While I still think it was a mistake to bring the Angels back in general after Blink because dimnishing returns and the significant characterisation shift (in Blink they are not malevolent in what they‘re doing, just utterly alien, but starting with the Matt Smith era they‘re actively trying to kill people), I remember thinking back in the day this was their first post Blink appearance that worked and made their appearance worth it from a storytelling point for me.
Re: River and her parents - sigh, yes. It‘s a general thing with Moffat‘s entire era, I‘ve found - he‘s fantastic in writing children as children, but he‘s either uninterested or shying away from writing relationships between adults and their parents (and adult siblings, too). See also: Amy being given her parents back at the end of her first season…. And then they‘re never heard of again. Rory‘s father later gets introduced and is a sweet person, but I can‘t think of memorable scenes between him and either Rory or Amy. And while we get scenes between River and Amy, and River and Rory, before the big reveal of their relationship status, I can‘t remember any one actually exploring (beyond a hug) what it means that she‘s both their old friend Mels and their daughter and their new friend River Song.
(It‘s the reverse with RTD whose children feel a bit like tv standard kids and never achieve Moffatian individuality and brilliance, but he‘s clearly fascinated by adult family dynamics, both adults and their parents, and siblings with each other, outside of DW (see also: Years and Years, the entire show) and within the Whoverse (starting with Rose and Jackie, Donna and her mother and on a more positive note Donna and Wilf, tragically Jack and Alice in Children of Earth, and now Ruby and Carla and Ruby-Carla-Carla‘s mother). It‘s why I‘m not so secretly hoping he‘ll write a Big Finish special just for the Ponds and River. )
The Doctor and River: I wonder how I would feel now that I‘ve embraced the pairing? Because I haven‘t seen those episodes since their original broadcast, and I remember agreeing with you then, there‘s lots of flirting and banter but lacking trust and genuine commitment, and it also felt very uneven in terms of emotional investment (i.e. much more from River than the Doctor). It was „The Husbands of River Song“ which sold me on the two of them, and on the Doctor caring as much about River as she does for him, and of course „The Husbands of River Song“ has Capaldi and not Smith as the Doctor (and is the only one other than „Let‘s kill Hitler“ where River interacts with the Doctor without knowing the weight of their history/future).
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momijizukamori and
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Date: 2024-06-10 03:08 am (UTC)Re: River and her parents - sigh, yes. It‘s a general thing with Moffat‘s entire era, I‘ve found - he‘s fantastic in writing children as children, but he‘s either uninterested or shying away from writing relationships between adults and their parents (and adult siblings, too). See also: Amy being given her parents back at the end of her first season…. And then they‘re never heard of again. Rory‘s father later gets introduced and is a sweet person, but I can‘t think of memorable scenes between him and either Rory or Amy. And while we get scenes between River and Amy, and River and Rory, before the big reveal of their relationship status, I can‘t remember any one actually exploring (beyond a hug) what it means that she‘s both their old friend Mels and their daughter and their new friend River Song.
(It‘s the reverse with RTD whose children feel a bit like tv standard kids and never achieve Moffatian individuality and brilliance, but he‘s clearly fascinated by adult family dynamics, both adults and their parents, and siblings with each other, outside of DW (see also: Years and Years, the entire show) and within the Whoverse (starting with Rose and Jackie, Donna and her mother and on a more positive note Donna and Wilf, tragically Jack and Alice in Children of Earth, and now Ruby and Carla and Ruby-Carla-Carla‘s mother). It‘s why I‘m not so secretly hoping he‘ll write a Big Finish special just for the Ponds and River. )
The Doctor and River: I wonder how I would feel now that I‘ve embraced the pairing? Because I haven‘t seen those episodes since their original broadcast, and I remember agreeing with you then, there‘s lots of flirting and banter but lacking trust and genuine commitment, and it also felt very uneven in terms of emotional investment (i.e. much more from River than the Doctor). It was „The Husbands of River Song“ which sold me on the two of them, and on the Doctor caring as much about River as she does for him, and of course „The Husbands of River Song“ has Capaldi and not Smith as the Doctor (and is the only one other than „Let‘s kill Hitler“ where River interacts with the Doctor without knowing the weight of their history/future).