2013-11-24 12:33![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
digitaldiscipline
digitaldiscipline“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” - Marcus Aurelius
And a nonspoilery tumblr link: http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/67961038768/50-years-1-saga
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS, ALBEIT VAGUE ONES, AT LEAST BY ME
Not only intro'd in Clara's voiceover, it was written on her clear-erase board, though it was tricky to make out... you could see "no more time" in the reverse, which is Moffat-subtle, and, given the amount of stuff crammed into "The Day of The Doctor," I can't say I blame him for being so overt. Even with an extra 20 or 30 minutes to play with, there was a lot of ground to cover at a sprint, even with occasional breathers for silliness or introspection or the odd SFX fillip.
It's an absolutely *terrible* introducation to the show (which is not to say that the show's intro was terrible; to the contrary, the homage to the very earliest episodes was the first of many hat-tippings to five decades' and hundreds of episodes' worth of heritage), less because of the plot itself being BEHOLD THE MCGUFFIN EX MACHINA, and more because there is so much being done with the show's history to tie up and contextualize, both in the universe the story inhabits, as well as what took precedent here - the meta context of the backdrop of the show's history itself and its fans and fandom, to which this was the third leg of a triumverate paean to the fans - the first two being the sentimental "The Five(is) Doctors Reboot" (BBC watch link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01m3kfy ), which, for fans of Classic Who, should probably come with a "have a fresh box of Kleenex ready for ALL THE FEELS" and "The Night of The Doctor" (BBC's Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U3jrS-uhuo ) which provides valuable but not absolutely necessary background to John Hurt's "missing" Doctor, as well as, in the meta-context, says an unequivocal "Yes" to the question of whether the audio productions put out by Big Finish during the long hiatus the show itself went on, are part of the official show's canon.
As a cultural, fan-based phenomenon, it's nearly impossible to extricate one from the other at the best of times unless you're kicking off a watch/re-watch party with a very clear delineation - the very first episode of the show in 1963, or the big reboot in 2005 - and with "The Day of The Doctor," it's entirely impossible. It fails spectacularly to be any kind of standalone piece, and that's the point. The story itself is mostly a framework from which huge swathes of worldbuilding history and franchise sentimentality are hung, like scaffolding for a coronoation or The Queen's diamond jubilee. As well it should - fans have been through a lot with this show, and giving them a huge, satisfying pay-off was, hopefully, never anywhere but front and center, even for the rightfully-criticized Steven Moffatt.
There were plot holes and stumbles, to be sure - leaving the TARDIS door open and unattended? breaking statues down into sand without any tools and limited time? a case of species amnesia conveniently elided for one character? (and, yes, a literal deus ex machina) - but those are birdshit on an Aston Martin today.
You can't casually address The Time War, or The Doctor Who Fought, even when it's not freighted with the show's anniversary as a backdrop; like when Weird Al finally covered "American Pie" when Episode I was released, some things have to be saved until you can save them for making the grand statement, the huge gesture.
No further thoughts yet, maybe after a re-watch. If there are spoilers in the comments more pointed than what I put here... avert your eyes until you've had a chance to watch. It was a good show to me, as a casual/Newvian fan who knows most of the deep history by way of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cassandrasimplx, who *is* a longtime, bordering on life-long, fan, so I have context that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten unless I'd been compelled to search it out... and, knowing me, I probably wouldn't.
And a nonspoilery tumblr link: http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/67961038768/50-years-1-saga
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS, ALBEIT VAGUE ONES, AT LEAST BY ME
Not only intro'd in Clara's voiceover, it was written on her clear-erase board, though it was tricky to make out... you could see "no more time" in the reverse, which is Moffat-subtle, and, given the amount of stuff crammed into "The Day of The Doctor," I can't say I blame him for being so overt. Even with an extra 20 or 30 minutes to play with, there was a lot of ground to cover at a sprint, even with occasional breathers for silliness or introspection or the odd SFX fillip.
It's an absolutely *terrible* introducation to the show (which is not to say that the show's intro was terrible; to the contrary, the homage to the very earliest episodes was the first of many hat-tippings to five decades' and hundreds of episodes' worth of heritage), less because of the plot itself being BEHOLD THE MCGUFFIN EX MACHINA, and more because there is so much being done with the show's history to tie up and contextualize, both in the universe the story inhabits, as well as what took precedent here - the meta context of the backdrop of the show's history itself and its fans and fandom, to which this was the third leg of a triumverate paean to the fans - the first two being the sentimental "The Five(is) Doctors Reboot" (BBC watch link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01m3kfy ), which, for fans of Classic Who, should probably come with a "have a fresh box of Kleenex ready for ALL THE FEELS" and "The Night of The Doctor" (BBC's Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U3jrS-uhuo ) which provides valuable but not absolutely necessary background to John Hurt's "missing" Doctor, as well as, in the meta-context, says an unequivocal "Yes" to the question of whether the audio productions put out by Big Finish during the long hiatus the show itself went on, are part of the official show's canon.
As a cultural, fan-based phenomenon, it's nearly impossible to extricate one from the other at the best of times unless you're kicking off a watch/re-watch party with a very clear delineation - the very first episode of the show in 1963, or the big reboot in 2005 - and with "The Day of The Doctor," it's entirely impossible. It fails spectacularly to be any kind of standalone piece, and that's the point. The story itself is mostly a framework from which huge swathes of worldbuilding history and franchise sentimentality are hung, like scaffolding for a coronoation or The Queen's diamond jubilee. As well it should - fans have been through a lot with this show, and giving them a huge, satisfying pay-off was, hopefully, never anywhere but front and center, even for the rightfully-criticized Steven Moffatt.
There were plot holes and stumbles, to be sure - leaving the TARDIS door open and unattended? breaking statues down into sand without any tools and limited time? a case of species amnesia conveniently elided for one character? (and, yes, a literal deus ex machina) - but those are birdshit on an Aston Martin today.
You can't casually address The Time War, or The Doctor Who Fought, even when it's not freighted with the show's anniversary as a backdrop; like when Weird Al finally covered "American Pie" when Episode I was released, some things have to be saved until you can save them for making the grand statement, the huge gesture.
No further thoughts yet, maybe after a re-watch. If there are spoilers in the comments more pointed than what I put here... avert your eyes until you've had a chance to watch. It was a good show to me, as a casual/Newvian fan who knows most of the deep history by way of
cassandrasimplx, who *is* a longtime, bordering on life-long, fan, so I have context that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten unless I'd been compelled to search it out... and, knowing me, I probably wouldn't.
