Geronimo watch 4

and so, for the second time this year, Doctor Who has finished.

despite early misgivings, i think that Matt Smith has truly made the role his own and it seems that we have lived with the cast of the 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory for far longer than the two seasons and a crimbo special.

perhaps this is down to the odd splitting of season 6, which meant that after being here for a little while, it went away again, and then came back for just a short while longer and then went away yet again, it perhaps this is down to just another timey-wimey thing, where it goes all wibbly.

and i think that i only actually counted one 'geronimo' that i can remember, uttered in the season finale and nowhere near offensive as when it had been shoe-horned in multiple times in order to give the 11th
incarnation a bloody catchphrase.

so, this season, and the season finale (and even the silly mid-season finale), i must admit that i was rather impressed yet again, it may be true that not every episode was a stone cold classic, but i believe it definitely had more hits than misses, and even the misses were near misses in my opinion, hitting not very far off the mark, just a little bit wider of a usual high standard, but c'mon, nobody's perfect.

and i'm surprised at some of the negativity towards ' The Wedding Of River Song', i infact think that this has been one of the most satisfying finales in quite a long time, there seems to be an unwritten rule that the season should close with an epic story, that the stakes should always be higher and the action more, erm, actioner.

praise Ja, that this time they bucked the trend, look, didn't you get enough action and suspense and dramatic reveal in the mid-season finale, how much do you want from a fractured season that has already finale'd once?! i loved the more subtle sense of drama and soft glaze of confusion that surrounded this last episode, and the fact that the Doctor even took the time to revisit James Corden in the penultimate episode instead of crafting a high-octane two-parter was perfect pacing.

(spoilers ahead here people, look away now, or go watch BBC i-player of something)

we all knew the Doctor was not gonna die, and even tho we knew he wouldn't, he does anyway, there was no getting out of it this time, which makes a change, except of course he did get out of it, but we all expected that anyway, but they let you think otherwise even tho you knew otherwise, and i commend them for that!!

bloody hell, i'm rather bored of faux-danger being faced in each closing chapter of a series, if this version of the Doctor was likely to cop it, it never stays much of a secret that the current actor has chosen to make this series their last.

now with any luck, the Beeb will refrain from any urges to split the next series down any further into tantalising micro-series that will have three micro-series finales and another final end of season finale all spread out across the year, i haven't had any Doctor Who since Christmas, and i'm quite capable of finishing a whole one, thank you very much.

geronimo watch 3

getting a little behind, but i'm sure this is little surprise to anybody.

and so the 11th Doctor's first series is over, and overall i must admit that i'm quite pleased with the way things have been going so far.

having been away at Glastonbury and missing the finale episode i decided that i would be in need of a good geek out and would gorge myself on a big fat double bill so that i could also refresh my memory of the previous episode.

so, with all this build up, what did we get??

there was no sign of a bloody mammoth battle with all the Doctor's best baddies that i think everyone was hoping for, just one malicious dusty dalek

oh, of course we had the return of bloody Geronimo, tho i am thankfull that it didn't stick around for the entire run since it got very old very quickly. hopefully this was to be a send off for the unloved catchphrase.

and watching the last two episodes back to back i was made aware of a couple of things.

the first is that the Doctor's catchphrase was not Geronimo at all, it was in fact 'SHUT UP!'

seriously, take a look back at the two parter and witness people continuously being told to shut up, mostly by The Doctor, mostly aimed at Rory, but even Amy gets in on the act and tells her own father to shut up at her wedding.

why hasn't anybody realised and knocked up a crafty little video of all the 'shut up's very hastily chopped together just to prove my point, i don't have the time or inclination to do such a thing, surely somebody else must enjoy doing this type of thing!

we had been fooled with an audacious catchphrase, while all the while we have had people running around telling everyone else to shut up and we even had James Corden on the recieving end of two headbutts, i'm rather baffled by how this all happened but it worked for me.

and onto the second thing i noticed, i wouldn't wish to spoil surprises for anybody (or look like a fool if i was wrong) but it does seem that the hints of a rather large development (one of two possibilities, i guess) are being laid down whilst we have been fretting about cracks in walls and the pandoricum... we'll see if this really does pan out in the way i think it could be heading...

so, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and even you Rory, i tip my fez to you all.  well done.

