Return of the Hotness Quotient: Voyage of the Damned
Hair Mussedness: 4.3 The opinions are pretty much unanimous on the early hair. “Ten’s hair looks kind of strange in the first scene.” “I admit it. I wasn’t keen on Ten’s hair, really-not at first.” However, most members of the Cooperative liked the hair as the episode moves on. “It improves with time.” “Staring at the screencaps (because I simply can’t bring myself to re-watch the ep-I simply don’t like it. *ducks*), it occurs to me that I really rather like it.” There is still much divergence in opinion, though, reflected in the scores, which ranked from 3 to an over-enthusiastic (Compiler’s prerogative to editorialize, there) BEYOND THE GRAVE. Some members “like how rumpled and ruffled and touchable it looks once things go to hell. Mmmmmm….rumpled!Ten hair. Makes my fingers itch to run through it, styling products be damned.” But others remark that “it never really gets messy per se,” and “looks sort of weird and ultra-styled.” “I’m not a huge fan of the Doctor’s hair in this episode. I like him best when his hair is completely, outrageously out-of-control. Here it’s a bit too male-model-ish for my taste.” However, making a good point: “I like it enough and it still looks better than most of what I see every day in the real world.” Yes. Indeed.
Wardrobe Catch-All: 5.6 Hovering perilously on a BEYOND THE GRAVE rating, and no wonder, because the episode features Ten in a tux. “Ten. In a Tuxedo. For the love of Pete, is there anything more amazingly-scorchingly-hot in the wardrobe department? I think not.” The only reason this score was dragged down a bit was because “we start off the episode in the blue suit with a maroonish shirt and tie, so that’s disappointingly uninspired.” “You want to know at least some of the problem with the blue suit? The fact that they’re obsessed with pairing it with a monochromatic shirt-and-tie. Ugh.” “But, to the delight of fangirls and boys everywhere, the Doctor quickly shifts into a tux.”
“Men seldom wear tuxedos the way David Tennant wears a tuxedo. He’s always walking around with his hands in his pockets, the better to KILL ME.” “We even get the sexy specs for a bit.” “And then there’s the part where he unties his bowtie, and I have seldom seen anything so sexy as that moment.” “But a point subtracted for Kylie’s hideous waitress outfit with those ridiculous boots.”
Degree of Dark!Doctor: 5 “Ok, so he’s still in a bit of a funk after the whole “Oldest Foe Dying on purpose/Year that Never was/I was a Time Lord Dobby” Thing. And things get a bit grim (not least amongst them being caught in the midst of a weak re-imagining of The Poseidon Adventure. The classic version, mind, not the awful cinematic remake of a few years back), what with the Host and the conspiracy and whatnot.” “There are some lovely little dark moments in this episode. I LOVE his ‘homeless and there was the Earth’ speech. And the ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ is so genuine. Ten gets a lot of criticism for the ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,’ but here David Tennant really pulls it off, with that sheen of tears in his eyes.” “Ten goes from having a really bad year, to having a pretty exceptionally bad day. Which, you know, tends to make him a bit grumpy.” “Oh, and Astrid dying. In excessively extreme slo-mo.” “Astrid’s death is clearly meant to be evocative of Rose’s loss.” “You think Ten would learn his lesson with blondes, but that’s for another post.” “Most of the Dark!Doctor moments come after Astrid’s death.” “It triggers that frantic scene that culminates with the Doctor kicking the console and screaming, ‘I can do anything!’” “And as the Doctor struggles unsuccessfully to bring Astrid back to life you can really feel the built up loss of the last two seasons come crashing down on him: his inability to save Gallifrey, his inability to save Rose, his inability to save the Master, his inability to hang on to anyone or anything. Poor Ten--he really needs years of therapy.” “The Doctor is clearly just heartbroken, his eyes completely dead and unresponsive as the survivors thank him. The Doctor’s been through a lot, but I almost think this may be his low point, this moment when he finally internalizes that he really can’t do everything, as the universe has been teaching him again and again. If ‘Doomsday’ was meant to be punishment for the Doctor’s hubris (which I’ve never actually thought, but I know is a reading of it), then ‘Voyage of the Damned’ is the moment where the Doctor really figures that out.” “Still, he appears to have got some of his anger management issues under control since the last Christmas episode.” “And his melancholic, wistful ‘One of these days it will snow for real’ is such a lovely line to illustrate what the Doctor wants. He can create snow whenever he wants, apparently; but oh, how he just wants someone else to be in charge of magic for a little while.”
