Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

[eve11]

"I was joking, why weren't you?" Oh Amy, perceptive as ever but she won't figure out this mystery.

Love the cafe scene, ("Keep your big nose out of people's business!", ha!) and did you notice after they had a drink that the accordion music was playing the Doctor's theme music? heh.

"Where are you staying tonight?"
"Oh! You're very kind."

It's a great portrayal of van Gogh's mental illness, that fiction rarely takes. I like how it of course affects his life but Van Gogh isn't portrayed as a tortured artist, more manic without the ability to control it. No, he's not always sad or alway raving or always anything; he's living his life, he's loving life, but it's like riding out a storm on the ocean in a raft. It's like, the difference between how disability is often portrayed on The Lifetime Network and in certain Fanfic Tropes, and how disability really is, day to day, that often those of us who are not disabled or mentally ill or deal with it on a daily basis need some reminders of. Life is life; it comes in many shapes and sizes and modes, and while illness or disability can have an impact on someone's life, it doesn't make them immediately magic or special or heroic or tragic. There are accommodations that must be made, and compromises, and sometimes, the illness ultimately wins. But dreams, hopes, fears, the small things, the big things-- are all universal.

LOL, love the Doctor fighting the invisible monster. Not his brightest day, but it's so Troughton-esque (I recall eg, fleeing from cybermen bullets in The Invasion), that I forgive it.

"I'll risk it, what's the worst that could happen?"
"You could get torn to pieces by a monster you can't see."
"Right, yes, that. Don't worry, I'll be back before you can say 'Where's he got to now?'"

LOL "Not that fast! But, pretty fast. See you around."

Okay, so is the gadget in this one a remnant of an older episode? A godmother with two heads and bad breath... twice..., does it show up anywhere else? Not sure that Richard Curtis is a die-hard fan, so it's probably just an invention for this episode. I quite like it though.

"This is the problem with impressionists! Not accurate enough; this would never happen with Gainsborough or one of those... proper, painters. Sorry, Vincent."

"You scared the living daylights out of me!" HELLO THAR TROUGHTON-DOCTOR! :D :D :D

Sunflowers, half-human as they turn to the sun. And a little disgusting.

It's a Krafayis: a deadly space chicken. I KID YOU NOT! SPACE CHICKEN! Also part dinosaur. Or polar bear.

"If you paint it, he will come." *snerk*

"Half the pictures on the walls of the Musee d'Orsay will disappear. And it will be our fault." Oh Doctor, feeling a bit guilty about getting Rory erased from history, are you?

"My experience is that there is, you know, surprisingly, always hope."
"Then your experience is incomplete. I know how it will end, and it will not end well."

OMG, the painting scene, ha! Doctor, you are an incorrigible name-dropper in any incarnation. "I kept telling him, 'Concentrate, Pablo; it's one eye on either side of the face.'"

"Is this how time normally passes? Reaaaally slowly... in the right order. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's an unpunctual alien attack."

"Overconfidence, this, and a small screwdriver. I'm absolutely sorted." :D

Oh, I love the look the Doctor gives the bas-relief over the door of the church, with St. George slaying the dragon. Nice touch. Love Amy scaring the bejeezus out of him again.

Amy screams pretty well, doesn't she? Very Susan. ;)

"Actually, he rather seemed to enjoy it." HA! And yeah, invisible monsters for the win, seriously. I love how in all the behind-the-scenes stuff the actors always complain about only having a tennis ball to look at and look scared because the CGI hasn't been put in yet... well this time, they didn't even bother with a tennis ball! They've got absolutely ZILCH to go on!

"Here's the plan: Amy, Rory--" "Who?" Oh, ouch. :'( And I love that of course the Doctor tries talking to it.

Twice for some reason in this ep, Matt Smith has seemed to throw an unnecesary "you know" into his dialogue. In the bedroom scene with Van Gogh and then with "...try to come to some sort of, you know, understanding". Huh? Was that scripted, Mr. Curtis? And if not, someone smack Matt Smith on the head.

