's like a short, lumpy version of Jayne from Firefly. :-D And so bizarre how Strax is Vastra's butler or something. But they remembered he was a nurse. He's the one nursing Clara after she falls from the TARDIS cloud. Oh, and I just laughed when Simeon mentioned that Conan Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on Vastra. Awesome.

Random: Speaking of Sherlock Holmes, the Doctor dressed up as Sherlock Holmes was hilarious. Maybe Moffat is in Sherlock withdrawal like the rest of the us? And the TARDIS interior! And the opening credits! What happened!?! I get that it's a new era so you need to make things different, but whoa! The Time Vortex is on fire and what's Eleven's head doing in there? That was the one aspect of the classic opening credits that I never liked. Okay, so Matt Smith's face isn't zooming towards me, but it's still weird. I didn't look at the pictures they released of the TARDIS interior, so this was my first time seeing it and I have to say that I don't like it. It's feels too confined, too cold. I liked the openness and the warm colours of the previous interior. And there are targets on the wall? I guess maybe it's meant to reflect the Doctor's broodiness and loneliness, but it's still strange. The time rotor kind of reminds me of Eight's TARDIS actually; the design of the central column looks similar. And we end on a cliffhanger of sorts this time. Makes sense. Moffat has to hook the audience so we'll be eager when the rest of season seven airs.

Not much to say about the "Coming Soon" trailer. Didn't really absorb too much from the brief glimpses. The Cybermen are back, and they look like they've been through a re-design. That's Neil Gaiman's episode, no?


So, what? April premiere for the rest of the season? That's usually when the show comes back. You need to leave some time between the finale and the 50th anniversary special. Does this mean we won't get another Christmas Special in December 2013?

And just to be geeky, how do we number this episode? It's not 7x00, because that's "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe".