No Regrets or Anxieties - Plenty of (Happy) Tears, Though

Spoilers for An Adventure in Space and Time below the video (this song popped into my head for about the last ten minutes of the movie, so I'm including it in my reaction/review post) -



Mark Gatiss, I hate your stinking guts. I still love you, but right now - you suck! (she said through a curtain of tears)

Doctor Who runs the gamut of emotions. One minute, you're laughing with absolute delight. The next, you're sobbing your eyes out. So, why would a docudrama about the origins of the show be any different? I ask myself these things after I have spent the better part of twenty minutes trying to compose myself well enough to write anything at all about this movie. At least, something that didn't consist of Tumblr-speak about FEELS and DONE! and WHHHYYYYYYYY?????

If tomorrow's "The Day of the Doctor" is about moving on into the future, An Adventure in Space and Time was the tribute to the past.

When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who told us on the first day of class that history tells us what happened, but literature tells us how people felt when history was happening. So, I guess I should have remembered that going into this film. It's one thing to know that William Hartnell was the First Doctor and he played the part from 1963 to 1966 and he only quit because of ill health and then Patrick Troughton came in as his successor and the show has been about constant change ever since. But - seeing the people involved in those decisions - seeing how this show went from being regarded within the BBC as a silly little kids' show and even treated as a joke to becoming a national hit in Britain - and then seeing the people involved in the creation of the show moving on and having to understand why the changes are made… I'm never going to be able to watch "Dalek Invasion of Earth" without bawling. And forget "The Tenth Planet" (which I've never seen, but it's not going to be fun). I just… can't do it right now.

It's kind of stupid, really. That I would have this reaction, I mean. My hell, I know how this story ends. I know how things happened. Goodness knows I've listened to enough interviews and DVD commentaries and things to know the facts. But a dry laundry list of facts doesn't begin to tell the entire story. Something that the Doctor and his companions learn oh so well in every adventure in the TARDIS. You may "know" your version of events, but you haven't got a clue what's it really like. Not until you find yourself mistaken for an Aztec god and people worship you, but it also means that you have a shedload of responsibility that means life and death for these same strangers.

But damn - that ending!

That's what sent me over the edge. The tears were bubbling under the surface up to that point ("I don't want to go" - what the hell are you people DOING to me????) But then, William Hartnell looks over the console - and damn if it isn't Matt Smith staring back at him, not saying a word, looking apprehensive but excited about following in something that has become such a wonderful tradition. At first, I wasn't sure if Matt is supposed to be in character as the Doctor or if it's just Matt in costume. Either way, I guess it doesn't really matter. What matters is that it's reassurance to an old man who thought he was being put aside and the world was moving on without him - that the world never really moves on. They never forget and they never let go.

Over the past year, I've grown to appreciate and love the Hartnell-era of Doctor Who. There's so much greatness bubbling under the surface, just waiting to be discovered by anyone willing to give it a chance and not dismiss it over the black-and-white or the limitations of 1960s TV. Over this past week in particular, I took some time to review each episode in "An Unearthly Child" and go in depth - more in depth than some fannish overviews and power ranking lists do (I hate those lists. I truly, truly do - Eff you, io9!) So many times, the Hartnell stories are just glossed over as "Oh yeah, that's what they did before they really knew how to make Doctor Who - it didn't really get started until Patrick Troughton or Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker took over. William Hartnell was just this grumpy old man who was there until REAL and PROPER Doctor Who showed up."

Pardon my French, but that is complete and utter bullshit.

If anything, this exercise of mine - doing my little Unearthly Revisited series - has taught me that everything was already there. The seeds of amazing storytelling were planted by William Hartnell and Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman and Waris Hussein and William Russell and Jacqueline Hill and Carole Ann Ford from the get-go. Everything that has come out of Doctor Who since then has built up from these templates and foundations. Gallifrey, Time Lords, regeneration, companions, backstory, the Time War - everything can trace it's roots to "An Unearthly Child."

Even the Daleks - even the idea of a space monster that's more than simply looking scary and blowing crap up - it would not have worked without a sense of purpose and place for those deranged pepper pots to occupy within the bigger story. In fact, I adore the scene where Verity has to convince Sydney that the Dalek story is worth doing - and not for the monsters, but for what they represent and the moral challenge they present to Team TARDIS and, by extension, what people are going to get out of seeing a show like that. Because that's what Doctor Who is. And I wanted to jump up and shout for joy when Sydney gave the okay to use them (I limited myself to a celebratory punch-in-the-air because, dammit, it's the freaking DALEKS!)

Just - holy crap - so much good and so much to love. And so much love and respect in this film. David Bradley totally got Hartnell and Jessica Raine was the perfect Verity Lambert (there better be some shiny awards coming their way for this). I admired Verity from what I knew of her before, but this totally sent my love for that woman into the stratosphere and I am so very sad that she's passed on and there's never going to be any chance to meet her and tell her how wonderful I think she is.

Other Things I Liked -

- Something occurred to me (and it's probably just Mark Gatiss being a fan and giving fellow fans these little nods) - that several missing stories were alluded to in An Adventure in Space and Time - "Marco Polo" is the obvious one (seeing as it's completely missing, but there are some beautiful behind-the scenes color photos from the filming of that story). But also - they might have also included allusions to the two episodes of "The Reign of Terror" that are currently missing. Going by the costumes and the fact that William Russell was actually there for that filming day (he'd been on holiday for episodes 2 and 3) - it could very well be from the filming of the-now-missing episodes 4 and 5 (yes, yes, I know there were some artistic liberties taken with timing and stuff - just let me have this!) Plus, the opening and ending of the film is from the filming of "The Tenth Planet" episode 4 (which is mostly missing) - regeneration and all that.  So, if it was a conscious nod to those missing episodes, I loved it! (even if it wasn't - I'm going to pretend that it was).

- I loved the montage of the behind the scenes development of the show intercut with Verity telling Bill over lunch about how this show was going to have all the latest technology and best facilities. It was a good way to show how low-tech and ropey everything was back in the day (the best part was (presumably) Delia Derbyshire talking about how they created the TARDIS sound with a door key and piano strings). There are so many smaller stories within the bigger picture and the montage was a brilliant way to pay tribute to as many of these lovely little anecdotes as possible.

- Oh my poor, poor heart - the scene where Hartnell had to start the central TARDIS column moving up and down because he was the only one left who knew how it worked. And then the last time he ever did it (right before the Matt Smith cameo) - I was a sobbing mess by then ("I don't want to go" - DAMMIT GATISS!)

I can't say enough good about this. It's more than just presenting a bunch of facts about these events and people - it really cut to the heart of what Doctor Who has meant to so many people over the years. Not just to the fans (though those kids who followed Hartnell around in the park and asked for his autograph - oh my gosh, how can you stand it??) - but to the people involved in bringing it to life. For Verity, it was a chance to prove herself as a young, ambitious TV producer. For Bill, it was a chance to prove that he could still do something he loved and be relevant and have success.  And his interactions with his young granddaughter - just beautiful.  Beautifully done and beautifully paced.  The whole film was everything I'd hoped it would be and more.

This was a fitting tribute to something that started in such a humble way, but has grown to fill the world and to fill our hearts. No, not everyone gets it. For example, just yesterday I got a phone call from my dad and he said "I don't know what it is you're busy with - it's just a show." And that's okay. I don't expect everyone to have that same level of love for it. It makes it more special that way. But it's good to know that others get it too, you know? I want to give Mark Gatiss a big hug for this (after I finish cussing him out for making me cry like that).

I'm not really sure how to end this post.  Because I don't want it to end.  I guess all I can say is thank you.  Thank you to Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman and William Hartnell and everyone else involved in getting Doctor Who started.  This show - which I knew nothing about four years ago - has left an indelible mark on my life.  The Doctors, the companions, the stories, the people behind the scenes, even my fellow fans - I feel like they're my family.  I can't say how much Doctor Who has come to mean to me.  It's been right there in my happiest moments and in some of my darkest.  I'll never be able to express my gratitude or repay what's been done - but I am grateful for it.

No, there are no regrets or anxieties (still plenty of happy tears). Just me going forward in all my beliefs. And Doctor - you'll never be mistaken in yours.

While Greater Love Lies Further Deep

 

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 11.1

Title: The Beast Below
Written by: Steven Moffat
Team TARDIS: Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond
Adversary: Hawthorne, The Smilers (is there really an adversary for this one? It’s sort of ambiguous)
Originally Aired: April 10, 2010
Number of Episodes: 1

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
For Amy Pond's first trip in the TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor brings his new companion to the 33rd century, where all of Britain's citizens live onboard Starship UK, searching for a new home amongst the stars as the Earth is being roasted by solar flares. However, the Doctor soon finds something amiss onboard the vessel. The citizens appear to fear "the smiling fellows in the booths" and ignore crying children. What is going on? What secrets does Starship UK hold at its depths, and who is hiding them? Soon, the Doctor is forced to make an impossible choice. No matter what he chooses, death is the only outcome.

My Review:
Everyone praises “The Eleventh Hour” as a fantastic piece of television. As well they should. Matt Smith’s first full episode as the Doctor is a roller coaster ride of timey-wimey adventure and mystery and quirkiness meant to show the audience that David Tennant and Russell T Davies may have moved on, but Doctor Who is still in excellent hands. Things may be different, but this amazing show that you fell in love with a month ago is still that same show and it’s going to take care of you through the good times and bad.

(Well, for me it was a month).

Series 5 was so very different in tone and pacing from what I’d come to expect from Doctor Who. But for this initial season under the guiding hand of Steven Moffat, a few bits of the formula carried over. The first episode was to introduce the new companion (and Doctor, in this case). The next two were a story set in the future and a story set in the past. Then a two-parter, then a couple of rompy one-offs, another two-parter, two more one-offs to ramp up to the two-part finale. That’s the big picture we’re dealing with here. Keeping that formula for Matt Smith’s first season was a great way to keep the fans comfortable while everything else around the show changed. And, to be honest, some of us newbies needed that time to process everything that had happened and get used to how Doctor Who handles change.

Going into Doctor Who, I knew that change was a huge part of the show and I accepted that - even celebrated it. Well, I knew it in theory, at least. But until I’d experienced it for myself, it was all nebulous and abstract. I didn't really get it. One of the very first things that I found very jarring, was the tone of the stories (considering how much I go on about story and plot, this should surprise precisely no one). Series 5 has often been called the “fairy-tale season.” The stories in this season certainly do have an ethereal quality to them in the settings and the music and the characters. “The Beast Below” is a wonderful example of how things had changed. Even the clues to the mysteries that set the story in motion - the water glasses, Liz X’s mask, learning the truth of Starship UK and then forgetting - these make for a tone that is so very different than anything RTD ever did, but that we got hints of in Moffat’s writing before he became showrunner. Now, I love love LOVE fairy-tales, but it wasn't something I’d encountered in Doctor Who to that point and to suddenly hit that tonal-shift nearly put me off the show entirely. And it took me a while to be okay with Matt as the Doctor.

But I will tell you precisely when I was totally on board with the Eleventh Doctor. And it wasn't in “The Eleventh Hour," like it was for a lot of other people. It was in “The Beast Below.”

It’s really down to Amy Pond. Isn't that what the companion does - helps the audience cope with change? And now that I think of it, the whole “getting us through regeneration” phase was turned around in this case. The Doctor met Amelia Pond as a seven-year-old girl, but then she changed (well, he was late) and he had to come to terms with the fact that the girl he was knew was different. In many ways, “The Eleventh Hour” is the Doctor meeting young Amelia Pond and coping with the fact that she becomes adult Amy Pond the same way the audience was coping with the fact that Matt Smith isn't David Tennant (and some of us got through it better than others).

The moment Matt Smith became the Doctor - for me - is at the end of this story. And it’s not so much what the Doctor does, because the Doctor’s mad as hell about the whole situation - that part actually kind of scared me. But then Amy turns it all around and shows that the Doctor isn't really this angry, ragey character. All because she manages to put two and two together and figure out what’s really going on with the star whale and the children. She gets Liz X to “abdicate,” thus freeing the star whale and dooming everybody onboard.

Except... nothing happens. Other than a few tremors that uncouple the main structure from the star whale, Starship UK flies on as it always has. Because, as Amy says (emphasis added) -

“The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old and really kind and alone—your whole race dead, no future. What could you do then? If you were that old and that kind, and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry.”

It is worth noting that, to this point (more or less), the Doctor’s been traveling by himself. This is the first story in a couple of years that wasn't introducing a new companion. This is the first story since 2008 that we've had a steady Team TARDIS. The Doctor’s been hopping around willy-nilly and - he’s probably forgotten how to be the Doctor. We’re often reminded (whether in so many words or just by his actions) that the Doctor needs somebody. And Amy Pond - without even meaning to - demonstrates this so beautifully, simply by acting on the things that she’s observed and putting it all together in a way only she can. She’s been building up all these hopes over the years about her “Raggedy Doctor” and she (thinks she) knows what he’d really be like. To her everlasting credit, when the Doctor demonstrates one moment of anger and weakness, Amy stands up and basically says “This is not you - this in not how you’re supposed to be” and she reminds him of who he really is.

(And I’m gonna get a little schmaltzy here for a minute, and I know that fanboys don't like to get schmaltz in their Doctor Who, but it's worth it to me and I'm going to write about it).

I've talked about how when I started watching Doctor Who, I was in a rather desperate place in my life. I didn't have anything to look forward to. No goals, nothing that was very important to me. I was just going through the motions and I didn't feel like I had anywhere to turn to. And then I discovered this nutty little British TV show with its wonderful time- traveling alien and his companions and the fantastic adventures and stories and it just set my imagination ablaze. Even now, when I get lost in those dark corners of my mind, I watch an episode or listen to a Big Finish audio or read a novel or scroll around Tumblr. And there are other shows I watch that help through the tough times, but Doctor Who was the first show that made me realize that this was something good in my life. That looking at these stories and characters and analyzing them was something my mind loved. Something that would pull me out of the bleakness and sadness I’d been pushed into - and that it wasn't something to be ashamed of or hide from the the people in my life who love and care for me but Just Don’t Get It. My stresses and heartaches would still be there when I came back out, sure, but when I had the stories to turn back to, I felt like I could deal with them better (and there really is nothing like the sheer silliness of “Doctor Who and the Pirates” when you don’t feel like there’s anything in your life to laugh about).

At this point in my Who experience, Amy’s words resonated with me. Compared to the Doctor, the oldest human would be considered a child. And, considering how high-and-mighty the ancient race of Time Lords is/was, the Doctor probably shouldn't take on human companions. He ought to be above associating with such lowly creatures. But he does. Why? To show off? Partially. To have a friend? That too. But who does he choose usually? There are so many different companions from so many different backgrounds and their reasons vary widely. And this may be a stretch in many cases - but somewhere along the line, most companions express a wish for something new and exciting. They were bored with normal life. So, they ran off with a strange alien to travel through time and space and have grand adventures. Even when the adventures over, their lives will never be the same. And honestly - neither will mine.

So, there you go. One little line at the end of, “The Beast Below” helped me realize the good things in my life. That, coupled with the “Pile of Good and Bad Things” scene from “Vincent and the Doctor” encapsulates Doctor Who for me. Why it’s so important to me and why I love it so very much. In reality, it has very little to do with science-fiction and alien planets and time-travel, even though I enjoy those things. To me, it’s about loving something simple and brilliant and finding the good in it, even amidst the bad that everyone else keeps pulling out of it to fling in your lap. And honestly, I get tired of picking out bad things and fighting over it. Sometimes, I just want things to work out perfectly and be good all the way around. And the Doctor - with consistent reminders from his companions* - does that quite well.  Which makes him (and his companions) the kind of characters I want to keep me company.

To end this review, here’s a video I made a while ago when I had video-making software that actually worked (don’t know what happened). It probably says much better in 3-and-a-half minutes what I've been trying to ramble on for five paragraphs about.


Doctor Who - My Pile of Good Things from Wildcat Media on Vimeo.

***
*Hold onto that “consistent reminders from his companions” thought for a future review - I’m going to come back to that).

***
PS - Liz X is an amazing character. Before I really got on board with the River Song storyline, Liz X was the one I wished could come back more often. I still harbor a long-shot hope that she’ll turn up for another cameo one day.

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Bonus Review #3 - “What’s so special about the 23rd of November 1963?” “As far as I know... nothing!”

Previously -
Review 10.3 - Family. It’s About Time.

A Fairy-Tale Fangirl in Fairy-Tale World

I'm a sucker for fairy-tales. I was raised on the Disney versions of fairy-tales.  From The Little Mermaid to Cinderella to Beauty and the Beast - I wore those VHS tapes out!  I also adore the non-Disney versions (the fact that Hans Christian Andersen's original story of The Little Mermaid doesn't have a happy ending didn't sway me from reading and re-reading that old copy of fairy-tales my grandma had every time I went to visit).  There have been plenty of fairy-tale retellings in recent years - Shannon Hale and Jessica Day George are some of my favorite authors in this genre and Mercedes Lackey's Five Hundred Kingdoms series is quite good as well.  And there's the ever-popular Once Upon A Time Fairy Tales written by a variety of authors. And can I get a shout-out for The Ever Afters series by Shelby Bach? (that's another one I need to write a review for - so many writing projects and not enough time to write them).  Really, you can't sneeze in the library without hitting a fairy-tale retelling story (and here I must include a PSA to not sneeze on library books, because that's just gross).

So, it is no surprise that TV executives have leaped on the fairy-tale bandwagon with Once Upon a Time (and, yes, there is also Grimm, but I haven't watched that one yet).

As much as I love, love, LOVE fairy-tales, I'm surprised that I haven't joined the Once Upon a Time fandom.  I'd seen it talked about on Twitter and Tumblr, but it's just one of those things I had to make time for.  So, that's what I did last week - I got the first season from the library, just to see if it was as good as people said it was.

Here's a quick-and-dirty summary of the premise - the Evil Queen from Snow White has banished all the fairy-tale characters into the real world.  They are all trapped in the town of Storybrooke (100 points for that name, holy cow) and they can't leave. None of them remembers their past lives or that they were ever anywhere else. The only person who knows the truth about Storybrooke is Mayor Regina Mills (the Evil Queen) and she is the only one who can ever have a happy ending (something she delights in holding over everyone else's heads - even if they don't realize how much of a heinous hosebeast she really is). But Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, escaped to the real world before the curse took effect and she can break the curse.  Problem is, she doesn't believe that she's the savior of Storybrooke - she's just brought into the town because of her ten-year-old son, Henry, who she gave up for adoption and he was adopted by Regina (how's that for a fairy-tale twist?)  Henry is the only person in town who isn't from the fairy tales, but who believes that the fairy tales are real, thanks to an old "Once Upon a Time" storybook that tells the fairy-tales as they actually happened.

