It's Dumbledore, bitches! Michael Gambon is in the house!
=
Even ignoring the fact that Sir Michael Gambon = Dumbledore, he was fantastic in 'A Christmas Carol' and deserves all the love in the world for stealing every scene he was in and really selling the Kazran redemption arc.
So what about you? Who was your favorite guest star?
Tomorrow: We have a double feature! We can talk about your favorite fanwork OR your least favorite minor character OR both!
Logging you in...
Kaybee42 91p · 741 weeks ago
Medli 141p · 741 weeks ago
Sally Sparrow, as played by the lovely and talented Carey Mulligan. But I already talked loads about her in my Blink review, so I'll devote this to the man who ties with her for this.
Vincent and the Doctor is, by far, my favorite of the "meet a historical figure" episodes. There's no competition, really - as I said yesterday, the others tend to be frothy, fluffy fun, which is all well and good, I like that sort of thing, but Vincent and the Doctor stays with me more, touches my heart more. Richard Curtis gave us a moving and bittersweet episode that is honest about mental illness and yet life-affirming at the same time. And at the heart of it is Tony Curran's magnificent performance as Vincent himself.
It's hard to talk about the episode without wanting to cry, and I mean that in a good way - it's so, so beautiful, in so many ways and never fails to get emotion out of me. I find that I greatly dislike the way Van Gogh is treated a lot of time in fiction: usually he's just a pop culture reference, in my experience, the butt of a joke about the ear incident. But here he's a person, treated with so much respect and love and sensitivity, by Curtis and by the Doctor and Amy. The episode takes an unflinching look at the reality of depression, and what it does to someone, and how hard it was for Vincent personally, when he didn't have access to the treatment methods we do today. Some shows would have gone the cheap and easy route of having that one good day be enough to fix everything, but it doesn't work like that in reality and it doesn't work like that here. I appreciate that realism, that honesty. And yet, we are also left with the message that the pile of good things wasn't meaningless or unimportant. Which is also true.
I felt that Tony Curran did a brilliant job of bringing Vincent to life here. His performance is pitch-perfect, expressing flawlessly the highs and lows of Vincent's psyche, giving him real warmth and heart. I believed in him, and I can't imagine anyone else in this role. The casting department knew their stuff when they selected him.
echinodermata 118p · 741 weeks ago
He breaks my heart. We are elated for him, and so happy to see him happy and to see him realize how cherished he is, and we are of course sad at how we know his life story pans out. It's such a bittersweet scene, and Curran absolutely delivers. I can't watch this scene and not at least tear up. And jfc I'm tearing up just writing this out right now, looking for gifs and shit and seeing HIS FACE brb bawling.
And, gifspam:
Magnificent scene, and the power of Curran's acting is what sells it.
NB2000 115p · 741 weeks ago
First up: Sally Sparrow
She handled a confusing and terrifying situation like a champion (I'd probably have given up after someone tried to throw a rock at me and gone home, but Sally is awesome and didn't).
Second choice: William Shakespeare
Because he was just so much fun and incredibly charming. The Shakespeare Code is one of my all time favourite episodes thanks in no small part to the man himself.. I mentioned in my comment that this episode and FAQs About Time Travel have made me like Dean Lennox Kelly a lot (and considering I first saw him Being Human where he was really horrible that's quite a feat).
psycicflower 114p · 741 weeks ago
flamingpie 89p · 741 weeks ago
The episode may not be the best one ever, but it's fun, and I absolutely LOVE David Morrissey as Jackson Lake. I would not complain in the least if he really had been the next Doctor. DAVID MORRISSEY FOR TWELVE.
And okay, I admit, a lot of my joy in this episode came purely in the form of:
FUCK YEAH RIPLEY HOLDEN AND PETER CARLISLE!
psycicflower 114p · 741 weeks ago
Wilf is that person that everyone should have in their life who loves and supports them no matter what. He loves Donna and is just so proud of her regardless of what she does. She’s drifting through life and does Wilf care that she’s unemployed. No, he worries about her happiness and her as a person. He is delighted for her to have found the Doctor and travel with him because it’s what she wants and it makes her happy.
I also love Wilf’s wonder about space and aliens. He’s so joyous in his excitement about it all. Even before he knows it’s all real he’s convinced that one day we’ll be out there amongst the stars talking with aliens. His positivity about everything is infectious.
Wilf makes me smile and breaks my heart. I love him working with the ‘Silver Cloak’ to find the Doctor and having fun with them while doing it. Equally in ‘Turn Left’ I had already guessed where it was leading to but when Wilf gave voice to my fears and said ‘It’s happening again’ with so much history behind it, I just broke.
Wilf is essentially just a good, normal person but really that’s what makes him so wonderful.
fauxkaren 115p · 741 weeks ago
J'adore Joan Redferm. I just love the story that she has with John Smith, being a widow who was resigned to be a matron for the rest of her life, unexpectedly finding love again. But I also love that at the end she called the Doctor out that no one in the village would have died if he hadn't gone into hiding there. I think she's a really fascinating character.
Also, Jessica Hynes was on Spaced which is a wonderful show.
