I'm anticipating that the retrospective for the Ninth is going to be as lame as the others. Prob no Eccleston, Piper or RTD and just Moffat and maybe Tennant telling us how brilliant it was.
Sad, but likely to be true, although I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Billie on hand. Eccleston, a no-show to be sure, which is a shame since everyone since Tom has been onhand, with the exception of McGann. Pleased about the choice of eps, I haven't seen the Bad Wolf finale in quite some time.
Funny, I had forgotten to some degree just how different Eccleston played the Doctor from the previous eight. The extreme guilt that the Moff is talking about seems to fit in very nicely with what we think we know about John Hurt's Doctor. It's a damn shame that we'll never get to see that regeneration scene, though I'm sure it's going to be alluded to in the 50th Special.
I really like the publicity photos they use during the retrospectives, I suppose they're online but they really pop on the TV, especially since the pre-HD footage is slightly soft at times. Too bad these things are only to indoctrinate the uninitiated because basically we can glean all the information ourselves just by watching the series. Still, OK fluff, good to see Noel and Camille even though there isn't that same nostalgia/curiousity of the older series stars given their recent proximity timewise.
Nice to see Neil Gaiman in the retrospective, though it's odd that they didn't show his name onscreen until the second segment. I recognized him right away, but a lot of viewers wouldn't have known who this guy was. I'm just glad we're finally to the point where the episodes were actually shot in widescreen format so they aren't doing that obnoxious stretching out of the sides of the image anymore.
I completely forgot this was the weekend for the special. And here I've been gently teasing another member for continually forgetting "Futurama" was airing like clockwork every Wednesday at 10 PM (until it finally broadcast the series finale a few weeks ago). Sincerely, Bill
For anyone curious about what episodes they'll show for Tennant and Smith it was revealed by description of the DVD release: "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" "The impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon" Both seem like pretty good choices, especially the Tennant ones since all the companions are in those episodes.
I was going to complain about both the 9th and the 10th Doctor having a finale as their choice, but it's actually hard to pick a two-parter for Tennant. Maybe Family of Blood would be better, but that's awkward since the Doctor isn't the Doctor for most of it. Eccleston could have had The Empty Child instead, I suppose, but I do think the finale sums up his reign better. The Impossible Astronaut is a very good choice for Matt Smith, though (better episode than The Time of Angels, although both have the necessary companions). If The Angels Take Manhattan were a two-parter, I could have seen that one chosen instead. But it's the best choice for a single-parter.
I think my favorite Matt Smith 2-parter is "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang." I think it holds together slightly better than "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon." But then the Doctor's death at Lake Silencio has been such a dominant part of Matt Smith's tenure that I suppose it makes sense to pick that one. And didn't "The Impossible Astronaut" have the highest ratings in the history of BBC America? "The Time of Angels" doesn't quite have all the necessary companions. Rory isn't in it. Picking a David Tennant 2-parter is very hard. I'm quite fond of "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" but I think I'm in the minority there. "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" is great but you're right that the Doctor isn't really the Doctor for most of it. I really like "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" but that's more of a prelude to the Matt Smith years than a really archetypal Tennant story. I suppose, for better & for worse, "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" is the best example of the excesses of the RTD era. It's big. It's loud. It miraculously resurrects the Daleks only to destroy them all again at the end. It brings back positively everyone, even some of the spin-off characters from Torchwood & The Sarah Jane Adventures. It's only real draw-back is that the beginning doesn't totally make sense if you haven't seen the lead up to it in "Turn Left." For Christopher Eccleston, we all love "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" but I think "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting of the Ways" is the best example of the Eccleston era. It includes Jackie & Mickey. It brings in the Daleks and deals with the aftermath of the Time War, which was still very fresh in the 9th Doctor's mind. Rose gets a bit more to do in this story. And I think the regeneration scene is one of Eccleston's finest hours. It's not quite the over-the-top epic finish that Tennant got in "The End of Time" but "The Parting of the Ways" is brief while still putting a really nice cap on the Eccleston era.
I think Time of Angels exemplifies the best of the Moffat Era before it quickly degraded into random insanity.
Series Five had a lot of bad episodes, but I thought the Angel two parter was perfectly done. I wish that Moffat's run had lived up to those first five episodes. Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice, and the Silurian 2 parter were a real low point in the modern series. And I know I'm in the minority on this one but I find Vincent and the Doctor to be just alright.
I think you're in the minority on Amy's Choice as well (Me, I'm in the minority in liking the Silurian Two Parter )
My main criticism with "The Time of Angels" two-parter is that Matt Smith's characterization isn't there yet. Of course it's not -- it's the first episode of his run that was produced, and it was written as a tenth Doctor story, so the eleventh Doctor is prone to the tenth Doctor's verbal tics. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the heck out of "The Time of Angels" (though I really wish the second part didn't drop major plotlines from the first part, like why the Clerics wanted the Angel in the first place), but as an example of the eleventh Doctor's era as a whole, it's not a particularly good choice.
The Time Of Angels was a bad turning point actually, Moffat changed the rules regarding the Angels and it really started up the mystery surrounding River.
I'm okay with the choice for Tennant, even though I just watched the two-parter not long ago. Definitely my favorite story of all the nuWho stuff. A terrific outing that's full of fan-wank. To be honest, I really don't care what they show for Smith, as I've just never really gotten into his performance. I've really come to enjoy these specials and it's a shame they won't continue next year. I'd love for them to do Classic Who eps, one Doc per month, on a regular basis.
^I couldn't stand more of the way they stretched the images out to fit a widescreen format. That was just vandalism.