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remindmeofthe) wrote2008-06-07 09:21 pm
remindmeofthe) wrote2008-06-07 09:21 pm
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Doctor Who!
. . . I REFUSE TO BE AFRAID OF BOOKS, STEVEN MOFFAT. YOU BASTARD.
. . . why did the Vashta Narata (I love that species name, it really flows) have to live in the books? Why give us a library planet and then make it deadly? Some of us LIKE our libraries! Some of us have libraries with really quiet stacks that stretch way out into the back of the building and empty staircases that were CREEPY when we were little and is it not enough for me to be keeping an eye on the statues downtown? I have to slink cautiously around the library now, too?
BAH. At least they keep it well-lit.
MAN THAT WAS SO GOOD. It really served as an interesting parallel to the Empty Child story. The nod to the past in this ep was another borrowed phrase: "Everybody lives." (This gave me particular glee, because that was the first Who story I watched, and that phrase, the sheer joy of that moment, was when Doctor Who sank its hooks into me. "Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once, everybody lives!" I became a fan right then and never looked back.) That story ended with perfect happiness - everybody lived, Nancy got her son and Jamie his mother, and even that random old lady got her missing leg back.
This story, in comparison, was a sock in the gut. Everybody lived - except not really, and Donna lost the family she'd never had, and the library is gone. (Another lost planet, taken over by a non-native race.) And the Doctor gets more angst to pile onto his load, like, thanks, River Song. There wasn't enough of that already.
But I loved him flipping out and lunging for the future screwdriver! And oh, snapping his fingers to open the TARDIS door. I'd already been crying, and that just gave me a reason to smile while I did it. (The TARDIS, on the other hand, is all, "God, it's about time. Did you sleep through that lesson on Gallifrey or what?") (And after they were gone, and the future Doctor could be sure of not disrupting his own timeline, did he go back to visit her? Did he find a way to go in to see her? To get her out? How old is he, how ready to stop? Will he stay with her?)
And more misery and despair heaped on Donna. She's having a fun little journey, isn't she? Pompeii, the Ood, her cyberhusband - all loss and horror and heartbreak. The foreshadowing of her death is so, uh, non-shadowy that even I've spotted it, and I suck at that, so I've got to think it's all tied in. This season is about loss. Losing planets, bees, innocence, family, all to be concluded with the new Who's first irrevocable loss of a companion. This show is fun.
(Seriously, I know I keep saying it, but the Doctor fucking better be taking her to wonderful, beautiful, peaceful places between episodes. How else could she be staying balanced and sane?)
In the false computer world, I loved the use of editing as part of the story. What looks like your basic bit of TV skipping all the mundane boring shit turns out to be an important clue. I just saw this used to equally good effect on an old episode of House a few days ago - in that case, it turned out to be part of a massive trauma-induced delusion/hallucination - and I thought it was really cool to see it being used again, and used well. I'm a sucker for meta, and subtle stuff like that, simply calling editing into question and making it part of the story, is so cool to me. (PS: House vs Donna, only one walks out. Or, you know, limps out. Who's it gonna be?)
Also, STUTTERING IS EVIL. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT. He BETTER show up again. Somehow. Every once in a while, there will be a moment in something I'm reading or watching that I immediately wish hadn't happened, because it's just SO FUCKING MEAN. That glimpse of Donna's "husband," unable to call her name in time to get her attention, was one of those. I didn't want to see that at ALL. It was practically inevitable in terms of narrative, but in combination with River's death and Donna's grief for the family she never had, it was devastating. It hurt so hard and I wish I hadn't seen it.
(On the other hand: Donna's ideal man is a man who doesn't talk very much. Hee. Kinda puts Ten out of the running, doesn't it?)
In conclusion, here is how good this ep was: once it got underway, I didn't pause it once. I'm always pausing to do things or check things or just think about something else for a second, but I watched this episode all the way through. Until the end, when I actually paused before the previews (I NEVER EVER do this, I am way too impatient to wait even a second to watch previews) just to take it all in. It had its flaws, yes (the use of Miss Evangelista as a plot device bugged a little bit), but all of Moffat's episodes are flawed. The magic of them comes in the fact that, even after you've seen those flaws, you find yourself unable to do anything except let them go.
