Doctor Who: 4x10 - 4x13
Apr. 9th, 2009 04:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greatbritonProbably the last one of these you'll be seeing, since I've for the most part caught up with the show. Just one Christmas Special to watch and then I'm there. :) Oh, that makes me a little depressed. I hate reaching the end of shows and books. Almost as much as I hate waiting for new episodes of shows. grrrrr
Time For Doctor Who Recaps/Comments!!
Doctor Who:
4x10 - Midnight: I completely loved this episode. Everything about this episode was fantastic. Strangely it lacked Donna...except for her wonderful parts in the beginning and in the end. Their phone conversation at the start was too adorkable.
The Doctor and Donna are on a planet called Midnight and Donna chooses to stay and relax while The Doctor goes on a little trip to see some Sapphire Waterfalls or something. Of course...things go horribly wrong. Some monster ends up attacking the transport he's on and The Doctor along with the rest of the passengers are stuck with an alien who has apparently taken over a woman.
This episode is the brilliance of what can be done with just a room, actors and good writing. That's all this episode was. They were essentially in one little room the entire time and the entire episode was dialogue. BRILLIANT. I love this stuff. LOVE IT!
You never see a monster. We never even learn what the monster is or what it wants really. In the end the monster isn't what this episode is about. Its about the people. About humans and what they are capable of.
I was talking with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladysophiekitty and mentioned the Angel episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been", which is one of my favorite Angel episodes, and then it occurred to me that this episode reminded me of that Angel episode.
You have these two heroes/champions/outsiders who, for some reason, have an optimistic love for the human race and are always out battling monsters and aliens to save these humans. But in the end...what these two episodes reveal is that its humans themselves that are the most dangerous creatures and if put in extreme circumstances they are the monsters. In both episodes both The Doctor and Angel are trying to help but end up getting turned on out of fear and the people they were trying to save are what they need saving from.
This manifests in Angel getting hung from a balcony in a horrifying and tense scene. The passengers end up trying to drag The Doctor out of the transport and throw him out onto the planet where no living thing can survive in a scene that is just as horrifying and tense. Both these episodes gave me chills and left me with something deep to think about.
People, when put in a strange and scary situation will lash out at whatever seems different. And they lash out in terrifying and deadly ways.
And after the ordeal is over and the stewardess sacrificed herself to save everybody, the scene that followed was perfect. Nobody willing to look each other in the eye. Knowing they had just been about to kill a man who in the end was innocent and had only been trying to help them. The kind of haunted look on The Doctor's face was painful. Good thing Donna was there to give him some comfort. I loved her concern for him.
4x11 - Turn Left: And since last episode was short on Donna we get a nice episode with lots of Donna. But then...that means its lacking The Doctor. But Donna heroics make up for it! Awwww, Donna!!!
The Doctor and Donna land on a planet and have some weird beer. Thought I'd mention that cause I thought their beer drinking was another adorkable moment. Donna wanders off a bit and some strange woman beckons her into a little shop thing. Under the guise of reading or future or something and with the help of some roach creature she finds a moment in Donna's past that was a turning point for her. A moment where literally whichever way Donna chooses to turn on a road will determine the outcome of the world's future.
The woman makes Donna choose to turn right instead of left, I believe. And by making that choice she changes her entire future. She never ends up going to her temp job and meeting the man that she got engaged to and then doesn't get poisoned and sucked into the TARDIS to meet The Doctor and therefore isn't there when he faces the big spider woman to pull him back in his rage and he ends up dying. And throughout the episode all the events past that happen and don't get stopped. Martha ends up dying when the hospital is sucked up to the moon and its up to Torchwood to stop the ATMOS in the cars. And I think more people die from the fat Adipose things.
And throughout the episode Rose starts appearing. I just...I wish I had been a bit more excited but really with this weird dark and cryptic Rose, she kind of annoyed me. But she eventually gets Donna to come with her and shows her the bug on her back. Its up to Donna to travel back in time and make it so she doesn't make the wrong turn again, to fix the future.
She gets thrown back with very little time to stop herself. And in the end poor poor Donna has to sacrifice herself. She steps in front of a truck, killing herself, but causing an accident that stops traffic and her other self decides the hell with that and goes the correct way, fixing her future. Things all wind up and she finds herself on the planet with the weird woman again.
