Minor spoilers for Star Trek and Doctor Who in this post. This is your only warning.
I’ve had a long Sunday, and normally I’d just skip a day of posting, since I’m not doing the “update the site every day because I’m a crazy person” thing anymore, but I do like to have a little something up every Monday.
I did manage to see both the new Star Trek movie and the Doctor Who season ender this past weekend, and…well, I hope the Trek folks got their “callbacks to the original series” thing out of their system, because in the two or three films that are likely left in this particular iteration of the reboot, I’d like to see a story that’s, you know, its own animal. I mean, okay, I’ll give them one film where we see what happens in the new timeline when they encounter a familiar-to-us face (well, kinda sorta, work with me here) from the past, with The Ol’ Twisteroos on familiar-to-us situations, and all-too-familiar-to-us bits of dialogue. I did enjoy the film, but I hope I don’t wait three to four years for the next film, and it turns out to be Star Trekkin’ Around Looking for Whales in the Past, But with The New Guys.
Also, a dumb Trek joke I made on Twitter, inspired by the Trek rebootings, got retweeted by Rob Liefeld, so it was all worth it.
The Doctor Who season-ender, on the other hand, benefited by a backwards glance or two, with cameos by previous Doctors via repurposed footage and stand-ins rushing by cameras in the various Doctors’ outfits. I always like seeing references to the previous Doctors in the current series, and since we’re leading up to the 50th anniversary, it’s certainly fitting that they’re popping up about now. And it’s all tied into an explanation for a season-long mystery, in the middle of what I thought was a fun and relatively clever story, which has me anticipating November’s actual anniversary special even more.
Plus, I know this is a bad thing to say, I know they’re overdoing it with these characters, I know getting what I want in this case will ruin the very thing I’m wanting…but I do so enjoy Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax when they appear, and hope for more appearances. Particularly Strax.
Just look at that adorable little guy.
I really want a Vastra/Jenny/Strax spin-off show. Strax is the funnest thing in Dr. Who all season.
My problem with Vastra/Jenny/Strax has less to do with them and more to do with the way they’re giving us episodes these days. Starting in 2005 we had 13 episodes a year, so a little repition didn’t stick out. In 2010 they split it up with 7 episodes, a two month break and then 6 episodes. This past season they split up with 5 episodes, a three month break, a special, a three month break and then 8 episodes. Which, you know, anyone who’s been watching has noticed. It’s just that when there’s only 8 episodes in a row, it’s hard not to feel overexposed when these side characters pop up for two of them. (Three when you add in the Christmas special.)
If we’d had all 13 in a row, I doubt anyone would be complaining that they’re seeing too much Strax. Because how could anyone?!
My favorite takeaway from the finale is the sheer number of people on Twitter and other social media sites flipping their lids over the idea that they could have a Doctor who was OLD. Ew! An old Doctor! So gross! Stephen Moffat is ruining the show because he chased away Chris Eccleston and brought on some ancient old man to be a Doctor! I may vomit!
“Horse! You have failed in your mission!” is still a line I hope to use someday.
I think the funniest people reacting to Who are the ones who have latched onto the notion that bringing in John Hurt to play a Doctor means that Moffat is writing Eccelston out of continuity, based on some anonymous source in the Sun that says Hurt’s Doctor would be the Ninth, making Eccelston’s the 10th, and so on. Fanboys make my head hurt sometimes.
That complaining man! Can I kill him now?
a Sontaran in a SUIT?
NOW I’VE SEEN EVERYTHING.