Doctor Who 10.1: The Pilot

[selenay]

Non-spoilery reaction: OMG SQUEEEE!

Also, I adore Bill :-)

And now, the spoilery version


I loved this so freaking much! I can't even express it because it was glorious. It almost made the long, long wait worth it (nothing could entire make up for a year of no episodes, but this came close). I haven't felt this squeeful over a season opener since...The Eleventh Hour.

Just that opening scene made me joyful. The details on the Doctor's desk! Photos of River and Susan. SUSAN. And his little jar of old sonic screwdrivers. I'm sure there are details in that room I'm missing, but those were the things that stood out and somehow reassured me that this was going to be fine, I was going to love it.

And then, Bill! OMG BILL. I love her so much already. I want to know more about her background. Why is she working in a canteen? Why didn't she apply to go to university? Looking at the marks we saw, she's clearly got the brains. What happened? I saw some reviews comparing her to Rose, and I can see it. Both stuck in lives they're not entirely happy in, but they can't think why, and yearning for something more.

But the Doctor didn't take Bill straight out into space. He tutored her. He taught her and opened her mind through knowledge and it was beautiful. That whole montage, showing that he taught her for (by my estimate) a minimum of six months, probably longer. They know each other, they're friends. Or at least, they have a mentor-mentee relationship that I loved. It reminded me of what I always loved about the Seven-Ace relationship.

Was that reference back to Susan at the end deliberate? Is Bill a substitute granddaughter for him?

I also loved the way Bill's sexuality was treated as nothing to get upset by and completely essential to the plot. I'd been afraid it would be one throw-away line that never got referenced again, but no. It's a part of who she is and the entire plot would have been different if she was straight. That made me as happy as anything else, because it was so beautifully done. I loved the Bill/Heather relationship, it felt real. That person you keep running into, keep meeting, that you've got a mutual crush on but never quite manage to get things together at the right time. Of course, generally that person doesn't get swallowed by a shape-shifting space engine oil monster, but this is Doctor Who.

Somehow, they made that beautiful and sad and hopeful, all at once.

I love Bill's curiosity. I love the questions she asks. I love that she knows what genre she's in, she knows the conventions and tropes and recognises them.

I love that she saw the mind-wipe coming and called the Doctor on it.

And I love that they referenced back to what happened at the end of Hell Bent (so I glad I did a rewatch of that yesterday). Seeing the Doctor's sadness that he doesn't remember Clara, all conveyed through a look and a little bit of her musical theme, and that was enough to make him reconsider wiping Bill's memory. He's become a much kinder man than he was when he first regenerated. He may not remember it, but that's Clara's effect on him.

In fact, so much of what I loved was his kindness: his understanding that Bill needed to know and needed permission to learn, gathering the photos of her mum for her, all those little moments of kindness. As a character, he's grown so much from the incredibly rude man we first met. Not that he can't still be rude and abrupt, but he's better at remembering how to people. The Doctor from Deep Breath probably wouldn't have taken Bill under his wing and taught her. This man saw her potential and wanted to nurture it.

I've got so many questions, though. Has he really been teaching at the university for fifty years?

What is inside that vault?

Is the Doctor guarding it, or is he trying to break into it? Who does he really think is coming for it?

Is the vault under the university because he put it there, or because he found it there? What does that mean?

Even Nardole didn't annoy me as much as I expected! Either he's growing on me, or his character is evolving, too.

I'm sure that I've missed a whole ton of things I wanted to talk about, because this episode was so layered and so fun and damn, I've missed squeeing over Doctor Who so much.

How many times is it rational to rewatch the episode this week?

Comments

[lost_spook]

I enjoyed it a lot too! Bill is lovely and so was this episode.

[selenay]

Hooray!

I can tell how much I love Bill, because I'm already itching to write fic for her. I haven't had that reaction since Donna!

