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locker_monsterFirst off, Jelly Babies are kind of weird. I thought they would be like Sour Patch Kids; gummy and covered in sugar. Obviously Jelly Babies are, well, jelly, and only lightly dusted in icing sugar, at least the kind my friend bought for me were. Also, this brand names the Jelly Babies; each flavour has a name, which was a bit disturbing. It seemed, though, that everyone else liked them. My sister liked them and so did my mother.
But yay! New Doctor Who! My sister likened me to a crack addict as I waited for it. Hey, to be fair there hasn't been a new episode of Who since July, "Time Crash" notwithstanding.
Plus I went Boxing Day shopping and found the Doctor Who Visual Dictionary at Chapters. :-) With gift cards it was nice and cheap. Nothing like a Doctor Who Christmas. :-D
But yay! New Doctor Who! My sister likened me to a crack addict as I waited for it. Hey, to be fair there hasn't been a new episode of Who since July, "Time Crash" notwithstanding.
I thought this Christmas special might take place in the future because of the whole Titanic in space, but turns out the ship is from another galaxy and it's just visiting present day Earth. And everyone just looks human, except for Bannakaffalatta. Hee, I just love his name though I have to agree with the Doctor; it is a bit of a mouthful. How cute that the Doctor finds out where he is and just stays because there's a party going on. I think he needed a bit of fun after the year (that wasn't) he had.
I enjoyed that the episode was an ensemble piece basically. The Doctor and his band of survivors, the survivors who all have something secret or other. Well, except for Mister Meany Slade, who was just there to be annoy but every disaster movie has one. ;-) That's what "Voyage of the Damned" felt like: a disaster movie. The Poseidon Adventure, but in space! I appreciate that each character had their moment and we got to know them before they died. The Van Hoffs were nice and the outsiders and Foon had a heroic moment. So did Bannakaffalatta who EMP'd those Heavenly Hosts. EMP is now totally a verb. I like saying "EMP'd" anytime someone in sci fi uses one, though it seems horribly convenient that this cyborg has the capacity to create an EMP. Or maybe EMPs are totally common on planet Sto. Anyway... Mr. Cooper gets a nice retirement on Earth and Frame the newbie survives his first assignment. I like that the Doctor can attract all these different people and they can all rise to the occasion.
And Astrid. I wasn't all that thrilled when they announced that Kylie Minogue would be playing the part. I didn't realize she has some acting experience so I just knew her as a singer, but Doctor Who is quickly proving that pop singers can act, too. :-D I liked Astrid (which is an anagram of TARDIS; who knew) in that she's the type of Companion that wants to be there. She wants to see the bigger world out there. I guessed she would die because a) it's Kylie Minogue and she would be expensive to bring back as a regular Companion b) the Doctor and Astrid fitted too nicely. If TV has taught me anything it's that happy people/couples meet horrible ends. But Astrid got to save the day and she joins the select few Companions who have sacrificed their lives in order to do so. Lucky Astrid gets to kiss the Doctor twice, too. Her needing a box to kiss the Doctor made me laugh. Kylie Minogue is tiny. I didn't realize it until that moment. Actually, I wouldn't have minded if Astrid had joined the Doctor, though it would have been another Companion pining after the Doctor. Poor lonely Doctor.
The Heavenly Hosts reminded me of the robots in "Robots of Death". They both have the emotionless face thing going on and hands getting caught in doorways and being chopped off. The joke about London being dangerous at Christmas reminded me of Buffy with Sunnydale and the Hellmouth; every May the Mouth of Hell did something funny and no one in the town seemed to notice. People in London seem to be a bit brighter. ;-) But the Queen stayed behind, how nice of her. I expected her to have more corgis though when she ran out of the palace. I wonder if the the Queen watches Doctor Who...
And some random stuff: They also changed the theme music. I'm not sure what to make of the remix. It sounds like it will be this different one for the whole series and on and not just for the special. I'll have to listen to it a few times more before I can give an opinion on it. And the end credits make me sad. They fly by now so all you said is a blur. Before you could read the names; now it's just Bob McBlur. I'm also sad the podcast commentary for the episode is only streaming audio. The BBC site gives a reason why and I like they're trying to make sure it's changed for when series four rolls around. At least they were thoughtful and split up the commentary just in case you lose it and the audio gets thrown off from the video while you're listening.
But the best part of the episode? The "Coming Soon" trailer! I just love previews, especially the Doctor Who ones because either they're completely random like this one or they give you the plot. None of this fake hype that previews in North American constantly pimp out. It seems that Russell T Davies is determined to have every Companion kiss the Doctor. Poor Nine only had Rose and Jack, but look at Ten. He's been kissed by Rose, Martha, Astrid, and now Donna it seems. Heck, he even had a snog Madame de Pompadour and Jackie. I do hope it's a fake-out of some kind. I like to think that Donna, in the beginning at least, will tolerate the Doctor but then come to like him as a friend. Or as the Doctor says in the trailer, "I just want a mate." The trailer seems to imply that after "The Runaway Bride", Donna went on with her life and now has a decent job, judging from the nice dress suit she's wearing, but the Doctor comes bounding back into her life and she seizes the opportunity to get out there. She probably went back to normal life but felt disconnected knowing there were aliens out there. Looks like Donna forces her way into the TARDIS; that should be a good scene. :-D Other highlights included the return of the Ood and a nice line from Donna ("Why did you call me Miss? Do I look single?"), some Egyptian stuff, a trip to the 1920s (to meet Agatha Christie! That should be exciting; I read one of her books for a class), and Sontarans, who I hope are menacing because I've never found the Sontarans to be scary. Oh, and there's random stuff exploding and other things; I really need to watch the trailer again.
