TRB pic recap 3/3
Jul. 13th, 2007 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthAlright, I finally made it back to finish up this one, hopefully I'll find time to finish off the S&J one this weekend, and maybe start on TSC. But for now, enjoy the end of TRB..
-Lance’s part makes more sense to me now, this season kept taking all those things the Doctor used to love about humans and showing him the dark side.
That human spirit to explore and see the universe; from Rose, team Bitter Pill, Reinette, Mickey; they wanted to see what was out there, but they would never have been Lance. The Rachnos can’t help what they are, but Lance could, not exactly humanity at its shiniest.
-I’m a little confused as to what we’re supposed to take away from the Rachnos being the center of the Earth. That the Earth wouldn’t exist without them? Maybe I’m over thinking the imagery, but somehow it doesn’t sit right. Also, don’t you love how I skip over all the action and plot for an excuse to talk about the shiny effects?
-I remember being very confused that the Doctor had the extrapolator. I can’t help but wonder if RTD got wind of how we all assumed Jack had it and so felt he had to establish that the Doctor did. At the time it just seemed odd, because the Doctor took the time to collect the extrapolator but not Jack? At least that part makes more sense now, but he's still a big abandoning abandoner who abandons.
-“And you have never been so quiet.”
Still cracks me up, there he is explaining stuff and he knows she’s not there because she’s not talking.
-He wanted to give the Rachnos a chance, but he won’t give them a second chance, he’s that sort of man.
-Bigger on the inside pockets.
Got to be Time Lord science, and the idea is odd, but it’s still funny.
-This makes me hope he and Rose did have long talks about Gallifrey, because I’d hate to think the first time he talked about it after the Time War it was part of threatening the Rachnos that he when prepared to commit genocide again.
-He also tells the Rachnos that she did this, which is odd, because usually he’s such a ‘This is all my fault,’ kind of guy. He’s skirting the brink here (the entire scene is about that), he’s nearly lost himself and he needs someone to stop him.
-It’s like he doesn’t care anymore, standing there, listening to the screams and watching it happen, again. This is the Oncoming Storm, no wonder it scares Donna away.
I think he cares just enough to see what he’s doing and know it’s not him, not who he was, but he can’t find the voice that tells him to stop. So Donna has to become that voice, the one Martha never became, the one Rose was but he won’t hear anymore. It’ll be so nice to have Donna back (not as nice as Rose, but that’s not the issue).
-Again with my wondering what happened afterwards.
Were there problems caused by the water flooding the Earth’s core? Did the Thames get refilled? Didn’t anyone, you know, notice? Though between Saxon, UNIT, and Torchwood I’d believe it got covered up decently I suppose. Why was this never referenced on Torchwood?
-I’m glad Donna got cleared of huon particles, but I can’t help but feel that gives her a link in. I’m also glad this did absolutely nothing for her hatred of Christmas, that would have been cheesy and stupid. The snow is just cheesy but it is kind of cute.
-In a lot of ways he asked her for all the wrong reasons. He needed someone more than he wanted her even if she had proven herself quite capable and will no doubt make an excellent companion.
But in a lot of ways, she said no for all the right reasons, she’d already done the “growing” needed to get out and see the world, make a difference, on her own, and she shouldn’t have said yes just because he needed someone to stop him. And I hope and suspect that when she says yes she’ll say yes for the right reasons, and I hope he’ll ask for the right reasons; because they make a good team seeing the universe and saving the world and they can take the show on the road.
-It’s been a while since we just appreciated DT’s prettiness, so let’s take a moment.
-He doesn’t do domestic, not anymore.
She even knows that he did it before (something Martha never knew), but he’s ready to go; she’s said no, that won’t be home, even if she’s said yes it wouldn’t have been. This from the man that had reached the point of voluntarily going with Rose to see Jackie, and Christmas dinners; he didn’t have to, but he did because that’s family. Now he looks quite uncomfortable with the idea.
-“Am I ever going to see you again?”
“If I’m lucky.”
And we know he is, and now we know he will see her again, so it makes sense. But the first few times through, all I could hear was the echo of Rose in Doomsday and so filled in the “You can’t,” and so on, with all the appropriate crying.
-He even claims he doesn’t need anyone, which we know is a lie, and Donna already sees it.
He needs someone to stop him, he knows he needs someone along. But he doesn’t want “someone”, he wants his someone and she’s impossibly far away.
