Doctor Who 4/30.10 Midnight

[selenak]

Hands down scariest episode of the season. Which, you know, is not RTD's usual trademark - I'd say otherwise his strengths are quirky characters and emotional scenes, but I've never found his episodes terrifying. This one? Really scared the living daylights out of me. And a bottle show, no less. I'll get to the flaws later, but right now, I'm awed.



Firstly, I had heard in advance that this would be a Donna-lite show because Catherine Tate was busy filming the next episode, which is Donna all the time and Doctor lite. The narrative concept made a virtue out of a necessity: among other things, it illustrates how the whole "Doctor, in the middle of disaster, rallies people and saves (some) of them" depends more often than not on a companion being there. This story would not have worked with Donna at the Doctor's side. It's the dark parallel to the usual disaster movie (which RTD did with Voyage of the Damned) in which the people bond, and each of them displays their best side at least during the disaster, doing their bit to save the others. Here, they bond, alright, but against anyone who is other - first the possessed Sky and then the Doctor. For once, charisma and belief in human virtue doesn't work. And even his voice is taken away, that thing that usually gets him out of anything. It's turned against him, down to catch phrases. And there is no companion around to come to the rescue, either.

And yet it's not entirely a pessimistic episode as far as humanity is concerned. Dee Dee is correctly suspicious. Jethro protests. The Hostess works it out as well, and she - the only character in the episode other than the Doctor whom the audience doesn't learn the name of, the only one who didn't get a warm chatting scene early on - is the one who saves the day. Still, there is only a bleak aftermath possible, reminding me of nothing so much as Lord of the Flies, the final scene when Ralph, after being hunted down by all the other boys to the beach, is found by the deus-ex-machina officer who asks what the hell happened on the island, and Ralph doesn't have any words left, only tears and silence. Come to think of it, Lord of the Flies scared me exactly in the same way. Not just because of what it says about humanity but because it does so in a plausible way. The passengers aren't monsters. And what they are scared of is real. But their fear brings out the worst in them, and that is scarier than any vampire or skeleton.

The tag scene was direly needed, both for the audience and the Doctor. (And btw, love that the Doctor takes Donna to a spa planet to begin with - she needed that after everything she went through in earlier eps.) Man, was that hug needed.

Flaws: Sky being a lesbian and the Hostess being black makes two minority characters dead, but I suppose the later is at least balanced by the equally black Dee Dee who survives. I'm even torn on whether or not Sky talking about her ex boyfriend instead of ex girlfriend would have been better, or, say, the couple being two men or two women instead of husband and wife because as said couple were the frontrunner in the "throw them out of the airlock" department, that would have made for questionable subtext as well, had they been gay instead of heterosexual. (See the complaints about the sadistic black guard in Planet of the Ood.)

Acting: everyone was terrific. DT especially, but the actress who played Sky was also outstanding, and really, everyone just rocked. David Troughton sounds like his father, and did I detect an extra grin when the Doctor introduced himself to Professor Hobbes?

I think we had adventures with few settings before, but I can't recall one that really just has one (other than the two Donna scenes), a small one at that, and man, did that work for the horror and claustrophobia. Once again: scariest episode of the season, hands down. I haven't been that terrified since Blink, and I think this one scared me even more because of the Doctor in the middle. I think I'm going to watch that hug again...

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

DT *really* impressed me in this episode, during the sequences where he's repeating Possessed-Sky's words with tears and impotent horror in his eyes. I think it's the first time his Doctor truly moved me, possibly because it was so subdued instead of his more usual manic or contained-rage shows of emotion.

The actress who played Sky is Lesley Sharp, who is indeed outstanding, although I wish there had been more to her character than the extended possession, because she seemed interesting in the very few scenes she was herself prior to the attack. I wanted to know what the book she was reading was. (If you haven't seen Sharp's previous work yet: she starred in RTD's The Second Coming opposite Christopher Eccleston and Bob & Rose as Rose, and she's played a conflicted, unpretentious medium in the series Afterlife.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, I should have known I had seen her before! (I did see The Second Coming, though not Bob & Rose.) On the one hand, I wish she'd gotten more scenes, because yes, otoh, with the 45 minutes format I don't know what could have been cut instead, and this is one story I really don't think would have benefited from the Old Who format - hard to maintain that level of mass hysteria over four to six twenty minutes installments...