[lost_spook]

Yay! Fic is always good! I usually go for Classic, but Clara was my girl for New Who (and Martha to a certain extent, but Clara mainly). But Bill is lovely and I like her loads already. (Would certainly read the fic!)

[selenay]

Donna has been my New Who girl. I lover her almost as much as Ace :-)

[lost_spook]

Donna was great too! The ones that demand fic sometimes have no rhyme or reason, though. (I love Clara both ways though. And she's very flexible for writing purposes! Available in multiple splinters and handy for multi-shipping. Also short and bossy, always a Thing. *nods*)

Good Donna fic, though, is pretty much always a treasure.

(And there's never enough Seven and Ace in the world.)

[selenay]

There is never any explaining why some characters demand fic and some don't.

I love Clara, but I never had the urge to write her, even though she should have been easy for me.

Good Donna fic is a treasure and so hard to find. It's easy to caricature her, hard to find people who really got her and delved under the loud exterior.

(I wish that I could write Seven and Ace. I've written more fic about Brigadier Bambera than Ace, even though Ace is my favourite.)

[lost_spook]

Yes, it's a mystery. I mean, I like Three, but he's comes in fairly lowish on my list of favourite Doctors and yet I kept writing and writing him once. And rarely Seven. (I do and have written Seven and Ace, but not too often. Er. You have to ration out the best stuff?)

I've written more fic about Brigadier Bambera than Ace, even though Ace is my favourite.)

But on the plus side, it's not as if the universe doesn't need more Bambera too!

[selenay]

When I rewatched Battlefield, I suddenly wanted a Bambera plot bunny because you're right, the world needs more Bamebra fic. BUT MY PLOT BUNNY DIDN'T ARRIVE, WOE.

[lost_spook]

Alas. Alas.

However, I put her in the Ersatz Genremixer (a favourite of mine for obtaining bunnies when needed, or really really not) and got:

Winifred Bambera / Ace / Ancelyn - bottle episode & explosions

I think the generator knows what its dowing!

Also:
Winifred Bambera - secret relationship & arrest & magic au
Winifred Bambera / Ancelyn / Seventh Doctor - kidnapping

[selenay]

OMG, that thing is genius!

[lost_spook]

:-D

It is, isn't it? (Also dangerous, but in the best way.) Someone made the original version for fan_flashworks, but they took it down, but my flister john_amend_all managed to do this one, for which I'm v grateful - in either incarnation, it's my favourite random generator.

(I may love random generators far too much.)

[selenay]

I can see it being very dangerous, but as you said, in the best way. I've tried random generators before and never found one I like. This one is awesome and has been immediately bookmarked :-)

[lost_spook]

It is absolutely my favourite. Or certainly the most useful in terms of actual inspiration.

(For entertainment value, John unconventionalcourtship generator is guaranteed to cheer me up when I'm down!

(It gets results like these, from Mills & Boon summaries etc.:

114) His Mistress for a Million- Trish Morey
For one million dollars: mistress at his mercy! Jobless, homeless and penniless: humble housekeeper Ian Chesterton seeks a suitable position of employment. All good offers accepted… Billionaire tycoon the Eleventh Doctor seeks handsome man for business contract on the luxury island of Santorini. Terms: lover for a month. Salary: one million dollars. Training will be given…

(It may sometimes leave you requiring a serious dose of brain bleach, but well worth it for the lols.)

ETA: Or this:

545) An Unexpected Pleasure by Candace Camp
London, 1879
Had the Seventh Doctor, the Marquess of Raine, killed his sister? American journalist Dalek Sec had to know. But to find out, he needed to infiltrate the marquess's household.
The new American tutor intrigued Seven. Mr Dalek had come to Broughton House to teach his young siblings. Now the strange pull of their immediate desire both troubled and excited him. But why was this delicious vision snooping around his mansion like a common thief?

:-D

(Sorry. /sidles off clutching dodgy random generators)

[selenay]

...OMG, that is brilliant. BRILLIANT.

[lost_spook]

:-D