"Let's Kill Hitler" - This was a fun episode. The 'twist' was predictable, and I can see where people are coming from with their complaints about suddenly introducing a best friend we've never heard of before, but that's okay. It was just a silly fun episode and I enjoyed it for the humour even if the plot was somewhat questionable.
"Night Terrors" - It was okay. Not as scary as I had hoped from the glimpses of the dolls in the previews. A little weak on plot, again - it almost felt like they came up with the concept and wrote all the dollhouse parts first and then threw in a story to fit around it at the last second.
"The Girl Who Waited" - This was beautiful. Man. So many emotions. I think this was also a more important episode than people are giving it credit for. The really key thing that happens in this episode is that it shows that Amy doesn't need the Doctor any more. It's the way things go with the companions. They start out as a kissogram with no great ambitions or aspirations. Then they meet the Doctor and he makes them better. And then one day he lets them out of his sight for 36 years and they can fight robots and make their own sonic devices all on their own. Amy would never do those things staying with the Doctor. Sure, she'll have all of time and space open to her, but she'll just spend it following the Doctor around and tweeting pictures of the second nicest planet. It's time for her to go, because she's hit the point where the Doctor is holding her back.
"The God Complex" - I also really liked this episode. Again with the emotions! I just like emotional episodes, I guess. I would really love to know what was in the Doctor's room. Someone had posted a description of the cloister bell which mentioned it sounding when the TARDIS itself was in danger, which got me to thinking that maybe the TARDIS in danger was his greatest fear. But then I remembered that his reaction was "who else?" so I'm not entirely sure that reconciles. Who knows. Maybe some day we'll find out.
"Closing Time" - So much fun! I don't really have much to say about it. Lots of fun. Hilarious. Good.
"The Wedding of River Song" - Mixed feelings on this one. I'm kind of impressed by how much they packed into a single episode. As with "Let's Kill Hitler," I loved the funny bits. My only real complaint would be that it felt a little trite to bring Amy and Rory back for bit parts where they barely remembered the Doctor/each other. Other than that, it was fun. Not as serious as season finales generally are, but that's okay. We don't need to be serious all the time, right?
Looking forward to Christmas!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Torchwood: Miracle Day
It's almost been too long since I finished Miracle Day to really write about it properly, but luckily I made myself some point-form notes to work from, so I can at least give a few thoughts on it.
I thought Miracle Day was really good overall. It wasn't the best show on television ever or anything, but I enjoyed it. Especially in comparison to past seasons of Torchwood.
Oddly enough, if there's on thing that stood out about this season to make it better, it was that finally, finally, after three seasons of antipathy, the managed to make me care about Rhys. I actually like him now. I think he's a good character. I like the fact that he's married to Gwen. I used to always wish he wasn't part of the show because he was a big whiny jerk and really pretty boring and I just didn't like him. But now I do! So good job on that.
A lot of my commentary on this is similar to what I said about Children of Earth. The focused season arc on one main story really worked. I think Torchwood is just the sort of show that works better in that style as opposed to a bunch of stand-alone episodes. And again, good use of secondary characters. I mean, the subplot around Gwen's parents was great... and Jack's old lover... it was all just good.
I also thought the main concept of it was brilliant. Usually in 'disaster/crisis' type shows, the situation is that something is going to kill everyone, and this was just the perfect reversal and you sort of have to wonder why it hasn't been done before (I'm sure it has, but it's not a common thing, and I haven't ever heard of it being done, so it basically hasn't...)
Also I was really appreciating their use of the implied romance between Jack and Gwen. This has been an element of the show since the beginning, but it has never amounted to anything. Not that it was huge here, but there were definitely times when it was clearly important. Especially when Gwen took Jack hostage, it actually felt as though that romance was a factor into their decisions and behaviours during that scene. I liked that they finally given at least a minor payoff that little undercurrent that they've bothered to keep up for all these years.
Overall: So pleased!
I thought Miracle Day was really good overall. It wasn't the best show on television ever or anything, but I enjoyed it. Especially in comparison to past seasons of Torchwood.
Oddly enough, if there's on thing that stood out about this season to make it better, it was that finally, finally, after three seasons of antipathy, the managed to make me care about Rhys. I actually like him now. I think he's a good character. I like the fact that he's married to Gwen. I used to always wish he wasn't part of the show because he was a big whiny jerk and really pretty boring and I just didn't like him. But now I do! So good job on that.
A lot of my commentary on this is similar to what I said about Children of Earth. The focused season arc on one main story really worked. I think Torchwood is just the sort of show that works better in that style as opposed to a bunch of stand-alone episodes. And again, good use of secondary characters. I mean, the subplot around Gwen's parents was great... and Jack's old lover... it was all just good.
I also thought the main concept of it was brilliant. Usually in 'disaster/crisis' type shows, the situation is that something is going to kill everyone, and this was just the perfect reversal and you sort of have to wonder why it hasn't been done before (I'm sure it has, but it's not a common thing, and I haven't ever heard of it being done, so it basically hasn't...)
Also I was really appreciating their use of the implied romance between Jack and Gwen. This has been an element of the show since the beginning, but it has never amounted to anything. Not that it was huge here, but there were definitely times when it was clearly important. Especially when Gwen took Jack hostage, it actually felt as though that romance was a factor into their decisions and behaviours during that scene. I liked that they finally given at least a minor payoff that little undercurrent that they've bothered to keep up for all these years.
Overall: So pleased!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Every day I'm Hufflin'
So I got into Pottermore a while ago. Actually it was quite a while ago now... I am bad at blogging. Anyway. I would say I enjoyed the experience overall, and I may share some of my thoughts on it more generally later on, but for now I'm just going to talk about the most important part: sorting!
I didn't really go in with strong expectations about which house I would be placed in. It's been a long time since I was a big enough fan to actively identify with any of the houses. I didn't really have a house preference, either, aside from sharing Harry's request of not Slytherin. I really wasn't too worried about that, though, since I am neither cunning or ambitious.
I am also not brave. Like really really really not. So I guess I was pretty sure I wouldn't be a Gryffindor. I was okay with that.
Probably some of my friends would be shocked that I'm not a Ravenclaw. When I was actually 11, or heck, even 5 or 6 years ago, I would have been surprised by that too. I wouldn't have been too surprised if it had come out that way, because I'm still a nerd and an introvert and can often be found with my face in a book. But I don't crave wisdom the same way I used to. I don't value knowledge and intelligence above all else.
I was really not surprised when the yellow and badger appeared on my screen:
I spent a while thinking that introverts can't be Hufflepuffs because making friends is not our strong suit and we don't always like super-socializing but then I remembered that that's not really what Hufflepuffs are like. Hufflepuffs are loyal and true and hard working. That aligns most closely out of all the houses with my idea of what makes a good person and how we should interact with the world around us.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Doctor Who: Unanswered Questions
I will be blogging some thoughts on the back half of series 6 soon, but for now, here are as many unanswered questions as I can come up with. They are loosely grouped by topics that are somewhat related.
Why does River know the Doctor's name?
What is the one time that he can tell someone his name?
What happens at the fields of Trenzalore?
Does the fall of the Eleventh refer to the Eleventh Doctor, or is that a red herring?
Doctor who?
Why must that question never be answered?
Why does Amy remember the clerics from The Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone after they stopped existing, but can't remember Rory after he stops existing?
In The Wedding of River Song, why does Amy remember the Doctor and their adventures, but barely remembers Rory?
Is Amy's extraordinary memory actually an important thing with a reason and stuff, or just a useful plot device?
Why does Rory keep dying?
Who blows up the TARDIS/why/why specifically on the Ponds' wedding day?
Why does River remember the Doctor after the universe resets in The Big Bang? And why don't her memories bring him back? Why does it have to be Amy?
How does old!Canton "know" that it definitely is the Doctor and he definitely is dead, and how did he know to be there without opening his letter?
Is flesh!Doctor still out there, and will we ever see him again?
Is there any significance to the clothing "clues" in the back half of series 6 (bow-tie colours, shoes, jackets, tuxedo)?
Who exactly is Madame Kovarian and what is her motivation for working with the Silence?
Why does Kovarian refer to the never-ending war with the Doctor? What makes her think they are at war?
Why did the Time Agents take two years of Jack's memories?
What ever happened to Jenny?
Does Eleven ever go help Rose Tyler with her homework?
(The theme for the last group is "questions that will probably never be answered")
Why does River know the Doctor's name?
What is the one time that he can tell someone his name?
What happens at the fields of Trenzalore?
Does the fall of the Eleventh refer to the Eleventh Doctor, or is that a red herring?
Doctor who?
Why must that question never be answered?
Why does Amy remember the clerics from The Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone after they stopped existing, but can't remember Rory after he stops existing?
In The Wedding of River Song, why does Amy remember the Doctor and their adventures, but barely remembers Rory?
Is Amy's extraordinary memory actually an important thing with a reason and stuff, or just a useful plot device?
Why does Rory keep dying?
Who blows up the TARDIS/why/why specifically on the Ponds' wedding day?
Why does River remember the Doctor after the universe resets in The Big Bang? And why don't her memories bring him back? Why does it have to be Amy?
How does old!Canton "know" that it definitely is the Doctor and he definitely is dead, and how did he know to be there without opening his letter?
Is flesh!Doctor still out there, and will we ever see him again?
Is there any significance to the clothing "clues" in the back half of series 6 (bow-tie colours, shoes, jackets, tuxedo)?
Who exactly is Madame Kovarian and what is her motivation for working with the Silence?
Why does Kovarian refer to the never-ending war with the Doctor? What makes her think they are at war?
Why did the Time Agents take two years of Jack's memories?
What ever happened to Jenny?
Does Eleven ever go help Rose Tyler with her homework?
(The theme for the last group is "questions that will probably never be answered")
Monday, September 26, 2011
Torchwood: Children of Earth
I think that giving Torchwood a shortened season might be the best thing that could have happened to this show. Having a focused arc with one concentrated story resulted in huge improvements. The story-telling was much stronger and more compelling.
I also liked the addition of families for Jack and Ianto. There's an argument to be made that throwing in those characters now was an obvious ploy to get our emotional sides, but I don't care. I say better late than never. Seeing a character through the eyes of another character who has an emotional connection to them helps the audience make an emotional connection to them. Before now, we only got to make emotional connections to the characters based on their relationships with each other, and they didn't always have great emotional connections with each other. The addition of families just made everything so real, and took us outside of the isolated little Torchwood-world and showed us the real consequences of the things that were happening.
I also think they made excellent use of secondary characters. Usually these sorts of characters are only around for one episode, which makes sense in the format of the show, but I find they rarely have time for the secondary characters to get fleshed out properly. In Children of Earth, though, they did this really well. Lois Habiba was brilliant, and also John Frobisher's storyline was also incredible.
All of this introduction of families and good use of secondary characters really worked to give the whole series an emotional depth that it had previously lacked. The show become richer and more complex, and I found it was so much easier to immerse myself in the story and make a real connection with the characters once their world was fleshed out a little bit more.
Overall, I quite enjoyed Children of Earth. It was certainly a huge improvement over the first two seasons, and it was finally successful in making me really care about the characters and become invested in the story.
I also liked the addition of families for Jack and Ianto. There's an argument to be made that throwing in those characters now was an obvious ploy to get our emotional sides, but I don't care. I say better late than never. Seeing a character through the eyes of another character who has an emotional connection to them helps the audience make an emotional connection to them. Before now, we only got to make emotional connections to the characters based on their relationships with each other, and they didn't always have great emotional connections with each other. The addition of families just made everything so real, and took us outside of the isolated little Torchwood-world and showed us the real consequences of the things that were happening.
I also think they made excellent use of secondary characters. Usually these sorts of characters are only around for one episode, which makes sense in the format of the show, but I find they rarely have time for the secondary characters to get fleshed out properly. In Children of Earth, though, they did this really well. Lois Habiba was brilliant, and also John Frobisher's storyline was also incredible.
All of this introduction of families and good use of secondary characters really worked to give the whole series an emotional depth that it had previously lacked. The show become richer and more complex, and I found it was so much easier to immerse myself in the story and make a real connection with the characters once their world was fleshed out a little bit more.
Overall, I quite enjoyed Children of Earth. It was certainly a huge improvement over the first two seasons, and it was finally successful in making me really care about the characters and become invested in the story.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Torchwood: Season 2 Wrap-Up
The end of season 2 improved, I think. I loved having the focus on Owen for so many episodes in the later part of it; he was such a great character, and the finally did something interesting to him... even if that something was kind of weird. ALSO the episode where he couldn't save the old man because he didn't have breath for CPR was just ridiculous. If he was taking, he was clearly breathing. I mean. Come on.
"Fragments" was a lovely episode. I really enjoyed getting to see everyone's backstory (including the pterodactyl!), and I wish they hadn't waited until that late in the process to give us some of those nice details that helped make the characters feel more real. It almost felt like they stuck that one in at the end just to heighten the emotional connections in time for the deaths in the next episode.
The finale was a bit of a let-down, I found. Jack's backstory is not easy to connect to emotionally. The only time we really ever heard about his brother was in "Adam," and then at the end he shows up and it's supposed to be a big deal. I mean, as far as evil plots go, his was fine, but the fact that he was Jack's brother didn't add much to it, in my opinion.
"Fragments" was a lovely episode. I really enjoyed getting to see everyone's backstory (including the pterodactyl!), and I wish they hadn't waited until that late in the process to give us some of those nice details that helped make the characters feel more real. It almost felt like they stuck that one in at the end just to heighten the emotional connections in time for the deaths in the next episode.
The finale was a bit of a let-down, I found. Jack's backstory is not easy to connect to emotionally. The only time we really ever heard about his brother was in "Adam," and then at the end he shows up and it's supposed to be a big deal. I mean, as far as evil plots go, his was fine, but the fact that he was Jack's brother didn't add much to it, in my opinion.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Torchwood Again
So I'm now five episodes into season two and my impressions after the season premier have so far not been disappointed. This season is just so much better than the first one.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate Owen Harper? He is so good. I loved him in "Meat," and he is just the most adorable little dork in "Adam." So good.
I'm appreciating that we're getting more background story on Jack. He's such a complex and interesting character and you could have shows about him forever and still not know everything. I really hope we get to find out what happened in the two years that the Time Agency erased his memories.
I also like Gwen a lot more this season. She's really pulling together as a character that I can like.
Also Ianto! Now that he's actually an important character they had to give him a personality, and he's funny! I love it. Funny is good.
There are still some inconsistencies that bother me, like Ianto's wishy-washy love life. He went from being so depressed about Lisa and in constant distress about it, to being in love with Jack, to in "Adam" still being upset about Lisa. I mean. I know time passed and he moved on but still hasn't completely let go and that makes sense but I guess because we don't see a whole lot of that progression, it's a little jarring when it does come up. The same is also true of Tosh, who, one episode, is crazy about a soldier who gets unfrozen four times a year, and then in the next one she's falling all over herself to make Owen sandwich.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate Owen Harper? He is so good. I loved him in "Meat," and he is just the most adorable little dork in "Adam." So good.