-And the all important last line of the episode, “Her name was Rose.”
-The TARDIS blasts off in an effort to distract us from the sadness, but it really doesn’t succeed.
It’s an interesting take off, and Donna heads off to be magnificent, but it’s inescapable that this was still Rose’s story, and she’s only mentioned by name once. This is where she belongs, and she’s still there, she took him in, she stole his heart, he cannot roam no more.
If this isn’t my favorite story of the season it’s close, largely because it manages to balance the characters, the plot, and the larger emotional arc within the story. Donna is magnificent, and I’m sure she will be next year too. She may have been bristly and thick, but she’s got some much potential, so much untapped potential, but at the same time she is sure of herself and her beliefs and she makes them known. She doesn’t seem to be a caretaker type (which both Rose and Martha were within their families) but she manages to offer the Doctor more genuine compassion and guidance in one episode than Martha did all season.
And the grief, this is the most the grief is allowed to play an active role all season, after this it become much more subtextual but still driving force. Here it still hurts to even think about her, here she cannot be the name that keeps him fighting because talking about her is too painful, here he can’t pretend. He’ll learn to live with it, he has to, but right now, his body’s tired of traveling and his heart don’t wish to roam, and he misses his Rose.
Wow, that section really did turn out to be just a lot of pictures of DT, maybe I didn't need to set time out to appreciate the prettiness after all, but he really was acting his little heart out in this episode (and all season really) particularly these last few scenes.
Anyway, hope you liked.
-Lance’s part makes more sense to me now, this season kept taking all those things the Doctor used to love about humans and showing him the dark side.
That human spirit to explore and see the universe; from Rose, team Bitter Pill, Reinette, Mickey; they wanted to see what was out there, but they would never have been Lance. The Rachnos can’t help what they are, but Lance could, not exactly humanity at its shiniest.
-I’m a little confused as to what we’re supposed to take away from the Rachnos being the center of the Earth. That the Earth wouldn’t exist without them? Maybe I’m over thinking the imagery, but somehow it doesn’t sit right. Also, don’t you love how I skip over all the action and plot for an excuse to talk about the shiny effects?
-I remember being very confused that the Doctor had the extrapolator. I can’t help but wonder if RTD got wind of how we all assumed Jack had it and so felt he had to establish that the Doctor did. At the time it just seemed odd, because the Doctor took the time to collect the extrapolator but not Jack? At least that part makes more sense now, but he's still a big abandoning abandoner who abandons.
-“And you have never been so quiet.”
Still cracks me up, there he is explaining stuff and he knows she’s not there because she’s not talking.
-He wanted to give the Rachnos a chance, but he won’t give them a second chance, he’s that sort of man.
-Bigger on the inside pockets.
Got to be Time Lord science, and the idea is odd, but it’s still funny.
-This makes me hope he and Rose did have long talks about Gallifrey, because I’d hate to think the first time he talked about it after the Time War it was part of threatening the Rachnos that he when prepared to commit genocide again.
-He also tells the Rachnos that she did this, which is odd, because usually he’s such a ‘This is all my fault,’ kind of guy. He’s skirting the brink here (the entire scene is about that), he’s nearly lost himself and he needs someone to stop him.
-It’s like he doesn’t care anymore, standing there, listening to the screams and watching it happen, again. This is the Oncoming Storm, no wonder it scares Donna away.
I think he cares just enough to see what he’s doing and know it’s not him, not who he was, but he can’t find the voice that tells him to stop. So Donna has to become that voice, the one Martha never became, the one Rose was but he won’t hear anymore. It’ll be so nice to have Donna back (not as nice as Rose, but that’s not the issue).
-Again with my wondering what happened afterwards.
Were there problems caused by the water flooding the Earth’s core? Did the Thames get refilled? Didn’t anyone, you know, notice? Though between Saxon, UNIT, and Torchwood I’d believe it got covered up decently I suppose. Why was this never referenced on Torchwood?
-I’m glad Donna got cleared of huon particles, but I can’t help but feel that gives her a link in. I’m also glad this did absolutely nothing for her hatred of Christmas, that would have been cheesy and stupid. The snow is just cheesy but it is kind of cute.
-In a lot of ways he asked her for all the wrong reasons. He needed someone more than he wanted her even if she had proven herself quite capable and will no doubt make an excellent companion.
