Born Again/Christmas Invasion Blog - oh, look there's a theme going...
Before I go for it...
I know the CiN special doesn't really have an official title, but "Born Again" is my favourite of the several semi-official ones, so I'm using that.
Spoilers up to Sound of Drums, general refs to Torchwood. And a very unpopular opinion, which I should point out up front, I'm not mad at any of you lot over.
Parting of the Ways recap - the Daleks are about to kill the Doctor, Bad Wolf shows up and saves him.
Emperor: I cannot die!
As he disintegrates, Rose starts to fail, Nine kisses her and regenerates.
And oh, that music as he burns.
Ten gets as far as "Barcelona", and then we're into the credits.
"Born Again" (aka Pudsey Cutaway, aka That Children In Need Thing), in which the Doctor tries to work out who he is, and Rose Tyler can't cope
And DT is in the opening credits for the first time, whoot!
He's actually gonna go straight to Barcelona, without even pausing, and Rose is there just staring at him.
"Now then. What do I look like? No no no nonono no. No. Don't tell me." Starts checking limbs, like he thinks he's lost some, even though he never has before. I love how he squees over his hair! And sideburns! And the mole! Notes a weakness in his right wrist, remember that later.
And finally he realises Rose hasn't said anything.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. You saw me, I changed. Right in front of you."
And Rose thinks he's been replaced. "You're not fooling me. ... Oh my God, are you Slitheen?"
"Rose, it's me, honestly it's me." And he's gobsmacked, cos it's been a long time since anyone who's actually watched him regenerate has doubted it was him afterwards.
"You can't be."
"Then how could I remember this?" And he takes her hand, and the way he says "run"...
"Can you change back?" "Do you want me to?" "Yeah." "Oh." "Can you?" "No." Breaks my heart, that bit.
And he was gonna take her home for Christmas... And he manages to make her laugh, and she won't admit it and he knows why. "Oh come on, all I did was change, I didn't -"
Rose wants to find Jack - why does she think he'd know how to fix a failing regeneration? Oh. Well, I suppose she's not grasping yet that it's a Time Lord thing, she can't seem to comprehend it at all.
And the Doctor lies. "He's busy, rebuilding the Earth." And Rose will assume, of course, when she gets a chance to think about it, that he died and the Doctor just didn't want to tell her.
And Ten is getting scary here. "Wanna break the time limit? ... Let's rip through the vortex!"
And Rose is panicking, cos what can she do? The only person who can fly the TARDIS is suddenly dangerously unstable, she's never had to worry about how she'd stop the Doctor doing anything, and even if she could, they're stuck in the vortex...
And off they go, skidding dangerously into the Christmas Special, I love it!
Next up: The Christmas Invasion, featuring Harriet Jones and a bad Queen tribute band from space.
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And we get the zoom in from space again. I rather love it though.
Onto a decoration on Jackie's tree this time, and she's missing Rose. And Mickey's really tuned to the TARDIS noise now, he can hear her over the music in the garage!
And that has gotta be the worst landing ever. Any landing you walk away from, though... well, you know.
And Ten comes out by himself, and forgets they don't know who he is! Oh. Because Time Lords know each other, he said that, he knew the Master's new regeneration on sight, and he's just addled enough right now to forget that humans don't have that ability, they've never needed it after all...
And then he collapses, leaving Rose to come out and explain.
"What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?" And thanks for being tonight's continuity announcer, Jackie. XD
"The Christmas Invasion," in which the Doctor is rude and not ginger, and Rose Tyler falls in love all over again
Stethoscope! Is that the one he keeps?
She remembers to check both hearts, good girl, Rose. "Anything else he's got two of?" SHUT UP, JACKIE, I AM TRYING TO FINISH REGENERATING HERE!
I love that regen energy...
And Rose missed the election, hello, Harriet!
"I completely disagree, if you don't mind." I love her phrasing. And the probe's called Guinevere, which is just perfect. Only she's hit the Sycorax ship, disguised as an asteroid, or is that just what their ships always look like?