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

this is one story I really don't think would have benefited from the Old Who format - hard to maintain that level of mass hysteria over four to six twenty minutes installments...

*nod* This is a story for which the new format really worked. It couldn't have kept the same tension if there had to have been a cliffhanger in it; if it had been shorter it wouldn't have been as tense, but longer and the all the arguing scenes would really have seemed like padding. Perfect fit.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

The actress who played Sky is Lesley Sharp

Oh, that's why I knew her! Yes! Thanks for pointing out.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

It's great. Really, really fantastic work in that one -- I think it might be in my top ten of episodes right now. (If I counted by top ten; I tend to eschew such listmaking as silly.) I'm seeing "Lord of the Flies" a lot -- which I can see. It reminds me of "The Twilight Zone".

David Tennant crying in impotent horror? Yeah, that's disturbing.

This is a pretty bleak episode. I've watched it three times, and I need a hug every time.

I tend to think that bottle episodes usually turn out very well. They have a bad reputation, but they're often the ones that push the psychological boundaries best. (For example, "Duet" is the bottle episode of DS9's first season. "17 People" is the West Wing's bottle episode of season two, and is a flawless masterpiece.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

They have a bad reputation, but they're often the ones that push the psychological boundaries best. (For example, "Duet" is the bottle episode of DS9's first season. "17 People" is the West Wing's bottle episode of season two, and is a flawless masterpiece.)

Another example would be TNG's The Tin Drum; I agree, bottle episodes can really bring out the best. (Unless the people creating them get lazy and use flashbacks to old episodes, of course.) And a writer often benefits from going out of his comfort zone, which is totally what RTD did here. Good for him.



David Tennant crying in impotent horror? Yeah, that's disturbing.

Wasn't it just. I don't think even the moment where Sally and Larry were cornered by the angels and the TARDIS dematerialized disturbed me that much.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

It's been too long since I watched TNG; I couldn't come up with one. Meanwhile, I'm not certain I LIKE any of the BSG bottle episodes... except, wait, isn't "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" a bottle episode? That's one of my FAVORITES. So.

It manages to be MORE disturbing than that even though I knew there was absolutely zero chance that he would get airlocked, due to, you know being the titular character and all. That's how psychological horror rolls.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

BSG: doesn't really count, because they're on a space ship all the time, with planets being the very rare exception, and ditto for basestars?

It's really rare that an episode of any given show makes you afraid for the title character. In DW, I think it only worked a very few times in decades. (At the end of The War Games, for example, and that's another example of the Doctor being utterly powerless, unable to defend himself or his companions. Two drifting off into utter blackness as a visualization of him being forced to regenerate and partially mindwiped is still one of the darkest images DW came up with. No wonder Three had such a massive chip on his shoulder and was action man, seeking out confrontations.) An example of how it didn't work, I think, was last season's 42 because I never seriously believed the Doctor would get burned up inside and regenerate (or just get burned up), I wasn't caught up enough in the horror of the situation, but here, I totally was.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

BSG: I suppose it's true. I still think "Tigh Me Up" might count due to lack of any fx or any new sets.

42 is the only one from last season I haven't seen, from back when I was only tuning in occasionally. The author who did that Donna&Doctor h/c you rec'ed the other day did a pretty neat story about that episode though. (I have a serious weakness for whomp stories, as they call them, though.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

42 has its virtues, one of them being that it's THE episode to show to people claiming the Doctor never showed Martha he cared for her, and/or didn't care for her. When he's not worrying about her, he's saving her (not that she's a damsel in distress herself there), or trying to tell her about regeneration in case he bites it. I just didn't emotionally believe he was in serious danger at the grand climax.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I'll probably get around to seeing it soon, but I am feeling the itch to switch over from 'all Doctor Who' back to 'classic Twilight Zone'. And I still haven't seen most of the remastered TOS ...

[elisi]

For once we're not in accord. I didn't like it all that much (although your review really helped), and it's probably my least favourite episode this season. I mean, I liked all the bits you pointed out, but... *sigh* I wrote a review myself if you're curious.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I just saw your review, but the comparison to the TW episode doesn't work for me. Among other things, this was a Doctor character study and meta on why he needs a companion (well, one of the reasons) - it couldn't have worked that well on any other show. But you know, it's okay. We don't always have to like the same episodes! To me, this one was not just one of the best RTD did on DW but one of the best DW ones, full stop. (Not the same thing at all: with the exception of Gridlock, Utopia and Sound of Drums, I wouldn't put RTD's episodes on a "best of New Who" list, though they never fail to be entertaining.) I'm still slain by the awesomeness.