There is a lot to love about this show and I'll start there. I enjoyed how all the different fairy tales were interwoven together and how all the characters were aware of each other. The very first episode has a High Fairy Tale Council (of sorts) with Snow White and Prince Charming leading the way.  You've got the Blue Fairy, Gepetto and Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio in the group, as well as the Seven Dwarves, Red Riding Hood and her Granny.  As the show progresses, you get Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast (that one's a special case, which I'll get to shortly), and, of course, Rumpelstiltskin - who has a very key role in this show as a trickster.  Sometimes he's a villain, sometimes he's the hero.  Some characters migrate into other stories (the Genie of the lamp comes to mind) and a few have different roles (Belle starts out as a princess betrothed to Gaston but later falls in love with... I'll get to that in a minute), but it all makes sense in the story.

The narrative structure in this show is absolutely brilliant.  Every episode switches between things going on in Storybrooke and things that happened before in Fairy-Tale Land (do they ever saw what the land is called specifically? I don't remember).  Through the whole show, I remember thinking "If you didn't have the fairy-tale component here, this would be just your run-of-the-mill soap opera" (that did become problematic in some places - I'm not a fan of the soap opera tropes of comatose love interests and insane love-triangles that serve no real overall purpose).  While Emma Swan's story is the focal point in the real world, she meets a fair number of fairy-tale characters in Storybrooke and we get flashbacks of their fairy-tales, which I just love.  At some points, the fairy-tale flashbacks were much more enjoyable than what was going on in the real world!

There are a few things that bothered me about the show and I want to address them - the biggest one that I had to contend with was the long, drawn-out plotline of Mary Margaret Blanchard (whose fairy-tale counterpart is Snow White) getting framed for murder.  Because the Evil Queen blames Snow White for the loss of her happy ending, Regina goes all-out in putting the blame squarely on Mary Margaret's shoulders, even though it's patently obvious that there's no way sweet, innocent, naive Mary Margaret could have done it (and evidently, Storybrooke is an obscenely petty town, so everyone believes that she's a murderous scumbag).  It was good for a few episodes, but it got really old, really fast and I thought they could have done something else with those episodes (I wish Pinocchio's storyline had been introduced much earlier than it was - there was narrative gold in that guy. Or, let's do more with Cinderella, because her story was freaking amazing!)

Another thing is how nosy Regina is as the mayor. There were a few instances where I was like "Really? The mayor has to be involved in this?  Nobody thinks there's something wrong here?"  Granted, I could handwave that away as people are unconsciously subservient to her because of the curse (oh, the plotholes that the simple phrase "It's magic" can resolve!), but after a while, it became ridiculous. I mean, at least Emma, as an outsider, should be wondering why the mayor of the town is involved in something as silly as a couple of hungry kids stealing from a convenience store (as happens in the episode with Hansel and Gretel).  Doesn't she have more important things to do?

One last nit-picky thing, and then I'll end on a high note (and this is EXTREMELY spoilery, so proceed with the utmost caution) -

(Spoiler Buffer)

Nobody freaking gets their memories back until the very, very, very, VERY end!!!!! This one drove me absolutely NUTS!  There were a few close calls - like Sheriff Graham (fairy-tale counterpart - the huntsman from Snow White).  But then Regina kills him and we're all "Well, that's the end of that."  I mean, if Emma coming to town is supposed to start changing things in Storybrooke and the curse is supposed to weaken - I didn't see much changing between the pilot and the finale (other than the clock in the town square finally moving off 8:15).  It's like it was just dropped and Regina continued being her hosey-beasty self (there were some instances where Regina was just waaaaay too much and I hoped and prayed that Robert Carlyle would show up with his Rumpel-snark-skin act and bring her down a notch or ten because I couldn't take it anymore.  It didn't happen as often as I would have liked). I didn't need anyone to remember everything all at once - but some little nod would be nice, especially since we're taking the time to do these fairy-tale flashbacks.  It could be that someone had a dream about their fairy-tale self and it was so unnerving that they don't tell anyone, but the audience knows they know something is going on and the business of curse-breaking is progressing.

Anyway - I don't want to be negative on this whole thing, because the rest of the show is quite wonderful.  I wish I had the time to take this show episode-by-episode and do a review of each one and discuss the great things about them, especially the fairy-tale components of it.  I skipped ahead to the end of Season 2 (that's what was on Hulu for free and I wanted to be up-to-speed on what the upcoming Season 3 would be about - thanks Wikipedia!) and it seems like Season 2 really went to town with the fairy-tale characters living in modern times, but still retaining their fairy-tale qualities, so I'm looking forward to when I can watch that (the Season 1 finale was the only episode I really got any of that and it was slightly disappointing.  Again, the fairy-tale flashbacks are what saved this show from me hating it entirely in some places).

But I do have to talk about Rumpelstiltskin - and Robert Carlyle's portrayal, by extension - because there were moments where he was the one bright spot on the horizon (especially in the "Who Framed Mary Margaret?" Plot Line Of DOOM!)  If anyone could bring Regina off her high horse, it was Mr. Gold (ol' Rumple's Storybrooke persona).  In the backstory, Rumpelstiltskin is the Dark One - a trickster, of sorts, in the fairy-tale land.  The Evil Queen actually gets the curse from Rumpelstiltskin and he puts in certain fail-safes so that he remembers who he is and what kind of power he has over the Queen. Even though he's a slimy little snake at times, I really enjoyed his character a lot.  I even liked his role in the Beauty and the Beast episode - where he's the Beast and Belle falls in love with him (though, the jury's still out on whether or not I'm on board with Belle - I'm not sure I like what they've done with the modern-day version of her. But that's my problem and I'll deal with it in my own time).  Like I mentioned earlier, there were times where Regina was so off-putting and out-of-control that anytime Mr. Gold showed up to reign her in was suddenly my most favorite part in the story - EVER!

