Dr. Who: The Impossible Planet review and Alias fanfic

[selenak]

New Who: The Impossible Planet was wonderful, especially for an Alien (not, note, Aliens) fan like yours truly, and having watched The Three Doctors in recent months, I can't help but wonder if the late Omega has something to do with the black hole, if not the evil from the dawn of time. Probably not. Anyway, the station's crew are nicely individualized, and this episode's version of the chestburster, aka the writings transferring to Toby's skin and later the Ouds', are an incredibly creepy twist. Meanwhile, the Oud (spelling?) inevitably remind me of the HP houselves, and no prices for guessing that the station's crew (however many of the survive) will come to the conclusion that a slave race is Not A Good Thing.

This is clearly a Doctor/TARDIS OTP episode, with the TARDIS (not Rose) being called "all I have". Rose, for the record, is at her best in this episode, empathizing with the Oud, trying to cheer the Doctor up, and taking the none-too-enthusiastic reaction to the mortgage proposal without treating it as a rejection. Meanwhile, I notice a commendable and ongoing trend from the Alternate Universe episodes, which is the Doctor taking the time to regret and mourn the redshirt casualties. (I believe David Tennant each time Ten says "I'm so sorry", too.) On the lighter side of things, loved the hug for Zach (again, spelling? Zack?) and the later's nonplussed acceptance of it.

At a guess: what's going to rise from the seal in Sunnydale High ancient bronze plate isn't meant to be the Judeo-Christian devil per se but an entity which can, if it wants, masque as same. The reverse of the B5 Vorlons, if you like, who can appear as angelic/divine creatures because they can access the relevant genetic memories of all races.

Also: it just might be that NOBODY survives, except the Doctor and Rose. Precisely because the crew are individualized, and because this could be the two-parter where the bill for the hubris demonstrated in Tooth and Claw and in the teaser gets presented. Now if I hadn't recently seen Five surrounded by dead bodies, I'd say this is too dark for Who - i.e. the Doctor can't save anyone, anyone at all - but now I'm aware there is precedent. I hope not, though. At least one or two survivors would be good.


Meanwhile, I wrote Action and Reaction, a fourth season Alias ficlet, as a response to several challenges (over at fandom_muses, at alias500 and yahtzee63 and eirena daring me to). The Bad Wrong, it is doubled. I blame JJ.

Also, according to Alias executive producer Jeff Pinkner, Ghost!Nadia is always, including in the finale, a part of Sloane. His conscience. Which means her action at the end - leaving him to suffer immortality alone - is actually self punishment. Interesting. Mind you, I'm of the opinion that authorial intention on tv does not count as a "must" - i.e. we're free to interpret what we see - but it's intriguing that this is what the writers intended.

Comments

[andraste]

*carefully does not look at any Alias spoilers.

Quite a few Old School fans - including yours truly - are hoping that the villain du juor will turn out to be Sutehk from the Fourth Doctor adventure Pyramids of Mars. He has a history of impersonating bad guys from Earth mythology and possessing people *g*.

I have a horrible feeling you're right about everyone dying next week. Not only is there precedent, it happens with some regularity. There's even an episode where everyone except the companion and the villain's secretary dies! (The Doctor gets over it, of course.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You can look at the ficlet, though. That's spoilerfree season 4. *g*

Must look up Pyramid of Mars now, clearly!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

You must see 'Pyramids of Mars', it's knockout! There is a link between it and the current two-parter, but I don't want to say more because I'm not sure about your spoiler-horizon...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I am not spoiled for either the rest of the current season or Pyramid of Mars at all, and shall now try to find the later by any means...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I was hesitating over revealing that actor providing the voice of the Beast also provided the voice of Sutekh, but I suspect now you know this already. 'Pyramids of Mars' is probably in my Doctor Who top five.

[andraste]

Must look up Pyramid of Mars now, clearly!

It's a personal favourite of mine. Plus: Sarah Jane!

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Plus, the guy doing the voiceover is the same as the guy who did Sutekh. :)

[andraste]

Plus, the guy doing the voiceover is the same as the guy who did Sutekh. :)

... I cannot believe I forgot to mention that. *headdesk*

[paratti.livejournal.com]

There are stories in Classic Who with 100% death rates among the supporting cast. It's entirely possible this one will kill 'em all.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

re: spelling--"Ood" and "Zack," according to the closed captioning. :) (And I nearly mispelled "spelling" there. Um.)

At a guess: what's going to rise from the seal in Sunnydale High ancient bronze plate isn't meant to be the Judeo-Christian devil per se but an entity which can, if it wants, masque as same. The reverse of the B5 Vorlons, if you like, who can appear as angelic/divine creatures because they can access the relevant genetic memories of all races.

That sounds about right, yeah, and also, oooh, B5/Dr Who crossover? Hm ...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The great thing about Dr. Who is that you can arrange crossovers with practically every other show - if it doesn't fit into Who continuity, it's an alternate universe...

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Indeed! And especially when you involve Captain Jack, who was made for smutty crossovers. Pretty,l canonically bisexual, time-travelling slut! I mean, really! :D

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Who on B5 would you pair him with then, one wants to know? *g*

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I considered many characters Jack might try his luck with, but then got hopelessly distracted by the thought of him trying to seduce Kosh...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Jack/Kosh: irresistable force meets inpentrable, no pun intended, object?

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I kind of want to say Zach, because he deserves some lovin'. :D