Dr. Who praise and SW linkage

[selenak]

Aaaand I've caught up with Dr. Who. Seen it all, including episode 13. Bless.



The Long Game was undoubtedly my least favourite episode, not because of the concept, which was fine, but because both Rose and the Doctor came across as insufferably smug and self-righteous towards Adam from the very first scene onwards, and it only got worse. I mean, it didn't surprise me that Adam would hit on the idea of exploiting time travel for financial gain without wasting much time thinking of bad consequences - the boy did work for Henry Van Statten, after all - but leaving him with the device in his head was overdoing it. And besides, as opposed to Rose or Jack later, the impression you got was that Adam was taken along as a toy (for Rose), to be thrown away as soon as it wasn't shiny anymore. Not a person. I just didn't like that.

This being said, loved the character of the week and her saving the day by turning the means of her exploitation against her masters. And of course in the long run this was a continuity-important episode. Still. It'll be a while until I rewatch it.

Father's Day: I'm such a sap. Yes, this was predictable - i.e. that Pete would sacrifice himself, that Jackie's decriptions of him had been idealized for Rose's benefit - but oh, it worked. Rose was shown to make a terrible mistake, but one understood why. Plus this episode should answer the "why don't they just use the TARDIS to change past wrongness" question quite neatly. Watching Jackie and Pete and Rose and the Doctor interact, you got the "married" vibe from both couples. Loved little Mickey showing up. (I'm developing a distinct soft spot for Mickey - who'd have thought?)

Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances: someone clearly likes Emily Bronte. A lot. I approve. The child outside calling "let me in, let me in" is as effective and shiver-inducing here as it was in the opening section of Wuthering Heights. The visual with the gas mask, conversely, conjured up not Emily Bronte but Wilfrid Owen, equally effectively. And "are you my mummy?" never lost its power of being chilling and pitiful at the same time.

I figured out Nancy wasn't the sister but the mother pretty early on, though was suprised the show went there (but then the Doctor reassured us Nancy is older than she looks - what I thought was rape and pregnancy at age 13 or so). Captain Jack made a good debut here, and hooray for omnisexual characters in Sci-Fi shows! (Or elsewhere, of course.) Loved the completely casual way they inserted the information, from Jack's "you've got a lovely bottom, too" to all the "dancing" double talk.

The one plucky little island speech unfortunately at once evoked Asterix associations for me and thus was uninentionally funny. ("All of Gaul is occupied. All of Gaul? No! One little village..." etc.) Never mind.

The Doctor's joy about the fact nobody died was completely disarming and very engaging and brought back all the love lost via The Long Game. I felt giddy myself.

Boom Town: Poor Mickey. Definitely had "Rose, why don't you tell the poor guy you're not interested anymore and stop expecting him to be on your beck and call" moment there. This being said, he's old enough to make his own decisions. Margaret/Blon was more interesting this time around, while not being a repetition of the Dalek - I think the Doctor nailed it with his "every now and then, you let one go" diagnosis regarding her having spared the journalist earlier, and her battle of wits with the Doctor was very well played. Again another episode that challenges the Doctor's ethics, and I'm glad it did so without revealing Margaret was A Good Girl under it all. Major set-up with the heart of the TARDIS in retrospect.

Bad Wolf/ The Parting Of Ways: And the season concludes triumphantly. Not in a perfect fashion - if a single touch by Rose was enough to "infect" the one Dalek with feelings other than hate, why didn't centuries of building on human DNA mutate the others far more than just to the self-loathing and hence more universe-loathing stage? - but I don't feel much like nitpicking right now. The Daleks were appropriately threatening (goodbye, Australia), and the choice of using the Delta Wave but extinguishing all human life at the same time as the Doctor's crucial decision brought the ongoing theme of what the loss of all the other Timelords has made of him full circle. Call it my Star Trek imprint, but I like that he ultimately doesn't do it. Doesn't use the, can we say, weapon of mass destruction.

