Doctor Who 4/30.05 The Poison Sky
May. 4th, 2008 07:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Helen Raynor proceeds to make me very happy with the Old Schoolness of it all, and New School continuity goodness rocks as well.
As expected, the cliffhanger was resolved in 60 seconds flat (see also: beginning of Age of Steel or Sound of Drums), though it was by axe, not by stone, as everyone had suggested. Sylvia shows where Donna has the practicality from by saving her father and smashing the windshield, and the plot can proceed. Which was about as subtle as The Green Death or Invasion of the Dinosaurs were about their anti-pollution, pro-environment messages back in the day, and I loved it.
That the Doctor picked upon Clone!Martha not being Real Martha pretty early on was obvious (at the very latest when he didn't tell her where Donna was), but why he let her continue was not (to me, at least) and yet made absolute sense once he revealed it. Seven (aka the Regeneration specializing in these kind of things) would have approved. Best of all, as opposed to what some people feared, Clone!Martha was not overwhelmed by sudden love for him (thus resurrecting last year's crush), nor was she used to lecture him (which I, for one, did not need: even if I had not already thought the Doctor knew about his part in screwing things up with Martha in the end scene of LOTLL, Partners in Crime spelled it out as main text). Instead, Real Martha was the one who got through to her somewhat by virtue of her memories of her family and her own goals in life, but not to an unrealistic degree, and yet the death of the clone was treated unexpectedly poignant (though inevitable), not as a cheap plot device.
Speaking of poignant deaths: alas, Ross. I don't suppose we could hope you were just unconscious? The Doctor really liked you, you know. (Though he was responding to the loss of life in general as well.)
Great cognitive dissonance as last year's residence of tyranny-plus-prison, the Valiant, was used to (temporarily) save the day, simultanously foreshadowing both what the Doctor does later and what Luke Rattigan does, showing that brilliant designs can be used for good as well as evil, depending on who does it, and hoorah for UNIT proving tactical skills! (Though I bet the Doctor won't set foot on that ship any time soon on his own volition.) But of course the very best moment for UNIT fans was THE BRIGADIER REFERENCE. We love the Brig, oh yes we do, and so does the Doctor, and so, it seems, does Colonel Mace. Who if he calls him "Alastair" must be a good friend. And "stuck in Peru", huh? You know what this means? Other than "yes, he's still alive and well in 2008" which is happy-making enough - retirement evidently does not keep him from returning to the service when needed. Fanfic writers, you've just been handed lots of golden opportunities.
I really liked what they did with Luke Rattigan's fellow geniuses/geeks. The scene efficiently demonstrated to both audience and Luke R. that no, being picked on at school does not automatically make you okay with mass slaughter, and being bright among other things means you can think for yourself instead of playing follow-the-leader. Listening to the podcast for the last episode made me feel a bit smug because Helen Raynor mentioned something I had picked up in my review from last week, that Luke is a shadow double for the Doctor, a might have been, and in The Poison Sky, they use that further; Luke literally substitutes himself for the Doctor, thus saving him; and that kind of grand suicidal day saving would be something he with his ideas about himself would find appealing, after the double rejection of his fellows and the Sontarans, so again, ic rather than a sudden Saul/Paul conversion.
Speaking of suicidal day-saving: observe to the twist to Ten's previous "giving the other one chance to choose peaceful withdrawal" thing (proving that he wanted to save Miss Foster in Partners in Crime despite her already having rejected the chance was no fluke). He knew the Sontarans and that there'd be basically no chance of them doing the sensible thing and withdrawing, but he's really sick of saving by killing (especially with Pompeii very recently) and still has his survivor's guilt going on, so the Sontarans get their chance at the expense of his own life. I just knew Donna would smack him for that one. Oh, Doctor.
Donna's unimpressed reaction to getting her TARDIS key earlier on was a neat demonstration of New Who self-directed irony (as it was an inversion of the usual emo-ness of such a gesture), while of course the emotional buttons were pushed later on when she found herself alone on a Sontaran warship and made the New Who Companion phonecall to her family. I continue to adore Catherine Tate's performance, with Donna's fear and courage later while being talked through infiltrating the Sontaran ship by the Doctor both so palpable.
