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Jan. 17th, 2008 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wildcard_47Ugh. What a gloomy day. Not a bit of snow in sight, but it's been pouring a lovely mix of slush/freezing rain since early this morning. Thus, we still had class, while friends at other schools got to gloat about getting a snow day.
Plus, I'm trying to finish up my London preparations (applying for a Tube card, a student ID card, getting all the important papers filled out) and it's just stressing me out. Blech. I also have some makeup stuff/pre-London classwork that needs to get done soon.
But, in completely unrelated and happier news, I caught up on Dr. Who last night!tkurogrym lent me the last three eps of S3 and I found the Christmas special on YouTube. Here's my take on it all. Spoilers ahead!
Plus, I'm trying to finish up my London preparations (applying for a Tube card, a student ID card, getting all the important papers filled out) and it's just stressing me out. Blech. I also have some makeup stuff/pre-London classwork that needs to get done soon.
But, in completely unrelated and happier news, I caught up on Dr. Who last night!
tkurogrym lent me the last three eps of S3 and I found the Christmas special on YouTube. Here's my take on it all. Spoilers ahead!First of all, parts that I liked:
Overall, I liked Martha's role in the finale. I was glad to see her being the point woman on the "save the world" job, but at the same time, I sort of wish her job wasn't solely to travel the world and tell stories and then leave it all up to the Doctor. I think I really wanted more Action!Martha. Maybe that's just from watching too many episodes of Alias, but I definitely wanted to see her kick ass and take names. I also wanted her to come more out of her "I love the Doctor and he is my world" phase - she did for about four seconds - but we'll touch on that in the "things I didn't like" category.
The Master hiding out as a human. That was well-done. I suspected that he was more than he seemed when the "Professor" came up, but wasn't sure if he was pretending to be human or had actually done something a la "Human Nature." The reveal of that info was also timed really well.
CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS. Having the Doctor and the companion as counterparts does wonders for that character. The dialogue and snarkiness between JB and the other two is just perfect. Plus, learning Jack's old nickname was the "Face of Boe" - wow. Even though I read later that Russell T. is trying to be wibbly about the Face's origins and refuses to say whether Jack will be or won't be, getting that tidbit was a good surprise. Somehow, I'd barely even thought about Jack's immortality in a long-term sense (as silly as it sounds), and this idea seems to fit really well. I hope RTD sticks with this theory.
Parts I'm okay with. (aka, me needing more of the wibbly-wobbly, timey wimey details of story arcs. Or, me listing the parts that were entertaining and fluffy while noting their cheesy/confusing presentation.)
I like the idea of bringing down the Master with the Arkangel telepathic link, but I don't get how this was actually accomplished. How did having 6 billion people saying/thinking the word "Doctor" allow DW to regain his previous form? Were all 6 billion people wishing that the Doctor could defeat the Master? That he be returned to his form? Were they asking for his help? Was he (as is suggested) channeling their mental energy in some way? I think this was a good concept idea, as I like that the Master was defeated by words, but it definitely needed to be cleared up/explained a little better.
The Toclafane were good and bad. The reveal of their origins - of being from the Utopia voyage - creeped me out, and was something I didn't expect, but that I believed the Master would do wholeheartedly. The alien negotation subplot was stupid as hell, though, and too much time was spent on it.
I also needed more explanation about the TARDIS getting cannibalized/turned into the paradox machine. I know that it opened the rift above Cardiff to let the Toclafane in, but isn't the TARDIS a partially-sentient being? Why would it not object to the psychotic Master tinkering all around in its innards? Is it the fact that Master's another Time Lord, and therefore the TARDIS wouldn't question what's going on? I don't know. I just didn't understand how a complicated, supposedly sentient device like the TARDIS would be so easily mutated to suit a purpose that other Time Lords didn't agree with - mucking around with the past for the worse.
The involvement of Martha's family was just okay. I liked that Saxon's people (and not Torchwood, as I initially suspected) were monitoring the Doctor's travels through her family, and how well they had been able to insert themselves into the Jones' lives. However, once the fam was captured and taken aboard the magical airship, nothing really got done with them. They were basically just the lackeys. The Master didn't use them as bait/blackmail to get Martha to come back or to manipulate the Doctor. They were just hanging around feeling emo and angry at their situation. And then we didn't get any resolution for them, just the fact that they're all back at home, la di dah.
