Beauty in The Rings of Akhaten

The tone for this post can only be reverent; 

more a celebration of beauty and the truly valuable than a party. 

Because why? Because what a beautiful episode!!

Hopefully, you've watched it by now and can join me in reveling in it.

I love the goofiness, the cleverness, the wild fun and adventures, and the mystery that ensue in Doctor Who, but it's often the deeper meaningful episodes like The Rings of Akhaten that end up being my favorites.

For starters, the gorgeous singing aptly set the tone. How often do shows hype up music and frenzy the pace of the action just to drum up the viewer's experience when there isn't actually much going on? I love that we didn't need cool music, or something mega modern; rather, we had simple classic singing with a naturally beautiful  young voice. If you think about it, that's actually quite a bold step for today that the makers of this episode took. Bravo!!

The villain of the piece wasn't much in and of itself, but he/it gave us a great backdrop to explore the concepts of what really matters. It also gave us another opportunity to see the Doctor's greatness & inner heart displayed. How awesome was that? I got a bit emotional right along with him. THEN...lo and behold, Clara shows up with another concept that was ....I just...I can't even find the words... it was just SO BEAUTIFUL.

 Hold up...REWIND... how GORGEOUS was that story behind the leaf?? HOLY HEARTS OF GALLIFREY... that was a fairytale love story. These are the kinds of things of true value that we should be inspired by for our real lives. There are so many ugly and sad things out there in real life; I think it's worthwhile to be reminded of true beauty, true love, and just of genuineness in general. I'm sad that Clara experienced her loss, but all of us have heartache arrive on our doorsteps and that makes her more real for us. We can find comfort and encouragement through the imperfect lives of characters like Clara and even the Doctor himself. 

While having truly learned to live with loss and sorrow, she still held on to the beauty in her memories of her mother and her parents' love. She found the good and hung on to it to get her through the loss. THEN, when she offered up that leaf to the monster, it was not something sick or weakened from bitterness. I think that leaf was truly powerful in its infinite possibilities lost because she kept her memories from being tarnished and the true power of sadness and loss remained pure and potent.

Clara is a deep cookie. We know she's shrouded with mystery, but I think we know by now that there is a whole lot more to who she is on the inside. Who or what she is, we still don't know exactly, but every time we learn more about her, we just want to know even MORE!!!!! She is strangely reminding me of Donna somehow. They are toooootally different, but Donna was special. Clara is, too. I just can't wait to see her again!!

Now, back to the villain for a split second. I just have to say I actually loved his alarm clock monster. The creature was totally cool looking and I found his futile efforts to get out of the glass box highly amusing. Which leads us to all the other aliens...LUURRRRRVE!! LOVE that we got to visit another planet and see all the crazy different alien races and the exotic markets. What I also LOVE, is that the Doctor referenced having been there before with his granddaughter. That means he was there as the First Doctor. Way back when. I must find out if it was just a reference to that time, or if there really was an episode about it. I'm also not sure why the TARDIS wasn't translating all the alien races, but it could be a side effect of the TARDIS not liking her. That concept is highlighted in the amazing theory about who Clara is, The Bad Wolfed Clara Theory. Whatever reason, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear the original languages and sounds. Bring it!

We didn't have our minds blown by epic action and entertainment, rather, we had our minds blown by epic heart. Oh this show!!! Only Doctor Who.

There are so many more moments I could highlight! But...that's why we love to rewatch isn't it? 

See you after The Cold War!!

Heather

PS- I will, however, leave one final parting thought!! I love how the new Doctor Who intro reminds me of the old classic intros, especially now that they've incorporated the face of the Doctor into it again....

Fourth Doctor Intro:

Fifth Doctor Intro: