The Doctor Who/Wings Experience

Holly and Kelly: I've come to realize that this has been a very slow month for blogging. Probably one of the lowest and slowest in a while. A lot has been going on; nothing bad by any means, but still quite busy. One of the things that has gone on is something we are talking about today. A couple of weeks ago, on the 16th and 17th to be exact, our local movie theater put on this special event that featured the screening of two Doctor Who episodes one night, followed by a documentary the second night. They screened Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel, and we aren't really sure why they picked those two, but anyway. It was just fun and awesome to see Doctor Who on the big screen, since we kinda missed out on Day of the Doctor because we were lame and stupid and weren't fans yet. Sorry, got some coffee in me. On the second night, they aired a documentary about birds. No seriously.

It wasn't just any documentary about birds though; it was in 3D. It was narrated by none other than David Tennant!!!!!!!!! Let me tell you, watching 3D birds and listening to a Scottish accent for 90 minutes was pretty remarkable. But the documentary was REALLY well done. But that wasn't even the highlight of the evening, no. What was was something that we touched a bit on while we were doing our 30 day Doctor Who challenge. The first night we were at the theater there were other Whovians there as well...trust us, they're pretty hard to miss. The credits were rolling at the end of Cybermen/Steel and this older guy sitting a few seats down from us turns to face the rest of the theater and says "These are my kind of people."  Later, Kelly ran into a girl who was maybe 11 or 12, and she was wearing a bow tie and a fez.  Kelly said "Bow ties are cool" and the girl smiled.  It's a community, a family of sorts, and we really haven't seen that in any other big movie or TV franchise.  And that's a really incredible thing.  Yeah, when you boil it down it is just a TV show, but for all of us, it's so much more than that.  Also a really incredible thing.  It's an experience and a TV show for some people, but for others, it's much more. It's a bit excessive and obsessive for some (eek) but as for us, we just enjoy it. We enjoy the show, the characters, and the community it brings.

30 Days of Doctor Who: Most annoying character/Favorite Actor

Holly: This is probably the longest 30 day writing challenge in existence.  haha.  Gosh, life just has a way of sneaking up on you and allowing the days to just fly and fly and fly, right on by.  We're combining a couple of days again, so I'm (briefly) chatting on what we think is the most annoying character.  Which, I think, is kind of mean, but whatever.  All for the sake of writing, I suppose.

We were not a fan of Lady Christina de Souza, who was in the Tenth special "Planet of the Dead."  To be honest, we weren't a fan of the episode altogether.  I (Holly) was really looking forward to another strong female companion but I just didn't see that in her.  She was really "my way or no way" and kind of greedy, at one point holding on tightly to a sacred treasure instead of letting it go to save a bus full of innocent people.  Not really much of a moral compass either.  Although I have absolutely nothing against the actress (watch Steven Moffat's Jekyll, she's brilliant), but yeah.  Just didn't roll with us too well.

Kelly: So it's no secret on who our favorite actor is.

Yup. You guessed it!

Oh my gloooooooooooooooooooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbbbb. Talk about talent. Nothing short of genuine, pure raw and amazing talent. I mean seriously. Something that we do is when we like a new show or movie, we do our best to watch some of the other things the leading gent (or leading lady) have been in in the past. We've just started doing this with Matt Smith, and we've seen a good bit of David Tennant's other work besides as the dear Doctor himself. One thing that I really love is that he genuinely cares for and about his fans, and it's super sweet. Don't really know too many people in general who spare a second thought to those outside of their little comfortable network. We have some of our favorite pre/post Doctor media, like Broadchurch, Single Father and Nativity 2 (we strongly encourage you lot to check them out). But my personal favorite of his other than the Doctor is his role in a TV movie that came out a few years ago titled Recovery. Recovery tells the story of a man who after a tragic accident suffers from a traumatic brain injury. This changes his personality, his ambitions and his life as he struggles to relearn how to be a husband, working class individual and father. You will laugh, you will cry (or at least I did) and I hope you will spare a thought for those who have gone through what the story portrays.

Having been exposed to injuries and illnesses of that nature, I have to applaud David's performance, because in not only my personal, but as a healthcare provider, it was pretty spot on! But seriously, if you all have a favorite actor/actress, stray away from the role that they are "known" for, look into some other things they have done, and let me tell you you will have such a new found appreciation for them not only in their careers but as people. Yes. They are people before they are actors/actresses. I think that that is so often forgotten. So there you have it! 