I'm appreciating that we're getting more background story on Jack. He's such a complex and interesting character and you could have shows about him forever and still not know everything. I really hope we get to find out what happened in the two years that the Time Agency erased his memories.
I also like Gwen a lot more this season. She's really pulling together as a character that I can like.
Also Ianto! Now that he's actually an important character they had to give him a personality, and he's funny! I love it. Funny is good.
There are still some inconsistencies that bother me, like Ianto's wishy-washy love life. He went from being so depressed about Lisa and in constant distress about it, to being in love with Jack, to in "Adam" still being upset about Lisa. I mean. I know time passed and he moved on but still hasn't completely let go and that makes sense but I guess because we don't see a whole lot of that progression, it's a little jarring when it does come up. The same is also true of Tosh, who, one episode, is crazy about a soldier who gets unfrozen four times a year, and then in the next one she's falling all over herself to make Owen sandwich.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
I saw this movie with some friends about a week ago and I have been meaning to write about it ever since. As you can see from my discussion of... everything else I write about here, I'm not much for reviews, but I do like to share my thoughts.
This was kind of a strange movie, in my opinion. I've never seen Planet of the Apes or any of the other movies in the franchise, so for me it's kind of a standalone thing. It just didn't seem to flow quite right. Basically it was separated into three distinct parts.
The first part would be entitled "James Franco and His Adorable Pet Ape are Adorable," and was character development of motives on the part of Franco's character.
The second part is "Tom Felton is a Dick and Caesar Gets Pissed," which was character development on the part of Caesar and his motives.
The third part is "Apes Learn to Talk and Then Fuck Shit Up," which is exactly what it sounds like.
So the first part and the second part flowed together pretty logically, but then the third part came and I wasn't really sure quite way the apes were being so violent or what they were really trying to accomplish and it was all a little bit confusing.
That said, the first two thirds were a pretty good movie, and anything starring James Franco and Tom Felton can't be too bad, right?
This was kind of a strange movie, in my opinion. I've never seen Planet of the Apes or any of the other movies in the franchise, so for me it's kind of a standalone thing. It just didn't seem to flow quite right. Basically it was separated into three distinct parts.
The first part would be entitled "James Franco and His Adorable Pet Ape are Adorable," and was character development of motives on the part of Franco's character.
The second part is "Tom Felton is a Dick and Caesar Gets Pissed," which was character development on the part of Caesar and his motives.
The third part is "Apes Learn to Talk and Then Fuck Shit Up," which is exactly what it sounds like.
So the first part and the second part flowed together pretty logically, but then the third part came and I wasn't really sure quite way the apes were being so violent or what they were really trying to accomplish and it was all a little bit confusing.
That said, the first two thirds were a pretty good movie, and anything starring James Franco and Tom Felton can't be too bad, right?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
More Torchwood
I made it through to the end of season one. I have to say that the finale was pretty disappointing.
"Oh look, bad shit is happening and we can't stop it."
"Hey, we're having visions telling us to do this... it must be the right thing to do, even though it's what caused the problem in the first place."
"Oh look, that thing we did made things worse."
"Now that we've made things worse, though, we can easily stop it in about 5 seconds because Jack is immortal."
"Oh no, Jack's really dead."
"Oh no, actually he's not."
I don't know, I guess I was just looking for a little more suspense, and excitement. It was very... mundane. Predictable. I was not impressed.
I have, however, seen the premier of season two, and I was very impressed by it. I think it was the best episode of the show so far. Clever enemies! Fast-paced plot! More about Jack's past! I think I actually have hope for this show now.
"Oh look, bad shit is happening and we can't stop it."
"Hey, we're having visions telling us to do this... it must be the right thing to do, even though it's what caused the problem in the first place."
"Oh look, that thing we did made things worse."
"Now that we've made things worse, though, we can easily stop it in about 5 seconds because Jack is immortal."
"Oh no, Jack's really dead."
"Oh no, actually he's not."
I don't know, I guess I was just looking for a little more suspense, and excitement. It was very... mundane. Predictable. I was not impressed.
I have, however, seen the premier of season two, and I was very impressed by it. I think it was the best episode of the show so far. Clever enemies! Fast-paced plot! More about Jack's past! I think I actually have hope for this show now.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Torchwood Update
I'm almost finished season one of Torchwood. I'm up to "Combat," which means there are only two episodes left in the season. It feels like it's taken a really long time, but that's okay. I don't really feel like doing episode analyses, but here are some random thoughts:
I really liked the Gwen/Owen relationship, and I'm sad that it's over now. I think it was partly because Owen was so sweet toward Gwen compared with how he is toward everyone else, and that really won me over.
I'm never sure whether or not I like Gwen. She's kind of useless and has a tendency to do things wrong, but in a way that makes her more real. On the other hand, she does often disobey/challenge Jack, and as she showed in "Combat," she doesn't take shit from her boyfriend, either, so I do respect that about her.
I can't decide about Tosh either. In "Greeks Bearing Gifts," the only episode where we really learned anything about her, we discovered that she was always the one to feel left out and unliked by the others, and she is overwhelmed by work and sensitive and... basically a combination of Ianto and Gwen.
I'm excited to see what sort of crazy season finale RTD dreamed up for this show... will it compare to the Doctor Who tearjerkers? I guess I'll find out within the next few days!
I really liked the Gwen/Owen relationship, and I'm sad that it's over now. I think it was partly because Owen was so sweet toward Gwen compared with how he is toward everyone else, and that really won me over.
I'm never sure whether or not I like Gwen. She's kind of useless and has a tendency to do things wrong, but in a way that makes her more real. On the other hand, she does often disobey/challenge Jack, and as she showed in "Combat," she doesn't take shit from her boyfriend, either, so I do respect that about her.
I can't decide about Tosh either. In "Greeks Bearing Gifts," the only episode where we really learned anything about her, we discovered that she was always the one to feel left out and unliked by the others, and she is overwhelmed by work and sensitive and... basically a combination of Ianto and Gwen.
I'm excited to see what sort of crazy season finale RTD dreamed up for this show... will it compare to the Doctor Who tearjerkers? I guess I'll find out within the next few days!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Pottermore
Yesterday I managed to get into early entry of Pottermore. I was pretty excited about that because I was sure that all the crazy die-hard fans would be eager beavers and beat me to it by a million years, but apparently I lucked out.
I've had this strange relationship with Harry Potter I lately, by which I guess mostly that the movies never really did it for me. I never even got around to seeing part one of Deathly Hallows. I would have liked to have seen part two, but I didn't have anyone to go with, so that didn't happen. I consoled myself by rereading it, and it was as good as I remembered (I got through it in a day and a half, and I was at work one of those days, so obviously the books haven't lost their power to captivate me), but I just haven't really felt the magic since four years ago.
Pottermore excites me, though. It's book-based. It's things out of JK Rowling's head that we didn't know before. That's pretty amazing. I'm hoping that it lives up to all the hype.
My username is QueenWizard10, although I sort of regret that now. All of my other options were really shitty things where the two words didn't go together at all. This was the only one that read as an actual phrase and didn't sound like shit, and I was in a hurry because I didn't know if there was still a chance that they would run out of spots and I'd get rejected halfway through registration and also I was at work and I was trying to be quick about it. But now I have regrets because QueenWizard is just so so pretentious and everyone might think I'm a horrendous bitch and hate me forever.
Oh well. Nothing to do now but sit back and wait for my Welcome email.
I've had this strange relationship with Harry Potter I lately, by which I guess mostly that the movies never really did it for me. I never even got around to seeing part one of Deathly Hallows. I would have liked to have seen part two, but I didn't have anyone to go with, so that didn't happen. I consoled myself by rereading it, and it was as good as I remembered (I got through it in a day and a half, and I was at work one of those days, so obviously the books haven't lost their power to captivate me), but I just haven't really felt the magic since four years ago.
Pottermore excites me, though. It's book-based. It's things out of JK Rowling's head that we didn't know before. That's pretty amazing. I'm hoping that it lives up to all the hype.
My username is QueenWizard10, although I sort of regret that now. All of my other options were really shitty things where the two words didn't go together at all. This was the only one that read as an actual phrase and didn't sound like shit, and I was in a hurry because I didn't know if there was still a chance that they would run out of spots and I'd get rejected halfway through registration and also I was at work and I was trying to be quick about it. But now I have regrets because QueenWizard is just so so pretentious and everyone might think I'm a horrendous bitch and hate me forever.
Oh well. Nothing to do now but sit back and wait for my Welcome email.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Torchwood
I've just recently started watching Torchwood. There was a marathon on a few weeks ago in preparation for the start of Miracle Day, so my parents recorded it and we've been slowly watching through it. So far we're only four episodes in, but I've been really enjoying it.
Jack is so great. I'd almost forgotten how great he is. Just a fantastic character. I wish they would bring him back to Doctor Who, but hey, at least I have several seasons of Torchwood to appreciate him in.
I was surprised by Gwen. I expected her to be more bad-ass, because that was the impression I've always gotten from all the commercials and stuff. But she's actually quite timid and uncertain. I guess it would make sense for it to take her a while to really get comfortable and confident with being part of Torchwood.
Owen is possibly my favourite character. I'm not sure why, but I just enjoy him a lot.
The unfortunate thing about this show is that I've had a lot of things spoiled... not so much in terms of serious plot, but in terms of deaths and relationships, I don't think there are going to be too many surprises. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it!
Jack is so great. I'd almost forgotten how great he is. Just a fantastic character. I wish they would bring him back to Doctor Who, but hey, at least I have several seasons of Torchwood to appreciate him in.
I was surprised by Gwen. I expected her to be more bad-ass, because that was the impression I've always gotten from all the commercials and stuff. But she's actually quite timid and uncertain. I guess it would make sense for it to take her a while to really get comfortable and confident with being part of Torchwood.
Owen is possibly my favourite character. I'm not sure why, but I just enjoy him a lot.
The unfortunate thing about this show is that I've had a lot of things spoiled... not so much in terms of serious plot, but in terms of deaths and relationships, I don't think there are going to be too many surprises. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Still Got Legs
Chameleon Circuit is a band which writes Trock songs. Trock means Time Lord Rock, so yes, all of their songs are about Doctor Who, which is probably the best idea ever. Last week they released their second album, Still Got Legs.
I only listened to parts of their first album, but from the few songs I've heard I would say that there are some songs which are really great ("Count the Shadows" comes to mind) and some which are a little less than great.
I have, however, listened to the entirety of Still Got Legs. Many many times over. It's just so good. The lyrics are like magic for fans, but the tone of the album and the quality of the music could be enjoyed by anyone.
Highlights of the album, in my opinion, include "Travelling Man," "Kiss the Girl," "Teenage Rebel," "The Sounds of Drums," and "Still Not Ginger."
You can listen to the album for free on Alex Day's blog, buy it electronically on iTunes, or get a physical copy from DFTBA Records.
I only listened to parts of their first album, but from the few songs I've heard I would say that there are some songs which are really great ("Count the Shadows" comes to mind) and some which are a little less than great.
I have, however, listened to the entirety of Still Got Legs. Many many times over. It's just so good. The lyrics are like magic for fans, but the tone of the album and the quality of the music could be enjoyed by anyone.
Highlights of the album, in my opinion, include "Travelling Man," "Kiss the Girl," "Teenage Rebel," "The Sounds of Drums," and "Still Not Ginger."
You can listen to the album for free on Alex Day's blog, buy it electronically on iTunes, or get a physical copy from DFTBA Records.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Doctor Who Companions
I have this theory about Doctor Who and companions and why I don't like Martha and Mickey as much as any of the other companions. Basically, every other companion (with a few exceptions, which are explained) has proved themselves to the Doctor by their second episode as companion, except for those two. This is why they just don't sit right with me. I also argue that the way the main companion proves themselves in the second episode shows that they are what the Doctor needs at that particular time.
Main Companions
Season 1, Episode 2, "The End of the World". At the end of the episode, Cassandra, the last human, is teleported back onto Platform One where, due to her lowering the platform's defenses, the temperature has risen. As Cassandra pleads to be moisturised and the Doctor looks on impassively, Rose pleads "help her." Rose shows mercy and compassion, proving herself worthy of travelling with the Doctor. This is also what the Doctor needs most right now. Nine is war-torn and battle-weary, hard-hearted, and he needs to relearn these emotions from someone.
Season 4, Episode 2, "The Fires of Pompeii". This is technically Donna's third episode, but only her second as full-on companion, so it's the one I'm going by. Donna proves herself the moment she puts her hand on the lever with the Doctor. She shares the responsibility with him, and she lets him know that she is not alone. As he told her in the previous episode, he just wants a mate. Donna shows that that's what she can be. A friend, a supporter, someone to help him through the rough times.
Season 5, Episode 2, "The Beast Below". In Amy's second episode as companion, she realizes that the star whale came to help the British, and that if they stop torturing it, it will continue to help them of its own accord. This allows her to save both the humans aboard Starship UK and the whale itself, something even the Doctor didn't think was possible. Amy's way of providing what the Doctor needs is not quite as obvious as it was with Rose and Donna, but I will argue that she does. What the Doctor needs most right now is an identity, and a reassurance. Ten really did not want to go. He said so. Several times. When Nine regenerated into Ten, he seemed almost happy to go, and he had Rose to anchor him, and he basically became everything she needed him to be. When Ten became Eleven, he did not want to go, and everything changed. His love had to return to an alternate universe (again), his best friend had to have her mind wiped of any memory of him, and he regained his home planet only to have to destroy it. Again. And he lost the Master - again - and whoever that gray-haired lady was. When he regenerated into Eleven, he was truly starting over completely. Amy helps him find his identity. He is very old, and very kind, and the last of his kind. He comes to help when children cry. I would also argue that he needed a reassurance that all this was worth it. That losing Gallifrey to save Earth was the right decision, that sacrificing himself for Wilf was really necessary, that humans are worthy of being saved. The events of "The Beast Below" almost tipped the scales in the opposite direction, but Amy Pond reminded and reassured him that humans are worthwhile, after all.
Minor Companions:
Season 1, Episode 10, "The Doctor Dances". Jack, in his second episode, takes that bomb and flies it away in order to save everyone else. Even though his ship calculates that there is a one hundred per cent possibility that he will die. He does it. Jack really seems to love life (even when he's a billion years old, you never hear him complain that everyone he knows is either dead or doesn't even realize who he actually is), so he's really making a sacrifice here. You can tell how rattled he is in that final scene in his ship, but he does it anyway, and that's when he proves himself worthy.
Season 4, Episode 8, "Silence in the Library". River Song, in her second episode, is also willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for her Doctor, as well as all those people saved in the library. Unlike Jack, she has to go through with it - although she does get saved, to an extent. But still, like the others, she proves herself worthy.
