Doctor Who Stuff.
Apparently this week's episode ended with the National Anthem. This had to be pointed out to me. Because apparently...I don't actually know the National Anthem. No, seriously, I don't. Not the english one, anyway. I always thought I at least knew the *tune*, but apparently, I am prone to totally forgetting it. Eh. It's a crap anthem anyway. Point is, this week's episode wasn't great. The Doctor continues to be creepy and posessive. I continue to wonder where this could *possibly* be heading. Cos, as icky as it is, I'm kinda numbed to the whole Doctor/Companion romance thing. Maybe it's just familiarity and exposure to it. Maybe it's the fact that the creepy co-dependency actually worked for the Ninth Doctor in some ways. He had, like, PTSD and had committed genocide. I guess what I'm saying is, it's a little depressing that ALL SHOWS EVER must have UNREQUITED DOOMED LOVE, but I guess Doctor Who has as much right to it, and as much ability to do it well or poorly, as any. The solution to using the sexual tension to draw in the masses without alienating the kids or oldskool fans would be to keep the the odd flirtatious look that goes nowhere. Which I'd be happy with cos I could ignore it like the kids, and the oldskool fans could claim it didn't exist and the newage fans could swoon every time they held hands. Ace. Except this bizarre, creepy, almost incestuous forbidden love affair they're having with their eyes and hands and tendency to say things like, "Now that the Monster of the Week has hurt ROSE, I don't have to worry about MORALS anymmore!" (no, seriously) kind of takes it forever away from "subtext" category. So two possibilities, both of which leave the show screwed. 1) They get together. Which leaves the show screwed because then there's this expectation. The next companion must be a love interest too. And SWEET LORD HOW CREEPY AND SCREWED UP WOULD THAT BE?! Sorry, but, yeah, nine hundred year old timelord serially dating young human girls? *shudder* And if Rose is somehow "special" or "the one" then a) the show's WAY too dependent on Billie Piper and will fail without her, and b) WHY?! and c) the next companion is doomed to disappoint. So the other option is that they never get together, which while realistic and probably healthier, etc., it also doomed to disappoint and screw over the audience because the level of OBVIOUSNESS that they're using to create this romantic tension is the televisual equivalent of a promise, whether I like what it's promising or not. I don't even WANT anything to happen, but it's getting so obvious now that there actually needs to be some payoff of some kind for the screentime and emotional investment the viewer is being asked to put into this screwed-up friendship. You know what? I actually LIKE the screwed-up friendship. I find it fascinating. I'm not sure I'm supposed to be seeing this, but I keep seeing an arrogant, occasionally amoral and righteous Doctor becoming increasingly dependent on his young companion and encouraging her to sever ties and becoming similarly dependent on him. And they're genuinely best friends and they love each other (even if it's not romantic love. The Seventh Doctor and Ace loved each other, and it wasn't romantic then either. The Doctor loves all his companions. He has to. Wouldn't it be interesting to delve into the reasons he needs them in the first place?) And I'm interested in seeing that story. Heck, I'd even be interested in it if it turned romantic (though as I've said, WHY ROSE? WHY NOW? WTF CAN THIS BE HEALTHY?! would all need to be answered) though it's not my preference. ...I'm just...starting to get confused about the intentions of the writers. It's all very well for me to talk about what I'd like to see. But within the confines of the show and the genre and what's acceptable to be shown before the watershed when it's aimed at kids, I can't see this ending anyplace good. It's like they're writing themselves into a corner, cos there's no way out that doesn't involve either backing out of what they've set up and used to hook their viewers, or screwing up the future conventions of the show and turning their protagonist into a creepy predator of young girls. Which leads me back to, "Where the hell can this possibly be going that isn't DOOMED?" every time it's on screen. Oh well. Damn me for caring because it's Doctor Who and I like to pretend that Ace is just off-screen laughing her ass off every time Rose fails to produce any Nitro9. In better news, I quite liked X-Men 3. It was much better than I expected given the few reviews I read before I went to see it. The best story I heard about it (and it's one of the best stories I've heard EVER) is that when they were trying to convince Halle Berry to come back and be Storm again, and, you know, capitulating to her demands for huge trailers and stuff, her demands basically were: 1. I want a bigger part, and, 2. I want to fly. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? And how much do I wish those were her demands for her latest romantic comedy movie? I swear, if anyone ever wants me to star in their movie, those will be my demands. In fact, if I'm ever in a position to negotiate ANYTHING I think those should be my demands. Ending thoughts. Go watch this NOW: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SliS77mlQto&search=things%20i%20hate%20commandments