DOCTOR WHO.
Jun. 30th, 2007 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseSaw everything up to the 3rd season finale for Doctor Who.
Wow.
FACE. OF. BOE.
I... was totally not expecting that. Not even a little bit. It definitely puts a different twist on a lot of stuff / earlier in the series, when they run into the Face in, for instance, "End of the World." That... had to have been strange for him, seeing both Rose and Nine again some millenia later, before they even met him. So many weird timeline things happening there. That said, I just plain loved having Jack around - it was beautiful seeing him with the Doctor again, and I particularly loved his little moment with Martha. "You, too?" Indeed.
We've got a theory running that Lucy Saxon is Romana... not sure if that's how they'll play it, but I can't help thinking that it might be the case. The Time Lords might just end up being like the Daleks, after all - they just don't ever quite fade out of existence. I'd almost prefer if she wasn't, though - it'd just be too much, I think, much as I'd be amused.
Working backwards... I really enjoyed the Master. He was very well-played, both in his older incarnation and as the young Mr Saxon, and he managed both to be funny and extremely unpleasant at the same time, which is always a nice trick. I could've done without the CG extremely-aged-Doctor, which reminded me a little too much of... well, honestly, of Dobby, now that I think of it. I had a hard time having sympathy with him, which was a waste given how beautifully sympathetic David Tennant is. Never replace your actor unless you're absolutely certain that whatever you're replacing him with has just as much emotive capacity, for crying out loud. The same thing was true to a lesser extent of the makeup for him aged - with all the beautiful, brilliant makeup work they've done through the series to this point, that age makeup just disappointed me. It was too solid, too smooth, and entirely to... I don't know, it just looked faked. Which... come on, age makeup done well can be fantastic, but when it's done shoddily it just looks miserable. This wasn't quite at that level, but it did bother me, and I didn't want the distraction.
Let's see... oh, right, the Master. So.
"Call me by my name."
"...Master. I'm sorry."
...So, exactly how many BDSM fics are going to come out of that? Don't bother recc'ing me - I prefer my Doctor dominant. But... geez, guys? Cozying up to the fandom a little? *g*
And then later, "I like when you call me that." *Boggles* Slashtastic, those two. I wasn't even trying, and I couldn't escape the conclusion that at the very least the Master was pushing that conclusion.
Martha. Wonderful, strong, brilliant Martha, who in the end has the sense to be tough and do exactly what she needs to for her own growth as a person. Braver than me - I'd never be strong enough to let somebody like the Doctor go, once I'd met him, if I were in her place. I'm happy for her, much as I'll miss her, and much as I sort of regretted not having the chance to get to know her more. She's had her adventures, and now she's happy to go back home and live her life with the people she cares about. And maybe get together with that cute pediatrician bloke? I'd like to imagine that for her. She deserves better than to pine after the Doctor forever.
The quintessential difference between her and Rose, and the reason that Rose in many ways worked so much better as a companion, was that while Rose had a life and people she loved back home, she didn't have a full life that she liked. She hated being a shopgirl, and her life was.... it seemed to me that she was stuck. Living with her mum, working a dead-end job, dating the same bloke I expect she'd been seeing since school - no A-levels, no hope of any excitement beyond going out with Shareen on the weekends and drinking her brains out (don't tell me she's not the type - she so is). Martha's got a job she's dreamed her whole life of, worked toward for years, something she's really passionate about. She fell in love, went off and had some adventures (and a few good nights of sleep along the way, I hope, knowing how the whole med-school thing works!), and now she can go back to it with renewed vigor, passion, and a breadth of experience she wouldn't have otherwise. Rose wasn't just in it for the Doctor - she was in it for adventure itself, for something beyond the little life she had. And that, in the end, was why I loved her. She wasn't just there for the guy. She was there for the life, and the guy just came second.
This really wasn't meant to be all about Rose. Sorry. I went through all of this a little too fast not to have Rose on the brain, still. But I'm glad for another thing about her - the Doctor seems to be working things out. He's not forever heartbroken, and that makes me happy. But he also did take the time (almost the full season) to really, fully, genuinely mourn and miss her, and I appreciated that very much. Too often shows don't allow their characters that.
