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Doctor Who!

Thoughts in bullet format!

* PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let this thing with Donna not fancying the Doctor stick. PLEASE. Because companions fancying the Doctor? It's gotten old.

You know what my favorite thing was about series one? The deep, strong, platonic bond between Nine and Rose. You could read romance into it if you wanted, sure, I'm not about to tell Nine/Rose shippers they're wrong ~~because that would certainly end well~~, but you didn't have to. I loved watching a relationship on TV between a man and a woman where they just loved each other and the show didn't try to force romance on it just because it was a man and a woman. I was not too happy during series two when I started having to ignore obvious shippy bits, and I was flat out annoyed when Martha fell for the Doctor (though delighted when she was smart enough to let go and move on).

So please, for the love of god, PLEASE just let Donna and the Doctor be friends. I honestly couldn't tell if the whole "mates" bit (which seriously went on too long, but we'll get there in a second) was supposed to spell out that there will definitely be no romantic crap this time around, or if it was supposed to be some sort of ironic set-up. Donna is walking thin ice with me already. She falls for the Doctor, she goes on my shit list. (Oh god, I bet they have the Doctor fall for HER and she doesn't reciprocate, oh my god, MAKE IT STOP.)

* Okay. So I don't know much about Catherine Tate, but she's a comedienne, yes? And they're gonna work my damn nerves every episode by giving her "funny" bits with humor at Donna's expense, puns, and verbal and physical slapstick, right? Fucking great. Donna has advanced tremendously in terms of likability since "The Runaway Bride" and I am sensing potential here. I just hope they don't spoil it pandering to the audience's expectations of Catherine Tate or whatever. I'm hardly going to pass permanent judgment after one episode, especially since it just now occurred to me that they didn't go the excruciating route of having Donna get all gooey and hormonal over the thought of babies and that makes me pretty happy, but mark me down as wary for now.

* I love how NOW the Doctor realizes how lucky he got with Martha. NOW he appreciates Martha. NOW Martha's brilliant. I'm not sure exactly what the intention was there, but to me it just highlighted how little he appreciated her when she was around. You're right, Doctor. Martha is brilliant. I bet she would have liked to hear you say so every now and then, or even for you to look as though you might have noticed. I just hope you don't screw with Donna's head by constantly holding her to some ideal of Martha they way you did to Martha with Rose.

* Speaking of whom, I suppose I should have a reaction to her shock appearance (which it totally would have been if, you know, the casting spoilers had been a bit quieter and the framing of the shot hadn't been so obvious), but I really don't. I'm glad that it doesn't appear as though she's returned to this universe, but we'll see how this plays out. I said way back (in like June, but whatever) after I finished series two that we'd know Doctor Who had jumped the shark when they found a way to bring Rose back. IF they can downplay the shippy crap, and IF they can do the story in a way that doesn't completely undermine the impact of the series two finale, then I can accept this, but - ugh. We'll see.

* Not much to say about the plot itself. It was unremarkable except for one thing - the nanny chick saying that she was looking for plenty of fat, so she ended up making base in England. Did they, like, not pick the States up on the radar or what? Fattest country in the world, right over here! I love how, when Doctor Who aliens target Earth, they always, ALWAYS go for London. I'm not complaining, since I know full well that every show focuses on its country of origin - I'm just saying, it's really starting to rack up points on the unintentional humor scale. I'd like to see an alien race shock the world by attacking, like, Bangladesh or São Paulo or somewhere.

That's it, I think - overall, I'm just happy to have Doctor Who back, happy that it happened so soon after Torchwood to help keep me from dwelling, and looking forward to seeing where it goes. Hopefully somewhere good.

And dammit, I'm going to go find a cheerful DW icon now.

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Oh god, I bet they have the Doctor fall for HER and she doesn't reciprocate, oh my god, MAKE IT STOP.

has anyone ever told you that you are maybe incredibly scary?

aaaanyway.

i thought donna was going to be incredibly annoying but she's just sort of cruise-control annoying right now. the bit with her granddad was pretty nice, i'll admit. i like the bits of Brit TV with family elements. i like how Martha's family was less-than-loveably psychotic and i only grew to hate Rose's family because they get to have Rose and we don't and i'm all of dis many yers old.

and really i'm on the opposing side of the Rose-coming-back-and-thus-nullifying-Doomsday people. i really want a happy ending for Rose because i really came to love her on my own terms and liked the feeling i felt when it seemed the Doctor had come to realized that, despite her level of actual education, he'd found someone who could equal him in every way. i like that he found someone he could learn from. and desperately want that shippy crap that ends in Rose knowing (supposing she has to die and hoping she doesn't) more about the Doctor than he'd planned on letting her know. more than he was comfortable with. and that when he said in School Reunion that she wasn't like that, she reeeally wasn't like that. she was more.

but after years of US tv and movies letting me down with my pairings on all fronts except Mulder and Scully, i think i'm just putting too much of my heart into what i think RTD has set up precedence for. which of course, he hasn't. he doesn't do what the fans want all the time. not even in a roundabout way. i'm just blindingly investing too much heart into it. but episodes like Dalek and Father's Day slapped me in the face. i had NO idea what to expect when i picked up these dvds and and i THOUGHT i did.

i at least can think to myself that i've got faith he'll do right by Rose, even if it's not a fairy-tale ending. not that i encourage more scars on the Doctor's heart, but as far as TV series go, i've "known Rose all her life" and i know i've missed so much on the Doctor. his hurts go so deep. i at least know what i want for Rose and it makes quite a difference.

er. sorry for this random ramble.

