Ten Thoughts About Doctor Who: Closing Time

Published Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:05:37 -0500

Last updated Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:12:30 -0500

By Eve Johnston (6 1/2)

1. We're Going Shopping On The Moon

The last time the Doctor was in a shopping centre, there were Autons in the basement. This time, there are Cybermen. Plus ca meme chose…

We've been in a lot of enclosed environments with levels in the last few episodes. Doll houses, council flats, medical buildings, hotels, now we get a department store. Someone should just make a First Person Sonicker game of this half-series…

Of course, we see lots of toys and children buying toys. More on that in a minute.

2. The Love That Dare Not Speak It's Name

The wives are away, Craig and the Doctor can play. This was the write-it-gay, play it not-totally-gay scenario, that will have shippers hitting the boards all night long. We got an almost kiss, we got the belief they were a couple repeatedly, and hey it's not like the Doctor hasn't been there before with Jack. Why not The Doctor and Craig?

3. Mummy Can I Have A Cybermat For Christmas

All toy department store bean counters ejaculated watching this episode. And something for all parents to buy to keep their Lord Stormageddons happy. And they even set it in a shop. The signals are all there, the children have been primed, there is only one present they want this Christmas. This was a forty-five minute commercial for BBC Worldwide.

4. Next Week, Everyone Will Be Looking Like This

A little bit of foreshadowing here. Of course one this won't let you see The Silence…

5. The Look Of Amy

Two episodes in one poster, and the validation of the belief that Karen Gillan is a bit of alright. The smell of rain on dust, and an Amy who has moved on…

6. The Doctor As Christ

The Doctor has been frequently portrayed as a Messiah, a Christ-like figure. But has it ever quite got this literal? The Doctor knows his Golgotha is upon him, this is his Gethsemane moment. It's all rather "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."

He's had a long two hundred years since The Impossible Astronaut.

7. He Came In Through The Lounge Window

The Doctor as Action Hero does happen occasionally. But bursting through a glass window is new. Put it this way, Sylvester McCoy wouldn't have got away with this one.

8. Fat Cyberman

That's the thing about Cybermen, they are all of a certain size. And James Corden is a man who wears his weight on his sleeve. Arms. Legs, Chin. All that. Do they perform a form of liposuction in the conversion process? Does the excess get turned into Cybermats? Either way, here is your transformation meme for this week. And for your doubles reference, the Cyberman base was hidden behind a mirror. And for your parents and children… well…

Anyway, while lots of Doctor Who endings have been described as Power Of Love endings, when to be frank, often they haven't been (Last Of The Time Lords was a Power Of Will ending for a start), this blatantly was. Although it was something else as well.

When I became a father, I discovered a new sensation that frankly took me by surprise. The realisation that I would happily run in front of traffic to save my child, without a thought for myself. It was a very new, primal emotion I had never experienced before. Love, yes, my wife, my family, my friends, people I would risk my life for, but for my children it was a far rawer experience, one where my safety, my well being, wouldn't even come in to it.

And the freaky realisation that my parents feel the same about me.

So yes, I'm with the Doctor. It's the power of Primal Forces.

9. Doctor Who?

There were a hell of a lot of good gags in this episode. "You've redecorated, I don't like it" "I've got an App for that", "Not Mum", the "Shhhhhh", "It's a robot dog"… But Lord Stormageddon's first word was a perfect cap on Craig's adventure.