I enjoyed that the episode was an ensemble piece basically. The Doctor and his band of survivors, the survivors who all have something secret or other. Well, except for Mister Meany Slade, who was just there to be annoy but every disaster movie has one. ;-) That's what "Voyage of the Damned" felt like: a disaster movie. The Poseidon Adventure, but in space! I appreciate that each character had their moment and we got to know them before they died. The Van Hoffs were nice and the outsiders and Foon had a heroic moment. So did Bannakaffalatta who EMP'd those Heavenly Hosts. EMP is now totally a verb. I like saying "EMP'd" anytime someone in sci fi uses one, though it seems horribly convenient that this cyborg has the capacity to create an EMP. Or maybe EMPs are totally common on planet Sto. Anyway... Mr. Cooper gets a nice retirement on Earth and Frame the newbie survives his first assignment. I like that the Doctor can attract all these different people and they can all rise to the occasion.
And Astrid. I wasn't all that thrilled when they announced that Kylie Minogue would be playing the part. I didn't realize she has some acting experience so I just knew her as a singer, but Doctor Who is quickly proving that pop singers can act, too. :-D I liked Astrid (which is an anagram of TARDIS; who knew) in that she's the type of Companion that wants to be there. She wants to see the bigger world out there. I guessed she would die because a) it's Kylie Minogue and she would be expensive to bring back as a regular Companion b) the Doctor and Astrid fitted too nicely. If TV has taught me anything it's that happy people/couples meet horrible ends. But Astrid got to save the day and she joins the select few Companions who have sacrificed their lives in order to do so. Lucky Astrid gets to kiss the Doctor twice, too. Her needing a box to kiss the Doctor made me laugh. Kylie Minogue is tiny. I didn't realize it until that moment. Actually, I wouldn't have minded if Astrid had joined the Doctor, though it would have been another Companion pining after the Doctor. Poor lonely Doctor.
The Heavenly Hosts reminded me of the robots in "Robots of Death". They both have the emotionless face thing going on and hands getting caught in doorways and being chopped off. The joke about London being dangerous at Christmas reminded me of Buffy with Sunnydale and the Hellmouth; every May the Mouth of Hell did something funny and no one in the town seemed to notice. People in London seem to be a bit brighter. ;-) But the Queen stayed behind, how nice of her. I expected her to have more corgis though when she ran out of the palace. I wonder if the the Queen watches Doctor Who...
And some random stuff: They also changed the theme music. I'm not sure what to make of the remix. It sounds like it will be this different one for the whole series and on and not just for the special. I'll have to listen to it a few times more before I can give an opinion on it. And the end credits make me sad. They fly by now so all you said is a blur. Before you could read the names; now it's just Bob McBlur. I'm also sad the podcast commentary for the episode is only streaming audio. The BBC site gives a reason why and I like they're trying to make sure it's changed for when series four rolls around. At least they were thoughtful and split up the commentary just in case you lose it and the audio gets thrown off from the video while you're listening.
But the best part of the episode? The "Coming Soon" trailer! I just love previews, especially the Doctor Who ones because either they're completely random like this one or they give you the plot. None of this fake hype that previews in North American constantly pimp out. It seems that Russell T Davies is determined to have every Companion kiss the Doctor. Poor Nine only had Rose and Jack, but look at Ten. He's been kissed by Rose, Martha, Astrid, and now Donna it seems. Heck, he even had a snog Madame de Pompadour and Jackie. I do hope it's a fake-out of some kind. I like to think that Donna, in the beginning at least, will tolerate the Doctor but then come to like him as a friend. Or as the Doctor says in the trailer, "I just want a mate." The trailer seems to imply that after "The Runaway Bride", Donna went on with her life and now has a decent job, judging from the nice dress suit she's wearing, but the Doctor comes bounding back into her life and she seizes the opportunity to get out there. She probably went back to normal life but felt disconnected knowing there were aliens out there. Looks like Donna forces her way into the TARDIS; that should be a good scene. :-D Other highlights included the return of the Ood and a nice line from Donna ("Why did you call me Miss? Do I look single?"), some Egyptian stuff, a trip to the 1920s (to meet Agatha Christie! That should be exciting; I read one of her books for a class), and Sontarans, who I hope are menacing because I've never found the Sontarans to be scary. Oh, and there's random stuff exploding and other things; I really need to watch the trailer again.
Plus I went Boxing Day shopping and found the Doctor Who Visual Dictionary at Chapters. :-) With gift cards it was nice and cheap. Nothing like a Doctor Who Christmas. :-D
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