PeterRabid 81p · 741 weeks ago
Yana's just as much a separate character from the Master as John Smith is from the Doctor. He's world-weary and not confident in his own abilities. It's really his relationship with the Doctor that fascinates me. As soon as the Doctor arrives he gets a confidence boost from their mutual admiration. Looking back it's of course very ironic that the Doctor and the Master's human form act like best buddies. In my opinion, Yana is even more lovable than John Smith, and that makes it all the more horrible when he regains his Time Lord memories and becomes the Master.
As much as I enjoy Simm's Master, I would've liked to see more of Jacobi's.
echinodermata 118p · 741 weeks ago
Sophie Okonedo at Liz Ten.
Firstly, gorgeous. Secondly, awesome costumes. Thirdly, she gets some brilliant lines.
This is a woman that can hold River Song at gunpoint, so you know she's awesome. BOW DOWN before the ultimate HBIC. She's the bloody queen, mate.
And I'm sort of questioning if Moffat has much desire to include characters of color, so she was a relief in a mostly white season.
Hypatia_ 99p · 741 weeks ago
William Shakespeare
I admit it, I'm utterly biased, because as I said when Mark reviewed "The Shakespeare Code", I am a massive Shakespeare fangirl. I grew up in a town with a huge professional Shakespeare festival where one of my parents works, as well as the parents of quite a few of my friends. I've been seeing Shakespeare plays since I was old enough to be allowed in the theatre (that is, five) and really, it's my first love. So Shakespeare AND Doctor Who=pretty much the most awesome thing ever, in my world.
Dean Lennox Kelly (yes, I had to go look up the actor's name) was simply brilliant as Shakespeare. He managed to play him as the man of astonishing genius that he was, but with plenty of the racy side that, judging from his plays, he obviously also had. He seemed very much like a person, rather that someone who'd stepped out of the pages of a history book. His flirtation with both Martha *and* the Doctor was highly entertaining, and plus...he was HOT. ::is shallow::
"The Shakespeare Code" really isn't among my very favorite episodes, but I adore Shakespeare in it, and because of my already existing massive Shakespeare fanaticism, he wins. Also on the short list are:
Sally Sparrow (Blink)
Nancy (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances)
Mr. Finch (School Reunion, pretty much entirely because he's played by Anthony Head)
Timothy Latimer (Human Nature/Family of Blood)
Professor Yana (Utopia)
Agatha Christie (The Unicorn and the Wasp)
Vincent van Gogh (Vincent and the Doctor)
Openattheclose 99p · 741 weeks ago
I also love Vincent, Sally Sparrow, Adelaide Brooke, and Agatha Christie.
mkjcaylor 87p · 741 weeks ago
STILL. Love. Lovelovelovelove you people who love your TNG so much that you would be able to pick clips like that out of the entire run. And of course it's using two of the most loved episodes (plus others), one of which apparently just had a birthday because @Startrek just posted an article where they interviewed one of the writers of Yesterday's Enterprise.
I LOVE the use of that clip 'They want you to move over.' because that's so amazingly Doctor and I didn't realize it until now. But I believe that the Doctor is closer to a Q like character than any other character in TNG, so I am sad I spotted no Q bits. But maybe they didn't fit.
Sorry. I am one of those that can recognize an episode by two lines in.
I think I would have been this way with Classic Doctor Who had it been available for me to watch at the time.
Openattheclose 99p · 741 weeks ago
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Chritter...
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Chritter...
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Chritter...
__Jen__ 99p · 741 weeks ago
I’ve said a lot about this episode in past entries, and I’m sure I will in future entries, so I’ll try to be brief. First of all the character of Vincent is one of my all-time favorite DW characters. Mr. Curran played Vincent with such intensity in every emotion, while at the same time maintaining almost a light touch…I can’t really even describe it. Vincent himself is manically brilliant and devastating to watch. His bravery and sensitivity to the Krafayis’ was lovely, and his attachment to Amy and their gingerness makes me laugh every time. Seriously, I’m rewatching right now and somehow I had forgotten how much humor there is in this episode. I honestly don’t even care about historical accuracy (something I can get a bit anal about normally), when every emotion was hit so well.
It’s hard to separate the character from the performance, because I feel that with a different actor or a lesser performance, the whole episode would have fallen flat. Instead, with his beautiful portrayal of the heights and depths found in art and with depression (seeming Bi-polar disorder and synesthesia as well), this has become one of my favorite episodes of not only DW, but also of anything ever. That might seem exaggerated, but when Vincent cried, I cried and when he felt joy, I felt a bittersweet joy as well. I knew what was coming, that it couldn’t last, but it was such a visceral performance that I was drawn in nonetheless. His performance, while one that never fails to make me cry, has definitely added to the pile of good things in my life.
Back up has to go to Sally Sparrow, though I forever live in hope that she will recur.
Albion19 84p · 740 weeks ago
ShayzGirl 67p · 739 weeks ago
I said in the favourite Doctor post that I fell for Eleven because he did something I'd want to do if I had a time machine. Let Vincent Van Gogh see how his artwork is loved and that he is loved by so many. That scene, I can't even think about it without crying. (so what do I do? I go off and watch it again... I'm punishing myself.) And even though that one little bit of happiness didn't change the future, the ending, with the sunflowers saying "For Amy" lets her know that she did make a difference to him.
Oh and then later, in "The Pandorica Opens" with the painting of the TARDIS exploding. You don't know yet why he's so upset, but you know it can't be good. Just seeing Vincent so upset by it, I knew it couldn't be good. :'(