"I am really stupid."
"Oh, get a grip! This is not a time to evaluate your self esteem!" (Oh Amy, have I mentioned yet that you are awesome in this ep?)
"No! I am really stupid, and I'm growing old."
*still hearts Matt Smith, 'you know''s notwithstanding*

Man, the creature was blind! And then they killed it by accident. I loved that the Doctor was from the start wanting to try and rescue it more than kill it, but it didn't work out. The poor murderous thing indeed. And Vincent understands why it lashed out, and it's all kinds of sad, and the Doctor comforts it as it dies, of course he does. Some may say it's a bit saccharine, that, but I liked it.

The scene under the stars makes me seriously ship Eleven/Van Gogh. *sighs*. And it also introduces hints of Eight, I think. Or perhaps it's just that it reminds me fiercely of Eight and Karl Sadeghi in the novel "The Year of Intelligent Tigers." I like how Van Gogh is so emotionally open in this scene, so life-affirming even though we know what will eventually happen. I know I said it was shippy but it's also just a nice take on friendship too.

I was spoiled for the fact that this ep basically wrapped up the monster plot in about 25 minutes and then went on to do some more character-y things. Probably that helped me get over the "huh?" factor in the episode design. I must admit I liked the monster plotline better, but it was a good grace note, if a bit indulgent, with lots of love and hugs and all. And the hint of red-headed children, and the slight sting of Amy's "I'm not the marrying type."

I didn't really tear up at the museum scene, mostly because I was really, really nervous that Bill Nighy was going to say something like "It's such a shame he took his own life so soon," or otherwise hint at the impending suicide, and turn it into a horror show. Did like the "sorry about the beard" bit after Vincent kissed the critic though, aw. And it was nice to see as happy of an ending as could have been done. Of course they can't save Vincent from his own demons but they can add to the good days, surely. Life doesn't always balance out like that; sometimes even hope isn't enough to save someone.

It's like, kind of a reflection of the end of Cold Blood, too, if you think about it. The Doctor says, there's always hope, and Amy has to keep Rory in her mind, but I think he knows, deep down, that the tide of time is too strong. She can't win against it; it's like trying to save someone from drowning in a storm at sea, when all they have is a raft to keep them afloat. It's life; you have to hope until you can't anymore.

I didn't realize (not being an art historian) how comparatively late Van Gogh's renaissance period was. 1890. that was a mere 120 years ago. And how long will his legacy last? Reminds me a bit of Isaac Newton in the Big Finish story "Circular Time". How long do any of us last? And perhaps I should stop taking my weekend/evening jogs through the cemetery in our town; it makes me a bit morbid, doesn't it? Heck our cemetery was established in 1865. The American Civil War had just ended, and Vincent Van Gogh was only 12 years old. Hardly a blip in history yet, even today. Such a melancholy thought, that everything is so impermanent.

Ah, enough of that. So, I mentioned in my other post the bits about Van Gogh painting Wheat Field with Crows at the beginning of the episode. Does anyone else hear Cybermen footsteps in the field, or is it just me? Gonna go back and correlate that noise with the creature later on... sounds more like galloping later on, less like stomping. I'm sure my tinfoil hat is showing ;)

Comments

[tripoli.livejournal.com]

I forgot about that bit where he LEAPED back in the door to startle them right after he wandered off to find the invisible monster alone at night. I totally laughed at that; it's so wrong and so hilarious at the same time. Jeez, Eleven, give the squishy freaked-out humans a break, wouldja?

Bill Nighy: also awesome.

I'm gonna give this one another pass, maybe I was just cranky this afternoon.

[eve11]

"Not that fast!" Yeah, the good old Doctor is way madder than Van Gogh in this ep ;)

I'm not head-over-heels for it like much of the world, but it was definitely entertaining, monstery, funny and thinky, which I liked quite a bit.

[barbiejedi.livejournal.com]

and did you notice after they had a drink that the accordion music was playing the Doctor's theme music?

Ahaha, I am totally going back to look for that. XD

Is it just me, or did Rory feel like a Big Invisible Elephant-in-the-TARDIS this episode? They'd better un-mess him up in the finale. :(

[eve11]

Yeah, Rory was definitely still very much present in his absence in this one. I think they will sort something out about him in the finale. I hope they bring him back and it's not just that Amy remembers him. I mean, their wedding day is still ground zero for universe-shattering time-plosion.

