Smith and Jones
Okay, first the gripe. Is it just me, or is New Who suddenly campier than it ever was? Like seriously. It was all dark and stuff in the first season. In the second one, even. I mean, I wasn't real fond of the over-emoness of it from time to time, but it was all grown up and stuff. It was nice to have Who that you could take seriously. And now we've got spider women chewing the scenery and old ladies drinking blood - WITH A STRAW.
Tell me how you can take it seriously with the straw?
Rusty, come on.
Overall, though - awesome. Dude, it's a Tennant Doctor episode, I'm not sure how it could be anything but. It was so full of cute and squee and awesome, I was grinning and giggling through the whole dang thing.
Handholding though? Too soon! Especially given the angst level of Runaway Bride. If he's angsting that hard over Rose (as well he should be), how is it time to be holding hands with Companions again? (Zooming in, just to rub it in, too.)
Kissing? Okay seriously Doctor. Just cos you saved Rose with a kiss, and Jack kissed you, and Cassandra!Rose kissed you, that doesn't mean you get to go around kissing any bloody human you feel like. There are ever so many other ways you could have transferred alien DNA. SERIOUSLY. I mean, god, you coulda licked her forehead. And apparently it wasn't just any kiss, either, so NONE OF THAT NOW, you horny Time Lord.
Most awesome moment ever? The Doctor mouthing along with "It's bigger on the inside.." and then snapping right back into cheerful enthusiasm. BEST. MOMENT. EVER.
My mate says "Wouldn't it be awesome to see a montage of 'bigger on the inside' quotes?" To which I say... do you have ANY idea how long it would take to assemble that?! You'd have to watch EVERY episode ever, cause there's gonna be instances in non-Companion-Introduction episodes, cos occasionally someone non-Companion-y gets to say it. Then, do you count the audios? Cos it happens there, too! Your montage, aside from taking years to assemble, would take days to play out!
The CSO in this episode was dreadful, recalling older, cheaper days of Who. Guys, if you can't do the greenscreen well, don't do it at all, mkay? Maybe it was just watching it on the big screen here at my mate's house (his iMac has a HUGE screen) made it seem worse, but geez.
The Judoon, though, those were pretty cool. Or should I say that ONE was pretty cool, cos it was just dashed convenient how only ONE took of its helmet, wasn't it? Still, that's an awful lot of prosthetic and animatronic work to go to, so I will just assume that the budget that could have gone to the CSO went to the prosthetic department instead. That's the only way I can justify the suckage.
Martha totally passed like every "Companion Test" ever. You could see it on the Doctor's face. The evaluation. She's smart. Smart in a different way from Rose. And brave in a different way. It's a good thing to have another smart and brave Companion but still manage to have her be different. I can't exactly explain HOW she's different. She just is.
Things that made me laugh: The Judoon scanning people and then just MAKING X'S ON THEIR HANDS. How funny was that? Big rhino aliens, and they tag you with a black marker! Shapeshifter drinking blood with a straw. What is this, a Tropicana ad? Seriously! The Doctor explaining that you can't interfere with set events, except for cheap tricks. Rawk. The screaming people in the hospital. Just tell me that wasn't funny. Martha's dad's girlfriend. Trophy, much? Leather robots, and the fetish remark. Priceless... a little bit of Jack rubbed off on the Doctor, evidently. (Okay, okay, I see the innuendo there! Mercy!) The Doctor explaining that no, it IS a Sonic Screwdriver.
Things that were cute: The Doctor winking at Martha when she discovers his extra heart. The eyebrow when he explains he's an alien. The sadness over losing the sonic screwdriver. The just... Ten being Ten. I mean really.
I was soooo slow on the uptake with the proving time travel bit. I'm going "But the only way he could prove it is if he went back into her past, and that wouldn't even make sense! Cos if he goes into the future, well he can do that without time travel and..." he reappears holding the tie, I stare for a minute, the gears turn, and then... "ohhhhhhhhhhh." I had utterly forgotten that little bit by then. A fact that they surely counted on in the writing - for the ten year olds in the audience.
In my defense, I did catch on with the transferring alien DNA to Marth bit, well before they actually got on to explaining it. As soon as he said it means nothing, I knew he was going for the kiss. When I knew he was going for the kiss, I knew he was transferring DNA. I still think it was a crappy way to do it. They're just getting kiss-happy now! Grmph.
I've read we see more of Martha's family. I can't say I'm looking forward to it. When can we get back to Companions with nothing to lose where they come from, nothing to go back to, so that you don't get tied down with the domestics? I realise that that's not really Rusty's way... but that's one of the little niggling things that irritates me about his style.
Okay, only a few more weeks until Jack! How sad is it that I'm waiting for that already? I hear new Torchwood might not even start airing till 2008, cause of Barrowman's filming schedule. Gaaa... I don't want to wait till then!!
Overall, so very very glad Who is back. I just hope the newfound campiness dies down a bit before people stop finding the show "cool" again.