And wow, the ending was a pleasant surprise, as I fully expected we'd say goodbye to Martha again until the last three episodes or so, and now we get bonus Martha for at least one more ep! Excellent. And of course the trailer just begs for a poll.
Space in case you haven't watched the trailer.
[Poll #1182139]
As expected, the cliffhanger was resolved in 60 seconds flat (see also: beginning of Age of Steel or Sound of Drums), though it was by axe, not by stone, as everyone had suggested. Sylvia shows where Donna has the practicality from by saving her father and smashing the windshield, and the plot can proceed. Which was about as subtle as The Green Death or Invasion of the Dinosaurs were about their anti-pollution, pro-environment messages back in the day, and I loved it.
That the Doctor picked upon Clone!Martha not being Real Martha pretty early on was obvious (at the very latest when he didn't tell her where Donna was), but why he let her continue was not (to me, at least) and yet made absolute sense once he revealed it. Seven (aka the Regeneration specializing in these kind of things) would have approved. Best of all, as opposed to what some people feared, Clone!Martha was not overwhelmed by sudden love for him (thus resurrecting last year's crush), nor was she used to lecture him (which I, for one, did not need: even if I had not already thought the Doctor knew about his part in screwing things up with Martha in the end scene of LOTLL, Partners in Crime spelled it out as main text). Instead, Real Martha was the one who got through to her somewhat by virtue of her memories of her family and her own goals in life, but not to an unrealistic degree, and yet the death of the clone was treated unexpectedly poignant (though inevitable), not as a cheap plot device.
Speaking of poignant deaths: alas, Ross. I don't suppose we could hope you were just unconscious? The Doctor really liked you, you know. (Though he was responding to the loss of life in general as well.)
Great cognitive dissonance as last year's residence of tyranny-plus-prison, the Valiant, was used to (temporarily) save the day, simultanously foreshadowing both what the Doctor does later and what Luke Rattigan does, showing that brilliant designs can be used for good as well as evil, depending on who does it, and hoorah for UNIT proving tactical skills! (Though I bet the Doctor won't set foot on that ship any time soon on his own volition.) But of course the very best moment for UNIT fans was THE BRIGADIER REFERENCE. We love the Brig, oh yes we do, and so does the Doctor, and so, it seems, does Colonel Mace. Who if he calls him "Alastair" must be a good friend. And "stuck in Peru", huh? You know what this means? Other than "yes, he's still alive and well in 2008" which is happy-making enough - retirement evidently does not keep him from returning to the service when needed. Fanfic writers, you've just been handed lots of golden opportunities.
I really liked what they did with Luke Rattigan's fellow geniuses/geeks. The scene efficiently demonstrated to both audience and Luke R. that no, being picked on at school does not automatically make you okay with mass slaughter, and being bright among other things means you can think for yourself instead of playing follow-the-leader. Listening to the podcast for the last episode made me feel a bit smug because Helen Raynor mentioned something I had picked up in my review from last week, that Luke is a shadow double for the Doctor, a might have been, and in The Poison Sky, they use that further; Luke literally substitutes himself for the Doctor, thus saving him; and that kind of grand suicidal day saving would be something he with his ideas about himself would find appealing, after the double rejection of his fellows and the Sontarans, so again, ic rather than a sudden Saul/Paul conversion.
Speaking of suicidal day-saving: observe to the twist to Ten's previous "giving the other one chance to choose peaceful withdrawal" thing (proving that he wanted to save Miss Foster in Partners in Crime despite her already having rejected the chance was no fluke). He knew the Sontarans and that there'd be basically no chance of them doing the sensible thing and withdrawing, but he's really sick of saving by killing (especially with Pompeii very recently) and still has his survivor's guilt going on, so the Sontarans get their chance at the expense of his own life. I just knew Donna would smack him for that one. Oh, Doctor.
