*tries not to yell "THE CAKE IS A LIE"* *fails*
Life's a trifle strange lately. On the one hand, I've survived the ficathon without having to commit seppuku to atone for my shame, and there's a truly excellent story being written to my prompts to boot; on the other hand, my mother's a bit down due to the death of one of her younger cousins (whom I have never met. My ignorance of my own damn family scares me sometimes). Our rather useless cats have continued to combine their refusal to live indoors with their limited ability to survive outdoors. Oh yeah, also, I've just graduated college with a 4.0 GPA. I don't even want to know what a trained psychologist would say about my priorities right now. ^^; I'm not gonna think about it.
Fires of Pompeii and Planet of the Ood-- I was just not impressed by these episodes at all. To be kind. Donna... When she's not yowling, she most absolutely has her moments. This I fully acknowledge. But I'm not exactly bowled over yet. Maybe it takes a while to earn my trust, on this show in particular.
Fires of Pompeii... not as bad looking back as I considered it at the time. Not very good, either. But-- sometimes I swear that man is out to get me. Me in particular. Like he's got a little list of "what should we do to piss her off next". "Mm, can't do Jesus again this soon... Hey, let's do Roman culture! Says here she studied a little Latin! Make sure especially not to have a damn clue about Roman women, that'll really get her! Oh, and steal half the scenes from Series One while you're at it! She'll probably flip out and call it sacrilege, it'll be hilarious."
*sigh* There's very little I can point to and say "No, no way, that could never, ever happen". All I can say is that they certainly ran into an abnormal, abnormal city. Not to mention that Roman families did generally not behave like a typical British middle-class family. I just... wash my hands of the whole damn thing. Let's shoot the lava monster with a water pistol! That'll do the trick! Just... No. No sense of temperature, I swear to god.
Doceo, docere, docui, doctum. To teach. I thought the general derivation of the word "Doctor" was such common knowledge that even the producers of DW must be aware that it really means "teacher". Was I wrong?
Planet of the Ood-- yeah, Donna's definitely got moments here. I like her, I'm just not gobsmacked by the awesome yet. Using the whole slavery issue... I keep feeling like I ought to approve of that, but I can't, and I don't know why yet. Possibly just out of spite, because lord knows I don't approve of sweatshops or anything, and the comparison makes some valid points, and I don't buy Donna's "stop condescending to the Companions, bitch" as a truly valid counterargument (though definitely true)... but something about it, I can't figure out what... I don't think it's a valid metaphor, but I can't say exactly why yet. Further bulletins as events warrant.
So... what do the Ood eat? 'Cause that area looked pretty icy. And how did that giant naked brain survive in the wild? And why would any creature really have an external brain? I applaud the creative impulse, but after that comes step two-- working out how exactly this is possible. I don't care whether you bother explaining it or not, you have got to know how it's possible... I could swear that these people put less effort into editing a television series than I put into editing a ficathon entry.
You know, this show is actually starting to make me believe that rich white male CEOs are actually discriminated against. In television, anyway. In this show, without a doubt. Want someone evil? Grab a capitalist! It's like Cold War Soviet propaganda. And I HATE rich white male CEOs! But this is just getting to be too damn much!
And you know what really got to me? The ending. The Ood will sing their names forever. Because they... ... ... What was it, exactly, that they really did? Infiltrated the facility, got shot at a bit, made friends with a couple Oodlings, threw a switch... Was there something I missed? Very nice, I'm sure, and they should always be welcome to revisit the planet, and the Ood should like them a great deal, but... forever? Is that just what they tell all their guests?
