Doctor Who is why I like spoilers.
Jan. 1st, 2010 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skywaterblueSee, if you're spoiled out you don't really get as angry about things as you should, or maybe I just don't love Doctor Who enough... also, it's like comics. You just know there will be crack and you get over it.
So. When Ten dies, because of course it was Wilf who knocked four times (it did break my heart a little, but I never cried) and it was SO OBVIOUSLY a rip-off from Spock's death in "Wrath of Khan"...
The scene which is quite possibly one of the greatest death scenes in all of cinema. I know you'll think I am biased, but what other scene in history justified the existence of another nine films and five spin-off programs?
Yo dude, Spock didn't have a whinge about saving the lives of everyone he loved. He got out of his chair, transferred his katra, and then saved the ship. 'Cause it was his duty, and he loved them, and he wasn't vastly more resistant to radiation than a human, and he didn't have a built in biological process allowing him to be reborn.
In conclusion: Spock's death is still powerful, and RTD still only superficially understands the material he's appropriating.
Here are more thoughts:
-- My brother and I expected to loathe the appearance of Rose more than we did - it was in fact, pretty good if you can somehow ignore the fact that Billie Piper is a mother now and no maid of nineteen. Jack getting a hook-up was ridiculous though the Adipose was cute.
-- I think Donna getting a lotto ticket was kind of cool, in that she's the only companion the Doctor has ever allowed to financially benefit. Also, I like that her head has some sort of 'will blow you up' thing if you try and trigger her metacrisis on purpose. That was surprisingly forward-thinking of the Doctor. (And he called her his best friend!)
-- Mickey/Martha: surprised to find out that it actually happened. Loved Martha's braids. I feel the same about it as I did when it was first rumored: shitty that RTD blatantly broke his own established set-up with Martha/Tom to hook up the two single, dumped by the Doctor, black characters. On the other hand, I am not that mad as both Martha and Mickey were awesome, I find them attractive and am enjoying imagining them having sexy intergalactic crimefighting times. My brother and I would watch the fuck out of 'Smith and Jones: UNIT special agents."
-- Sarah Jane: yay for Sarah Jane? Hers is saddest because she knows.
-- "The Book of Imaginary Things" - wow, that scene was short but pointless and should have been cut.
-- Likewise, the Ood capper scene is just there to bookend the prophecy, and a silly bullshit excuse for some really loud music, and I actually like Murray Gold's scoring job on this show. If it had been cut no one would notice.
-- Finally, I was never one to complain about the ending of the cinematic "Lord of the Rings", as it's an attempt to be faithful to the book while dramatically shortening the amount of material they had to cover. And what happens to Frodo is really bittersweet, that for all he saved what was good in people and hobbits, he could never return to that himself. That's material that needs room to breathe in order to understand how sad it really is, and how common.
Ten's end is thematically not very like this at all, except for RTD's desire for it to be so, and thus annoying and scattershot. Especially as the common theme in all of these is that the Tenth Doctor is giving what he considers to be gifts to his friends, and thus FAR more about them than about their final reactions to him.
-- Right about the part where the Diamond of Rassilon fell to Earth, I looked about for a beer and then realized I couldn't have because of medication. "Dammit," I said, "I wasn't expecting to have to actually play The Drinking Game of Rassilon." My brother then wanted to know what The Drinking Game of Rassilon was... so I told him. The Master then didn't call the Diamond anything, until alllllll the way at the end where we learn that James Bond WAS Rassilon.
Me: "GODDAMNIT RTD, THAT WAS MY CHUG MOMENT." I am resentful, it would have been fun to chug then.
-- My brother thinks the Woman in White is some sort of future version of Donna based on Ten's Highly Significant Look at the Wedding. I think she's basically Romana, who brought back Rassilon and then regretted it a lot, but RTD was too chicken to say so. I think any effort to prove that the Significant Look actually means the Woman in White was the Doctor's mom because he looked at Sylvia and then Donna is... going to struggle to hold a lot of water. Though RTD will probably try to Word of God it.
-- I was completely wrong in my speculation about parallel universes, but we already knew I would be completely wrong, so I hope you don't hold that against me.
-- Though. The Time War being sealed off. When Rassilon offs the Time Lady who is not Romana, she claims that mortals are dying, and redying, and finding all new ways to die again. Does that stop just because the Time War is sealed? I have to think about it but I think the implication I'm taking from it is that the Doctor never committed real genocide against his people - at least not in the way we experience it. He didn't kill them - he left the Time Lords to perpetually relive The Moment, didn't he?
-- Doctor/Master. Hella slashy. Hella.
Okay, a little more: we also liked the Doctor calling him stupid, and that bit at the end where the Doctor tells the Master to get out of the way, and then the Master repays the favor.