Also, I'd like to note that everything in Doctor Who still has consequences. If they hadn't done x, y would never happen. Or, for that matter, if they hadn't done a, then q and p wouldn't. The things that happen in the characters' pasts keep on mattering, and that's a big part of the brilliance of this show. ♥
Ummm... specific episodes. "Blink" was absolutely brilliant - creepy as hell, fascinating, convoluted, and beautiful, as well as a very well-done opportunity for David and Freema to take a well-deserved holiday from work. Usually I resent episodes that are short on the Doctor, but I loved this one. The bits he did have were very strong, and the plot was so exciting that I didn't have time to miss him.
"Human Nature" and "Family of Blood" were just plain fantastic - the latter more than the former, but that's no insult to the first. Just lovely and very appropriate. I also enjoyed the T.S. Eliot theme that seemed to run through this season, what with Dr. Lazarus quoting him earlier, and then the "hollow men" as the army of the family. The actor playing the Son was just... wow. Creepiest actor ever. And the cute little boy from Love Actually was in, very much all-grown-up by comparison! I love him. Such a cutie. ♥ But cutie of the episode.... Oh, David Tennant. I apologize for all the times I've implied that you're not quite the actor Christopher Eccleston is. My heart always belongs to Eccleston's Doctor, in a lot of ways, but Ten has won me over completely. I was almost in tears with him crying, saying he didn't want to be the Doctor, he just wanted to keep on being John Smith. Poor, sweet, brilliant man. Tennant showed his subtlety in the way he switched between personalities, here, and his strength in the way he wasn't afraid to show the unpleasant aspects of human emotion - grief and fear and all of that are Not Pretty, and too many actors are afraid to really show that. I've been there, it's scary - you worry about looking silly and ugly and all those things, and it shadows your performance, shackles it in, and makes it less human. Tennant's obviously not afraid of that, and I applaud him. He was amazing.
The other amazing bit - "42." We've seen a very human, very vulnerable Doctor this year, and I love that. I missed some of that. The first moment I really, really, absolutely loved the Doctor was in "Dalek," when we see his sheer terror of this one lonely Dalek locked up in a laboratory. I loved him for that. Seeing it again, seeing how very much he didn't want to die and how scared he was, and how much he didn't feel the need to be brave and macho about it all... oh, I love him. Same goes for how willing he is this season to show his loneliness - to beg first Donna, then Martha, then Joan, and then finally the Master all to come with him, to stay with him. He wants so badly not to be alone, and it just breaks my heart every time he comes up short and gets left. After we watched "Family of Blood," I had to stop and hug poor![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nekokoban and maymargaret, because I just couldn't get out of my head how much the poor Doctor looked like he needed a good hugging toward the end of that.
What've I forgotten? Oh! "Daleks in Manhattan." Not a favorite, except for me loving the Daleks (of course), and for a certain exchange which I shall attempt to recreate.
Dalek One: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF DALEK SEK.
Dalek Two: HE IS OUR LEADER. WE WERE CREATED TO SERVE HIM.
Dalek One: *Pauses* BUT YOU HAVE DOUBTS.
Dalek Two: *Eyepiece swivels left. Eyepiece swivels right. Swings back around. Nods once, then twice.*
♥
I was also So. Very. Happy. that they didn't castrate the Daleks, figuratively speaking. They're still as scary and bloodthirsty as ever, having killed Sek and murdered all those hybrids. And the poor Doctor, so heart-broken over the hybrids with that tiniest little bit of Time Lord DNA.... poor man. He just can't bear the thought that he's it for his species.
"Shakespeare Code".... meh. Not bad, could'a done without, didn't really give a damn except the one "57 academics just punched the air" line. And really, the bit with "Shall I compare you to a summer's day?" Did they have to use the most overplayed of all the sonnets Shakespeare ever wrote? *Sighs* I really hate that sonnet, to be honest. So overused.