Seriously, the Doctor did nothing in this episode. And that's all right, as long as he doesn't get all the credit for no apparent reason. And that wouldn't piss me off so much if there hadn't been someone who DID do all the work. What about that poor Dr. Ryder guy?! Good God! The man has enough humanity to come to sympathize with the Ood on his own, while they're still acting for all the world like content servants. He has enough conviction and courage to join a protest group. He has enough foresight to choose the exponentially more difficult undercover mission that will yield far greater dividends instead of the psychologically and physically easier routes of vandalism, propaganda, litigation. He has enough nerve to keep up a lie for TEN YEARS!, at the risk of exposure, at the risk of having all his work come to naught, probably at the risk of death, coping with the feeling of collaborating in these horrible crimes, coping with watching all of these things that he believes are truly heinous every day, taking part in these things, having to weigh, every day of those TEN YEARS, the harm he is doing to the Ood with the harm he hopes he is preventing. He has the composure to keep up the lie, the patience to inch that field down slowly-- and it must have been agonizing, trying to figure out how quickly you ease it down without risking everything, when all you want is to free these poor aliens and stop living this nightmare.
All that terrible, terrible work, and you know what? It paid off! Everything in this episode was due to him! The growing consciousness of the Ood? The "Red-eyes" and Sigma? All because he had that sort of courage. For ten years. He frees an entire race of people at terrible personal cost. He's the hero of the story. And what happens to him? He's chucked off a balcony and never mentioned again while some bitch who wandered in six hours ago and pushed a button is remembered forever. *strangled scream* FUCK Ten, I want a show about THIS guy!
But nooooooooooooooo! He's just a plot device and a plot device he shall stay! Glory and character development and humanity are for Ten and maybe Donna if we've got some to spare! Never mind that if the Doctor hadn't shown up, the Ood would still be free, and if something had ever happened to this guy, they wouldn't! And Ten pushing the button! That was ridiculous! They're a slave race, they have to be helped to independence! They can't push that button on their own! That's the part of the magnanimous enlightened white guy who's wandered in and seen the injustice of the situation to do!
God, I am so angry for this poor extra! Chucked him in as a plot device, and that is all he was, but the enormity of that plot device demanded a little respect! And they chucked him into a giant brain! Of course, it's a giant telepathic brain, so there's no reason in hell he shouldn't have survived in one way or another, but Jesus, the gall to not even mention the poor bastard again! "You and Donna and that Ryder dude will be remembered forever". That would have been okay. Still a bit unearned, but okay, because the man wound up dying for their freedom. That rates a mention! That rates a goddamn mention! But NO! This is insanity! I have never seen a television show do this before! Even Star Trek usually had Kirk at least look sad for a couple seconds when one of the redshirts died! Say whatever you will about the Stargate series, but when someone sacrificed his life, it got a little damn respect from the natives while the heroes offered similar sentiments and went home! This is UNBELIEVABLE narcissism!
*sigh* Sorry. Keep in mind that I'm the kind of person who can cry at sitcoms. (It's not that I cry a lot; but I saw some of Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite" or something the other day and the third act had me sobbing. I wish I was kidding. It was supposed to be comedy, but to me it was a heartbreaking display of a daughter systematically and sociopathically emotionally vivisecting her parents. God, it was horrible. For some reason, sitcoms can make me far more sad and disturbed than the majority of dramas.) But I don't know what's worse. That it's horrible, horrible writing that betrays their obsessive need to have the Doctor be The One True Hero and Rather Jealous Lonely God, which is idiotic and makes no sense whatsoever... or that this is probably EXACTLY what would happen. All those years of work, all that accomplishment, but not flashy enough, not unambiguous enough, doesn't make a good enough story. No one recognises you. You die alone in silence and all you've got to comfort you is the knowledge that you did do right, you did do a heroic and momentous thing-- and I'd imagine even that would fade, the certainty of it, the certainty that it ever even mattered, that anyone ever cared. That's the most depressing thing I've ever heard! Especially if you're never going to be the Doctor, waltzing in! Especially if you're always going to be the one foolish enough to devote yourself to the real work, that takes the real effort, the real diligence and the real time!
No, really, I'm going to stop now. Except to note the thought I had that when if Donna does fall in love with Ten and we have to organize a conspiracy to attack RTD with spoons, we could maybe find some more co-conspirators in Classics departments. I'd go for the grad students, they're more likely to be zealous about such things. I had one guy who did a whole lecture on the movie "300". Just because he could. Seriously, it was a mythology class: he had no other excuse. That sort of person might get angry over 'Fires of Pompeii'. If we can't find enough on the internet.