But in a lot of ways, she said no for all the right reasons, she’d already done the “growing” needed to get out and see the world, make a difference, on her own, and she shouldn’t have said yes just because he needed someone to stop him. And I hope and suspect that when she says yes she’ll say yes for the right reasons, and I hope he’ll ask for the right reasons; because they make a good team seeing the universe and saving the world and they can take the show on the road.
-It’s been a while since we just appreciated DT’s prettiness, so let’s take a moment.
-He doesn’t do domestic, not anymore.
She even knows that he did it before (something Martha never knew), but he’s ready to go; she’s said no, that won’t be home, even if she’s said yes it wouldn’t have been. This from the man that had reached the point of voluntarily going with Rose to see Jackie, and Christmas dinners; he didn’t have to, but he did because that’s family. Now he looks quite uncomfortable with the idea.
-“Am I ever going to see you again?”
“If I’m lucky.”
And we know he is, and now we know he will see her again, so it makes sense. But the first few times through, all I could hear was the echo of Rose in Doomsday and so filled in the “You can’t,” and so on, with all the appropriate crying.
-He even claims he doesn’t need anyone, which we know is a lie, and Donna already sees it.
He needs someone to stop him, he knows he needs someone along. But he doesn’t want “someone”, he wants his someone and she’s impossibly far away.
-And the all important last line of the episode, “Her name was Rose.”
-The TARDIS blasts off in an effort to distract us from the sadness, but it really doesn’t succeed.
It’s an interesting take off, and Donna heads off to be magnificent, but it’s inescapable that this was still Rose’s story, and she’s only mentioned by name once. This is where she belongs, and she’s still there, she took him in, she stole his heart, he cannot roam no more.
If this isn’t my favorite story of the season it’s close, largely because it manages to balance the characters, the plot, and the larger emotional arc within the story. Donna is magnificent, and I’m sure she will be next year too. She may have been bristly and thick, but she’s got some much potential, so much untapped potential, but at the same time she is sure of herself and her beliefs and she makes them known. She doesn’t seem to be a caretaker type (which both Rose and Martha were within their families) but she manages to offer the Doctor more genuine compassion and guidance in one episode than Martha did all season.
And the grief, this is the most the grief is allowed to play an active role all season, after this it become much more subtextual but still driving force. Here it still hurts to even think about her, here she cannot be the name that keeps him fighting because talking about her is too painful, here he can’t pretend. He’ll learn to live with it, he has to, but right now, his body’s tired of traveling and his heart don’t wish to roam, and he misses his Rose.
Wow, that section really did turn out to be just a lot of pictures of DT, maybe I didn't need to set time out to appreciate the prettiness after all, but he really was acting his little heart out in this episode (and all season really) particularly these last few scenes.
Anyway, hope you liked.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 09:29 pm (UTC)RTD did say that they were specifically laying it on thick with Donna in TRB because hers was a transient role. I'm thinking we're going to see her be a bit more along the lines of Tegan - grown-up, bristly and skeptical, but not without compassion.
I think regardless of one's opinion of the Doctor/Rose dynamic, it was only natural that thoughts of her predominated over this episode - some folks seem to forget that the special all takes place within just a few hours of their final farewell. schneef
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 10:40 pm (UTC)I agree with you on both counts, that if they'd thought they could have CT-Donna, Martha wouldn't have been invented, but they didn't just get rid of Martha because now they knew CT was willing to be on the show, I think if her story arc makes sense it is helped a lot by the fact that she left in the end.
I'm thinking we're going to see her be a bit more along the lines of Tegan - grown-up, bristly and skeptical, but not without compassion.
That sounds likely, and likable to me, I liked Tegan, and using the basic type of character but giving it a different spin, update to 20th century, and allowing for the change in the Doctor's characterization, Donna as Tegan-ish will be great but not the same.
it was only natural that thoughts of her predominated over this episode - some folks seem to forget that the special all takes place within just a few hours of their final farewell
Also word. If this episode hadn't taken place *right* after Doomsday I could see people arguing the usual the Doctor moves on stuff, but it does take place right then, in the immediate aftermath of saying goodbye to Rose who even if she wasn't the love of his life (though I of course think she was) was a very close friend who he misses and is grieving for. By the time the end of TRB rolls around it's maybe been six hours since the end of Doomsday, he's still practically in shock much less over it.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 10:31 pm (UTC)Oh, I liked. And I agree—“The Runaway Bride” was definitely one of my favorite episodes this season. (And there were a lot of good ones, despite the angst.) Thanks for putting this together.