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Doctor Who 4/30.09 Forests of the Dead
In which some guesses come true and others don't, and Stephen Moffat remains both brilliant and irritating.
To get the irritating part out of the way first, which is what I usually do before I can move on to the praise: River being with Donna's imaginary children in the computer-provided virtual world instead of, say, on another expedition, digging, can be charitably explained by our scriptwriter, having given those children some pathos in the earlier scene with Donna when they realise they're not real, wanting to reassure us about their fates. But I rather suspect it's due to the fact he imagines a family really is everyone's dream scenario, especially when you're female.
In all fairness, though: when Paul Cornell had John Smith and Joan Redfern (plus the Doctor in the fobwatch) experience that brief flash of the life they'll never have in Family of Blood, it was all about John Smith having children (we didn't see him teaching, we saw him with Joan & the kids), and his last words were "are the children safe?" so it's not like New Who didn't offer precedent for male characters visualizing an unlived life in exactly the same way.
(Also: a life with access to every single book ever written is pretty paradisical, if you ask me.)
Now, on to the good stuff. Firstly, I'm glad to say I wronged Moffat by suspecting last week he wasn't interested in Donna and thus found a way to write her out of the story until retrieval at the end. Here, she does get her own subplot, there is pay-off for her brief bonding with Miss Evangelista other than having to watch Miss Evangelista's gruesome leftovers and hear her dataghost, by the end, she's as emotionally drained as the Doctor, and they have another lovely friendship scene. Trust Donna to call him out on the "I'm always allright". Incidentally, Donna bonding with the kids and husband I had no problem with; basically, this is the life she thought she'd get when marrying Lance, the road not taken (due to the guy having been a bastard), and also, I'm BTVS-trained: Buffy accepted Dawn as her sister and defended her, Donna would feel this way two children in her care, invented or not.
Kudos to everyone who correctly guessed last week that Dr. Moon was an anti-virus/maintenance programm and the little girl the central computer upon first watching. (It took me rewatching and reading other reviews.) The fact she's not "just" a computer but also was a genuine little girl before that and part of Mr. Lux' family was unexpected, and even more unexpected that Mr. Lux' motives weren't dastardly exploitation (which is more often than not the case with rich people on DW) but genuine protectiveness. In addition to Moffat giving us another "everyone lives!" story (which I loved), you could also say he gives us another "everyone is redeemed, there are no true villains" tale. Including the Vashta Nerada, who as opposed to many a DW monster (the Empress of the Raccnoss comes to mind, as to the Krilitane) do accept the Doctor's offer instead of insisting on having their meat and no compromise, literally. And may I say, the reveal scene was terrific? I think I figured out Anita had already been consumed about a second or so before the Doctor said it, but not earlier. (Also, Anita was another case in point of the show managing to keep the redshirts of a story individuals, not just numbers.)
Intermission: dust in the library from books breeding flesh-eating microbes = Moffat being very very evil. See also: making us suspicious of every statue around. Curse you, Moff! (In a good way.)
Lastly, River Song. Again, kudos to people who guessed from the clip the BBC put up earlier this week that what she whispered in the Doctor's ear to convince him they truly knew each other in his future would be his name. (And no prizes for guessing we wouldn't hear it out loud. It's one of those things, like the true reason why he left Gallifrey, that the show will never reveal.) But you know the detail I loved most? That him having given her his screwdriver turned out not to be for sentimental reasons but as a way of saving her (with the double meaning of "saving"). That was awesome. Also something I didn't foresee whereas I was reasonably sure she'd die in the episode. The Doctor knowing River will die when he meets her in his future timeline is of course something true for every single one of his companions (even Jack, post- Face of Boe revelation), but here it's sharpened and crystallized by the fact he sees that death play out right on front of him before they meet for the first time from her pov. It's all kinds of poignant and screwed up, and yet again not, for the gun shown in the first act (the dataghost, the saving) is indeed fired to make everyone live. I can't say I'm in love with River the way one sometimes instantly falls for characters, but I like her enormously, and if Future!Doctor finds a way to retrieve her from the computer and make her physical again I'm all on board for that. Plus Alex Kingston is great, pure and simple.
The Doctor and Donna deciding not to read River's diary: mirrors the scene at the start where they draw back their hands from the books, and worked for me. Better discover the future on their own. I do hope for some mutual hurt/comfort stories from fandom before the next episode, though.
Trailer: is that the episode with David "Son of Patrick" Throughton next?
To get the irritating part out of the way first, which is what I usually do before I can move on to the praise: River being with Donna's imaginary children in the computer-provided virtual world instead of, say, on another expedition, digging, can be charitably explained by our scriptwriter, having given those children some pathos in the earlier scene with Donna when they realise they're not real, wanting to reassure us about their fates. But I rather suspect it's due to the fact he imagines a family really is everyone's dream scenario, especially when you're female.
