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selenakOf the three Christmas Specials, I still like The Runaway Bride best (Donna! Gallifrey! Darkest Ten Moment ever except for end of Family of Blood! Season 3 foreshadowing in miniature! Inspired Lunacy!) , and The Christmas Invasion least (no Doctor at all until the last ten minutes or so, swordfight as grand climax (which I'm only fond of in DW if it's between the Doctor and the Master), Harriet Jones re"tired"). Voyage of the Dammed is somewhere between the two; I liked it, a lot, but I didn't love it the way I do The Runaway Bride, which, having gotten the s3 DVDs for Christmas, I just have rewatched.
RTD is still contending with JMS for the title of Self Declared Atheist TV Writer Most Fond of Religious Imagery. Someone should really make a clip show where G'Kar's flogging, walk complete with cross and near cruxificion compete with Nine's crucifixion pose from Dalek, Jack's three days dead plus resurrection from End of Days and now Ten with the Killer Angels. Boys, boys, you just prove that no one is more obsessed with the imagery than an ex.
Anyway, from the moment we found out the Spaceship Titanic's crew had no idea what the name signified it was obvious the owner was behind it all, joining the long queue of Evil Capitalist Villains on DW (more recent entries would be Henry Van Statten and John Lumos), but that wasn't the point. The special both used the disaster movie formula and got some good unexpected twists in. For example, in both disaster movies and RTD scripts in general, the rules are that the rich bastard(s) bite the dust (or end up in unpleasant circumstances, or have a Scrooge-like Epiphany) while the nice salt of the earth working class characters survive and thrive. So the death of the nice couple and the survival of the rich bastard (minus epiphany and unpleasant circumstances, on the contrary, he is richer than before!) was a real surprise. Astrid's death was and wasn't; from the moment she asked the Doctor to travel with him, and he said yes, it was obvious something had to happen to prevent this, since we all know Kylie didn't sign on for season 4. But I thought the reason why Astrid would not go with the Doctor in the end would have something to do with her name (it's an anagram of "TARDIS" and in book & audio canon, there is a character who is basically a more advanced TARDIS model in human form), so the fact she died was a surprise, then the Doctor remembered the teleport and I thought, ah, now he'll bring her back and we'll see her true shape, but no such thing. Stardust or no, this makes Astrid the first New Who Companion who genuinenly died (though of course there are Old Who precedents!), and it underscores how dangerous this existence is. As with the whole special, I liked Astrid but did not love her the way I do Martha and Donna. But I thought her big moment of heroism, defeating the villain of the hour, was well done, and the two potentially sappy kiss scenes were respectively cute and moving instead by the way they were presented, with the first balanced by the humour of her having to climb on the medical aid kit to kiss the tall Doctor (is DT that big or Kylie Minogue that small?), and the second by the fact he kisses her back when she's nearly immaterial and basically a ghost, an echo, as another character puts it. Which is Ten in a nutshell. (Except with the Master.) Give him someone who is doomed and sure to die, and he'll make the big emotional gesture; if it's someone he'll actually have to live with for a while, not so much.
In this special, everyone of the featured characters contributed to the saving of Earth and the few survivors on board, from the Midshipman (no redshirt he, again a breaking of the disaster movie rules!) to the red little Cyborg, and they all came across as individuals, which is one of the endearing things about DW one shot characters (except when Chris Chipnall is writing). I really liked that, and I enjoyed most of the gags:
- London isn't Sunnydale: makes complete sense that after the last two Christmases (Christmasi?), everyone would stay the hell away from the city for the holidays!
- except for the Queen and the news vendor. Now that's stoicism and the advantage of the stiff upper lip for you. The corgies and the slippers were to die for. Also, this makes me wonder: did Harold Saxon get his initial audience with the Queen before taking over the world?
- "...and they're at war with the Ham-ericans" - "No - well, not yet"; no, RTD still no fan (see also: Sound of Drums, Christmas Invasion, World War Three)
- "no, Christmas is about peace and... you know, forget it; this is exactly what Christmas is about!"
Possible foreshadowing: the Doctor references his (involuntary) time on Earth, back when he was Three and exiled by the Time Lords - and working for UNIT. (Which, btw, is presumably where he got the evacuation of Buckingham Palace code from.) Given the pictures of Martha in UNIT uniform that was making the rounds, methinks that's yet another indication the old organization will be back next season, and not just referenced but on screen. It also strengthens my hope we'll actually see one of the old UNIT characters.
And of course: "But if you could decide who lives and who dies, if you did decide, that would make you a monster." Though you can also see it as a summing up and looking back on the edge the Doctor is always living on. The irony is, his unwillingness to let people die can be as horrible as killing them (as in Family of Blood) - but the fact is he's equally capable of going in the other direction, being willing to even help the Daleks survive on the one in a million chance that they can change, in Evolution of the Daleks). And sometimes he does make the living/dying decision in favour of death, as with the Racnoss last Christmas, and the horrible thing is that you can't say it would be better if he hadn't. (Given, you know, the whole destruction of the human race alternative.) And sometimes he tries everything to keep one person alive, and that person chooses death instead, to win just once.