When The Doctor and her are talking over the dead roach creature it comes to light that she had met Rose and she tells the Doctor what she said, "Bad Wolf." DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!
I really enjoyed this episode and I know this is Donna's season and this episode revolved around her changing the future with her decision. But over the course of the last couple episodes I felt slapped over the head with the Donna's the most important woman in the universe stuff. in this aspect I would think any of The Doctor's companions would also have this in common with Donna. They all had that decision moment that would have led them to meet The Doctor and all had moments where they saved The Doctor's life. Just saying...
4x12 / 4x13 - The Stolen Earth / Journey's End: TOO MUCH STUFF!!
I tell you before you read this...I did have a fun fun fun time watching these two episodes. I did!!!! But I just have so many problems with them. A lot of this might come off as snarky or ranty, but I can't help it. I've had a few days to let these episodes simmer and now I must vent.
It felt like this finale was filled with so many fantastic little moments. But as a whole it lacked a lot. When all those moments got crammed together they didn't make a coherent thought. I don't know why they felt they needed to cram every person and all these stories into this finale but they did and came off to me as chaotic and rushed.
1. Too Many Characters: Was there really a need to have every single previous character show up? I get the idea of what they wanted to do, to show that The Doctor wasn't alone and he had gotten all these people to fight and stand up and that was lovely. But it ended up making a mess, in my opinion. Other then their awesomeness was there a reason for Mickey or Roses' mother to show up?! What the hell is Roses' mother going through universes and such for? And she didn't do anything. And Rose...well, I'll get to Rose.
2. Not Enough Donna: This was Donna's season as companion and like I said earlier I felt like I was getting slapped in the head with all this Donna is the most important woman in the universe. So why didn't she get some more love in these episodes? She was a secondary character for all about 15 minutes.
3. Rose: Though I did get a bit giddy when Rose and Ten see each other in the road and go running to each other, I must admit that there was no real reason for Rose to be there. She did absolutely nothing in these last two episodes except take attention away from other characters. In my opinion. I wish they hadn't brought her back for this, if they had to at all. They could of had her show up in "Turn Left" to help Donna but not show up here. But maybe in one of the future specials they could of had it revolving around this Rose story. Cause throwing it in here just distracted me and gave none of the stories enough time.
4. Ten/Rose/Handy: No, I'm not angry at Ten/Rose for stealing thunder from my Ten/Martha love. I just felt they handled this Ten/Rose thing all wrong. With bringing about the other Doctor, which someone referred to as Handy so that's what I'm going to call him, it seemed that really the only reason this hand was around for a season and a half was to let Rose have a Doctor. But c'mon! Really?
Firstly, Rose is really going to put up with The Doctor throwing her back into that alternate universe? Mickey stayed, why couldn't she? Really? And The Doctor is really going to take her back to that universe and imprison her again without consulting her?
Secondly, Rose says she loves THE DOCTOR but then picks Handy cause he has the balls to whisper something that one would assume was "I love you." in her ear? Cause in the end, he might be the same person essentially, but as we've already witnessed, he's not quite The Doctor by the decisions he had made. And The Doctor is a time traveller and adventurer and that was a part of the man she loved. She'd really settle for this other man who was just willing to stay put in one place? Its like...Anti-Doctor. So in the end it seems she picked the man that looks like The Doctor but isn't quite him.
And what the hell happened to all the "Forever" crap she had been spouting in the last episodes when she was his companion. Sheesh.
Thirdly, Handy would just quietly and without complaint let The Doctor imprison him on a planet in an alternate universe? If Handy is just like The Doctor then he'd want to do what The Doctor does and travel around in the TARDIS. Again, Anti-Doctor.
Fourthly, After Rose kisses Handy she realizes The Doctor is leaving and gives a short little run after him. As Handy, I'd take that as a slap in the face. lol
Fifthly, Rose seemed to find it entirely too easy to reject the man she claims she loves by choosing his copy. *sigh*
It was a beautiful scene and so fantastically acted but I just felt it out of character for every single one of them. And I felt having the Rose/Ten story go this way it having her showing up like this kind of cheapened Doomsday for me. That was so heartbreaking and beautiful but bringing her back to The Doctor after that and having her choose Handy...it takes away a lot of that feeling from Doomsday for me, sadly. I wished they had left it alone. I wished they would have let the Doctor/Rose relationship end on that EPIC moment.