Damn vacation lassitude setting in again. I have to actually work on things at some point. And apply for more jobs. Learning how to drive would probably be helpful, too. :) *sigh*
Fires of Pompeii and Planet of the Ood-- I was just not impressed by these episodes at all. To be kind. Donna... When she's not yowling, she most absolutely has her moments. This I fully acknowledge. But I'm not exactly bowled over yet. Maybe it takes a while to earn my trust, on this show in particular.
Fires of Pompeii... not as bad looking back as I considered it at the time. Not very good, either. But-- sometimes I swear that man is out to get me. Me in particular. Like he's got a little list of "what should we do to piss her off next". "Mm, can't do Jesus again this soon... Hey, let's do Roman culture! Says here she studied a little Latin! Make sure especially not to have a damn clue about Roman women, that'll really get her! Oh, and steal half the scenes from Series One while you're at it! She'll probably flip out and call it sacrilege, it'll be hilarious."
*sigh* There's very little I can point to and say "No, no way, that could never, ever happen". All I can say is that they certainly ran into an abnormal, abnormal city. Not to mention that Roman families did generally not behave like a typical British middle-class family. I just... wash my hands of the whole damn thing. Let's shoot the lava monster with a water pistol! That'll do the trick! Just... No. No sense of temperature, I swear to god.
Doceo, docere, docui, doctum. To teach. I thought the general derivation of the word "Doctor" was such common knowledge that even the producers of DW must be aware that it really means "teacher". Was I wrong?
Planet of the Ood-- yeah, Donna's definitely got moments here. I like her, I'm just not gobsmacked by the awesome yet. Using the whole slavery issue... I keep feeling like I ought to approve of that, but I can't, and I don't know why yet. Possibly just out of spite, because lord knows I don't approve of sweatshops or anything, and the comparison makes some valid points, and I don't buy Donna's "stop condescending to the Companions, bitch" as a truly valid counterargument (though definitely true)... but something about it, I can't figure out what... I don't think it's a valid metaphor, but I can't say exactly why yet. Further bulletins as events warrant.
So... what do the Ood eat? 'Cause that area looked pretty icy. And how did that giant naked brain survive in the wild? And why would any creature really have an external brain? I applaud the creative impulse, but after that comes step two-- working out how exactly this is possible. I don't care whether you bother explaining it or not, you have got to know how it's possible... I could swear that these people put less effort into editing a television series than I put into editing a ficathon entry.
You know, this show is actually starting to make me believe that rich white male CEOs are actually discriminated against. In television, anyway. In this show, without a doubt. Want someone evil? Grab a capitalist! It's like Cold War Soviet propaganda. And I HATE rich white male CEOs! But this is just getting to be too damn much!
And you know what really got to me? The ending. The Ood will sing their names forever. Because they... ... ... What was it, exactly, that they really did? Infiltrated the facility, got shot at a bit, made friends with a couple Oodlings, threw a switch... Was there something I missed? Very nice, I'm sure, and they should always be welcome to revisit the planet, and the Ood should like them a great deal, but... forever? Is that just what they tell all their guests?
Seriously, the Doctor did nothing in this episode. And that's all right, as long as he doesn't get all the credit for no apparent reason. And that wouldn't piss me off so much if there hadn't been someone who DID do all the work. What about that poor Dr. Ryder guy?! Good God! The man has enough humanity to come to sympathize with the Ood on his own, while they're still acting for all the world like content servants. He has enough conviction and courage to join a protest group. He has enough foresight to choose the exponentially more difficult undercover mission that will yield far greater dividends instead of the psychologically and physically easier routes of vandalism, propaganda, litigation. He has enough nerve to keep up a lie for TEN YEARS!, at the risk of exposure, at the risk of having all his work come to naught, probably at the risk of death, coping with the feeling of collaborating in these horrible crimes, coping with watching all of these things that he believes are truly heinous every day, taking part in these things, having to weigh, every day of those TEN YEARS, the harm he is doing to the Ood with the harm he hopes he is preventing. He has the composure to keep up the lie, the patience to inch that field down slowly-- and it must have been agonizing, trying to figure out how quickly you ease it down without risking everything, when all you want is to free these poor aliens and stop living this nightmare.