And, of course, I LOVE what they did with Snow White and Prince Charming.  If I ever do an episode-by-episode analysis, I with probably spend ample time gushing over their love story.  Now, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was never my favorite Disney movie, though I thought it was passable.  But there is so much more rich detail woven into this story in this show and it's a huge reason why I will continue watching the show - for all the other little issues I have with it, as long as they get these two characters right (which, judging from what I saw in the Season 2 finale, I think they did), I will keep watching. I'm a sucker for a good romance, even better when you take stock characters from the fairy tale and add in all these fantastic little details - like Prince Charming actually being the twin brother of the real prince who was killed in battle and he gets pulled in from the farm to replace the prince who was killed (another long story involving Rumpelstiltskin selling and trading children - and how great is it that they used that component of the original Rumpelstiltskin story?)  Snow White becomes a ranger-type character after her stepmother tries to have her killed and she has to live on her skills and wits in the woods before falling in with the dwarves (who are hatched from eggs so they can work in the mines - that was a damn cute episode).  Really, there's more to gush and love about this show than there is to complain about.

Bottom Line: Once Upon a Time is a wonderful addition to the fairy-tale canon. Even with its faults, it's red meat to a fangirl who's been raised on fairy-tales and their fantasy spin-offs.

And, apparently, The Little Mermaid is getting the OUAT treatment in Season 3, which has me doing this -



Yes, I'm very excited about this.

The Name You Choose is a Promise You Make

Spoilers for "The Name of the Doctor."  Right after Wash "I'm a Leaf on the Wind" gets killed (oops - spoilers there).



Can I just take a moment to blow a huge, frickin' raspberry at all the dipshits who actually thought we would hear the Doctor's name?  My hell - They were never actually going to tell us his name!  How many misleading episode titles have there been in Doctor Who?  And not just with Moffat - does "The Next Doctor" ring any bells?

And then, after I'm raspberry'd out - I want all the entitled little brats in fandom who've been pissing and moaning this season to write letters of apology to Steven Moffat.  Because, frankly, most of you guys' behavior this year has been nothing short of appalling.  You've all acted like babies and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.  Dislike an episode or a story or whatever, that's fine - but there's no need for all this angst and panic and blame.  The majority of us have enjoyed this season and we don't need you all coming in to take a dump on something we love and you profess to love, but I think you really just love to criticize.  So, if you're going to continue to do that - might I ask that you take your ball of malcontent and go home?  I don't need your negative shit around here.

(Will they actually write or apologize or even act like they're ashamed?  Probably not. Because that's what little babies do. They have no shame).

Okay - my review:







That was THE BEST DAMN EPISODE of Doctor Who the guy has ever written (yes - even better than "Blink" or "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang").  I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't the 50th Anniversary episode - it had all the Classic Doctors (either seen or heard), it added to the mythos of the Doctor - AND WE NEVER HEARD THE DOCTOR'S NAME! River said it to open the tomb, but we didn't hear her say it and in the long run - the Doctor's name wasn't important (not until... well, I'll get to that in a bit).

I did NOT want this episode to end.  Even when I knew we had to be getting close, I purposely did not check the timer on my player because I didn't want to think "GAK! Five minutes left!"  The whole thing was tightly woven, it brought in elements of things that I thought were forgotten (even clear back to River Song being saved in the Library databank).

I loved the concepts and idea behind the Doctor's tomb - that he doesn't have a body to bury, but just his timeline woven around were the TARDIS console used to be.  Because - he really wouldn't have a body.  Not one that's seen and been through everything he's seen and been through.  It's just fitting, in a way, that a Time Lord wouldn't have one body to bury because he's died so many times.  The entire idea pays homage to the Doctor's whole life - and not just certain pieces of it.  No wonder he'd have to lock up his tomb securely.  Especially considering what happens with Dr. Simeon and Clara.

And that cold open!  I thought I was going to fall over from excitement.  Clara was a Time Lady on Gallifrey and told the Doctor which TARDIS to steal (the navigation was shoddy, but it'd be more fun that way).  All her moments through the Doctor's timeline - and seeing all the Classic Doctors - but not exactly seeing them. THAT'S how you do a 50th anniversary tribute! (HOLY CRAP THERE'S SIX! AND THAT'S "DRAGONFIRE!" AND "ARC OF INFINITY" AND - AND - AND - *dies*)  And she did it to save his life.  She wouldn't have done it if she hadn't been the Doctor's companion... but she wouldn't have been the Doctor's companion if he'd never seen her in his timeline (it's the chicken-and-the-egg conundrum/paradox/thingy.  It's Doctor Who, it's time travel - I just go with it).  It's probably one of the most brilliant things I've seen in a long time.

Dear Sweet Scorby - I loved this episode to pieces!  I don't know how it could have been any better.  I can't say anything bad about it, I have no suggestions for improvement, I can't think of anything that bothers me - it all makes sense and it all falls into place and it's just... beautiful.  The acting is top-notch - not just from Matt and Jenna, but Vastra's group as well (and how River Song works right alongside everyone else as though she's been there the whole time - which, in some ways, she has).  Working Clara seamlessly into Classic Who was probably not an easy task, but I thought it looked great (mad props for getting Hartnell and Troughton in color too).  I just want to bake a plate of cookies and send them to Steven Moffat for such a flawless and exciting piece of television.

So - I've got to talk about The Huge Reveal.  Apparently, there were a few spoilers roaming around concerning John Hurt, but I didn't look at any of them, nor did I partake in any discussion.  I just left it alone and got on with my damn day.  But when Simeon rattled off the Doctor's other names - and mentioned the Valeyard (which, THANK YOU Steven Moffat for putting that one in there), I wondered if that was going to play a role later.  And... I think this is it.  I think the Moff is going to give us the Valeyard in an alternate timeline and Ten and Eleven have to put a stop to it and that's going to take care of that Continuity Snarl.

Quick check of Twitter - I'm already seeing people who "need" to rewatch this episode.  And, weirdly, I do not.  I'm going to rewatch it anyway, just to get all happy and giddy and go "HOLY SHIT!" again.  But I understood it quite well on the first go-round.  Vastra, Jenny and Strax call a meeting of the Doctor's current companions-plus-his-wife because of information concerning the Doctor's secrets, The Doctor goes to Trenzalore to save his friends from Dr. Simeon and the Whispermen, gets tricked into going into his own tomb, Dr. Simeon sneaks into the Doctor's past to screw with things, history gets rewritten so the Doctor loses all those times he was supposed to win, Clara follows Simeon into all those timelines to fix things, history's happy again, the Doctor dives in to find Clara, John Hurt is a future incarnation of the Doctor that may or may not be the Valeyard, but let's wait until November 23 to find out, mmmkay? Might have missed a few minor details that I'll pick out later, but beyond that - easy peasy.

