Doctor Who - Day of the New Moon ...and new moon indeed!

Re-watching last night's Doctor Who before skipping off to church. Last night's Doctor Who
entitled "Day of the New Moon" had an ending that was a game-changer. It also did something I didn't think they'd have the guts to ever do, in fact I remember having discussions about on lj prior to Matt Smith being announced as the new Doctor Who.

Moffat is clearly a gutsy writer, who is willing to take risks and shake up a mythology. This whole episode discusses the inability to handle change, how we are ingrained and programmed to do certain things, and ignore others - without even knowing it. It is a rather brilliant piece of writing to analyze. Unlike Vamp Diaries, Supernatural or some of Whedon's more recent fare, when you start doing the analysis...you don't find yourself slapping your head against the increasingly misogynistic and sexist views that have been ingrained in us over time. To the point that you wonder if the writer is even aware of them and think, damn, I really wish I hadn't analyzed that. True sci-fi is a different trope.

I have no time to do it now. So this is a place keeper of sorts. I will most likely analyze in more depth at a later point. It's an episode you sort of want to percolate inside your brain for a bit.

( Quick impressions and spoilers!. )

Review/Meta (sort of) on Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon

After reading everyone else's comments on last night's episode of Doctor Who, I'm not really sure what to make of the episode and feel an overwhelming desire to delete my last post on it (don't worry I won't but am sorely tempted). Normally I don't read other peoples comments on Who, because I'm usually so far behind that by the time I get around to seeing it, their comments are hard to find. The odd thing about art - is there's the way you see it and the way others see it. And when you share...it gets confusing.

Just watched "Doctor Who in America" special which was quite amusing in places. The cast and crew apparently think Mark A Sheppard does a brilliant American accent and that's why we think he's American. Uh no. His accent sounds Scottish actually. It's just we have a lot of American citizens who speak with Scottish, Irish, German, etc accents. One gets used to it. Also, Moffat apparently does plot his stories in advance. He actually plotted Season 5 and Season 6 together, and I'm guessing built the plot directly from Season 4. And the only one who knows everything he has planned is Alex Kingston who plays River - because River would know everything...since the Doctor is meeting her back to front. She knows his future and he knows her's and we're in his pov. Moffat, who has been an actor (I think he actually acted in Coupling), seems to understand how actors work and has provided each actor with a secret that only their character knows and can't tell anyone else. It provides a layer of reality to their performance. The vastness of the US astonished the cast and crew. Particularly Monument Valley in Utah. They were also astonished by Doctor Who's popularity in the States and seemed to be under the false impression that this is a recent occurrence - no, Doctor Who did make it across the pound in the 1960s and 1970s, there are die-hard fans of the series over here.

( Spoilerish Ramblings on Doctor Who 2 part Season Opener )

Game of Thrones - Episode 3 (and about that horrible terrorist.)

Whoa...according to the news special report, Osma Bin Laden has just been killed in the Northwest region of Pakistan. Body in US custody . He was shot in a mansion in Pakistan, the DNA match made, and the body in US custody. (Not sure what to think or feel regarding this. Except it's nice to know he's gone. Will state the specifics of this are somewhat gruesome. They got Osma's dead sister's head and used a DNA sample from her brain to compare it to. I really hope they didn't kill her and she was already dead.)

Also, Game of Thrones rocked again tonight. It's just getting better and better.
Watching it reminds me a great deal of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings - the same production value, writing, and acting. Almost pitch perfect. Love it. Great depiction of how power works in a world ruled by men. Your Mileage May Vary - if so? Shoo.

( Spoilers for episode 3 of Game of Thrones - Lord Snow. )