Riona (
rionaleonhart) wrote2010-06-21 01:16 pm
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I'm Never Saying That Again.
This series of Doctor Who has been frustrating me, because I think Matt Smith is fantastic as the Doctor - far better than David Tennant, possibly better than Christopher Eccleston, although I'd have to rewatch Nine's series to be certain - but I haven't been enjoying the writing as much as I did in the RTD era. My enthusiasm, high at the beginning of the series, ebbed away over the next few weeks, until watching Doctor Who was just something I did, rather than something I particularly looked forward to.
And then came 'Vincent and the Doctor', and I settled unenthusiastically in front of the television, and, to my surprise, I adored it.
And then 'The Lodger', which was good fun, and then 'The Pandorica Opens', which I thought was fantastic, and yes, Doctor Who, yes, keep this up!
- As I've said, I think that Matt Smith is a fabulous Doctor. I came into Doctor Who with Christopher Eccleston, who I thought was excellent. In the David Tennant era, I came to rather dislike the Doctor and became disillusioned with Doctor Who until the fourth series, when Donna firmly installed herself in my heart and made me care again. Even then, though, I was only really watching for the companion; now that Smith has brought his endearingly clumsy, scatterbrained, deeply uncool approach to the role, I'm watching for the Doctor himself.
- Unfortunately, I'm not at all sure about Amy Pond, which I think is part of what's preventing me from returning to the enormous fannish love I held for Doctor Who back in 2005; I adored the relationship between the Ninth Doctor and Rose, but in this series I have trouble caring about Amy. I feel that her character changes to accommodate the plot of the episode. The series is almost over, and I still don't feel I really have a sense of her personality. Is she compassionate or completely unable to take anything seriously, even when people are dying? An inability to take things seriously is a perfectly valid characterisation, but it should at least be consistent. Does she care about Rory? Does she take him for granted? Does she see him as an obstacle to the life she wants? Put Amy in any hypothetical situation, and I wouldn't be able to tell you how she would react. I can't love her if I don't know who she is.
- RIVER IS GREAT. I didn't really take to her in the 'Silence of the Library' two-parter, possibly in part because Moffat's habit of shoving characters he didn't create out of the way in favour of showing off those he did annoys me (PARTICULARLY WHEN DONNA NOBLE IS INVOLVED. You don't sideline Donna Noble! Why would you sideline Donna Noble?), but in this series she has been excellent. I think someone on my flist suggested that she might be a future incarnation of the Doctor, which is unlikely to be canon but a rather delightful idea.
- I am very fond of Rory. He is terribly sweet. I wish we'd been able to see more of his interactions with the Doctor, because they seem to have a closeness that we haven't really had a chance to see developing. My main reaction to the ending of 'The Pandorica Opens' was a great big 'nooooooooooo' at the realisation that Rory wasn't real. (And then Auton-Rory tried to fight his true identity! Bless him.)
- Actually, after 'The Pandorica Opens', I don't know what to believe. Were the events of that episode and those events only fabricated from Amy's childhood memories, or is the situation larger than that? Did Rory really exist? Did Amy really grow up? I assumed at first, when the Doctor asked Amy whether it bothered her that her life didn't make any sense, that he was referring to the fact that it made no sense after Rory had been stripped out of it, but perhaps it's something more sinister even than that. There have certainly been implications throughout the series that there is something Not Quite Right with Amy.
- In 'The Lodger', when Craig and Sophie accosted the Doctor as he was trying to sneak off without interrupting their snogging, was anyone else expecting them to propose a threesome? Was - was anyone else a tiny bit disappointed when they didn't?
- My housemate and I have decided that the next series is going to be about River Song and Donna Noble saving the universe together, whilst the Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica. Every episode ends with a shot of the Doctor in his prison, saying, '...hello?'
A few nights ago, I dreamt an episode of Ashes to Ashes with FLYING MOTORBIKES and RIVER SONG PILOTING ONE OF THE FLYING MOTORBIKES and RORY WILLIAMS ALSO BEING THERE IN SOME CAPACITY and ALEX REMINISCING ABOUT HER FIRST GIRLFRIEND and GENE FINDING THE INFORMATION THAT ALEX HAD A GIRLFRIEND EXTREMELY DISTRACTING. It was grand. Possibly not very true to eighties technology levels, but grand nonetheless.
And then came 'Vincent and the Doctor', and I settled unenthusiastically in front of the television, and, to my surprise, I adored it.
And then 'The Lodger', which was good fun, and then 'The Pandorica Opens', which I thought was fantastic, and yes, Doctor Who, yes, keep this up!
- As I've said, I think that Matt Smith is a fabulous Doctor. I came into Doctor Who with Christopher Eccleston, who I thought was excellent. In the David Tennant era, I came to rather dislike the Doctor and became disillusioned with Doctor Who until the fourth series, when Donna firmly installed herself in my heart and made me care again. Even then, though, I was only really watching for the companion; now that Smith has brought his endearingly clumsy, scatterbrained, deeply uncool approach to the role, I'm watching for the Doctor himself.
- Unfortunately, I'm not at all sure about Amy Pond, which I think is part of what's preventing me from returning to the enormous fannish love I held for Doctor Who back in 2005; I adored the relationship between the Ninth Doctor and Rose, but in this series I have trouble caring about Amy. I feel that her character changes to accommodate the plot of the episode. The series is almost over, and I still don't feel I really have a sense of her personality. Is she compassionate or completely unable to take anything seriously, even when people are dying? An inability to take things seriously is a perfectly valid characterisation, but it should at least be consistent. Does she care about Rory? Does she take him for granted? Does she see him as an obstacle to the life she wants? Put Amy in any hypothetical situation, and I wouldn't be able to tell you how she would react. I can't love her if I don't know who she is.
- RIVER IS GREAT. I didn't really take to her in the 'Silence of the Library' two-parter, possibly in part because Moffat's habit of shoving characters he didn't create out of the way in favour of showing off those he did annoys me (PARTICULARLY WHEN DONNA NOBLE IS INVOLVED. You don't sideline Donna Noble! Why would you sideline Donna Noble?), but in this series she has been excellent. I think someone on my flist suggested that she might be a future incarnation of the Doctor, which is unlikely to be canon but a rather delightful idea.
- I am very fond of Rory. He is terribly sweet. I wish we'd been able to see more of his interactions with the Doctor, because they seem to have a closeness that we haven't really had a chance to see developing. My main reaction to the ending of 'The Pandorica Opens' was a great big 'nooooooooooo' at the realisation that Rory wasn't real. (And then Auton-Rory tried to fight his true identity! Bless him.)
- Actually, after 'The Pandorica Opens', I don't know what to believe. Were the events of that episode and those events only fabricated from Amy's childhood memories, or is the situation larger than that? Did Rory really exist? Did Amy really grow up? I assumed at first, when the Doctor asked Amy whether it bothered her that her life didn't make any sense, that he was referring to the fact that it made no sense after Rory had been stripped out of it, but perhaps it's something more sinister even than that. There have certainly been implications throughout the series that there is something Not Quite Right with Amy.
- In 'The Lodger', when Craig and Sophie accosted the Doctor as he was trying to sneak off without interrupting their snogging, was anyone else expecting them to propose a threesome? Was - was anyone else a tiny bit disappointed when they didn't?
- My housemate and I have decided that the next series is going to be about River Song and Donna Noble saving the universe together, whilst the Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica. Every episode ends with a shot of the Doctor in his prison, saying, '...hello?'
A few nights ago, I dreamt an episode of Ashes to Ashes with FLYING MOTORBIKES and RIVER SONG PILOTING ONE OF THE FLYING MOTORBIKES and RORY WILLIAMS ALSO BEING THERE IN SOME CAPACITY and ALEX REMINISCING ABOUT HER FIRST GIRLFRIEND and GENE FINDING THE INFORMATION THAT ALEX HAD A GIRLFRIEND EXTREMELY DISTRACTING. It was grand. Possibly not very true to eighties technology levels, but grand nonetheless.
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I am rather a fan of Amy [but then I hated Rose]; her character is precisely that - she is mercurial, immature. She feels things deeply but briefly, and she's afraid of feelings and of being tied to anything. She is Peter Pan, and she loves Rory and is afraid that this means she has to become a grown-up, that being one of the grown-ups means you have to stop having fun. In that respect I think I enjoy her most of all the New companions (well, maybe tied with Donna) because she is more realistic. She's not a Buffy-clone, and she's not mooning after the Doctor while enclosing a core of awesome that is so much greater than his.