Now it's down to the stuff I didn't like:
Speaking of the Joneses, what the heck happened to Leo, Martha's brother, during the Year that Wasn't? Did he get killed by the Toclofane when they invaded initially? Was he one of the slaves? Was he part of the rebellion against the Master? Getting Martha to warn him against going home and then getting nothing about him later in the episode was kind of pointless.
WTF was up with the Master's wife? I completely understand how she'd get tired of him and shoot him at the end of the ep, but how'd she decide to get with him in the first place, especially considering that he told her everything about himself?
Having the American president-elect be an ass was tired and annoying, also. All right, so we're not the greatest in international relations, I get it. But seriously, did the foreign-leader plot point really have to go that route? Nobody really wants to hear it anymore.
My biggest dislike was the way the writers went back and forth on Martha at the last of the season. Not that she's been cemented as a character before, but it was more apparent than ever in the last few episodes. In "Utopia", she was pining for the Doctor and was jealous of Rose and blahlala. In TLoTTL, she was the sole escapee from the Master's ship as well as the badass legend who was going to save the world. Then she flipped back to being this whiner who didn't realize/acknowledge her own worth. It was too inconsistent. Like when she met Thomas Milligan (the doctor/rebel fighter), it was "Yeah, I did this and that. I'm awesome. I'm trying to protect you and save us all from this disaster." Then she went back to the pining, "Oh, you're a doctor? I'm glad to be traveling with a doctor again". Considering she's a doctor, too....
Then, the end of the episode, with her "breakup" speech, was also a thumbs-down moment. I get that Martha needed a reason to leave DW and that she should reclaim her normal life of her own volition, but touching on the unrequited love stuff was too cheesy for me. Oh well.
Okay. So now that I've ranted/blogged for ages, I only have six words to sum up the Christmas special: Russell T. Davies, stop reusing old material. For the love of all that is holy. We don't need a "beautiful, young, smart AND adventurous" girl to pop up, interest/snog the Doctor and later save him from doom and destruction. There need be no automated robots of doom. A spaceship Titanic - interesting idea. Pairing that with an evil cyborg cruise director with angel robot killers fighting against the Doctor and his diversity of allies while the ship "sinks"? No. Just, no. Next time, bring in the lovely Steven Moffitt to help if you get stuck. Pretty please?
*looks at the above* God, I'm wordy. Sorry about that.
Overall, I liked Martha's role in the finale. I was glad to see her being the point woman on the "save the world" job, but at the same time, I sort of wish her job wasn't solely to travel the world and tell stories and then leave it all up to the Doctor. I think I really wanted more Action!Martha. Maybe that's just from watching too many episodes of Alias, but I definitely wanted to see her kick ass and take names. I also wanted her to come more out of her "I love the Doctor and he is my world" phase - she did for about four seconds - but we'll touch on that in the "things I didn't like" category.
The Master hiding out as a human. That was well-done. I suspected that he was more than he seemed when the "Professor" came up, but wasn't sure if he was pretending to be human or had actually done something a la "Human Nature." The reveal of that info was also timed really well.
CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS. Having the Doctor and the companion as counterparts does wonders for that character. The dialogue and snarkiness between JB and the other two is just perfect. Plus, learning Jack's old nickname was the "Face of Boe" - wow. Even though I read later that Russell T. is trying to be wibbly about the Face's origins and refuses to say whether Jack will be or won't be, getting that tidbit was a good surprise. Somehow, I'd barely even thought about Jack's immortality in a long-term sense (as silly as it sounds), and this idea seems to fit really well. I hope RTD sticks with this theory.
Parts I'm okay with. (aka, me needing more of the wibbly-wobbly, timey wimey details of story arcs. Or, me listing the parts that were entertaining and fluffy while noting their cheesy/confusing presentation.)
