Doctor Who 3/29.11 Utopia

[selenak]

Watched it twice already. What?



And I'll probably watch it a third time after writing this review. So much love. But let me try to do something other than squee.

So. Him and him and him. That fellow, the other fellow, and the Doctor. Choosing to reintroduce the Master and Jack to the show in the same episode was a stroke of genius and worked ever so well, because of all the parallels/contrasts going on, and it tied beautifully with the rest of the season.

Firstly, while I did think Jacobi's character would turn out to be a Timelord in disguise, my first guess was that he'd be the Doctor in a future regeneration, whereas wee_warrior as of last week guessed he'd be the Master pre-John Simm, fitting with the emphasis on the non-linearity of time travel we got (the Doctor meeting Martha in Smith and Jones for the first time when it's actually a day after the first time for him, and when he does meet her for the first time from his pov, she already has met him; ditto for Queen Elizabeth; and of course the entirety of Blink. And thus Saxon is already around and plotting on Earth when the Doctor has yet to encounter Yana in the future to make it possible. Love it.

Secondly, the performances all around. Jacobi was splendid, of course, both as Professor Yana and as the Master. Yana's hidden timelordness was signalled with the Edwardian clothes and the genius/absentmindness demeanour, and given the Doctor/Master mirroring and yin/yang relationship since ages, it's so fitting Yana and John Smith are contrasts, too. Both were designed to be perfect disguises; John Smith is a man of his times, not a bad man, and in the end one capable of self sacrifice, but also not a genius, not brilliant, and prone to all the prejudices his time had. Yana is kind and brilliant and a genius and working to save what's left of humanity. What are we, but the sum of our memories, to quote another show. Also, the Doctor and Yana starting a mutual admiration society instantly and the Doctor complimenting Yana on what a genius he is and how he deserves to celebrated across the ages and the universe? Perfect. (That's so going to become a treasured Master memory.*g*) Moreover, it works as a glimpse of how they must have been in their school days together, before the arch nemesis stuff started. Once poor Yana had become the Master again, Jacobi was perfect as well, doing the larger-than-life grandiosity which you really have to be able to carry off without going over the top in campness. (Looking at you, Roberts, though admittedly the script of the tv movie of doom did not help a bit.)

As for John Simm and his debut as the Master, wow. Just a few moments, but they were fantastic. (I didn't think "Sam Tyler" once, btw.) And again with the counterpart of the Doctor - Simm!Master as the equivalent of Ten, bouncy playful gleefulness in demeanour and ruthlessness in action.

(Sidenote: am very amused the Master finally read the Evil Overlord rules and didn't stick around to gloat and tell his evil plan.)

I wonder how New Who only folk will see this, but I thought script and acting managed to convey quite a lot about the Doctor and the Master here - obviously that the guy is a) a Timelord, b) bad news (given his immediate actions towards our heroes, setting the futurekind on them, and his killing of his assistant Chanto), and c) has quite a lot of backstory with the Doctor. Ever since the casting spoiler about Simm being cast as the Master was mentioned by the Independent, I wonder how the Doctor would react to not just any old other Gallifreyan being around, but this one. The Master. And lo and behold, we got: "I'm begging you! It's different now - we' the last two." Master/Doctor slashers must have a field day, with that and "Say my name". (Oh, and with Jacobi!Master deciding that if the Doctor has a young fit body now, he wants one, too.)