I can't love her if I don't know who she is.
Ten thousand flighty and mercurial women are suddenly very depressed and they don't know why.
I am however agreed that 11 kicks the arse off 10.
I am very fond of Rory. He is terribly sweet. I wish we'd been able to see more of his interactions with the Doctor, because they seem to have a closeness that we haven't really had a chance to see developing.
YES. :( I love Rory so much and I am horrified by the possibility that we won't be able to keep him.
- My housemate and I have decided that the next series is going to be about River Song and Donna Noble saving the universe together, whilst the Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica
ADD LIZ10 TO THAT AND YOU HAVE YOURSELF A BESTSELLER.
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Liz10 is so very welcome! Captain Jack Harkness is allowed to show up on occasion, but only if he cheers up a bit.
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Oh bugger Jack, bring on John and he can I hope be kept in line by the awesome combined might of Donna, River, and Liz. WAIT I KNEW WE'D FORGOTTEN SOMEONE - Sarah-Jane.
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I love you for writing that.
And yeah, Amy always just fit naturally in my head. I love her.
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THIS WOULD BE THE BEST SHOW. Martha has to turn up at some point too, to kick the creepy racist "you're not good enough :(" thing from S3 in the teeth and go gallivanting around with self-confidence and security!
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I *loved* Martha, but she kept being under-used and stuff not explored, and yeah, fail.
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I WOULD WATCH THIS. Oh, poor lovely Rory. His expression in your icon is cracking me up.
...hang on. Your little LJ-user icon is wearing purple. How did that happen?
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I WANT TO WATCH THIS! NOW!
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When it comes down to the actual episodes, the plots, there have only been three I really loved (The Eleventh Hour, Amy's Choice, The Pandorica Opens). But Matt Smith's performance is enough for me. It's enough for me to be able to sit down every week and watch him act his pants off for fifty minutes. And I'd definitely say he's the best of the most recent three Doctors - Tennant could do the comedy nicely, but struggled with the depth, and Eccleston had that depth but was abysmal at comic timing and delivery. Both things seem to come so naturally to Smith, and he flits between the two with a really stunning ease. I think also he has a subtlety that Tennant achieved only on rare occasions. There's always something to see anew in Matt Smith's performance, on a rewatch; he's always fiddling around in the background, even when he's not the focus. I COULD HARP ON ABOUT HIS PERFORMANCE FOR EVERRRR but I won't.
ALSO this series has made me love the Doctor again, as a character. And I had honestly lost hope that that would ever happen. So, even if I don't love the individual episodes, I can't not love this series as a whole. Even the times I was sitting watching an episode, feeling slightly bored, there was always so much to talk about and think about and look forward to.
(I was totally ready for a new fandom when this series started, too, so that probably helped with the overwhelming fannish love.)
TL, DR.
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I enjoy hearing you harp on about Smith's performance! I think you are absolutely right about everything, and I hope we have him as the Doctor for many a series. Loving the Doctor again is wonderful. I'd forgotten what it was like.
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I do enjoy Eleven as a character, but Amy is just... lacking. Her flipping back and forth on how she felt about Rory was just off, and the overall storyline of this season isn't intriguing. It's just sort of one note. I can't forgive them for taking the scary out of the Angels and turning the Daleks into ipods. I think my favourite parts are with River Song, but even when I can see it straining to be awesome, it always seems to fall short.
Watching at this point has been something that I feel I should do just in case it suddenly turns out to be amazing rather than something I could rely on to actually be amazing sort of four times out of five. And that makes me sad, because I was prepared to believe, you know?
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I'm curious - do you think, then, that there's nothing to not like in Eleven?
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at times incredibly uncaring
I love how he can be so amazingly PASSIONATE about people and all the potential they have, and at the same time not give a stuff about individuals if they're just unlucky enough to catch him at a bad time. I think it all depends on whether or not you catch and manage to hold his attention at any given moment that makes you worthy or not in his eyes.
He's a conundrum and no mistake.
