(no subject)

[ebonlock]

I'm going to keep this brief because I've had a very tiring day/weekend and I just don't have the energy for a full on rant right now. I will say that overall my reaction matched Aelf's entirely when she commented, "I feel kind of like I did by the end of Deathly Hallows."

The Nice Things:
1. Seeing Donna and her family again, particularly Wilf.

2. John Simm clearly having a blast playing the Master once more. Also the blonde hair. Also a planet full of John Simms is not a terrible thought by any stretch of the imagination. And the bit in the press conference where he's jumping up and down in the dress desperately needs to be turned into an animated icon that simply reads, "Yay!"

3. The fact that the Time Lords were actually fucked up enough to drive the Master nuts in the first place just to pull their own asses out of the fire.

4. In the otherwise confusing finale sequences of companions-past (Mickey and Martha? Seriously? WTF?!), the one with Jack drinking away his troubles in what really rather resembled the Mos Eisley Cantina and hitting on Alonso from the Titanic episode. Not only because I love the actor (who also plays George on "Being Human") but because I was intensely amused by two openly gay actors actually getting to enjoy some onscreen flirtation.

5. The actress who plays Nina on Being Human (a.k.a. the best girlfriend ever) as the little cactus girl. God she just keeps getting more adorable every time I see her.

The Not so Nice Things:
1. I'm having a hard time with the fact that a show that used to be utterly science-based now suddenly seems to be entirely dependent upon prophecies. Specifically crazy members of a particular race (Dalek, Time Lord, Ood, whatever) spewing prophecies upon which major decisions get made. Also could somebody explain to me the whole Rasillon thing? Is this the original or just some asshole who was named after the original? Also I don't recall his Glove of Zapping being listed among the relics he was associated with. Then again I wasn't aware that the Master had Force lightning either...or maybe he was just Sith-ified because of his magic potion resurrection? Speaking of which...

2. Instead of coming up with a gadget to resurrect himself the Master relies on founding a starter cult seemingly made up entirely of older women with a disturbing amount of time on their hands and "potions"? Really? And somehow poor crazy Lucy has also had a chance to form her own brigade of like-minded souls to create their own anti-Master-resurrection potion. Just typing that makes my head hurt. Is this fucking Harry Potter?

3. The special effects, or I should say the gratuitous overuse of CGI that seems to be the norm on the series now. I was actively pining for the days of plastic Loch Ness monsters and styrofoam, blood-sucking rocks. And I suspect the skeleton effect was only included because RTD desperately wanted to use the "Skeletor" line.

4. The fact that RTD relies almost entirely upon magic re-set buttons to get himself out of the plot corners he's painted himself into.

5. I like angst as much as the next person but god almighty I wanted to smack the Doctor repeatedly throughout this entire episode. And the thing is he could only be this maudlin and self-involved because he didn't have Donna around to do just that. I swear when he was whining to Wilf about not wanting to regenerate 'cause it was just like dying I would've paid good money to see Wilf mutter, "Oh yeah, poor you. I mean you have to regenerate and live who knows how many more centuries you'll survive. That is just...tragic. I'll weep for you when I'm on my deathbed in another couple of years. Ass!"

6. Ok, Donna. I was almost furious enough with the Doctor's mental rape of the character in the last finale to swear I'd never watch the show again. What he did was hideous, taking away her choice and forcing his own will on hers. But more than that, he left her basically a shell of a person and patted himself on the back for "saving her life". Wilf reiterates this point repeatedly and all but begs the Doctor to undo what he's done, to let her be a whole person again.
And if that weren't bad enough her entire role in the episode is to a) give her grandad, and by extension the Doctor, a clue as to who has the Master, b) play hysterical damsel in distress (with one of the most ridiculous manners of avoiding capture that I've seen in a very long time), and c) become an unknowing charity case to ease the Doctor's guilt. I mean seriously, she gets a consolation prize that makes the one that Rose received last season seem quite generous by comparison. And hey, Rose at least got to keep her memories and her identity, poor Donna not so much.
I've gotta' say this made me feel physically ill as only a truly heinous character rape can.

