It’s a mere 24 hours away from Christmas, but forget about gathering around the tree and your typical family traditions, the real event is the premier of the Doctor Who Christmas special on the BBC. The special showcases the return of the Cybermen, including a new type of Cyberman called the CyberKing. However, the big buzz is the guest appearance of a character simply called The Doctor.
Since David Tennant announced his departure from the series earlier this year, many people have wondered if the special provides the first appearance of the 11th Doctor. Doubtful, but it still looks like an enjoyable episode. The first couple minutes of the special was broadcast as part of the Children in Need event back on November 14.
The Christmas special is the first of five, finishing off Tennant’s run. Three more specials will be aired in 2009. A full length season returning in 2010, with a new actor taking over the role of The Doctor. No confirmation yet on when it will be aired in the United States.
I’ll admit, in the past I’ve identified with Peter Pan. And yes, others have even compared me to Peter Pan; both in positive and negative ways. However after watching the new Tinker Bell movie I can proudly say, I am Tinker Bell.
The new movie is part of the Disney Fairies franchised launched in 2005 and provides the origin of Tinker Bell, who of course is a Tinker Fairy named Bell. This actually goes back to J. M. Barrie’s original work. Barrie described Tinker Bell as a fairy who mended pots and kettles (a tinker). The movie expands on that simple concept.
You see, each fairy has a specific talent that is determined when they spring into existence; Tinker Fairy, Animal Fairy, Garden Fairy, Light Fairy, Water Fairy, etc. The fairies use these talents to bring the various seasons to the world. That’s right, without fairies there wouldn’t be a change of season. So for each season a wide range of nature talent fairies leave Pixie Hollow and go to the main land, bringing the appropriate new season to the world. Naturally Tinker Bell is enticed by the stories on the main land and can’t wait to go.
Unfortunately Tinker Fairies don’t go to the main land, only nature talent fairies. After all, Tinker Fairies are responsible for making and fixing things so why would they leave Never Land. They create items and devices to help the other fairies. They are the production fairies of Pixie Hollow.
After accidentally ruining months of preparation for spring, Tinker Bell uses her abilities to create new devices out of “lost things” (random items from the main land washed up on Never Land) to redo all the work in just one day. Talk about your process improvements.
The movie of course is about Tinker Bell realizing her talents as a Tinker Fairy and becoming happy with her abilities and herself. However I couldn’t help seeing this as a story about production in a creative environment. It demonstrates the importance of process and production regardless of the endeavor. Finally a children’s movie that I can get behind.
