Another door opens

As I said two posts ago, I'm relieved that the Tennant reign has come to a close, though I may have been unfair about Saint David. I like the man, the cut of his jib, his funny ways. He's a nice guy, right? I just wish he wasn't quite so EVERYWHERE selling himself.

His Desert Island Discs selection proved he was into the same jangly-indie pop as I was in the late '80s when we were both youngsters - he's a bit older then me iirc. Though, unlike me, his interest in music obviously stopped dead when he got out of his teens. But anyway.

Good actor, and there aren't many voices saying different. He's just universally well liked.
I first noticed him in the Dennis Potter-esque drama-musical Blackpool a few years ago, alongside David Morrissey. I thought, this guy is good. Then he was in Rusty's Casanova and that was some rubbish, but then Rusty cast him as Christopher Ecclestone's hasty replacement in the rebooted Doctor Who. Brilliant choice. He seemed perfect.

You know, he kind of almost was. He undeniably brought the show, the character back to the popularity of the Tom Baker heyday. The kids, the grans, the gays, the fangirls... they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.

(I know fangirls are fangirls and all, but this nonsense about him being omg squeeable and generally outrageously attractive... What is that about? Plus he must be one of the worst dressed men on the planet. srsly Dave ditch all the fucking velvet jackets and vile t-shirts. For crying out loud, man).

He was a bit hyper-hyper in his first series, though he managed to dial it down a tad from thereon in. Most of the time. There was the occasional skull-grimace, eye-swivelling, but I suppose I can let it slide. I'm sure that's gonna be a load off.

So. The End of Time part 2 was, for the first half, about as full of incomprehensible sci-fi gobbledegook as Nu-Who has got. Any time a sci-fi franchise gets a council of some sort to sit around and talk meaningless guff (see the later Star Trek spin-offs and movies, and the Star Wars prequels with their interminable Jedi council pow-wows - which this Dr Who story explicitly referenced) you know the whole thing is running on fumes. Then it is only talking to - and appealing to - the hardcore geeks in the room.

For all of Rusty's talk of getting the show to appeal to the Strictly/X-Factor Saturday night crowd, do you think any of the Tim Dalton and the Time Lords stuff made the slightest lick of sense to Mr and Mrs average? (Yeah, it did look fantastic though).

I did, however, like the long, drawn-out ending. For once things didn't just get louder and louder and more-blowy-up, instead it just suddenly shoved the Master and James Bond off the screen for whatever gibberish reason, and stopped everything. Then Cribbins tapped lightly on the glass, and it was like... whoa.

Cribbins has been a wonder. That's another thing we can all agree on.

You knew, you just knew Rusty was going to do his fly-past as a way of bowing out. It was okay though. It was good. A curtain call for most of his main players (not really buying the Jessica Hynes playing her character's granddaughter thing, but it was a nice, unexpected callback) and a few of the aliens in the Star Wars-y canteena.
Ends were tied into neat bows, and RTD wound up as he began with confounding expectations about Billie Piper. I was kinda dreading the scene with Rose. I knew it had to come, and right at the end as well.
It did but it was fine. A nice little moment that bought everything full circle.

Matt Smith. Gotta feel for the guy. Those first few moments were cringe-making, weren't they? I'm hopeful about him though. I like the man, the cut of his jib, his funny ways. He's got an innate oddball quality to him, which all but the first four people who have played the Doctor have had to affect, with mixed results.

I'm quite looking forward to series five now. Fresh start, fresh production team, fresh lead, fresh... pair of legs. Sorry but cute Karen Gillan is cute. Got to admit.

Everyone who is interested enough in Doctor Who to have read this far will already have posted the trailer for the 2010 series on their own blog/soc-net site, but anyway. How exciting is this:

Hope he doesn't cry "Geronimo" too many times though.