No one move a muscle when the dead come home

[sovay]

The ironic aftereffect of viewing The Night of the Doctor (2013) last thing before bed is that I woke up wanting a time machine. The Doctor who sold his soul, sacrificed his name, gave away everything he stood for and became a monster to fight monsters? Of course I want him played by John Hurt. And then I want a series of that nameless Warrior seen for just one stinger moment in that fire-polished ripple of metal: Doctor no more . . . I have always thought John Hurt was beautiful, especially in his dark, watchful younger years. He always looked a little bruised around the eyes, even when the rest of him was boyish; he's a good face for someone I suspect of deploying the Gallifreyan equivalent of the Deplorable Word to end the Time War. I imagine we'll find out the full story in "The Day of the Doctor," but it will still be just a flicker, like this glimpse of Paul McGann. Thirty-year-old John Hurt is not happening without serious technology. (Neither is more onscreen McGann, I am afraid, although at least in his case there's years of radio drama to catch up on.) It's still probably most I've enjoyed a script by Steven Moffat since "Blink." And I can write wistfully about the rest.

Comments

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I've never had a serious recommendation for the series and I've been actively warned against the movie sequels.

What sequels? They only ever made the one movie. <nods vigorously>

Do you consider the previous seasons worth watching to get to the fifth?

Selected episodes, yes, and maybe a bit of background summary to explain stuff that's nowhere in the movie/things you'll see Duncan angsting about. You need at a minimum to see the stuff with Methos before season five, so you can properly appreciate how he's the best thing that ever happened to the show. :-P

If you're genuinely interested in this, shoot me an e-mail (marie{dot}brennan{at}gmail), and I'll try to write up a recommendation.

Thanks; I haven't seen either, except for maybe the last five minutes of "The End of Time" unless they were reprised at the beginning of "The Eleventh Hour."

I can't remember how much got reprised there, but it can't have been much more than the last half-centimeter of the spear point, so to speak. Some things need momentum to work.

[sovay]

You need at a minimum to see the stuff with Methos before season five, so you can properly appreciate how he's the best thing that ever happened to the show.

I have seen a lot of icons with him.

If you're genuinely interested in this, shoot me an e-mail (marie{dot}brennan{at}gmail), and I'll try to write up a recommendation.

I am genuinely interested in that no one has ever before made a case to me for watching the series; I am unlikely to start any time soon because a series of any greater length than Slings & Arrows is a major viewing commitment and I'm barely watching movies at this point. I don't want to put you to the trouble of writing me an exhaustive guide to the series right now when it may take me years to get around to making use of it.