Window Dressing Effect: 3.3 The Cooperative’s pretty much in agreement on Kylie. “I found I’ve become a fan of hers largely because she and David Tennant have exceptional chemistry. (What? I never watched Neighbours-cut me some slack!). And he beams like a little kid at Christmas when he sees her, which makes me happy, which means that I have happy associations when I watch her on screen.” “For some reason, I like Astrid. I don’t love her, she isn’t one of my all-time favorite characters, but I find her charming, and I can see why the Doctor was taken with her.” Other members admit that “Kylie Minogue is lovely, of course, but her hair looks a bit like a poodle, and the outfit doesn’t do much for her either.” As for other hotness in this episode? “Midshipman Babyface or whatever his name is is kind of cute in a British schoolboy way.” “He has the most genuine moment of the entire episode, his little girly scream when he looks over and sees the hand of the Host caught in the door of the bridge.” Some of the members were taken with “the nameless blue collar worker in the engine room,” “but sadly he exists entirely to establish that the Host have turned evil, and so he isn’t around for long.” (Although another member contributed, “Everyone else, though-even Young Heroic Yeoman? Enh.”) There was a flurry of subtracted points “for the utter absurdity that is Max Capricorn,” “who drags the hotness level down into a deep, dark chasm of unsexiness from which the episode never fully recovers. Also, he is ridiculous.” And another member confesses, “This category has just become a miscellaneous category for me. For instance, there’s a point in here for the new theme, which I just adore. It feels darker than the old theme, which I think suits the show.” Turning back what this category is actually about, however, one member speaks for all of us when she writes, “The truth is, this season will be difficult for me because they set the Sexy bar so damn high with last year’s finale that I now feel that anything less than the full Troika of Temptation--David Tennant, John Simm, and John Barrowman--is something of a letdown. I know, I know, it’s just something I’m going to have to live with, and I’m working through my feelings with the help of a team of highly qualified grief counsellors, but you know, these things take time and the season is only so long.”
Sexy!Scene to Watch Out For: A rare unanimous choice for the sexy!scene! “No-brainer-the speechifying when the ship has just been hit, and the few survivors are cowering in one of the many tunnels which resemble the bowels of Wales Millennium Stadium.” “The scene where the Doctor gives his (slightly over-the-top) ‘I’m the Doctor. I’m a Time Lord...’ speech.” “PHWOAR. I love how intense he is-how confident, and how matter-of-fact.” “Yes! Please! Save me, Ten!” “When he’s done delivering that speech, I just kind of collapse.” (1) As for honorable mentions, members note that “they ruined the only other close competitor, which was the bit where he slow-mo walks with the fire behind him and then the two Host come up on either side of him.” (2) “I will admit that he’s very hot when he’s doing his dramatic, slow-motion walking after Astrid’s death, but that image is ruined for me by the linking arms with the Host and the snapping fingers.” “The first bit of that is kind of sexy, but then he snaps his fingers and they all link arms and EVERY. DAMN. TIME. I expect them to break into some sort of bizarre Chorus Line-inspired song and dance number, which, while I’m sure it’d be a hit on Broadway, isn’t terribly sexy to see on Doctor Who.” “This is not especially sexy but the way the Doctor picks the nearest blonde and goes after her, complete with that speculative press of his tongue against his teeth, is just devastating. Astrid never stood a chance.” “There’s a flash of dimple the first time the Doctor says ‘Banakafalatta,’ and I’m always in favor of the dimple.” “The Doctor’s slow, deliberate, I-have-had-enough-I-am-serious tie removal should not have been allowed in a children’s show.”
