I'm pretty sure Behemoth had a video like this.
Which is kinda ironic I suppose, given the somewhat romantic sounding The Wedding Of River Song. Still, looking on the bright side now the only thing I can think of is Sylvester McCoy reciting Slayer lyrics in his serious voice, which is every bit as epic as you would imagine.
But I digress. The point of this exercise is, after all, to discuss the episode itself.
I promise I'll stop now.
It's kind of odd in a way. There's an awful lot to like here. There's great atmosphere and cool visuals and scary monsters and big ideas. Which is everything a Doctor Who story should have. Only.....
Let me put it to you like this: Plotting his downfall the Doctors enemies enact a cunning masterplan. Only things don't quite according to plan and the whole universe is threatened as a result. As a side effect of everything going tits up in this fashion a pocket reality is created around the earth, resulting in a new timeline where everything has gone a bit strange, but which gives the Doctor a chance to bugger around, narrowly escape from an old enemy and then apparently sacrifice himself to restore the universe to it's proper state and it's as if the bad things never happened. Because they didn't. Only being the Doctor he has a cunning plan which let's him cheat fate and escape to fight another day. Oh, and at the end of it all we're not really much clearer about who exactly is doing any of the bad stuff or why exactly.
Sound familiar? It should. This is also the plot to The Pandorica Opens and the Big Bang. And that's the only real problem with episode. It's well written certainly, and it's entertaining. There are great performances from the regular cast, some fun and unexpected cameos from past allies and even some unexpected twists and turns along the way. It's just whilst watching it you can't help but have this nagging feeling that we've seen this before somewhere. You know, unlike previous series where the Daleks unexpectedly return in force after apparently being totally annihilated and try to conquer the Earth. Except that one time they got the Master to cover so they could have a night off.
But whatever. Whilst a certain degree of repetition is rather inevitable in long running show like this I think part of the problem was simply that I wasn't expecting anything quite so.... Straightforward. That's one of the great things about Doctor Who recently though. That whilst you can easily form a fair guess of what may happen they somehow manage to keep you doubtful until it actually happens. So whilst it seemed pretty likely that River kills / marries the Doctor you always had the nagging doubt that it wouldn't be nearly that straightforward. Only it was. Reverse psychology at work I suppose.
Then there's the resolution. Or, once again, the lack thereof. Rather than actually getting any closure on this storyline we instead find out that it's being stretched out to another series. That or the first thing Mr Moffat decided when creating the Eleventh Doctor was how he was gonna die, and is kind of working backwards from that point. So, who are the Silence? Well, apparently they're not a species. Only they totally are. Except they have some human servants who pose as religious types. Why did they want to blow up the universe last season? Was it in fact them, or indeed some other party? Not even mentioned. That's starting to bug me a little now. Given that they're apparently trying to kill the Doctor for the good of the universe it does seem to be an odd way of going about it. Time might tell but I'm not sure I'd count on it. How about that pseudo TARDIS thing from the Lodger which cropped up again in the first two episodes? Turns out they really were just reusing the set.I guess. Indeed, all we really get at the end is that something bad is going to happen and some sort of DOOM is coming. And to be fair, we could have guessed that.
I guess I sound rather critical here, and to be fair I am being overly critical. But there's still, as I've said an awful lot to enjoy here. The idea of all of time being squashed together is really good, and quite well realised. Indeed, I think that alone has potential outside of an inconsequential pocket reality which never actually happened and only special people can remember. There's the great reintroduction of the Silence in the senate, when the Doctor see's the mark on his arm and you suddenly know that something bad is happening. Although you don't know where he got the marker pen from or where he's keeping it. You have Rory being as ridiculously hardcore as ever, Amy showing her dark side, The Silence being all creepy and... Silency. They really a great monster, and the fact that there's obviously more of them to come is something I'm looking forward to. There's that bit with the Doctor and this years token Dalek. Has Matt Smith ever actually managed to be quite as scary in his happy unassuming way ever before? Then you have that lovely nod to Nicholas Courtney they worked in. The fact it's finding out that the Brigadier has finally died is what makes the Doctor face up to his own oncoming death fair brings a tear to the eye. Finally of course there's the fact that the Doctor has finally taken steps to remove himself from the galactic spotlight. The whole thing of everybody knowing and fearing the Doctor has certainly worked well, but I'm glad they've decided to take a step back from that and move in a different direction. there's a time and a place for everything after all, and I think it's the right time for making that change. Plus, when the Daleks finally do come back they'll be in for one hell of a nasty shock.
However, I am a fan. And it's part of the job description to nitpick. And I have to say that the final parting shot was TERRIBLY overdone. What with Doriam yelling "Doctor WHO?!?!?" over and over again like we didn't get that this is an important question at the heart of the show. We know. We've known for the past FIFTY YEARS. And most of us weren't even born then. And whilst this is a key mystery of the show it does have to be said that it's not a question that should ever be answered. Though I suppose that's rather the point. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how they avoid answering it.
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