jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2012-07-07 11:40 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2012-07-07 11:40 pm
Entry tags:
100 Reviews: 14
Okay, I decided tonight I was doing some Doctor Who. And eps for the slot of one.
Doctor Who: 1x04/1x05: Aliens of London/World War Three
These episodes get a bad rep in fandom, mostly because...well, farting aliens. But I don’t care, I FREALING LOVE THESE EPISODES, farting aliens and all (mostly everything else though).
First off, I’m fine with the cheese; farts, defeated by vinegar, random flashing lights, visible zippers, giggles, and all. Bad puns? bring it. Mickey running into walls? okay by me. Soap operay acting and directing in part? I can roll with it. In some ways I love all these things more in retrospect than I did at the time (and I never disliked them all that much) because I know just how serious the show will be. And I do like cheese.
But most of why I love this episode is I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR. This is where I really fell for the Doctor, cemented my love for Rose, started me legitimately loving Jackie and Mickey, introduced us to the awesome that is Harriet Jones (MP Flydale North), AND got me to jump on ship with Doctor/Rose. (Plus introducing our k-list news reporter characters and someone who may or may not have been Tosh)
I think it probably says something that the moment I fell for Nine was at his most Ten-ish (and yes I watched them in order so it wasn’t retroactively connecting the characters in my head). Him getting all broken up over the pig was what made me love him. How I remember this is not clear, but I do remember that. I think it was because we’d seen him fairly hard through the first three eps and then to see that he DOES care about the smallest of creatures, the most helpless and unjustly used, really made the character pop for me. It’s one thing to have a darkish not quite anti-hero as your lead, but I prefer it when there’s multiple sides to that rather than just being removed from things.
I’ve discussed at length over the years how this episode got me on board with the most excellent ship Doctor/Rose with one line: “I could save the world but lose you.” At the time I was feeling really jaded about TV romance; writers are perfectly willing to ship tease but completely unwilling to allow forward motion on even their designated ships and I assumed Doctor/Rose was just going to be another instance of that. But that line changed my outlook completely. That’s not the kind of line you use (between characters you’re also ship teasing) if you’re not willing to DO something with it. (Of course it also helped that I’d fully embraced the Doctor’s character by then as I wouldn’t have been inclined to ship my baby Rose with a character I didn’t care for.)
The episode is chock full of great moments, even if I can understand how people don’t care for the episode. The great character moments for human characters more than make up for it with me.
Early in AoL the Doctor says that first contact is when the human race grows up, and the rest of the two-parter shows how true that is. Even if the world at large stays unaware the characters who are put through the events have to step up in large and small ways, and are changed by it.
Rose finds herself in a very Doctor role for the first time. She almost has an outsider’s perspective on what’s happening. She’s able to judge events from the perspective of someone who knows how small it actually is. She’s looking to understand what’s happening but not really part of events. Yet at the same time, she has to be very concerned with her own life, dealing with Jackie and Mickey and how her absence has changed them.
But I want to touch on another couple bits of Rose = the Doctor. First there’s Mickey’s “I waited for you, looked for a police box on every street corner” speech, which is basically what other companions especially Sarah Jane will say about the Doctor. Rose is the one who leaves, and people are left waiting for her to come back, not the one who does the waiting. And then there’s her interactions with Harriet. Rose is really playing a very Doctor role in their conversations, sussing out what Harriet’s figured out, not volunteering information, leading her around as they run from the Slitheen, even the Doctor’s reaction of “Who the hell are you?” when he and Harriet meet mirrors what is often the companion’s reaction to the Doctor’s friend-of-the-episode. Basically, Rose is written in ways that mirrors and compliment the Doctor, rather than being written to be the Doctor’s companion. She’s still very human but she’s already starting to get a little larger than life.
She’s also a very violent young woman when she needs to be, perfectly willing to lay down her life if it’s necessary, but not going to just lie down and accept it without putting up a fight. Gods I love Rose.
The writing of Jackie and Mickey in these eps is what makes me very quickly forgive RTD for the way they were written back in “Rose.” Here they were treated as real characters rather than obstacles for Rose to get away from. There’s still some of that, the implication that Rose is...not necessarily better than them, but she’s a bigger person by outgrowing them. But they’re able to grow too. Jackie’s growth is fairly small, but when she tells Mickey she could stop him and then doesn’t she’s taking her first steps to understanding the larger concerns that Rose now worries about. Mickey’s is more overt, being their hacking and leg work guy while our leads are trapped in a box but he realizes that even if the Doctor calls him an idiot he’s not useless or incapable of helping.
And then there’s Harriet Jones, Prime Minister of my heart. Even at my most critical or wanting to fit in with fandom moments I will defend this episode to the death for her sake. This episode gave us Harriet, arguments against it are invalid. Have I mentioned I love Harriet? I can’t even pick out my favorite moments because I’d just end up listing all of them. But I want to draw particular attention to the moment she steps up and takes the decision off the Doctor’s shoulders because she knows what has to be done and doesn’t have to let him carry it. Between the way Jackie’s picking at his conscience and his “save the world but lose you” feelings he couldn’t make the call; even with Rose telling him she was cool with it. Harriet made the choice, she stood up and took control of the fate of the planet. I’m not even sure it’s her best moment of the episode, but it is her big damn hero moment.
Note again how I don’t give to fugs about the villains or the plot outside of how it mattered to the characters and how they grew. I really don’t care one way or another; it’s not great, it’s not as awful as people make it out to be. In all the ways that matter to me this two-parter is awesome.
But really, was that Tosh? I can’t remember if we ever got that confirmed one way or another.
