Doctor Who

[eve11]

Not a long post, but I realize I've not said much about Who lately, so:



Not that there was much new to these stories, but what was there was really well-executed. I enjoyed them thoroughly. Loved River Song; she was fantastic and I hope to see her again. On the other hand, I'm kind of 'meh' on her being "saved" at the end too. I mean, it's good that she didn't die, but if that was me I'd be like, "Okay, great, how long do I have to wait until the Doctor really rescues me, gets me back into my body somehow, and back into the real world?" Also, looking after someone else's perpetually pre-adolescent children until the super-hard drive fails the end of time? Not my idea of paradise, thanks. So I was a little ambivalent about the happy ending; don't get me wrong, I loved that the Doctor figured it out and didn't give up and gave us that last little scene, but I really wanted River to get back into the real world. I think the Whoniverse is vast enough that somewhere, somehow, this will happen eventually.

Anyway, other than that small nitpick, I really loved it. Donna's perfect man, who is gorgeous and wonderful and doesn't say much ;) Doctor Moon, who is an AV program that I hope does better than McAfee or Symantec, little Charlotte Abigail Lux who watches Doctor Who half-hidden behind a couch pillow, the awesomeness of the expedition team; Anita and the Dave's and the Library guy (kudos on Anita's American accent by the way). I so wanted them to live, and actually was glad to see the Lux guy come off as a human character as opposed to stock villain.

Oh Doctor, reasoning with voracious dark-dwelling, flesh-stripping air parasites. "Look me up." I love it. And the look of pure dejection he gets when River has him handcuffed to the post, and her "Don't you dare change any of those moments"-- oh, that whole scene had me tearing up, I admit.

(Did anyone else catch that lovely little retcon in part one? The, "Oh in five hours Emergency Program 1 will activate" thing, to explain why Rose and Mickey were stuck on the Mme. du Pompadour until the Doctor could get back? Ha!)

Um, anyway, this two-parter was my favorite so far. Next week's looks frightfully boring, what can I say, there's only so much disaster movie I can take :( But hey, while Steven Moffat also has a distinct style and a penchant for repetition of themes, at least those themes are interesting. Bring on 2010.

Comments

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Wonderful that the Lux guy was human in the end. I thought the actor playing him portrayed the right amount of gravitas in the reveal scene.

And oh yes to the Doctor telling the parasites to look him up. Made me want to cheer, because yes, kind cheerful friendly Doctor is also....well The Doctor.

Loved that River Song whispered the Doctor's name to him. The way that scene played out was beautifully done.

And yes to what you said about the ending. Immortality is highly over-rated, eh? Meep.

I loved these two episodes, especially for how they showed that beyond anything else, the Doctor can be quite the dangerous dude. At the same time he's quite sweet. Oh, and snapping fingers indeed. Hee!

[bexxa.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that River's "children" would/could get "older" whenever she thought about them being older.

I'm all thinky about "spoilers" and how one's opinion of them often depends on whether one is on the spoiled or unspoiled side of things, and how interactions between people on each side are fraught for both. (Oy, do I have memories of the awkwardness of Farscape's season 3 finale, when nearly all of my online friends were spoiled, and I wasn't, and the ensuing crankiness I felt....)

So, I'm kinda liking it that for once the Doctor isn't the one who knows what did/will happen.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

and actually was glad to see the Lux guy come off as a human character as opposed to stock villain.

This was possibly the highlight of part 2 for me, yes, though Matrix!Evangelista offered stiff competition. That one was well played; most often that sort of bait-and-switch with a character fails hard.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely with you on the whole 'saved' thing, which is why I now have my own fictional theory (http://lyore.livejournal.com/79193.html). That aside - my feelings on these episodes are kind of mixed. Moments of brilliance (the Doctor's face when he's handcuffed to the machine, the look on the face of Donna's perfect guy as he sees her only to not be able to call to her, Lux turning out to be protecting family rather than patents, the 'alright' conversation at the end), but overall I thought is was a well-executed but somehow pedestrian episode.

Perhaps it was the switch in focus from Vashna Nerada as the big bad to the need to save the people and stop the self-destruct - it just didn't feel as coherent as I was expecting, and that robbed the episode of some of its impact.