geronimo watch 2

back in april i voiced my disdain for Matt Smith's Doctor Who yelping 'Geronimo'

i was waiting with teeth gritted for this to be a regular occurence, thankfully Alan Yentob or Steven Moffat seem to be paying attention to my lowly blog and henceforth withdrew any further utterance of the word from The Doctor's lips for fear of alienating me completely

how stupid it was then, of me not to mention how much i honestly cannot stand James Corden.  i won't get too deep into this, we are all allowed our pet hates and James Corden is one of mine, he irritates me. end of.

so how would BBC bosses know that they needed to re-film all of James Corden's scenes for an episode of Doctor Who with another actor.

it was too late for such a drastic measure by the time i realised what had happened, and so i had to watch and regret my foolishness.


but it is with great surprise that i must admit that the episode was not ruined, and in fact Corden didn't irritate me at all, i presumed we would be in for some ridiculous showboating but Corden kept the performance reigned in, played it straight in the face of a rather daft, cutesy and entertaining little jaunt and in fact done a far better job as a guest star on the series than most other comics have fared when compared to Simon Pegg, Mark Gatiss and Lee Evans.

and to test me even further 'Geronimo' made a return, exclaimed by James Corden.  And i didn't actually mind.


but let's lay it to rest now, ok?

as far as my opinion of Matt Smith goes, he hardly seems to have blazed a trail creating a persona differing too far from Tennant, but with each passing episode i grow a little fonder of him.

and now we only have two more episodes of this series left?! already?

aah yes, daleks and cybermen the TV mag promise me, and presumably all this business with the pesky crack will also come to a head...

geronimo watch

countless websites across the UK shall probably be troubling themselves today over a televised debate between three politicians last night.

i won't.

i'd much rather take a quick look back at last saturday's Doctor Who.


it seems we have more 'David Tennant as Doctor Who' style throwback acting, which isn't particularly nostalgic since he's only been out of the role five minutes. i'm honestly not gonna pass judgement yet, maybe Matt Smith will settle into the role and make it his own, but at the mo it hardly feels as if we have a new Doctor.

We have Amy Pond in a dressing gown (a dressing gown?! a dressing gown?! a million geeks must have wept that she hadn't gone to bed in just a little negligee)

And we also have The Doctor shouting geronimo. again. please stop.


and as for unravelling storylines, nothing yet on the goings on that i thought i had picked up on last time around (yet). the only recurrent theme was a crack in the side of the ship, reminiscent of the crack in Amy's wall - so let's see where that development will lead us in future episodes.



so, should i regularly keep you guys up to date on my observations as this series progresses? bit geeky, i know - and hardly the type of thing my long suffering girlfriend likes to find on my blog

geronimo

so, Doctor Who has started again, which means i have to find another hour each week to fit in some telly watching, having only just gained an hour when Skins finished.

new season, new doctor and new partner!!

i watched the first episode on the ketchup telly last night, and despite my initial dislike of Matt Smith's Doctor, i think i might grow to like him, or at worst, tolerate him, but only time will tell.

i didn't bode well from the start, ok, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. but i just don't realy like the look of him. but i'll keep an open mind. alot has also been said so far of his lack of eyebrows, this also bothers me.

but onto the actual episode, and it seems that Matt Smith is trying to do his very best David Tennant impersonation - kinda hoping this is just transitional, either a slight homage to the recently departed Doctor, or the after-effects of the regeneration, or just akward acting til he finds his feet and knows how to become his own doctor.

and i'm already slightly bored of this yelling 'Geronimo' nonsense, just because Tennant had the occasional recurring exclamation of 'Allons-y' doesn't mean we need a catchphrase which has already outstayed it's welcome after barely more than one whole episode.

and what?? this Doctor doesn't like bacon?!??!! i'm realy not liking this chap so far.

but despite all this the episode was enjoyable, i won't give up all hope just yet. hopefully the bacon thing was just a mere oversight too!

what about the new partner? a 'kiss-a-gram' in a kinky policewomans uniform? great!

do kiss-a-grams actually realy exist? or would a Doctor's companion that also works as a stripper been a bit too risky for a BBC family programme?

lets hope she remembered to take her nun, french maid and nurse outfits with her when she hopped into the Tardis at the end of the episode.

so what does the future hold? Doctor Who has hardly been subtle when building up stories in the past and it seems we may be straight into it this time too... i'm certain i caught a quick glimpse of Davros, the laptop used in the episode was quite clearly manufactured by Myth and we have already been given the foreboding warning that 'silence will fall'.

just a handfull of teasers that i'm sure will play out across the season in the same way that similar set-ups like mentions of Bad Wolf, Torchwood and Saxon had echoed throughout past series.

we'll see soon enough, i'm sure.