Mickey's now able to joke about how he hates TARDIS stories. "You can rely on me, I don't go changing my face." Yeah, you just die, Mickey, is that better? When you die, is Martha gonna go, "Well, at least he didn't go about regenerating on me"? NO SHE IS NOT.
Asking for no monsters is fair, though. He's still not gonna get it. This is Doctor Who, after all.
Pilot-fish-Santas are playing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. There's a Venusian lullaby to that tune, isn't there?
Rose can tell there's something wrong with the Santas, no one else has any idea to look. She's starting to get how he thinks now.
Taxi WHAT? Is that the normal taxi logo in Britain, cos if it is, that is AWESOME.
Rose is asking the right questions, doing the Doctor's rapidfire stream-of-consciousness stuff, I love it. Drags Mickey home, argues with Jackie about going somewhere safer, and notices the tree... Jackie hasn't learned to be suspicious yet, and Mickey never saw it. He's good with a chair though.
Rose would use the sonic herself if she could, but she can't, and she can't wake the Doctor up, except by saying the one thing he can't help but respond to, right in his ear. "Help me." And, screwdriver up, takes it straight down without even a pause to take the situation in. He's very good. XD
And he loves her. There's no way he doesn't, not now, not here, and she knows - if he's really the Doctor, he can't refuse to protect her, it's not IN him to.
"They were just pilot fish." And the collapse, he's very very good at looking fine when he's not, not a single stumble up to that point.
And the neural implosion, I love that he can always tell exactly what's happening to his body. Helps a lot in fixing it, especially when he knows he can never trust non-Gallifreyan medicine.
Jackie's list of remedies starts with aspirin - NO YOU'LL KILL HIM!
"I need you to shut up!" "He hasn't changed that much, has he?"
Apple!
And he tries to work it out, tries to tell them, even as his brain's collapsing, he just never stops until he's forced to.
Mickey's look when he sees Rose tending to the Doctor, seriously, Mickey, what is she supposed to do, leave him to burn up and die of heatstroke?
News says Guinevere landed on Mars, that's why they thought the Sycorax were Martians, right.
Pilot fish. I'm gonna talk about pilot fish for a minute cos that seems to confuse people. The robot Santas have nothing whatsoever to do with the Sycorax except that they sort of hang around them as scavengers. The Sycorax happen to be hanging around the solar system, so the pilot fish are too. The pilot fish pick up the presence of a regenerating Time Lord, go "ooh, living battery", go after him. The Sycorax, at the same time, are checking out Guinevere and going "ooh, this planet has lots of resources and people, let's enslave it!"
They're two different species, with different methods and goals, they each just happen to find the other useful to be around.
Hello, Trinity! "On the 25th of December, the human race was shown absolute proof that alien life exists!" Mark that date, cos the world won't.
"Why's everyone standing on rooftops, Rhys?" "Something in the water, Gwen."
"Yes, I know who you are." First one, isn't it?
Second one within minutes!
"Maybe they're not actual Martians." "Of course not, Martians look completely diffrent." Hello, UNIT guy!
Sycorax: "Is this the real life? Is it just fantasy? Caught in a landslide..." (OMG had to come back and add this cos I just watched the outtakes and they were singing it! Well, not that bit, the Galileo bit, but it counts!)
The TARDIS is no longer translating for Rose, because the Doctor's failing... his bond with the ship is part of what lets her get into everyone else's mind?
Harriet Jones, I love you. "He's not my boss, and he's certainly not turning this into a war."
"Government sources are calling this 'our longest night'." Well, yes, it would be. First contact with aliens and no one can act, find out if they're friendly, what they want? Very, very long night indeed.
I think the UNIT bloke is a bit jealous that Harriet's met the Doctor.
"People/cattle" is the same word? First unarguable sign that something's wrong. I'm thinking of that parallel universe in Angel, where humans were called "cows".
Sycorax have clear unambiguous pronouns? Plausible, but it's weird they can be sure of that so soon.
