Dr. Who praise and SW linkage
Jun. 21st, 2005 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAaaand 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,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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 ofmerrymaia 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.
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.
