A Vlog Update

My first EVER vlog post. And it commemorates a very special occasion.

The Spaces Between my Fingers (are right where yours fit perfectly)

While waiting for the 2012 Christmas special, I slack my Whovian thirst by finishing the First Doctor's era (only "The Tenth Planet" left to go) and watching all of River's episodes in her chronological order. As far as I can tell, that means:

1. Snippets of GMGTW with baby Melody
2. Little-girl Melody from Impossible Astronaut and Day of Moon
3. Let’s Kill Hitler
4. Closing Time cameo
5. Wedding of River Song
6. GMGTW as grown-up—anything after here, really
7. Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
8. Pandorica Opens/Big Bang
9. Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
10. Tells Amy the Doctor’s still alive (Wedding of River Song)
11. Angels Take Manhattan
12. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

But I felt it was time to further explore Angels Take Manhattan,  particularly River and the Doctor's relationship in it. She is now "Professor Song," pardoned because there's now no evidence that the Doctor ever existed. Which means she's that much closer to the Library; his face when he heard those words...he knows she's very near the end.  

But that whole scene is so beautiful---so wonderfully played, from her reaction to the mob boss's prize to her deliciously snarky "Just you wait till my husband gets home."  She can ignore the Weeping Angel that caught her wrist and focus on finding her dad through a book she has yet to write. The heartbreaking elements start when he sees chapter titles eleven and twelve: "Death at Winter Quay" and "Amelia's Last Farewell." He starts pounding his face against the book, yelling, and she replies  "Doctor. Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me. Doctor. Doctor, what is it? Tell me. Okay. I know that face. Calm down! Calm down! Talk to me! Doctor!"

He storms off in a rage. Her wrist isn't the real issue--it's a miniature of the whole story, the weight of fixed points and fate...and if she can escape a detail, they might be able to leave unscatted.  And so his exuberant joy when she walks in, his squeals of "you just changed the future!"--they make so much more sense in context. And he grabs her hand, because now this is just another adventure, they'll be fine...

And she pulls away, shaking her hand. The camera zooms in, revealing an angry red line from pinky to wrist. The small whimper is the only hint we get of the pain--and given River's stoic nature in other episodes, any response means it must hurt like hell.  The scene cuts to Rory in Battery Park, so we don't get to see the Doctor's initial reaction. I'd imagine it's several levels of very seriously not good. But his words to her are so tender and quiet, both in tone and terms:

The Doctor: Why did you lie to me?
River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage.
The Doctor: It must hurt. Come here.

He takes her wrist in his hands, carefully holding it. 

River: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too.  

There's just so much pain at the moment, the threat of death and farewells, fixed points threatening to take his friends. And his wife's in pain. So he does the only thing he can do,  focusing on a minor detail... his hands begin to glow with regeneration energy.

River: No no. No, stop that! Stop that! Stop it! 

He ignores her protest, maintaining the glow until the lines on her wrist vanish. 

The Doctor: There you go. How's that? 
River: Well. Let's see shall we? {she slaps him} That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.
The Doctor: River!
River: No! You embarrass me! {she storms off}
The Doctor: River!
Amy watches the whole scene. The Doctor turns to her, with more than a little-she's-your-daughter in his expression. In the next scene, Amy and River are outside.

Amy: Okay, why did you lie?
River: Never let him see the damage. And never ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

I love River, forever and always, one of my favorite companions,  one of my top ships, etc, but she is so bloody thick to say that. Yes, it's true. Yes, the Doctor has already lost so much. Yes, don't cause him pain, but ...you're his wife! Be strong for each, because you need someone to share those moments. Marriage is all about being vulnerable to each other. But no matter how much she's loved...no matter how much she loves him, she can't overcome that psychopathic tendency of emotions as weakness. 

She still feels she needs to be the strong one, the one who will never break down--is she still atoning for Berlin and Silencio? If you look at her behavior towards Amy-at the Byzantium, the Pandorica, Lake Silencio--she's trying to protect her, keep her safe, more like a mother than a daughter. Oh, River...you are forgiven, don't you remember that? You are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven. 

As for a waste of regeneration energy--you're a fine one to talk. Ten regenerations spent in moments, just trying to save her mortal enemy. Or are you the only one who can make sacrifices for the people you love? He was trying to help, River. He loves you, in his own awkward, gangly, son-of-a-giraffe way,  and one way of showing that is caring when you're hurting. The bit at the end where he  kisses her hand--that's what a mother does, everyone knows mom's kisses are magic.  But there's also the chivalric element, kissing the hand of one's lady-love to honor her. And it's not the last handkiss in this episode. 

