This has to be a contender for one of the best episodes of this year.
SPOILERS:
Tom MacRae has crafted a truly emotional romp that features the relationship between Amy and Rory better than any other episode. I thought Amy's Choice was their definitive story but no, its this one. With really only the three regulars as characters in the story it gives it room to breathe and fully immerse itself in their relationship to its fullest.
I really liked MacRae after Rise of the Cybermen but for some reason, that story has not proven popular with fandom. (Probably because the Cybermen in it aren't the originals, but that seems petty to me.) I think that story was underrated and hopefully this episode has redeemed him in the eyes of his critics.
Performances from both Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have never been stronger. Gillan truly manages to capture her character at two different stages of her life with great ability. And Darvill does a fantastic job showing both love and compassion towards Amy and resentment towards the Doctor.
Speaking of which, I can't help but feel this is the beginning of the end for the Ponds as companions. After the repeated dangers the Doctor has put both Amy and Rory in such as not bothering to check if their ever was a plague on the planet as Rory points out; and the clear resentment and horror Rory shows when he realizes the Doctor is making Rory more like him by making him choose between the two Amys, I can't see him wanting to stick around much longer. Oh, and them loosing their daughter to the Doctor's enemies of course.
Which brings up one the few flaws of the episode; the lack of a mention of River/Melody. It really stretches credibility that in such an emotional episode about the couple that there would be no mention of their daughter at all no matter how much they realize she's stuck in the machinations of the flow of time.
There are some other logistical problems with the episode like the nature of the disease conveniently not affecting Amy and Rory even as carriers. Why a resort planet wouldn't program its Handbots to recognize aliens. The unlikely scenario that they would be able to set up 10,000 different time streams for people and the immense energy that would probably take are things really best not thought about.
The story was about Amy and Rory and in that it accomplished its goals with flying colors.
Here's the list of nineteenth stories for each doctor from most to least favorite:
1. Human Nature (The Family of Blood) by Paul Cornell
2. The Girl Who Waited by Tom MacRae
3. The Green Death by Robert Sloman and Barry Letts
4. Planet of Fire by Peter Grimwade
5. The Seeds of Death by Brian Hayles and Terrance Dicks
6. Mission to the Unknown by Terry Nation
7. The Invisible Enemy by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
4 comments:
None of those other "logistical problems" occurred to me, but then again I was kind of sleepy at the time. Now that you mention them it does have me going "Hey, yeah...!" But I agree, since they didn't keep me from enjoying the story I don't have a problem with them.
I haven't been commenting on the story lists because with the exception of one or two stories I've pretty much agreed with you. But this one my tastes are radically different, so here it goes:
1. The Girl Who Waited by Tom MacRae
2. The Green Death by Robert Sloman and Barry Letts
3. Human Nature (The Family of Blood) by Paul Cornell
4. The Invisible Enemy by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
5. Mission to the Unknown by Terry Nation
6. Planet of Fire by Peter Grimwade
7. The Seeds of Death by Brian Hayles and Terrance Dicks
It also occurs to me that by having actually had 19 stories, Matt Smith has joined the illustrious ranks of Doctors Without Too Few Stories. He is out of the zone that Colin Baker, McCoy, McGann and Eccleston will be forever stuck in, and has joined the far more illustrious ranks of Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Tom Baker, Davison and Tennant as well-established Doctors. If you picture it as a kind of chart it would be like a donut, thick on either end thanks to Doctors 1-5 and 10-11, yet thin in the middle due to Doctors 6-9. Well done, Matt Smith. Well done.
Glad to see your different order of stories there. We can't always agree 100%. The top three for me were really hard to choose from and put in order. Really close there.
I agree about Matt Smith and its good to know we don't have another short-term Doctor to add to the list. Its nice that the last two have lasted the more traditional time. We know that by the end of the year (Xmas special) Smith will have 23 stories which puts him story wise above Davison and Troughton as well. With him definitely returning next year he will surpass Pertwee and probably Hartnell that series. Both Smith and the Moff have been commenting on the 50th Anniversary indicating they will both be there for it so it seems likely Smith is on board for four series at least. He even made a comment recently about possibly going for breaking the record because he enjoys playing the Doctor so much but it seems way to early to count on that. Colin said the same thing and look what happened to him! It will be interesting to see after the next two series how he feels about it by then. In British actor years that's an eternity! Even so if he does two more full series he could still surpass both Tennant and Tom Baker as far as number of stories go. And after four full series only Pertwee and Tom Baker will have more series on him so that's pretty damn good!
"He even made a comment recently about possibly going for breaking the record because he enjoys playing the Doctor so much but it seems way to early to count on that. Colin said the same thing and look what happened to him!"
Nooooo! It's The Curse of the Tom Baker! Anyone who dares disrespect The Tom Baker's run will be fired!! Matt Smith's ruined it now, he's DOOMED!!!
Just figured I'd get a head start on fandom.
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