Exceptions:
Season 1, Episode 7, "The Long Game". Technically I guess this is only Adam's first episode as companion, since he wasn't really a companion in "Dalek," but still, it only takes him two episodes on the show to disprove himself as being worthy of a companion.
Season 6, Episode 6, "The Vampires of Venice". Depending on how you count "The Eleventh Hour", you could argue about whether this or "Amy's Choice" is his second episode as a true companion, and there are probably arguments to be made about him proving himself in both of those episodes, but nothing as concrete as any of the other examples I gave. I would argue that Rory is a special case, though. All of the other companions wanted to go with the Doctor, they wanted to fly off in the TARDIS and have grand adventures. Rory just wants his fiancée not to kiss other men. The fact that he didn't ask for any of this means that he doesn't have to do anything special to prove himself. He proves it just by being there.
Season 2, Episode 6, "The Age of Steel". This is the episode where I felt like Mickey finally proved himself, and no matter how you count it, it's definitely more than his second episode as companion. In every episode before this I couldn't imagine what Rose possibly saw in him and tried to forget he even existed. Even after he proved himself here, I never really could warm up to him - he had already spent too long making a bad impression to win me over.
Season 3, Episode 2, "The Shakespeare Code". This was Martha's second episode. In it she proves that... she's read Harry Potter. Oh good. Good job Martha. What a hero.
Season 3, Episode 13, "The Last of the Time Lords". Martha finally proves herself! ...in the season finale. Her journey across the earth is bigger and more impressive than anything the other companions did to prove themselves, but it just comes too late. Like Mickey, that bad impression she had already given just couldn't be undone. I was so annoyed with her when she came back in season 4 - pushing her way into precious Donna time! It was just so unnecessary of her.
Main Companions
Season 1, Episode 2, "The End of the World". At the end of the episode, Cassandra, the last human, is teleported back onto Platform One where, due to her lowering the platform's defenses, the temperature has risen. As Cassandra pleads to be moisturised and the Doctor looks on impassively, Rose pleads "help her." Rose shows mercy and compassion, proving herself worthy of travelling with the Doctor. This is also what the Doctor needs most right now. Nine is war-torn and battle-weary, hard-hearted, and he needs to relearn these emotions from someone.
Season 4, Episode 2, "The Fires of Pompeii". This is technically Donna's third episode, but only her second as full-on companion, so it's the one I'm going by. Donna proves herself the moment she puts her hand on the lever with the Doctor. She shares the responsibility with him, and she lets him know that she is not alone. As he told her in the previous episode, he just wants a mate. Donna shows that that's what she can be. A friend, a supporter, someone to help him through the rough times.
Season 5, Episode 2, "The Beast Below". In Amy's second episode as companion, she realizes that the star whale came to help the British, and that if they stop torturing it, it will continue to help them of its own accord. This allows her to save both the humans aboard Starship UK and the whale itself, something even the Doctor didn't think was possible. Amy's way of providing what the Doctor needs is not quite as obvious as it was with Rose and Donna, but I will argue that she does. What the Doctor needs most right now is an identity, and a reassurance. Ten really did not want to go. He said so. Several times. When Nine regenerated into Ten, he seemed almost happy to go, and he had Rose to anchor him, and he basically became everything she needed him to be. When Ten became Eleven, he did not want to go, and everything changed. His love had to return to an alternate universe (again), his best friend had to have her mind wiped of any memory of him, and he regained his home planet only to have to destroy it. Again. And he lost the Master - again - and whoever that gray-haired lady was. When he regenerated into Eleven, he was truly starting over completely. Amy helps him find his identity. He is very old, and very kind, and the last of his kind. He comes to help when children cry. I would also argue that he needed a reassurance that all this was worth it. That losing Gallifrey to save Earth was the right decision, that sacrificing himself for Wilf was really necessary, that humans are worthy of being saved. The events of "The Beast Below" almost tipped the scales in the opposite direction, but Amy Pond reminded and reassured him that humans are worthwhile, after all.
Minor Companions:
Season 1, Episode 10, "The Doctor Dances". Jack, in his second episode, takes that bomb and flies it away in order to save everyone else. Even though his ship calculates that there is a one hundred per cent possibility that he will die. He does it. Jack really seems to love life (even when he's a billion years old, you never hear him complain that everyone he knows is either dead or doesn't even realize who he actually is), so he's really making a sacrifice here. You can tell how rattled he is in that final scene in his ship, but he does it anyway, and that's when he proves himself worthy.
Season 4, Episode 8, "Silence in the Library". River Song, in her second episode, is also willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for her Doctor, as well as all those people saved in the library. Unlike Jack, she has to go through with it - although she does get saved, to an extent. But still, like the others, she proves herself worthy.
Exceptions:
Season 1, Episode 7, "The Long Game". Technically I guess this is only Adam's first episode as companion, since he wasn't really a companion in "Dalek," but still, it only takes him two episodes on the show to disprove himself as being worthy of a companion.
Season 6, Episode 6, "The Vampires of Venice". Depending on how you count "The Eleventh Hour", you could argue about whether this or "Amy's Choice" is his second episode as a true companion, and there are probably arguments to be made about him proving himself in both of those episodes, but nothing as concrete as any of the other examples I gave. I would argue that Rory is a special case, though. All of the other companions wanted to go with the Doctor, they wanted to fly off in the TARDIS and have grand adventures. Rory just wants his fiancée not to kiss other men. The fact that he didn't ask for any of this means that he doesn't have to do anything special to prove himself. He proves it just by being there.
Season 2, Episode 6, "The Age of Steel". This is the episode where I felt like Mickey finally proved himself, and no matter how you count it, it's definitely more than his second episode as companion. In every episode before this I couldn't imagine what Rose possibly saw in him and tried to forget he even existed. Even after he proved himself here, I never really could warm up to him - he had already spent too long making a bad impression to win me over.
Season 3, Episode 2, "The Shakespeare Code". This was Martha's second episode. In it she proves that... she's read Harry Potter. Oh good. Good job Martha. What a hero.
Season 3, Episode 13, "The Last of the Time Lords". Martha finally proves herself! ...in the season finale. Her journey across the earth is bigger and more impressive than anything the other companions did to prove themselves, but it just comes too late. Like Mickey, that bad impression she had already given just couldn't be undone. I was so annoyed with her when she came back in season 4 - pushing her way into precious Donna time! It was just so unnecessary of her.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Questionable Content: Thoughts on Recent Comics
Hey look, things are finally happening in this comic, holy smokes!
In the most recent comic, Marten and Dora finally talked and they might actually be friends again and then things could go back to normal. This is exciting.
I'm also glad we finally got off the Dora/Jim storyline for a little while. Not that I didn't enjoy that storyline, but it was very all-encompassing. I missed the other characters. Like Hannelore and Marigold! They are so cute here and here. Also we finally got to see Angus for the first time in a very long time. I love Angus! Even though he didn't even say anything, his mere presence was exciting to me.
Also, Raven came back, which is sort of interesting. I was never super fond of Raven, but I don't dislike her either. Mostly it feels like one more character in an already overly large cast, but oh well.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see where the renewed Marten/Dora friendship leads and how it affects the comic and whether Marten will realize that once he goes back to Coffee of Doom that he misses seeing Padma at The Secret Bakery.
Also, I feel like it's been a long time since we've seen Penelope, though I don't feel like looking back to find just where it was. Maybe she'll show up soon.
In the most recent comic, Marten and Dora finally talked and they might actually be friends again and then things could go back to normal. This is exciting.
I'm also glad we finally got off the Dora/Jim storyline for a little while. Not that I didn't enjoy that storyline, but it was very all-encompassing. I missed the other characters. Like Hannelore and Marigold! They are so cute here and here. Also we finally got to see Angus for the first time in a very long time. I love Angus! Even though he didn't even say anything, his mere presence was exciting to me.
Also, Raven came back, which is sort of interesting. I was never super fond of Raven, but I don't dislike her either. Mostly it feels like one more character in an already overly large cast, but oh well.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see where the renewed Marten/Dora friendship leads and how it affects the comic and whether Marten will realize that once he goes back to Coffee of Doom that he misses seeing Padma at The Secret Bakery.
Also, I feel like it's been a long time since we've seen Penelope, though I don't feel like looking back to find just where it was. Maybe she'll show up soon.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Unanswered Who-questions
What is River's relationship with the Doctor? Why does she know his real name?
Who is the good man that River kills?
If she can get out of the prison whenever she wants, why does she stay?
Why does Amy remember the clerics after they stopped existing, but not Rory?
Who blows up the TARDIS/why/why specifically on the Ponds' wedding day?
Why does River remember the Doctor after the universe resets? And why doesn't her memory bring him back?
Why was last year's "silence will fall" motif presented as so sinister, if it's actually supposed to be a good thing?
Who kills the Doctor? Is the Doctor really dead? Does it get undone? How does it get undone?
How does old!Canton know that it definitely is the Doctor and he definitely is dead, and how did he know to be there without opening his letter?
Why are the Silence (or at least one Silent) still around in 2011?
What happened to Amy in the orphanage? How did the girl get out of the space suit? Why did the Silence capture Amy?
Why did the Silence want the little girl, anyway? And what are they doing with the TARDIS-thing?
When was real!Amy replaced with flesh!Amy?
Who is the good man that River kills?
If she can get out of the prison whenever she wants, why does she stay?
Why does Amy remember the clerics after they stopped existing, but not Rory?
Who blows up the TARDIS/why/why specifically on the Ponds' wedding day?
Why does River remember the Doctor after the universe resets? And why doesn't her memory bring him back?
Why was last year's "silence will fall" motif presented as so sinister, if it's actually supposed to be a good thing?
Who kills the Doctor? Is the Doctor really dead? Does it get undone? How does it get undone?
How does old!Canton know that it definitely is the Doctor and he definitely is dead, and how did he know to be there without opening his letter?
Why are the Silence (or at least one Silent) still around in 2011?
What happened to Amy in the orphanage? How did the girl get out of the space suit? Why did the Silence capture Amy?
Why did the Silence want the little girl, anyway? And what are they doing with the TARDIS-thing?
When was real!Amy replaced with flesh!Amy?
Who is Madame Kovarian? Why does she seem to think she's at war with the Doctor?
What exactly does she plan to do with Melody/River?
Is the little girl from Astronaut/Day actually Melody/River? If so: why does River not seem to have any memory of this/act as if it never happened?
If River is a Time Lady, why hasn't the Doctor been able to sense her the way he should have been with the Master? If it's because she's only 'sort of' a Time Lady, which seems to be the implication of A Good Man, then what Time Lord characteristics does she have/not have?
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Doctor Who Season 6
I am way delayed on this business...whoops. Watched everything on time, just haven't gotten around to writing about it.
"The Curse of the Black Spot" - I really enjoyed this episode. It was nice to get away from the tension of the series arc for a little while and just have a good ol' romp. Also, I have a thing for pirates, so, you know. I was a little... concerned? confused? I'm not sure what... by the ending, though. Why was Amy so dead set against having to save Rory? It almost seemed like she would rather leave him behind than have to be responsible for saving him. And he said it was because he knew she wouldn't give up and then SHE GAVE UP but somehow he came back to life anyway. I feel like there was something fishy going on there. I don't know. It just didn't add up for me.
"The Doctor's Wife" - I don't even have anything to say about this. It was brilliant and perfect and I loved it. That is all.
"The Rebel Flesh"/The Almost People" - These episodes were alright. A little hard to follow, and a little tedious, but lovely. I loved the factory workers - Cleaves and Jimmy especially. Also Rory was great. Stupid, but great. And he didn't die! The two Doctors were hilarious together, although I called their shoe-switching antics partway through. I'm not sure why real Doctor was so angry/violent with Amy, though. That was sort of frightening. And the reveal about Amy at the end was brilliant - I never suspected it!
"A Good Man Goes to War" - Aghghahgljs. I'm not sure River being Melody counts as a twist, really, given that that theory has been the talk of the internet for ages now. I was less disappointed by it than I expected to be, though, so at least there's that. Rory was also great in this episode. Just for the record. Again. I'm still not sure what the Cybermen had to do with anything, but that's alright. I liked Lorna Bucket. I hope we get to see her earlier in her timestream/later in the Doctor's. I feel like the 'moral' of this episode was sort of a fall-flat though... oh look, the Doctor has a dark dangerous side and he sometimes has a bad effect on the lives of his companions. Hello, "Journey's End" and "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time." Eleven is not near so dark and dangerous as Ten could be at times.
I can't believe we have to wait until September. Ugh.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Hobbit Casting
I re-watched the 2005 movie of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy last night, which is the only thing I'd ever seen Martin Freeman in. I had seen it before, but couldn't remember anything about his performance when I was looking into it after he was cast. It happened to be showing on TV last week, and we recorded it and watched it last night. He was good. I think he's going to make a wonderful Bilbo. There were certain moments where his facial expression or his tone of voice struck me as very Bilbo-ish. He even bears a slight resemblance to Ian Holm, so there's a bit of continuity there.
In more recent casting news, Lee Pace will be playing Thranduil. After all the rumours about David Tennant getting that role, I couldn't imagine being content with anyone else playing that part, but, man. Lee Pace. Lee Pace is great. I think this will be okay, after all.
Also, Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown. That's going to be fairly awesome as well.
I am just so excited for these movies. I can't believe I still have to wait another year and a half!
In more recent casting news, Lee Pace will be playing Thranduil. After all the rumours about David Tennant getting that role, I couldn't imagine being content with anyone else playing that part, but, man. Lee Pace. Lee Pace is great. I think this will be okay, after all.
Also, Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown. That's going to be fairly awesome as well.
I am just so excited for these movies. I can't believe I still have to wait another year and a half!
Monday, May 2, 2011
River Song
River's Identity
Well, I'm guessing that kiss in "Day of the Moon" has finally quashed any theories about River being the Doctor's daughter/mother/sister/whatever else. It lends credence to theory that she's the Doctor's wife, but I'm pretty sure there has to be more to it than that. River basically said so herself in "Time of the Angels": "This is the Doctor we're talking about, do you really think it could be anything so simple?" And even more importantly, this is Moffat we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything so simple? But yes, clearly some sort of romantic/physically intimate relationship.
This does not necessarily exclude the theories that River is Amy's daughter or Amy is River's daughter, which both seem to run rampant, but I have a hard time believing those. For one thing, it just ties everyone together too neatly, and I would much prefer that River be her own person with her own story. Furthermore, I don't know a whole lot about the TV-writing process, but that would mean they either had quite a lot of seasons 5 and 6 planned out when they were writing season 4, or they wrote in the character for fun without knowing what her story was, and I'm not sure how likely either of those scenarios are.
