Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2022-04-16 12:29 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2022-04-16 12:29 pm
Entry tags:
You're A Very Violent Young Woman.
I've had a complicated relationship with Doctor Who. I absolutely loved the Ninth Doctor's series in 2005, but the show was never really what I wanted it to be again after that, and I watched in increasing dissatisfaction for the next seven years before it finally occurred to me that I should probably just stop watching.
Even if I mainly associate Doctor Who with frustration, I did really enjoy that 2005 series, and I haven't rewatched it in a very long time; I made a brief effort in 2013 but only got through the first two episodes. It's time to revisit the Ninth Doctor's run at last! We're up to 'Father's Day', which had me in absolute floods of tears when I was sixteen, although I managed to hold it together this time around.
I was worried that the Ninth Doctor's series wouldn't hold up, that maybe I got frustrated with later Doctor Who because I was longing for some imagined golden age that never really existed. But I'm enjoying it! On the whole, I think it strikes a fairly good balance of being dark and interesting while still being suitable for kids, although there's the occasional unfortunate moment where the writers go 'what do kids like? farts, right?'
I really like the 'World War Three' scene between Mickey and Jackie while Mickey's preparing to launch a missile at Downing Street, where Rose is trapped. Jackie says, 'I could stop you, you know,' and Mickey says, 'Then do it,' and they just stare at each other for a moment. Mickey doesn't want Rose to die either. But, with the world at stake, he can't choose to spare her under his own power; he needs someone to stop him.
If this series of Doctor Who came out today, I think Doctor/Rose would be a considerably less popular pairing, or at least a more divisive one. I'm glad it came out at a time when I could happily immerse myself in that ship without fear of judgement. Look, sometimes you just have to ship the bitter, traumatised alien with the young woman who helps him see the universe through fresh eyes, regardless of centuries-wide age gaps.
The Doctor and Rose touch each other a lot more than I remembered! They're constantly holding hands or putting an arm around each other. I also didn't remember how weird and claustrophobic their relationship could be; it particularly struck me in 'The Long Game', after Cathica leaves.
Doctor: That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just you and me.
Rose: Yeah.
Doctor: Good.
There's something a bit unsettling about their dynamic. It's no wonder I liked them so much. Rose/Ten never worked for me, though, and I wonder whether it's because their relationship felt cuter and clearer-cut, without the discomfort and ambiguity of her dynamic with the Ninth Doctor. (I might be misremembering Rose's interactions with the Tenth Doctor, though; it's been a while!)
The Ninth Doctor is extremely screwed up! He's so angry, constantly pushing people away, constantly dismissive of everyone who isn't Rose; he values their lives, but he rarely values their input. I still find it fascinatingly horrifying that, with the loss of Gallifrey still raw, he picks Rose up and immediately shows her the destruction of her own planet. Trying to inflict his own trauma on her, so there'll be someone who understands him.
(I wasn't sure what icon to use for this post, but, thinking about it, it's got to be Patrick Jane. He and the Ninth Doctor share a lot of qualities: they're both energetic, compelling, dismissive, prone to connecting very strongly to a select handful of people, externally cheerful and absolutely dead inside.)
What a strange, interesting series. I'm glad to be revisiting it at last.
Even if I mainly associate Doctor Who with frustration, I did really enjoy that 2005 series, and I haven't rewatched it in a very long time; I made a brief effort in 2013 but only got through the first two episodes. It's time to revisit the Ninth Doctor's run at last! We're up to 'Father's Day', which had me in absolute floods of tears when I was sixteen, although I managed to hold it together this time around.
I was worried that the Ninth Doctor's series wouldn't hold up, that maybe I got frustrated with later Doctor Who because I was longing for some imagined golden age that never really existed. But I'm enjoying it! On the whole, I think it strikes a fairly good balance of being dark and interesting while still being suitable for kids, although there's the occasional unfortunate moment where the writers go 'what do kids like? farts, right?'
I really like the 'World War Three' scene between Mickey and Jackie while Mickey's preparing to launch a missile at Downing Street, where Rose is trapped. Jackie says, 'I could stop you, you know,' and Mickey says, 'Then do it,' and they just stare at each other for a moment. Mickey doesn't want Rose to die either. But, with the world at stake, he can't choose to spare her under his own power; he needs someone to stop him.
If this series of Doctor Who came out today, I think Doctor/Rose would be a considerably less popular pairing, or at least a more divisive one. I'm glad it came out at a time when I could happily immerse myself in that ship without fear of judgement. Look, sometimes you just have to ship the bitter, traumatised alien with the young woman who helps him see the universe through fresh eyes, regardless of centuries-wide age gaps.
The Doctor and Rose touch each other a lot more than I remembered! They're constantly holding hands or putting an arm around each other. I also didn't remember how weird and claustrophobic their relationship could be; it particularly struck me in 'The Long Game', after Cathica leaves.
Doctor: That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just you and me.
Rose: Yeah.
Doctor: Good.
There's something a bit unsettling about their dynamic. It's no wonder I liked them so much. Rose/Ten never worked for me, though, and I wonder whether it's because their relationship felt cuter and clearer-cut, without the discomfort and ambiguity of her dynamic with the Ninth Doctor. (I might be misremembering Rose's interactions with the Tenth Doctor, though; it's been a while!)
The Ninth Doctor is extremely screwed up! He's so angry, constantly pushing people away, constantly dismissive of everyone who isn't Rose; he values their lives, but he rarely values their input. I still find it fascinatingly horrifying that, with the loss of Gallifrey still raw, he picks Rose up and immediately shows her the destruction of her own planet. Trying to inflict his own trauma on her, so there'll be someone who understands him.
(I wasn't sure what icon to use for this post, but, thinking about it, it's got to be Patrick Jane. He and the Ninth Doctor share a lot of qualities: they're both energetic, compelling, dismissive, prone to connecting very strongly to a select handful of people, externally cheerful and absolutely dead inside.)
What a strange, interesting series. I'm glad to be revisiting it at last.
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