Which brings me to the return of Captain Jack Harkness. Because as soon as it was clear Yana was the Master, I knew he'd make off with the TARDIS at the end of the episode, putting the Doctor in the same position Jack was in Parting of the Ways. "Let me in!" versus "Doctooooor!", anyone? And really, for the Doctor, it wasn't just "damm, supervillain just took my TARDIS and left to menace the universe again" but "my ex-friend/arch nemesis/only other timelord just LEFT" This episode was a lot about consequences catching up, and Jack symbolized that beautifully. We got more explanations about what happened to him than during the entire first season of Torchwood, complete with exact dates (1869, eh? as in: same year Gwynneth opened the Rift), and of course the confirmation of what one could suspect but didn't know for sure - that the Doctor was aware what had happened, i.e. Jack not just being returned to life but being immortal, and that this was precisely the reason why he never came back for him. This season featured immortality as a punishment several times; immortality as an accident inflicted on a friend, however? Bites. (Incidentally, I suppose there has to be a different perception of people who watched Torchwood and people who didn't and saw Jack last in "Parting of the Ways, because Torchwood makes it very clear Jack does regard his immortality as a burden, so the Doctor asking him whether he wants to die and Jack deciding no, he actually doesn't has a quite different resonance.) And yes, it's called "running away"; the script calls it that. Except that this only works temporarily, and sooner or later, what you ran away from catches up with you. Literaly.

Utopia did a nice job of balancing DW Jack and TW Jack; the "saying hello is flirting with you" part is back - which it wasn't over at TW - but the issues haven't gone, and both the resulting snark and the big having-it-out conversation through glasses worked beautifully. Oh, and I agree with andrastewhite: all the gratitious Rose mentions this season are worth the pay-off of Jack and Martha snarking about blonde privilege. That amused the hell out of me. (Not least because I joked in a recent email to honorh about the Doctor already having a track record pre-Rose of getting emo over blondes and rebounding with brunettes - see also, Three, Jo and Sarah Jane.) Jack and Martha hitting it off was as I expected, and I loved that banter between Jack and Ten being somewhat different than between Jack and Nine, and not just because of the whole leaving-me-at-the-space-station thing but because Nine would never have brought a line like "the only man you'll ever be happy with". *g*

Loved Martha continuing to be a doctor (and having a medkit, which makes so much sense), and the way she took the Companions-as-strays; calling it what it was, but not taking it as a personal insult. "Us" not "me". Given all the Doctor-Master parallels, I'm now somewhat afraid for her, though, because of Chanto's fate.

Trivia: so, taking the energy inside the TARDIS would make a Time Lord into "a vengeful god". This does not surprise anyone who watched the last two seasons, especially this one, hmmmm? Also, am pretty sure the Master will be tempted to try it out. And/or do something that that hand of the Doctor's which is now in his possession.

One of the reasons why the Doctor is a hero: he checks on the survival and well-being of the humans on their way to Utopia first before rushing off to deal with his just returned fellow Time Lord.

So, the Master took the Utopia disc thing. Methinks we'll have another non-linear time travel revelation where it turns out either the Master or the Doctor caused that call to begin with, and it's going to lead the humans to the past.

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Ooo, very interesting spec about the future humans maybe not dropping out of the story at this point.

Re spoilers: another British newspaper ran a story a few months ago about Jacobi and Simm both playing consecutive versions of the Master. Which worries me because the same paper has run some stories about this season's ending and next year's theme which strike me as being a not-very-good idea if true.

When I watched the ep I thought about Jacobi!Master and Simm!Master being paralleled to Nine and Ten, but now I'm seeing parallels to One and Two as well.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Ooo, very interesting spec about the future humans maybe not dropping out of the story at this point.

I think if we weren't to see them or at least hear from them again, the episode wouldn't have bothered with letting the Master take that disc with him.

Spoilers: don't tell me. I'm trying to remain unspoiled.

When I watched the ep I thought about Jacobi!Master and Simm!Master being paralleled to Nine and Ten, but now I'm seeing parallels to One and Two as well.

Alas I only saw Two in "The Three Doctors", but yes, I can see that, too. (Ouch. Bad unintended pun.)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