Now I'm rather annoyed with Rose and feel even less inclined to root for Ten/Rose. But I will always love me some Nine/Rose. I also felt a lot less chemistry in the scenes with Rose. I don't know if it was the rushed feel of the episodes or just cause Billie Piper's been out of the cast for so long. But she felt kind of cold and humorless to me.
Sixthly, This whole Ten/Rose thing came right before poor Donna's heartbreaking end. What kind of crap was that? See, too many stories. At that point in the story you kind of forgot Donna was there and that's just WRONG!!!!!! GIVE DONNA SOME RESPECT, plzkthxbye.
In helping to create Handy, Donna became part Time Lord like he had become part Human. But her human brain can't contain all the Time Lordness. And The Doctor knows he must save her, by erasing all memories of him and her adventures.
You take that beautiful character and give her a season of adventure and bonding/friendship with possibly the only person besides her grandfather who believes in her and then you just take it all away. Guh. Her desperation as The Doctor puts his hands to the sides of her head was so sad. And the scenes where The Doctor is explaining everything to her grandfather and mother and she walks in, having no clue who he is. Awwww *heartbreaks* Her grandfather telling The Doctor he'll look to the stars for her. I cried. Oh, did I cry.
Seventhly, Rose apparently loves The Doctor but doesn't choose him over his copy and leaves him to all this crap he has to endure and endure alone? Sheesh.
I find it very sad that this episode started by having The Doctor surrounded by his former companions/friends/loves and all of them fighting together but by the end he's more alone and heartbroken then I've ever seen the character.
jeeezus. This show likes to gut me, it really does. Let us end on a happier note. Things I loved about the episodes
Handy/Donna or DoctorDonna. OMG!! Why did they throw Handy off into the other universe and why did they erase Donna's mind? Those two were so brilliant! I loved their bitching at each other and their "Ha!" moment. Those two need their own spinoff. C'mon. Catherine Tate and David Tennant get your crap together! SPINOFF!
I loved the happy TARDIS. So wonderful that everybody was all giddy and friendly. Hugs all around! TARDIS ORGY! Jack would approve. The two Doctors and Jack's comment. Oooh boy. ;)
And I found it great that Donna was so so hellbent on giving Jack a hug. Everybody coming together to phone The Doctor was so cheesy but oh so fun. And like I said I loved the moment The Doctor turns and sees Rose and they go running to each other...but then a Dalek goes and ruins the moment. Stupid Dalek *glares*
There were tons of fantastic moments. Like I said, these episodes were full of moments but as a whole just hurt my head. Written by crazy fangirls, I say. And don't worry that I didn't go over like any of the plot and what was actually causing all the problems. Because it really doesn't matter and doesn't really make much sense. lmao
Where else but SciFi/Fantasy can you have a story that makes absolutely no sense and it doesn't matter cause you still love the hell out of it?
In conclusion. FUN TIMES!
I'm pissed at what they did to Donna. It broke my heart. But I must say...if you're a companion to The Doctor do not say you're going to travel with him forever or its all going to end in heartbreak. See, Rose did it and she got thrown into another reality. Donna did it and she got her brain erased. Martha didn't do it and she's living happily and still fighting evil aliens.
The whole Ten/Rose story could have best been done in a special instead of these episodes. I'll stick by that. Maybe the episode could have ended with Handy and Rose around when The Doctor had to erase Donna's mind. That way he wasn't all alone and then they could have ended the season and gone into a special that dealt with the Ten/Rose/Handy situation. Like with a threesome? Rawr.
I thought this season was great overall. Its up in the air on if I enjoyed Season 3 or Season 4 more. They both had very strong moments and then they had their weaker moments. After watching this season though, Season 3 was rather refreshing since its finale didn't revolve around Daleks. I know they're supposed to be the epic baddy of Doctor Who but there is such a thing as too much.