There are also the myriad theories about River being a regeneration of Donna, or a future Doctor, or the Master, or the child of Rose and fake Ten, or pretty much any character who has ever been on the show. I don't see how Donna would have gained the power of regeneration, so that seems unlikely. I don't think the Doctor loves himself quite as much as we've been shown (especially given that we've been shown a few times how much he loathes himself), and although the Master theories make me giggle, I don't think they're very likely, either. And I don't think she's the child of [insert couple here] either because that's really starting to push the boundaries of reason.
I'm also uncertain about her being someone from classic Who. I've never seen classic Who, so take anything I say here with a grain of salt, mind you. The revival has clearly made itself a different show. Yes, they've kept the same basic concept and brought back many classic monsters and a few characters like Sarah Jane and the Master, and yes, they've reinforced continuity with some references. That said, they've made it new. They've destroyed Gallifrey and killed off nearly all the Time Lords. If they keep bringing them back one at a time, they're basically going to undo all of that. Furthermore, Steven Moffat seems to be especially keen on moving ahead rather than looking back. He's introduced a ton of new monsters, and of all the episodes he's written, the only time he's included classic aliens, to my knowledge, is in "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang." This might just be my desire for River to be her own person speaking, but I really don't think she's going to be any of those old Time Lords that people keep saying she's going to be.
All that said, I really don't have any of my own theories about her identity. I just don't buy into any of the ones that I've heard so far.
The Best Man She's Ever Known
In "Time of the Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" we gather a lot of interesting tidbits about River's perhaps sketchy past. Octavian says the Doctor can't trust her, and that he doesn't know "who or what she is." We learn that she's in prison. That she killed a man. According to Octavian, "a good man. A hero to many." According to River, the best man she's ever known.
So the question we all ask ourselves is this: who is that man?
The obvious answer seems to be the Doctor. But... that seems too obvious. In real life, the simplest solution is usually true, but in Moffatland, that maxim holds no water. The other theory is Rory, which seems slightly more likely, but they have killed Rory how many times now? It's just getting old, at this point. That really doesn't leave us with a whole lot of options. It could be someone entirely new, but then why would there be a huge build up about it? This one intrigues me.
Can He Trust Her or Not?
In "Flesh and Stone" Octavian tells the Doctor that he can't trust River. But he knows, from the Library that he can. When she needs him to trust her, she whispers something in his ear which we later discover was his name. This turns out to be very effective, and he trusts her completely. So why does he let doubts creep in? He asks her if he can trust her at the end of "Flesh and Stone", and there's his little speech about not being able to trust her in the TARDIS toward the beginning of "The Impossible Astronaut." Why the doubts, if her knowing his name was enough before? I suppose this one could be explained by the fact that the River in "Silence in the Library" was older, and that he doesn't know if the younger River he's interacting with now is trustworthy, or if that's something that happens later in her time line.
Also, on the theme of the name thing... why doesn't the Doctor know who she is? In "Forest of the Dead" he says "There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could..." That sounds like he should have a pretty good idea of who she is, yet in "The Impossible Astronaut" he asks her who she is. So there's only one reason he would tell someone his name, only one time he could... but that reason and time could apply to anyone?
Amy Pond isn't the Only One with a Good Memory
In "The Big Bang," after the Doctor has flown the Pandorica, with himself inside, into the heart of the TARDIS explosion, he needs someone to remember him in order to bring him back into existence. He ensures this by telling Amy a story during his rewind, the night she waited for him, implanting a message into her memories so that when she wakes up on her wedding day, the saying "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" will trigger her memories of him and the TARDIS, bringing them back into existence. This process is helped along by the arrival of a wedding gift - River Song's Doctor Diary, hand-delivered by the lady herself. Its pages are blank, of course, because the Doctor never existed for River to have written anything about.
The problem with this is that in order for River to have delivered the journal, she had to have remembered the Doctor. Tons of people have pointed this out, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that Steven Moffat said in some interview that it would all be explained. I imagine that when we get the big reveal about River's identity it will turn out that the Doctor is so integral to her life that when she wakes up where she ought to be after the reset, the holes left by the Doctor's non-existence are so large that she can't not remember. That's my theory, anyway. I'm sure it will all work out.
The question I haven't seen anyone ask about this situation is this: if River can remember the Doctor, why isn't he brought back by her memories? She shouldn't even need to take the diary to Amy because she should be able to bring the Doctor back on her own. Why doesn't it work that way?
Are They Really Living in Reverse?
If their time lines are actually exactly backwards... who gives her the sonic screwdriver before "Silence in the Library"? Is it something we were just never shown, and Ten went and did that? I don't think so, because how would he know where to find her? Besides, he didn't even know that their time streams were backward, he only knew that they met "in the wrong order," so he would probably assume he did that later in life, when he knew her better. I don't think Eleven has even figured the reverse thing out yet, otherwise he might have clued in about it being River's last kiss.
Furthermore, if they did meet in the wrong direction, why does River even have that diary? Given what she's said in these two most recent episodes, she should know that the Doctor hasn't shared any of her experiences, so there would be no need to sync up, because there would be no up to sync.
So, basically, I think that they probably don't meet in the wrong order. That might be the general trend, but there have to be some exceptions. Which means that it is a future Doctor who gives her the sonic screwdriver that lets Ten 'save' her in "Forest of the Dead." And, I mean, why would they meet in reverse? The Doctor has a time machine. He could just go to a time when River is older and be like "oh hey, we have shared all the same experiences, isn't that great?"
Or, alternatively, they were originally supposed to meet in just the "wrong" order, but then the writers decided it would be more interesting if they met in reverse, and now they're trying to retcon it to make sense. Or, it does all make sense, but we just haven't been enlightened yet. Or, they meet in reverse except for the last time. I don't know. I'm sure it will all make sense someday. Or not.
Consequences of Reverse Time Lines
If River is living in reverse to the Doctor then either:
1) She's already lived the events that prevent his death (or don't prevent it), and therefore she already knows the outcome of events in these episodes. This in turn would mean that either 1. she's really good at hiding her surprise or 2. when she said the Doctor's death couldn't be undone, she was speaking from experience and I don't really want to think about that.
or
2) Amy and Rory can't tell any younger version of River they meet in the future about the event of these episodes because, you know, spoilers! This in turn would mean that those two have to deal with it on their own, and also that River lives the whole rest of her life never knowing the outcome of the whole dead Doctor situation.
Also, River's reactions could give us clues about future events. I mean, there's things like her mention in "Flesh and Stone" about remembering the Pandorica well, and at the end of "The Big Bang" about how next time everything changes, but those are pretty minor things that are written in as teasers. I'm thinking of sadder, more serious things. Like in "Silence in the Library" when she's shocked to meet Donna and bam! we know that something happens to Donna, and probably sooner rather than later. In "Time of the Angels" the Doctor introduces Amy and River, but River just smiles and doesn't really say anything, because of course she already knows Amy (although when River was in Amy's room, why didn't she recognize Rory in the picture, given that she met him in Astronaut/Moon, and possibly other times we have yet to see?). But someday River might ask to be introduced to Amy/Rory, or be surprised to meet them the way she was with Donna, and then we would know that sad days were approaching.
Things We Know for Sure
She's an archaeologist. A doctor who eventually becomes a professor.
She meets the Doctor in the wrong order, probably in at least a general approximation to, if not exactly, reverse order.
She killed a man, the best man she's ever known.
She is in Stormcage prison for the aforementioned crime, although she is adept at escaping, and seems to be out for good by the time of "Silence in the Library" (perhaps she got the pardon mentioned in "Flesh and Stone").
She is physically intimate with the Doctor.
She first meets the Doctor when she's a young girl.
She last meets the Doctor in the Library, where she sacrifices herself to rescue those 'saved' by CAL.
In turn, she gets uploaded into the Library's database, along with the Daves, Anita, and Miss Evangelista, and becomes mother to two computer-kids and CAL.
Sometime before this (before in her time line, after in his), the Doctor shows up with a new haircut and a suit and takes her to Verilian to see the singing towers and he cries and gives her his sonic screwdriver.
She knows the Doctor's name.
She remembers the Doctor after the universe resets, but her memories don't bring him back.
She knows that the Doctor always dances at weddings.
She's a good shot, has no qualms about shooting things, she's a hell of a flirt, and she doesn't like funny hats.
BAMF.
Well, I'm guessing that kiss in "Day of the Moon" has finally quashed any theories about River being the Doctor's daughter/mother/sister/whatever else. It lends credence to theory that she's the Doctor's wife, but I'm pretty sure there has to be more to it than that. River basically said so herself in "Time of the Angels": "This is the Doctor we're talking about, do you really think it could be anything so simple?" And even more importantly, this is Moffat we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything so simple? But yes, clearly some sort of romantic/physically intimate relationship.
This does not necessarily exclude the theories that River is Amy's daughter or Amy is River's daughter, which both seem to run rampant, but I have a hard time believing those. For one thing, it just ties everyone together too neatly, and I would much prefer that River be her own person with her own story. Furthermore, I don't know a whole lot about the TV-writing process, but that would mean they either had quite a lot of seasons 5 and 6 planned out when they were writing season 4, or they wrote in the character for fun without knowing what her story was, and I'm not sure how likely either of those scenarios are.
There are also the myriad theories about River being a regeneration of Donna, or a future Doctor, or the Master, or the child of Rose and fake Ten, or pretty much any character who has ever been on the show. I don't see how Donna would have gained the power of regeneration, so that seems unlikely. I don't think the Doctor loves himself quite as much as we've been shown (especially given that we've been shown a few times how much he loathes himself), and although the Master theories make me giggle, I don't think they're very likely, either. And I don't think she's the child of [insert couple here] either because that's really starting to push the boundaries of reason.
I'm also uncertain about her being someone from classic Who. I've never seen classic Who, so take anything I say here with a grain of salt, mind you. The revival has clearly made itself a different show. Yes, they've kept the same basic concept and brought back many classic monsters and a few characters like Sarah Jane and the Master, and yes, they've reinforced continuity with some references. That said, they've made it new. They've destroyed Gallifrey and killed off nearly all the Time Lords. If they keep bringing them back one at a time, they're basically going to undo all of that. Furthermore, Steven Moffat seems to be especially keen on moving ahead rather than looking back. He's introduced a ton of new monsters, and of all the episodes he's written, the only time he's included classic aliens, to my knowledge, is in "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang." This might just be my desire for River to be her own person speaking, but I really don't think she's going to be any of those old Time Lords that people keep saying she's going to be.
All that said, I really don't have any of my own theories about her identity. I just don't buy into any of the ones that I've heard so far.
The Best Man She's Ever Known
In "Time of the Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" we gather a lot of interesting tidbits about River's perhaps sketchy past. Octavian says the Doctor can't trust her, and that he doesn't know "who or what she is." We learn that she's in prison. That she killed a man. According to Octavian, "a good man. A hero to many." According to River, the best man she's ever known.
So the question we all ask ourselves is this: who is that man?
The obvious answer seems to be the Doctor. But... that seems too obvious. In real life, the simplest solution is usually true, but in Moffatland, that maxim holds no water. The other theory is Rory, which seems slightly more likely, but they have killed Rory how many times now? It's just getting old, at this point. That really doesn't leave us with a whole lot of options. It could be someone entirely new, but then why would there be a huge build up about it? This one intrigues me.
Can He Trust Her or Not?
In "Flesh and Stone" Octavian tells the Doctor that he can't trust River. But he knows, from the Library that he can. When she needs him to trust her, she whispers something in his ear which we later discover was his name. This turns out to be very effective, and he trusts her completely. So why does he let doubts creep in? He asks her if he can trust her at the end of "Flesh and Stone", and there's his little speech about not being able to trust her in the TARDIS toward the beginning of "The Impossible Astronaut." Why the doubts, if her knowing his name was enough before? I suppose this one could be explained by the fact that the River in "Silence in the Library" was older, and that he doesn't know if the younger River he's interacting with now is trustworthy, or if that's something that happens later in her time line.
Also, on the theme of the name thing... why doesn't the Doctor know who she is? In "Forest of the Dead" he says "There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could..." That sounds like he should have a pretty good idea of who she is, yet in "The Impossible Astronaut" he asks her who she is. So there's only one reason he would tell someone his name, only one time he could... but that reason and time could apply to anyone?
Amy Pond isn't the Only One with a Good Memory
In "The Big Bang," after the Doctor has flown the Pandorica, with himself inside, into the heart of the TARDIS explosion, he needs someone to remember him in order to bring him back into existence. He ensures this by telling Amy a story during his rewind, the night she waited for him, implanting a message into her memories so that when she wakes up on her wedding day, the saying "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" will trigger her memories of him and the TARDIS, bringing them back into existence. This process is helped along by the arrival of a wedding gift - River Song's Doctor Diary, hand-delivered by the lady herself. Its pages are blank, of course, because the Doctor never existed for River to have written anything about.
The problem with this is that in order for River to have delivered the journal, she had to have remembered the Doctor. Tons of people have pointed this out, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that Steven Moffat said in some interview that it would all be explained. I imagine that when we get the big reveal about River's identity it will turn out that the Doctor is so integral to her life that when she wakes up where she ought to be after the reset, the holes left by the Doctor's non-existence are so large that she can't not remember. That's my theory, anyway. I'm sure it will all work out.
The question I haven't seen anyone ask about this situation is this: if River can remember the Doctor, why isn't he brought back by her memories? She shouldn't even need to take the diary to Amy because she should be able to bring the Doctor back on her own. Why doesn't it work that way?
Are They Really Living in Reverse?
If their time lines are actually exactly backwards... who gives her the sonic screwdriver before "Silence in the Library"? Is it something we were just never shown, and Ten went and did that? I don't think so, because how would he know where to find her? Besides, he didn't even know that their time streams were backward, he only knew that they met "in the wrong order," so he would probably assume he did that later in life, when he knew her better. I don't think Eleven has even figured the reverse thing out yet, otherwise he might have clued in about it being River's last kiss.
Furthermore, if they did meet in the wrong direction, why does River even have that diary? Given what she's said in these two most recent episodes, she should know that the Doctor hasn't shared any of her experiences, so there would be no need to sync up, because there would be no up to sync.
So, basically, I think that they probably don't meet in the wrong order. That might be the general trend, but there have to be some exceptions. Which means that it is a future Doctor who gives her the sonic screwdriver that lets Ten 'save' her in "Forest of the Dead." And, I mean, why would they meet in reverse? The Doctor has a time machine. He could just go to a time when River is older and be like "oh hey, we have shared all the same experiences, isn't that great?"
Or, alternatively, they were originally supposed to meet in just the "wrong" order, but then the writers decided it would be more interesting if they met in reverse, and now they're trying to retcon it to make sense. Or, it does all make sense, but we just haven't been enlightened yet. Or, they meet in reverse except for the last time. I don't know. I'm sure it will all make sense someday. Or not.