Big question the special leaves us with: given that Donna declined the invitation to travel with the Doctor the last time, and he now is back to his "no more Companions, it's too dangerous for them" attitude, what will make the two team up for season 4?
Speaking of which: nice trailer. DONNA! MARTHA! And... Romans?
RTD is still contending with JMS for the title of Self Declared Atheist TV Writer Most Fond of Religious Imagery. Someone should really make a clip show where G'Kar's flogging, walk complete with cross and near cruxificion compete with Nine's crucifixion pose from Dalek, Jack's three days dead plus resurrection from End of Days and now Ten with the Killer Angels. Boys, boys, you just prove that no one is more obsessed with the imagery than an ex.
Anyway, from the moment we found out the Spaceship Titanic's crew had no idea what the name signified it was obvious the owner was behind it all, joining the long queue of Evil Capitalist Villains on DW (more recent entries would be Henry Van Statten and John Lumos), but that wasn't the point. The special both used the disaster movie formula and got some good unexpected twists in. For example, in both disaster movies and RTD scripts in general, the rules are that the rich bastard(s) bite the dust (or end up in unpleasant circumstances, or have a Scrooge-like Epiphany) while the nice salt of the earth working class characters survive and thrive. So the death of the nice couple and the survival of the rich bastard (minus epiphany and unpleasant circumstances, on the contrary, he is richer than before!) was a real surprise. Astrid's death was and wasn't; from the moment she asked the Doctor to travel with him, and he said yes, it was obvious something had to happen to prevent this, since we all know Kylie didn't sign on for season 4. But I thought the reason why Astrid would not go with the Doctor in the end would have something to do with her name (it's an anagram of "TARDIS" and in book & audio canon, there is a character who is basically a more advanced TARDIS model in human form), so the fact she died was a surprise, then the Doctor remembered the teleport and I thought, ah, now he'll bring her back and we'll see her true shape, but no such thing. Stardust or no, this makes Astrid the first New Who Companion who genuinenly died (though of course there are Old Who precedents!), and it underscores how dangerous this existence is. As with the whole special, I liked Astrid but did not love her the way I do Martha and Donna. But I thought her big moment of heroism, defeating the villain of the hour, was well done, and the two potentially sappy kiss scenes were respectively cute and moving instead by the way they were presented, with the first balanced by the humour of her having to climb on the medical aid kit to kiss the tall Doctor (is DT that big or Kylie Minogue that small?), and the second by the fact he kisses her back when she's nearly immaterial and basically a ghost, an echo, as another character puts it. Which is Ten in a nutshell. (Except with the Master.) Give him someone who is doomed and sure to die, and he'll make the big emotional gesture; if it's someone he'll actually have to live with for a while, not so much.
In this special, everyone of the featured characters contributed to the saving of Earth and the few survivors on board, from the Midshipman (no redshirt he, again a breaking of the disaster movie rules!) to the red little Cyborg, and they all came across as individuals, which is one of the endearing things about DW one shot characters (except when Chris Chipnall is writing). I really liked that, and I enjoyed most of the gags:
- London isn't Sunnydale: makes complete sense that after the last two Christmases (Christmasi?), everyone would stay the hell away from the city for the holidays!
- except for the Queen and the news vendor. Now that's stoicism and the advantage of the stiff upper lip for you. The corgies and the slippers were to die for. Also, this makes me wonder: did Harold Saxon get his initial audience with the Queen before taking over the world?
- "...and they're at war with the Ham-ericans" - "No - well, not yet"; no, RTD still no fan (see also: Sound of Drums, Christmas Invasion, World War Three)
- "no, Christmas is about peace and... you know, forget it; this is exactly what Christmas is about!"
Possible foreshadowing: the Doctor references his (involuntary) time on Earth, back when he was Three and exiled by the Time Lords - and working for UNIT. (Which, btw, is presumably where he got the evacuation of Buckingham Palace code from.) Given the pictures of Martha in UNIT uniform that was making the rounds, methinks that's yet another indication the old organization will be back next season, and not just referenced but on screen. It also strengthens my hope we'll actually see one of the old UNIT characters.
And of course: "But if you could decide who lives and who dies, if you did decide, that would make you a monster." Though you can also see it as a summing up and looking back on the edge the Doctor is always living on. The irony is, his unwillingness to let people die can be as horrible as killing them (as in Family of Blood) - but the fact is he's equally capable of going in the other direction, being willing to even help the Daleks survive on the one in a million chance that they can change, in Evolution of the Daleks). And sometimes he does make the living/dying decision in favour of death, as with the Racnoss last Christmas, and the horrible thing is that you can't say it would be better if he hadn't. (Given, you know, the whole destruction of the human race alternative.) And sometimes he tries everything to keep one person alive, and that person chooses death instead, to win just once.