Season 1 = Daleks
Season 2 = Daleks (plus Cybermen)
Season 3 = The Master
Season 4 = Daleks
Which one was different and more fun? Hellz yeah, The Master.
whew, that was a lot of typing. I'm sorry. And I doubt anybody is going to read all of that. haha. At least I put up pictures this time.
Doctor Who:
4x10 - Midnight: I completely loved this episode. Everything about this episode was fantastic. Strangely it lacked Donna...except for her wonderful parts in the beginning and in the end. Their phone conversation at the start was too adorkable.
The Doctor and Donna are on a planet called Midnight and Donna chooses to stay and relax while The Doctor goes on a little trip to see some Sapphire Waterfalls or something. Of course...things go horribly wrong. Some monster ends up attacking the transport he's on and The Doctor along with the rest of the passengers are stuck with an alien who has apparently taken over a woman.
This episode is the brilliance of what can be done with just a room, actors and good writing. That's all this episode was. They were essentially in one little room the entire time and the entire episode was dialogue. BRILLIANT. I love this stuff. LOVE IT!
You never see a monster. We never even learn what the monster is or what it wants really. In the end the monster isn't what this episode is about. Its about the people. About humans and what they are capable of.
I was talking with
ladysophiekitty and mentioned the Angel episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been", which is one of my favorite Angel episodes, and then it occurred to me that this episode reminded me of that Angel episode. You have these two heroes/champions/outsiders who, for some reason, have an optimistic love for the human race and are always out battling monsters and aliens to save these humans. But in the end...what these two episodes reveal is that its humans themselves that are the most dangerous creatures and if put in extreme circumstances they are the monsters. In both episodes both The Doctor and Angel are trying to help but end up getting turned on out of fear and the people they were trying to save are what they need saving from.
This manifests in Angel getting hung from a balcony in a horrifying and tense scene. The passengers end up trying to drag The Doctor out of the transport and throw him out onto the planet where no living thing can survive in a scene that is just as horrifying and tense. Both these episodes gave me chills and left me with something deep to think about.
People, when put in a strange and scary situation will lash out at whatever seems different. And they lash out in terrifying and deadly ways.
And after the ordeal is over and the stewardess sacrificed herself to save everybody, the scene that followed was perfect. Nobody willing to look each other in the eye. Knowing they had just been about to kill a man who in the end was innocent and had only been trying to help them. The kind of haunted look on The Doctor's face was painful. Good thing Donna was there to give him some comfort. I loved her concern for him.
4x11 - Turn Left: And since last episode was short on Donna we get a nice episode with lots of Donna. But then...that means its lacking The Doctor. But Donna heroics make up for it! Awwww, Donna!!!
The Doctor and Donna land on a planet and have some weird beer. Thought I'd mention that cause I thought their beer drinking was another adorkable moment. Donna wanders off a bit and some strange woman beckons her into a little shop thing. Under the guise of reading or future or something and with the help of some roach creature she finds a moment in Donna's past that was a turning point for her. A moment where literally whichever way Donna chooses to turn on a road will determine the outcome of the world's future.
The woman makes Donna choose to turn right instead of left, I believe. And by making that choice she changes her entire future. She never ends up going to her temp job and meeting the man that she got engaged to and then doesn't get poisoned and sucked into the TARDIS to meet The Doctor and therefore isn't there when he faces the big spider woman to pull him back in his rage and he ends up dying. And throughout the episode all the events past that happen and don't get stopped. Martha ends up dying when the hospital is sucked up to the moon and its up to Torchwood to stop the ATMOS in the cars. And I think more people die from the fat Adipose things.
And throughout the episode Rose starts appearing. I just...I wish I had been a bit more excited but really with this weird dark and cryptic Rose, she kind of annoyed me. But she eventually gets Donna to come with her and shows her the bug on her back. Its up to Donna to travel back in time and make it so she doesn't make the wrong turn again, to fix the future.
She gets thrown back with very little time to stop herself. And in the end poor poor Donna has to sacrifice herself. She steps in front of a truck, killing herself, but causing an accident that stops traffic and her other self decides the hell with that and goes the correct way, fixing her future. Things all wind up and she finds herself on the planet with the weird woman again.
When The Doctor and her are talking over the dead roach creature it comes to light that she had met Rose and she tells the Doctor what she said, "Bad Wolf." DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!