"We come in peace, shoot to kill?" Nice, Harriet.
Rose still doesn't trust Ten. "My Doctor, the proper Doctor, he'd wake up. He'd save us."
"You really love him, don't you?" Yes, she does, Mickey, I'm sorry.
And here comes the blood control. Good thing Rose, Mickey nd Jackie aren't A+, we'd be in a lot more trouble.
The unstoppable march to the roof is actually scarier than you'd think. Cos they just go, and you don't know if they even know where they are, and when they'll stop, till they do.
IS the UNIT guy a UNIT guy? He's the one contacting TW for her, and that's... I dunno. Maybe he's TW instead? (No, saw deleted scenes and he has the red hat - UNIT then.)
And Daniel figures out the blood because it's his fault. *hugs Daniel*
The Royal family are on the roof, and I love the way that's played. She's just "oh". And then she starts pleading for the Doctor, and Rose has to turn away, cos this is her breaking point.
Harriet must look a bit weird, though, since most of the country would have no idea who she's talking to... and what's Sarah Jane think about this broadcast, I wonder?
Rose runs and hides because she's out of options, or she never would. So she falls back on "protect the Doctor".
I love how the spoken and displayed translations don't quite match up. Like he's making up "leader of this world" cos he doesn't wanna call the PM a "tribal leader" to her face.
"It's a helmet, they might be like us! ...or not." I love Daniel.
The final curse. Do they really believe what they're doing is magic, or are they trying to scare primitives? Considering how they react to the hand-regrowing later, they might actually believe it.
Daniel, NOOooooo! Dammit! And UNIT guy!
And no Bad Wolfing her way out of this one. "Wiped out of my head like it's forbidden."
"Ohhh, the solution to everything." Funny you should say that, Rose....
TARDIS starts up by herself and the Sycora pick it up, teleport her up to their ship, ohh, they're angry now.
On the scanner - we've got a... two and a five, a one? Couple of fours? Not sure about the other digit, can't figure out here which order they're in. I'll go back and check it out again later.
Nice Mickey and Rose moment before she steps out and gets caught. Mickey at least gets the door closed before he gets grabbed too...
Thermos is spilled, leaking into the lower parts of the console - and steaming up from below. And he can smell it... XD
Sycorax decide Rose speaks for the planet cos she's the one with the cool ship. "Someone's got to be the Doctor." Yep. And don't worry, Rose, you'll be a LOT better at it in about two and a half seasons.
She starts out bluffing well - that's probably the wrong article, though. And then she throws in random names and it's not working - and she thought they were gonna listen when she said Daleks? What?
Good thing the Sycorax stopped to deliver a badass boast before killing her, because halfway through RTD stops torturing the actors with those really harsh-sounding phonemes, which means...
And I love the way they all turn to look, and his calm "Did you miss me?"
We're at about 39 minutes. DT doesn't know how gruelling this job is gonna be yet...
Blows off the Sycorax to greet his friends. And to find out if he's pretty! XD
"Am I... ginger?"
And pauses to start taking stock of who he is now. "Am I rude?"
And the Sycorax is a bit pushy about finding out who he is, and here comes another of my favourite speeches, and I adore this whole scene actually, from the moment Ten opens the doors.
"I demand to know who you are!"
"I DON'T KNOW! See, that's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I - I just don't know, I literally do not know who I am, it's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" With a glance at Rose, and she's like "hell yeah!"
"Right old misery, life and soul, right-handed, left-handed, a gambler, a fighter, a coward, a traitor, a liar, a nervous wreck! I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. And how am I gonna react when I see this? A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must never be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?" I adore that grin!
And he figures out the control matrix, and he can tell A+ by its taste!
"Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So when I see a great big threatening button which should never ever ever be pressed, then I just wanna do this!" *presses button*
And any of them could have pressed it, but he's the only one who knows how blood control works and -
Oh, there it is. "Sorry, that's the Lion King." I'm pretty sure that was the moment, the LINE, at which I fell for Ten.