Big question the special leaves us with: given that Donna declined the invitation to travel with the Doctor the last time, and he now is back to his "no more Companions, it's too dangerous for them" attitude, what will make the two team up for season 4?
Speaking of which: nice trailer. DONNA! MARTHA! And... Romans?
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 01:05 pm (UTC)I'm pretty sure that some of the soldiers shown in the trailer were wearing UNIT insignia.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 02:01 pm (UTC)That's something I can never get my head around, either. Maybe it does matter whether you were at some point religious. My upbringing was somewhat, er, unorthodox in that respect - my father, a ferocious Ex-Catholic, and my mother, a somewhat believing, but at that time not church-going Lutheran, actually didn't have me baptized and genuinely let me decide whether I wanted to receive communion or confirmation or not (I didn't) - and other than a brief stint as a Buddhist in sixth grade and a "bargaining christian" stage - I got a 4- in math, Jesus got a tea light - in eighth, I've never been religious, so crucifixion poses and the like don't really have an emotional impact on me. In addition, I find it a very weird choice for Dr. Who in particular.
(is DT that big or Kylie Minogue that small?)
She's genuinely that small - 5 feet I believe - but he's not exactly tiny, either. They could very well have one foot between them.
I'm more excited about UNIT possibly showing up in Season 4 than anything else...
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 02:50 pm (UTC)Double yes to the whole who lives and who dies analysis. He refuses death for as many good and bad reasons as he chooses it, and I love how messy it makes him. Saving someone who's just a paving slab, making life an eternal punishment for the Family, doing everything he can to keep the Master and Astrid and them dying anyway. And every decision affects him. It's not just something that happens, a plot point. It's a real, heavy weight on him.
Though I didn't really see Ten going up with the Halo robots as religious imagery, myself. Just badass cool.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 03:22 pm (UTC)The doctor's recent companions do fit a certain profile, don't they?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:10 pm (UTC)I'm not English, but I did remember the current Queen's father staying with the family in London, too, and took that as an allusion to it.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:17 pm (UTC)*pleasetheBrigpleasetheBrigpleasetheBrig*
Rusty 'n Joe and their ex believer issues: in RTD's case, well, the guy wrote a two parter (starring Eccleston as the man himself, no less) about Jesus disolving religion, and JMS spent half of the Lost Tales on the Augustinian "why does God permit evil?" argument, so I stand by my claim about their ongoing obsession? (I've never watched Queer as Folk, so I have no idea whether Rusty vents it there, too. He didn't in Casanova. JMS, on the other hand, always finds a way to smuggle in a messiah and/or a crucifixion somewhere, and if not that, then an antichrist...)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:23 pm (UTC)And every decision affects him. It's not just something that happens, a plot point. It's a real, heavy weight on him.
Yes, it is, and that's why, Doylist reasons aside, it wouldn't have been believable if he had at the end of this special taken on a new Companion. It's of course an eternal conundrum: he endangers every one he takes with him, but if he doesn't take someone with him, if he remains alone, he's in danger of ending up as a complete Monster and he knows it.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:30 pm (UTC)One of the reasons Ten was so happy in S2, IMO, was that he didn't just have Rose. He had Rose's family. And when he lost them all at once, it sent him into a self-isolating spiral that he's still going down.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 05:56 pm (UTC)Yay!
*pleasetheBrigpleasetheBrigpleasetheBrig*
*nods eagerly*
so I stand by my claim about their ongoing obsession
Oh, I didn't mean to contest that claim at all, I was merely wondering if it's ex-believers rather than atheists per se (one not necessarily being the other).
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 06:12 pm (UTC)The Doctor used to have multiple support networks. Gallifrey, for all its faults, was still his home planet. He had UNIT and the Brig. I think that during the Time War, he became much more deeply entangled with Gallifrey as a self-identified home, and when he lost them he cut himself off from all ties to protect himself. "I don't do domestic." But he learned to trust again with Rose, and got sucked into her domestic family, and let himself be vulnerable again and got his network pulled out from under him for a second time. Torchwood One, as a UNIT-displacer, made Earth a more hostile place for him. He tried to get his Gallifrey network back through the Master, and that was a roaring failure. And then he lost Martha, and had Five drop by to remind him that he used to have everything and lost it all. Small wonder he's such a mess.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-26 10:06 pm (UTC)And the alien/coded gay person. And both of the women.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-27 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-27 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-27 07:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-27 11:57 am (UTC)Something I also remembered is an old comic book series JMS wrote - Midnight Nation, which has angels and demons and a character getting crucified among other things. He definitely seems to like the imagery.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 07:46 pm (UTC)I rather adored Darth Smaul, as I've seen him dubbed. Wasn't he also the Moxx of Balhoon?