Donna was brilliant. So human and nasty and annoying and sweet all at the same time, and I just loved how the Doctor didn't particularly like her, but he was desperate to save her anyway, and she grew on him in time. And the "santa" pilot fish again. Yay! And the spider lady! Now that was some nice makeup. And... oh, the high-speed chase with the TARDIS. Poor TARDIS. She's had a bad season, what with all the abuse the Doctor put her through there, and then getting kidnapped something like three times, and then the Master cannibalizing her insides. We eventually got round to picturing her like Kaylee when she gets dragged in by Badger's boys in "Shindig" - sort of a hangdog embarrassed face, raises hand and waves a sad "hi."
Oh, and the starter for next season? The Titanic? Who was on the Titanic, ladies and gentlemen? That's right - Nine. I'm trying very very hard not to get too excited about the possibility, but I literally shrieked whennekokoban pointed out that he was there. So... two Doctors? Please? I know they've done it in the past, and just to do it once, just for one episode... I'd so much like to see Eccleston again, and to see the two of them together. It'd be a wonderful start to what I hope will be yet another fantastic season. *Hopes* And, in the mean time, I have almost a full six months to dream....
Whirlwind tour of the whole season, I know, but I've been too busy for updates as I watched, and now that I'm finally at the end I have to spill it all out and try to think it over, figure out what I think. Aside from that I LOVE this show, that Christmas is too far away, that the last few eps sort of have me wanting a pocket-watch (okay, to be fair, I've always sort of wanted a pocket-watch, but now I've got even more reason than usual!), and... lastly... that I really really really want to write Doctor Who fic, but I can't figure out what exactly. So if anybody has any stray bunnies they'd like to see happen, I'm open to possibilities. I can't promise anything, but I'm definitely itching for some ideas.
And I swear I'll get some more Ten icons, soon. I've got a few in the works, it's just a matter of getting the right screencaps, and then finding the TIME.
Wow.
FACE. OF. BOE.
I... was totally not expecting that. Not even a little bit. It definitely puts a different twist on a lot of stuff / earlier in the series, when they run into the Face in, for instance, "End of the World." That... had to have been strange for him, seeing both Rose and Nine again some millenia later, before they even met him. So many weird timeline things happening there. That said, I just plain loved having Jack around - it was beautiful seeing him with the Doctor again, and I particularly loved his little moment with Martha. "You, too?" Indeed.
We've got a theory running that Lucy Saxon is Romana... not sure if that's how they'll play it, but I can't help thinking that it might be the case. The Time Lords might just end up being like the Daleks, after all - they just don't ever quite fade out of existence. I'd almost prefer if she wasn't, though - it'd just be too much, I think, much as I'd be amused.
Working backwards... I really enjoyed the Master. He was very well-played, both in his older incarnation and as the young Mr Saxon, and he managed both to be funny and extremely unpleasant at the same time, which is always a nice trick. I could've done without the CG extremely-aged-Doctor, which reminded me a little too much of... well, honestly, of Dobby, now that I think of it. I had a hard time having sympathy with him, which was a waste given how beautifully sympathetic David Tennant is. Never replace your actor unless you're absolutely certain that whatever you're replacing him with has just as much emotive capacity, for crying out loud. The same thing was true to a lesser extent of the makeup for him aged - with all the beautiful, brilliant makeup work they've done through the series to this point, that age makeup just disappointed me. It was too solid, too smooth, and entirely to... I don't know, it just looked faked. Which... come on, age makeup done well can be fantastic, but when it's done shoddily it just looks miserable. This wasn't quite at that level, but it did bother me, and I didn't want the distraction.
Let's see... oh, right, the Master. So.
"Call me by my name."
"...Master. I'm sorry."
...So, exactly how many BDSM fics are going to come out of that? Don't bother recc'ing me - I prefer my Doctor dominant. But... geez, guys? Cozying up to the fandom a little? *g*
And then later, "I like when you call me that." *Boggles* Slashtastic, those two. I wasn't even trying, and I couldn't escape the conclusion that at the very least the Master was pushing that conclusion.
