Days 22, 23, and 24

[vilakins]

Day late, but hey. I was too full of new DW last night.

Day 22
I decided to have a play with the nature brushes in Artrage. I painted a simple hill, sea, and sky with clouds, then used the special grass, tree, flower, and seagull brushes to add stuff. For fellow NZers, I even used the wheat brush to put toe-toe (pronounced toi-toi) in on the left. :-D


Day 23
The topic was "summer fun" - something I long for in midwinter - so here's a simple depiction of holidayness.


Day 24
Since I already did Jasmin (the cat on the mat), here are my other two cats, Ashley and Sebastian. And let me tell you, tabbies are incredibly hard to do; I spent ages blending Ashley's fur and trying (and failing) to get her face to look like hers, while Sebastian was dead easy.

Comments

[capri0mni]

I was meaning to ask you how you liked the episode (I actually bought it from Amazon Instant video -- that will be a rare thing, but I had a hunch this particular one would be a keeper).

...I may have to do a dedicated Who post.

[vilakins]

Sorry, I commented on others' posts rather than make one of my own. I think Capaldi was awesome - he's going to be a brilliant Doctor! Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are always for the win, but Clara was a little annoying when she was slow to accept Twelve, but as someone pointed out, she was standing in for the resistant viewer - not that I know any!

I am intrigued by Missy. Is she a female Master, but if so, why would she get Clara and the Doctor together originally, and place the ads? This is obviously the season arc, and it will be great (even if it's Daleks yet again next ep).

[capri0mni]

I finally got around to posting that dedicated review, yesterday (Honestly, I didn't mean for it to be a nearly-all-day project, really. But, you see, I had to go back and rewatch bits, to make sure I was getting the quotes right, and I kept getting sucked in.. ahem).

I was okay with Clara's reaction, because I actually like broad-brush, vague, spoilers, and seek them out. So I a) knew Clara was going to have trouble with the regeneration, and b) I knew about the phone call / hugging scene at the end as early as February. So I had seven months to worry that Clara was just going to be a carbon-copy of Rose. But she wasn't (and I'm am now thoroughly convinced Moffat wrote Clara this way to rebut the whole Ten/Rose relationship trainwreck).

Clara's reaction was a perfect illustration of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Yes, she knew about regeneration, at least, in theory: That when the Doctor's body is old or damaged, "he gets a new one." But she jumped to the wrong conclusion that his new body would look new according to a human frame of reference. Remember: the last time she had seen him with white hair and wrinkles, he was moments away from "dying." So she thought this regeneration was "broken," and that scared her. It also gave a Moffat a chance to write Madame Vastra's rant, which was one of my favorites.

I'm intrigued by the Missy arc, too. I hope the resolution lives up to the build-up (unlike the "Silence will fall").

[vilakins]

I think Clara's reaction felt odd because early on she seemed to accept him, sitting on his bed and asking if he was translating from dinosaur. I do love Vastra and her team. She can't be so old she's lived since the time of dinosaurs though, so I assume she was asleep with the other Silurians.

I'm so glad that Moffat's stayed well away from the whole Rose/Ten thing and made Eleven and Twelve very different from Ten whom I really got to dislike by the end of his run (RTD's fault, not Tennant's).

The "impossible girl" arc worked out satisfyingly well, so I'm hoping the resolution of this one will be as inventive. Plus Michelle Gomez is always fun to watch. :-)

I need new icons.

[capri0mni]

I think Clara's reaction felt odd because early on she seemed to accept him, sitting on his bed and asking if he was translating from dinosaur.

Well, yes. But she was nonetheless fixated on the idea that even though he was still the Doctor, he was a "broken" version of the Doctor, and her idea of helping him was "fixing" him -- returning him to being young.

(God -- each time I write out different bits of my reaction, I just end up writing about ableism/disablism. This episode is fairly dripping with it. Maybe I should write Moffat a letter explaining why the Daleks are not the "best monster in Doctor Who," even if they do pay the bills... He certainly seems aware of what disablism is, and how hurtful it can be.)

