Some Doctor Who Season 2 shallow thoughts
Nov. 29th, 2007 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mollyringleRegarding episodes "The Idiot Lantern" and "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit"...
"Idiot Lantern"--Doctor with '50s hair! So cute. That's all I have to say, really.
The two-part Satan Planet story chilled me, in the way that good old traditional sci-fi about a tiny band of humans stranded in a horrifying place on the edge of a black hole where the Devil is coming to life in everything around them often can. And what further proof do we need that The Doctor = Courage? Faced with a freaking gigantic Satan Balrog, he simply treats it like any other life form he meets, and reasons with it. (Or at it, anyway.)
Now, regarding this Rose/Doctor sorta-romance they have going on: Clearly he's conflicted about the idea; Me Eternal, You Earthling, etc. He seems to feel comfortable treating her as a student and friend, but gets all awkward (adorably, but painfully) when it comes to the ubercrush she oh-so-clearly has on him.
Therefore, were we really meant to think that when he said before potentially dying, "Tell Rose ...Oh, she knows," that the completed thought was "Tell Rose I love her"? Because, really, I'm not so sure she does know that, especially after the excruciating moment where she tried to suggest settling down with the same mortgage and he averted his eyes and cut her off with "Anyway". Ouch. Guess Doctor = Courage except where possible girlfriends are concerned.
So maybe the completed thought was a more Doctor-ish spiel about going forth and living life and being happy and adventurous. In retrospect that seems likelier.
I should take this moment to add that while I sympathize with Rose and wouldn't mind some continuing romantic angst, I'm not a Doctor/Rose shipper exactly. Maybe this is a subconscious way to shield myself from disappointment, since I already know she leaves after this season (though I don't know how yet). But I think it's also the effect of those awkward moments that make me think the Doctor's hearts aren't entirely in it for whatever reason.
Odd, isn't it, how you can be someone's fangirl/boy without shipping them with anyone, or a shipper of a pair without being a particular fangirl/boy of either person in the pair, or a megafan of an ensemble cast with or without having favorites or serious ships within it? Or maybe I'm just flexible that way. Some people do seem to ship everything they come across, or cannot ship if they don't lust after someone in the pair, or what have you.
Oops, there's me rambling again. Time for bed.
"Idiot Lantern"--Doctor with '50s hair! So cute. That's all I have to say, really.
The two-part Satan Planet story chilled me, in the way that good old traditional sci-fi about a tiny band of humans stranded in a horrifying place on the edge of a black hole where the Devil is coming to life in everything around them often can. And what further proof do we need that The Doctor = Courage? Faced with a freaking gigantic Satan Balrog, he simply treats it like any other life form he meets, and reasons with it. (Or at it, anyway.)
Now, regarding this Rose/Doctor sorta-romance they have going on: Clearly he's conflicted about the idea; Me Eternal, You Earthling, etc. He seems to feel comfortable treating her as a student and friend, but gets all awkward (adorably, but painfully) when it comes to the ubercrush she oh-so-clearly has on him.
Therefore, were we really meant to think that when he said before potentially dying, "Tell Rose ...Oh, she knows," that the completed thought was "Tell Rose I love her"? Because, really, I'm not so sure she does know that, especially after the excruciating moment where she tried to suggest settling down with the same mortgage and he averted his eyes and cut her off with "Anyway". Ouch. Guess Doctor = Courage except where possible girlfriends are concerned.
So maybe the completed thought was a more Doctor-ish spiel about going forth and living life and being happy and adventurous. In retrospect that seems likelier.
I should take this moment to add that while I sympathize with Rose and wouldn't mind some continuing romantic angst, I'm not a Doctor/Rose shipper exactly. Maybe this is a subconscious way to shield myself from disappointment, since I already know she leaves after this season (though I don't know how yet). But I think it's also the effect of those awkward moments that make me think the Doctor's hearts aren't entirely in it for whatever reason.
Odd, isn't it, how you can be someone's fangirl/boy without shipping them with anyone, or a shipper of a pair without being a particular fangirl/boy of either person in the pair, or a megafan of an ensemble cast with or without having favorites or serious ships within it? Or maybe I'm just flexible that way. Some people do seem to ship everything they come across, or cannot ship if they don't lust after someone in the pair, or what have you.
Oops, there's me rambling again. Time for bed.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 08:01 am (UTC)I was pretty blown away by Rose's exit. I knew she left, too, but for some reason I thought she had one more season, so it took my unprepared.
And I really like how this show just kind of skates around the question of romance. I like to be able to read it in when I want it and ignore it when I don't, and this show lets me do that, where most shows eventually cave and have a romance become canon. (I guess they kind of have to, don't they? Not too many shows can use "One party regenerates as a completely different bloke from time to time" as a way of keeping a relationship dynamic without having it pitch into full-on romance, can they?)