[elisi]

I *want* to be slain by awesomeness! It's like... I can see it, but I can't feel it. Guess I ought to re-watch it... *sigh*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

There, there. It happens. I've had episodes like that happen to me - for example, I thought I would love Fragments (backstory! for nearly everyone! TW's "Out of Gas"!), but found so seriously flawed that I couldn't (and really not just because of the UNIT stuff, I swear!), while most of fandom loved it. And there was a recent BSG episode, Sine Qua Non, which most of fandom loved but I just couldn't (though I did love the episodes following it). I don't think you can force an emotional reaction like this; it either happens, or it doesn't. I mean, some episodes I did appreciate better upon rewatching, but I can't say I ever fell in love with one post-mortem, so to speak. So if you don't feel it, you don't. C'est la vie.

Otoh: even without the love, you might appreciate all the meta this episode has already provoked on how it is, by itself, meta on DW's narrative, the Doctor, etc. Some links:

KdS on the Old Schoolness of it (http://londonkds.livejournal.com/282272.html)

Midnight as a New Who examination (http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/3164635.html)

Words as the deadliest weapons (http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/3162489.html)

Character study and alienness for the win (http://calapine.livejournal.com/491945.html)

[elisi]

Thanks for the links - will check them out when I have a moment. And I even have one that you might like: review by skipthedemon.

[skipthedemon.livejournal.com]

Thank's for linking me, elisi.

selenak, I keep popping over to you LJ all the time anyways, mind if I friend you?

[elisi]

Thank's for linking me, elisi.
My pleasure. :) I'd have commented on your review, except I didn't have much to say and I didn't want to harsh your squee. I'm honestly not quite sure what to do - hopefully it'll work better for me on re-watch, because currently I'm just disappointed which I am wholly unused to.

[skipthedemon.livejournal.com]

I understand. If we all agreed on what was good, there wouldn't be variety!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

As I said earlier: no one can force love. I rewatched and am as awed as before, and definitely list this among my favourite New Who episodes of all time, but that's my subjective response, not magically transferable...

[elisi]

I must have written half a dozen replies now, and not posted any. *sigh*

Basically, I prefer AYNOHYEB.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like AYNOHYEB, very much indeed, and I see the similarities in the subjects, but there are two points where AYNOHYEB loses by comparison (as always IMO) - while it made me feel for Julie and the polka-listening salesman when they were harrassed by the paranoia demon, there was no scene that hit me on such a visceral level as the Doctor and Possessed!Sky speaking in synch and then Sky speaking first; I felt sorry for Angel when Julie betrayed him out of her own fear, but I didn't feel as hurt and crushed, and downright afraid. Point II is a personal prejudice. It's so easy now, railing against the MacCarthy period - you can be sure your audience agrees with you, patting themselves on the back of how they are not that stupidly racist anymore, that paranoid about communism or people "not like us", that homophobic. (Well, at least it was when the episode was originally broadcast.) So when a show does that, I always wonder whether they're not playing it safe. Meanwhile, as altariel and londonkds pointed out in their reviews, the political allusion you get from Midnight is about the current day, here and now. Nothing comfortable and easy about it.

But again, it comes down to subjectivity. I mean, my life as a TW watcher and reader of fanfic would be considerably easier if I loved Ianto as 98% of fandom does. While season 2 has managed to make me mildly fond at last, I still don't see what the fuss is about, and find every other member of the TW ensemble more interesting. When people declare their love and rave, I can see it in theory, but I don't feel it. At all. No matter how often people declare their love. So - I understand how you're feeling about the episode, but there is no recipe to change that. We all watch with different eyes.

[elisi]

Oh I get your points re AYNOHYEB (and v. valid they are too!) - my point is that Angel himself is what the story turns on - what he's been and who he becomes etc. The Doctor is very different, of course, but although the people on the shuttle turn against him, they don't actually kill him (even if they meant to), and he doesn't turn against them. It's in many ways an unfair comparison, because the circumstances are so different, but the ATS ep wouldn't work without Angel, whereas Midnight could put the same point across re mob mentality by using any smart & 'different' person (just imagine Rattingan in the Doctor's place). Aaaaaanyway, I'm very glad that you like it, and honestly I'm *trying* to...