I really enjoyed this episode and I know this is Donna's season and this episode revolved around her changing the future with her decision. But over the course of the last couple episodes I felt slapped over the head with the Donna's the most important woman in the universe stuff. in this aspect I would think any of The Doctor's companions would also have this in common with Donna. They all had that decision moment that would have led them to meet The Doctor and all had moments where they saved The Doctor's life. Just saying...
4x12 / 4x13 - The Stolen Earth / Journey's End: TOO MUCH STUFF!!
I tell you before you read this...I did have a fun fun fun time watching these two episodes. I did!!!! But I just have so many problems with them. A lot of this might come off as snarky or ranty, but I can't help it. I've had a few days to let these episodes simmer and now I must vent.
It felt like this finale was filled with so many fantastic little moments. But as a whole it lacked a lot. When all those moments got crammed together they didn't make a coherent thought. I don't know why they felt they needed to cram every person and all these stories into this finale but they did and came off to me as chaotic and rushed.
1. Too Many Characters: Was there really a need to have every single previous character show up? I get the idea of what they wanted to do, to show that The Doctor wasn't alone and he had gotten all these people to fight and stand up and that was lovely. But it ended up making a mess, in my opinion. Other then their awesomeness was there a reason for Mickey or Roses' mother to show up?! What the hell is Roses' mother going through universes and such for? And she didn't do anything. And Rose...well, I'll get to Rose.
2. Not Enough Donna: This was Donna's season as companion and like I said earlier I felt like I was getting slapped in the head with all this Donna is the most important woman in the universe. So why didn't she get some more love in these episodes? She was a secondary character for all about 15 minutes.
3. Rose: Though I did get a bit giddy when Rose and Ten see each other in the road and go running to each other, I must admit that there was no real reason for Rose to be there. She did absolutely nothing in these last two episodes except take attention away from other characters. In my opinion. I wish they hadn't brought her back for this, if they had to at all. They could of had her show up in "Turn Left" to help Donna but not show up here. But maybe in one of the future specials they could of had it revolving around this Rose story. Cause throwing it in here just distracted me and gave none of the stories enough time.
4. Ten/Rose/Handy: No, I'm not angry at Ten/Rose for stealing thunder from my Ten/Martha love. I just felt they handled this Ten/Rose thing all wrong. With bringing about the other Doctor, which someone referred to as Handy so that's what I'm going to call him, it seemed that really the only reason this hand was around for a season and a half was to let Rose have a Doctor. But c'mon! Really?
Firstly, Rose is really going to put up with The Doctor throwing her back into that alternate universe? Mickey stayed, why couldn't she? Really? And The Doctor is really going to take her back to that universe and imprison her again without consulting her?
Secondly, Rose says she loves THE DOCTOR but then picks Handy cause he has the balls to whisper something that one would assume was "I love you." in her ear? Cause in the end, he might be the same person essentially, but as we've already witnessed, he's not quite The Doctor by the decisions he had made. And The Doctor is a time traveller and adventurer and that was a part of the man she loved. She'd really settle for this other man who was just willing to stay put in one place? Its like...Anti-Doctor. So in the end it seems she picked the man that looks like The Doctor but isn't quite him.
And what the hell happened to all the "Forever" crap she had been spouting in the last episodes when she was his companion. Sheesh.
Thirdly, Handy would just quietly and without complaint let The Doctor imprison him on a planet in an alternate universe? If Handy is just like The Doctor then he'd want to do what The Doctor does and travel around in the TARDIS. Again, Anti-Doctor.
Fourthly, After Rose kisses Handy she realizes The Doctor is leaving and gives a short little run after him. As Handy, I'd take that as a slap in the face. lol
Fifthly, Rose seemed to find it entirely too easy to reject the man she claims she loves by choosing his copy. *sigh*
It was a beautiful scene and so fantastically acted but I just felt it out of character for every single one of them. And I felt having the Rose/Ten story go this way it having her showing up like this kind of cheapened Doomsday for me. That was so heartbreaking and beautiful but bringing her back to The Doctor after that and having her choose Handy...it takes away a lot of that feeling from Doomsday for me, sadly. I wished they had left it alone. I wished they would have let the Doctor/Rose relationship end on that EPIC moment.
