series 3 rewatch thoughts: part 2, + torchwood
Torchwood on Friday! It is weird to be excited by Torchwood but so it goes. I've been popcorngiffing over all the wank, too. Torchwood wank is some of my favourite wank. If I had a dollar for every time someone used the word "Gwenwood" without any awareness that Gwen was always the main character, I would have many dollars. Also the more Torchwood fandom bitches about her the more fond I get, despite the fact that I actually did not enjoy her either in s1 or s2. KEEP GOING FANDOM. Maybe you can make me a stan by Friday.
Anyway, here is part 2 of my series 3 rewatch thoughts. Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords apparently inspire so many feelings they need their own post, who knew.
42: Ugh Chibnall. This episode is still like "The Impossible Planet 2: Now with 200% Less Awesome!" The plot, ehhhhhh. I am more or less ambivalent to the crew so I do not care when they get burned, and the big goofy helmet and gardening gloves on the villain crack me up. Ten's agonized speeches about the sun's pain~ are awkward for me because lol poor David Tennant is trying so hard but the content is just so funny to me. SUNS ARE PEOPLE TOO. SOMETIMES. APPARENTLY. BURN WITH MEEEEEEE. Most of all I cannot and will not get over the dumb fucking security system oh my god it is so stupid WHY WOULD IT BE TRIVIA THIS IS NOT SECURITY ANYONE WITH AN IPHONE CAN ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AND ALSO YOU CANNOT EVEN ANSWER THEM AND YOU WERE DRUNK WHEN YOU MADE THEM AND AUGHHH YOU ALL DESERVE TO BURN WITH THE MAGICAL SENTIENT SUN FOR THIS IDIOCY.
Martha's key scene continues to be.. sort of... awkward. The way she holds out her hands eeeeugh IDK it is like the worst aspect of the Ten/Martha dynamic all up in yo face. Their run-y lift-y Satan Pit hug was cute though, I will give this episode that.
Is this episode in realtime? I tried to figure it out by watching the runtime but I got confused/didn't start watching at the exact right moment so I don't actually know.
Human Nature/Family of Blood: SUDDENLY, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Oh god I love these episodes. Considering what I said earlier about how the Doctor/companion relationship and dynamic is my favourite part, it is perhaps a bit strange that my top 3 includes a Doctor-lite, a companion-lite, and these episodes, which are kind of like Doctor-lite. BUT THEY ARE JUST SO GOOD.
Martha is great. That is the main thing I have gotten out of this s3 rewatch. It does not surrise me, but it's been a while since I saw s3 so I am being pleasantly reminded of just how smart she is. Turning off the car in Gridlock, figuring out the Dalekanium thing and then rigging up the lightning-weapon against the pigslaves, the ~DNA sample from Lazarus, the... well... let's just ignore 42 in general, and then basically being awesome all throughout these episodes. The trick with Jenny is so clever, I am dazzled every time.
John and Joan are... kind of unremarkable to me, but I think that is kind of the point. Poor Joan, her life sucks. I love the smackdown she gives Ten at the end, get it Joan. On the bright side she will find happiness apparently and Ten will die alone, so she gets the last laugh there. John Smith is... a dude from 1913, which sort of necessitates him being kind of a dick. Still kind of a dick, though. (WORST TIME PERIOD CHOICE EVER, DOCTOR, FYI.) I like the way he contrasts with Ten, though, and hey, David Tennant gets to show off a bit.
The Family are creepy villains even if Harry Lloyd is hilarious especially considering Game of Thrones. His voiceover about their ~punishment is great and creepy and I love Ten and Martha visiting Latimer as a vet and ugh these episodes are just so good and flawless. Four for you, Paul Cornell.
Blink: Oh Blink. I will always be fond of Blink distantly because it was the episode that made me watch the rest of the show. And I do think it is very good, for a first watch. Maybe even a second watch, the way some movies are fun to watch again after you know the twist ending or how everything should play out. But by the third, fourth, fifth time? Yeahhhhh... not so much. The suspense is gone, once you know how it plays out, and honestly i'm just so over timey-wimey, both the concept and the phrase. So I am "meh" now.
I like Sally, though.
ALSO. ALSO OMG. Our biggest epiphany while watching this: BILLY/MARTHA FTW. It is totally logical okay! They are both from 2007 and stuck in 1969 and they would be hanging out a lot because of the DVD thing and they must have a lot of angst because, I mean, stuck in 1969, and Martha has her futile crush on Ten and also they're both so hot. It happened, okay. Someone write me this fic immediately.
Utopia: This is another one I remember as being boring lol. On rewatch, I get more amusement out of it, if only because I actually know who Jack Harkness is this time. I find the futurekind plot sort of "wait what?" but Prof Yana is hilarious, ofc the Master becomes a kindly old dude and Ten becomes a racist schoolteacher. Ten bonding with Yana is pretty funny in retrospect too, you know he wrote about it in his lj later and also probably wrote lots of AU fic where they went on to be besties forever and ever.
Poor Chantho and her life of foreshadowy doom. I liked her and Martha bonding.
Jack and Ten are hilarious. IDG how anyone can ship it when Ten is so blatantly disinterested in Jack's very existence and is actually rather a dick to him. Him seeing Jack running and being perturbed by Jack's survival is hilarious idk. The first time I saw this episode I had so thoroughly forgotten who Jack even was that I was very confused by the whole thing. Jack is the Big Impressive Hero on Torchwood and then he shows up on Doctor Who and is reduced to trailing around after the Doctor like a sad puppy.