-- BTW, Rassilon's entire plan once the Master sprung them was to become Q/The Prophets, right? That's a fucking stupid plan.
-- Gallifrey appearing in the Earth's immediate atmosphere. Look, RTD, we all know you failed basic sciences apparently, but don't take that out on the audience. You're writing something that has a very nominal science fiction tag - can you be assed to learn something about gravity? Just because the writers of this show in the 60s had a 1920s understanding of cosmology doesn't mean you have an excuse. Thank fuck you're leaving on this regard.
-- Wilf! Wilf is awesome in many ways, and every scene with Cribbins in it lifted the material immensely. My favorite bit was the one where Ten would have been honored to have him as a dad, and then Wilf pushes the gun in his hand. And doesn't give up about the matter! And tells him that he will lose all respect for the Doctor if he picks the Master over the six billion people on Earth. You fuckin' tell him Wilf. RTD, the fact you wrote Wilf saying that makes up for a lot. In fact, that scene justifies this episode's existence.
-- When the Doctor finally regenerates, why did the TARDIS blow up? There are far more tasteful ways to be meta about the sadness that RTD and Julie and Tennant feel about leaving than his last line. (Recurring problem throughout these last two, however.)
-- That said, I was fiercely surprised at my glee at Eleven, and how instantly I accepted him as the Doctor. Dude, I think Matt Smith is going to be very very good. :D
Despite all that, I enjoyed watching this. It was crackular and it's over now and nothing happened in it that could really hurt me, as it was fiction and just a flesh wound really.
It is Moff Tiem Nao. Yay.
So. When Ten dies, because of course it was Wilf who knocked four times (it did break my heart a little, but I never cried) and it was SO OBVIOUSLY a rip-off from Spock's death in "Wrath of Khan"...
The scene which is quite possibly one of the greatest death scenes in all of cinema. I know you'll think I am biased, but what other scene in history justified the existence of another nine films and five spin-off programs?
Yo dude, Spock didn't have a whinge about saving the lives of everyone he loved. He got out of his chair, transferred his katra, and then saved the ship. 'Cause it was his duty, and he loved them, and he wasn't vastly more resistant to radiation than a human, and he didn't have a built in biological process allowing him to be reborn.
In conclusion: Spock's death is still powerful, and RTD still only superficially understands the material he's appropriating.
Here are more thoughts:
-- My brother and I expected to loathe the appearance of Rose more than we did - it was in fact, pretty good if you can somehow ignore the fact that Billie Piper is a mother now and no maid of nineteen. Jack getting a hook-up was ridiculous though the Adipose was cute.
-- I think Donna getting a lotto ticket was kind of cool, in that she's the only companion the Doctor has ever allowed to financially benefit. Also, I like that her head has some sort of 'will blow you up' thing if you try and trigger her metacrisis on purpose. That was surprisingly forward-thinking of the Doctor. (And he called her his best friend!)
-- Mickey/Martha: surprised to find out that it actually happened. Loved Martha's braids. I feel the same about it as I did when it was first rumored: shitty that RTD blatantly broke his own established set-up with Martha/Tom to hook up the two single, dumped by the Doctor, black characters. On the other hand, I am not that mad as both Martha and Mickey were awesome, I find them attractive and am enjoying imagining them having sexy intergalactic crimefighting times. My brother and I would watch the fuck out of 'Smith and Jones: UNIT special agents."
-- Sarah Jane: yay for Sarah Jane? Hers is saddest because she knows.
-- "The Book of Imaginary Things" - wow, that scene was short but pointless and should have been cut.
-- Likewise, the Ood capper scene is just there to bookend the prophecy, and a silly bullshit excuse for some really loud music, and I actually like Murray Gold's scoring job on this show. If it had been cut no one would notice.
-- Finally, I was never one to complain about the ending of the cinematic "Lord of the Rings", as it's an attempt to be faithful to the book while dramatically shortening the amount of material they had to cover. And what happens to Frodo is really bittersweet, that for all he saved what was good in people and hobbits, he could never return to that himself. That's material that needs room to breathe in order to understand how sad it really is, and how common.
Ten's end is thematically not very like this at all, except for RTD's desire for it to be so, and thus annoying and scattershot. Especially as the common theme in all of these is that the Tenth Doctor is giving what he considers to be gifts to his friends, and thus FAR more about them than about their final reactions to him.
-- Right about the part where the Diamond of Rassilon fell to Earth, I looked about for a beer and then realized I couldn't have because of medication. "Dammit," I said, "I wasn't expecting to have to actually play The Drinking Game of Rassilon." My brother then wanted to know what The Drinking Game of Rassilon was... so I told him. The Master then didn't call the Diamond anything, until alllllll the way at the end where we learn that James Bond WAS Rassilon.
