Free Doctor Who On iTunes

iTunes on Facebook has just alerted me to the availability of free Doctor Who on iTunes! “The Eleventh Hour” and something called “Best of the Doctor” (presumably the Eleventh Doctor) are currently available on iTunes through BBC America. You can likely find a link on the iTunes Facebook page. 

Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

Spoilers for the Doctor Who 2011 Christmas Special!

This year, I have access to BBCA. And that means that I can watch the Doctor Who Christmas special as it airs in the U.S. It was a fantastic episode. There was a nice element of fantasy, some clever lines, a heart-warming story, an nail-biting deadline — everything a Christmas special needs — and yet my favorite part was the last few minutes. 

The Wedding of River Song

Spoilers!

So intense, and it doesn’t make any sense, but it does. And “pterodactyls are vermin. Do not feed.” Bringing back Dickens, Churchill, a Dalek. “It’s always two minutes past five.” The Doctor reading a “Knitting for Girls” magazine. “Live chess” super creepy — the Doctor’s gotten ruthless. Except not so much: the person aimed a gun at him, and the Doctor still reached to save him as he fell through a trapdoor.

Doctor Who: Closing Time

Spoilers!

For all that “Closing Time” was a stand-alone, companion-less episode (“filler,” as I’ve seen it called online), I really liked it. The Cybermen plotline seemed rather secondary to me, but I think it showed a great deal about the Doctor. I juxtapose it against “Waters of Mars,” which was the stand-alone, companion-less episode before the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration, and the contrast between the two is stark. In his desperation, the Tenth Doctor turns into the Time Lord Victorious; the Eleventh Doctor, though facing what he views as his final death (not just regeneration) and fighting a desire to squeeze in as much as possible before he dies, seems to be quintessentially Doctor-y: talking a thousand miles a minute, conversing with children, saving the world, caring for his friends, continually getting distracted. He is aware that he will die, and that knowledge makes him feel very old at times, but he approaches death in a way different from he has in the past.

Night and the Doctor (Doctor Who mini-episodes)

Spoilers!

It may be worth purchasing the complete sixth season of Doctor Who in actual DVD form (as opposed to the cheaper, no-physical-copy version) in order to get the five mini-episodes that comprise Night and the Doctor. The Doctor in a tuxedo, plenty of River Song, little glimpses into the Doctor’s relationships with Amy and Rory — they may be tiny little video clips (emphasis on mini), but they’re wonderful. 

The Clothes Off the Eleventh Doctor’s Back

The outfit of Doctor Who‘s Eleventh Doctor, along with a signed script, is being auctioned off in order to raise money for BBC Children in Need. I, of course, am not bidding (there are three and a half days left, and the current bid is already 21,550 pounds), but the video they created to advertise the auction is adorable! Also, it’s been over a month since the last episode aired, and I’m missing Doctor Who. 

Doctor Who: Let’s Kill Hitler (Stream of Consciousness)

Spoilers for Doctor Who’s “A Good Man Goes to War” and “Let’s Kill Hitler”

“Doctor” crop circles? Nice! Clever. The Doctor certainly has changed, though — so much for never coming back. They’ve got a special relationship — he gets their attention; they get his. It’s a lot more equal, the Doctor and Amy and Rory. It’s much less focused on the Doctor and his companion; they’ve got lives beyond the Doctor, and they don’t worry that he’ll abandon them. 

Doctor Who: The 11th Hour

Spoilers!

Almost the first thing the Eleventh Doctor did was walk into a tree. Fabulous. Also, nice to see that the TARDIS is much bigger on the inside (and the pool is inside the library?). The food scene is excellent. And the scene — and the music! — when Amelia is packing is so sweet and so sad; my heart just aches for the little girl because I know that the Doctor isn’t coming.

Just For Fun: Doctor Who Comics

As you probably know, I love Doctor Who. And if you do any kind of Google search, you will soon see that I am not the only one. The following are some of my favorite Doctor Who-related comics and other humorous things.

From Comixed

The Doctor’s Wife

Spoilers!

At first, I was in disbelief that they were actually titling an episode of Doctor Who “The Doctor’s Wife” (so obvious!) — and then that River Song wasn’t in it! There’s been this big question of River Song’s identity, and whether she’s married to the Doctor. It’s been an ongoing mystery since the fourth season — even the revelation last week of who River Song is doesn’t really answer the question of whether she and the Doctor are married. I just couldn’t see how they would make this episode work.