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eumeliaSo, yeah, it rocked.
First of all, Amy and Rory in their "iconic" costumes. As role play! So cute!
Second of all, Steampunk Dickensian Alien World!
Third of all, Flying fish.
Flying fish.
Fish.
I'm not Christian, but fish bloody well are!
And so is Christmas. Moffat is definitely continuing the trend of an atheist universe in Doctor Who, where redemption is only possible via personal decision and heroism.
Of course redemption is only possible if you're a man. If you're a woman, prepare to be fridged.
I'll get back to that. And the fish.
The episode is a reworking and reinterpretation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The way time travel in used to create the montage of past, present and future was very clever and moving, specifically when the child Kazran Sardick sees his "future", which is our "present" in his own past.
A very poetic use of a time paradox which we've seen multiple times - what would happen if you met yourself and the effect of changing the past during the future... er, present?
Ebenezer Scoorge is reincarnated not as a Victorian Workhouse owner (though the poor are still despicable), but as a loan shark (... and damn, I just GOT THAT! *facepalm*) who freezes people are "insurance" or more to the point collateral for the money he loans - also, population control a.k.a collateral damage.
The Doctor, funnily enough, doesn't seem to interested in this problematic state of economics.
The change in Kazran Sardick are pinpointed onto the frigded girl entirely, she who can sing and is instrumental in saving the space ship of carolers and Amy and Rory (who, really, were just having a bit of fun in the Honeymoon Suite) - I was actually very moved by the thought that the passengers were all singing together, because the sense of urgency and despair that surrounds a group of people who try to stave off the inevitable by using sentimental music... well, it's classic isn't it. And my god it works.
The subtle changes in Kazran Sardick are beautiful to watch and the unchanging non-life of Abigail is enhanced by these changes. In that respect there was a whole lot of gender!fail in this respect. The male industrialist has agency, the blonde dying poor woman has none, at best she can "calm the beast", the shark... the loan shark - DAMN, how did I not see it at the time?!
The fish are Jesus. Sorry, they are. You can't put fish in a Christmas special and not evoke the old Christian symbol. It's actually sweet, in a way, to be "surrounded" by god in that way and having god be a part of the weird eco system on that Steampunky planet.
Also, Jaws is finally redeemed! As a reindeer, but who cares!? \o/
The romance was sweet and heartfelt, but ultimately a sad ending we're never going to see. Hey, why ruin Christmas by death.
Moffat gleans insight regarding the human condition, but he doesn't out of the corner of our eye - the singing passenger, the kindness and security of family, the cruelty of family, the pain of nostalgia (brought about beautifully in the various Christmas Eve's) and of course, the denial of the death of a loved one.
I can't help but wonder how much happier Sardick would have been in the long run if he'd been able to realise Abigail was an actual person in her own right and with her own agency, rather than a doll for him to look and marvel at at intervals.
The Doctor is quite frenetic in this one. He appears, at times, that he's forgotten about what he's supposed to be doing (rewriting a history to save a present - hehe, pun) but he's very calculating. In a way the Doctor here is crueler than 9th or the 10th ever were. In the second series episode "New Earth" the 10th Doctor and Rose discover a cache of people kept frozen and used as petri dishes.
Those people are released. They're humanity is reaffirmed. Here... not so much.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. Because on the one hand, it's interesting watching a clearly superior and alien Doctor. This happened throughout the fifth series, other creatures and species were held in the same regard as humans, which is in direct conflict with the 10th Doctor certainly (who thought humans had the potential to be greater) and also with the 9th who seemed to think that humans were pretty effing stupid at times and didn't think much of the "future" of humanity (i.e. Jack pre-immortality) - here, humanity is on the same level as fish, they're even frozen in the same manner.
On the other hand, the fishy god I spoke about before? Well, while the fish are most certainly Jesus, this Jesus doesn't bring redemption, on the contrary, the fish don't live in harmony with the humans who have colonised this planet and are in fact considered pests... interesting metaphor for religion, if you ask me. Humanity matters as much as... well... other fish in the sea.
Man, Moffat really takes the cake with those metaphors, doesn't he?
A very sentimental and heartfelt episode none the less, despite the gender!fail, the damaged abused boy trope and the woman in refrigerator cliche.
I really can't get over the fish and the nuanced layers of metaphor packed inside them.