Now I'm rather annoyed with Rose and feel even less inclined to root for Ten/Rose. But I will always love me some Nine/Rose. I also felt a lot less chemistry in the scenes with Rose. I don't know if it was the rushed feel of the episodes or just cause Billie Piper's been out of the cast for so long. But she felt kind of cold and humorless to me.
Sixthly, This whole Ten/Rose thing came right before poor Donna's heartbreaking end. What kind of crap was that? See, too many stories. At that point in the story you kind of forgot Donna was there and that's just WRONG!!!!!! GIVE DONNA SOME RESPECT, plzkthxbye.
In helping to create Handy, Donna became part Time Lord like he had become part Human. But her human brain can't contain all the Time Lordness. And The Doctor knows he must save her, by erasing all memories of him and her adventures.
You take that beautiful character and give her a season of adventure and bonding/friendship with possibly the only person besides her grandfather who believes in her and then you just take it all away. Guh. Her desperation as The Doctor puts his hands to the sides of her head was so sad. And the scenes where The Doctor is explaining everything to her grandfather and mother and she walks in, having no clue who he is. Awwww *heartbreaks* Her grandfather telling The Doctor he'll look to the stars for her. I cried. Oh, did I cry.
Seventhly, Rose apparently loves The Doctor but doesn't choose him over his copy and leaves him to all this crap he has to endure and endure alone? Sheesh.
I find it very sad that this episode started by having The Doctor surrounded by his former companions/friends/loves and all of them fighting together but by the end he's more alone and heartbroken then I've ever seen the character.
jeeezus. This show likes to gut me, it really does. Let us end on a happier note. Things I loved about the episodes
Handy/Donna or DoctorDonna. OMG!! Why did they throw Handy off into the other universe and why did they erase Donna's mind? Those two were so brilliant! I loved their bitching at each other and their "Ha!" moment. Those two need their own spinoff. C'mon. Catherine Tate and David Tennant get your crap together! SPINOFF!
I loved the happy TARDIS. So wonderful that everybody was all giddy and friendly. Hugs all around! TARDIS ORGY! Jack would approve. The two Doctors and Jack's comment. Oooh boy. ;)
And I found it great that Donna was so so hellbent on giving Jack a hug. Everybody coming together to phone The Doctor was so cheesy but oh so fun. And like I said I loved the moment The Doctor turns and sees Rose and they go running to each other...but then a Dalek goes and ruins the moment. Stupid Dalek *glares*
There were tons of fantastic moments. Like I said, these episodes were full of moments but as a whole just hurt my head. Written by crazy fangirls, I say. And don't worry that I didn't go over like any of the plot and what was actually causing all the problems. Because it really doesn't matter and doesn't really make much sense. lmao
Where else but SciFi/Fantasy can you have a story that makes absolutely no sense and it doesn't matter cause you still love the hell out of it?
In conclusion. FUN TIMES!
I'm pissed at what they did to Donna. It broke my heart. But I must say...if you're a companion to The Doctor do not say you're going to travel with him forever or its all going to end in heartbreak. See, Rose did it and she got thrown into another reality. Donna did it and she got her brain erased. Martha didn't do it and she's living happily and still fighting evil aliens.
The whole Ten/Rose story could have best been done in a special instead of these episodes. I'll stick by that. Maybe the episode could have ended with Handy and Rose around when The Doctor had to erase Donna's mind. That way he wasn't all alone and then they could have ended the season and gone into a special that dealt with the Ten/Rose/Handy situation. Like with a threesome? Rawr.
I thought this season was great overall. Its up in the air on if I enjoyed Season 3 or Season 4 more. They both had very strong moments and then they had their weaker moments. After watching this season though, Season 3 was rather refreshing since its finale didn't revolve around Daleks. I know they're supposed to be the epic baddy of Doctor Who but there is such a thing as too much.
Season 1 = Daleks
Season 2 = Daleks (plus Cybermen)
Season 3 = The Master
Season 4 = Daleks
Which one was different and more fun? Hellz yeah, The Master.
whew, that was a lot of typing. I'm sorry. And I doubt anybody is going to read all of that. haha. At least I put up pictures this time.