We all watch with different eyes.
As a HUGE Ianto fan myself, I have to say that this is definitely true - I can't even rationalise my Ianto love to myself, because he really isn't the sort I usually obsess over. (My list is short: Spike, Angel, the Doctor, the Master, Jack - I'm sure you can see the pattern. Ianto falls completely outside my normal type, and I don't even think he's all that hot, but for some reason - not just that he's shagging Jack - I find him extraordinarily fascinating.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The same point re: mob mentality, but then that's true of AYNOHYEB as well - if Angel hadn't been there, they would have not stopped choosing Judy (sorry for earlier misrenembering of her name) as their scapegoat. They were about to lynch her when Angel showed up. BUT Midnight doesn't just use the Doctor specifically in that position, it also uses that position as a comment on the Doctor and only the Doctor, not just clever outsiders in general. The Doctor does everything he usually does, but nothing works. The people don't rally behind him, they don't trust him, they don't accept him turning out from nowhere, they don't accept the John Smith alias, they're not just comically affronted by his good-natured ego but make that one of the reasons why they turn against him; they list all those traits many a fan has done when complaining about the Doctor, especially "you're enjoying this, you're gleeful" (most recently brought up by Agatha, a long time ago in the ever so controversial Tooth & Claw by Queen Victoria, where it led to the creation of the anti-alien Torchwood), though this time as opposed to the earlier two times he gets a chance to explain why and defend himself, even though that doesn't work on the passengers ("I'm interested, I can't help myself, this is new life, and it's fascinating" - he could have said that just as well about the werewolf back then, though I doubt Victoria would have reacted any better); everything that usually works for him, the curiosity, the ability to make instant friends or at least allies, the ability to talk, it all fails or is taken away. Luke Rattigan, or for that matter, say, Tosh without the ability to talk would have made me feel for them, certainly, but I would not have connected it instantly to meta the way I did here, because the Doctor's ability to talk himself out of trouble with monsters has saved him for 40 years of tv history straight, with only a few exceptions. And then there is the Doctor's equally long love affair with the human race, the belief in their potential. Clever Outsider X does not have that story. Which, again, makes Midnight a very Doctor-specific story.

[elisi]

I *know*! And I can see it, but... bother. I just got bored and that's never happened before. I didn't know Doctor Who could bore me. ::is sad::

[selenak.livejournal.com]

...good lord. Speaking as someone who adores Old School Who but was definitely bored by several serials for all Doctors, I don't quite see the tragedy of that. I'm widly passionate about several shows with individual episodes that bored me - Babylon 5 has a horror of boredom called TKO in its first season, for example, and there are other offenders, BTVS has episodes like Some Assembly Aquired (yawn, yawn), and important canon stuff happening or not, Logopolis - the last Tom Baker serial just drags, and drags, and drags. So what? There are so many other episodes I love. So you didn't like this one. To quote the one and only Cordelia Chase, get over it. Instead of brooding on why you didn't, rewatch some that you did. It'll make you much happier.

[elisi]

Hee! (I think there were other eps that bored me, but I wasn't obsessive then...) Anyway, it also irked me that no one thought to start *writing* - surely the Doctor has a pen and paper in those pockets of his...

It's not so much being bored as always being able to *like* something (even AYW! I am Pollyanna, I do not bitch! Except over s8 but that's different), and this one just didn't click.

Anyway, RL is so busy that I'll probably have forgotten everything by tomorrow.

(Watched The Doctor's Daughter tonight btw, and am much cheered. Lots of fun, and running, and stuff that made no sense!)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Not at all, you're welcome here! (Loved your review, btw.)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Can't comment in mekkio's post, as it seems you have to belong to that community, I'm glad other people picked up The Crucible! I thought of it once the repetition started, and of course it fed neatly into the witch-hunt.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

I loved it, possibly because it was so bleak, and because for once, RTD's lower middle class characters don't find their inner hero, but rather their inner murderous bigot. Really, I think the point where the average wife/mother spitefully says "I knew it was her!" after it was all over chilled me more than anything else. In that vein, the Lord of the Flies comparison makes a lot of sense, although my reference was Alien, mostly.