For some reason I was convinced that Yana was going to turn out to be the Doctor, not the Master, right until we saw him get his memory back. Killing bug girl was a bit gratuitous even for the Master, however - even in his evil overlord days he tended to be mission-orientated, and I think he would have done the hypnosis trick to keep her as his mind-controlled sidekick.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I saw his killing of Chanto as a parallel/contrast to John Smith telling Martha "so you're here to execute me?!?" I.e. he was angry with her for not having returned him to his old self, thus keeping him a lowly human, whereas John Smith saw Martha's intention to return him to his old self as murder.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes, that makes sense.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Depends what Old Days you're talking about. The last two broadcast Master stories both saw him having a pseudo-companion who he eventually ends up killing in a fit of pique - Midge in Survival and Chang Lee in Doctor Who the Movie, although Chang Lee gets better.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Parallels between Martha-Doctor and Chanto-Master: I think there were also some to Lazarus-Tish, however shallowly. Of course, she didn't have an unrequited crush on him, but was quite interested once he had transformed - and then of course he tried to eat her even though they had a "connection"- admittedly a dubious one - which foreshadows the Master killing Chanto (who really must have annoyed him quite a bit in those seventeen years, poor thing. Also, more or less committing genocide about two minutes after regaining his memories is certainly no mean feat).

Concerning the man himself: Jacobi was fabulous, and I actually felt quite sorry for poor Yana. Having the Master hide as a human was a brilliant idea - and did he do that himself, to sit out the Time War, or did someone do it to him? And why can he regenerate? This would only work if he is actually a pre-Delgado version, wouldn't it? This is very confusing.
And another thing: I read the place where he was "found" was the region the Face of Boe came from? Makes you wonder about the Face's motives, there.

And John Simm was awesome. So giddy! I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does with the role in the next two episodes, and what happens after that. Of course, I'm now wondering whether he ends up human again, which I guess would depend on whether they want to make the character really recurring or not.

As for Martha's fate: I am a little scared here, too, and I really couldn't care less for a situation where she does something heroically stupid to live up to Rose's reputation, or whatever, not least because I can't shake off the feeling that RTD is getting a little too meta here. I liked Rose well enough, but the importance lend to her is starting to mystify me. She is one of what, roughly thirty people? And even of the few companions I know I'd hardly rank her among the most interesting. On the other hand, I haven't yet seen a good textual explanation why Martha should feel so very troubled by Rose's spectre, I mean she herself is hardly Rebecca DeWinter, you know. I think the whole unrequited crush business simply feels a little too pasted on for me.

(On the third and final hand, if Jack can try out his patented kiss of life and save her, it would be fine with me, too.)

So, the Master took the Utopia disc thing. Methinks we'll have another non-linear time travel revelation where it turns out either the Master or the Doctor caused that call to begin with, and it's going to lead the humans to the past.

It would be either like Bad Wolf or the game station signal, depending on which one of them does it.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Concerning the man himself: Jacobi was fabulous, and I actually felt quite sorry for poor Yana. Having the Master hide as a human was a brilliant idea - and did he do that himself, to sit out the Time War, or did someone do it to him? And why can he regenerate? This would only work if he is actually a pre-Delgado version, wouldn't it? This is very confusing.

By now, I've heard the theory that becoming human would reboot him as a Timelord, so to speak, i.e. give him the full 13 regenerations again (which if true would equally apply to the Doctor now and would get the BBC out of that particular conundrum). But if so, that still doesn't explain why it should work when he was body-hopping already. Ah, well. When in doubt, blame the Time War and various goings-on in same.*g*

(I do think we'll probably hear whose idea it was to make him human, i.e. the Master's or someone else's, but otoh I don't think we'll get an explanation as to whether this is the Master post-Ainsley or post-Thompson...)

I liked Rose well enough, but the importance lend to her is starting to mystify me. She is one of what, roughly thirty people? And even of the few companions I know I'd hardly rank her among the most interesting.

Same here. I don't get the Rose cult. She was a likeable character, absolutely, but hardly the Bestest Most Specialest Ever. Meta-wise, I think it's RTD getting carried away because she was the first Companion he created, his own contribution to the Who-verse. Within the show, I've been fanwanking it that it's because she was the first being the Doctor got close to post-Time War; it could have been any of the other companions and the effect would have been the same, but it happened to be Rose Tyler.

It would be either like Bad Wolf or the game station signal, depending on which one of them does it.