I like the idea of bringing down the Master with the Arkangel telepathic link, but I don't get how this was actually accomplished. How did having 6 billion people saying/thinking the word "Doctor" allow DW to regain his previous form? Were all 6 billion people wishing that the Doctor could defeat the Master? That he be returned to his form? Were they asking for his help? Was he (as is suggested) channeling their mental energy in some way? I think this was a good concept idea, as I like that the Master was defeated by words, but it definitely needed to be cleared up/explained a little better.
The Toclafane were good and bad. The reveal of their origins - of being from the Utopia voyage - creeped me out, and was something I didn't expect, but that I believed the Master would do wholeheartedly. The alien negotation subplot was stupid as hell, though, and too much time was spent on it.
I also needed more explanation about the TARDIS getting cannibalized/turned into the paradox machine. I know that it opened the rift above Cardiff to let the Toclafane in, but isn't the TARDIS a partially-sentient being? Why would it not object to the psychotic Master tinkering all around in its innards? Is it the fact that Master's another Time Lord, and therefore the TARDIS wouldn't question what's going on? I don't know. I just didn't understand how a complicated, supposedly sentient device like the TARDIS would be so easily mutated to suit a purpose that other Time Lords didn't agree with - mucking around with the past for the worse.
The involvement of Martha's family was just okay. I liked that Saxon's people (and not Torchwood, as I initially suspected) were monitoring the Doctor's travels through her family, and how well they had been able to insert themselves into the Jones' lives. However, once the fam was captured and taken aboard the magical airship, nothing really got done with them. They were basically just the lackeys. The Master didn't use them as bait/blackmail to get Martha to come back or to manipulate the Doctor. They were just hanging around feeling emo and angry at their situation. And then we didn't get any resolution for them, just the fact that they're all back at home, la di dah.
Now it's down to the stuff I didn't like:
Speaking of the Joneses, what the heck happened to Leo, Martha's brother, during the Year that Wasn't? Did he get killed by the Toclofane when they invaded initially? Was he one of the slaves? Was he part of the rebellion against the Master? Getting Martha to warn him against going home and then getting nothing about him later in the episode was kind of pointless.
WTF was up with the Master's wife? I completely understand how she'd get tired of him and shoot him at the end of the ep, but how'd she decide to get with him in the first place, especially considering that he told her everything about himself?
Having the American president-elect be an ass was tired and annoying, also. All right, so we're not the greatest in international relations, I get it. But seriously, did the foreign-leader plot point really have to go that route? Nobody really wants to hear it anymore.
My biggest dislike was the way the writers went back and forth on Martha at the last of the season. Not that she's been cemented as a character before, but it was more apparent than ever in the last few episodes. In "Utopia", she was pining for the Doctor and was jealous of Rose and blahlala. In TLoTTL, she was the sole escapee from the Master's ship as well as the badass legend who was going to save the world. Then she flipped back to being this whiner who didn't realize/acknowledge her own worth. It was too inconsistent. Like when she met Thomas Milligan (the doctor/rebel fighter), it was "Yeah, I did this and that. I'm awesome. I'm trying to protect you and save us all from this disaster." Then she went back to the pining, "Oh, you're a doctor? I'm glad to be traveling with a doctor again". Considering she's a doctor, too....
Then, the end of the episode, with her "breakup" speech, was also a thumbs-down moment. I get that Martha needed a reason to leave DW and that she should reclaim her normal life of her own volition, but touching on the unrequited love stuff was too cheesy for me. Oh well.
Okay. So now that I've ranted/blogged for ages, I only have six words to sum up the Christmas special: Russell T. Davies, stop reusing old material. For the love of all that is holy. We don't need a "beautiful, young, smart AND adventurous" girl to pop up, interest/snog the Doctor and later save him from doom and destruction. There need be no automated robots of doom. A spaceship Titanic - interesting idea. Pairing that with an evil cyborg cruise director with angel robot killers fighting against the Doctor and his diversity of allies while the ship "sinks"? No. Just, no. Next time, bring in the lovely Steven Moffitt to help if you get stuck. Pretty please?
*looks at the above* God, I'm wordy. Sorry about that.
