#these ended up being mostly clara related again. oops

[rosenkranz-isnt-dead]

doctor who + text posts

[hypexion]

It’s time for a jolly Christmas episode with The Snowmen. In the middle of the series, because the production side of things also ended up going sideways during Series Seven, it seems.

The Snowmen is effectively the story of how the Eleventh Doctor gets his groove back. After having to live through The Angels Take Manhatten and it’s terrible ending, the funky spaceman has once again become depressed. Unlike Ten, who tries to be evil and fails, Eleven decides he’s going to move to a cloud in Victorian London and spend his days moping. It’s a very understandable urge, that I’m sure many people can relate to.

Of course, the Doctor can’t stay sad and retired for long. Before the title credits even roll, he’s been drawn into The Mystery of the Evil Snow, and has also met a new person with companion energy. Through the power of being really persistent, Clara is able to bully the Doctor into doing his job and saving the world from the Evil Snow. And once the Doctor gets pulled out of his funk, The Snowmen moves along like any other episode. There’s no time for moping when a sinister Victorian doctor played by Richard E. Grant wants to destroy humanity with an army of ice!

The real episode gimmick, however, is that Clara is played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, making her look identical to Oswin from Asylum of the Daleks. The Doctor doesn’t learn this connection until the end of the episode, but for the viewer it’s there from the beginning. Honestly, it doesn’t add that much to the episode, and is just there for arc reasons. It’s the same for Clara’s sudden and arbitary death, which is only slightly less terrible than what happened to Amy and Rory since there’s some level of setup for it. I find it kind of disappointing that Clara dies here, because I think I prefer Victorian Clara to actual modern day Clara. She has actual big companion energy, being curious, intelligent and cares about protecting people. Plus, a non-modern companion would have been an interesting idea. And also “female character dies to motivate male character“ is a trope that probably needs to be put back on the shelf to gather dust for a while.

We also have returning guest companions in the form of disapproving lizard women Vastra, her wife Jenny, and their bumbling Sontaran butler, Strax. Never has the Sontaran threat been so degraded, other than the time one took a high-heel to the probic vent. Although once the situation takes a violent turn, Strax is actually kind of competent. The “Paternoster Gang“ are here to tell the Doctor that he can’t mope forever, and also to give Clara a way to contact the Doctor. The whole “one word“ thing is actually a clever idea, especially “words“, but somehow the episode gets the answer to the big question wrong. Clara, when prompted to give a single word to get the Doctor help, chooses “pond”. Which doesn’t make sense in context - she has no way of knowing this will hit all of the Doctor’s guilt buttons and make him come down and investigate. The correct word, which would make sense for Clara to use and the Doctor to respond to is “children“, because Eleven can’t stand children being sad.

On the villain side, we have a surprising return of, and origin story for the Great Intelligence, a mysterious evil mind that appeared in two Second Doctor episodes. The Intelligence is working with Dr. Simeon to realise their goal of No More Humans. Except that it turns out that the Intelligence is actually just mirroring Simeon’s general misanthropy, and doesn’t really have it’s own agenda. Except it does, and when the Doctor cleverly mind-wipes Simeon, it just frees the Intelligence to bother his past self. Oops.

As villains go, Dr. Simeon is just the right amount of sinister mixed with general evil dickery to make things work. The Great Intelligence itself is a tad less interesting, but manages to make a decent impression. Finally, the whole Ice Governess thing is a little out there, but given that the other parts of the villain can’t really do much, it provides an opportunity for a physical threat that’s not just evil snowmen. Although the evil snowmen are definitely threatening, which is quite an achievement.

Overall, The Snowmen is mostly a return to form for Doctor Who. While the arc stuff ends up delivering an unhappy ending, the episode still has a weird monster, a strong villain, and a generally positive outlook towards things. The Eleventh Doctor doesn’t really have the best of Christmas Specials, but I’d say that this one is still pretty good.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: Lucky Star

It would seem my assessment at the end of Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was inaccurate in a couple ways.

1) For some reason, I’ve been procrastinating on my Digimon-related plans.[1]

2) There is one final series, super periphery, but with just enough strings to call it part of… well, not the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise, but part of its wave.

The old, moe-blob darling of the mid-2000s Otaku, back before the shift to Weeaboo.[2] Packed with anime and other japanese nerd references, inane comedic conversations, and very GIF-able moments.