7. The length of the Doctor's regeneration kind of made the dozens of endings in Return of the King seem spartan by comparison. Seriously even Aelf, who worships the ground upon which David Tennent's sneakers tread, was actually groaning, "Oh please just end this." An entire half an hour inspiring your fans to wish for nothing more than the main character's end, not exactly the best way to finish your tour of duty in the TARDIS, IMHO.

Overall this finale was at least horrible in new and somewhat unexpected ways so I guess that's something but still an overall painful experience that I have no interest in repeating any time soon. Also this really is the short version of my rant.

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

And if that weren't bad enough her entire role in the episode is to a) give her grandad, and by extension the Doctor, a clue as to who has the Master, b) play hysterical damsel in distress (with one of the most ridiculous manners of avoiding capture that I've seen in a very long time), and c) become an unknowing charity case to ease the Doctor's guilt. I mean seriously, she gets a consolation prize that makes the one that Rose received last season seem quite generous by comparison.

Yeah, this makes me pretty sure I'm going to skip End of Time. I was so over Ten as of the end of season 4, both for what he did to Donna in denying her her choice over life, and for the way the show clearly thought that the *important* thing about that was how aaaaaangsty the Doctor was about it, not the fact that *Donna* had been destroyed. I believe I said oh FUCK YOU under my breath as the camera lingered lovingly on his angsty figure in the rain.

Sadly, I'm not very fond of Moffat and Eleven looks way too much like a lightweight knockoff of Ten, so I'm not much looking forward to future episodes either.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm pretty much right there with you on both counts. I thought I'd give RTD one last chance which I did and he botched it rather spectacularly.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

It's possible, given that Moffat now can make his own companions, that we'll get more stuff like Empty Child and less of the "put the companions in a box doing nothing so that I can go on and on about how the Doctor loves *my* special fairy princess" in his episodes, but I'm still not particularly warm on him. So I'll probably let other people canary for me to see if he'll piss me off.

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

Thanks for mentioning the specifics re: Donna. I figured everyone else was watching this without me because I'd been pretty clear about how Ten can fuck off and regenerate after what he did to her, and now I don't have to wonder whether I might ever want to see this. :)

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Spare yourself the anger-induced migraine, I don't mind taking one for the team on this one :)

[toastedtea.livejournal.com]

Yeaaaaah, I remain supremely pissed off about what happened to Donna. And it really pisses me off that RTD apparently thinks that marriage and a winning lottery ticket makes up for what was done to her. Um, no. And not just no, but HELL no.

While I am so very, very glad to see the last of his craptastic writing, I just wish he hadn't shit all over both Torchwood and New Who before departing.

ETA: Oh, and if it helps, a friend and I are even now plotting a "make Donna all better" fic. Dunno how long it will take to be written, given the move and all, but we're determined to give her a better future than RTD did.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

ETA: Oh, and if it helps, a friend and I are even now plotting a "make Donna all better" fic. Dunno how long it will take to be written, given the move and all, but we're determined to give her a better future than RTD did.

If you can give her an ending a bit more progressive than what I'd expect from a Jane Austin novel that would be more than good enough for me. Can't wait to read what you guys come up with!

[toastedtea.livejournal.com]

Austen was waaaaay better at it than Davies.

And I will keep you informed on the story's progress. Right now, we're just hammering out plot details.

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Though to me one sad thing was they didn't resolve who the chick helping the Doctor out via Wilf was? The throw away comment to Wilf about him meeting him so many times vs. others never and what not. To me that was perhaps the one possibly interesting dynamic and they basically threw it away. Meanwhile while they tried to give more context to what the 9th Doctor had done to end the time war the scenes with the time lords made no sense overall.

The jump down out of the spaceship was just bizzare.

Yeah. But David is cute and we'll see if a new producer and writer team can do better in 2010.

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

The jump out of the spaceship was bizarre. I agree.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I'm telling myself the chick was Romana because that would be the coolest answer and the whole "Doctor's mom" thing just makes me want to wretch. And yeah I really should've mentioned the jump out of the spaceship because I was like, "Oh so that's how the doctor dies then? Odd."

[toastedtea.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think the woman was the First Doctor's granddaughter. That makes a LOT more sense than his mother.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Oh hey that would be cool. But that would mean taking the history of the series into consideration which is something the new writers haven't been too keen on.

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Susan from 1st doctor, or something like the daughter from the Martha/10th doctor could work too.

I should really check credits to see if that answers the question.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I should really check credits to see if that answers the question.