Donna's unimpressed reaction to getting her TARDIS key earlier on was a neat demonstration of New Who self-directed irony (as it was an inversion of the usual emo-ness of such a gesture), while of course the emotional buttons were pushed later on when she found herself alone on a Sontaran warship and made the New Who Companion phonecall to her family. I continue to adore Catherine Tate's performance, with Donna's fear and courage later while being talked through infiltrating the Sontaran ship by the Doctor both so palpable.
And wow, the ending was a pleasant surprise, as I fully expected we'd say goodbye to Martha again until the last three episodes or so, and now we get bonus Martha for at least one more ep! Excellent. And of course the trailer just begs for a poll.
Space in case you haven't watched the trailer.
[Poll #1182139]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 05:12 am (UTC)AND: I want a Susan reference next week, for obvious reasons.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 05:23 am (UTC)but how did he find alien allies (tm) to raise her in those 18 months and a year
I suppose I was thinking more along the lines of him sticking some potential embryos on ice or something, and some unknown third party coming along later and finishing the job... Hence my clicking of both the "someone we do know" and "someone we don't know" boxes above.
AND: I want a Susan reference next week, for obvious reasons.
I think there absolutely should be one, but I'm a bit worried about it, actually. This seems like the time, if there ever was one, for him to expound on that "I was a dad once" line... And I find that I don't really want the explanation. What I want are cryptic hints and ambiguously worded allusions. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 05:42 am (UTC)"Are you asking me out on a date?" Indeed.
I suppose I was thinking more along the lines of him sticking some potential embryos on ice or something, and some unknown third party coming along later and finishing the job...
Gotcha. Well, he did want a "new Time Lord empire" and you can't build that with just two Time Lords around... (Also, whoever raised her obviously is keen on training her in martial arts. Hm.)
I think there absolutely should be one, but I'm a bit worried about it, actually. This seems like the time, if there ever was one, for him to expound on that "I was a dad once" line... And I find that I don't really want the explanation. What I want are cryptic hints and ambiguously worded allusions.
You mean you don't want to know whether it was Susan's mother or father who was the Doctor's offspring, or you don't want to know how that marriage (and we already know he was married, thanks to them giving him the "I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own" line in seasons past) went down? Me, I want to know the former but not the later. But even if we don't get either, I want a Susan reference by name!
So, the Brig: isn't alone in Peru but has Liz, Jo and Professor Jones the hippie and experienced South American traveller with him, yes?
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 05:55 am (UTC)Yes, exactly. You've got to work with what you've got... Plus, it would fuck with the Doctor's mind, and you know that's the only reason the Master gets up in the morning. :)
I think what I want are simply more throwaway lines of precisely the "rubbish at weddings" type, that, rather than actually answering questions, leaving you going, "Wait, did he just imply...?" and knowing there's backstory there but not exactly what it is, or whether it's something perfectly mundane or utterly bizarre. I like that sense of mystery and possibility and openness-to-interpretation. So I'd rather not have even big details like the identity of Susan's parents spelled out, really. I would love to hear her name mentioned, though. *sniffle* I miss Susan.
So, the Brig: isn't alone in Peru but has Liz, Jo and Professor Jones the hippie and experienced South American traveller with him, yes?
Oh, that could be! :)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 06:14 am (UTC)On that note, I hope you've seen this and this:
http://versaphile.livejournal.com/1732338.html
http://versaphile.livejournal.com/1732537.html
Gotta love statistics.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 08:38 am (UTC)I idly wonder if Ross has an identical cousin...
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 08:50 am (UTC)Ross: oh GOOD POINT! After all, there is precedent, with Aedola. Still, it wouldn't be Ross of the bad puns and Doctor bonding. *pouts*
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 09:00 am (UTC)Age of Steel-world Ross then. Since it seems to be seeping into the current reality, anyway...
Looms: ah, I see. I'm kinda glad they discarded that.
Randomly: I currently don't know if I should be delighted that DW Season 4 is shaping up to be so much fun, or frustrated that BSG Season 4 is so far about as entertaining as a bowl of cold noodles. This is not the way I imagined it to go.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 09:14 am (UTC)(Though I hear the actor just landed a main role in that BTVS rip-off the Brits do with a male slayer which might prevent that, though then again s4 was shot before that.)
Looms: ah, I see. I'm kinda glad they discarded that.