Martha. Wonderful, strong, brilliant Martha, who in the end has the sense to be tough and do exactly what she needs to for her own growth as a person. Braver than me - I'd never be strong enough to let somebody like the Doctor go, once I'd met him, if I were in her place. I'm happy for her, much as I'll miss her, and much as I sort of regretted not having the chance to get to know her more. She's had her adventures, and now she's happy to go back home and live her life with the people she cares about. And maybe get together with that cute pediatrician bloke? I'd like to imagine that for her. She deserves better than to pine after the Doctor forever.
The quintessential difference between her and Rose, and the reason that Rose in many ways worked so much better as a companion, was that while Rose had a life and people she loved back home, she didn't have a full life that she liked. She hated being a shopgirl, and her life was.... it seemed to me that she was stuck. Living with her mum, working a dead-end job, dating the same bloke I expect she'd been seeing since school - no A-levels, no hope of any excitement beyond going out with Shareen on the weekends and drinking her brains out (don't tell me she's not the type - she so is). Martha's got a job she's dreamed her whole life of, worked toward for years, something she's really passionate about. She fell in love, went off and had some adventures (and a few good nights of sleep along the way, I hope, knowing how the whole med-school thing works!), and now she can go back to it with renewed vigor, passion, and a breadth of experience she wouldn't have otherwise. Rose wasn't just in it for the Doctor - she was in it for adventure itself, for something beyond the little life she had. And that, in the end, was why I loved her. She wasn't just there for the guy. She was there for the life, and the guy just came second.
This really wasn't meant to be all about Rose. Sorry. I went through all of this a little too fast not to have Rose on the brain, still. But I'm glad for another thing about her - the Doctor seems to be working things out. He's not forever heartbroken, and that makes me happy. But he also did take the time (almost the full season) to really, fully, genuinely mourn and miss her, and I appreciated that very much. Too often shows don't allow their characters that.
Also, I'd like to note that everything in Doctor Who still has consequences. If they hadn't done x, y would never happen. Or, for that matter, if they hadn't done a, then q and p wouldn't. The things that happen in the characters' pasts keep on mattering, and that's a big part of the brilliance of this show. ♥
Ummm... specific episodes. "Blink" was absolutely brilliant - creepy as hell, fascinating, convoluted, and beautiful, as well as a very well-done opportunity for David and Freema to take a well-deserved holiday from work. Usually I resent episodes that are short on the Doctor, but I loved this one. The bits he did have were very strong, and the plot was so exciting that I didn't have time to miss him.
"Human Nature" and "Family of Blood" were just plain fantastic - the latter more than the former, but that's no insult to the first. Just lovely and very appropriate. I also enjoyed the T.S. Eliot theme that seemed to run through this season, what with Dr. Lazarus quoting him earlier, and then the "hollow men" as the army of the family. The actor playing the Son was just... wow. Creepiest actor ever. And the cute little boy from Love Actually was in, very much all-grown-up by comparison! I love him. Such a cutie. ♥ But cutie of the episode.... Oh, David Tennant. I apologize for all the times I've implied that you're not quite the actor Christopher Eccleston is. My heart always belongs to Eccleston's Doctor, in a lot of ways, but Ten has won me over completely. I was almost in tears with him crying, saying he didn't want to be the Doctor, he just wanted to keep on being John Smith. Poor, sweet, brilliant man. Tennant showed his subtlety in the way he switched between personalities, here, and his strength in the way he wasn't afraid to show the unpleasant aspects of human emotion - grief and fear and all of that are Not Pretty, and too many actors are afraid to really show that. I've been there, it's scary - you worry about looking silly and ugly and all those things, and it shadows your performance, shackles it in, and makes it less human. Tennant's obviously not afraid of that, and I applaud him. He was amazing.
