Doctor Who XXXIII(7).6: The Snowmen

[sir_guinglain]

...and so our poor Intelligence did, or will do. It seems the obsession with prequels extends to more than the publicity. I had always assumed that the Intelligence and Padmasambhava met each other much earlier than 1892, but the original concept continues to stand by itself. Doctor Who is a garment of many cloths.

Early anxieties that jokes were being inserted at the expense of exposition were swept aside by the development of the story, and the enjoyment of seeing the Doctor returned to a position as close as possible, given modern audience expectations, to the withdrawn and aloof character he was in 1963. We are a long way from the kitchen sink, and it's appropriate that the new companion (of sorts, given that the Doctor has to seek out her company all over again) has more than a touch of Mary Poppins.

This may be old-fashioned and pre-timeshift of me, but I do have some worries about the timeslot given the importance of the episode to setting up the new semi-regular cast and the Doctor's new quest. 'The Snowmen' was looking for slightly later in the evening, when people have woken up a little after Christmas lunch and the new toys have become more familiar. I still hold out a slender hope that we will see the remaining episodes of this series before April, but suspect that like Simeon I am dreaming.

Comments

[sally_maria]

I enjoyed it a lot. I really like the idea of the mystery over Clara/Oswin - not just another pretty face in the TARDIS (not that there's anything wrong with that) but a genuine part of the on-going story.

And I loved the shout out to Web of Fear, which I have a major soft spot for, as it was one of the earliest Target novelisations I bought - I remember having to negotiate an advance on my pocket money to get it. :-)

[sir_guinglain]

The glimpse of twenty-first century Clara was a welcome throw forward. I enjoyed Jenna-Louise Coleman's performance and the establishment of the character. The Intelligence might not be the entity we thought it was when reading the Target books, but it's appropriate that one of the Doctor's bitter enemies is the augmented resentment of a self-loathing Victorian businessman.