*sigh*
blindly. just blindLY.

has anyone ever told you that you are maybe incredibly scary?

More often than you might expect. :D

See, to me, Rose's character arc was done after the first series. She started out as a chick who worked in retail and lived at home and finished as a determined, strong young woman who knew what life had to offer and believed in being more. I found that story to be satisfying.

Series two Rose doesn't do much for me; it feels like she's only there because Billie Piper signed for another series, and they didn't really know what to do with her, so she was just sort of there until she wasn't. And that finale was very powerful for me because of its finality. They sealed it up tight and made it emphatically clear that Rose could not come back. Ever. Ever. Except, oops, now she is! And if they don't handle her return VERY delicately and convincingly, it's going to feel like a big fanservice cheat to me and it will totally ruin "Doomsday."

Plus, I don't want a definitive answer about what Rose and her family have been doing! I want to imagine Jackie and alt!Pete having a wonderful marriage now that they have finally found the versions of each other than they were meant to be with, and I want to imagine Mickey having really come into his own as a hero and accepting that Rose doesn't love him the way he wants and moving on, and I want to imagine Rose as the alt!Torchwood version of Jack (only not a bastard) kicking ass and taking names and helping to keep Earth safe, and well-adjusted and happy after she finished grieving her losses. I might get the first two, but RTD will probably stick us with some sad sack Rose who hasn't gotten over the Doctor and blah blah shut up theoretical!Rose.

Mind you, if it's an evil mirrorverse version of Rose as I have seen suggested, then that will rule and all is forgiven.

But that's where I'm coming from on that. There's also a bunch of stuff about how Rose isn't the be all and end all of companions like RTD seems to think she is and MARTHA didn't have to look into the heart of the TARDIS to save the world, but that stuff I save for my friends who are not Rose fans. Rose is gone. I would like the show to leave her be.

Edited 2008-04-09 01:37 (UTC)

I know I'm late to the game but I only just got out of Malaysia to where I could download this.

I thought Donna was great. Hilarious without being OTT, and the bit about not going in to hug him (b/c that would have been OTT) was perfect. And CALLING HIM OUT on how he killed the spider lady's kids in Runaway Bride when he said the adipose kids didn't deserve to die because they were kids? EXCELLENT. The bit about saying Martha had been good for him? EXCELLENT. The bit about shutting him down when he tried to give the bigger on the inside spiel and she told him she'd heard it all before? Double excellent, with a side order of turn up the heat.

The Rose thing was...weird. She's there, then she fades away. Why? What was the point?

Hey, no worries. Episode discussion is always welcome!

Yes. Now that I've seen a few more episodes with Donna and have an idea of how they're writing her (not with a bunch of ridiculous wink-wink-nudge-nudge-she's-played-by-a-commedienne type humor, thank goodness), I think if I went back and watched this episode again, I'd like her a lot more in it. Guess I should have had a little more faith in the show, but I was so wary of Donna after having hated her so much in "Runaway Bride" that I was super-cautious. As you will see if you keep reading my episode reactions, I have come to like her immensely.

I think the point of Rose's appearance was to let the two people left on the planet who'd been under a rock on Mars and hadn't heard that Billie Piper was coming back that she was, in fact, coming back. Establishing that plot early on and all.

(This is antelope_writes' alter ego)

I liked Catherine Tate in Runaway Bride, but not necessarily Donna, if that makes sense. I could see the potential, but it wasn't until PIC that I went oh YEAH, that's why I liked it.

They're funny together. They're really, truly, in-your-face FUNNY and it's awesome. I haven't seen any of the other episodes yet, since I only just got back to a reliable internet connection, but I'm actually looking forward to watching Who for the first time in a long while.

They are! They have a wonderful rapport and chemistry and it only gets better as the series continues. Donna has gone from making me think (I started watching mid-third series and spent a month or so catching up before I could watch the eps as they aired), "Oh, thank god this Martha Jones exists so I already know for a fact that Donna won't be inflicted on us after this," to making me squee, "GO DONNA GO WOO DONNA." She's dangerously close to overtaking Martha as my favorite companion, and I never thought THAT would happen.

I think the moment when I decided I loved Donna was when she called out Ten and said "Martha was good for you." The look on his face was just priceless.

I even figured out why her chasing after the Doctor didn't bother me as much as the way Sarah Jane's reaction did. She wasn't chasing after him because he was the one man who'd save her (TM), she realized that before she met him, her life was boring and kind of crap, and she wanted better. Then she MADE A PLAN, stuck to it, and found him. She's off on the ride of her life and she knows it, and good for her.

Also, I want Catherine Tate's hair. Not as badly as Eve Myles' but I want her hair.

Yes. Donna is smart and she's not afraid to use her intelligence and let it be seen, and travelling with the Doctor lets her do that in a way that her life on Earth didn't. It's an interesting inversion of what happened with Rose and Martha - they learned from travelling with the Doctor that they had resources they'd never imagined and they could make their lives as good as they wanted them to be, but Donna already knows that and hunting down the Doctor is her way of making that better life happen. I'm not sure how much more I can say without being vaguely spoilery, but the difference between the Doctor with Donna and the Doctor with Rose and Martha is striking because Donna is so different from them in so many ways.

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