Doctor Who finale
Spoilers below:
1. Goddamn, Russell T. Davies. Goddamn.
2. The one thing that I liked about the episode, I liked very much -- and that was the point about the Doctor weaponising his companions. Even those who seem to go in for nonviolence, like Sarah Jane. And as an extension of that, the cloned Doctor and his choice to destroy the Daleks became more interesting, and maybe sending him off with Rose at the end was appropriate.
3. One of the biggest problems with the execution of this episode was that so much stuff was crammed into it...and given a little more space to explore various points in detail, I think it could have been brilliant. Well -- no -- let me put that differently. If it had been a novel, it could have been brilliant. Or else, if the last four episodes had actually been stretched into a whole season, that could have been lovely.
4. Because I really do think that this season has presented an interesting critique of the Doctor and his choices -- the ones he agonizes over, and the ones he doesn't. And potentially, the cloned Doctor, had we been given more of a chance to see him in action and thinking and making choices, could really have taken that discussion to a whole new level. But, of course, we didn't.
5. I don't really know if I buy this idea of the hand, and its clone, being ultra-violent like Nine when he and Rose met. Nine, as I recall, was the one who started out desperate to give the Nestene consciousness a chance to change its mind. Or did Ten mean the point at which Rose met Ten? Because Ten *was* rough -- killing the Sycorax commander, but then taking down Harriet Jones; and Ten tended towards nastiness, a little -- I'm thinking of the punishments in Family of Blood. But alright, whatever; I'll certainly agree that the Doctor's conflicted relationship with violence is an integral and complex part of his character -- maybe the most complex. And of course, the idea of somehow having a brand new you who might not make the same mistakes -- but inevitably does -- is a variation on the long-standing trope of being able to to go back in time and fix your errors. So.
6. I also understand why Ten would have felt like he couldn't stay with Rose because of her inevitable aging and death. And RTD has played with the idea of Ten becoming human, so it doesn't surprise me that he took the opportunity to explore that idea (well, except that this merely implies that there could be an exploration of it.)
7. Though I think that Ten stopping his regeneration midway through is rubbish, I also think it's important in terms of underscoring his feelings for Rose. She after all, is the one who begged him not to change. But my god, what a sad dimension that adds to Ten -- not changing from the incarnation that Rose loved, but not being able to stay with her, either. This isn't a certainty, of course -- maybe he's not changing because of River Song, as well. I'd sort of like to hope so, actually, even though I'm a Ten/Rose shipper. I hate to think of Ten, or of anyone, being crippled in that way.
8. I haven't said much about the plot because I don't think there's much to say, except that RTD seems to have started with the idea of giving Catherine Tate an opportunity to do her best David Tennant as the Doctor imitation, and then mucked about until he came up with a scenario that would allow it. And of course, he couldn't do the body-swapping thing because he'd already done that in Series #2 with Cassandra. It was cute, but when your main goal in writing a script is to find a way to allow the actors to do a certain bit -- well, that never turns out all that great.
9. Still, as an office ninja myself, I really loved the idea of SuperTemp. Love, love, loved it.
10. Thus, I am absolutely livid about the resolution of wiping Donna's mind, and reducing her to nattering away on her mobile while rummaging in her mother's fridge, back to what she was at the start of Runaway Bride. One of the commentators over at Behind the Sofa nailed it when he accused RTD of being thoroughly manipulative in ending the character arc.
11. All the implausible things in this episode, and what fails is that the regeneration energy doesn't work quite right when it splices with Donna?! I mean, really.
12. And if it has to be that way, then far better, I think, to have her die in Tennant's arms from the equivalent of a brain aneurysm. Or in Bernard Cribbin's arms. Wiping her memory was, if you'll pardon me, just plain shite.
13. And I think I'm hoping that the consequence will be that the universe smacks her right back into the Doctor's path, or that someone clobbers her, so that we can learn that she's absorbed a bit of regeneration ability as well.
14. I'm not sure I'll forgive RTD, at least not for a good long while. Doomsday was wrenching and sad, but felt appropriate. This felt like being kicked in the gut and spat on.