And he can challenge them, because he knows them, how their customs work, that's the thing I most love about this show, the Doctor always wins because he knows things, because he wanted to know those things long before he ended up needing them and how many Ravenclaw heroes are there as compelling as him?
"You stand as this world's champion." "Thank you. I have no idea who I am, but you've just summed me up."
I'm gonna go get that insult. I'm gonna learn it. "Are you just a krallak pelkassakri selvak?" Closest I can figure it out without going to look it up.
And his face when he says "For the planet"! He seems to be enjoying himself, too - the Doctor, who hates guns, has no problem with swords, and I love that too.
And he's doing alright for a while, till the Sycorax is lucky enough to get the right push in the right direction at the right moment, and then... Quick, Jack, go get it!
"And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Cos quite by chance, I'm still within the first 15 hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy... to do this."
"Witchcraft!"
"Time Lord."
"It's a fightin' hand" makes a lot more sense once you've seen Born Again, which I hadn't the first time through...
No problem taking the Sycorax down this time, but he spares him, because that's what he does. "Not bad for a man in his jimjams, very Arthur Dent." Oh yes!
And then kills the Sycorax leader with a satsuma. XD
"No second chances." We shoud track how well he holds to this, really...
"By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time." And trust me, you break this rule and he'll know. "And when you go back to the stars, and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential, when you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It is defended!" I love this speech.
He knows not to start celebrating till they actually fly away...
I love the Ten/Harriet hug - last time they'll be comfortable together, and it makes me sad.
And he tells Harriet more are coming, probably not the best thing to say at this point, but he doesn't KNOW she's got a gun ready to shoot them down.
The group hug! XD
And that was wrong, Harriet, they were retreating, and you SHOT THEM IN THE BACK!
And oh, his face.
"I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run, as fast as they can, run and hide, because the monsters are coming, the human race. ... I should have stopped you."
And this is where I'm about to make myself really unpopular.
Because the thing is, yes, Earth needs to defend itself, and yes, sometimes he's not around, but by SHOOTING RETREATING ENEMIES IN THE BACK?!! No. Humanity can be better than that, and it should be, and this bit coming up? I know people hate it, I know he scuppered the Golden Age and maybe it does look like childish pique to some people, but - I absolutely support it. Because he CAN'T just let her get away with this.
"Yes, you're right, not a single word. Just six."
And that's it. Goodbye, Harriet Jones. It doesn't matter any more if you're sorry.
...I need a breath before I finish up the last couple of scenes. And, I'm sorry. I understand the fans who side with Harriet, she is making a couple of good points, I just don't think it's enough to justify her position, and to be honest? Her position isn't one that sits well on this show, and it shouldn't.
.........
Right. Are we okay? Then I'll go on.
The wardrobe bit makes me irrationally happy. Just watching him try to figure out his look, and considering he basically only changes his clothes after regenerating, it's pretty important. And I really should go get this song...
Fake snow! It's still beautiful, though.
"No denying the existence of aliens now." I wish. It gets frustrating, having everyone keep forgetting/ignoring what they saw last time.
Ten and Rose are so cute and awkward here!
"On your own?"
"Why, don't you wanna come?"
"Well, yeah!"
"Do you though?"
'Yeah!"
"Er - I just thought - cos I changed -."
"Yeah, uh - I thought, cos you changed, you might not want me anymore."
"Oh, I'd love you to come!"
And Mickey finally gets it.
"It's all brand new to me. All those planets, and creatures, and horizons, I haven't seen them yet, not with these eyes. And it is gonna be... fantastic." And the look he gives her at the last word - Yes - I'm still the same, cos it's Nine's word, and he's gonna stop using it really soon, but for now...
Full season trailer, haha, forgot there was gonna be one of those! With SJS and K9 and Boe, and Tony Head, and the clockwork men!
Next up: New Earth, featuring the return of Madam Hooch the Amazing Body-Snatching Trampoline, and also of Jack-in-a-jar.