No good, Aelf and I checked :(

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

hmm, that makes me sad. I mean it was to me one of the few compelling plot points of the episodes and yeah.

Well on to new producers.

[(Anonymous)]

Oooo, Romana would be a nice touch, maybe check the credits? The hinting seemed to be more mom/dad with Wilf as Dad in human form almost but that would have been nice.

To me the two episodes overall represented a lost opportunity to not use a magic reset button (literally) and to tie an end to the RTD era by bringing the 9th doctor's time war thing to an end. But oh well, it was eye candy

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

I liked it OK.

But I haven't watched old Dr. Who much, so I don't care as much about the science/magic divide (which may well not be a divide at all, but that's a digression for another time).

In RTD's defense, it's entirely possible that he knows that what happened to Donna is pretty appalling, and that he knows that a lottery ticket and a comfortable life won't make up for it. Maybe it's the Doctor that doesn't know any better. It's clear he's become overbearingly proud.

Sadly, I don't like how this new Doctor looks, so I probably won't like the show.

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Doctor at the end of waters of mars reminded me of anakin's turn to the dark side in Episode 3.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Doctor at the end of waters of mars reminded me of anakin's turn to the dark side in Episode 3.

Heh, hadn't thought of that one but you're not wrong there.

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Heh, hadn't thought of that one but you're not wrong there.

Is that a little bit like being right? :D

*hugs*

So will you be coming over regularly for Being Human watching?

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

So will you be coming over regularly for Being Human watching?

Oh my yes, when does it start?

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Sometime in the next 1-2 weeks.

That almost makes it work...

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

...he knows he's got to die, because he finally realizes that he's turning into a supreme asshole and exactly the sort of thing that drove him from the Timelords all those years ago in the first place. The appalling behavior with Donna, the business on Mars, the general egomania that since he's the last of the Time Lords he's entitled to all their pomp and authority...

I've always preferred Nine to Ten, I think because Nine was shellshocked from what had happened, latched onto Rose just to have somebody he could talk to, was obsessed with trying to save everybody, ultimately couldn't bring himself to destroy the Daleks in total AGAIN if it meant burning down the Earth, and kept up the whole running laughing facade desperately trying to cover that he was > < this close to just losing his S once and for all. No art or artifice, just one lone Time Lord slowly coming apart at the seams - and happy to regenerate because he didn't want to keep living like the person he was.

(And I would DESPERATELY love to see McGann back to play Eight at the height of the Time War...but I digress.)

Ten always came off to me as "look how bloody clever I am" - the only thing that ever kept him in check was having Donna around who knew better than to just collapse in unrequited devotion - and ultimately I think having to go down against his will is probably a just and fitting reward, if you want to call it that, for his own egomania.

And yes, I am hoping that Moffet will bring back some sense of scale instead of an ongoing whirl of "can you top this." For one thing, I don't want to see a Dalek, an Ood, a crossover, or an old companion* for at least a couple of years...I know I'm not going to get my way on the Dalek, but at least the trailer makes it look like something else is afoot there. None of the overload of Dalek stories has ever lived up to the first one with one lone Dalek who really could burn down the state of Utah in jig time.

Actually I would accept a crossover where the Doctor meets the lost eccentric Time Lord known only as "Geoff," banished to Wales for his utter lack of competence with women...but expecting the TARDIS to land on Lesbos and be trapped in a giggle loop would be FAIRLY optimistic, wouldn't it?

* If I never ever hear, see, or think of Rose Fucking Tyler for the rest of my life it'll be too soon.

Re: That almost makes it work...

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I've always preferred Nine to Ten, I think because Nine was shellshocked from what had happened, latched onto Rose just to have somebody he could talk to, was obsessed with trying to save everybody, ultimately couldn't bring himself to destroy the Daleks in total AGAIN if it meant burning down the Earth, and kept up the whole running laughing facade desperately trying to cover that he was > < this close to just losing his S once and for all. No art or artifice, just one lone Time Lord slowly coming apart at the seams - and happy to regenerate because he didn't want to keep living like the person he was.

Wow I wish I'd said that, instead of feeling jealous I think I'll just be happy I have such intelligent friends with fabulous taste in shows and characters who can come up with it and post it here in my LJ comments threads instead.