. . . I REFUSE TO BE AFRAID OF BOOKS, STEVEN MOFFAT. YOU BASTARD.
. . . why did the Vashta Narata (I love that species name, it really flows) have to live in the books? Why give us a library planet and then make it deadly? Some of us LIKE our libraries! Some of us have libraries with really quiet stacks that stretch way out into the back of the building and empty staircases that were CREEPY when we were little and is it not enough for me to be keeping an eye on the statues downtown? I have to slink cautiously around the library now, too?
BAH. At least they keep it well-lit.
MAN THAT WAS SO GOOD. It really served as an interesting parallel to the Empty Child story. The nod to the past in this ep was another borrowed phrase: "Everybody lives." (This gave me particular glee, because that was the first Who story I watched, and that phrase, the sheer joy of that moment, was when Doctor Who sank its hooks into me. "Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once, everybody lives!" I became a fan right then and never looked back.) That story ended with perfect happiness - everybody lived, Nancy got her son and Jamie his mother, and even that random old lady got her missing leg back.
This story, in comparison, was a sock in the gut. Everybody lived - except not really, and Donna lost the family she'd never had, and the library is gone. (Another lost planet, taken over by a non-native race.) And the Doctor gets more angst to pile onto his load, like, thanks, River Song. There wasn't enough of that already.
But I loved him flipping out and lunging for the future screwdriver! And oh, snapping his fingers to open the TARDIS door. I'd already been crying, and that just gave me a reason to smile while I did it. (The TARDIS, on the other hand, is all, "God, it's about time. Did you sleep through that lesson on Gallifrey or what?") (And after they were gone, and the future Doctor could be sure of not disrupting his own timeline, did he go back to visit her? Did he find a way to go in to see her? To get her out? How old is he, how ready to stop? Will he stay with her?)
And more misery and despair heaped on Donna. She's having a fun little journey, isn't she? Pompeii, the Ood, her cyberhusband - all loss and horror and heartbreak. The foreshadowing of her death is so, uh, non-shadowy that even I've spotted it, and I suck at that, so I've got to think it's all tied in. This season is about loss. Losing planets, bees, innocence, family, all to be concluded with the new Who's first irrevocable loss of a companion. This show is fun.
(Seriously, I know I keep saying it, but the Doctor fucking better be taking her to wonderful, beautiful, peaceful places between episodes. How else could she be staying balanced and sane?)
In the false computer world, I loved the use of editing as part of the story. What looks like your basic bit of TV skipping all the mundane boring shit turns out to be an important clue. I just saw this used to equally good effect on an old episode of House a few days ago - in that case, it turned out to be part of a massive trauma-induced delusion/hallucination - and I thought it was really cool to see it being used again, and used well. I'm a sucker for meta, and subtle stuff like that, simply calling editing into question and making it part of the story, is so cool to me. (PS: House vs Donna, only one walks out. Or, you know, limps out. Who's it gonna be?)
Also, STUTTERING IS EVIL. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT. He BETTER show up again. Somehow. Every once in a while, there will be a moment in something I'm reading or watching that I immediately wish hadn't happened, because it's just SO FUCKING MEAN. That glimpse of Donna's "husband," unable to call her name in time to get her attention, was one of those. I didn't want to see that at ALL. It was practically inevitable in terms of narrative, but in combination with River's death and Donna's grief for the family she never had, it was devastating. It hurt so hard and I wish I hadn't seen it.
(On the other hand: Donna's ideal man is a man who doesn't talk very much. Hee. Kinda puts Ten out of the running, doesn't it?)
In conclusion, here is how good this ep was: once it got underway, I didn't pause it once. I'm always pausing to do things or check things or just think about something else for a second, but I watched this episode all the way through. Until the end, when I actually paused before the previews (I NEVER EVER do this, I am way too impatient to wait even a second to watch previews) just to take it all in. It had its flaws, yes (the use of Miss Evangelista as a plot device bugged a little bit), but all of Moffat's episodes are flawed. The magic of them comes in the fact that, even after you've seen those flaws, you find yourself unable to do anything except let them go.