1. Goddamn, Russell T. Davies. Goddamn.
2. The one thing that I liked about the episode, I liked very much -- and that was the point about the Doctor weaponising his companions. Even those who seem to go in for nonviolence, like Sarah Jane. And as an extension of that, the cloned Doctor and his choice to destroy the Daleks became more interesting, and maybe sending him off with Rose at the end was appropriate.
3. One of the biggest problems with the execution of this episode was that so much stuff was crammed into it...and given a little more space to explore various points in detail, I think it could have been brilliant. Well -- no -- let me put that differently. If it had been a novel, it could have been brilliant. Or else, if the last four episodes had actually been stretched into a whole season, that could have been lovely.
4. Because I really do think that this season has presented an interesting critique of the Doctor and his choices -- the ones he agonizes over, and the ones he doesn't. And potentially, the cloned Doctor, had we been given more of a chance to see him in action and thinking and making choices, could really have taken that discussion to a whole new level. But, of course, we didn't.
5. I don't really know if I buy this idea of the hand, and its clone, being ultra-violent like Nine when he and Rose met. Nine, as I recall, was the one who started out desperate to give the Nestene consciousness a chance to change its mind. Or did Ten mean the point at which Rose met Ten? Because Ten *was* rough -- killing the Sycorax commander, but then taking down Harriet Jones; and Ten tended towards nastiness, a little -- I'm thinking of the punishments in Family of Blood. But alright, whatever; I'll certainly agree that the Doctor's conflicted relationship with violence is an integral and complex part of his character -- maybe the most complex. And of course, the idea of somehow having a brand new you who might not make the same mistakes -- but inevitably does -- is a variation on the long-standing trope of being able to to go back in time and fix your errors. So.
6. I also understand why Ten would have felt like he couldn't stay with Rose because of her inevitable aging and death. And RTD has played with the idea of Ten becoming human, so it doesn't surprise me that he took the opportunity to explore that idea (well, except that this merely implies that there could be an exploration of it.)
7. Though I think that Ten stopping his regeneration midway through is rubbish, I also think it's important in terms of underscoring his feelings for Rose. She after all, is the one who begged him not to change. But my god, what a sad dimension that adds to Ten -- not changing from the incarnation that Rose loved, but not being able to stay with her, either. This isn't a certainty, of course -- maybe he's not changing because of River Song, as well. I'd sort of like to hope so, actually, even though I'm a Ten/Rose shipper. I hate to think of Ten, or of anyone, being crippled in that way.
8. I haven't said much about the plot because I don't think there's much to say, except that RTD seems to have started with the idea of giving Catherine Tate an opportunity to do her best David Tennant as the Doctor imitation, and then mucked about until he came up with a scenario that would allow it. And of course, he couldn't do the body-swapping thing because he'd already done that in Series #2 with Cassandra. It was cute, but when your main goal in writing a script is to find a way to allow the actors to do a certain bit -- well, that never turns out all that great.
9. Still, as an office ninja myself, I really loved the idea of SuperTemp. Love, love, loved it.
10. Thus, I am absolutely livid about the resolution of wiping Donna's mind, and reducing her to nattering away on her mobile while rummaging in her mother's fridge, back to what she was at the start of Runaway Bride. One of the commentators over at Behind the Sofa nailed it when he accused RTD of being thoroughly manipulative in ending the character arc.
11. All the implausible things in this episode, and what fails is that the regeneration energy doesn't work quite right when it splices with Donna?! I mean, really.
12. And if it has to be that way, then far better, I think, to have her die in Tennant's arms from the equivalent of a brain aneurysm. Or in Bernard Cribbin's arms. Wiping her memory was, if you'll pardon me, just plain shite.
13. And I think I'm hoping that the consequence will be that the universe smacks her right back into the Doctor's path, or that someone clobbers her, so that we can learn that she's absorbed a bit of regeneration ability as well.
14. I'm not sure I'll forgive RTD, at least not for a good long while. Doomsday was wrenching and sad, but felt appropriate. This felt like being kicked in the gut and spat on.