The later scene in the graveyard also burns with River feels. Rory has already vanished, without even the chance to say goodbye, and Amy stands there, staring at the Angels. I could do a whole nother post on the Angel angel of this and how Eleven will probably react next time he encounters them, but she can't look away, literally can't, and has already made up her mind because she can't live without  Rory. 

"Melody."
--that one word tore my heart in half, because it's never Melody, even after Demons Runs. It's River, always River. But she's saying goodbye to her daughter, the only child she'll ever had, and just this once, it's "Melody."

Amy: You look after him. And you be a good girl and you look after him.

They can't even look each other in the eye, because the Angel's still there.   So Amy reaches her hand backwards, and River holds it and kisses it because this is goodbye forever.  It's even worse with a bit of thought. The Doctor totally breaks down, sobbing and holding his head in his hands, but the Angel must still be there. So River must have been staring at it the whole time, until they got back in the TARDIS, and because she "can't let him see the damage," she can't start crying.

The Doctor: River. They were your parents. Sorry. I didn't even think.
River: Doesn't matter.
The Doctor: Course it matters.

The causal tone in which she says it--oh, River. Break my heart, why don't you?  And then I thought of it in connection with this Tumblr post...don't let go River. Hold on to him, because he needs you.

Farewell, Ponds--The Angels Take Manhattan---SPOILERS

There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her, tell her a story. Tell her that if she’s patient, the days are coming which she’ll never forget. Tell her she’ll go to sea and fight pirates, she’ll fall in love with a man who’ll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she’ll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her 

this is the story of Amelia Pond, 

and this is how it ends.

Pardon the occasional sob of PONDS! in this review. Because it's not so much a review as an attempt to catgorize these squeezings and heaviness in my chest. Amy Pond was the first companion I ever saw--A Christmas Carol was the first episode I watched as broadcast. So this is the first time I saw a companion leave without having another episode to watch. More than that, the Doctor had a FAMILY. For the first time since leaving Susan in 22nd-century London, he has another Time Lord to take on adventures. He has a wife who will do anything for him. He has a wonderful couple who cares about about him and will take him to task when he steps out of line. People who will wait for him, even when he tries to shake them off. They're a family, Amy and Rory, River and the Doctor. Mum and dad, daughter and son-in-law. And that fact that he's his mum's imaginary friend just makes it more fun.

And the Angels are back--oye, are they ever back. I'm NEVER going to NYC now, no matter what they offer me. It was bad enough when Ten encountered the Daleks, but this time not everyone got out alive. Not that it was that bad to start out with. The Doctor and Ponds were hanging out in Central Park, having a picnic while Amy teased him about fancying someone in a book.  Who says you can't fancy fictional people? Not me, that's for sure. Then Rory pops off for a snack and ends up in the book.

Not literally--I think things would have ended up better for them if he had gotten stuck in fiction land. Instead, he ends up in 1938 and is met by River Song. The two of them are dragged off by a mob boss who throws Rory  to the cherubs--yes, Weeping Angels CAN be even creeper now--while River gets caught by the wrist. 

I'm a River/Doctor shipper--surprise, surprise-- and I just loved all their little interactions in this episode. Especially his reaction when he realizes that she had to break her wrist to get away from the angel. It's not just that she's hurt--it's what that means, it's one tiny strand threatening to tie him in a web of fixed points. She tried to hid it from him, but she can't, not really. So he fixes it, because he owes her so much. But she doesn't want it...

The Doctor: Why did you lie to me?River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage.The Doctor: It must hurt. Come here.River: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too. {The Doctor uses his energy to heal her} No no. No, stop that! Stop that! Stop it! The Doctor: There you go. How's that? River: Well. Let's see shall we? {she slaps him} That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.

Even though we never see it after Let's Kill Hitler, she still must have that pyscopathic training from Kovarian--a mistrust of feelings and wariness of compassion.

River: Never let him see the damage. And never ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

Oh River--so old now, so very close to Darillium and the Library,  Because you're pardoned and a professor now, and he knows that that means. And yet you still don't trust him enough to be so vulnerable with him. I saw one Tumblr post suggesting that she plays the Doctor-role in their relationship, the one protecting him from the harsh truth. There's definately some truth in it. She's the one with the gun, the one who isn't afraid to do questionable things to protect him. 

That hotel---ewe, so very creepy. I knew there was going to to be an old Rory in it, I just knew that. And Rory's solution.