Consequences of Reverse Time Lines
If River is living in reverse to the Doctor then either:
1) She's already lived the events that prevent his death (or don't prevent it), and therefore she already knows the outcome of events in these episodes. This in turn would mean that either 1. she's really good at hiding her surprise or 2. when she said the Doctor's death couldn't be undone, she was speaking from experience and I don't really want to think about that.
or
2) Amy and Rory can't tell any younger version of River they meet in the future about the event of these episodes because, you know, spoilers! This in turn would mean that those two have to deal with it on their own, and also that River lives the whole rest of her life never knowing the outcome of the whole dead Doctor situation.
Also, River's reactions could give us clues about future events. I mean, there's things like her mention in "Flesh and Stone" about remembering the Pandorica well, and at the end of "The Big Bang" about how next time everything changes, but those are pretty minor things that are written in as teasers. I'm thinking of sadder, more serious things. Like in "Silence in the Library" when she's shocked to meet Donna and bam! we know that something happens to Donna, and probably sooner rather than later. In "Time of the Angels" the Doctor introduces Amy and River, but River just smiles and doesn't really say anything, because of course she already knows Amy (although when River was in Amy's room, why didn't she recognize Rory in the picture, given that she met him in Astronaut/Moon, and possibly other times we have yet to see?). But someday River might ask to be introduced to Amy/Rory, or be surprised to meet them the way she was with Donna, and then we would know that sad days were approaching.
Things We Know for Sure
She's an archaeologist. A doctor who eventually becomes a professor.
She meets the Doctor in the wrong order, probably in at least a general approximation to, if not exactly, reverse order.
She killed a man, the best man she's ever known.
She is in Stormcage prison for the aforementioned crime, although she is adept at escaping, and seems to be out for good by the time of "Silence in the Library" (perhaps she got the pardon mentioned in "Flesh and Stone").
She is physically intimate with the Doctor.
She first meets the Doctor when she's a young girl.
She last meets the Doctor in the Library, where she sacrifices herself to rescue those 'saved' by CAL.
In turn, she gets uploaded into the Library's database, along with the Daves, Anita, and Miss Evangelista, and becomes mother to two computer-kids and CAL.
Sometime before this (before in her time line, after in his), the Doctor shows up with a new haircut and a suit and takes her to Verilian to see the singing towers and he cries and gives her his sonic screwdriver.
She knows the Doctor's name.
She remembers the Doctor after the universe resets, but her memories don't bring him back.
She knows that the Doctor always dances at weddings.
She's a good shot, has no qualms about shooting things, she's a hell of a flirt, and she doesn't like funny hats.
BAMF.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Doctor Who 6x2 "Day of the Moon"
I'm not sure if blogging episode by episode is going to work out so well for me; I might go back to doing a bunch at a time like I did when I was getting caught up. I don't know. Last week it was alright, but I don't feel like I have a lot to say about this episode.
I mean... it was just a mindfuck. The list of things it left hanging would contain... gee, everything that happened in this episode, a lot of what happened last week, and some of what happened last season. There just isn't a whole lot to say about it unless you're one of those crazy theorists. I look forward to seeing how this all wraps up, though.
Okay, I've seen about a million of these today, but here's my version of 'the list of questions in need of answers.'
Who kills the Doctor? Is the Doctor really dead? Does it get undone? How does it get undone?
Who blows up the TARDIS/why/why specifically on the Ponds' wedding day?
Why does River remember the Doctor after the universe resets? And why doesn't her memory bring him back?
Why was last year's "silence will fall" motif presented as so... sinister, if it's actually supposed to be a good thing?
How does old!Canton know that it definitely is the Doctor and he definitely is dead, and how did he know to be there without opening his letter?
Is Amy pregnant? Why is the TARDIS unsure? Most importantly: Does her baby have a time head?
Why are the Silence (or at least one Silent) still around in 2011?
Who is the little girl? Why is she a Time Lord? There seem to be a few options: 1) she's somehow a future-doctor, 2) she's the master, 3) she's Jenny, 4) she's the child of Amy/Doctor or River/Doctor or Rose/Doctor (lolwhut) or some other female and the Doctor, or 5) she's someone we haven't met. I'm guessing 4 or 5, hoping for 5.
Who is the lady with the eye patch? Who was she talking about? Who was she talking to? Why did she disappear?
What happened after Amy went into that room? How did the girl get out of the space suit? Why did the Silence capture Amy?
Why did the Silence want the little girl, anyway? What are they doing with the TARDIS-thing?
And of course, the usual River Song mysteries, but I'm going to write a whole post about her soon, so I'll address those there.
Oooh and the one thing I want to say, because everyone on tumblr is all "awww the Doctor is Amy's best friend!" is that all that line did was remind me of Donna, which made me sad. I'm glad he didn't say it back to Amy. I like to think his best friend is still Donna. I don't even care.
Also: I like to think Amy does love Rory. I mean. How could anyone not love Rory? She has to love Rory.
I'm kind of glad that they decided to go have other adventures and not figure out the little girl right away. That seems like a totally illogical decision, but I suppose when you have a time machine and can come back to that exact instant, it doesn't matter. Even though it means it will be even longer before I get any answers, it will be easier to wait if I'm not expecting any answers... especially when they're giving us episodes like this one that don't give you any of the answers you're expecting.
I mean... it was just a mindfuck. The list of things it left hanging would contain... gee, everything that happened in this episode, a lot of what happened last week, and some of what happened last season. There just isn't a whole lot to say about it unless you're one of those crazy theorists. I look forward to seeing how this all wraps up, though.
Okay, I've seen about a million of these today, but here's my version of 'the list of questions in need of answers.'
Who kills the Doctor? Is the Doctor really dead? Does it get undone? How does it get undone?
Who blows up the TARDIS/why/why specifically on the Ponds' wedding day?
Why does River remember the Doctor after the universe resets? And why doesn't her memory bring him back?
Why was last year's "silence will fall" motif presented as so... sinister, if it's actually supposed to be a good thing?
How does old!Canton know that it definitely is the Doctor and he definitely is dead, and how did he know to be there without opening his letter?
Is Amy pregnant? Why is the TARDIS unsure? Most importantly: Does her baby have a time head?
Why are the Silence (or at least one Silent) still around in 2011?
Who is the little girl? Why is she a Time Lord? There seem to be a few options: 1) she's somehow a future-doctor, 2) she's the master, 3) she's Jenny, 4) she's the child of Amy/Doctor or River/Doctor or Rose/Doctor (lolwhut) or some other female and the Doctor, or 5) she's someone we haven't met. I'm guessing 4 or 5, hoping for 5.
Who is the lady with the eye patch? Who was she talking about? Who was she talking to? Why did she disappear?
What happened after Amy went into that room? How did the girl get out of the space suit? Why did the Silence capture Amy?
Why did the Silence want the little girl, anyway? What are they doing with the TARDIS-thing?
And of course, the usual River Song mysteries, but I'm going to write a whole post about her soon, so I'll address those there.
Oooh and the one thing I want to say, because everyone on tumblr is all "awww the Doctor is Amy's best friend!" is that all that line did was remind me of Donna, which made me sad. I'm glad he didn't say it back to Amy. I like to think his best friend is still Donna. I don't even care.
Also: I like to think Amy does love Rory. I mean. How could anyone not love Rory? She has to love Rory.
I'm kind of glad that they decided to go have other adventures and not figure out the little girl right away. That seems like a totally illogical decision, but I suppose when you have a time machine and can come back to that exact instant, it doesn't matter. Even though it means it will be even longer before I get any answers, it will be easier to wait if I'm not expecting any answers... especially when they're giving us episodes like this one that don't give you any of the answers you're expecting.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Glee 2x18 "Born This Way"
This was a good episode! Hooray!
Emma is trying to deal with her OCD. Character development! I love character development. Plus she and Will seem to be legitimately just friends for now and I like how he actually is supporting her and hopefully they're not going to screw things up again.
I'm very intrigued by the Karofsky/Santana storyline. I share Kurt's question, though: what is Karofsky's game? Is he legitimately reforming, or is he just terrified of Santana? Either way, I think this is going to lead somewhere interesting. Plus I'm so glad Kurt is back at McKinley!
The Quinn storyline here struck me a little false. I don't know, I guess I preferred it when Quinn was just a spoiled bitch who'd always been pretty. I guess it does explain some of her softer moments, though.
I really did like the contrast between Quinn/Finn and Lauren/Puck here. The boys both didn't want Rachel to get the nose job because they thought she was prettier as she was. Quinn got jealous and mad at Finn. Lauren, as far as we know, didn't even bother having a reaction because it didn't matter to her. Quinn was running a campaign for her to be prom queen and Finn to be prom king, and he really doesn't seem to care the tiniest bit about whether they win or not. On the other hand, Puck starts up a campaign for Lauren to be prom queen (no mention of himself being king) because he wants to make her happy. I kind of like that Puck comes off as being the nicer guy than Finn for once. Also: I loved the Quinn/Lauren moment toward the end, with Quinn's "I respect you" speech. That was heartwarming.
Also notable: suspicious lack of Sue this week. Kind of a nice change to have New Directions try to overcome something other than "Sue's nefarious plot" or "the other teams at the competition" for once.
One thing I would like to nitpick about is the choice of things the kids put on their shirts. I just feel like so many of them were focused on physical features they didn't like, rather than on actual things they didn't like about their actual selves. Those sorts of things don't leave a whole lot of room for self-improvement. I also was confused about Kurt's, since I never really got the impression that he was ashamed of liking boys or wished he didn't like boys or whatever, but there you have it.
That said, I feel like things might finally be looking back up for Glee. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I'm feeling more eager than usual for the next few episodes.
Emma is trying to deal with her OCD. Character development! I love character development. Plus she and Will seem to be legitimately just friends for now and I like how he actually is supporting her and hopefully they're not going to screw things up again.
I'm very intrigued by the Karofsky/Santana storyline. I share Kurt's question, though: what is Karofsky's game? Is he legitimately reforming, or is he just terrified of Santana? Either way, I think this is going to lead somewhere interesting. Plus I'm so glad Kurt is back at McKinley!
The Quinn storyline here struck me a little false. I don't know, I guess I preferred it when Quinn was just a spoiled bitch who'd always been pretty. I guess it does explain some of her softer moments, though.
I really did like the contrast between Quinn/Finn and Lauren/Puck here. The boys both didn't want Rachel to get the nose job because they thought she was prettier as she was. Quinn got jealous and mad at Finn. Lauren, as far as we know, didn't even bother having a reaction because it didn't matter to her. Quinn was running a campaign for her to be prom queen and Finn to be prom king, and he really doesn't seem to care the tiniest bit about whether they win or not. On the other hand, Puck starts up a campaign for Lauren to be prom queen (no mention of himself being king) because he wants to make her happy. I kind of like that Puck comes off as being the nicer guy than Finn for once. Also: I loved the Quinn/Lauren moment toward the end, with Quinn's "I respect you" speech. That was heartwarming.
Also notable: suspicious lack of Sue this week. Kind of a nice change to have New Directions try to overcome something other than "Sue's nefarious plot" or "the other teams at the competition" for once.
One thing I would like to nitpick about is the choice of things the kids put on their shirts. I just feel like so many of them were focused on physical features they didn't like, rather than on actual things they didn't like about their actual selves. Those sorts of things don't leave a whole lot of room for self-improvement. I also was confused about Kurt's, since I never really got the impression that he was ashamed of liking boys or wished he didn't like boys or whatever, but there you have it.
That said, I feel like things might finally be looking back up for Glee. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I'm feeling more eager than usual for the next few episodes.
Doctor Who 6x1 "The Impossible Astronaut"
So going into the episode I, like everyone else in the world, knew that one of the four was supposed to die. My hope was River Song. I just don't have an emotional connection to her like I do with the others. My prediction was Amy. We know River dies in the Library (yes, "time can be rewritten," but doing so would negate basically everything meaningful about those episodes), Rory died twice last season so that's getting a little old, and they couldn't possibly kill off the Doctor.
So yeah, I was wrong. When he started regenerating I had a freak out moment of "HOW ON EARTH DID THEY KEEP THIS SECRET?!" and then there was the third shot and I didn't even know how to deal with that. Obviously it has to get undone because they can't just end the show, but still. There's always that nagging little possibility that maybe I'm wrong on this one and maybe this is going to be the end.
So, stating the obvious: Utah is very pretty.
The Silence are really fucking creepy. Like, actually the creepiest aliens that have been on the show. So, so, so super creepy.
How are there tunnels under the entire Earth that no one knew about? How is that even possible? Why is the TARDIS-thing from "The Lodger" (or one similar to it) underground in some random place in Florida? QUESTIONS, I HAS THEM.
Steven Moffat really likes to write stories that involve: disembodied voices, things in space suits, small children, time paradoxes, the creepiest aliens, aliens with associated catchphrases (are you my mommy?, don't blink, count the shadows, look behind you), and really mean cliffhangers.
Why is Amy pregnant? Erm, by which I mean, why does she ALL OF A SUDDEN really need to tell the Doctor that she's pregnant RIGHT AWAY? That seems fishy. And I just have a hard time believing she would let herself get pregnant. Given that she seems pretty sure that the Doctor is going to come back for them, I feel like she's still ready for adventure and not ready to settle into the comfortable family life that Rory wants for them, and which I suspect she wants too but just not yet. Also, if she is pregnant, I don't think Rory knows, because I don't think he would have let her run off with the Doctor this time if she was, or at the very least he would be constantly checking to make sure she was okay. But apparently it's been said that her pregnancy is an important part of the story line, so I guess there's something more to it than "the Silence made her think she was pregnant."
I'm interested in how things that happen in this episode were foreshadowed last season - and I wonder whether that foreshadowing was intentional. I mean, obviously there was the Silence, and the TARDIS-thing. Then there was Amy's pregnancy in "Amy's Choice." I also can't help but wonder about The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes "Death of the Doctor" are somehow related (not as in 'explain the story' but as in 'foreshadowing' like with the pregnancy thing), but I haven't seen them, so I don't really know.
I'm also interested whether/to what extent the episodes of this season/the events of this episode will be related to the exploding TARDIS? They've got to explain that at some point. Knowing this show/Moffat, everything will probably be one big intricately-woven interconnected puzzle-event-thingy.
Everyone and their dog is speculating about how River is the space-suited figure who kills the Doctor/River is Amy's child/the child in the space suit is Amy's child/the events here are an essential part of the mystery of River Song, but I can't help but wonder if they're unrelated... or as unrelated as anything can get in this show.
Another thing: someone writing somewhere else, I've lost the link unfortunately, mentioned that they were rewatching last season after this episode to look for clues, and they came across a few instances in "The Lodger" where Amy might have seen the Silence (around 14:00 and 22:00). I checked them out and I am inclined to agree. It seems a little unlikely that they managed to hide out on the TARDIS, but I guess since we haven't seen much of it, I always forget that it's actually way huger than we ever see. On the other hand, "The Lodger" is the episode that is most obviously related to this one, and it was the one that made the least sense to me, so throwing in some Silence doesn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility.
