Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

[carmen_lj]

Hello. Today was Doctor Who day, so I watched Doctor Who, and it was great.

• BILL NIGHY! This is ridic pleasing to me as I love him and he is brilliant and it is almost as good as when Derek Jacobi was in it that one time that wasn't Shalka, even though that was great too but it wasn't on the telly.
  
  
• "It was like Shakespeare knocking off Othello, Macbeth, and Hamlet over the summer hols." Van Gogh is not My Artist; it does not matter, for the amount of sheer love for the man and his work makes me happy, for he was brilliant and art is brilliant and Doctor Who talking about brilliant artists makes me happy.
  
  
• Oh, Amy is so v glee over the paintings; the way she looks at paintings is smashing and HOW AMAZING was it when they went into Van Gogh's house and it was portrayed as Magic Wondrousness and it was madman with a house full of paintings? (VERY is the correct answer.)
  
  
• OMG THEY ARE AS SCARY TIME STALKERS.
  
  
• Heh, I didn't know Vincent Van Gogh was Scottish.
  
  
• "Where are you staying tonight?" "Oh, you're very kind." Lols!
  
  
• Invisible monsters are Most Pleasing. I hope the reason Van Gogh can see it and everyone else can't is not to do with Magic Powers what are given to him by being A Crazy Dude.
  
  
• Otherwise, I'm perfectly happy with this portrayal of depression/anxiety disorders. It's not glossed over, it's not demonised, it's not given a pat answer, and it's not Magically Solved by finding the beauty of life. Cause he's done that already and, WEIRDLY, not a cure for depression.
  
  
• I really really like the Doctor's saying at the end that good things won't neccessarily soften the bad, because sometimes it doesn't matter how much you know you are loved and that people care about you and that there are amazing brilliant things and all the jazz, it doesn't matter, because inside everything is wrong and terrifying and it hurts.
  
  
• I'm going to assume Van Gogh could see the monster cause there's been this thing where Creative Genuises of Earth can see things other people can't rather than Mad People have Magic Powers. So Magic Powers as a result of Genius rather than Madness, which is still ridic but not so faily.
  
  
• Yeah, I cried. It's Richard Curtis. He makes people cry with sentiment and stuff, curse him. I didn't cry at the invisible monster dying cause that was verging on the sickly saccharine, but the Doctor getting a mad grin on his face, and thieving Van Gogh to the Musée d'Orsay and him seeing his work and then hearing how he was, in fact, an brilliant artist? Yes. Now let us never speak of it again.
  
  
• OH AMY. I love her SUBTLE HINT that Van Gogh should be painting sunflowers. The look on her face is brilliant.
  
  
• As is her hand gesture when she asks the Doctor what he's going to do if the monster is outside waiting for him.
  
  
• UNEXPECTED!MONOCHROMATIC!DOCTORS. ::flaily hands::
  
  
• Glad that Rory is not forgotten: the Doctor accidently says his name, Amy is sad without knowing why and the Doctor is Quite A Lot Guilty about it all.
  
  
• And hurrah that Amy considers the Musée d'Orsay to be an awesome place. Because it is.
  
  
• Oh, the Doctor and his backseat painting and ridic namedropping.
  
  
• "Overconfidence, this and a small screwdriver. I'm sorted." Indeedy.
  
  
• "Will you follow him?" "Of course." "I love you." Eee! Oh, it is a bit lovely and that Doctor gets all jealous about them at the cafe and Vincent loves Amy which is perfectly sensible and there is so much hugging and kissing and-
  
  
• THE SCENE UNDER THE STARS. Where they are all holding hands and looking up and the night sky and, oh, it looks a bit like the end of Genesis of the Daleks, which has sod all to do with how beautiful it is, but yes, that bit, that bit was magnificent.
  
  
• THE ULTIMATE GINGER.
  
  
• On a concluding note, my mum told me that she cried, and that it's the first time she's ever cried at Doctor Who. She's been watching since 1963, so that is Quite An Achievement, well done, Richard Curtis and dudes. That was pretty damn awesome.

Comments

[amaresu]

I got the impression that they were attempting to say that he had some sort of aphasia and that's why he could see the monster and that's why he painted like he did because it was how he saw the world. I've seen the Van Gogh had aphasia theory before though so perhaps that's why I'm thinking that.

And a big yes to everything else.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I thought aphasia was a thing where you found it difficult to communicate?

