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rivendellroseWatched the "Journey's End" 2-parter last night, and then, at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
maymargaret's request, watched "School Reunion" as a sort of... palate cleanser, I suppose. My intention in finally re-watching the 2-parter had been to see whether I felt better about it with a few months' perspective... and the results were somewhat mixed. tavern_wench1 hit the nail on the head when she said of this one "it's a true Davies classic." It really does have everything I love and hate about his writing, all tied up in one neat little package.
Good: I love seeing everybody together. Davies' emphasis on nostalgia really does work for me to this extent - I adore seeing Jack and Sarah and Luke and Gwen and Ianto and Jackie and Mickey and Martha and Donna and Francine and Wilf and Sylvia and Harriet and Davros and everybody all together. If we could have an episode where every companion who's ever been on Doctor Who showed up all together and had a big surprise party for all the Doctors... well, I'd be one of the fans who'd be thrilled to death with it, even if the plot sucked ass. I'm easy that way. ♥
Bad: I hate that the focus of everybody's action was "OMG WE HAVE TO FIND THE DOCTOR!" Um. Can't you people do anything on your own? I realize Daleks are scary as hell, but... I'm a little worried, personally, that nobody seemed to have a better plan without the Doctor than blowing ourselves up. Torchwood, sure, I can see that being their plan, and I grant that Jack has pretty serious personal-experience reason to give up immediately upon hearing the Daleks, but... it doesn't make for much of a story, does it? Last time, he was all "okay, we're going to go down fighting!" Hell, once he left, even Gwen and Ianto had the sense to go that route! Even Wilf and Sylvia, for goodness' sake, are trying to do something. But Jack, Sarah, Harriet, and Martha - the four people who, in this storyline, ought to be the Earth's best hope for keeping a level head and fighting the Daleks without external help? All go into total melt-down and refuse to think about anything other than FIND THE DOCTOR. I was severely disappointed in that.
Interestingly, Harriet even makes my point for me, by saying that she still thinks she was right to blow up the Sycorax on the basis that the Doctor isn't always around to protect Earth... but her big, secret, special plan to protect Earth when the Doctor isn't around is to create a system that finds people who might be able to contact him. WTF?
I feel the need to point out that waaaaay the hell back in the First Doctor's era, Barbara was brave enough to drive a freaking truck over a bunch of Daleks. Now, granted, what little I've seen of her indicates that her being kickass is hardly a surprise, but... is Sarah Jane really so much less brave, after all she's seen, that all she does in the same situation is panic, cry, and surrender? Apparently, if you ask Russell Davies the answer is yes. I disagree vehemently.
And on the subject of companions whose portrayal in this episode made me want to be sick, let's just talk about Rose for a minute. Now, I am not the biggest Rose fan in the history of the universe, and I would have content never to see her again after Doomsday - I thought that was a nice ending for the character, and hoped she would go off in the alternate world, enjoy her family, make a nice life at Alternate Torchwood, and eventually grow up enough to decide that the Doctor did not need to be the center of her freaking universe. Unfortunately, this episode proved me wrong on that count. Not only is Rose not over the Doctor - not only is she also happy to leave her mum, her dad, and that baby sibling that Jackie was supposedly pregnant with all in the alternate universe (it goes without saying that she's willing to leave Mickey, because she always is willing to do that), but - and this just kills me - she throws a fucking fit over him regenerating. He's dying, and all that selfish little twit can think to do is cry and fuss about how, woe, he can't change on her when she's just gotten him back? Because, apparently, she can only ever love Ten and can't imagine still loving him if he changed bodies (again). Apparently I was woefully wrong to think that she might grow the hell up a bit.
Another thing I don't like - the Shadow Proclamation. Not only is this a totally pointless jump-off in the story, useful only so that we can get more prophecies about Donna, but... it makes no sense, from a grammatical/linguistic standpoint that something called "The Shadow Proclamation" would be a place or a group of people. It's a proclamation. That's like an announcement, statement, or official notice. Nine sought leave to speak with the Nestene Consciousness "in accordance with the Shadow Proclamation" - it's like saying "in accordance with the Magna Carta," or the Constitution, or something like that. It's a thing. And I know this is pedantic and petty of me, but I'm a pedantic and petty person sometimes, and that really pisses me off.