Me too. With all respect for Marc Platt's effort to come up with something suitably alien, it always smacked more of excluding-women-from-procreation to me, and I'm a "only tv canon is canon" girl anyway. (Well. TV and some audios, in DW's case. Because I do love some of the audios, dearly.)
I currently don't know if I should be delighted that DW Season 4 is shaping up to be so much fun, or frustrated that BSG Season 4 is so far about as entertaining as a bowl of cold noodles. This is not the way I imagined it to go.
Well, you can be both. (And idealy they should both be good, not just one of them, of course, but as I said, RDM direly needs someone to keep him in line and shake some sense of pacing back into him.) Me, I'm just glad they're not both depressing at the same time, never mind whether depressing in a good, quality or in a bad way. I enjoy squeeing at my tv.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 09:44 am (UTC)As in - The Master got her pregnant using The Doctor's DNA?
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 09:53 am (UTC)What?
I genuinely have no idea what series you're talking about.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 09:56 am (UTC)So, they're turning the show into a generic Male Human Vampire Hunter format? How clever. Still, good on him for getting a job!
Well, you can be both.
:)
Me, I'm just glad they're not both depressing at the same time, never mind whether depressing in a good, quality or in a bad way. I enjoy squeeing at my tv.
I concur.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 10:12 am (UTC)I'm not sure we do. As I remember it, the Doctor didn't actually say "No, he's not", but something like "You've been reading too many novels", which might just be careful misdirection.
I wish, if we had to have a Doctor's Daughter, she could be an elderly woman coming to the end of a particular regeneration - who bosses him about like a little boy while addressing him as Daddy - but I suppose that's impossible if the Time Lords have been wiped out, and a contemporary cloning is the likeliest explanation.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 11:21 am (UTC)As far as the daughter goes I think it has to be somebody we don't know in order to wrap it up within one episode. Unless the mystery adds to part of the arc plot.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 11:27 am (UTC)And I was really hoping that Ross would make it through and we'd se him again later on.
But I'd really love to see the Brig at least "ONCE" on NuWho...
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 12:35 pm (UTC)Two things that I can't believe no-one has mentioned on here:
1) "Are you my mummy?" when the Doctor is wearing the gas mask.
2) The brief Rose Tyler appearance. Come on, I can't've been the only person to've seen her?
PJW
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 01:48 pm (UTC)2) Saw her - unless it was actually the Doctor's putative daughter.
The evidence is that the TW weapon is more powerful than nukes - not to mention faster, and there's a land-based version as well as the one on the Valiant - it's just that this not altogether brilliant script nevertheless realised that to use the same device twice in quick succession might nark one or two viewers...
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 01:56 pm (UTC)Interestingly enough, she was in the credits for it, as well.
PJW
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:28 pm (UTC)There is an outside chance that it might have been someone from the Five era, I suppose, considering they did cast Peter Davison's daughter for the role...
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:31 pm (UTC)If the Time Lords were still around, I'd be all for an elderly woman - or a middle-aged one would be great - but unless they pull a fobwatch trick again, and I don't think they'll do that so shortly after the Master story, it has to be someone born/created after the Time War.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 03:22 pm (UTC)Nyssa? With her Mad Scientific Skills and Doctor adoration and longing for a home/family?
(It's be unlikely, but cool.)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 06:50 pm (UTC)In more practical terms, in a recent interview DT was quite clear on the fact Rose and the Doctor never had sex, and while the good old BBC gave RTD more leeway than previous producers, I'm fairly certain explicit Doctor/Companion relationships are still a no-no. Not the Doctor having sex or implied sex with other people, they're okay with that by now, and of course companions having sex with other people is an old hat, but not, textually, the Doctor with a companion, whatever the subtext may be. This is the broadcasting company who made the rule that Martha during her stint on Torchwood would not have sex with anyone because she's a DW character, remember. Can't see them greenlighting a Doctor/Rose sprog even if there would be a simultanous declaration that it came via artificial means instead of the normal way. So, whoever the mother is, it's definitely not Rose.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-01 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-02 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-02 12:30 pm (UTC)