Endnotes (aka, the pictures to go with the SStwoF). Thanks, as always, to
larissa_j for the screencaps.
1.
2.
3. Poster's prerogative--two more pictures (from the many, many pretty ones) for your enjoyment:
Posters Note: We plan to post the HQ's either Thursday night, or Friday morning before the episode airs on SciFi. Remember--VotD airs Friday night, 18 April, starting at 8:30 pm (and no, none of us are affiliated with that network. Trust us).
Wardrobe Catch-All: 5.6 Hovering perilously on a BEYOND THE GRAVE rating, and no wonder, because the episode features Ten in a tux. “Ten. In a Tuxedo. For the love of Pete, is there anything more amazingly-scorchingly-hot in the wardrobe department? I think not.” The only reason this score was dragged down a bit was because “we start off the episode in the blue suit with a maroonish shirt and tie, so that’s disappointingly uninspired.” “You want to know at least some of the problem with the blue suit? The fact that they’re obsessed with pairing it with a monochromatic shirt-and-tie. Ugh.” “But, to the delight of fangirls and boys everywhere, the Doctor quickly shifts into a tux.”
“Men seldom wear tuxedos the way David Tennant wears a tuxedo. He’s always walking around with his hands in his pockets, the better to KILL ME.” “We even get the sexy specs for a bit.” “And then there’s the part where he unties his bowtie, and I have seldom seen anything so sexy as that moment.” “But a point subtracted for Kylie’s hideous waitress outfit with those ridiculous boots.”
Degree of Dark!Doctor: 5 “Ok, so he’s still in a bit of a funk after the whole “Oldest Foe Dying on purpose/Year that Never was/I was a Time Lord Dobby” Thing. And things get a bit grim (not least amongst them being caught in the midst of a weak re-imagining of The Poseidon Adventure. The classic version, mind, not the awful cinematic remake of a few years back), what with the Host and the conspiracy and whatnot.” “There are some lovely little dark moments in this episode. I LOVE his ‘homeless and there was the Earth’ speech. And the ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ is so genuine. Ten gets a lot of criticism for the ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,’ but here David Tennant really pulls it off, with that sheen of tears in his eyes.” “Ten goes from having a really bad year, to having a pretty exceptionally bad day. Which, you know, tends to make him a bit grumpy.” “Oh, and Astrid dying. In excessively extreme slo-mo.” “Astrid’s death is clearly meant to be evocative of Rose’s loss.” “You think Ten would learn his lesson with blondes, but that’s for another post.” “Most of the Dark!Doctor moments come after Astrid’s death.” “It triggers that frantic scene that culminates with the Doctor kicking the console and screaming, ‘I can do anything!’” “And as the Doctor struggles unsuccessfully to bring Astrid back to life you can really feel the built up loss of the last two seasons come crashing down on him: his inability to save Gallifrey, his inability to save Rose, his inability to save the Master, his inability to hang on to anyone or anything. Poor Ten--he really needs years of therapy.” “The Doctor is clearly just heartbroken, his eyes completely dead and unresponsive as the survivors thank him. The Doctor’s been through a lot, but I almost think this may be his low point, this moment when he finally internalizes that he really can’t do everything, as the universe has been teaching him again and again. If ‘Doomsday’ was meant to be punishment for the Doctor’s hubris (which I’ve never actually thought, but I know is a reading of it), then ‘Voyage of the Damned’ is the moment where the Doctor really figures that out.” “Still, he appears to have got some of his anger management issues under control since the last Christmas episode.” “And his melancholic, wistful ‘One of these days it will snow for real’ is such a lovely line to illustrate what the Doctor wants. He can create snow whenever he wants, apparently; but oh, how he just wants someone else to be in charge of magic for a little while.”