On another pedantic point - even on a second viewing, some of Caan's prophecies make no sense. Like, they don't work. At all. "The most faithful companion will die." Unless the most faithful companion was actually Harriet Jones (and since we didn't actually see her die, I don't really believe she's actually dead, either) or someone we didn't see at all in the episode, this doesn't work. Yes, Donna lost her memory of traveling with the Doctor. That is not even a figurative death. That's sad. It's very sad, and a bit creepy, but it's not death. Unless we find out at some point in the future that Ace or Tegan or Jo or someone died in the Dalek invasion (...which I hope we don't, but I don't think I have too much to worry about there, since Davies has probably already forgotten the prophecy and everything related to it), I will continue to believe that this thing was just Dalek Caan making shit up to mess with the Doctor's head. Or possibly that, for a moment, the TARDIS died. That would explain it. She just got better. :)
On the subject of old companions - I understand that we couldn't have anybody else showing up, but you cannot even begin to tell me that the people we saw on the teleconference were the only people the subwave picked up. It would have been nice if there'd been a throwaway reference of some kind to the fact that other people were probably in the same situation as Rose - unable to get through due to technological limitations. I cherish the mental image of Jo Grant, Tegan, Harry Sullivan, the Brig, Benton, Bambera and Ancelyn, and others all shouting at their computers and TVs while this was going on. Ace was probably too busy making bombs and trying to find her baseball bat to notice the whole thing. ♥
I'm not even going to comment on the physics of various plot devices in this episode. Move along. This is Doctor Who - things that Do Not Work happen on a regular basis, but I think this episode is probably the new record-holder for "how the hell is that supposed to even begin to work?" in terms of science.
Even UNIT at their worst are not actually stupid enough to use a series of nuclear warheads to blow up the Earth in case of alien invasion. That was just insane. And since we had one doomsday device, what was the point of having Sarah and Jack threaten the world with the other? Furthermore, if Sarah is so anti-guns... why is she carrying around a planet-killer in her pocket? And... if she's so anti-gun, how is it that we've seen her very effectively shoot a rifle? I'm confused...
...And that's my lunch-break gone, and me all ruffled and fussed up about how much I hate some of the stuff in this episode, completely forgetting (once again) that there really were parts I liked. Really, there were. And it wasn't all "omg, Jack is so cute when he hugs Ianto and Gwen." ....Although that (and variations with different people) pretty much covers most of it, I guess. *Sigh*
maymargaret's request, watched "School Reunion" as a sort of... palate cleanser, I suppose. My intention in finally re-watching the 2-parter had been to see whether I felt better about it with a few months' perspective... and the results were somewhat mixed. tavern_wench1 hit the nail on the head when she said of this one "it's a true Davies classic." It really does have everything I love and hate about his writing, all tied up in one neat little package.Good: I love seeing everybody together. Davies' emphasis on nostalgia really does work for me to this extent - I adore seeing Jack and Sarah and Luke and Gwen and Ianto and Jackie and Mickey and Martha and Donna and Francine and Wilf and Sylvia and Harriet and Davros and everybody all together. If we could have an episode where every companion who's ever been on Doctor Who showed up all together and had a big surprise party for all the Doctors... well, I'd be one of the fans who'd be thrilled to death with it, even if the plot sucked ass. I'm easy that way. ♥
Bad: I hate that the focus of everybody's action was "OMG WE HAVE TO FIND THE DOCTOR!" Um. Can't you people do anything on your own? I realize Daleks are scary as hell, but... I'm a little worried, personally, that nobody seemed to have a better plan without the Doctor than blowing ourselves up. Torchwood, sure, I can see that being their plan, and I grant that Jack has pretty serious personal-experience reason to give up immediately upon hearing the Daleks, but... it doesn't make for much of a story, does it? Last time, he was all "okay, we're going to go down fighting!" Hell, once he left, even Gwen and Ianto had the sense to go that route! Even Wilf and Sylvia, for goodness' sake, are trying to do something. But Jack, Sarah, Harriet, and Martha - the four people who, in this storyline, ought to be the Earth's best hope for keeping a level head and fighting the Daleks without external help? All go into total melt-down and refuse to think about anything other than FIND THE DOCTOR. I was severely disappointed in that.