Other Things:
- Sexy's window broke :( Someone on Tumblr pointed out that Big!Sexy still had a broken window in the same place. Which did nothing for my emotional state (I've learned that if you want to bawl your eyes out, just go to Tumblr).

- The Doctor called Angie and Artie "Little Daleks" when they ditched him in their game of Blindman's Bluff. After last week's episode, I'm inclined to agree with him.

- "I think I've just been murdered." Jenny!  JENNY! :( :( :(

- River Song got her goodbye. Dammit...

- Clara's leaf came back!  She's a leaf on the wind!

- I think Moffat broke all my feelings.



Bottom Line: "The Name of the Doctor" was a superb finale.  It did everything we were promised, plus more.  It was a fitting conclusion to this 50th Anniversary season and a brilliant lead-in to the 50th Anniversary Special in November.  It gave everyone their due, moved the story along, and paid tribute to the past while also looking forward.

WHY IS TOMORROW NOT NOVEMBER 23????

***
Some Housekeeping -

I found this article that questions if the doomsayers have any kind of leg to stand on.  How much moaning and bellyaching has their been on Twitter and elsewhere about this season?  How much calling for Moffat's head on a platter and heartburn over What Should Have Been?  It's driven me insane, personally.  Hence, my raspberry-blowing at the beginning of this review.  And after this episode I hope they all like the taste of crow.

And kudos to the internet for not spoiling the episode after those Blu-rays got shipped out early (heh... oops).  Because Doctor Who fans are (largely) not jackasses (at least, where spoilers hare concerned.  They're jackasses in other ways that are not the purview of this blog to enumerate, although Rassilon knows I want to) - we got this adorably charming little clip of Matt Smith and David Tennant just being... well, see for yourselves.  If this doesn't make you giddy for the 50th... I don't know what will.*



*I actually know one thing that will make people giddy for the 50th, but it's a Spoiler-With-A-Capital-S-For-Sweetie.  And I don't think it's been released through official channels - but... oh what the hell. I'm posting a link...

BIG, HUGE, FRICKIN' SPOILERS FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!! I MEAN IT!! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, FOR THE LOVE OF THE MOTHER OF OMEGA AND ALL HER CRAZY NEPHEWS, DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!!!!! 

Of course, if you don't give a flying monkey turd about spoilers, feel free to click away (scroll down for the really good stuff) --> Link To Spoilers

(I know, right????)

Taking a Mulligan

This has been bothering me for the better part of an hour (or since I posted my "Nightmare in Silver" review - whatever came first).  I had a really hard time reviewing this episode.  I watched it twice, I took notes, there were parts that I loved.  But on the whole... it kind of left me feeling... empty.

I'm a middle-of-the-road Neil Gaiman fan.  I love his stuff for younger readers - my favorite of his remains The Graveyard Book.  I loved Coraline (both the movie and the novel).  Stardust was good (though the movie was better).  Anansi Boys was, frankly, hilarious.  But there are a few things of his that I just do not care for.  American Gods, Neverwhere and The Sandman are all things of his that I just couldn't get into (I may retry American Gods, simply because I liked Anansi Boys so much and that's sort of a continuation).

In his review of "Nightmare in Silver," Chip of Two-Minute Time Lord mentioned that when Gaiman gets to create his own universe within the universe and be quirky and off-beat, he does great work (I'm paraphrasing).  That's what "The Doctor's Wife" is and it's phenomenal.  But when Gaiman has to stay within another set continuity, it sort of, kind of doesn't quite work the way it's supposed to.  That's probably what happened with "Nightmare in Silver."

Don't get me wrong - I still liked the story.  Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman and Warwick Davis absolutely rocked it!  The updated Cybermen look great - even if it'll take some getting used to their new abilities (what - now they're the Flash?)  There were other small parts that I enjoyed (that I talked about in my laundry-list review)  But those were just parts of the greater whole that didn't quite fit together.

I think I'm hesitant to say anything negative about this season because there has been so much negativity from fans.  I don't know why, but fandom behavior in recent weeks has really affected me.  It shouldn't... but those things tend to get to me (even in real life - when someone is unhappy or upset or yelling or just being generally nasty, I get really shaken by it and I have to retreat into myself until the nastiness has blown over).  I don't want there to be contention and rage and hatred toward something I love so much.  But that also doesn't mean I should not say I liked something when I really didn't (and I didn't even dislike it that much - this one's just middling for me.  It's not terrible, by any stretch).  Shoot, I can easily say that I disliked "The God Complex" - why can't I say the same for this?

Anyway - I'm taking a mulligan on this one. Let's go get ready for "The Name of the Doctor," shall we?

Echoes of the Past - Review of "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"

Whoa.

I'm going to go around the block and catch my breath, but for now - enjoy this rather fabulous fan video of ... well... the TARDIS's Greatest Hits (or something - look, it came up on Facebook this week and it's just really really cool) before delving into my Spoiler-Filled Review of "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" (yes, this is one American who can handle the British spelling - just to get that out of the way).

 


Short, Knee-Jerk Reaction of This Episode:



Longer, More Rehearsed and Thought-Out Version:

For a long time, fans have been wishing and hoping for an episode that took place inside the TARDIS, just to see all the cool stuff that only gets hinted at in running from place to place.  Writers for the show have just as often said "Well, you need to have some kind of conflict and a TARDIS Interior episode really doesn't give you that opportunity."  And I was inclined to agree - after all, the TARDIS is Home Base.  It's where the Doctor and companions can zip back to in times of the utmost danger and laugh about very nearly getting eaten by some super-scary alien creature or being the main feature on "The Real Human Sacrifices of the Aztec Empire" (rewatched "The Aztecs" this week - seems like something they'd do. Probably).  Anyway - the TARDIS is where you are safest when traveling with the Doctor.

I'm not even going to deal with the salvage crew because they were a plot device - pure and simple.  They got this party started and they were dispatched - not quite as fast as I would have liked, but they were gotten rid of quick enough (there were moments when I was all "Really? We have to deal with your issues? THERE IS A TARDIS TO EXPLORE, DAMMIT!!")  This story is about the Doctor, Clara and the TARDIS.  Anything else is uninteresting periphery and I ignore it.