All that terrible, terrible work, and you know what? It paid off! Everything in this episode was due to him! The growing consciousness of the Ood? The "Red-eyes" and Sigma? All because he had that sort of courage. For ten years. He frees an entire race of people at terrible personal cost. He's the hero of the story. And what happens to him? He's chucked off a balcony and never mentioned again while some bitch who wandered in six hours ago and pushed a button is remembered forever. *strangled scream* FUCK Ten, I want a show about THIS guy!
But nooooooooooooooo! He's just a plot device and a plot device he shall stay! Glory and character development and humanity are for Ten and maybe Donna if we've got some to spare! Never mind that if the Doctor hadn't shown up, the Ood would still be free, and if something had ever happened to this guy, they wouldn't! And Ten pushing the button! That was ridiculous! They're a slave race, they have to be helped to independence! They can't push that button on their own! That's the part of the magnanimous enlightened white guy who's wandered in and seen the injustice of the situation to do!
God, I am so angry for this poor extra! Chucked him in as a plot device, and that is all he was, but the enormity of that plot device demanded a little respect! And they chucked him into a giant brain! Of course, it's a giant telepathic brain, so there's no reason in hell he shouldn't have survived in one way or another, but Jesus, the gall to not even mention the poor bastard again! "You and Donna and that Ryder dude will be remembered forever". That would have been okay. Still a bit unearned, but okay, because the man wound up dying for their freedom. That rates a mention! That rates a goddamn mention! But NO! This is insanity! I have never seen a television show do this before! Even Star Trek usually had Kirk at least look sad for a couple seconds when one of the redshirts died! Say whatever you will about the Stargate series, but when someone sacrificed his life, it got a little damn respect from the natives while the heroes offered similar sentiments and went home! This is UNBELIEVABLE narcissism!
*sigh* Sorry. Keep in mind that I'm the kind of person who can cry at sitcoms. (It's not that I cry a lot; but I saw some of Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite" or something the other day and the third act had me sobbing. I wish I was kidding. It was supposed to be comedy, but to me it was a heartbreaking display of a daughter systematically and sociopathically emotionally vivisecting her parents. God, it was horrible. For some reason, sitcoms can make me far more sad and disturbed than the majority of dramas.) But I don't know what's worse. That it's horrible, horrible writing that betrays their obsessive need to have the Doctor be The One True Hero and Rather Jealous Lonely God, which is idiotic and makes no sense whatsoever... or that this is probably EXACTLY what would happen. All those years of work, all that accomplishment, but not flashy enough, not unambiguous enough, doesn't make a good enough story. No one recognises you. You die alone in silence and all you've got to comfort you is the knowledge that you did do right, you did do a heroic and momentous thing-- and I'd imagine even that would fade, the certainty of it, the certainty that it ever even mattered, that anyone ever cared. That's the most depressing thing I've ever heard! Especially if you're never going to be the Doctor, waltzing in! Especially if you're always going to be the one foolish enough to devote yourself to the real work, that takes the real effort, the real diligence and the real time!
No, really, I'm going to stop now. Except to note the thought I had that when if Donna does fall in love with Ten and we have to organize a conspiracy to attack RTD with spoons, we could maybe find some more co-conspirators in Classics departments. I'd go for the grad students, they're more likely to be zealous about such things. I had one guy who did a whole lecture on the movie "300". Just because he could. Seriously, it was a mythology class: he had no other excuse. That sort of person might get angry over 'Fires of Pompeii'. If we can't find enough on the internet.
Damn vacation lassitude setting in again. I have to actually work on things at some point. And apply for more jobs. Learning how to drive would probably be helpful, too. :) *sigh*