They might even do it together, whether deliberately or enforced. In this episode, them working together sent the humans on their way, and the Dalek Sec-Doctor cooperation might be foreshadowing.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

By now, I've heard the theory that becoming human would reboot him as a Timelord, so to speak, i.e. give him the full 13 regenerations again (which if true would equally apply to the Doctor now and would get the BBC out of that particular conundrum). But if so, that still doesn't explain why it should work when he was body-hopping already.

That, and it wouldn't explain why he didn't just do it in the first place, instead of body-hopping. Thus my idea that he must have been a previous Master-incarnation (if they want to be cheeky, Jacobi's could have been No. 5, which would work with the Mister Saxon/Master No. 6 anagram [which wouldn't work for the actor, because Simm is the eighth actor who plays him, not the sixth]). Of course that would open up all kinds of conundrums even if they go with the idea that timelord incarnations can exist at the "same" time - which Jack's explanation that he waited for a Doctor incarnation to coincident with him seems to hint at - so it might be a bit too complicated.

Ah, well. When in doubt, blame the Time War and various goings-on in same.*g*

Probably best. :)

Within the show, I've been fanwanking it that it's because she was the first being the Doctor got close to post-Time War; it could have been any of the other companions and the effect would have been the same, but it happened to be Rose Tyler.

That would certainly explain the Doctor's reaction, but doesn't quite account for Martha being so devastated about the whole thing. She just doesn't strike me as someone who would pine after a guy who is clearly not interested in her. (Romantically I mean - he definitely likes her, and probably doesn't show it so much because of the Rose situation.)

They might even do it together, whether deliberately or enforced. In this episode, them working together sent the humans on their way, and the Dalek Sec-Doctor cooperation might be foreshadowing.

Very interesting idea. The question is - why? I mean, I'm not even sure why the Master would do it on his own - the Doctor would want to save them, sure, but the Master seems more of the "stupid, puny humans!" ilk than anything else.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That, and it wouldn't explain why he didn't just do it in the first place, instead of body-hopping.

I guess it depends on whether or not the amnesia part is inevitable when using the chameleon arch, which going by the now two examples we have it seems to be. So the Master could have considered becoming a human with a different personality as too risky/humbling if he didn't absolutely have to do it (after all, there is no guarantee he can come back if someone nicks that watch, and he's vulnerable in human shape), whereas body-hopping allows him to retain his precious self.

Thus my idea that he must have been a previous Master-incarnation (if they want to be cheeky, Jacobi's could have been No. 5, which would work with the Mister Saxon/Master No. 6 anagram [which wouldn't work for the actor, because Simm is the eighth actor who plays him, not the sixth]).

I think we'll know of Simm!Master references any events that happened with either Delgado or Ainsley!Master. Until then, it's...

...wait. No. I just rewatched again, and Yana reacts to the following key words "regeneration" "time and space" "time travel" "Dalek" "time war". So, this is definitely a post-Time War-Master.

(Pre-Delgado-Master would not have reason to respond to "Dalek" at all.)

Martha's reaction to the Rose thing: true, otherwise she doesn't strike one as a Second Mrs. De Winter type, but I think it's important to differentiate between two reactions this episode. a) to the Rose love fest between Jack and the Doctor - at this point she doesn't know anything but that basically the second word out of the mouth of the hot guy who just showed up is "Rose", too, which does invite an eye roll; and b) to finally getting an explanation why the Doctor and this Rose person aren't together anymore, which previously she hadn't, via listening to Jack's conversation with the Doctor. Previously, all Martha knew was that the Doctor was somewhat hung up on Rose and Rose wasn't there anymore, but according to the Doctor was alive and happy and "with her family", i.e. not dead. Which would lead to the not unreasonable conclusion that Rose left the Doctor, and their parting was by choice. Whereas now she hears that it wasn't.

The question is - why? I mean, I'm not even sure why the Master would do it on his own - the Doctor would want to save them, sure, but the Master seems more of the "stupid, puny humans!" ilk than anything else.

Absolutely, and therefore, he'd need an evilly and/or pragmatic reason. Well, perhaps being Tony Blair being PM of England has given him a taste of governing and he wants some handy future people to govern? Yeah, I know, lame. I'm sure they'll come up with a better reason if that's where they go...

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

So the Master could have considered becoming a human with a different personality as too risky/humbling if he didn't absolutely have to do it (after all, there is no guarantee he can come back if someone nicks that watch, and he's vulnerable in human shape), whereas body-hopping allows him to retain his precious self.

And there is of course also the fact that he probably annoyed quite a lot of people while bouncing through the universe, conquering and hypnotising and turning everyone into tiny dollies, so once they'd find out that he was human and kind of defenseless... better not risk it. (Especially if being killed while human means that you effectively stay dead, which would be my speculation at least.)

Absolutely, and therefore, he'd need an evilly and/or pragmatic reason. Well, perhaps being Tony Blair being PM of England has given him a taste of governing and he wants some handy future people to govern?

Hey, maybe that's how he wins the election! Smuggling voters in from the future! (I have already seen one "Saxon, Petrelli, '08" icon, btw. Why settle for the lesser evil indeed.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And there is of course also the fact that he probably annoyed quite a lot of people while bouncing through the universe, conquering and hypnotising and turning everyone into tiny dollies, so once they'd find out that he was human and kind of defenseless... better not risk it.

Exactly! Ah, the downsides of being an evil overlord...

Hey, maybe that's how he wins the election! Smuggling voters in from the future! (I have already seen one "Saxon, Petrelli, '08" icon, btw. Why settle for the lesser evil indeed.)

Bwahahaha. Well, the trailer makes it look as if the American President is coming to visit and we don't know who that is yet...

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Thus my idea that he must have been a previous Master-incarnation (if they want to be cheeky, Jacobi's could have been No. 5, which would work with the Mister Saxon/Master No. 6 anagram [which wouldn't work for the actor, because Simm is the eighth actor who plays him, not the sixth]).

This almost certainly isn't a past Master, because they play actual dialogue recordings of both Delgado and Ainley into the confused noise during the Professor's moments of near-memory.

Also, you can still make the Six work - Pratt and Beevors were supposedly playing the same incarnation of the Master, even though they were different actors, and Tipple ended up on the cutting room floor.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

This almost certainly isn't a past Master, because they play actual dialogue recordings of both Delgado and Ainley into the confused noise during the Professor's moments of near-memory.

Ahh. Makes sense. And selenak mentioned above that he has to be past-time war because that is one of the words Professor Yana reacts to.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

"It's different now - we' the last two."
I yelled "And now we have to have babies!"

This is a great episode review, but it was more the Master being miffed at being killed by "a girl" that makes me worry about Martha - that's classic comeuppance material. I also thought that Yana might be a future Doctor - especially as he dressed like the First Doctor - until he actually changed, or even a child of John Smith and Joan! It was interesting, though, that the Master was a kind and competent human, while the Doctor was absent-minded and slightly cold.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I yelled "And now we have to have babies!"

LOL. Well, one can never forget The Curse of Fatal Death and the Master and Female!Doctor coming to that conclusion.*veg*

It was interesting, though, that the Master was a kind and competent human, while the Doctor was absent-minded and slightly cold.

Excellent storytelling choice, and I hope we'll get good fanfic out of it, too.

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

One thing narked me. Being able to come back from the dead is not the same as being resistant to dying.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

True enough, but I handwaved due to fabulous dialogue which obviously couldn't have had if Jack had kept dying and waking up again.*g*

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Amusing trivia for you - thanks to the multiple semi-canonical versions of Who Derek Jacobi has now played two different versions of the Master and the Doctor as well. He played a very different version of the Master in the now-officially-non-canon BBC animated story The Scream of the Shalka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_of_the_Shalka), and he played a version of the Doctor (sort-of) in Deadline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadline_%28Doctor_Who_audio%29), one of Big Finish's Doctor Who Unbound series of AU Who audio dramas.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That must be a kind of record. (I mean, I know David Tennant has played various bad guys on the audios before and after becoming the Doctor, and ASH played a Time Lord on Death Comes to Time before appearing on the tv show, but surely no one else was both the Doctor and the Master?)