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 08:07 am (UTC)My current favourite fandom (Heroes) I'm finding remarkably difficult to ship. I'm fangirling about the show as a whole, but shipping isn't coming easy (which, for a fangirl like me who typically ships everything that speaks, is difficult). The only "ship" that I have on the show right now is Mohinder/Matt, but that's because it is practically canon. Wouldn't have thought of it otherwise (and Matt doesn't float my boat anyways). While I greatly love Peter and Isaac and Mohinder, and wouldn't mind seeing any or all of the three involved in romantic liasons, shipping any of them together is difficult, since they so rarely interact. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 12:41 pm (UTC)New meaning to the term "ship"
Date: 2007-11-30 07:18 pm (UTC)Trying not to think about how Doctor/TARDIS smut would work exactly...
("Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?")
no subject
Date: 2007-12-01 12:55 am (UTC)I like the dodging-around-romance angle too. It gives us just enough to fuel all kinds of personal notions and of course fanfic--which, granted, doesn't necessarily need any help from canon, but it's nice to have it.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-01 12:56 am (UTC)With both LOTR and Buffy I was mostly an ensemble cast fan, though with occasional ships. Seldom any heavy personal crushes like I've got for the current Doctor. Variety in my fandom experience--I like it!
no subject
Date: 2007-12-01 01:00 am (UTC)But yeah, I do prefer when the show can keep the tension on a simmer without giving in to the consummation. X-Files did it great, giving in only at the end. And to use a lesser example, when Niles and Daphne got together on "Frasier," a lot of the appeal evaporated for me, which puzzled me at the time since I thought it was what I wanted. Now I guess I've accepted that such pairings are often best left to fanfic. ;)
The Continued List of Things I Never Thought I Would Type When Discussing Doctor Who
Date: 2007-12-01 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-01 05:04 pm (UTC)I'm so happy you've been enjoying the show, Mol, and that you love Ten like we do. I must say that we all have exquisite taste in men. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-01 05:17 pm (UTC)Re: The Continued List of Things I Never Thought I Would Type When Discussing Doctor Who
Date: 2007-12-05 06:12 am (UTC)Now did all the Doctors do this licking thing with foreign objects, or is that really just Ten's deal?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 04:10 pm (UTC)Re: The Continued List of Things I Never Thought I Would Type When Discussing Doctor Who
Date: 2007-12-05 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 07:41 pm (UTC)Re: The Continued List of Things I Never Thought I Would Type When Discussing Doctor Who
Date: 2007-12-05 10:59 pm (UTC)Btw, I was searching on "tenth doctor" as an LJ interest, and found there's a whole community for Ten/Five:
no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 12:00 am (UTC)Re: The Continued List of Things I Never Thought I Would Type When Discussing Doctor Who
Date: 2007-12-06 12:03 am (UTC)I saw that icon right after we started this discussion. I had to have it. I blame you. :P
no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 10:45 pm (UTC)Speaking of which, I'm watching Casanova now, and...blech. It isn't his fault (unless he's the one who said, "Oh! Please, flatten the life out of my hair; and give me a freakin' rat-tail while you're at it."), but it's still a shame. I may have to do a whole post on why it isn't working for me. Of course, I'll still finish watching it, because it's him. *sighs at lameness of self*
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Date: 2007-12-08 01:06 pm (UTC)But, he still maintained those nuances that make me love his as the Doctor so it was just odd--like I was reading badly written smutty Ten fanfic. In a recent Graham Norton interview he was so completely "Ten" that I think the character is taking him over just a wee bit. I wonder how that will play out in "Hamlet"-- it may just work wonders.
You can catch some young Tennant action in "Takin' Over the Asylum" on YouTube. It is worth the watch.
As for "Casanova" -- blech is correct. I watched it before the TENnat-love hit me and it made me oddly uncomfortable because it is so poorly executed. As you said, it isn't his fault as an actor (in my opinion he more or less pulled a DiCaprio in Titanic--he phoned his performance in. He gives it his usual Tennant-ese treatment but this is a Russell T. Davis ego piece at its heart... which is the very thing the film lacks. The film is so effing glib.
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Date: 2007-12-08 11:00 pm (UTC)Now why on earth would you go to the trouble of watching Casanova *before* the TenNant love hit you? :) But yes, "no heart" is a good way to sum it up. Nobody at all has any chemistry or much physical appeal, despite a number of good and attractive actors being in it. You know it's a sad turn of events when, in the midst of all-consuming Tennant crushage, you still prefer Heath Ledger's Casanova. (That version managed a lot more of both comedy and sexiness without veering into crassness.)
and his character says to a woman "I've cum in that mouth". I don't need the Doctor uttering those words. Gah.
Eeek. Crass indeed. Right, the Doctor's sense of civilized decency is a large part of why we love him, so that's just too jarring. Oh well; we're allowed to like certain roles and not others. May even be the sign of a good actor. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 03:17 pm (UTC)