In all fairness, though: when Paul Cornell had John Smith and Joan Redfern (plus the Doctor in the fobwatch) experience that brief flash of the life they'll never have in Family of Blood, it was all about John Smith having children (we didn't see him teaching, we saw him with Joan & the kids), and his last words were "are the children safe?" so it's not like New Who didn't offer precedent for male characters visualizing an unlived life in exactly the same way.
(Also: a life with access to every single book ever written is pretty paradisical, if you ask me.)
Now, on to the good stuff. Firstly, I'm glad to say I wronged Moffat by suspecting last week he wasn't interested in Donna and thus found a way to write her out of the story until retrieval at the end. Here, she does get her own subplot, there is pay-off for her brief bonding with Miss Evangelista other than having to watch Miss Evangelista's gruesome leftovers and hear her dataghost, by the end, she's as emotionally drained as the Doctor, and they have another lovely friendship scene. Trust Donna to call him out on the "I'm always allright". Incidentally, Donna bonding with the kids and husband I had no problem with; basically, this is the life she thought she'd get when marrying Lance, the road not taken (due to the guy having been a bastard), and also, I'm BTVS-trained: Buffy accepted Dawn as her sister and defended her, Donna would feel this way two children in her care, invented or not.
Kudos to everyone who correctly guessed last week that Dr. Moon was an anti-virus/maintenance programm and the little girl the central computer upon first watching. (It took me rewatching and reading other reviews.) The fact she's not "just" a computer but also was a genuine little girl before that and part of Mr. Lux' family was unexpected, and even more unexpected that Mr. Lux' motives weren't dastardly exploitation (which is more often than not the case with rich people on DW) but genuine protectiveness. In addition to Moffat giving us another "everyone lives!" story (which I loved), you could also say he gives us another "everyone is redeemed, there are no true villains" tale. Including the Vashta Nerada, who as opposed to many a DW monster (the Empress of the Raccnoss comes to mind, as to the Krilitane) do accept the Doctor's offer instead of insisting on having their meat and no compromise, literally. And may I say, the reveal scene was terrific? I think I figured out Anita had already been consumed about a second or so before the Doctor said it, but not earlier. (Also, Anita was another case in point of the show managing to keep the redshirts of a story individuals, not just numbers.)
Intermission: dust in the library from books breeding flesh-eating microbes = Moffat being very very evil. See also: making us suspicious of every statue around. Curse you, Moff! (In a good way.)
Lastly, River Song. Again, kudos to people who guessed from the clip the BBC put up earlier this week that what she whispered in the Doctor's ear to convince him they truly knew each other in his future would be his name. (And no prizes for guessing we wouldn't hear it out loud. It's one of those things, like the true reason why he left Gallifrey, that the show will never reveal.) But you know the detail I loved most? That him having given her his screwdriver turned out not to be for sentimental reasons but as a way of saving her (with the double meaning of "saving"). That was awesome. Also something I didn't foresee whereas I was reasonably sure she'd die in the episode. The Doctor knowing River will die when he meets her in his future timeline is of course something true for every single one of his companions (even Jack, post- Face of Boe revelation), but here it's sharpened and crystallized by the fact he sees that death play out right on front of him before they meet for the first time from her pov. It's all kinds of poignant and screwed up, and yet again not, for the gun shown in the first act (the dataghost, the saving) is indeed fired to make everyone live. I can't say I'm in love with River the way one sometimes instantly falls for characters, but I like her enormously, and if Future!Doctor finds a way to retrieve her from the computer and make her physical again I'm all on board for that. Plus Alex Kingston is great, pure and simple.
The Doctor and Donna deciding not to read River's diary: mirrors the scene at the start where they draw back their hands from the books, and worked for me. Better discover the future on their own. I do hope for some mutual hurt/comfort stories from fandom before the next episode, though.
Trailer: is that the episode with David "Son of Patrick" Throughton next?
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Can't wait for you to get to Battlestar; I thought it had the stronger showing this week.
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You must download this week's podcast, which is Moffat, Rusty and David Tennant having a blast, geeking out and flirting ("so which of us do you love most, David?"), and they comment on that very thing with the music when she whispers as well.
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ETA: Not necessary; not a feature that requires you to 'be in the UK'. I think I'll have a listen now.
ETA2: That was a shitload of fun. They all seem to get on very well, which makes me hopeful Dave Tennant will stick around for season five. (Which, I think is pretty good odds, but some people immediately started hyperventilating in a bag.)
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