Jack's goodbye to the Doctor and Rose: equal opportunity kissage, both with the same tenderness, was lovely to see. Jack was great all around, from the comedy ("your viewing figures just went up" - does RTD know his tv fans or what?) to the heroics to the stunned expression when the TARDIS left without him. (Which was logical. The Doctor thought he was dead, and Rose didn't remember anything she had done while joined with the TARDIS.) I predict lots of Rescue!Fanfic for Jack, along with Doctor/Jack/Rose threesomes.

Though the true OTP of the finale was Doctor/TARDIS. Because to me, it was clearly the TARDIS speaking through Rose when saying she wanted to save "her Doctor" (it was another voice actress they used, too, right?). Rose as dea ex machina all by her lonesome wouldn't have worked for me, but the Rose/TARDIS union as the calvary made emotional sense and was set up enough. The Jossverse echoes didn't hurt. I also thought that when Rose/TARDIS started saying that she could create life and death, the Doctor knew that he had to separate them not just because this was burning Rose up but because if it didn't, she'd so be Galadriel with the ring.

(Mind you, why Rose didn't suffer any after effects in her completely human body when the Doctor has to regenerate into another incarnation is beyond me, but hey. Waving that aside now in favour of loving the moment.)

Incidentally, while I like both Rose and the Doctor, I don't feel shippery about them as a couple, leaving the thorny Doctor/Companion question aside entirely. Doctor/TARDIS now? That I can get behind. Their love lasted through nine incarnations already. Love does not alter where it alteration finds, indeed.

Despite my sporadic Who knowledge, I did get the joke in "Half Human?" "Blasphemy!" Incidentally, Whovians, has Davies said whether or not that particular bit of The Dreadful Movie is canon now or not?

***

These days are good for (very) short fic. Here are some Star Wars recs:

"Aere Perennius" is a great twist on the "Imperial Trilogy characters contemplate Republic Trilogy characters" motif (thank you, butterfly, for the terminology which I like far better than Classis and Prequels) as well as on the question of how history comes down to us. It's deliciously ironic.

"Lesser Worlds" is a good Padmé vignette, and I also like this take on Palpatine.

On the non-fictional side of the Force, if you need c heering up in matters Star Wars after all the angst the release of RotS and its aftermath put you through - I'm thinking of merrymaia here, go and read Carrie Fisher's speech about George Lucas (during his getting honored in the AFI). It's hilarious and funny and affectionate at the same time.

Also funny, because I'm easily amused, is this exchange re: Lucas and Spielberg. Theirloveisso70s.

***

And lastly, yahtzee63 wrote another great Jack Bristow vignette, set between seasons 2 and 3. I'm totally not influenced in my praise by the fact the Other Crafty First Generation Spy is also there.

Comments

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

(Mind you, why Rose didn't suffer any after effects in her completely human body when the Doctor has to regenerate into another incarnation is beyond me, but hey. Waving that aside now in favour of loving the moment.)

One explanation I've seen for that on my friendslist is that the Doctor took the TARDIS from Rose, then used its power to heal the damage the TARDIS had done to her. He couldn't heal himself because in order to do that he had to release the TARDIS power first, and then he couldn't use said power to heal himself, anymore. Does that make sense?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

...Actually, yes, it does. Thank you!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Adam was taken along as a toy (for Rose), to be thrown away as soon as it wasn't shiny anymore. Not a person. I just didn't like that

Yes, I get the impression Adam was meant to demonstrate that there are people not deserving of time travel, but it was a badly-written episode. Especially with hindsight when you compare the way the Doctor and Rose treated Adam to the way Jack gets instantly absorbed into the gang.

The one plucky little island speech unfortunately at once evoked Asterix associations for me and thus was uninentionally funny. ("All of Gaul is occupied. All of Gaul? No! One little village..." etc.) Never mind.

There were big arguments after the episode was broadcast about whether that "damp little island" speech was gratuitously nationalistic. Of course, it then degenerated into Americans going "You'd be speaking German if it wasn't for us" and leftists going "Only Republicans and Tories deny that it was the USSR that really beat Germany" and then got worse.

why didn't centuries of building on human DNA mutate the others far more than just to the self-loathing and hence more universe-loathing stage?