I know the CiN special doesn't really have an official title, but "Born Again" is my favourite of the several semi-official ones, so I'm using that.
Spoilers up to Sound of Drums, general refs to Torchwood. And a very unpopular opinion, which I should point out up front, I'm not mad at any of you lot over.
Parting of the Ways recap - the Daleks are about to kill the Doctor, Bad Wolf shows up and saves him.
Emperor: I cannot die!
As he disintegrates, Rose starts to fail, Nine kisses her and regenerates.
And oh, that music as he burns.
Ten gets as far as "Barcelona", and then we're into the credits.
"Born Again" (aka Pudsey Cutaway, aka That Children In Need Thing), in which the Doctor tries to work out who he is, and Rose Tyler can't cope
And DT is in the opening credits for the first time, whoot!
He's actually gonna go straight to Barcelona, without even pausing, and Rose is there just staring at him.
"Now then. What do I look like? No no no nonono no. No. Don't tell me." Starts checking limbs, like he thinks he's lost some, even though he never has before. I love how he squees over his hair! And sideburns! And the mole! Notes a weakness in his right wrist, remember that later.
And finally he realises Rose hasn't said anything.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. You saw me, I changed. Right in front of you."
And Rose thinks he's been replaced. "You're not fooling me. ... Oh my God, are you Slitheen?"
"Rose, it's me, honestly it's me." And he's gobsmacked, cos it's been a long time since anyone who's actually watched him regenerate has doubted it was him afterwards.
"You can't be."
"Then how could I remember this?" And he takes her hand, and the way he says "run"...
"Can you change back?" "Do you want me to?" "Yeah." "Oh." "Can you?" "No." Breaks my heart, that bit.
And he was gonna take her home for Christmas... And he manages to make her laugh, and she won't admit it and he knows why. "Oh come on, all I did was change, I didn't -"
Rose wants to find Jack - why does she think he'd know how to fix a failing regeneration? Oh. Well, I suppose she's not grasping yet that it's a Time Lord thing, she can't seem to comprehend it at all.
And the Doctor lies. "He's busy, rebuilding the Earth." And Rose will assume, of course, when she gets a chance to think about it, that he died and the Doctor just didn't want to tell her.
And Ten is getting scary here. "Wanna break the time limit? ... Let's rip through the vortex!"
And Rose is panicking, cos what can she do? The only person who can fly the TARDIS is suddenly dangerously unstable, she's never had to worry about how she'd stop the Doctor doing anything, and even if she could, they're stuck in the vortex...
And off they go, skidding dangerously into the Christmas Special, I love it!
Next up: The Christmas Invasion, featuring Harriet Jones and a bad Queen tribute band from space.
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And we get the zoom in from space again. I rather love it though.
Onto a decoration on Jackie's tree this time, and she's missing Rose. And Mickey's really tuned to the TARDIS noise now, he can hear her over the music in the garage!
And that has gotta be the worst landing ever. Any landing you walk away from, though... well, you know.
And Ten comes out by himself, and forgets they don't know who he is! Oh. Because Time Lords know each other, he said that, he knew the Master's new regeneration on sight, and he's just addled enough right now to forget that humans don't have that ability, they've never needed it after all...
And then he collapses, leaving Rose to come out and explain.
"What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?" And thanks for being tonight's continuity announcer, Jackie. XD
"The Christmas Invasion," in which the Doctor is rude and not ginger, and Rose Tyler falls in love all over again
Stethoscope! Is that the one he keeps?
She remembers to check both hearts, good girl, Rose. "Anything else he's got two of?" SHUT UP, JACKIE, I AM TRYING TO FINISH REGENERATING HERE!
I love that regen energy...
And Rose missed the election, hello, Harriet!
"I completely disagree, if you don't mind." I love her phrasing. And the probe's called Guinevere, which is just perfect. Only she's hit the Sycorax ship, disguised as an asteroid, or is that just what their ships always look like?