The discussion of Rose is interesting too, especially Martha getting to finally learn what really happened (and that Rose didn't just go "lol, bye" and peace out one day). I think it's really easy to forget that up until that point, Martha knows nothing, and is free to assume Rose just broke up with him or whatever. There's a big difference between someone breaking up with you and someone dying, and I think Martha would've been less threatened/jealous and more sympathetic if she'd known the truth from the start.
Also, O HAI Cloen.
Anyway, here is part 2 of my series 3 rewatch thoughts. Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords apparently inspire so many feelings they need their own post, who knew.
42: Ugh Chibnall. This episode is still like "The Impossible Planet 2: Now with 200% Less Awesome!" The plot, ehhhhhh. I am more or less ambivalent to the crew so I do not care when they get burned, and the big goofy helmet and gardening gloves on the villain crack me up. Ten's agonized speeches about the sun's pain~ are awkward for me because lol poor David Tennant is trying so hard but the content is just so funny to me. SUNS ARE PEOPLE TOO. SOMETIMES. APPARENTLY. BURN WITH MEEEEEEE. Most of all I cannot and will not get over the dumb fucking security system oh my god it is so stupid WHY WOULD IT BE TRIVIA THIS IS NOT SECURITY ANYONE WITH AN IPHONE CAN ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AND ALSO YOU CANNOT EVEN ANSWER THEM AND YOU WERE DRUNK WHEN YOU MADE THEM AND AUGHHH YOU ALL DESERVE TO BURN WITH THE MAGICAL SENTIENT SUN FOR THIS IDIOCY.
Martha's key scene continues to be.. sort of... awkward. The way she holds out her hands eeeeugh IDK it is like the worst aspect of the Ten/Martha dynamic all up in yo face. Their run-y lift-y Satan Pit hug was cute though, I will give this episode that.
Is this episode in realtime? I tried to figure it out by watching the runtime but I got confused/didn't start watching at the exact right moment so I don't actually know.
Human Nature/Family of Blood: SUDDENLY, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Oh god I love these episodes. Considering what I said earlier about how the Doctor/companion relationship and dynamic is my favourite part, it is perhaps a bit strange that my top 3 includes a Doctor-lite, a companion-lite, and these episodes, which are kind of like Doctor-lite. BUT THEY ARE JUST SO GOOD.
Martha is great. That is the main thing I have gotten out of this s3 rewatch. It does not surrise me, but it's been a while since I saw s3 so I am being pleasantly reminded of just how smart she is. Turning off the car in Gridlock, figuring out the Dalekanium thing and then rigging up the lightning-weapon against the pigslaves, the ~DNA sample from Lazarus, the... well... let's just ignore 42 in general, and then basically being awesome all throughout these episodes. The trick with Jenny is so clever, I am dazzled every time.
John and Joan are... kind of unremarkable to me, but I think that is kind of the point. Poor Joan, her life sucks. I love the smackdown she gives Ten at the end, get it Joan. On the bright side she will find happiness apparently and Ten will die alone, so she gets the last laugh there. John Smith is... a dude from 1913, which sort of necessitates him being kind of a dick. Still kind of a dick, though. (WORST TIME PERIOD CHOICE EVER, DOCTOR, FYI.) I like the way he contrasts with Ten, though, and hey, David Tennant gets to show off a bit.
The Family are creepy villains even if Harry Lloyd is hilarious especially considering Game of Thrones. His voiceover about their ~punishment is great and creepy and I love Ten and Martha visiting Latimer as a vet and ugh these episodes are just so good and flawless. Four for you, Paul Cornell.
Blink: Oh Blink. I will always be fond of Blink distantly because it was the episode that made me watch the rest of the show. And I do think it is very good, for a first watch. Maybe even a second watch, the way some movies are fun to watch again after you know the twist ending or how everything should play out. But by the third, fourth, fifth time? Yeahhhhh... not so much. The suspense is gone, once you know how it plays out, and honestly i'm just so over timey-wimey, both the concept and the phrase. So I am "meh" now.
I like Sally, though.
ALSO. ALSO OMG. Our biggest epiphany while watching this: BILLY/MARTHA FTW. It is totally logical okay! They are both from 2007 and stuck in 1969 and they would be hanging out a lot because of the DVD thing and they must have a lot of angst because, I mean, stuck in 1969, and Martha has her futile crush on Ten and also they're both so hot. It happened, okay. Someone write me this fic immediately.
Utopia: This is another one I remember as being boring lol. On rewatch, I get more amusement out of it, if only because I actually know who Jack Harkness is this time. I find the futurekind plot sort of "wait what?" but Prof Yana is hilarious, ofc the Master becomes a kindly old dude and Ten becomes a racist schoolteacher. Ten bonding with Yana is pretty funny in retrospect too, you know he wrote about it in his lj later and also probably wrote lots of AU fic where they went on to be besties forever and ever.
Poor Chantho and her life of foreshadowy doom. I liked her and Martha bonding.
Jack and Ten are hilarious. IDG how anyone can ship it when Ten is so blatantly disinterested in Jack's very existence and is actually rather a dick to him. Him seeing Jack running and being perturbed by Jack's survival is hilarious idk. The first time I saw this episode I had so thoroughly forgotten who Jack even was that I was very confused by the whole thing. Jack is the Big Impressive Hero on Torchwood and then he shows up on Doctor Who and is reduced to trailing around after the Doctor like a sad puppy.
The discussion of Rose is interesting too, especially Martha getting to finally learn what really happened (and that Rose didn't just go "lol, bye" and peace out one day). I think it's really easy to forget that up until that point, Martha knows nothing, and is free to assume Rose just broke up with him or whatever. There's a big difference between someone breaking up with you and someone dying, and I think Martha would've been less threatened/jealous and more sympathetic if she'd known the truth from the start.
Also, O HAI Cloen.