I tend to think that the Last Dalek was desperately grabbing onto what it needed to escape, while the Emperor Dalek was able to be a lot more selective of precisely what human material and traits it incorporated into its new breed of Dalek. However, there seems to be a big fandom belief that it was inbuilt human mental tendencies to theism that caused the new Daleks to become a fanatical religious cult.

Also thought that the augmented Rose/TARDIS entity was in danger of becoming a bigger threat to the universe than the Daleks were.

There was a jaw-dropping comment on someone else's review to the effect that if you looked closely you could see that Jack took Blon's "surfboard" with him when he left the TARDIS for the last time. I didn't record the ep and haven't been able to check, but if so, I suspect that the "rescue Jack" fics will be superfluous.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

There were big arguments after the episode was broadcast about whether that "damp little island" speech was gratuitously nationalistic. Of course, it then degenerated into Americans going "You'd be speaking German if it wasn't for us" and leftists going "Only Republicans and Tories deny that it was the USSR that really beat Germany" and then got worse.

Oh dear. On this side of the channel, we credit England and the Russians equally for getting beaten, I think.

I tend to think that the Last Dalek was desperately grabbing onto what it needed to escape, while the Emperor Dalek was able to be a lot more selective of precisely what human material and traits it incorporated into its new breed of Dalek.

Okay, that makes sense to me.

There was a jaw-dropping comment on someone else's review to the effect that if you looked closely you could see that Jack took Blon's "surfboard" with him when he left the TARDIS for the last time.

I actually do remember that, but doesn't he need an energy boost the size of a nuclear explosion to use it? Anyway, it would fit with the character if he rescued himself but ended up somewhere he really didn't want to be...

Love the icon, btw.

[winter]

Why thank you :) I hope the next installments meet with your approval as well.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to reading them.

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

Florence Hoath (who played Nancy) is 20. Who'd have thought it?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Quite. But then again, Vincent Cartheiser is about ten years older than what Connor looks like (see icon), so I'm not surprised by anything anymore...

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links!


"Aere Perennius"

Love, love, LOVE this! LOL! Deliciously ironic, indeed. Am very much looking forward to the next in the author's drabble series.


Somewhere saw a reference to the deleted scene of Padme addressing the Senate in AotC. (What was Lucas thinking when he deleted that?!?)

Occurs to me: what would have happened if Padme had refused to return to Naboo? If she'd told the well-intentioned Jedi and pretending-to-be-well-intentioned-Palpatine to go screw themselves, and that this thing was bigger than her safety? What if she had been there for the vote? Would anything have been different?

[owl]

I think she would have ended up dead if she'd stayed on Coruscant.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I see two possibilities; either Palpatine would have gotten her killed before the vote (which again would have left Jar Jar speaking for the Naboo), or he would have manipulated things so that the repeated attempts at her life were used as a cause to stop with the voting on the military creation act entirely until the perpetrators were found.

Then, once the big news about the Separatists having an army would have come out via the investigation, I'm not sure she would have continued to vote against the Military Creation Act. Jar Jar wasn't the only one thinking this was a good idea; let's not forget, Bail Organa supported it at that point, too.

On another note, yes, I so would have left the scene with Padme adressing the senate (and those with her family) in the movie.

[kathyh]

The Long Game was undoubtedly my least favourite episode

Mine too. It just felt off all round, but I liked the way it was used for continuity purposes. That's really been one of the pleasures of the new Who, how there has been character continuity and things haven't always been as neatly wrapped up as they used to be.

The Doctor's joy about the fact nobody died was completely disarming and very engaging and brought back all the love lost via The Long Game.

It was adorable wasn't it. Probably my favourite moment of the whole series. It's just so *happy*.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

So, tell me, old Whovian, now that the Ninth Doctor came and went, how do you rank him among the previous incarnations?