Interestingly, Harriet even makes my point for me, by saying that she still thinks she was right to blow up the Sycorax on the basis that the Doctor isn't always around to protect Earth... but her big, secret, special plan to protect Earth when the Doctor isn't around is to create a system that finds people who might be able to contact him. WTF?
I feel the need to point out that waaaaay the hell back in the First Doctor's era, Barbara was brave enough to drive a freaking truck over a bunch of Daleks. Now, granted, what little I've seen of her indicates that her being kickass is hardly a surprise, but... is Sarah Jane really so much less brave, after all she's seen, that all she does in the same situation is panic, cry, and surrender? Apparently, if you ask Russell Davies the answer is yes. I disagree vehemently.
And on the subject of companions whose portrayal in this episode made me want to be sick, let's just talk about Rose for a minute. Now, I am not the biggest Rose fan in the history of the universe, and I would have content never to see her again after Doomsday - I thought that was a nice ending for the character, and hoped she would go off in the alternate world, enjoy her family, make a nice life at Alternate Torchwood, and eventually grow up enough to decide that the Doctor did not need to be the center of her freaking universe. Unfortunately, this episode proved me wrong on that count. Not only is Rose not over the Doctor - not only is she also happy to leave her mum, her dad, and that baby sibling that Jackie was supposedly pregnant with all in the alternate universe (it goes without saying that she's willing to leave Mickey, because she always is willing to do that), but - and this just kills me - she throws a fucking fit over him regenerating. He's dying, and all that selfish little twit can think to do is cry and fuss about how, woe, he can't change on her when she's just gotten him back? Because, apparently, she can only ever love Ten and can't imagine still loving him if he changed bodies (again). Apparently I was woefully wrong to think that she might grow the hell up a bit.
Another thing I don't like - the Shadow Proclamation. Not only is this a totally pointless jump-off in the story, useful only so that we can get more prophecies about Donna, but... it makes no sense, from a grammatical/linguistic standpoint that something called "The Shadow Proclamation" would be a place or a group of people. It's a proclamation. That's like an announcement, statement, or official notice. Nine sought leave to speak with the Nestene Consciousness "in accordance with the Shadow Proclamation" - it's like saying "in accordance with the Magna Carta," or the Constitution, or something like that. It's a thing. And I know this is pedantic and petty of me, but I'm a pedantic and petty person sometimes, and that really pisses me off.
On another pedantic point - even on a second viewing, some of Caan's prophecies make no sense. Like, they don't work. At all. "The most faithful companion will die." Unless the most faithful companion was actually Harriet Jones (and since we didn't actually see her die, I don't really believe she's actually dead, either) or someone we didn't see at all in the episode, this doesn't work. Yes, Donna lost her memory of traveling with the Doctor. That is not even a figurative death. That's sad. It's very sad, and a bit creepy, but it's not death. Unless we find out at some point in the future that Ace or Tegan or Jo or someone died in the Dalek invasion (...which I hope we don't, but I don't think I have too much to worry about there, since Davies has probably already forgotten the prophecy and everything related to it), I will continue to believe that this thing was just Dalek Caan making shit up to mess with the Doctor's head. Or possibly that, for a moment, the TARDIS died. That would explain it. She just got better. :)
On the subject of old companions - I understand that we couldn't have anybody else showing up, but you cannot even begin to tell me that the people we saw on the teleconference were the only people the subwave picked up. It would have been nice if there'd been a throwaway reference of some kind to the fact that other people were probably in the same situation as Rose - unable to get through due to technological limitations. I cherish the mental image of Jo Grant, Tegan, Harry Sullivan, the Brig, Benton, Bambera and Ancelyn, and others all shouting at their computers and TVs while this was going on. Ace was probably too busy making bombs and trying to find her baseball bat to notice the whole thing. ♥
I'm not even going to comment on the physics of various plot devices in this episode. Move along. This is Doctor Who - things that Do Not Work happen on a regular basis, but I think this episode is probably the new record-holder for "how the hell is that supposed to even begin to work?" in terms of science.
