Your Humble Blogger is a Whovian, for better or worse. I\u2019ve written about the show a few times, more hatchet jobs than puff pieces, and I feel like I should write for the record that I am really enjoying the new season. I had meant to write about the first episode in detail, and perhaps by the time this note is over, I will have, but I had meant to write it before the second episode came out, and that seems very unlikely* now. On the plus side, I really enjoyed the second episode, possibly even more than the first, so as long as I complete this note in the next few days, I will not have to temper my enthusiasm at all. If you have not been watching the show and are considering starting or re-starting, it seems to be a pretty good time to do it.\r\n
Here follow spoilers and overthinking and analysis and opinion and whatnot. I think I\u2019ll break it down by notional topic, but it might well get rambly. I have Thoughts.\r\n
Sources of Viewer Pleasure<\/strong> (for YHB):\r\n Subset: pacing<\/strong>. The first episode had a lot to do, and cleverly didn\u2019t attempt to do all of it. It didn\u2019t introduce the Tardis or time travel at all, settling for the Doctor being an alien space traveler, and leaving the time stuff and the police box and dimensional engineering for later. It did introduce the Doctor (in her new regeneration) and three<\/i> companions, as well as a new race of baddies and a great, great one-off character as well. It didn\u2019t feel rushed to me (at an hour, which is I think a bit longer than the rest of this season\u2019s episodes will be) and it looked fantastic. The second episode also felt well-paced to me. They didn\u2019t choose to do more explaining at this stage\u2014the Doctor dumped the gang in to a random space-plot and then got them out of it, with the Tardis at the end as the escape hatch. They mention time-travel in passing but don\u2019t slow down the story to go into any detail. Two episodes in, there\u2019s no mention of Time Lords or Gallifrey, because we\u2019ve been too busy trying to survive. I like that.\r\n Subset: companions<\/strong>. I like \u2019em. I feel like Yaz has been shortchanged, but it\u2019s early yet. I like Ryan a lot, and I will eventually stop calling him Clyde, because he\u2019s nothing at all like Clyde from the Sarah Jane Adventures, but he\u2019s just a little bit like Clyde and I would have enjoyed a grown-up Clyde as a proper companion. And Graham is just on the line of being more irritating than pleasurable, but on the correct side of that line so far for me. The actor playing Graham (Bradley Walsh) is clearly terrific, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that I\u2019ll like his character. I like how practical Graham and Clyde are, and I like Yaz\u2019 ambition and brains\u2014I hope they\u2019ll all get used well. The dynamic between them seems sustainable, too: Graham\u2019s avuncular (if exasperated) affection for his step-grandchild, Ryan\u2019s resentment of and grudging respect for Graham, Yaz\u2019 obvious fondness for Ryan and his wariness about her. We\u2019ll see, but so far, so good.\r\n Subset: ridiculous plots<\/strong>. Oh, yeah. That\u2019s my<\/i> show. Both shows had utterly ridiculous plots that set up completely artificial dangers that can be solved with nearly artificial cleverness. Neither threatened the entirety of the space-time continuum. Neither made much sense, nor needed to. Essentially, somebody was in danger, the Doctor helped out, that got her into more danger, then she and her buddies escape and that\u2019s the end of it. Perfect.\r\n Subset: villains<\/strong>. I really liked the first-episode tangle-of-tentacles thingie. The sniper bots were\u2026 OK. The cloth-paper assassins were terrifying. The Stenza dude didn\u2019t knock me out, but I didn\u2019t hate him, and I kinda like that the Stenza generally were unseen baddies in the next episode. Also, while he wasn\u2019t technically a villain, Art Malik was entertaining as an effete hologram who doesn\u2019t give a shit about the deaths of innocents.\r\n Subset: continuity fun<\/strong>. I admit that I enjoy the fanservice callbacks to stuff that only fanatics get, but I\u2019m also aware that stuff like that ruins the show. So. I appreciated the restraint with which they handled it. A few mentions of how the Doctor used to be male, or taller, or Scots, but not very many. My favorite thing, honestly, was the Doctor\u2019s dismay at not having stuff in her pockets\u2014I have a fondness for the Fourth Doctor-era running gag about the contents of his pockets, and that\u2019s the sort of callback that is amusing without limited the new Doctor\u2019s character.\r\n