Amy: You think you'll just come back to life?
Rory: When don't  I?

And they jump together, because that's how much they love each other. I have to admit, the Angel should have caught them by then, but that would have broken the paradox too, because they would have been together, not just Rory on his own.

But then at the graveyard...a beautiful hope spot, and then Rory turns back to look--RORY, STUPIDFACE!  But that whole scene was terrible....and the worst part? I GUESSED IT!

The New York cemetery was ominously quiet for the middle of the afternoon. Amy pushed on ahead, leading River and the Doctor through the crumbling headstones. Near a marble wall, the Weeping Angel reached with outstretched arms, as if to embrace the mourners. "Don't look away. Don't look at its eyes, and don't look away," the Doctor warned River.
Amy rubbed the back of her hand across her face, but her cheeks remained dry. She paused for a moment, glancing down at a memorial by her foot. The name seared her vision like a camera flash. Then she looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, smiled, and kept walking.
"No, no, don't do this, please!" The Doctor ran forward, but River grabbed his arm.
"There's nothing we can do!" Tears dripped down her face. "This has already happened."
Amy closed her eyes. All it took was a blink, and she was gone.
"Amy, Amy! No." The Doctor ran forward, trying to pull her away. Instead, he tripped over the tombstone. "Amy…Amy."
"Doctor." River pointed at the writing. "You need to read this."
"Rory Williams, 1980-1969; yes, I know." He yanked away a clump of grass, revealing more words. "Amelia Pond, 1983-1971. Fish fingers and custard."

--Bait and Switch, by me 

Click the link and look at the date stamp if you don't believe me. I read a filming report of this scene and this what I thought would happen. That doesn't make me feel any better, believe me.  Amy choose to leave, she chooses Rory over everything else. And her last words to them:

Amy: Melody. You look after him. And you be a good girl and you look after him.The Doctor: You are creating fixed time. I will never be able to see you again. Amy: I'll be fine. I'll be with him.The Doctor: Amy. Please. Just come back into the TARDIS, Come along, Pond. Please.Amy: Raggedy Man, goodbye.

She calls River Melody! Her last words to the daughter she never got to raise. And the Doctor's last words to her are "Come along Pond. Please." River has to write the story of her parents' farewell to stabilize the loop and the Ponds fade away....fade away.

Yes, that concludes it. The Doctor's done at least one of this season backwards. Will he ever tell Brian what happened to his son and daughter-in-law? Or will Brian just water the plants forever? And how Amy begs him not to be alone...pleads, because she knows what happens when he travels alone too long. Oh, my hearts. I think Moffat has permantly killed one of them.

Touched by an Angel

Well, the Weeping Angels are up to their old tricks. Early in the book, we learn about different 'types' of the Lonely Assassin, a partial explanation for the differences between "Blink" and "Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone." Another intriguing aspect of this story involves much shorter time displacement--within one's own time stream, which adds the potential for paradox as well as time energy

Flesh, Stone and River

Okay, so I haven't been shy about my feelings for River Song, and since I'm rewatching Flesh and Stone, I decided to blog some of my thoughts as I watched it. This two-parter is the first episode with River Song I saw, so it's special for me.

Random fact: First time I saw this, I thought River might be a Time Lord because she was called Doctor. Then cue season six, and

Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know, but if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean?

So I was right, in a way. And now that we know the truth of Amy and River's relationship, I love their scenes even more than before. River is so motherly and caring towards her, when it is actually the other way around. I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort and woobies, so I just get little heart pangs seeing the Angel come for Amy and that moment where the Angels almost grab her makes me gasp in relief.

Magic of the Angels

While I was in London over spring break, I happened to pick up a few books that aren't easily availible in the States. This is one of them. Plus, at 2 pds, was cheaper than any meal I had in London. Magic of the Angels is a Doctor Who story in the Quickreads line, designed to encourage literacy and reading. Just over a hundred pages long, it's an easy read--I'm thinking of loaning it to a ten-year-old introductory Whovian.
The Doctor's attempts to play tourist in modern London don't go so well, but he ends up taking Amy and Rory to a magican's show in an attempt to learn the magican's secret. Since a Weeping Angel is featured on the cover, it's not too much of a giveaway to say that one is behind the events. It provides a nice combination of the Blink and Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone conceptions of the Angels, as well as a hilarious listing of the Doctor's view of London's tourist attractions. I read it at Heathrow Airportm appreciating it all the more because I'd been to most of those places.
As a quick, entertaining read, it tops the charts.