So - ever since I was little, I have this little "Happy Bouncy Seal Clap of Glee" that I do whenever something really, really, really excites me.  I will never post a picture or video of me doing this because it looks absolutely freaky in picture format (to me it does, anyway). It's kind of a mix of this -



 and this -



Now that you have that image in your head (sort of), this episode got the "Happy Bouncy Seal Clap of Glee" A LOT!  These are just a few things that got my motor running:

- The Library
- The History of the Time War - IN BOOK FORMAT! AND CLARA READ IT!! *dies* (I almost don't care that we didn't get to see it - Clara did! Except... well, I'll come back to that).
- The Swimming Pool
- And that one bit where the console room played lines from the past of Doctors and companions talking about the TARDIS - yeah, I had to play that one back twice (and I nearly fell out of my chair because - OMG YAY!!)
     - Question - Who all was speaking during that little montage?  I picked out the Third, Fifth and Ninth Doctors, plus lines from Susan and Ian from "An Unearthly Child" - but I know there were more that went way too quick for me to get a fix on. Someone will have a list, but for now I'll just be gleeing over what I heard.
- And what were those jars of Gallifreyan Thought Juice saying?  I didn't even hear anything coherent, but something about that made me go fangirl-nuts on that.

I have to mention a missed opportunity, though - and maybe it was just a matter of schedules and logistics and boring crap like that.  But I expected to see past console rooms like they did in "The Doctor's Wife."  And since they built the set of the console room from the 1960s for An Adventure in Time and Space, why couldn't they have Clara pop by and go - oh, hey, past desktop! and subsequently send everyone heads spinning like crazy?  Well - I guess they would have had to make it fit into the "Danger! Danger!" atmosphere of this episode and it would have been sad to bring in the Old School TARDIS just to wreck the place (it hurt just seeing the current console room and corridor beat to pieces like they were.  Poor, poor Sexy).

Burned-up zombies.  While I was taking notes, I had occasion to wonder what those things were and why they were in the TARDIS.  Being such a diligent note-taker, I wrote down the theories I had while I watched to see if they would be correct.  And here's what I came up with:

Mind you, this is only page 1

The "Earthshock" theory was total crack, as was the Master (hey, he got sucked into the Eye of Harmony - it could have been plausible!) - but I threw down the Clara theory because, why the hell not?  And when the scanner said the burned-up-zombie-thing was Clara, my head just about exploded. Because I had been given so many great and wonderful little happy nuggets in this episode (even though everyone was thisclose to dying) that I almost couldn't take anymore.  And when I wrote down "Echoes of the past" - thinking of the flashback-audio-clips - I had no idea how appropriate that would become by the end of the episode.

(I am also amazed how cool my handwriting looks when I'm writing fast).

So - the Elephant in the Room (as it were) - the Doctor told Clara that he'd seen her die before and her reaction to that news.  And then... she forgets.  By virtue of the Big Friendly Button.  You know, people whine and bitch about the Deus Ex Machina-type plot resolutions, but I liked this one.  Mostly because it was lampshaded to hell and back.  If it had been a bunch of timey-wimey mumbo-jumbo, that would have been a little much.  But the TARDIS had to regain it's status as a place of safety and security, otherwise we'd never be able trust the old girl again.  And to make it an actual Reset Button (that gets delivered by future!Doctor coming through a crack in the wall) - Clever Writer (see also: I See What You Did There)

(Either that, or Steve Thompson is the World's 2nd Biggest Troll. Steven Moffat is the 1st).

Of course, I wasn't entirely thrilled that Clara had to forget everything she'd learned and seen during her adventure (see also: Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Heriot, Donna Noble - though those are more extreme cases. Still not thrilled about it) - but you can't love everything (and I guess I have to have a few things to bitch about or I wouldn't be a true Whovian).  But since there was some mention of the Doctor's name and his secrets and all that mysterious Time-Lordy-type-stuff, I figure that it's just some set-up for the finale and the 50th Anniversary Special (since we were promised the finale would lead into the 50th).  With that in mind, I'm okay with it.

All in all, it was an enjoyable episode with a few minor annoyances that I am more than capable of ignoring.  I got the fan-service TARDIS interior story that I wanted and it was a joyous thing.  I can't ask for anything more.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go rewatch the episode and pause to drool over that library.


***

Programming Note: Minus a few formatting and editing things, I do have my next post for Librarian in the TARDIS ready to go but life has been a beast this week so I've had to delay getting it actually posted. It should be up within the new couple of days - possibly tomorrow. Look forward to it!

Fiction > Reality

SPOILER ALERT! The following post contains obscene amounts of SPOILERS for the following Big Finish "Doctor Who" stories: #133 - City of Spires, #134 - The Wreck of the Titan, #135 - Legend of the Cybermen.  Not to mention scattered SPOILERS for all of the Second Doctor's era (especially from "The War Games" and "The Mind Robber") and maybe a few other minor things. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

I love all the Doctor's companions, though some I love more than others.  It's just the way things happen.  One of my absolute favorites is Jamie McCrimmon, the lovable Scottish highlander who was a mainstay of the Patrick Troughton era.  The Second Doctor had a good handful of companions, but Jamie was THE companion in the late 1960s.  He was brave, if a little naive, but definitely a quick learner and always eager for adventure.  He could roll with the changes in the Doctor's traveling lifestyle with ease and the most adorable smile you've ever seen.  Jamie's story arc is one major reason I often bemoan the fact that so little of the Troughton era remains complete - how cool would it be to watch Jamie's character progression from an 18th century Scotsman with little knowledge of anything outside his own circumstances to someone who fully accepts and embraces time-and-space travel?  But there's no point in lamenting what you can't control, I suppose.  But I can get annoyed that Jamie and Zoe Heriot's memories of traveling with the Doctor were taken away by the Time Lords at the end of "The War Games" because - ARGH! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO A COMPANION??? WHY WHY WHY??

Yes, I'm side-eyeing you, RTD. SO HARD! (poor, poor Donna...)

So, when I discovered Big Finish had produced a trilogy of audio stories with the Sixth Doctor with Jamie as the companion, I wondered "How in the name of Gallifrey is this going to work?"  How are they going to justify Jamie meeting the Doctor again and how will he remember the Doctor and what will the Doctor have to do to bring Jamie along on these adventures?

(Before I go on - I'm blaming/crediting Traveling the Vortex for my renewed binge on Big Finish.  Last week, they had a Companion Archive for Evelyn Smythe, who is a Big Finish-only companion.  And we're watching "The War Games" for Friday Night Who last week and this week.  So, this is their fault).