Mickey's now able to joke about how he hates TARDIS stories. "You can rely on me, I don't go changing my face." Yeah, you just die, Mickey, is that better? When you die, is Martha gonna go, "Well, at least he didn't go about regenerating on me"? NO SHE IS NOT.
Asking for no monsters is fair, though. He's still not gonna get it. This is Doctor Who, after all.
Pilot-fish-Santas are playing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. There's a Venusian lullaby to that tune, isn't there?
Rose can tell there's something wrong with the Santas, no one else has any idea to look. She's starting to get how he thinks now.
Taxi WHAT? Is that the normal taxi logo in Britain, cos if it is, that is AWESOME.
Rose is asking the right questions, doing the Doctor's rapidfire stream-of-consciousness stuff, I love it. Drags Mickey home, argues with Jackie about going somewhere safer, and notices the tree... Jackie hasn't learned to be suspicious yet, and Mickey never saw it. He's good with a chair though.
Rose would use the sonic herself if she could, but she can't, and she can't wake the Doctor up, except by saying the one thing he can't help but respond to, right in his ear. "Help me." And, screwdriver up, takes it straight down without even a pause to take the situation in. He's very good. XD
And he loves her. There's no way he doesn't, not now, not here, and she knows - if he's really the Doctor, he can't refuse to protect her, it's not IN him to.
"They were just pilot fish." And the collapse, he's very very good at looking fine when he's not, not a single stumble up to that point.
And the neural implosion, I love that he can always tell exactly what's happening to his body. Helps a lot in fixing it, especially when he knows he can never trust non-Gallifreyan medicine.
Jackie's list of remedies starts with aspirin - NO YOU'LL KILL HIM!
"I need you to shut up!" "He hasn't changed that much, has he?"
Apple!
And he tries to work it out, tries to tell them, even as his brain's collapsing, he just never stops until he's forced to.
Mickey's look when he sees Rose tending to the Doctor, seriously, Mickey, what is she supposed to do, leave him to burn up and die of heatstroke?
News says Guinevere landed on Mars, that's why they thought the Sycorax were Martians, right.
Pilot fish. I'm gonna talk about pilot fish for a minute cos that seems to confuse people. The robot Santas have nothing whatsoever to do with the Sycorax except that they sort of hang around them as scavengers. The Sycorax happen to be hanging around the solar system, so the pilot fish are too. The pilot fish pick up the presence of a regenerating Time Lord, go "ooh, living battery", go after him. The Sycorax, at the same time, are checking out Guinevere and going "ooh, this planet has lots of resources and people, let's enslave it!"
They're two different species, with different methods and goals, they each just happen to find the other useful to be around.
Hello, Trinity! "On the 25th of December, the human race was shown absolute proof that alien life exists!" Mark that date, cos the world won't.
"Why's everyone standing on rooftops, Rhys?" "Something in the water, Gwen."
"Yes, I know who you are." First one, isn't it?
Second one within minutes!
"Maybe they're not actual Martians." "Of course not, Martians look completely diffrent." Hello, UNIT guy!
Sycorax: "Is this the real life? Is it just fantasy? Caught in a landslide..." (OMG had to come back and add this cos I just watched the outtakes and they were singing it! Well, not that bit, the Galileo bit, but it counts!)
The TARDIS is no longer translating for Rose, because the Doctor's failing... his bond with the ship is part of what lets her get into everyone else's mind?
Harriet Jones, I love you. "He's not my boss, and he's certainly not turning this into a war."
"Government sources are calling this 'our longest night'." Well, yes, it would be. First contact with aliens and no one can act, find out if they're friendly, what they want? Very, very long night indeed.
I think the UNIT bloke is a bit jealous that Harriet's met the Doctor.
"People/cattle" is the same word? First unarguable sign that something's wrong. I'm thinking of that parallel universe in Angel, where humans were called "cows".
Sycorax have clear unambiguous pronouns? Plausible, but it's weird they can be sure of that so soon.