ALSO. I'm really suspicious of older-Doctor-who-dies. Where is... everything? Why is he driving a car? The TARDIS is nowhere to be seen, nor is his sonic screwdriver. That, combined with his adventures through history, lead me to suspect he's been taking the slow path for some reason. What is that reason?
So yeah, I was wrong. When he started regenerating I had a freak out moment of "HOW ON EARTH DID THEY KEEP THIS SECRET?!" and then there was the third shot and I didn't even know how to deal with that. Obviously it has to get undone because they can't just end the show, but still. There's always that nagging little possibility that maybe I'm wrong on this one and maybe this is going to be the end.
So, stating the obvious: Utah is very pretty.
The Silence are really fucking creepy. Like, actually the creepiest aliens that have been on the show. So, so, so super creepy.
How are there tunnels under the entire Earth that no one knew about? How is that even possible? Why is the TARDIS-thing from "The Lodger" (or one similar to it) underground in some random place in Florida? QUESTIONS, I HAS THEM.
Steven Moffat really likes to write stories that involve: disembodied voices, things in space suits, small children, time paradoxes, the creepiest aliens, aliens with associated catchphrases (are you my mommy?, don't blink, count the shadows, look behind you), and really mean cliffhangers.
Why is Amy pregnant? Erm, by which I mean, why does she ALL OF A SUDDEN really need to tell the Doctor that she's pregnant RIGHT AWAY? That seems fishy. And I just have a hard time believing she would let herself get pregnant. Given that she seems pretty sure that the Doctor is going to come back for them, I feel like she's still ready for adventure and not ready to settle into the comfortable family life that Rory wants for them, and which I suspect she wants too but just not yet. Also, if she is pregnant, I don't think Rory knows, because I don't think he would have let her run off with the Doctor this time if she was, or at the very least he would be constantly checking to make sure she was okay. But apparently it's been said that her pregnancy is an important part of the story line, so I guess there's something more to it than "the Silence made her think she was pregnant."
I'm interested in how things that happen in this episode were foreshadowed last season - and I wonder whether that foreshadowing was intentional. I mean, obviously there was the Silence, and the TARDIS-thing. Then there was Amy's pregnancy in "Amy's Choice." I also can't help but wonder about The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes "Death of the Doctor" are somehow related (not as in 'explain the story' but as in 'foreshadowing' like with the pregnancy thing), but I haven't seen them, so I don't really know.
I'm also interested whether/to what extent the episodes of this season/the events of this episode will be related to the exploding TARDIS? They've got to explain that at some point. Knowing this show/Moffat, everything will probably be one big intricately-woven interconnected puzzle-event-thingy.
Everyone and their dog is speculating about how River is the space-suited figure who kills the Doctor/River is Amy's child/the child in the space suit is Amy's child/the events here are an essential part of the mystery of River Song, but I can't help but wonder if they're unrelated... or as unrelated as anything can get in this show.
Another thing: someone writing somewhere else, I've lost the link unfortunately, mentioned that they were rewatching last season after this episode to look for clues, and they came across a few instances in "The Lodger" where Amy might have seen the Silence (around 14:00 and 22:00). I checked them out and I am inclined to agree. It seems a little unlikely that they managed to hide out on the TARDIS, but I guess since we haven't seen much of it, I always forget that it's actually way huger than we ever see. On the other hand, "The Lodger" is the episode that is most obviously related to this one, and it was the one that made the least sense to me, so throwing in some Silence doesn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility.
ALSO. I'm really suspicious of older-Doctor-who-dies. Where is... everything? Why is he driving a car? The TARDIS is nowhere to be seen, nor is his sonic screwdriver. That, combined with his adventures through history, lead me to suspect he's been taking the slow path for some reason. What is that reason?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Glee 2x17 "A Night of Neglect"
I have such mixed feelings about this episode.
I liked that they finally paid attention to Mercedes, who was one of the best characters back in season one, but the story they chose to give her was just so awful.
I'm so glad that they split up Will & Holly and Emma & Carl, but having both happen in one episode just seems a little too obvious. The moment with the grapes was so cute. They're clearly setting it up for Will and Emma to get back together eventually, which I'm happy about, but I think they're handling it clumsily. Mostly I'm really glad that Holly is gone. I wish, just once, they could have an adult female on the show that didn't become a love interest for him.
It was nice to see that some of the Glee kids do have other interests and a life outside of New Directions (I guess that's slightly unfair, some of the boys do play football...). I feel like Artie and Tina and Mike are some of the least developed characters in the show, so it was nice for them to be given a little more oomph. Sort of unfortunate that every Asian character who's ever been on the show is part of the academic decathalon...
Nice that they brought back Sunshine and are actually building the rivalry with Vocal Adrenaline back up, and are apparently actually going to prepare for Nationals rather than doing what they do with every other competition and going "oh man that competition, we should pick some songs" the week before it happens.
I don't know, I guess my overall analysis is that I liked all the things that are happening and being set up in this episode, but I feel like they just weren't executed well. I think another thing I liked about this episode was its limited focus on the Rachel/Finn/Quinn situation because those three bore me to death.
I'm both excited and trepidatious for the upcoming episodes. We know from the promos that Kurt returns to McKinley in tonight's episode, so that's exciting. Kurt is also one of the best characters, and hopefully his return will provide more opportunities for Mercedes to be important as well. Although I can see there being accusations of him only coming back so that he could go to Nationals... actually, given his conversation with Blaine after Regionals, I can totally see that happening.
Also, reading plot synopses of upcoming episodes, there are lots of things happening. April Rhodes is returning, as is Jesse St. James. Let's get one thing straight: I adore Kristin Chenoweth. That said, I'm not keen on yet another return by her... I predict right now, she shows up and encourages "bad behaviour" amongst the kids and "shakes things up" in Will's love life... because she's a plot device, and the writers bring her in when those things need to happen.
As for Jesse St. James... if this is done right, I will be happy. Jesse and Rachel were a way better couple than Finn and Rachel ever were. If he comes back and gets back together with Rachel and finally pulls us out of the Rachel/Finn/Quinn triangle, I will be so happy. If he comes back as a plot device to make Finn jealous and realize what he's missing out on... ugh. I will be less than happy.
All that said, though, even if all of these are handled well, it still might not be a good thing. A renewed focus on Will and Emma's relationship, bringing back April and Jesse... it has serious potential to just be season one all over again, which would be an improvement over season two so far, but I think it should be new and different and not the same boring stuff, because that's exactly my problem with the continuous focus on Rachel/Finn/Quinn trash. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Season 5, Part 2
I meant to post this days ago, but I've been schooling and packing and moving and cleaning and unpacking, and so I haven't had time to get it written up.
"The Vampires of Venice" - Fantastic episode. Instalove for Rory. Interesting parallel of Amy/Rory/Doctor compared to the earlier situation of Rose/Mickey/Doctor. Doctor has grown up and learned to deal with these situations, even if only to protect himself from getting hurt again. I was also interested that he was being propositioned by someone going by the name of Rosanna - but maybe I just read too much into these things. Although his reaction there also fits with the Doctor growing up. He turns her down, seemingly, on the basis of their differing species ('Think of the children'), something that never seemed to be an issue with Rose. Wow, I can really make anything about Rose. Main point of this episode: I love Rory.
"Amy's Choice" - Another fantastic episode. This one was a total mindfuck, obviously. I would like to rewatch this one. I think it would be really interesting to analyze it after knowing the 'big reveal' at the end of the episode, you know?
"The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" - I'm not sure I've ever hated a character on this or any show as much as I did Ambrose. Ugh. I was actually in tears when Amy and Nasreen were negotiating with Eldane because you knew everything had already gone wrong on the surface and their beautiful plans were never going to work out. Also, Nasreen/Tony was the cutest thing. But Rory, oh Rory... I mean I knew he came back because I'd already seen "The Big Bang" but still... his death, AGAIN, was heartbreaking.
"Vincent and the Doctor" - This was just downright heart-warming. I'm not sure I have that much to say about it. Vincent broke my heart, and the poor blind Krafayis broke my heart and poor Amy not understanding why the Doctor was being so nice to her really broke my heart. I bawled my eyes out at the ending of this.
"The Lodger" - I really liked this episode, although I felt like I really didn't understand a lot of the major plot points. Erm, how did Amy get trapped in the TARDIS again? Why was the Doctor wearing an earpiece allowing them to communicate if he didn't know they were going to get separated? Why was there a TARDIS-thing hanging out there? Lots of confusion, basically. It was a really funny episode, though, seeing the Doctor trying to be a normal person. This was the one that won me over for Matt Smith. Also, Craig and Sophie were great characters.
"The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" - The first half of this two-parter was such a psyche-out. The Doctor was so astounded and confused about what could possibly be in the Pandorica that I couldn't help but share his sentiments, but the second the truth was revealed... well, duh, what else could it possibly? I was kicking myself for not realizing it (I had seen "The Big Bang" before, so I actually even knew, but it was long enough ago [and before I really started paying attention to the show] that I'd forgotten that part). Anyway. So my main thoughts about this episode are:
1) How did River know to take her diary to the wedding? She would have had to remember the Doctor, which means she could have just brought him back herself which means she wouldn't have had to remind Amy. Unless of course it was because she couldn't bring back the Doctor she remembered because he was an older Doctor that wasn't appropriate to the time line he needed to be brought back in or something. But still, how did River remember? Maybe the Doctor is so connected to her life that she couldn't possibly forget him...
2) How did Rory become a plastic Roman? I have a hard time believing the 'miracle' explanation...
3) Who/what blew up the TARDIS and why? I assume this will be explained this season, but I'd think the Doctor would try a little harder to figure it out soon, rather than running off taking Amy and Rory on honeymoon adventures all over the place...
"A Christmas Carol" - I love this episode. It is just the best. I'd seen it when it first aired, and I loved it then and I loved it now and I suspect I will always love it. So brilliant and magical. So good. So much love. Random unimportant thought on a minor detail: line near the end where old Kazran is debating whether or not to use up his last day with Abigail, and he says something to the Doctor about "one last day with your beloved" and Doctor is all *pouty-face* and I, as you can probably guess, assumed he was thinking of Rose, but several other blogs I've read on the subject assumed he was thinking about River and how he lost her before she even became his beloved and my immediate reaction was to assume they were over-eager about River, but on further consideration, maybe I'm just holding onto Rose too much. I don't know.
"Space"/"Time" - These were cute and fun, but not really logical. The TARDIS just happened to drift ahead in the time stream or whatever the explanation was for it? Hmmm. I would like to know, though, what it was that Amy had to talk to the Doctor about that was so important before she got distracted by Rory... I wonder if it has anything to do with her big revelation to him in the most recent episode?
Okay that's finally it. I have seen "The Impossible Astronaut" and I will be posting about it soon, but I don't want to overblog today because I have quite a bit to say about it, and I want to write about last week's Glee before the new one tomorrow, so the next Who post will probably be up Wednesday or later.
"The Vampires of Venice" - Fantastic episode. Instalove for Rory. Interesting parallel of Amy/Rory/Doctor compared to the earlier situation of Rose/Mickey/Doctor. Doctor has grown up and learned to deal with these situations, even if only to protect himself from getting hurt again. I was also interested that he was being propositioned by someone going by the name of Rosanna - but maybe I just read too much into these things. Although his reaction there also fits with the Doctor growing up. He turns her down, seemingly, on the basis of their differing species ('Think of the children'), something that never seemed to be an issue with Rose. Wow, I can really make anything about Rose. Main point of this episode: I love Rory.
"Amy's Choice" - Another fantastic episode. This one was a total mindfuck, obviously. I would like to rewatch this one. I think it would be really interesting to analyze it after knowing the 'big reveal' at the end of the episode, you know?
"The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" - I'm not sure I've ever hated a character on this or any show as much as I did Ambrose. Ugh. I was actually in tears when Amy and Nasreen were negotiating with Eldane because you knew everything had already gone wrong on the surface and their beautiful plans were never going to work out. Also, Nasreen/Tony was the cutest thing. But Rory, oh Rory... I mean I knew he came back because I'd already seen "The Big Bang" but still... his death, AGAIN, was heartbreaking.
"Vincent and the Doctor" - This was just downright heart-warming. I'm not sure I have that much to say about it. Vincent broke my heart, and the poor blind Krafayis broke my heart and poor Amy not understanding why the Doctor was being so nice to her really broke my heart. I bawled my eyes out at the ending of this.
"The Lodger" - I really liked this episode, although I felt like I really didn't understand a lot of the major plot points. Erm, how did Amy get trapped in the TARDIS again? Why was the Doctor wearing an earpiece allowing them to communicate if he didn't know they were going to get separated? Why was there a TARDIS-thing hanging out there? Lots of confusion, basically. It was a really funny episode, though, seeing the Doctor trying to be a normal person. This was the one that won me over for Matt Smith. Also, Craig and Sophie were great characters.
"The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" - The first half of this two-parter was such a psyche-out. The Doctor was so astounded and confused about what could possibly be in the Pandorica that I couldn't help but share his sentiments, but the second the truth was revealed... well, duh, what else could it possibly? I was kicking myself for not realizing it (I had seen "The Big Bang" before, so I actually even knew, but it was long enough ago [and before I really started paying attention to the show] that I'd forgotten that part). Anyway. So my main thoughts about this episode are:
1) How did River know to take her diary to the wedding? She would have had to remember the Doctor, which means she could have just brought him back herself which means she wouldn't have had to remind Amy. Unless of course it was because she couldn't bring back the Doctor she remembered because he was an older Doctor that wasn't appropriate to the time line he needed to be brought back in or something. But still, how did River remember? Maybe the Doctor is so connected to her life that she couldn't possibly forget him...
2) How did Rory become a plastic Roman? I have a hard time believing the 'miracle' explanation...
3) Who/what blew up the TARDIS and why? I assume this will be explained this season, but I'd think the Doctor would try a little harder to figure it out soon, rather than running off taking Amy and Rory on honeymoon adventures all over the place...
"A Christmas Carol" - I love this episode. It is just the best. I'd seen it when it first aired, and I loved it then and I loved it now and I suspect I will always love it. So brilliant and magical. So good. So much love. Random unimportant thought on a minor detail: line near the end where old Kazran is debating whether or not to use up his last day with Abigail, and he says something to the Doctor about "one last day with your beloved" and Doctor is all *pouty-face* and I, as you can probably guess, assumed he was thinking of Rose, but several other blogs I've read on the subject assumed he was thinking about River and how he lost her before she even became his beloved and my immediate reaction was to assume they were over-eager about River, but on further consideration, maybe I'm just holding onto Rose too much. I don't know.