That's all for now.
First of all, Amy and Rory in their "iconic" costumes. As role play! So cute!
Second of all, Steampunk Dickensian Alien World!
Third of all, Flying fish.
Flying fish.
Fish.
I'm not Christian, but fish bloody well are!
And so is Christmas. Moffat is definitely continuing the trend of an atheist universe in Doctor Who, where redemption is only possible via personal decision and heroism.
Of course redemption is only possible if you're a man. If you're a woman, prepare to be fridged.
I'll get back to that. And the fish.
The episode is a reworking and reinterpretation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The way time travel in used to create the montage of past, present and future was very clever and moving, specifically when the child Kazran Sardick sees his "future", which is our "present" in his own past.
A very poetic use of a time paradox which we've seen multiple times - what would happen if you met yourself and the effect of changing the past during the future... er, present?
Ebenezer Scoorge is reincarnated not as a Victorian Workhouse owner (though the poor are still despicable), but as a loan shark (... and damn, I just GOT THAT! *facepalm*) who freezes people are "insurance" or more to the point collateral for the money he loans - also, population control a.k.a collateral damage.
The Doctor, funnily enough, doesn't seem to interested in this problematic state of economics.
The change in Kazran Sardick are pinpointed onto the frigded girl entirely, she who can sing and is instrumental in saving the space ship of carolers and Amy and Rory (who, really, were just having a bit of fun in the Honeymoon Suite) - I was actually very moved by the thought that the passengers were all singing together, because the sense of urgency and despair that surrounds a group of people who try to stave off the inevitable by using sentimental music... well, it's classic isn't it. And my god it works.
The subtle changes in Kazran Sardick are beautiful to watch and the unchanging non-life of Abigail is enhanced by these changes. In that respect there was a whole lot of gender!fail in this respect. The male industrialist has agency, the blonde dying poor woman has none, at best she can "calm the beast", the shark... the loan shark - DAMN, how did I not see it at the time?!
The fish are Jesus. Sorry, they are. You can't put fish in a Christmas special and not evoke the old Christian symbol. It's actually sweet, in a way, to be "surrounded" by god in that way and having god be a part of the weird eco system on that Steampunky planet.
Also, Jaws is finally redeemed! As a reindeer, but who cares!? \o/
The romance was sweet and heartfelt, but ultimately a sad ending we're never going to see. Hey, why ruin Christmas by death.
Moffat gleans insight regarding the human condition, but he doesn't out of the corner of our eye - the singing passenger, the kindness and security of family, the cruelty of family, the pain of nostalgia (brought about beautifully in the various Christmas Eve's) and of course, the denial of the death of a loved one.
I can't help but wonder how much happier Sardick would have been in the long run if he'd been able to realise Abigail was an actual person in her own right and with her own agency, rather than a doll for him to look and marvel at at intervals.
The Doctor is quite frenetic in this one. He appears, at times, that he's forgotten about what he's supposed to be doing (rewriting a history to save a present - hehe, pun) but he's very calculating. In a way the Doctor here is crueler than 9th or the 10th ever were. In the second series episode "New Earth" the 10th Doctor and Rose discover a cache of people kept frozen and used as petri dishes.
Those people are released. They're humanity is reaffirmed. Here... not so much.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. Because on the one hand, it's interesting watching a clearly superior and alien Doctor. This happened throughout the fifth series, other creatures and species were held in the same regard as humans, which is in direct conflict with the 10th Doctor certainly (who thought humans had the potential to be greater) and also with the 9th who seemed to think that humans were pretty effing stupid at times and didn't think much of the "future" of humanity (i.e. Jack pre-immortality) - here, humanity is on the same level as fish, they're even frozen in the same manner.
On the other hand, the fishy god I spoke about before? Well, while the fish are most certainly Jesus, this Jesus doesn't bring redemption, on the contrary, the fish don't live in harmony with the humans who have colonised this planet and are in fact considered pests... interesting metaphor for religion, if you ask me. Humanity matters as much as... well... other fish in the sea.
Man, Moffat really takes the cake with those metaphors, doesn't he?
A very sentimental and heartfelt episode none the less, despite the gender!fail, the damaged abused boy trope and the woman in refrigerator cliche.
I really can't get over the fish and the nuanced layers of metaphor packed inside them.
That's all for now.
