Some Doctor Who Geekery...
I just finished listening to the final Eighth Doctor and Charley audio "The Girl Who Never Was" and I needed to ramble about it for a bit.
OK. So I'm pretty new to BF. I began in the middle of the Eight/Charley arc and then I went back to "Storm Warning" and listened all the way through. Several times. I know you all can empathize with my desire to hear Charley's swan song and see how all the jagged loose ends would tied up, or at leased softened.
So then we get to "Absolution" (Which I though was an OK episode, not the strongest maybe, but the last three minutes had me in fanish knots) and the stakes are higher than ever for TGWNW.
At last...at long last I have it in my hot little hands. I settle down with a snugly blanket, a cup of coco and I have a good listen...and after as the (final) theme carries me out of the episode all I can say is, "wait...WHAT?"
Over all I thought it was a pretty good story. I enjoyed the parallel story lines even if both Byron's being played by the same actor (yay Danny Webb!) through me off a bit, I kept waiting for him to be a rogue time agent or something but it turns out he's just related to himself...wait...now I'm confused again...:) I LOVED Anna Massey as Miss Pollard. And as always Paul McGann and India Fisher are breathtaking and heartbreaking and very funny all at the same time.
I guess I just feel that it was a good story that could have been great. Oh how I wanted Miss Pollard to really be Charley, how beautiful would if have been if the Doctor had been there for her death, and then had gone back and found her young again in 1942. I felt like making her Madeleine was a bit of an emotional cop-out...but then I guess it was all to lead the Doctor to where Charley is being controlled by the Cyber whatsit. I don't really know what I thought of the whole "controlled by the Cybermen" thing anyway, I guess it worked ok, but if they were hoping I'd be worried that something terrible was going to happen to either the Doctor or Charley they were wrong, it was so close to so many other stories that I never felt there was any real danger. Even the Neural Worm or whatever it was didn't feel too urgent (although I will admit that the most emotional I got while listening. Charley trying to resist the watch was so heartbreaking). And then she's all I'm fine and I still remember...I don't know, its not that I wanted her to forget, I just felt so separated from the stakes that it was hard to get all wound up.
Maybe the problem for me was that it felt like the story had about 4 different endings so that when the ending really did come I wasn't ready and it felt really abrupt.
Speaking of the end.
What?????
Now, I know that having only listened to it once I'm bound have missed things and not caught all the nuances of the story, but its pretty hard to miss the ending and I really don't get it. So Charley didn't die in the explosion (which I must say I'm grateful for...when the end theme played for the first time I was SO angry) and she's washed up on an island in 5002 (or where ever the heck they are at this point, they jumped so much I got all lost). And then what? What are we meant to infer? Who came for her? Where is she going next? Why must we be left with angst and confusion??? *pulls out hair*
I just don't understand why they felt like they had to leave it so unresolved. I fell like neither the Doctor or Charley found any peace or resolution, and that is terrible because they had so much together and grew so much, they should have been able to say a proper goodbye and then moved on with their lives. I needed this for Charley especially, but for the Doctor too. I don't want him to leave feeling angry with Charley. I want him to know she's off being brilliant. I want him to smile warmly (and maybe just a little wistfully) when he remembers her or sees her across a crowd 50 years later. (another reason I wanted Anna Massey to be the real Charley).
And as for Charley. Where is she at the end of this story. She made the choice to leave the Doctor at the beginning of the story...but then they go for this last adventure, and then she forgets and then she remembers...and then they are on their way together before Cyber-Byron shows up. So had she changed her mind? She's been sending out SOS's hoping someone will hear. And then the unmistakable sound of the Tardis is heard. She's happy to the point of tears (something we don't get from this older/wiser Charley very often). And she is convinced it's the Doctor come for her. But it isn't. Or is it? All we have is the sound of a Tardis so it could be any Time Lord. But if that's the case why would she think its the Doctor, the Tardis in question must have looked like his right? So if its the Doctor's Tardis then are we meant to think its a past Doctor? It can't be, then Eight would have remembered her at the beginning. So its a future Doctor then...and what the heck dose that mean?
I don't know...maybe if they were planning to do more Charley stories with another Doctor or something this would all prove to be a great big set up. But I think that's unlikely. I just don't understand why she couldn't have ended up safely in 1931, met up with her young man in Singapore, gone off to have wonderful adventures and lived a happy, human, life.
I also don't understand what happened to they hole "Charley's paradox is resolved...you can put her back in Cardington, watch her pretend to miss the R101 and then, the world's her oyster" (I'm paraphrasing a bit here) at the end of Zagreus. I thought that meant she could go home again.
I sound like I hated this episode. I didn't, on the whole I thought it was good, and I need to listen to it again. I'm sure I'll like it better the next time through. I guess I'm just a little disappointed in the end tone of the story. I wanted something more...or at least different. I guess I'll just have to fanfic it to make myself feel better. :)
I'm really interested to see what other people think. Maybe you have some insights that will clear up some of my confusion. :) Thanks for sticking with this rather spastic collection of thoughts.