[amaresu]

It's where your senses get confused. Like people taste shapes or hear colors. It's really interesting. I used to know someone who could taste certain sounds.

There are a lot of different kinds. Medical dramas tend to show the difficulty in communicating ones. But lots of people lead perfectly normal lives, for the most part.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Possibly you be meaning synesthesia?

[amaresu]

Yes, yes I do. I knew I should've looked up the term but I chose not to. Teach me to trust I'm using the right word.

[eve11]

synaethesia, maybe?

[fannishnonsense]

I totally thought they were saying he could see the monster because he was a Great Artist who has trained himself to see things. Though that might be just because I want that to be what it was saying.

Anyway, great episode for all the reasons you've stated. I want to watch it again, but I'm afraid I'll get all teary all over again. I'm a bit teary just thinking about it.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

It's the first episode where I haven't wanted to Instantly Rewatch because I don't want to start sobbing ridiculously quite so soon again, woes.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

I thought they were going to go with a Buffy-style 'demon is manifestation of someone's personal issue', so just as only Van Gogh could understand/appreciate his own depression, only he could see the monster. But then it turned out Eleventy could see the monster with his own special thingy, so now I don't know.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, it works none too shabbily as a metaphor.

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

So..

I read like, the first line on your post, cursed the fact that my *ahem* download isn't finished yet, and skipped down here to say that.

*shakes fist at slowness of compy*

(I'll come back here after I watch it.)

(Nonsense comment is nonsense)

[such_heights]

Yes, so much, to all of this! <333

I really really like the Doctor's saying at the end that good things won't neccessarily soften the bad, because sometimes it doesn't matter how much you know you are loved and that people care about you and that there are amazing brilliant things and all the jazz, it doesn't matter, because inside everything is wrong and terrifying and it hurts.

Exactly, that made me enormously happy and feel loved by the show.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I think what pleased most was I know how much influence Doctor Who had on me as a kid, and given the show's popularity it'll undoubtedly influence a lot more kids now, and if I'd had this episode, I think I'd've been less scared when I first realised that I wasn't well, and that can only be a good thing.

[doctor-love-gun.livejournal.com]

That was a beautiful episode. Didn't expect it to be quite as moving as it ultimately was, but it handled emotion and a portrait of a depressed artist and how one man can touch the life of others so well.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Aye, I expected sentimentality cause it's Richard Curtis, but not to find it so well-handled and moving.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

I'm assuuuuuuming Van Gogh seeing the alien was because of artistic vision extra-perceptiveness and not crazy. Because it didn't otherwise idealize his problems.

I need to look again for Amy's hand gesture now!

I thought he was more bored by dramaful sappy flirting over hair, but jealous is also fun. XD And I love how Van Gogh fell for her so fast, because...he kinda is that guy. I'M GLAD HE DIDNT GIVE HER HIS EAR.

Omg that moment in Genesis was lovely too.

I maaay have cried before, don't quite remember, but this is definitely the most I did. But I was always maybe going to be easy for this episode.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

OH YEAH, I cried at the ends of The War Games and The Green Death. DUH.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

AS IS RIGHT.

Though I don't cry at Green Death, but I do remember when I saw it for the first time - I was like eight, maybe - I stared bleakly at the screen as the credits started and couldn't believe Jo was really leaving the Doctor.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

I just think it is the most beautifully done bittersweet departure moments the show's ever done. HE LEAVES WHILE NO ONE IS LOOKING. D= SHE TURNS JUST IN TIME TO SEE HIM SLIPPING OUT. *cries all over again*

[hobbylobby.livejournal.com]

This. I didn't remember much about the scene but recently I rewatched it. And cried so hard. Jon was an amazing actor and you can see the pain in his voice and on his face. Compare that to the schmaltz we get now.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Jealous is POSSIBLY my shipperness talking maybe.

I tear up thinking about it all and hopefully that will stop Any Moment Now.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised my possible shipperness didn't come to the same conclusion. XD

[voicelikehoney.livejournal.com]

I thought he was jealous, but more of the fact that they were both discussing being ginger when he's not ginger and apparently has always wanted to be ginger himself?

My shipperness definitely enjoyed all the hugging going on, though. ^^ What a beautiful episode.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

They have now touched noses. That's basically like getting married, right?

[kerravonsen]

but more of the fact that they were both discussing being ginger when he's not ginger and apparently has always wanted to be ginger himself
Good point. Though I don't think the Doctor ever expressed a desire to be ginger until Ten.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

First time I've cried at Doctor Who since Mickey and his gran back in season 2...