The "impossible girl" arc worked out satisfyingly well

It worked out better than I was fearing it would. But I still don't understand how the Doctor got himself and her out of his time stream alive, while the same thing supposedly destroyed the Great Intelligence. I realize they probably needed to end at the big reveal of John Hurt, but it felt unfinished to me without the sight of the Doctor and Clara coming back out of his time stream -- just to see what that would look like.

I need new icons.

I tried to make a new one, yesterday, now that I have images of Capaldi in the role of the Doctor. But no matter how I tried, I could not make: "It's simply misunderstandable to me!" fit in 100 pixels, and be legible. ;-)

[vilakins]

I'm rather sick of Daleks and Cybermen actually and long for some new and interesting aliens, though the robot met the specs and will probably come back.

Some people think Clara ought to remember all her fractured versions and every regeneration, but I'm not sure that was the case. Do you? If she did, surely she wouldn't still be sane with so many lives stuffed into her head. To me, she just has her own memories; otherwise she would know a lot more, and be invested with the desire to save the Doctor at all costs.

[capri0mni]

Some people think Clara ought to remember all her fractured versions and every regeneration, but I'm not sure that was the case. Do you?

Now that you mention it, no, any more than any of us can remember the alternate versions of our lives that one interpretation of the uncertainty principle of quantum physics says is possible. (Somewhere, in a spatial dimension at right angles to the meatspace I can sense, I'm living an equally real life where I was not born premature, and do not have CP. But I can't have any awareness of that version of me, and that version of me can't be aware of this version of me, any more than a flatlander can know what "up and down" means.)

However, this Clara has met three different versions of the Doctor, and knows, in theory, how regeneration works. But eleven-to-twelve is the first regen she's actually witnessed.

[vilakins]

I'm glad you agree about Clara not knowing what happened in her other lives. And yes, true, she met the War Doctor who was also old (and is Capaldi actually Thirteen?).

[capri0mni]

Well, actually, biologically, the Doctor as portrayed by Capaldi is the 14th Doctor, because the Doctor as portrayed by Tennant regenerated without changing his form. So Capaldi's Doctor is the start of a whole new regeneration cycle, granted to him by the High Council of Timelords at the end of the Christmas Special.

I rewatched parts of that, yesterday, before replying to you -- because there's a scene where the Doctor explains to Clara how this is his last incarnation, because he's used up all his regenerations, but I couldn't remember if he'd mentioned what she would have seen while her lives were fractured through his time stream (he didn't, so I take that as confirmation of our guess).

[vilakins]

BTW I thought I must have missed your review but I still can't see it.

[capri0mni]

Oh! You must not be on my Doctor Who filter... I will change that posthaste.

PS: Done.

[mab_browne]

I'm starting to feel hungry for a little summer myself, so I'm happily gazing at the summer picture. :-)

[vilakins]

I very much know the feeling, though I enjoyed the sun and hint of spring today.

[gwendraith]

Love your summer painting and of course the kitties :)

[vilakins]

Thank you! [cuddles Ashley and Sebastian]

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely pose of Ashley and Sebastian together - do they really lie like that ? I miss seeing my girls cuddled together, but I'm hoping that as it gets colder, Tycho and Iell with join up in one big, fluffy pile.

And New Who ! The story wasn't the best, but intro stories rarely are. I think Peter Capaldi will be a great Doctor once the new incarnation settles in and gets going.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

My previous pairs of cats (Claudia and Tessa, and before them, Sigi and Petra) used to cuddle up together all the time, and the current three did as young cats. They'll sit side-by-side now and lick each other but I haven't seen this sort of thing for a while, sadly.

Perhaps your two will; I know they less cuddly in summer.

Capaldi makes a great Doctor; pity they had to waste time convincing Clara (and presumably the viewer - not that I know anyone who needed to be). The season arc is already most intriguing and I've had my own speculations along with others who made the Missy-Master connection. I don't think she is though, unless she has a very good reason to get Clara and the Doctor together originally and place the newspaper ads in this ep. I adore Vastra, Jenny, and Strax and would watch the hell out of a spin-off with them.

So in general: YAY (even if it's Daleks yet again next ep).

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Nicely done, I like the summer fun.

Am glad Doctor Who is back on. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too - I'm enjoying 12 (though I miss 11).