"We come in peace, shoot to kill?" Nice, Harriet.
Rose still doesn't trust Ten. "My Doctor, the proper Doctor, he'd wake up. He'd save us."
"You really love him, don't you?" Yes, she does, Mickey, I'm sorry.
And here comes the blood control. Good thing Rose, Mickey nd Jackie aren't A+, we'd be in a lot more trouble.
The unstoppable march to the roof is actually scarier than you'd think. Cos they just go, and you don't know if they even know where they are, and when they'll stop, till they do.
IS the UNIT guy a UNIT guy? He's the one contacting TW for her, and that's... I dunno. Maybe he's TW instead? (No, saw deleted scenes and he has the red hat - UNIT then.)
And Daniel figures out the blood because it's his fault. *hugs Daniel*
The Royal family are on the roof, and I love the way that's played. She's just "oh". And then she starts pleading for the Doctor, and Rose has to turn away, cos this is her breaking point.
Harriet must look a bit weird, though, since most of the country would have no idea who she's talking to... and what's Sarah Jane think about this broadcast, I wonder?
Rose runs and hides because she's out of options, or she never would. So she falls back on "protect the Doctor".
I love how the spoken and displayed translations don't quite match up. Like he's making up "leader of this world" cos he doesn't wanna call the PM a "tribal leader" to her face.
"It's a helmet, they might be like us! ...or not." I love Daniel.
The final curse. Do they really believe what they're doing is magic, or are they trying to scare primitives? Considering how they react to the hand-regrowing later, they might actually believe it.
Daniel, NOOooooo! Dammit! And UNIT guy!
And no Bad Wolfing her way out of this one. "Wiped out of my head like it's forbidden."
"Ohhh, the solution to everything." Funny you should say that, Rose....
TARDIS starts up by herself and the Sycora pick it up, teleport her up to their ship, ohh, they're angry now.
On the scanner - we've got a... two and a five, a one? Couple of fours? Not sure about the other digit, can't figure out here which order they're in. I'll go back and check it out again later.
Nice Mickey and Rose moment before she steps out and gets caught. Mickey at least gets the door closed before he gets grabbed too...
Thermos is spilled, leaking into the lower parts of the console - and steaming up from below. And he can smell it... XD
Sycorax decide Rose speaks for the planet cos she's the one with the cool ship. "Someone's got to be the Doctor." Yep. And don't worry, Rose, you'll be a LOT better at it in about two and a half seasons.
She starts out bluffing well - that's probably the wrong article, though. And then she throws in random names and it's not working - and she thought they were gonna listen when she said Daleks? What?
Good thing the Sycorax stopped to deliver a badass boast before killing her, because halfway through RTD stops torturing the actors with those really harsh-sounding phonemes, which means...
And I love the way they all turn to look, and his calm "Did you miss me?"
We're at about 39 minutes. DT doesn't know how gruelling this job is gonna be yet...
Blows off the Sycorax to greet his friends. And to find out if he's pretty! XD
"Am I... ginger?"
And pauses to start taking stock of who he is now. "Am I rude?"
And the Sycorax is a bit pushy about finding out who he is, and here comes another of my favourite speeches, and I adore this whole scene actually, from the moment Ten opens the doors.
"I demand to know who you are!"
"I DON'T KNOW! See, that's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I - I just don't know, I literally do not know who I am, it's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" With a glance at Rose, and she's like "hell yeah!"
"Right old misery, life and soul, right-handed, left-handed, a gambler, a fighter, a coward, a traitor, a liar, a nervous wreck! I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. And how am I gonna react when I see this? A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must never be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?" I adore that grin!
And he figures out the control matrix, and he can tell A+ by its taste!
"Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So when I see a great big threatening button which should never ever ever be pressed, then I just wanna do this!" *presses button*
And any of them could have pressed it, but he's the only one who knows how blood control works and -
Oh, there it is. "Sorry, that's the Lion King." I'm pretty sure that was the moment, the LINE, at which I fell for Ten.