OK. So I'm pretty new to BF. I began in the middle of the Eight/Charley arc and then I went back to "Storm Warning" and listened all the way through. Several times. I know you all can empathize with my desire to hear Charley's swan song and see how all the jagged loose ends would tied up, or at leased softened.
So then we get to "Absolution" (Which I though was an OK episode, not the strongest maybe, but the last three minutes had me in fanish knots) and the stakes are higher than ever for TGWNW.
At last...at long last I have it in my hot little hands. I settle down with a snugly blanket, a cup of coco and I have a good listen...and after as the (final) theme carries me out of the episode all I can say is, "wait...WHAT?"
Over all I thought it was a pretty good story. I enjoyed the parallel story lines even if both Byron's being played by the same actor (yay Danny Webb!) through me off a bit, I kept waiting for him to be a rogue time agent or something but it turns out he's just related to himself...wait...now I'm confused again...:) I LOVED Anna Massey as Miss Pollard. And as always Paul McGann and India Fisher are breathtaking and heartbreaking and very funny all at the same time.
I guess I just feel that it was a good story that could have been great. Oh how I wanted Miss Pollard to really be Charley, how beautiful would if have been if the Doctor had been there for her death, and then had gone back and found her young again in 1942. I felt like making her Madeleine was a bit of an emotional cop-out...but then I guess it was all to lead the Doctor to where Charley is being controlled by the Cyber whatsit. I don't really know what I thought of the whole "controlled by the Cybermen" thing anyway, I guess it worked ok, but if they were hoping I'd be worried that something terrible was going to happen to either the Doctor or Charley they were wrong, it was so close to so many other stories that I never felt there was any real danger. Even the Neural Worm or whatever it was didn't feel too urgent (although I will admit that the most emotional I got while listening. Charley trying to resist the watch was so heartbreaking). And then she's all I'm fine and I still remember...I don't know, its not that I wanted her to forget, I just felt so separated from the stakes that it was hard to get all wound up.
Maybe the problem for me was that it felt like the story had about 4 different endings so that when the ending really did come I wasn't ready and it felt really abrupt.
Speaking of the end.
What?????
Now, I know that having only listened to it once I'm bound have missed things and not caught all the nuances of the story, but its pretty hard to miss the ending and I really don't get it. So Charley didn't die in the explosion (which I must say I'm grateful for...when the end theme played for the first time I was SO angry) and she's washed up on an island in 5002 (or where ever the heck they are at this point, they jumped so much I got all lost). And then what? What are we meant to infer? Who came for her? Where is she going next? Why must we be left with angst and confusion??? *pulls out hair*
I just don't understand why they felt like they had to leave it so unresolved. I fell like neither the Doctor or Charley found any peace or resolution, and that is terrible because they had so much together and grew so much, they should have been able to say a proper goodbye and then moved on with their lives. I needed this for Charley especially, but for the Doctor too. I don't want him to leave feeling angry with Charley. I want him to know she's off being brilliant. I want him to smile warmly (and maybe just a little wistfully) when he remembers her or sees her across a crowd 50 years later. (another reason I wanted Anna Massey to be the real Charley).
And as for Charley. Where is she at the end of this story. She made the choice to leave the Doctor at the beginning of the story...but then they go for this last adventure, and then she forgets and then she remembers...and then they are on their way together before Cyber-Byron shows up. So had she changed her mind? She's been sending out SOS's hoping someone will hear. And then the unmistakable sound of the Tardis is heard. She's happy to the point of tears (something we don't get from this older/wiser Charley very often). And she is convinced it's the Doctor come for her. But it isn't. Or is it? All we have is the sound of a Tardis so it could be any Time Lord. But if that's the case why would she think its the Doctor, the Tardis in question must have looked like his right? So if its the Doctor's Tardis then are we meant to think its a past Doctor? It can't be, then Eight would have remembered her at the beginning. So its a future Doctor then...and what the heck dose that mean?
I don't know...maybe if they were planning to do more Charley stories with another Doctor or something this would all prove to be a great big set up. But I think that's unlikely. I just don't understand why she couldn't have ended up safely in 1931, met up with her young man in Singapore, gone off to have wonderful adventures and lived a happy, human, life.
I also don't understand what happened to they hole "Charley's paradox is resolved...you can put her back in Cardington, watch her pretend to miss the R101 and then, the world's her oyster" (I'm paraphrasing a bit here) at the end of Zagreus. I thought that meant she could go home again.
I sound like I hated this episode. I didn't, on the whole I thought it was good, and I need to listen to it again. I'm sure I'll like it better the next time through. I guess I'm just a little disappointed in the end tone of the story. I wanted something more...or at least different. I guess I'll just have to fanfic it to make myself feel better. :)
I'm really interested to see what other people think. Maybe you have some insights that will clear up some of my confusion. :) Thanks for sticking with this rather spastic collection of thoughts.