Thursday 3 January 2013

Review: Doctor Who - The Snowmen.

I know it is long overdue but here's my review for the Doctor Who Christmas special, The Snowmen. It's taken me this long to write the review just because I wasn't sure about what I was going to write and whether I had enough content to publish. So, I hope I have...


The episode was written by Steven Moffat. Let's be honest, his Christmas specials hasn't been so memorable and not as brilliant as his normal Doctor Who episodes. Even though I wasn't their number one fan, I had to buy them on DVD, simply because I wanted them for my collection of Doctor Who DVDS. (Well, £4 something on Amazon? Bargain.) Anyway, this Christmas special was SO much better than the last Christmas special, it was brilliant. Maybe I'm saying that just because the Christmas special was the episode where we have the 'proper' introduction to the new companion and Jenna-Louise Coleman. I did enjoy the whole episode though.


So, shall we talk about Jenna-Louise Coleman? I think we should. Since Jenna was announced as the companion, I've been ecstatic to see her on screen, besides Asylum of the Daleks (Which was a great surprise - bravo Moffat.) I've been aware of Jenna's previous acting credits, including: Emmerdale, Waterloo Road, Titanic and I think she's a brilliant actress, and a very lovely person. Clara's a barmaid and a governess, a Mary Poppins type figure. Jenna was brilliant in Asylum of the Daleks, and she was loved by many fans of the show, myself included. In this episode, she isn't disappointing in the slightest. There is very great chemistry with herself and the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith and I'm really looking forward to see the chemistry grow in the next batch of episodes. I think she was really great in this episode and she puts so much into it, I can't wait to see where the mystery of Clara goes and Jenna shine even more.


The character of Clara is an interesting one, isn't she? WHO is she? Well, at the start of the episode we see her as a Victorian barmaid, she meets The Doctor and she's instantly determined to find out exactly who and what he is. We then see Clara as 'Miss Montague', the governess and like I said, a Mary Poppins type figure. From being cockney to a very posh and articulated governess, we see another, yes, ANOTHER Clara, or is she Oswin? But we see another character with a different persona and... not Victorian?! Oh, and she's standing over 'her' gravestone. Not confusing in the slightest, right? But did anyone else recognise that the date that she was born was 'November 23rd'? And what's on the date of the 23rd of November? Doctor Who's 50th anniversary! Linked? Maybe, you know Moffat. I'm really looking forward to the mystery of Clara being resolved and hopefully there'll be only one Clara in the next batch of series. 


Time to talk about the fantastic Matt Smith. Matt is a very talented actor and has made the character his own, he's just well suited to play The Doctor now. With the loss of the Pond's The Doctor is not his usual, cheerful, child-like self, he's a much more dark, miserable and a much more reserved Doctor. Oh, and he lives on a cloud. It's really great seeing Matt's acting skills on show, the transformation to the much more energetic, fun and childish Doctor to a very miserable old man is really brilliant and Matt does it with ease. There's also the start of a new comic duo, The Doctor and Strax. They share insults to each other throughout the episode, sometimes it felt a little forced but it did seem like a nice change from the 'intense' scenes. I really enjoyed seeing a different side to the eleventh Doctor, and I'm excited to see how he's like in the new episodes. Matt Smith always puts 100 percent into the episodes and it pays off, bravo Matt.


Shall we talk about the new titles? I think we should. At first I wasn't madly in love with the titles, I found them tacky and was unnecessary to change them from the previous ones. It took me about three more watches of the title sequence for me to really love them, apart from the opening TARDIS at the end, that does look tacky never mind how many times I watch it. I love that it looks much more 'sci-fi' and I love the glimpse of Matt's face, like in the old titles. I really like the titles, but I do think they could be done without the TARDIS at the end.


Not only did we get new titles but we did get a new TARDIS too! When the pictures were released of the new TARDIS I didn't like it at all, I thought it looked cheap and it wasn't any need for them to change it. However, when it was shown during the episode, I loved it. I really do love it now, it looks more like a ship and I really like console and I'm excited for The Doctor and Clara to fly the TARDIS in the new series. 


Richard E Grant was the main guest star of the episode playing the role of Doctor Simeon, I thought he was a good villan and himself and Matt worked really well together. I think Richard is perfect to play a Doctor Who villan but the only small negative thing I have to say is, there wasn't enough of him in the episode, yes, it was introducing Clara and Jenna officially as the new companion but I think with so much publicity and so much exception, there wasn't a lot of him. But, I did enjoy the character and Richard's performance. The episode also guest starred Ian Mckellen, well the voice of him but he was brilliant and I wish I had his voice. It also starred Tom Ward, whom I wish we seen more of.


The episode also bought back some firm fan favourite characters: Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax. I love these three, aren't they just the most great trio? I think so, I love the relationship of Madame Vastra and Jenny and I think they work really well together and they have great chemistry. I really would like to see a spin-off staring Vastra, Jenny and Strax which I'm sure most fans would. I think it would be a great series, I would love to see what crimes they investigate in the Victorian era, I hope it happens in the future. We also have the return of them in the next batch of episodes - hurrah!


The Snowmen was a really great, family and a great viewing over the Christmas period. It was full of scary snowmen with pointy teeth, a vicious iced governess, the fabulous Clara and Jenna-Louise Coleman, The Doctor being Sherlock Holmes - do you have a goldfish called Colin? Thought not. The Great Intelligence (which is one of The Doctor's foes, in the classic series'). 


I really loved The Snowmen and I'm sure I'll watch it again and again. Here's to the next batch of episodes and more Jenna! 

Here's where you can watch a little teaser to what to expect to see in the new episodes. Which I'm certain that they air at April/early May, it hasn't really been confirmed.


Thank you very much for reading - and here's to a fantastic 2013 where we celebrate Who's 50th anniversary! 

If you have any requests on what you would like me to blog about or TV shows you'd like me to review, please write a comment. 

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Once again, thank you.


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