And he can challenge them, because he knows them, how their customs work, that's the thing I most love about this show, the Doctor always wins because he knows things, because he wanted to know those things long before he ended up needing them and how many Ravenclaw heroes are there as compelling as him?
"You stand as this world's champion." "Thank you. I have no idea who I am, but you've just summed me up."
I'm gonna go get that insult. I'm gonna learn it. "Are you just a krallak pelkassakri selvak?" Closest I can figure it out without going to look it up.
And his face when he says "For the planet"! He seems to be enjoying himself, too - the Doctor, who hates guns, has no problem with swords, and I love that too.
And he's doing alright for a while, till the Sycorax is lucky enough to get the right push in the right direction at the right moment, and then... Quick, Jack, go get it!
"And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Cos quite by chance, I'm still within the first 15 hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy... to do this."
"Witchcraft!"
"Time Lord."
"It's a fightin' hand" makes a lot more sense once you've seen Born Again, which I hadn't the first time through...
No problem taking the Sycorax down this time, but he spares him, because that's what he does. "Not bad for a man in his jimjams, very Arthur Dent." Oh yes!
And then kills the Sycorax leader with a satsuma. XD
"No second chances." We shoud track how well he holds to this, really...
"By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time." And trust me, you break this rule and he'll know. "And when you go back to the stars, and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential, when you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It is defended!" I love this speech.
He knows not to start celebrating till they actually fly away...
I love the Ten/Harriet hug - last time they'll be comfortable together, and it makes me sad.
And he tells Harriet more are coming, probably not the best thing to say at this point, but he doesn't KNOW she's got a gun ready to shoot them down.
The group hug! XD
And that was wrong, Harriet, they were retreating, and you SHOT THEM IN THE BACK!
And oh, his face.
"I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run, as fast as they can, run and hide, because the monsters are coming, the human race. ... I should have stopped you."
And this is where I'm about to make myself really unpopular.
Because the thing is, yes, Earth needs to defend itself, and yes, sometimes he's not around, but by SHOOTING RETREATING ENEMIES IN THE BACK?!! No. Humanity can be better than that, and it should be, and this bit coming up? I know people hate it, I know he scuppered the Golden Age and maybe it does look like childish pique to some people, but - I absolutely support it. Because he CAN'T just let her get away with this.
"Yes, you're right, not a single word. Just six."
And that's it. Goodbye, Harriet Jones. It doesn't matter any more if you're sorry.
...I need a breath before I finish up the last couple of scenes. And, I'm sorry. I understand the fans who side with Harriet, she is making a couple of good points, I just don't think it's enough to justify her position, and to be honest? Her position isn't one that sits well on this show, and it shouldn't.
.........
Right. Are we okay? Then I'll go on.
The wardrobe bit makes me irrationally happy. Just watching him try to figure out his look, and considering he basically only changes his clothes after regenerating, it's pretty important. And I really should go get this song...
Fake snow! It's still beautiful, though.
"No denying the existence of aliens now." I wish. It gets frustrating, having everyone keep forgetting/ignoring what they saw last time.
Ten and Rose are so cute and awkward here!
"On your own?"
"Why, don't you wanna come?"
"Well, yeah!"
"Do you though?"
'Yeah!"
"Er - I just thought - cos I changed -."
"Yeah, uh - I thought, cos you changed, you might not want me anymore."
"Oh, I'd love you to come!"
And Mickey finally gets it.
"It's all brand new to me. All those planets, and creatures, and horizons, I haven't seen them yet, not with these eyes. And it is gonna be... fantastic." And the look he gives her at the last word - Yes - I'm still the same, cos it's Nine's word, and he's gonna stop using it really soon, but for now...
Full season trailer, haha, forgot there was gonna be one of those! With SJS and K9 and Boe, and Tony Head, and the clockwork men!
Next up: New Earth, featuring the return of Madam Hooch the Amazing Body-Snatching Trampoline, and also of Jack-in-a-jar.