The monster was incredibly effective and while I would have loved to see more of Sky, who seemed a very interesting character, Leslie Sharp added a lot to that eeriness. The scenes where she starts taking over the Doctor's voice were marvellous, and I don't think I've seen DT ever quite this good (and I usually think he is a very good actor, just a tad uninhibited.). While I didn't believe Ten would die, his anguish and helplessness was palatable, and he definitely needed that hug in the end.

As for Sky being a lesbian, I agree that that was a bit iffy especially since she seems to have done something not so great to her girlfriend, if I got her freakout shortly before our little parasite took over.

OT: I just read that in the comments: people liked Sine Qua Non? Really? I mean, it wasn't Black Market, but...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

people liked Sine Qua Non? Really? I mean, it wasn't Black Market, but...

Yes, really. Admittedly mostly of the Adama/Roslin 'shipping persuasion, but I've read at least a dozen reviews gushing over it, and Olmos' performance...

Alien: I can see the similarities there, too, especially to the original, but LotF really was the first thing that came to mind. I remember reading it in 6th grade and shaking, just after watching the episode, because yes, I could see all of that happening.

Leslie Sharp added a lot to that eeriness. The scenes where she starts taking over the Doctor's voice were marvellous, and I don't think I've seen DT ever quite this good (and I usually think he is a very good actor, just a tad uninhibited.).

Possibly like RTD benefited from the necessity to write a cheap budget show to save money for the finale, DT benefited from for once being utterly unable to use his usual means of acting (i.e. extreme movability, very fast talking)?

And Leslie Sharp really sold the eeriness and, well alienness. If you can't have H.R. Giger designing, having a magnificent actress is just as good.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Admittedly mostly of the Adama/Roslin 'shipping persuasion, but I've read at least a dozen reviews gushing over it, and Olmos' performance...

Hm, that's a bit like saying that Terry O'Quinn was good in Further Instructions. Of course they both are, that doesn't make them good episodes overall. And I think EJO was really a lot better in Revelations.

I can see the similarities there, too, especially to the original, but LotF really was the first thing that came to mind. I remember reading it in 6th grade and shaking, just after watching the episode, because yes, I could see all of that happening.

I think it's that the structure is initially like Alien, but the substance goes a lot more in the direction of LotF. Alien is the visceral embodiment of fear of the Unknown for the audience as much as the characters and it's not really interested in the character's inner workings beyond that fear, while Midnight explores intellectually what that fear might do to people in that situation. (And of course, the thread in Alien is much simpler. It breeds and kills. It survives. The alien in Midnight was a lot more playful, it was a bit like an anti-Doctor.)

Possibly like RTD benefited from the necessity to write a cheap budget show to save money for the finale, DT benefited from for once being utterly unable to use his usual means of acting (i.e. extreme movability, very fast talking)?

Very likely. In addition, his hyperactivity can't distract from his expressive eyes for once. It helps...

If you can't have H.R. Giger designing, having a magnificent actress is just as good.

Of course, it often makes the question "who will be the one possessed?" a tad predictable.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Hm, that's a bit like saying that Terry O'Quinn was good in Further Instructions. Of course they both are, that doesn't make them good episodes overall.

ZOMG! You mean you didn't like the air port vision or the Boone come back? Or the farm of hippie weed-growingness? (Seriously now, I agree that Further Instructions wasn't on the level of say, Walkabout, or Man of Tallahasee, but it wasn't dire in the way the tattoo episode or however the one with Jack's "how I met my wife" flashbacks was called. It was okay, no more, no less.)

The alien in Midnight was a lot more playful, it was a bit like an anti-Doctor.

Yes, I noticed that. It made the "he gets inside your head; it's what he does" such a great line, because he does do that, quite a lot of times, only with a different purpose than the alien.

Of course, it often makes the question "who will be the one possessed?" a tad predictable.

Ah, but I didn't know anyone would get possessed. I thought we were in for a more classic air plane disaster type of story from the trailer. Also, when I first saw her I thought "hang on, what is Jackie Tyler doing here?"

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

ZOMG! You mean you didn't like the air port vision or the Boone come back? Or the farm of hippie weed-growingness?