I love so, so much that they didn't write Amy as bored-teenager-on-a-school-trip with the culture stuff, that it was implied she suggested going to the Musee d'Orsay in the first place and she genuinely loves Van Gogh's paintings and is happy to watch him paint all day while the Doctor's whinging with boredom. AND SUBTLE SUNFLOWER HINTS.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Aye, I was so, so thrilled about her glee as she looked at the paintings. She loves art! It is brilliant!

[celievamp.livejournal.com]

I cried. That goes down on my best list.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

It is Quite High on mine, yes.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

AMY'S FACE OMG. And I adored "for Amy". I think I need to make an icon of that because it's this beautiful simple moment.

ULTIMATE GINGER.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

HER FACES ARE AMAZINGS. Even when they are sad and trying to make me cry Even Moar.

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

Coming back, this time with a comment that makes sense.

*sniffle* Oh, and I thought a telly show couldn't make me cry. Oh, Doctor Who...

I really really like the Doctor's saying at the end that good things won't neccessarily soften the bad, because sometimes it doesn't matter how much you know you are loved and that people care about you and that there are amazing brilliant things and all the jazz, it doesn't matter, because inside everything is wrong and terrifying and it hurts.

So. Very. True.

I adored how Amy was all "ART, WHEEE", and how she was crying without realizing it (MOAR HINTS RORY'S COMING BACK, YES) and just....I adored this episode! Even if it did make me cry.

Amy/Van Gogh babies would be very ginger indeedy. And adorable. And all talented and stuffs.

Bored!Doctor made me laugh and facepalm. He really can't stand still, can he? ADD Doctor...

BILL NIGHY IS MADE OF WIN. There we go, I said it. XD

One last thing. Bow-tie love is awesome, and makes me grin. That is all.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

The bowtie love! I forgot entirely about that! And the Doctor adjusting how bowtie too, bless 'im.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

There was just so much aboslutely WONDERFUL going on with this ep. Laughed, cried, gasped. LOVED IT.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

IT WAS A HUG IN A TELLY.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

YES YES EXACTLY. A GIFT!
And the actors totally knocked this out of the ballpark!

[jaydeyn-sitari.livejournal.com]

Am all soggy. And IAWTP entirely. That was really very beautifully done!

:)
Jaydeyn

[calapine.livejournal.com]

He! Oh, it was very good. Very good indeed.

[alawston.livejournal.com]

The Doctor's speech at the end about the good things and the bad things was like all the bits of The Happiness Patrol that aren't about Thatcherism and hence have been forgotten over the years.

It did many things the other 'celebrity historicals' have done but did them in a way which was less annoying. The only time I truly hated Donna was with her 'copyright Donna Noble' schtick in The Unicorn and the Wasp, and the whole Martha/Dark Lady thing was a bit ick. But the sunflowers really worked and may have added to my Manly Tears. And they took Van Gogh to Paris because the Doctor's always regretted not doing the same for Chuck D in The Unquiet Dead.

Any story which involves the Doctor messing around in a Parisian art gallery is automatically brilliant. There should be one per season.

I want to start wearing bow-ties, but feel I would be Judged by Society.

[faith-less-one.livejournal.com]

Any story which involves the Doctor messing around in a Parisian art gallery is automatically brilliant. There should be one per season.

Yes please!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

The Doctor's speech at the end about the good things and the bad things was like all the bits of The Happiness Patrol that aren't about Thatcherism and hence have been forgotten over the years.

Ooh, so they are. I'll have to go watch tHP soonish - I haven't seen it for yonks, but I do love comparing how themes are handled.

Any story which involves the Doctor messing around in a Parisian art gallery is automatically brilliant. There should be one per season.

Trufax!

[faith-less-one.livejournal.com]

I really really like the Doctor's saying at the end that good things won't neccessarily soften the bad, because sometimes it doesn't matter how much you know you are loved and that people care about you and that there are amazing brilliant things and all the jazz, it doesn't matter, because inside everything is wrong and terrifying and it hurts.

I think that was my favourite bit. (Maybe tied with Vincent hearing how awesome he is). I really want to show that speech to all those people who think that depression=being sad and that you can snap out of it if you want to. Idiot people.

And yes, I cried. A lot.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Aye, seeing a depiction of depression that I could relate to so very much was weird and wonderful and stuff.