The Concrete Tomb of Hradzka

I didn't much like "The Pandorica Opens," and I haven't much liked the season of DOCTOR WHO, over all. I think Matt Smith is a fabulous Doctor and Karen Gillan is a magnificent companion, but Steven Moffat has fallen into some of the same problems that the new WHO faced under RTD. Whereas RTD would cover the problems with GRAND EMOTIONAL MOMENTS, Moffat goes for something much less sappy and tries to make the story carry the day, and that's a problem because his stories -- which are, after all, Moffat's strongest point -- are not up to his usual extraordinary standard.

( Exhibit A. )

The episode has an increased runtime over the standard, but it doesn't feel bloated in the slightest; it's all meat. A really strong debut for the new cast and crew under showrunner Steven Moffat, with some wonderful character moments, an excellent new Doctor and companion, and just the right level of scope: a story of a globe-spanning threat that plays out entirely in a small English village. If you're thinking "Hey, Jon Pertwee did that kind of thing all the time," that's exactly right. The new series goes back to basics while staying refreshingly new, and borrows from the best of the classic and RTD-era series while bringing in a few new gimmicks.

( Spoilers. )

I can't believe that Matt Smith is making his debut as the Eleventh Doctor this weekend. Man. That's surreal.

He's doing the promo tour right now, the poor bastard. Honestly, if I worked for the BBC's PR arm, I would send out lists of suggested questions -- not so the talent could stick to a script, but because these interview types *cannot interview.* They ask the same questions over and over, and babble too long, especially the radio guys; if I were Smith, I'd come up with a canned fifteen-to-thirty-second intro that would answer all of their questions, except then the rest of it would be dead airtime because there is no good question at all in the offing. The audience is there for the interviewee, not you, guys; ask them short, provocative questions and let them say interesting things. Which Smith will absolutely do, because he's clumsy as hell with the press and it's a bit fascinating to watch. I can see him being the Daniel Craig of DOCTOR WHO, in that Craig is brilliant in the part but every so often he just opens his mouth and says something from way the hell out in left field that makes lots of longtime James Bond fans tear their hair.

I kind of love Matt Smith for not being a DOCTOR WHO fan. Tennant was -- him getting the part was like if it had been *me* getting the part -- but Smith grew up when it wasn't on, and didn't watch it when it came back, so took a crash course apparently in preparation for his audition. When he's asked about a favorite episode, he comes back with the werewolf one from RTD's second series. Yeah, really, he says his favorite episode is *"Tooth and Claw."* Because he likes werewolves. Folks, I honestly don't think there is anyone on the planet who loves werewolves more than I do, even if you count the nymphomaniacal furries subject to Taylor Lautner's restraining orders, and *I* didn't sit through "Tooth and Claw" more than once. That's like asking somebody for their favorite STAR TREK episode out of all the series and having him come back with, "STAR TREK: VOYAGER's 'Threshold!' You know where Paris went really fast and turned into a giant newt? AWESOME." Either it's BS, or he's completely nuts. Either way, it's surprisingly endearing. Seriously, did he just pick it at random? I almost hope it's the only episode he ever saw.

Or I guess he just really digs werewolves.

I hope somebody asks him about his preparation in more detail some day. Stuff like, "What were you actually looking for when you watched the episodes? Did you picture yourself in them, and think about how you'd have played them? What did you latch onto, what did you find distracting?" That sort of thing. In the meantime, I'm just going to imagine that the only episode the guy ever saw before starting filming was "Tooth and Claw," and that he couldn't pick Patrick Troughton out of a photo line-up. Which is perfectly fine! He's an actor! It's an acting job!

Best of luck to him, and everybody else involved.

By which I mean "absolutely useless:" here, have a gander at the new DOCTOR WHO logo.

Dunno how I feel yet, but I like the traditionalist layout, which is in keeping with Moffat going back to basics. And the icon is kinda catchy.

If you haven't seen it, there's an excellent fan-made comic story, "The 10 Doctors," over at Rich's Comixblog. Really well done, nicely cartoonish art, terrific pacing, writing, and character voices. Best part: the character faces look really different, and you can tell who's supposed to be who before the character says a word. (This must be harder than you'd think, because many artists who do comics professionally fail at this, on an epic level, all the time.)