The other amazing bit - "42." We've seen a very human, very vulnerable Doctor this year, and I love that. I missed some of that. The first moment I really, really, absolutely loved the Doctor was in "Dalek," when we see his sheer terror of this one lonely Dalek locked up in a laboratory. I loved him for that. Seeing it again, seeing how very much he didn't want to die and how scared he was, and how much he didn't feel the need to be brave and macho about it all... oh, I love him. Same goes for how willing he is this season to show his loneliness - to beg first Donna, then Martha, then Joan, and then finally the Master all to come with him, to stay with him. He wants so badly not to be alone, and it just breaks my heart every time he comes up short and gets left. After we watched "Family of Blood," I had to stop and hug poor
nekokoban and maymargaret, because I just couldn't get out of my head how much the poor Doctor looked like he needed a good hugging toward the end of that. What've I forgotten? Oh! "Daleks in Manhattan." Not a favorite, except for me loving the Daleks (of course), and for a certain exchange which I shall attempt to recreate.
Dalek One: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF DALEK SEK.
Dalek Two: HE IS OUR LEADER. WE WERE CREATED TO SERVE HIM.
Dalek One: *Pauses* BUT YOU HAVE DOUBTS.
Dalek Two: *Eyepiece swivels left. Eyepiece swivels right. Swings back around. Nods once, then twice.*
♥
I was also So. Very. Happy. that they didn't castrate the Daleks, figuratively speaking. They're still as scary and bloodthirsty as ever, having killed Sek and murdered all those hybrids. And the poor Doctor, so heart-broken over the hybrids with that tiniest little bit of Time Lord DNA.... poor man. He just can't bear the thought that he's it for his species.
"Shakespeare Code".... meh. Not bad, could'a done without, didn't really give a damn except the one "57 academics just punched the air" line. And really, the bit with "Shall I compare you to a summer's day?" Did they have to use the most overplayed of all the sonnets Shakespeare ever wrote? *Sighs* I really hate that sonnet, to be honest. So overused.
Donna was brilliant. So human and nasty and annoying and sweet all at the same time, and I just loved how the Doctor didn't particularly like her, but he was desperate to save her anyway, and she grew on him in time. And the "santa" pilot fish again. Yay! And the spider lady! Now that was some nice makeup. And... oh, the high-speed chase with the TARDIS. Poor TARDIS. She's had a bad season, what with all the abuse the Doctor put her through there, and then getting kidnapped something like three times, and then the Master cannibalizing her insides. We eventually got round to picturing her like Kaylee when she gets dragged in by Badger's boys in "Shindig" - sort of a hangdog embarrassed face, raises hand and waves a sad "hi."
Oh, and the starter for next season? The Titanic? Who was on the Titanic, ladies and gentlemen? That's right - Nine. I'm trying very very hard not to get too excited about the possibility, but I literally shrieked when
nekokoban pointed out that he was there. So... two Doctors? Please? I know they've done it in the past, and just to do it once, just for one episode... I'd so much like to see Eccleston again, and to see the two of them together. It'd be a wonderful start to what I hope will be yet another fantastic season. *Hopes* And, in the mean time, I have almost a full six months to dream.... Whirlwind tour of the whole season, I know, but I've been too busy for updates as I watched, and now that I'm finally at the end I have to spill it all out and try to think it over, figure out what I think. Aside from that I LOVE this show, that Christmas is too far away, that the last few eps sort of have me wanting a pocket-watch (okay, to be fair, I've always sort of wanted a pocket-watch, but now I've got even more reason than usual!), and... lastly... that I really really really want to write Doctor Who fic, but I can't figure out what exactly. So if anybody has any stray bunnies they'd like to see happen, I'm open to possibilities. I can't promise anything, but I'm definitely itching for some ideas.
And I swear I'll get some more Ten icons, soon. I've got a few in the works, it's just a matter of getting the right screencaps, and then finding the TIME.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 01:25 pm (UTC)I do hope the master isn't permenantly killed off, but then again this is Doctor Who - they can bring anyone back if they want to!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 07:39 pm (UTC)I hope so, too. He was a fun character, even if I was glad they didn't keep him on in a companion-y sort of way like they were indicating. And they can indeed bring him back, any time they want!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 05:22 am (UTC)between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am. I've been scanning the guide this evening but found no sign of the show for tonight.
I love this show....so SILLY!!!
I hope you had a great weekend.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 04:12 am (UTC)And I did - very nice. Hope you did too!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 04:10 am (UTC)