Tuesday 16 October 2018

How Many Times Does An Angel Fall?

In the song Blackstar David Bowie asked the question "How many times does an angel Fall?" and the answer it would appear, for now, is thirteen. The many times The Doctor has fallen, nearly always in battle and never ever really knowing what you are gonna get. Well this time we got Jodie Whitaker and this angel has taken wing. She is great and I imagine this is what she did during her auditions for the part. I say auditions as I have heard she had to do more than one.
              Anyway, there she was at Christmas, oh yes, Christmas night last seen falling from an exploding Tardis, clutching desperately, trying in vain to close the distance between herself and the thing she loves and needs. Hows she going to get out off that one! We now know she did not, crashing through the roof of a stalled train, presumably protected from going splat by the residual energy of her recent regeneration. fortunately she landed on a sheffield bound train and not on the Belfast to Dublin line. Or perhaps not so fortunate, I have no doubt she would have found herself in a tricky situation of some sort, just not one involving alien tech. Probably.
             She hit the ground running did Our Jodie (And doesn't that feel natural already). Only born and already trying to save innocents from a fate worse than Casualty. It was a strange story to kick off with, a predator inspired hunt I suppose, with an alien entity that felt more like a creature from Torchwood than Doctor Who. Although they do occupy and share the same continuity, just a human tooth clad creature..ugh. She was fortunate enough to find great company straight off the bat to share her adventure, both in the industrial underbelly of the city and the green open spaces overlooking it. A great juxstaposition both visually and in terms of telling the story. One being part of the other.
              No Tardis yet, no Unit to check out the alien incursion, no sentient puddles...I think at least two of those things are sure to reappear at some point. I really liked seeing this new incarnation running about in the tattered remains of her previous incarnation. I had hoped the ramshackle but well equipped workshop she built her new Sonic in was going to be her regular workshop. Goggles and torch in gloved hand she looked every inch the cyberpunk inventor.I love the idea of The Doctor building magical things out of junk. It so speaks to the heart of why I love this show so much. And with everything else going on it might have been easy to overlook, or not quite hear, the amazing new soundtrack provided by Segun Akinola. He had such huge shoes to fill who would have blamed him from shying away. He did not though and we were rewarded with an atmospheric soundscape that really held its own with the bold new visual direction.
              Nine more weeks off this..
              Its enough to make one believe in magic.