Nooo, I loooove the airport vision, and while I thought the flashback to the weed-growing hippie community was a bit pointless because it really didn't tell us anything new, I really appreciated the parallels to the Dharma Initiative, who come across exactly like hippies with some dirty secrets. Also, Dominic Monaghan's delivery of "The bear just made an active kill!" was probably his best in the whole series, and seriously, this is the episode where Hurley finds Desmond naked in the jungle, how could I dislike that? I simply wanted an episode that featured a bit more of Locke, and Further Instructions was the worst I could think of. Because Locke episodes - usually quite good. And I don't think even Sine Qua Non was quite as dire as Stranger in a Strange Land...

Ah, but I didn't know anyone would get possessed. I thought we were in for a more classic air plane disaster type of story from the trailer. Also, when I first saw her I thought "hang on, what is Jackie Tyler doing here?"

Yeah, I saw the resemblance to Jackie as well (btw, was that her in the trailer for next episode?). Possession: absolutely, I didn't think it quite through.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

(Btw, "how Jack met his wife" was Man of Science, Man of Faith, the second season premiere. Which I liked, except for the flashbacks. Although I still think the one where Jack and Des met in the stadium has something to do with time travel. But that could just be me.)

[kangeiko]

Word.

On the subject of the black hostess - I remain sceptical that this was a race thing; I think it was a class thing. The hostess is the only one who doesn't get a name, she is astonished when the Doctor breaks the social rules and actually talks to her (although this is what ultimately saves his life, it is also what casts suspicion on him - he is awfully talkative for a 'normal' human, i.e. someone who keeps his head down and has tunnel vision during commutes, i.e. a Brit. He is also boastful "Because I'm clever!" which, again, is a no-go area in British social rules which makes the other passengers incredibly hostile). She is also treated as a walking, talking extension of the company by the passengers - little more than a talking appliance, really. And her brave sacrifice isn't a brave sacrifice in their eyes; at the end, they definitely feel like they escaped, rather than being rescued.

The reason I don't think it's a race issue is because of DeeDee, who starts off incredibly sympathetic & on the Doctor's side when people are panicking, then reluctantly, timidly offers up the spacing info when they want to space Skye, and, later, when the Hostess wants to get rid of the Doctor & the others are backing her up, DeeDee opposes this. If anything, the two CoC go through the whole gamut of human emotion - fear, anger, realisation, calm acceptance - whereas everyone else spirals down into a mob mentality.

I had issues with Skye being gay, mainly because no one else had a sexuality to speak of, so her having a sexuality seemed a shirt-hand way of making her emotional state accessible. I would have preferred something just as upsetting but not linked in to a romantic nature, e.g. her child died, or she lost her job & was heartbroken, or was running from a war, or something. It felt like the tie-in to the Jossverse stand-by of "sex is evil", and anyone who has sex (which excludes the mother & father, who are so comfortably middle class and suburban that they stopped having sex the moment Jethro was conceived) is doomed to meet a horrible end.

I haven't been that terrified since Blink, and I think this one scared me even more because of the Doctor in the middle.

I don't know if this scared me more, precisely, but maybe scared me in a different way. Midnight made me frightened for the Doctor's welfare, whereas Blink made me concerned about my own. *g*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The hostess is the only one who doesn't get a name, she is astonished when the Doctor breaks the social rules and actually talks to her (although this is what ultimately saves his life, it is also what casts suspicion on him - he is awfully talkative for a 'normal' human, i.e. someone who keeps his head down and has tunnel vision during commutes, i.e. a Brit.

londonkds in his review also talked about the immigrant/suspicious foreigner versus British normalness not so subtext; and I can see both your points. You're also right about both the Hostess and DeeDee being given the most varied reactions to what happens. (Also, while both Jethro and Professor Hobbes at different times oppose the airlocking, they in the end give in to the mob mentality, whereas the Hostess and DeeDee in the end keep their heads and are the ones to figure out what really happened.)

<í>I don't know if this scared me more, precisely, but maybe scared me in a different way. Midnight made me frightened for the Doctor's welfare, whereas Blink made me concerned about my own. *g*

Well put.*g* I must add, though, that I think it's more difficult to make me frightened for the Doctor than for myself, because of that whole title character thing. But you're right, both episodes brilliantly access fear, just different types of fear.

Re: Lord of the Rings

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I knew it reminded me of something but I couldn't think what.