Me: "GODDAMNIT RTD, THAT WAS MY CHUG MOMENT." I am resentful, it would have been fun to chug then.
-- My brother thinks the Woman in White is some sort of future version of Donna based on Ten's Highly Significant Look at the Wedding. I think she's basically Romana, who brought back Rassilon and then regretted it a lot, but RTD was too chicken to say so. I think any effort to prove that the Significant Look actually means the Woman in White was the Doctor's mom because he looked at Sylvia and then Donna is... going to struggle to hold a lot of water. Though RTD will probably try to Word of God it.
-- I was completely wrong in my speculation about parallel universes, but we already knew I would be completely wrong, so I hope you don't hold that against me.
-- Though. The Time War being sealed off. When Rassilon offs the Time Lady who is not Romana, she claims that mortals are dying, and redying, and finding all new ways to die again. Does that stop just because the Time War is sealed? I have to think about it but I think the implication I'm taking from it is that the Doctor never committed real genocide against his people - at least not in the way we experience it. He didn't kill them - he left the Time Lords to perpetually relive The Moment, didn't he?
-- Doctor/Master. Hella slashy. Hella.
Okay, a little more: we also liked the Doctor calling him stupid, and that bit at the end where the Doctor tells the Master to get out of the way, and then the Master repays the favor.
-- BTW, Rassilon's entire plan once the Master sprung them was to become Q/The Prophets, right? That's a fucking stupid plan.
-- Gallifrey appearing in the Earth's immediate atmosphere. Look, RTD, we all know you failed basic sciences apparently, but don't take that out on the audience. You're writing something that has a very nominal science fiction tag - can you be assed to learn something about gravity? Just because the writers of this show in the 60s had a 1920s understanding of cosmology doesn't mean you have an excuse. Thank fuck you're leaving on this regard.
-- Wilf! Wilf is awesome in many ways, and every scene with Cribbins in it lifted the material immensely. My favorite bit was the one where Ten would have been honored to have him as a dad, and then Wilf pushes the gun in his hand. And doesn't give up about the matter! And tells him that he will lose all respect for the Doctor if he picks the Master over the six billion people on Earth. You fuckin' tell him Wilf. RTD, the fact you wrote Wilf saying that makes up for a lot. In fact, that scene justifies this episode's existence.
-- When the Doctor finally regenerates, why did the TARDIS blow up? There are far more tasteful ways to be meta about the sadness that RTD and Julie and Tennant feel about leaving than his last line. (Recurring problem throughout these last two, however.)
-- That said, I was fiercely surprised at my glee at Eleven, and how instantly I accepted him as the Doctor. Dude, I think Matt Smith is going to be very very good. :D
Despite all that, I enjoyed watching this. It was crackular and it's over now and nothing happened in it that could really hurt me, as it was fiction and just a flesh wound really.
It is Moff Tiem Nao. Yay.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 04:41 am (UTC)My brother thinks the Woman in White is some sort of future version of Donna based on Ten's Highly Significant Look at the Wedding. I think she's basically Romana
I ended up changing my mind about The Woman In White because of that look, actually. I now think she's Susan. (Hence, the glancing at Wilf's granddaughter. I was another Romana theorist before, though, but she can always be chilling in E-Space.)
I have to think about it but I think the implication I'm taking from it is that the Doctor never committed real genocide against his people - at least not in the way we experience it. He didn't kill them - he left the Time Lords to perpetually relive The Moment, didn't he?
That's even creepier than genocide.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 05:16 am (UTC)That's even creepier than genocide.
Pretty sure it's not the first time I've suspected this either, though I can't recall what first led me to think about it. Maybe because I find the Doctor/show implying that the Time Lords were preventing alternate timelines involving THEMSELVES to be the ultimate in creepy. I would want to get the fuck away from any people like that as well.
If true, it would be an equally horrific comeuppance for them.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:43 am (UTC)We don't really know what she goes through in E-Space and it's possible she changed her mind.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:48 am (UTC)Listen. I'll marry you and get UK citizenship and then secretly become a screenwriter JUST so I can write the Doctor Who episode where she comes back and was never President. I luff you that much in a platonic way.
And we can spend the rest of the time laughing at Rassilon for wanting to be Q, which is a pretty shit wish.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:52 am (UTC)This is worth a marriage to someone I am not in love with!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 10:29 am (UTC)I think it does, because I took that as a discussion of the fact that the time lines are constantly in flux (like, a million times more than normal) because of the four-dimensional maneouvres of the Timeys, Daleks and all those RTD-named people the Doctor was talking about. I see it as the time lock stopping the time-active people fucking with the universe at large and therefore better.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 06:23 pm (UTC)The Klein Bottle Drinks You
Date: 2010-01-03 04:18 am (UTC)