"Space"/"Time" - These were cute and fun, but not really logical. The TARDIS just happened to drift ahead in the time stream or whatever the explanation was for it? Hmmm. I would like to know, though, what it was that Amy had to talk to the Doctor about that was so important before she got distracted by Rory... I wonder if it has anything to do with her big revelation to him in the most recent episode?
Okay that's finally it. I have seen "The Impossible Astronaut" and I will be posting about it soon, but I don't want to overblog today because I have quite a bit to say about it, and I want to write about last week's Glee before the new one tomorrow, so the next Who post will probably be up Wednesday or later.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Season 5, Part 1
So my super-awesome skills at procrastination mean that I am already 5 episodes into this season. Whoops. At least I'll pretty much definitely be caught up by Saturday, I guess. I don't really feel like doing episode-by-episode reviews for this one, so I'm just going to give some general thoughts.
I'm still not sold on Matt Smith as the Doctor. I don't dislike him. I'm not going to be one of those people who will hate everything he does just on principle and never ever get over David Tennant. Smith's okay. I just don't love him as much as I feel like I should. Hopefully he'll win me over soon. It took me a while to warm up to Eccleston too, so maybe it's just the same thing here.
Amy Pond, on the other hand, I am so in love with. She's brilliant. I love that she questions the Doctor and disobeys him and can call out his bullshit. I guess she's kind of like Donna in that way, but younger and less shouty...
And oooh, new information about River Song! Prison! Killed the best man she ever knew! Something the Doctor couldn't handle knowing this early in his timeline! Gahh. I can see how people who watched this show in regular time would be dying over this by now.
I find it interesting that they're dealing with this season's story arc earlier on. Every other time it's been "let's throw these words in every episode and then all of a sudden have them be really important at the end of the season" but this time they're addressing what the crack is right from the beginning and having it be an important plot element throughout the season. Very interesting.
Other thoughts:
"The Beast Below" might have been the first episode I ever saw... one of the very earliest, at any right. I also happen to think it's one of the best episodes ever. And Liz 10 is such a fantastic character.
I did love the food scene in "The Eleventh Hour." That was hilarious.
During "Victory of the Daleks" I couldn't help but think that somewhere, perhaps at that very moment, Nine/Rose/Jack were out there...
I think what I'm most upset about this season is the new intro. Ugh. Do not like.
I'm still not sold on Matt Smith as the Doctor. I don't dislike him. I'm not going to be one of those people who will hate everything he does just on principle and never ever get over David Tennant. Smith's okay. I just don't love him as much as I feel like I should. Hopefully he'll win me over soon. It took me a while to warm up to Eccleston too, so maybe it's just the same thing here.
Amy Pond, on the other hand, I am so in love with. She's brilliant. I love that she questions the Doctor and disobeys him and can call out his bullshit. I guess she's kind of like Donna in that way, but younger and less shouty...
And oooh, new information about River Song! Prison! Killed the best man she ever knew! Something the Doctor couldn't handle knowing this early in his timeline! Gahh. I can see how people who watched this show in regular time would be dying over this by now.
I find it interesting that they're dealing with this season's story arc earlier on. Every other time it's been "let's throw these words in every episode and then all of a sudden have them be really important at the end of the season" but this time they're addressing what the crack is right from the beginning and having it be an important plot element throughout the season. Very interesting.
Other thoughts:
"The Beast Below" might have been the first episode I ever saw... one of the very earliest, at any right. I also happen to think it's one of the best episodes ever. And Liz 10 is such a fantastic character.
I did love the food scene in "The Eleventh Hour." That was hilarious.
During "Victory of the Daleks" I couldn't help but think that somewhere, perhaps at that very moment, Nine/Rose/Jack were out there...
I think what I'm most upset about this season is the new intro. Ugh. Do not like.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The End of Time
Ouf. Oh boy. I'm not even sure where to start with this one. It was nice to finally get more backstory and understand what actually went down in the Time War and why the Doctor had to kill his own people. Yay exposition.
Also I just love Wilf. He's a really swell character. I liked when he said he would be proud to be the Doctor's father, and then later the Doctor said he would be proud to have him as a father. That was heart warming. But then the four knocks... oh, Wilf. Oh, Doctor. That whole scene was just awful. It didn't seem right for the Doctor to blame Wilf the way he did... I mean, he got over it, but it was really upsetting there for a minute. Especially when he said Wilf is "not remotely important." When has the Doctor ever said someone wasn't important? Didn't he have a line once where he said he'd never met someone who wasn't important? But then everything's okay. He goes back to it being his honour. And poor ol' Wilf telling the Doctor to leave him... Agh.
The ending really felt like a whole lot of cheese. He managed to not regenerate for the exact amount of time it would take to say goodbye to everyone? Geez. Also I feel like it's kind of ridiculous how they tried to give us closure by pairing everyone off nicely. Oh look, Martha has Mickey and Jack can have Alonso and Donna's married to what's-his-face and now it's okay that you'll never see them again because you know they'll all be happy. Way too much cheese... until the Doctor was leaving Donna's wedding, and I swear to you, I was really honestly actually thinking "he must be so sad he can't say goodbye to Rose"... oh Russell T. Davies, you big jerk. The second I realized what that scene was, I was in tears. And then Ood Sigma... and then the Ood song... and then "I don't want to go." So many tears.
Despite the cheese, I actually do feel like I have closure on almost all of those characters. I mean, Martha and Mickey are fine. Not a couple I would have predicted, but I was never especially fond of either of them, and from the brief clip we saw they seem to be happy. I'm okay with them. Jack... is Jack. He lives approximately forever and then may or may not become a giant face. Not to mention Torchwood is still a thing that happens, so you don't have to have closure on him, you just have to have closure on him not being pals with the Doctor any more. Sarah Jane is fine. She was only in like four episodes to begin with and she also has her own show. I'm even okay with Rose now. I didn't like her ending, but I'm okay with it. She'll be happy enough, and she'll learn to cope with looking out at the stars wishing for the real Doctor and being back in the TARDIS... (Besides, I have a feeling she'll be the Sarah Jane Smith of 30-odd years from now, when the show has been re-cancelled and re-revived and she ends up back in the appropriate universe and meets the sixteenth or so Doctor).
The one I can't handle is Donna. I can't accept that she lives happily ever after with some guy who her grandfather describes as 'sweet enough.' Sure, she might be happy, but if she had any idea what she had lost, if she knew who she really was, what she was capable of... how could she settle for that? Besides which, she's not even happy; Wilf also said that she looked so sad for no reason sometimes, as though she knew she was missing something. What kind of life is that? Also also, after her protection-majigger-thing happened when she started to remember, and the Doctor referred to her as his best friend... yeah, there were tears then, too. I'm just really unhappy about the whole Donna thing. I will never forgive this.
Okay. Matt Smith, it is time to impress me.
Also I just love Wilf. He's a really swell character. I liked when he said he would be proud to be the Doctor's father, and then later the Doctor said he would be proud to have him as a father. That was heart warming. But then the four knocks... oh, Wilf. Oh, Doctor. That whole scene was just awful. It didn't seem right for the Doctor to blame Wilf the way he did... I mean, he got over it, but it was really upsetting there for a minute. Especially when he said Wilf is "not remotely important." When has the Doctor ever said someone wasn't important? Didn't he have a line once where he said he'd never met someone who wasn't important? But then everything's okay. He goes back to it being his honour. And poor ol' Wilf telling the Doctor to leave him... Agh.
The ending really felt like a whole lot of cheese. He managed to not regenerate for the exact amount of time it would take to say goodbye to everyone? Geez. Also I feel like it's kind of ridiculous how they tried to give us closure by pairing everyone off nicely. Oh look, Martha has Mickey and Jack can have Alonso and Donna's married to what's-his-face and now it's okay that you'll never see them again because you know they'll all be happy. Way too much cheese... until the Doctor was leaving Donna's wedding, and I swear to you, I was really honestly actually thinking "he must be so sad he can't say goodbye to Rose"... oh Russell T. Davies, you big jerk. The second I realized what that scene was, I was in tears. And then Ood Sigma... and then the Ood song... and then "I don't want to go." So many tears.
Despite the cheese, I actually do feel like I have closure on almost all of those characters. I mean, Martha and Mickey are fine. Not a couple I would have predicted, but I was never especially fond of either of them, and from the brief clip we saw they seem to be happy. I'm okay with them. Jack... is Jack. He lives approximately forever and then may or may not become a giant face. Not to mention Torchwood is still a thing that happens, so you don't have to have closure on him, you just have to have closure on him not being pals with the Doctor any more. Sarah Jane is fine. She was only in like four episodes to begin with and she also has her own show. I'm even okay with Rose now. I didn't like her ending, but I'm okay with it. She'll be happy enough, and she'll learn to cope with looking out at the stars wishing for the real Doctor and being back in the TARDIS... (Besides, I have a feeling she'll be the Sarah Jane Smith of 30-odd years from now, when the show has been re-cancelled and re-revived and she ends up back in the appropriate universe and meets the sixteenth or so Doctor).
The one I can't handle is Donna. I can't accept that she lives happily ever after with some guy who her grandfather describes as 'sweet enough.' Sure, she might be happy, but if she had any idea what she had lost, if she knew who she really was, what she was capable of... how could she settle for that? Besides which, she's not even happy; Wilf also said that she looked so sad for no reason sometimes, as though she knew she was missing something. What kind of life is that? Also also, after her protection-majigger-thing happened when she started to remember, and the Doctor referred to her as his best friend... yeah, there were tears then, too. I'm just really unhappy about the whole Donna thing. I will never forgive this.
Okay. Matt Smith, it is time to impress me.
Friday, April 15, 2011
The Specials - "The Next Doctor," "The Planet of the Dead," and "The Waters of Mars"
Quick note that I meant to say last post - the other thing about Rose and Doctor 2.0 is that although Doc2 might have all of the Doctors knowledge and memories and mind and everything, he also has a fair amount of Donna in there. That ought to keep things interesting for Rose!
Alright, on to the specials!
I'd seen "The Next Doctor" twice already, so this was my third viewing. It's not the most brilliant episode, but it is a fun little romp. The Cybermen, for some reason, always crack me up ("That was designated a lieee" gets me every time). I also appreciate the slightly Steampunk style of the Cyberking. Also the 'TARDIS' was fantastic. I guess this isn't a very fun episode to re-watch because a lot of the interest depends on revealing the truth about 'the Doctor,' so once you've seen it once it's not quite as fun the next go round (or two).
"The Planet of the Dead" I had also seen before, and I'm really not sure what to make of it. I love the interactions between the Doctor and Lady Christina. I feel like in some ways she's very similar to Rose, just that she's a bad girl who already leads an exciting life instead of a good girl who hadn't had adventures yet. I don't know, I guess I had a problem with the treatment of the Doctor, too. The transition from "very very sad" at the end of season 4 to "obviously still sad, but coping" in "The Next Doctor" is believable, but then somehow for this episode being "basically normal but then at the end OH I CAN'T TAKE YOU, right, I am supposed to be sad and alone" is sort of absurd. Also, a lot of the story just feels so contrived. I don't know. The 'security' at the museum? Pffft. Having a psychic woman on the bus for apparently the sole purpose of her being able to say the "he will knock four times" line? Sort of absurd. I don't know. Not my favourite episode.
I had actually not seen "The Waters of Mars" before, but holy shit. This is probably the creepiest piece of television I have ever seen. No joke. I was going to list especially creepy scenes, but there were just too many of them. Also, like "Midnight," added creepiness for the Doctor not knowing what it was. And then extra super added creepiness for the Doctor getting scary at the end. I actually thought this episode was really really good, extremely good television, so you'd think I'd have more to say about it, but I really don't. It was hella creepy. More exposition on 'fixed points' was interesting. I liked Adelaide Brooke as a character. Doctor got scary at the end. That's about it. I guess we could talk about Adelaide's suicide... was that her feeling obligated to kill herself to make things right? Would it have worked out properly if she'd lived? If the Doctor had taken the same course of action but not told Adelaide she had to die, would she have killed herself? Or did the universe make it happen to fix the Doctor's mistake? Was he really allowed to change the laws of time like that? Lots of interesting questions, and I feel like they're leading into the next episode. Also, Ood! Why was there an Ood?
I'm both really excited and really not excited for "The End of Time." Really excited because I want to see if it does clear up things that the Doctor did in "The Waters of Mars," and also to see what the Ood have to do with it. Mostlly, though, it's one of the few major episodes that hasn't been spoiled for me. All I knew was the regeneration, and that Wilf is going to be the companion, and then from the preview at the end of "The Waters of Mars" I know that it involves the Master, but that is ALL. So I'm pumped for UNEXPECTED MAJOR HAPPENINGS. But at the same time I just want to stop now and never watch it because NO MORE DAVID TENNANT. I've heard so many good things about Matt Smith, but, but right now it seems hard to imagine it ever being okay.
Alright, on to the specials!
I'd seen "The Next Doctor" twice already, so this was my third viewing. It's not the most brilliant episode, but it is a fun little romp. The Cybermen, for some reason, always crack me up ("That was designated a lieee" gets me every time). I also appreciate the slightly Steampunk style of the Cyberking. Also the 'TARDIS' was fantastic. I guess this isn't a very fun episode to re-watch because a lot of the interest depends on revealing the truth about 'the Doctor,' so once you've seen it once it's not quite as fun the next go round (or two).
"The Planet of the Dead" I had also seen before, and I'm really not sure what to make of it. I love the interactions between the Doctor and Lady Christina. I feel like in some ways she's very similar to Rose, just that she's a bad girl who already leads an exciting life instead of a good girl who hadn't had adventures yet. I don't know, I guess I had a problem with the treatment of the Doctor, too. The transition from "very very sad" at the end of season 4 to "obviously still sad, but coping" in "The Next Doctor" is believable, but then somehow for this episode being "basically normal but then at the end OH I CAN'T TAKE YOU, right, I am supposed to be sad and alone" is sort of absurd. Also, a lot of the story just feels so contrived. I don't know. The 'security' at the museum? Pffft. Having a psychic woman on the bus for apparently the sole purpose of her being able to say the "he will knock four times" line? Sort of absurd. I don't know. Not my favourite episode.
I had actually not seen "The Waters of Mars" before, but holy shit. This is probably the creepiest piece of television I have ever seen. No joke. I was going to list especially creepy scenes, but there were just too many of them. Also, like "Midnight," added creepiness for the Doctor not knowing what it was. And then extra super added creepiness for the Doctor getting scary at the end. I actually thought this episode was really really good, extremely good television, so you'd think I'd have more to say about it, but I really don't. It was hella creepy. More exposition on 'fixed points' was interesting. I liked Adelaide Brooke as a character. Doctor got scary at the end. That's about it. I guess we could talk about Adelaide's suicide... was that her feeling obligated to kill herself to make things right? Would it have worked out properly if she'd lived? If the Doctor had taken the same course of action but not told Adelaide she had to die, would she have killed herself? Or did the universe make it happen to fix the Doctor's mistake? Was he really allowed to change the laws of time like that? Lots of interesting questions, and I feel like they're leading into the next episode. Also, Ood! Why was there an Ood?