Oh, and another question, because I've seen it pop up elsewhere: I assumed that the Master has been able to fly the TARDIS because he's a Time Lord, and that the TARDIS isn't actually coded to the individual (Doctor) as much as the species, but I can't recall whether that's backed up by old canon?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

In the story Pyramids of Mars the Doctor tells a villain that the TARDIS controls are locked to his biology and can't be operated by anyone else, and that's sometimes quoted as canon by fans, but he's blatantly lying (because otherwise the villain would have killed him there and then). There are several stories before and afterwards in which other characters are shown to fly the TARDIS (mainly companions, and certainly not just the Time Lord ones). They tend not to be very successful, but more through lack of skill than because the TARDIS will only respond to the Doctor, or only to Time Lords.

Oh, and I just watched Scream of the Shalka, which is still available for free on the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/shalka/). It's definitely worth watching (it's about an hour long), although RTD has since been extremely critical of Richard E Grant's performance in print. It was written by Paul Cornell, and there are definite hints of Davies's New Who in the Doctor's persona and relationship with his companion of the story. Jacobi plays a robot copy of the Master with an appearance based on Delgado's, who the Doctor is keeping as a companion for obscure angsty emotional reasons, and they have a relationship which is somewhat reminiscent of pre-angstsex Buffy+chipped!Spike and about as homoerotic as you can push it in an all-ages story.

one question: master regenerations

[mossymermaid.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about the whole "becoming human reboots the regeneration cycle" idea.

As much as I loved the episode, and the regeneration I was asking thr TV set (out loud yes yes ha ha) how the master regenerated because he has run out of lives. I kept on thinking he was going to smash the box with the doctors hand in it and... I don't know what. Hold it??

It was really distracting. Anyway, the idea about the reboot. It would be nice if they made it obvious in the show what that was all about. Because new people watching the series would want to know what was so special about this particular time lord.

Anyway, Jacobi was very effective as he became the master again. That show where we saw just his eyes was chilling, and a nice throw-back to the Delgado era. Also, Simms is good and has the right manic energy and glee for the role.

Was anyone else thinking "new teeth...." when they say that?

Re: one question: master regenerations

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I kept on thinking he was going to smash the box with the doctors hand in it and... I don't know what. Hold it??

LOL. When he put his hand against the glass of the box I was thinking of Jack going all emo about that hand and box in ep 2 of Torchwood and saw competition already. For the hand, of course.*veg*

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

(Sidenote: am very amused the Master finally read the Evil Overlord rules and didn't stick around to gloat and tell his evil plan.)

ME TOO! *g*

What a fabulous episode. Such strong performances lately; I'm thrilled...and even as a New Who fan find that there is so much resonance; it's very clear that there is a history. I did remember the Face of Bo and his words, too, so I wasn't surprised the old guy was a TimeLord, though I didn't figure the Transfiguration Clock into the whole thing....

[selenak.livejournal.com]

ME TOO! *g*

More than Ethan Rayne ever managed.*g* (Beautiful icon of yours, btw!) I'm really looking foward to the New Who version of the Master as the finale antagonist.

[meret.livejournal.com]

my first guess was that he'd be the Doctor in a future regeneration

When I first recognized the pocket watch, I thought it was the same watch rather than another of the same device, and assumed Yana was the boy who stole the watch at the school. I thought having opened the watch and absorbed some of the energy, he'd aged *really* slowly.

(1869, eh? as in: same year Gwynneth opened the Rift),
the Doctor already having a track record pre-Rose of getting emo over blondes and rebounding with brunettes - see also, Three, Jo and Sarah Jane

Thanks! I didn't know that. :)

I loved that banter between Jack and Ten being somewhat different than between Jack and Nine,

I remember 9 being amused by Jack's flirting, while 10 seems irritated by it.

taking the energy inside the TARDIS would make a Time Lord into "a vengeful god".

I wondered if the Doctor had been tempted to do that to try and save Gallifrey.

Methinks we'll have another non-linear time travel revelation where it turns out either the Master or the Doctor caused that call to begin with, and it's going to lead the humans to the past.

Ooo! Good idea. :)