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(Definitely agree on the iDaleks, though. I was already fed up with Daleks, but making them brightly coloured and chunky renders them incredibly unintimidating.)
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Oh thank god, I was reading the other comments going "D:".
Great fun to watch, and I adored them both, but it wasn't how real people interact. Whereas Amy and Eleven still have the witty lines but in more of a way that one would if one were talking to an actual friend.
YESSSSSSSSS.
I mean, you can tell from her early interactions with the Doctor especially, she's got some unresolved abandonment issues, which tend to make a person rather emotionally closed-off to avoid the problem of being abandoned again.
YESS YES YES.
And if this is an accurate view of her personality then inconsistent behaviour sort of fits; she cares about Rory but she can't show it.
Yeah this. And I've caught up with the whole series so far. But she makes sense, as a character, like the way she is follows logically on from what we know of how she grew up.
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Also, River as the Master would be amazing. They both take a similar delight in deceit, at the very least.
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Hee!
I especially like your points about Amy - her character does seem to change quite dramatically.
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DOOMwedding and then not sure how to relate to boyfriend afterwards and wanting adventure rather than settling, all that makes a lot of sense. Perhaps this series is somewhat less clear on its companion because it's not been All About Her, like in the RTD series? Bwee, I do love Amy.no subject
I like Amy, but I do think her characterisation is a bit half-baked, and I can't quite get a handle on her relationship with Rory. I do love Rory to bits, and I really like his interaction with the Doctor. (I cried like a baby when he died, and again when he was fighting to keep a hold of his identity and just. *wibble*)
I think River is fierce, but something about her - and especially her relationship with the Doctor - rubs me the wrong way, especially at the beginning of the first weeping angels episode. I also didn't like her much in Silence in the Library, because I just didn't see how she was SO DAMN SPECIAL.
/my disorganised thoughts on Doctor Who
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And then I ended up liking her anyway. It's a bit like the scene in 'Vincent and the Doctor' with Van Gogh in the art gallery; the episode was obviously trying so hard to make me cry that I immediately resolved not to and then, whoops, ended up crying.
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I've said it before somewhere, but Matt Smith really is the second coming of Tom Baker, he manages to be alien, and really old, but really full of life, and he does angry very well, and doesn't lean on the angst, it's acknowledged but it's sort of: "Oh, yes, my life is full of some incredibly angst inducing stuff and-. Oh my goodness! Would you look at that shiny thing! *Runs of chasing shiny thing. Which he may only have acknowledged to avoid talking too much about the angst*
Amy is... well, I'm pretty sure Amy is awesome, but she is fairly hard to pin down, possibly part of it we only see her from the Doctor's perspective about 99% of the time, we don't get to see what happens in those gaps in between... also I'm starting to wonder if it's going to turn out that her whole life has been constructed to make her bait for a trap for the Doctor...
River is great, but I have the sneaking suspicion that she's being set up to be the person who kills the Doctor's last incarnation...
I was kind of 'eh' about Rory, his character kind of felt like a re-tread of Mickey, and then they killed him off... and then they brought him back as a capable Roman, and then he turned out to be an Auton, with a personality created from Amy's memories of him... and now I'm not sure what to think, but sort of want the final episode to start with him taking back command of the Auton-Romans and give the coalition of the Doctor's enemies a good kicking.
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This. So much. I just really feel like most of the episodes really need to be longer, especially Victory of the Daleks. That one could have had one 45 min. episode leading up to "testimony accepted" (or whatever it was) and then another 45 min. episode after.
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1) I have to agree - Matt has become my favourite Doctor. He's clutzy and just so endearingly sweet and daft. And he wears a bow tie - I dig bow ties.
2) Again, I agree - I personally felt like they were trying to make another Rose and it sort of pissed me off; it was like the writers were saying 'YOU WILL LOVE HER' which made me instantly say 'no'. Donna though, Donna was ace beyond all belief - I think it was because she actually yelled at the 10th Doctor to take her home and had a very human reaction to meeting him, which I don't think I've seen an awful lot of, personally.
3)I have grown to like River Song. Wasn't too keen first time around, but now she's fun, and I like fun just like a two year old likes glitter and worms :)
4) I know! I would rather have had Amy 'die' (or whatever the hell happened to Rory), and see the Doctor & Rory's adventures together.