Next time:
Probably back to TVD, but we’ll see.
Obligatory link for if you want to make suggestions
Doctor Who: 1x04/1x05: Aliens of London/World War Three
These episodes get a bad rep in fandom, mostly because...well, farting aliens. But I don’t care, I FREALING LOVE THESE EPISODES, farting aliens and all (mostly everything else though).
First off, I’m fine with the cheese; farts, defeated by vinegar, random flashing lights, visible zippers, giggles, and all. Bad puns? bring it. Mickey running into walls? okay by me. Soap operay acting and directing in part? I can roll with it. In some ways I love all these things more in retrospect than I did at the time (and I never disliked them all that much) because I know just how serious the show will be. And I do like cheese.
But most of why I love this episode is I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR. This is where I really fell for the Doctor, cemented my love for Rose, started me legitimately loving Jackie and Mickey, introduced us to the awesome that is Harriet Jones (MP Flydale North), AND got me to jump on ship with Doctor/Rose. (Plus introducing our k-list news reporter characters and someone who may or may not have been Tosh)
I think it probably says something that the moment I fell for Nine was at his most Ten-ish (and yes I watched them in order so it wasn’t retroactively connecting the characters in my head). Him getting all broken up over the pig was what made me love him. How I remember this is not clear, but I do remember that. I think it was because we’d seen him fairly hard through the first three eps and then to see that he DOES care about the smallest of creatures, the most helpless and unjustly used, really made the character pop for me. It’s one thing to have a darkish not quite anti-hero as your lead, but I prefer it when there’s multiple sides to that rather than just being removed from things.
I’ve discussed at length over the years how this episode got me on board with the most excellent ship Doctor/Rose with one line: “I could save the world but lose you.” At the time I was feeling really jaded about TV romance; writers are perfectly willing to ship tease but completely unwilling to allow forward motion on even their designated ships and I assumed Doctor/Rose was just going to be another instance of that. But that line changed my outlook completely. That’s not the kind of line you use (between characters you’re also ship teasing) if you’re not willing to DO something with it. (Of course it also helped that I’d fully embraced the Doctor’s character by then as I wouldn’t have been inclined to ship my baby Rose with a character I didn’t care for.)
The episode is chock full of great moments, even if I can understand how people don’t care for the episode. The great character moments for human characters more than make up for it with me.
Early in AoL the Doctor says that first contact is when the human race grows up, and the rest of the two-parter shows how true that is. Even if the world at large stays unaware the characters who are put through the events have to step up in large and small ways, and are changed by it.
Rose finds herself in a very Doctor role for the first time. She almost has an outsider’s perspective on what’s happening. She’s able to judge events from the perspective of someone who knows how small it actually is. She’s looking to understand what’s happening but not really part of events. Yet at the same time, she has to be very concerned with her own life, dealing with Jackie and Mickey and how her absence has changed them.
But I want to touch on another couple bits of Rose = the Doctor. First there’s Mickey’s “I waited for you, looked for a police box on every street corner” speech, which is basically what other companions especially Sarah Jane will say about the Doctor. Rose is the one who leaves, and people are left waiting for her to come back, not the one who does the waiting. And then there’s her interactions with Harriet. Rose is really playing a very Doctor role in their conversations, sussing out what Harriet’s figured out, not volunteering information, leading her around as they run from the Slitheen, even the Doctor’s reaction of “Who the hell are you?” when he and Harriet meet mirrors what is often the companion’s reaction to the Doctor’s friend-of-the-episode. Basically, Rose is written in ways that mirrors and compliment the Doctor, rather than being written to be the Doctor’s companion. She’s still very human but she’s already starting to get a little larger than life.
She’s also a very violent young woman when she needs to be, perfectly willing to lay down her life if it’s necessary, but not going to just lie down and accept it without putting up a fight. Gods I love Rose.
The writing of Jackie and Mickey in these eps is what makes me very quickly forgive RTD for the way they were written back in “Rose.” Here they were treated as real characters rather than obstacles for Rose to get away from. There’s still some of that, the implication that Rose is...not necessarily better than them, but she’s a bigger person by outgrowing them. But they’re able to grow too. Jackie’s growth is fairly small, but when she tells Mickey she could stop him and then doesn’t she’s taking her first steps to understanding the larger concerns that Rose now worries about. Mickey’s is more overt, being their hacking and leg work guy while our leads are trapped in a box but he realizes that even if the Doctor calls him an idiot he’s not useless or incapable of helping.
And then there’s Harriet Jones, Prime Minister of my heart. Even at my most critical or wanting to fit in with fandom moments I will defend this episode to the death for her sake. This episode gave us Harriet, arguments against it are invalid. Have I mentioned I love Harriet? I can’t even pick out my favorite moments because I’d just end up listing all of them. But I want to draw particular attention to the moment she steps up and takes the decision off the Doctor’s shoulders because she knows what has to be done and doesn’t have to let him carry it. Between the way Jackie’s picking at his conscience and his “save the world but lose you” feelings he couldn’t make the call; even with Rose telling him she was cool with it. Harriet made the choice, she stood up and took control of the fate of the planet. I’m not even sure it’s her best moment of the episode, but it is her big damn hero moment.
Note again how I don’t give to fugs about the villains or the plot outside of how it mattered to the characters and how they grew. I really don’t care one way or another; it’s not great, it’s not as awful as people make it out to be. In all the ways that matter to me this two-parter is awesome.
But really, was that Tosh? I can’t remember if we ever got that confirmed one way or another.
Next time:
Probably back to TVD, but we’ll see.
Obligatory link for if you want to make suggestions