Even UNIT at their worst are not actually stupid enough to use a series of nuclear warheads to blow up the Earth in case of alien invasion. That was just insane. And since we had one doomsday device, what was the point of having Sarah and Jack threaten the world with the other? Furthermore, if Sarah is so anti-guns... why is she carrying around a planet-killer in her pocket? And... if she's so anti-gun, how is it that we've seen her very effectively shoot a rifle? I'm confused...
...And that's my lunch-break gone, and me all ruffled and fussed up about how much I hate some of the stuff in this episode, completely forgetting (once again) that there really were parts I liked. Really, there were. And it wasn't all "omg, Jack is so cute when he hugs Ianto and Gwen." ....Although that (and variations with different people) pretty much covers most of it, I guess. *Sigh*
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 11:41 pm (UTC)Other than that, totally agree with you :) I didn't like that finale, pretty though it may have been, and even with everyone working together as a team. It really drove me MAD that each of the pairs/teams had their own solutions once they were onboard, and those solutions were just shown to be useless because only the Doctor and Donna could do anything effective. That's not everyone coming together . . . that's making people look stupid in order to make Donna's solution look brilliant and insert a Deus Ex Machina resolution.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 12:49 am (UTC)That's not everyone coming together . . . that's making people look stupid in order to make Donna's solution look brilliant and insert a Deus Ex Machina resolution.
Welcome to the Russell Davies school of "making people look cool." You make one person or group look cool by making everyone else look evil, stupid, or just plain incompetent. He did it with UNIT and Torchwood, and now he's doing it with the companions, and that just pisses me the hell off. That is not good characterization! That's laziness!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 12:00 am (UTC)And the less said about Rose the better (unless it's parody).
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 12:56 am (UTC)The thing is, I remember liking Rose in the first season. Before she fell in love with Ten and got all dumb about him.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 08:44 pm (UTC)I liked Rose too in the first season, even though I cringe at the ''woman he loves'' thing in Dalek. Back then she was a nice, normal girl who was bored and was in awe of the universe. I can't actually watch S1 anymore because I know how her character devolves.
Thank goodness RTD didn't bring back Romana.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 11:49 pm (UTC)I've always read this scene very differently - the last time the Doctor regenerated on her, he became useless for days, lying around in bed while things got Very Bad and only waking up at the very last moment. So I read some of that into it, that this was not the time to regenerate and be useless because they rather needed him a lot.
I also think - it's always hard when the Doctor changes. He changes so much between regenerations and I think it must have been really hard on Rose to have to deal with that, and my heart hurts a bit to think of her having to do that again. I always thought it was very obvious that she loved Nine (may be my shippy side talking) and then she learned to love Ten as well, but it can't have been easy - and what if this time it doesn't work out? What if Eleven is just not lovable? Some Doctors kinda aren't, or not in the same way. And after working so hard to get back, like said above, she's 20 and all of a sudden he might be different...and he might not love her.
I am one of Rose's biggest fans, though. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-28 12:09 am (UTC)I'm probably being horribly unfair to Rose about the whole regeneration thing, too. I mean, I find it upsetting when he regenerates, too! And I can definitely empathize with fears that Eleven won't be lovable... ;) It just... rubbed me the wrong way to see her guilting him like that, if that makes any sense.
I'm so conflicted over Rose, honestly. I liked her back in the beginning, in the first season, and I've even really liked her in a lot of moments since then, but the romantic angle between her and Ten always puts my hackles up for some reason. I'm not even sure what it is, exactly. And that irritates me more than anything else - not being able to figure out what it is, exactly, that irritates me. It makes me feel all silly and irrational about the whole thing.