30 Days of Doctor Who: Saddest Episode

Kelly: The End of Time. The first time I sat through it, I along with Holly, cried through the majority of the second half and periodically throughout the first half. It's a beautiful and very sad story of 10's departure. But the second time around, the end didn't make me cry at all. It was when he realized that Wilfred was trapped and he would have to let him out, thus sacrificing himself. SPOILERS.

One thing I love about David Tennant is that he is good at saying so much without saying a single word. It's at this moment where he knows what is about to happen, and there's nothing else to be done. But me? I could do so much more! So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair. Oh. I've lived too long. In the previous special, The Waters of Mars, we see The Doctor trying to be a God; trying to save those that were not intended to be saved. But when's about to...well...you know, he goes back to those he met along his life; those he saved without them really knowing it, but for them, it was ok. Mickey and Martha, Donna, Sarah Jane and Luke, and of course Rose. Rose was the first and last set of eyes the 10th Doctor saw. Seeing him leave, and say goodbye, was like losing a friend. This was the Doctor I fell in love with. In the end, he just lets go; lets go of the fact that he has lived for a very long time. But his words, his expressions, all of it, were real and genuine, because he, along with most of Who viewers, have lost someone. We know what that's like, what it feels like, and to see that realness on the big screen just stuck with me. Stuck with the both of us so much that we waited almost a month in between from the End of Time finished until we started Season 5. Yeah. For real.

Holly: So I was going to also pick "The End of Time"...which, let me just say this, made ME cry, and I don't cry at anything.  Ask anybody.  And Kelly so beautifully described it above that I don't think I could add any more to it, even if I tried.  Having said ALL that, a sad episode for me was season 6's "A Good Man Goes To War".

This episode has a lot of stuff happen in just under an hour: The Doctor and Rory find Amy and newborn Melody, with a very, very touching scene between the four of them about halfway through the episode.  The Battle of Demon's Run is on the verge of breaking out, but the Doctor manages to peacefully stop all fighting; even Madame Vastra is pleased, calling it his highest hour.  And then almost instantly, fighting starts and lives are lost.  Little Melody, it turns out, is a Flesh Avatar, and she disintegrates in Amy's arms.  The Doctor tries to console her but she backs away from him.  One of the Doctor's unknown admirers, Lorna, dies as well, reminiscing about her childhood encounter with him in the Gamma Forest.  And River.  River confronts the Doctor, almost blaming him; it's at this point that even the Doctor realizes just how powerful he really is.  Turns out the enemies are afraid of our favorite Tardis-traveling Time Lord.  I won't even mention the River storyline...we find out who she really is.  SPOILERS.

There's a lot more to it than this.  Truth be told, it's been a while since I've seen this episode, but it's powerful good stuff.  I liked Matt Smith at this point, but from here on out he just gets better.  (And I'm only saying this because we watched "The Rings of Akhaten" last night and oh my word.  Just oh my word).

30 Days of Doctor Who: Favorite Doctor

Holly and Kelly: And the winner by unanimous vote....10!!!!

Don't get me wrong, we love all the doctors we've seen. We started watching when 9 debuted, and we're currently watching 11. We love them both very much. But 10 won over our hearts and then some. And how can't you love him?! He's funny, quirky, lovable and let's face it, he's ridiculously adorable! Not to mention David Tennant plays him so well. Now that we've got that out of the way, why do we love 10 so much? Other than what has been mentioned above, there is so much more to him than his general adorableness. He sees the good in every body, no matter what their back stories are. He chooses his companions because on the outside they're just ordinary people, but he sees potential in them to change the world. And while they're helping him change the world (and themselves), they're changing him too. They become his family.  We love his heart- to him, every life is sacred.  He tries to redeem those who seem too far gone.  

But he's also not perfect. He makes a terrible mistake when he tries to mess with time, and that mistake costs him his life. At first he tries to run from it, but he soon realizes he can't and has to face it. This is also why we like him; we can relate to him. We've lost people in our life, we've made and lost friends and we've wanted to take try and take things back.  We've felt alone even in a room full of people, and that's also a big reason we love him- he seems real to us.  Human, almost.  Speaking of human, he even becomes human for a while (now THAT'S a heck of a storyline if you're interested...)

What can we say? He's our Doctor :)