Long story short (and spoiler-free) - Big Finish did all of that. And more.  You owe it to yourself to seek out these three stories and listen to them (and there is a Companion Chronicle that goes with them - "Night's Black Agents" - but I haven't bought it yet. I will soon, though).

Short story made longer - Let's just take this one story at a time:

(SPOILERS really begin here, so if you're looking to remain unspoiled on the Big Finish stuff, this is where you ought to stop. Seriously - stop now.)

"City of Spires" - This starts out where you'd expect Jamie to be, given how "The War Games" ended. The highlanders are at war with the Redcoats (though Jamie doesn't show up until later).  The Sixth Doctor sort of stumbles into the middle of the fighting (you know, like the Doctor always does) and eventually meets up with Jamie, who is now much older and doesn't remember the Doctor at all.  This story is pretty straightforward - your standard Doctor-meets-new-companion (or former companion who's about to get re-recruited) story.  I won't lie - it's a little odd to have Jamie with the Sixth Doctor at first, but the decision to write Jamie as someone older and with more life experience (and not all of it positive) helped make the reunion work.  Plus, there's a mystery for the Doctor to solve that directly relates to Jamie.  Recall that, at the end of "The War Games," when the Time Lords erased Jamie and Zoe's memories, they were allowed to keep the memories of their first adventure with the Doctor, but they never left in the TARDIS.  The mystery here is this: Jamie doesn't remember anything about the Doctor.  Not even his very first meeting (which would have taken place in "The Highlanders").  So, there's that to figure out on top of the other, more pressing weirdness of anachronistic oil drilling in 18th century Scotland.

"The Wreck of the Titan" - This is where things get really odd.  It starts with the title and the trailer for this story.  The trailer mentions the Doctor and Jamie have landed on the Titanic - which is all the trailer could really talk about without giving away the entire thing.  And as similar as the two are, Titanic is NOT Titan.  BUT - and this is where serendipity comes in because I listened to this the weekend all the Titanic centennial commemoration was going on - there is a book called "The Wreck of the Titan" that was published 14 years before the actual Titanic sank (go here to read about the uncanny similarities between the fictional Titan and the real Titanic).  So, I'm wondering where in the world this is going.  This isn't going to be the movie Titanic with Jack and Rose being replaced with the Doctor and Jamie? Because that would be cool on one level, but totally bizarre on another level.

Luckily, they kept James Cameron away from this one and brought in the fictional Titan.  And that's where things start getting interesting (and where I had my AHA! moment).  Right before the Titanic is due for her date with the iceberg, everything shifts and turns into the story of the Titan.  Even the characters change.  And instead of falling into the ocean, the Doctor and one other character wind up on the iceberg being chased by hungry polar bears (it's a lot cooler in the audio, believe me).  In the meantime, Jamie hooks up with Captain Nemo and the Nautilus and it's about here that my absolute favorite Troughton-era story comes into play.

My friends - Big Finish actually revisted "The Mind Robber." And the fandom rejoiced. (don't click that link if you value your free time).

By "fandom," I mean one crazy fangirl that's bouncing up and down in her seat while driving down to visit her folks for the weekend. Amazing that I didn't careen into the ditch.

"Legend of the Cybermen" - And we're back to the Land of Fiction. Oh and Zoe's back!! (HOLY CRAP - IT IS ZOE!)  And the White Robots! And the Karkuss! And the unicorns! And the - and the - *squee!*

(And there is an absolutely hilarious scene where the fictional characters start narrating their own stories - but Jamie thinks he's in a booth in a sound studio recording for a radio play. Complete with Nicholas Briggs directing and the Doctor/Colin Baker tapping the window of Jamie/Frazer Hines' sound booth and referring to them being trapped in meta-fiction.  It's downright brilliant).

All right, all right - not everything is a fantastic trip down memory lane.  For one thing, the Cybermen have invaded the Land of Fiction.  For another, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe discover that the oil that was being drilled clear back in "City of Spires" isn't oil.  It's ink.  And what do you do with ink?  You write stories with it.  Stories like "Alice in Wonderland" and "Dracula" and "Oliver Twist." Oh, and you bring an old traveling companion to life in the Land of Fiction so you can call on the Doctor to come help you get rid of the clunky old aliens that you inadvertently dragged into this place when they attacked your home.

Translation: Zoe became is the Mistress of the Land of Fiction when the Cybermen attacked her home, she created a fictional Jamie from her memories of him, fictional!Jamie took on a life of his own to the point of getting older, the Doctor got pulled into the Land of Fiction by Zoe and I'm a pile of goo because "What? Jamie's not real???"

(That was FOREVER HEARTBREAK when Jamie realizes he's not a real person and even goes so far as to berate the Doctor for never going back to check in on the real Jamie back in Scotland.  I mean, Jamie does have a point - but does he have to be so mean about it?  Well... yeah, he kind of does... Doesn't mean I have to like it, though).

In the end, the Cybermen are defeated.  Jamie sacrifices his own life to allow the Doctor to escape with Zoe.  The Doctor gets Zoe back to her home on the space station, but not before Zoe forgets the Doctor again.  And the end theme tune plays - with the Troughton-era tune melding into the Colin Baker tune and I want to crawl into a corner and sob.

(On a lighter note - I can't help but think that there was someone at the Big Finish studios that, in a fit of boredom fueled by whimsy, doodled various mythical creatures like fairies and mermaids as partially-converted Cybermen.  On the surface, the idea sounds terrible, but it really works and it's even worth a good laugh).

On the whole, I loved this entire trilogy (I'm not even sure what to call it.  The Jamie Trilogy? The Mind Robber sequel?)  It's Big Finish doing what they do best - creating new stories for well-loved characters and putting them in physical and emotional situations that were unheard of Back in the Day (and probably couldn't be done on TV anyway).  I love that Jamie gets another chance to shine and underneath all that life experience as a jaded war hero, he's still that lovable and endearing traveling companion that I absolutely adore.  This aspect of Jamie meshes well with the Sixth Doctor - where Jamie isn't 100% sure of this goofy-looking "Frenchman" and the Doctor is able to handle it with grace and appeal to that part of Jamie that never really forgot his friend (I maintain that the companions who are made to forget the Doctor still retain a bit of remembrance deep in their subconscious because an experience like the Doctor is too wonderful and precious to ever truly erase.  Sure, it's sentimental and goopy but I don't care).

Bottom Line: I need a Jamie marathon now. (I don't care that it's 12:30 in the morning - where is my "Mind Robber" DVD???)