[kathyh]

I wouldn't dare call myself an "old Whovian", being a Whovian requires *far* more detailed knowledge of the series than mine. I'm more of an elderly casual fan *g*. It's difficult to compare them all really as Eccleston's tenure has been so short, and the series is so different now. The last Doctor I was that upset about losing was Patrick Troughton (#2) but my memory of his episodes is so hazy now that I can't remember why that was. The *early* years of Tom Baker (#4) were crackingly good stories for their time and I don't think this series has been as strong as those in terms of sheer story, but these days I prefer the more modern style complete with character arcs and a more emotional Doctor. And that's a roundabout way of saying I can't really answer the question *g*.

[owl]

Hah, I've already written a Jack, well, not rescue, more obsessively-chasing-through-space-and-time-looking-for-blue-boxes fic. It was the expression on his face when the TARDIS leaft that got me.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Just checked out your Jack, who is balm to the fannish soul.*g*

[owl]

Thank you ver y much! :-D

Awwwwww....

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

And here I was just about to burn you all of those eps. Good thing I checked your LJ before I started!

Glad you enjoyed them. Real life is relentless at the moment, so I've been a bit out of touch again.

Re: Awwwwww....

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And I was eagerly awaiting them, but then K. was faster, and I could not resist...

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Help! The Dr Who fandom confuses me big time. There seem to be different series and different actors. It makes my head spin.

I only watched one episode in 1995; apparently this was the pilot to a new Dr Who series and it was the topic of some debates if the main character was well cast. I remember liking this episode (love the blue police box thing), but never saw another episode again. (I was living in a student accomodation in London at the time so there was just one public TV set and usually the guys who wanted to watch soccer won the TV battle. :-))

So how many Dr Who series or movies do exist?
And how many actors have played Dr Who?
And is Dr Who an institution like the King, i.e. the King is dead, long live the King? Or are the different actors supposed to be the exact same Dr Who?
And last but not least: Which of the many series should I as a total Dr Who beginner watch?

Any info is much appreciated!

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

There is only one series. It ran for 26 years starting in 1963, went on hiatus in 1989, had a TV movie (the one you saw) which utterly failed to bring the series back, and is back now and being surprisingly successful - so much so, the BBC has commissioned the next two seasons already, despite their policy to only commission a year in advance. Christopher Eccleston, this season's Doctor, is the ninth actor to play the Doctor, and they're all exactly the same man.

I'd recommend the current season. They've designed it to be accessible to beginners, since it's been off the air so long, and so much of the audience has never seen it before. A lot of people who have never seen Dr Who before are starting with this season and loving it - it is very well done. (Keep in mind, though, it's much more modern and much more expensive than the previous seasons, which are sort of old school BBC shoestring budget stuff. None the worse for it, but a little nostalgia helps.) After that, I'd recommend seasons 25 and 26 (1988 and 1989), which are sort of the prototypes for some of what they're doing here, and have some lovely dark stuff in them. After that, I'd actually recommend going back to 1975-1980 for some of the classic old stuff, and if you're still enjoying that sort of mad intergalactic wackiness, fill in from 1970 to 1985 or so. (The earlier stuff can be hard to find and sometimes hard for a modern audience to get into, and some of the '80s before season 25 were rough going.)

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for your answers! Now I get it. :-)

(The earlier stuff can be hard to find and sometimes hard for a modern audience to get into, and some of the '80s before season 25 were rough going.)
Sounds a bit like the first series of Star Trek. In comparison to the later series the special effects and the alien make up are rather primitive.
Watching how series develop is actually kind of fascinating, since they tend to reflect cultural changes.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I see you already got an explanation from an expert, so let me just add that I can get you the current series, and also the explanation of why it's the same man, but different actors: he's from a species that if they die (and aren't blown apart to bits) regenerates into a different shape. Very handy for actors, that.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

so let me just add that I can get you the current series

Thanks for the offer! I'll definitely take you up on it.

And, yes, the regeneration business is very useful. I think only the Dax-symbiont in DS9 comes close in usefulness.