5) It's going to turn out to be a hallucination, or a dream. Again. IDEK why, I think it's because it's the only thing I can think of it being.
6) (insert childish giggles here) something inside made me think they'd already tried to ambush the Doctor because of the way he tried to quietly sneek off.
7) BEST. IDEA. EVER. I mean, it's probably not because I personally think that the toaster is one of the single greatest inventions ever... invented. yeah. TMI, I appologise.
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OH MY GOODNESS HOW MUCH DO I LOVE THIS IDEA??
What would make me exceedingly happy would be to reset us at the end of the series with 8-or-10-or-whatever-year-old Amelia Pond, who loves the raggedy Doctor that never came back for her, and everything we've seen is somehow tied into her small child's imagination. That would be amaaaaazing.
That said, River and Donna saving the universe would also be a newsletter to which I would subscribe.
Doctor Who/Kawata Shoujo
"Hey umm Mr. Alien," Amy, Rory, and the Doctor turned. Rin was there looking at the trio about to get back into the TARDIS.
"Oh, hello Rin," the Doctor said. "Umm, shouldn't you be at your friend's funeral?"
"I'll go soon," the girl asked calmly. "Anyway, I had a question before you go."
"Alright."
"You're aliens right? I mean...for real?"
"Uhh, just him," Rory said point at the doctor.
"Yeah, he and I are from Scotland," Amy said.
"Oh. Okay, but you're an alien right? And that's your spaceship."
"Yes, yes it is," The Doctor said. He was still smiling that same smile he had when he realized where he was. Nervous, unwilling to reach his eyes, slightly afraid.
"So you have all sorts of fancy stuff in there?"
"Yes."
"Do you have anything in there that could fix this place?" She said calmly.
The Doctor's mouth opened and closed. He tried for a second to look at Amy and Rory but he didn't dare, he knew what their faces would look like, but he wasn't the kind of person who could just look away, so he had no choice. No choice but to look into Rin's eyes. What could he say? 'No?' That would be easy wouldn't it? But it would also be a lie. 'Yes, but it wouldn't work on humans?' Better, and Amy and Rory would believe it but he still wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
The truth came to his mind in the voice of the Dream Lord, no...HIS own voice. "Yes Rin, I have all sorts of gadgets and cures in my little box to fix almost all of you children and even though you are all brave, kind, lovely, and the best that humanity could ever hope to be I will never give them to you. Because you're not supposed to have them. Because you're all supposed to be like this. Because, even though no one in the world deserves it more than you, I'm going to get into my little box and fly away. Never to see you again after coming here, upsetting your peaceful lives, letting one of you brilliant, wonderful, shining children die and making one of the greatest teacher's I've ever had the honor to know kill himself. I can help you all, but I'm not going to...just because."
"I mean, you can fly up and fix the weather station right?" Rin pointed with her knee at the top of the roof where the little antenna covered station that monitored the weather was. It had been smashed in the attack.
"We'd have to send away for it to be repaired and it would take months before we got a replacement, and then another month to install it. Can you fix it?"
The Doctor just stood there looking at Rin for what seemed to be a long time. Then, without saying a word, he nodded, hugged the small child, and went back into the TARDIS.
Amy and Rory looked at each other, waved goodbye to Rin, and entered the blue box. Rin watched calmly as the TARDIS vanished, then she went to rejoin the others.
Yamaku is a wonderful school. It has excellent facilities, a caring and well educated staff, a hospital nearby, and every day, they have perfect weather. Beautiful sunny days with clear skies, light spring rains that seem to just be over the gardens, white christmases with not too much snow, and fall afternoons that seem to be out of a Robert Frost poem.
Some people wonder exactly why the weather is so good. Some say the spirits like the place, some say it's karma, Rin says it's the result of aliens and the weird antenna they put on top of the school.
Re: Doctor Who/Kawata Shoujo
OH, RIN. I was about to say 'hang on, I don't think Rin would ask - ' and then it turned out that I had made the same misinterpretation as the Doctor. I love that he gave a great big speech before the misunderstanding came to light, and that Rin was entirely unmoved.