Re: Lord of the Rings

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Flies, though, not Rings. Lord of, I mean.*g*

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I'm surprised that anyone's analysing the episodes for "black/gay person dies/turns evil". Surely the point of not discriminating against people by race or sexuality is that you don't pay attention to it.

I personally didn't care that Sky mentioned that her former partner was a girl; it'd be a bit weird if she didn't reference a gender. Being a lesbian doesn't make her character special, or worthy of note, it's just an inconsequencial fact, like the fact that Jethro has dyed hair or Dee wears glasses. The bit that was important was that she had an ex, not what sex/species that ex was. Likewise, I didn't care that the hostess was black. I'd imagine that the hostess's role and death was written before the casting of the actress and her skin colour was completely incidental. Does Astrid's sacrifice in VotD mean something because it's a blonde character dead while brunettes survive?

I've had this kind of comment with people who claim that Joss Whedon discriminated against lesbians by showing Tara being killed immediately after lesbian sex, thereby proving that he thinks lesbian sex is evil. If he made a habit of picking on lesbians, then they might have a point, but Joss Whedon likes hurting all of his characters equally!

Sorry, I don't mean to sound vehement. I just don't get why people make a big deal out of something where the whole point is that it shouldn't be a big deal.

PJW

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Buffy had NO lesbians other than Willow and Tara up until the point when Joss killed one and had the other turn evil.

Similarly, the new Doctor Who has had no lesbian characters apart from an old couple who appeared in a very brief scene in "Gridlock" until "Midnight"'s sole lesbian character turned evil then died.

The Dead/Evil Lesbian cliché has a very long history, and it is not an inconsequential act, nor it is just being treated like everyone else, when the only times that lesbian characters are included is when they repeat the cliché.

And the Hostess's skin colour in conjunction with her sacrifice reiterates the Mammy stereotype of women of colour.

You cannot read these things in a vaccuum: you have to take the axes of oppression into account to understand why they are problematic.

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

Buffy had no Irish people until Angel, who turned evil after having sex. He was then killed for his evilness. Furthermore, in the spinoff, the two Irish characters, Doyle and Angel died and turned evil after a kiss and sex respectively. Joss Whedon has a far bigger history of abusing Irish characters than lesbians and appears to be giving the message that having sex with Irish people leads to pain, misery and death.

Why is it important that a character happens to be gay? Why should that make them immune to bad things happening? You've breezed past the lesbian couple in Gridlock and leapt on the one who turns evil (and ignored the very bisexual Captain Jack, as well) to prove that this show is targetting gay characters. People die in these shows. Sometimes those people will be black or gay. You're brave to try and draw a correlation.

PJW

[ms-treesap.livejournal.com]

I recommend looking at deadbrowalking.

[owl]

Not discriminating =/= ignoring possible discrimination by others.

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

But considering that all previous gay/bi characters in Doctor Who have either been a hero or pleasantly white-hatted (not to mention the cornucopia of bisexuality that is Torchwood), it seems odd to shout discrimination on the fact that there's a gay character who's possessed by monster of the week. Being gay isn't even a huge part of her character even, and it appears to bear no relation to the evilness.

Added to this is the strange complaint that a black character saving the day with a moment of insight and a noble sacrifice is somehow discriminatory. It's left me somewhat confused.

Puja

[(Anonymous)]

After uh.... the 10th time watching the scene... *cough*notobsessedatall*cough*

I was thinking on the things "Skye" says and how she was 'draining' the Dr. That perhaps the entity was pulling things from the doc's mind, things he was thinking about it and throwing it out there. Deliberately choosing inflammatory words. Which DeeDee did point out that she was saying it.

Another thing I thought about the alien's intentions. It was brand new and was learning how to interact with humans. What did it have to copy? The worst impulses and ganging up on others and rejecting the other. Seeing that the Doctor was being ostracized severely was when it stopped copying the others and only him. Trying to gain acceptance by further 'alienizing' the doctor and fulfilling their earlier stated intention to airlock him.

chipper

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Trying to gain acceptance by further 'alienizing' the doctor and fulfilling their earlier stated intention to airlock him.

Also, the group earlier had stated that the Doctor's "only over my dead body" objection to the alien/Sky getting airlocked was not an objection to them. From a pure survivalist pov, it was either dying together with the Doctor, or arranging things so the Doctor dies instead.