[barbiejedi.livejournal.com]

That is true-- holy cow, I wonder if part of the universe-implosion is the fact that there won't be a Rory at the wedding because he got eaten by the Time Crack? Or something that the wedding would have stopped or prevented if it had been there, but now that Rory's been undone the bad thing's going to happen worse than it would have previously or...

AAAUGH three weeks is about twenty days too long to figure out how this is all gonna happen. D:

[eve11]

IKR? I have no idea how I will avoid clicking on spoilers BUT I MUST! ARG!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

"Is this how time normally passes? Reaaaally slowly... in the right order. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's an unpunctual alien attack."

He's so ADD in this episode. Like a little kid hyped up on sugar, only for the Doctor it's more like hyped up on the potential excitement/fun/chaos/destruction of a good alien attack. Or like it's Christmas morning and he's been told to stay in bed till Mom and Dad get up, so he's following the letter of the law while bouncing around enough to bring the house down.

The scene under the stars makes me seriously ship Eleven/Van Gogh.

Eleven almost always seems to have more chemistry with the boys than with the girls. Or maybe it's just that he had more chemistry with Rory than with Amy. Anyway, I also saw Eleven/Van Gogh in that scene.

I missed the accordian music, I'll have to go back and have a listen. I rewatched the beginning scene, in the wheatfield, looking for crack shaped crows (the crow that he was painting on did have a bit of a crack shape, but it's hard to tell if that was on purpose or just because that's how people draw birds) but now I'll have to watch it again for Cybermen stomping. :)

[eve11]

Sometimes Smith's Doctor seems all over the place, ep to ep. Some of it is deliberate I think, but some of it is the writers still learning about the Doctor as much as we are. And Curtis is a totally new Doctor Who writer, so we see a bit of a different mode here.

Eight always had more chemistry with the boys too, methinks. Barring Charley Pollard in the audios. In the books he was written very subtexty-slashy with Fitz Kreiner.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Yes to everything you've said here. Now I must go watch it again and ponder.

I'm reminded of how it feels to read Hamlet (or watch a good movie version of it). There are moments when I hope so much that somehow this time it will end differently. A bit the same for Van Gogh. The way the episode is structured made me think that it's the same for The Doctor watching and experiencing history, he wants to change what he can....and he doesn't give up hope either.

PS. I've been re-reading your post and thinking about time and realizing how long or short we last. You've reminded me of a quote from my favorite book 'Engine Summer' by John Crowley. I think he articulates the careful balancing act of metabolizing time and mortality with hope and the present very well:

"Time I think, is like walking backwards away from something: say a kiss. First there is the kiss; then you step back, and the eyes fill up your vision, then the eyes are framed in the face as you step further away; the face then is part of a body, and then the body is framed in a doorway, then the doorway framed in the trees beside it. The path grows longer and the door smaller, the trees fill up your sight and the door is lost, then the path is lost in the woods and the woods lost in the hills. Yet somewhere in the center still is the kiss. that's what time is like."

[eve11]

Oh, that's beautiful. Melencholy but hopeful. And it's the source of your journal name, isn't it? Thanks for sharing that quote with me :)

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Isn't it marvelous! And yup, took that for my journal name. The book itself is a masterpiece of Timey Wimey fabulousness. OK, fabulousness is not a word, but it should be.

[eve11]

OK, fabulousness is not a word, but it should be.

Oh, I'm sure I've used that word from time to time! :D

I looked on Amazon and the book appears out of print. A few individual sellers but the price starts at $19, for a mass market paperback! Must be a really good book...

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Hee! Well that's a good thing then. ;)

As for the book, might be out in a compilation of some of his other stuff....and I've loved that book so much for so long I'm rather biased about it. But yes, a very good book. I always recommend people read it once, then a second time. The reading process and experience is probably completed by the second knowing read through.

It's not a very long book....*veg*

[rabswom.livejournal.com]

I definitely cried at the museum scene.

I thought this episode was kinda weird -- because of how the part with the monster was wrapped up so quickly and then it was all character-stuff. I didn't dislike it, but it was odd.

[eve11]

Back in the very old days, they would do straight historical stories where there were no monsters at all. This kind of reminded me of that a little bit; it was much less plot-driven and more character driven. It seems like it would have been nicer though if they could have worked the character stuff in tandem with the plot, instead of kind of adding it on to the end.