That series, of course, is Lucky Star.

Lucky Star is a comfortable show, in the same ‘Schoolgirls living their lives’ vein born from Azumanga Daioh, but with a much more otaku focus.

My first exposure was in the form of forum avatars and GIFs depicting the cast (mostly Konata) populating the internet during its hay day. So it’s obviously been on the ‘Someday! Someday…’ list I maintain in the back of my mind for years.

Then I discovered the request form of the Mighty Santa Clara Library System! And I requested they pick up the series boxset.

Which, remarkably, they did! Right before it initially went out of print.[3]

So it was crossed off late High School. After which, it immediately became a frequent borrow for me, as Lucky Star is a good show for relaxing.

Anyways, it was scooped up by Funimation as part of its series of rescued dubs, and a few months later, I finally took the plunge and purchased the Blu-Rays.[4]

Now, here I am, rewatching it yet again. Might as well review it.[5]

As it’s based off a series of 4koma, which maintained an even looser structure than Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star is more than episodic, it’s mostly a series of bits. A bunch of little scenes strung together, sometimes with a through line, sometimes not, with very clear cracks between the comics being adapted. Not that’s a bad thing, in this case.

It’s a very static series. There’s no hugging, no lessons, just three students (plus Miyuku) going about their day.

Konata is the closest thing the series gets to a protagonist, in that she drives most of the scenes. She’s the most obsessed with Otaku culture, firing off constant references to awkwardly censored properties or to anime tropes or to the culture itself. Since that’s the target audience, most viewers will identify with her. The fact she pairs this with being Brilliant (but lazy), and slacks off on homework and studying, does have some parallels with me, personally.

Kagami is Konata’s foil, either working against whatever odd quirk Konata’s showing off, or giving into inquisitiveness about whatever the topic of conversation is. She’s sarcastic and a sort of a platonic Tsundere. She’s got a few shared hobbies with Konata, but doesn’t match the intensity.

Tsukasa is Kagami’s fraternal twin. She’s the good natured dunce the central trio needs to round out their comedic potential. If you need someone oblivious to some topic, you get Tsukasa. If you need to showcase how foolish someone else is being, compare them with Tsukasa. If you need a random quiet moment, focus on Tsukasa.

Miyuki is nice. That’s it, she’s just kinda around. She’s the weakest member of the central four, to the point that it’s a little difficult to even count her as a main cast member, despite being given that weight during the opening theme. She has one of two jobs in any given scene: to be the topic of conversation, or to give exposition to move whatever comedy bits are occurring to the next phase.

Later one, a few juniors are introduced to ease the workload off Konata and friends, but they never quite reach the same level.

Because the show is so uncomplex, there are very few episodes that can’t stand alone. There are a few running subplots (Konata’s part-time job, the lead up to Comiket, Konata’s cousin moving in) that crop up and get payoffs, but you don’t really need to follow the set-up. Thus, viewing order is mostly trivial (watch it straight through the first time, though), and you can pretty much drop in and out of whatever episode you feel like.

The comedy is a low key mix of ‘Heh, I relate’ to ‘That’s some nice banter’ to neat Meta gags.

THe Meta gags include one of my favorite riffing topics: Voice Actors and their work history![7] Because something the original Japanese casting did that the Dub Company did an amazing job of carrying over was how many characters share voices with the Haruhi cast, including Haruhi fan Konata sharing the voice of Haruhi herself!

It’s this love of meta that makes Lucky Star an honorary part of the Haruhi Franchise. Though, while Haruhi uses it’s meta-ness for narrative and dramatic purposes, Lucky Star is a straight comedy.

Basically, if you enjoy mid-2000s anime, easy viewing comedy, and Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star does stand up. However, it’s possible that it won’t work as well with people who don’t have those contexts.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Partially because I’m still undecided about what form they’ll take. Mostly because I haven’t made time for it. [2] Just… call me a nerd. My interests are vast, and that includes opinions on etymology. [3] I do believe it's the only request of mine they’ve filled. [4] Then, it turns out, the series is part of Funimation stream service. Oops? Well, I have it forever now. [5] If only I could feasibly justify these things as business expenses…[6] [6] *Cough* Here’s my Patreon *cough* [7] See Raguna-Cat of the new Sailor Moon dub, and me and my brother breaking down at Tara String using the Twilight Sparkle voice on a random Noble Lady in Tales of Symphonia.