I'm both really excited and really not excited for "The End of Time." Really excited because I want to see if it does clear up things that the Doctor did in "The Waters of Mars," and also to see what the Ood have to do with it. Mostlly, though, it's one of the few major episodes that hasn't been spoiled for me. All I knew was the regeneration, and that Wilf is going to be the companion, and then from the preview at the end of "The Waters of Mars" I know that it involves the Master, but that is ALL. So I'm pumped for UNEXPECTED MAJOR HAPPENINGS. But at the same time I just want to stop now and never watch it because NO MORE DAVID TENNANT. I've heard so many good things about Matt Smith, but, but right now it seems hard to imagine it ever being okay.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Guys, have you SEEN this?!
No really, have you? You should watch it. Like right now.
This made me so unbelievably ridiculously happy when I saw it earlier. Peter Jackson is really entertaining (also I can't get over how different he is. I mean I'd seen pictures and all but it still astounds me every time). Also Ian McKellen. Also Andy Serkis. Aghhhh. I can't believe there's still like OVER A YEAR before this movie comes out. I feel like junior high all over again.
This made me so unbelievably ridiculously happy when I saw it earlier. Peter Jackson is really entertaining (also I can't get over how different he is. I mean I'd seen pictures and all but it still astounds me every time). Also Ian McKellen. Also Andy Serkis. Aghhhh. I can't believe there's still like OVER A YEAR before this movie comes out. I feel like junior high all over again.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Season 4 ending: "Midnight" to "Journey's End"
"Midnight" was a very creepy episode. Partially because I think it was creepier not knowing what the 'monster' was than when the Doctor knows exactly what it is and how to deal with it. Partially because it took over the Doctor and he couldn't do anything about it and if the stewardess hadn't done the right thing, he'd have been a goner. Mostly, though, it was creepy because I think that is how people would react in that sort of situation, and it was terrible and I would have understood completely if it had made the Doctor lose faith in humans. It's also interesting to note that 'possession' seems to be the one thing that the Doctor can't find some way of stopping: in first "The Satan Pit," then "42," and now "Midnight," the only solution has been to kill the possessed person (who was already a victim).
"Turn Left" was a very interesting concept. I found it frustrating to watch because it was 'old Donna' who I am much less fond of than 'new Donna.' That said, I thought it was really well done, and of course Rose was in it so that was a bonus. And Donna at the end, realizing what she had to do... it was so sad and so brave and so wonderful. All of which are words I tend to associate with Donna. This episode is easy to nitpick about - in that, if Donna hadn't met the Doctor, actually none of that would have happened because the Pryoviles would have succeeded way back in the days of Pompeii... but obviously they couldn't show that.
"The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" - GAHHHH. Agh. Rawr. Gahh. You'd think having seen these episodes before and knowing what was coming would make it easier, but no, it really didn't. Mostly it made me cry all the more because I kept thinking about the ending before it actually happened. Ugh. Okay, so Rose's ending is ridiculously sad even though I know it's supposed to be happy. But I think that Doctor 2.0 will always be a bit of a consolation prize, because she's always going to know that her doctor is out there somewhere in another universe with new companions and new adventures and she'll never quite be able to accept that because we all saw how jealous she got over Martha on the Sub Wave Network. Furthermore, I think that even with Doctor 2.0 she'll still not be happy (and neither will he!) without a TARDIS to travel in and adventures to be had and worlds to save. Really though I think the saddest part of the Bad Wolf Bay scene is seeing the Doctor watch Rose with Doctor 2.0 and knowing they'll live happily ever after and that he'll never get that...
Anyway. Rose at least gets to work for Torchwood and have something better than she did before, and she will always have all her memories and her consolation prize doctor. The same way Sarah Jane and Martha and Jack and Mickey (maybe even Mickey most of all) and everyone else became a better person and did something great with their life after they left the Doctor. Donna, on the other hand, will go back to being a temp, and she'll never know that she's brilliant and the whole universe only exists because she saved. This is really all the worse after Doctor 2.0's revelation about how insecure and insignificant Donna feels. I really hope her mother takes the Doctor's advice and tells her how great she is. I hope Donna listens, and I hope she gets to be something better... and again, I hope Dr. Moon's "and then you remembered" turns out to be foreshadowing.
As with season three, I am impressed with how well different aspects of this finale were seeded throughout the season. Yes, there were the references to the Medusa Cascade and missing planets and the bees disappearing all throughout the season à la Bad Wolf and Torchwood. And of course there were the Rose appearances. But we also saw themes of memory ("Silence in the Library"/"The Forest of the Dead") and clones ("The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky" and "The Doctor's Daughter") and probably other things that I didn't even pick up on.
Final notes: The reference to Mr. Copper made me grin - there's a character I wish would get brought back for another appearance. Wilf's little speech to the Doctor at the end was absolutely heartbreaking. Guh. Also, how is Donna time over already? I feel like she just started. Boo. I like Donna. Even worse, though, how is David Tennant time nearly over already? I can't believe I've only got the specials left. Ugh. Everyone says "oh you'll fall in love with Matt Smith's Doctor" but right now I just can't even imagine that.
"Turn Left" was a very interesting concept. I found it frustrating to watch because it was 'old Donna' who I am much less fond of than 'new Donna.' That said, I thought it was really well done, and of course Rose was in it so that was a bonus. And Donna at the end, realizing what she had to do... it was so sad and so brave and so wonderful. All of which are words I tend to associate with Donna. This episode is easy to nitpick about - in that, if Donna hadn't met the Doctor, actually none of that would have happened because the Pryoviles would have succeeded way back in the days of Pompeii... but obviously they couldn't show that.
"The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" - GAHHHH. Agh. Rawr. Gahh. You'd think having seen these episodes before and knowing what was coming would make it easier, but no, it really didn't. Mostly it made me cry all the more because I kept thinking about the ending before it actually happened. Ugh. Okay, so Rose's ending is ridiculously sad even though I know it's supposed to be happy. But I think that Doctor 2.0 will always be a bit of a consolation prize, because she's always going to know that her doctor is out there somewhere in another universe with new companions and new adventures and she'll never quite be able to accept that because we all saw how jealous she got over Martha on the Sub Wave Network. Furthermore, I think that even with Doctor 2.0 she'll still not be happy (and neither will he!) without a TARDIS to travel in and adventures to be had and worlds to save. Really though I think the saddest part of the Bad Wolf Bay scene is seeing the Doctor watch Rose with Doctor 2.0 and knowing they'll live happily ever after and that he'll never get that...
Anyway. Rose at least gets to work for Torchwood and have something better than she did before, and she will always have all her memories and her consolation prize doctor. The same way Sarah Jane and Martha and Jack and Mickey (maybe even Mickey most of all) and everyone else became a better person and did something great with their life after they left the Doctor. Donna, on the other hand, will go back to being a temp, and she'll never know that she's brilliant and the whole universe only exists because she saved. This is really all the worse after Doctor 2.0's revelation about how insecure and insignificant Donna feels. I really hope her mother takes the Doctor's advice and tells her how great she is. I hope Donna listens, and I hope she gets to be something better... and again, I hope Dr. Moon's "and then you remembered" turns out to be foreshadowing.
As with season three, I am impressed with how well different aspects of this finale were seeded throughout the season. Yes, there were the references to the Medusa Cascade and missing planets and the bees disappearing all throughout the season à la Bad Wolf and Torchwood. And of course there were the Rose appearances. But we also saw themes of memory ("Silence in the Library"/"The Forest of the Dead") and clones ("The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky" and "The Doctor's Daughter") and probably other things that I didn't even pick up on.
Final notes: The reference to Mr. Copper made me grin - there's a character I wish would get brought back for another appearance. Wilf's little speech to the Doctor at the end was absolutely heartbreaking. Guh. Also, how is Donna time over already? I feel like she just started. Boo. I like Donna. Even worse, though, how is David Tennant time nearly over already? I can't believe I've only got the specials left. Ugh. Everyone says "oh you'll fall in love with Matt Smith's Doctor" but right now I just can't even imagine that.
Friday, April 8, 2011
More Season 4
So I've just finished rewatching "The Unicorn and the Wasp," "Silence in the Library," and "Forest of the Dead." Here are thoughts! Mostly Donna related. There's a lot of foreshadowing about memory that I hadn't remembered.
Oh, Agatha Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp." Oh, Donna. All that about her being brilliant and her books being read forever when she thinks their rubbish and they'll be forgotten. Oh, oh, oh. And that line at the end, I don't remember exactly, but Donna says something about how she'll never even know that she's the best-selling author ever. Oh, Donna. I bawled my eyes out over that. I'm going to be a slobbery mess over "Journey's End" (again). Then of course the fact of Miss Christie's memory loss. It's all about the memory and the not knowing.
The moment with Miss Evangelista in "Silence in the Library" I had picked up on the first time I saw it, not as foreshadowing because I hadn't seen "Journey's End" yet, but as a throwback to "The Runaway Bride." Donna knows well what it's like to have everyone think you're stupid - and to think they're right. It's heartbreaking, and it's hard not to feel as though that's part of why the 'ghosting' is so horrifying to her (not that it isn't horrifying on its own, but she was far more affected than everyone else).
Not as much in "Forest of the Dead" but oh how I wish Dr. Moon's "and then you remembered" catch phrase could be foreshadowing, too. Pretty please?
OKAY ENOUGH ABOUT DONNA (who am I kidding, never enough about Donna) BUT SERIOUSLY IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT RIVER SONG.
I know I had already seen this episode before and so there were really no surprises but I just have so. much. curiosity. about her. AGHAGHAGHAG. And I know that we still don't know by the end of season 5! Hopefully at least we know a little more? Ugh. Why is the Doctor's name so important? Why can't he tell anyone? What is that one time he could? Why does she know it? WHO IS SHE?!
So her last scene was awful. By which I mean, I cried. Even though I'd seen it before and I knew that the Doctor was going to "save" her, it was awful. He just sat there and stared with the saddest look on his face. It was almost but not quite as awful as the wall scene in "Doomsday."
Speaking of Doomsday: the music that played when the Doctor set the diary and the sonic screwdriver down on the railing thing sounded quite similar to Rose's theme. Is this because of a love interest connection thing, or is it just related to the conversation about looking up Donna's ending? On that note... not looking it up because you don't want to know is such a reasonable response. Can you imagine, always knowing how things would end? Then think about the fact that the Doctor is going to know that about River, that he's always going feel it coming closer; he's always going to know when he sees her the last time that it's the last time.
Also: wouldn't she know they hadn't done the Byzantium because I've seen half of that and he's a different person then? She should know. I know I'm nit-picking and clearly the writers weren't foreseeing that far ahead, because how could they, but, ya know. Ya know.
And what happens in the computer? Do we ever come back to computer-River? Does the Doctor somehow free her? That seems like cheating. Also it fits the impossibility bill because then he would have to keep her forever which won't happen because, you know, actors. TV. Eventually she has to go. I guess she could just die again, but... meh. Doesn't seem right to bring her back from the dead. How do we know, though? How do we know when it's the last time... surely there's not going to be a whole episode about the Doctor showing up with a new haircut and a suit and taking her to the symphony and crying? And how does he know she wants to be saved? Why would she want to be saved? She's been relegated to Rose's fate, living out her life with no hope of rejoining the Doctor. And, presumably, forever. What could be worse than that?
EDIT: Also, Lee, and his stutter, and the ending, and Donna, and agghhhh. Everything about Donna's storyline is just the worst.
Oh, Agatha Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp." Oh, Donna. All that about her being brilliant and her books being read forever when she thinks their rubbish and they'll be forgotten. Oh, oh, oh. And that line at the end, I don't remember exactly, but Donna says something about how she'll never even know that she's the best-selling author ever. Oh, Donna. I bawled my eyes out over that. I'm going to be a slobbery mess over "Journey's End" (again). Then of course the fact of Miss Christie's memory loss. It's all about the memory and the not knowing.
The moment with Miss Evangelista in "Silence in the Library" I had picked up on the first time I saw it, not as foreshadowing because I hadn't seen "Journey's End" yet, but as a throwback to "The Runaway Bride." Donna knows well what it's like to have everyone think you're stupid - and to think they're right. It's heartbreaking, and it's hard not to feel as though that's part of why the 'ghosting' is so horrifying to her (not that it isn't horrifying on its own, but she was far more affected than everyone else).
Not as much in "Forest of the Dead" but oh how I wish Dr. Moon's "and then you remembered" catch phrase could be foreshadowing, too. Pretty please?
OKAY ENOUGH ABOUT DONNA (who am I kidding, never enough about Donna) BUT SERIOUSLY IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT RIVER SONG.
I know I had already seen this episode before and so there were really no surprises but I just have so. much. curiosity. about her. AGHAGHAGHAG. And I know that we still don't know by the end of season 5! Hopefully at least we know a little more? Ugh. Why is the Doctor's name so important? Why can't he tell anyone? What is that one time he could? Why does she know it? WHO IS SHE?!
So her last scene was awful. By which I mean, I cried. Even though I'd seen it before and I knew that the Doctor was going to "save" her, it was awful. He just sat there and stared with the saddest look on his face. It was almost but not quite as awful as the wall scene in "Doomsday."
Speaking of Doomsday: the music that played when the Doctor set the diary and the sonic screwdriver down on the railing thing sounded quite similar to Rose's theme. Is this because of a love interest connection thing, or is it just related to the conversation about looking up Donna's ending? On that note... not looking it up because you don't want to know is such a reasonable response. Can you imagine, always knowing how things would end? Then think about the fact that the Doctor is going to know that about River, that he's always going feel it coming closer; he's always going to know when he sees her the last time that it's the last time.
Also: wouldn't she know they hadn't done the Byzantium because I've seen half of that and he's a different person then? She should know. I know I'm nit-picking and clearly the writers weren't foreseeing that far ahead, because how could they, but, ya know. Ya know.
And what happens in the computer? Do we ever come back to computer-River? Does the Doctor somehow free her? That seems like cheating. Also it fits the impossibility bill because then he would have to keep her forever which won't happen because, you know, actors. TV. Eventually she has to go. I guess she could just die again, but... meh. Doesn't seem right to bring her back from the dead. How do we know, though? How do we know when it's the last time... surely there's not going to be a whole episode about the Doctor showing up with a new haircut and a suit and taking her to the symphony and crying? And how does he know she wants to be saved? Why would she want to be saved? She's been relegated to Rose's fate, living out her life with no hope of rejoining the Doctor. And, presumably, forever. What could be worse than that?
EDIT: Also, Lee, and his stutter, and the ending, and Donna, and agghhhh. Everything about Donna's storyline is just the worst.
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