Window Dressing Effect: 3.3 The Cooperative’s pretty much in agreement on Kylie. “I found I’ve become a fan of hers largely because she and David Tennant have exceptional chemistry. (What? I never watched Neighbours-cut me some slack!). And he beams like a little kid at Christmas when he sees her, which makes me happy, which means that I have happy associations when I watch her on screen.” “For some reason, I like Astrid. I don’t love her, she isn’t one of my all-time favorite characters, but I find her charming, and I can see why the Doctor was taken with her.” Other members admit that “Kylie Minogue is lovely, of course, but her hair looks a bit like a poodle, and the outfit doesn’t do much for her either.” As for other hotness in this episode? “Midshipman Babyface or whatever his name is is kind of cute in a British schoolboy way.” “He has the most genuine moment of the entire episode, his little girly scream when he looks over and sees the hand of the Host caught in the door of the bridge.” Some of the members were taken with “the nameless blue collar worker in the engine room,” “but sadly he exists entirely to establish that the Host have turned evil, and so he isn’t around for long.” (Although another member contributed, “Everyone else, though-even Young Heroic Yeoman? Enh.”) There was a flurry of subtracted points “for the utter absurdity that is Max Capricorn,” “who drags the hotness level down into a deep, dark chasm of unsexiness from which the episode never fully recovers. Also, he is ridiculous.” And another member confesses, “This category has just become a miscellaneous category for me. For instance, there’s a point in here for the new theme, which I just adore. It feels darker than the old theme, which I think suits the show.” Turning back what this category is actually about, however, one member speaks for all of us when she writes, “The truth is, this season will be difficult for me because they set the Sexy bar so damn high with last year’s finale that I now feel that anything less than the full Troika of Temptation--David Tennant, John Simm, and John Barrowman--is something of a letdown. I know, I know, it’s just something I’m going to have to live with, and I’m working through my feelings with the help of a team of highly qualified grief counsellors, but you know, these things take time and the season is only so long.”
Sexy!Scene to Watch Out For: A rare unanimous choice for the sexy!scene! “No-brainer-the speechifying when the ship has just been hit, and the few survivors are cowering in one of the many tunnels which resemble the bowels of Wales Millennium Stadium.” “The scene where the Doctor gives his (slightly over-the-top) ‘I’m the Doctor. I’m a Time Lord...’ speech.” “PHWOAR. I love how intense he is-how confident, and how matter-of-fact.” “Yes! Please! Save me, Ten!” “When he’s done delivering that speech, I just kind of collapse.” (1) As for honorable mentions, members note that “they ruined the only other close competitor, which was the bit where he slow-mo walks with the fire behind him and then the two Host come up on either side of him.” (2) “I will admit that he’s very hot when he’s doing his dramatic, slow-motion walking after Astrid’s death, but that image is ruined for me by the linking arms with the Host and the snapping fingers.” “The first bit of that is kind of sexy, but then he snaps his fingers and they all link arms and EVERY. DAMN. TIME. I expect them to break into some sort of bizarre Chorus Line-inspired song and dance number, which, while I’m sure it’d be a hit on Broadway, isn’t terribly sexy to see on Doctor Who.” “This is not especially sexy but the way the Doctor picks the nearest blonde and goes after her, complete with that speculative press of his tongue against his teeth, is just devastating. Astrid never stood a chance.” “There’s a flash of dimple the first time the Doctor says ‘Banakafalatta,’ and I’m always in favor of the dimple.” “The Doctor’s slow, deliberate, I-have-had-enough-I-am-serious tie removal should not have been allowed in a children’s show.”
Endnotes (aka, the pictures to go with the SStwoF). Thanks, as always, to
larissa_j for the screencaps.
1.
2.
3. Poster's prerogative--two more pictures (from the many, many pretty ones) for your enjoyment:
Posters Note: We plan to post the HQ's either Thursday night, or Friday morning before the episode airs on SciFi. Remember--VotD airs Friday night, 18 April, starting at 8:30 pm (and no, none of us are affiliated with that network. Trust us).