Some Dr. Who Notes
As you probably know I bought the Season 2 Dr. Who DVD box set that came out on Tuesday. I've been going through the episodes in pretty rapid succession and there were some notes and speculations that I had that I'm just going to jot down here.
Echoes
There were a lot of visual and thematic echoes in Season 2. 1) Micky : K-9 :: Rose : Terrier. In "School Reunion" Mickey comes to the realization that he's "the tin dog" of the group. In the "Rise of the Cybermen," Rose finds out that in parallel earth she's an actual dog. 2) Clockwork Men : Robots of Death. In the "Girl in the Fireplace" the villainous robots are clockwork repair droids who have gone mad in repairing the ship. The droids are often seen wearing masks, clothes and wigs of 18th Century France. Having recently watched the old Tom Baker episode "The Robots of Death" it's interesting to me that those robots also have a similar manner of dress and their metal head includes a sculpted hair, reminiscent of a French wig. Interesting. 3) The Wall. In the "Tooth and Claw" the scene where they are stuck in the library when the wolf is at the door there is a scene where the doctor puts his head against the wall and the wolf is on the other side and with a split screen camera shot you see them together, looking the same way. This exact same scene is played out in reverse in the final episode "Doomsday" when the Doctor and Rose are separated by the wall between the two parallel Torchwoods. Same scene, radically different emotional context. Beautiful.
Deleted Scenes
One of the things that watching the DVD's really drove home is how much the Sci-Fi channel chops Dr. Who to fit the hellacious amount of commercials we have in America. There were so many scenes, in every single episode that you just never see, and lines, that are REALLY IMPORTANT that they just left out. Like I had no idea that the crew working on the "Impossible Planet" were actually employees of Torchwood. That line was just cut out. There were even character deaths that were cut that I didn't even realize. And the whole scene with the music "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in "Rise fo the Cybermen" was just gone. All of that was supremely annoying.
Torchwood Crossovers and Speculation
If you've watched Torchwood you know that Captain Jack has the hand of the Doctor in a jar, the hand that was severed by the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion." Also, if you watched Season 2 of Doctor Who then you know that the beast in "The Satan Pit" called itself Abaddon. This was the name that Bilis Manger in Torchwood called the beast that rose from the rift in Cardiff. Putting aside any question about how the beast got from the Satan Pit and back to earth (possibly via Torchwood and the survivors of the impossible planet?), after Captain Jack revives at the end of the last episode of Torchwood you see him looking at the hand of the Doctor and it's glowing in that time vortex way, you hear the TARDIS grinding and Captain Jack disappears, presumably to go back to the Doctor. Well, the BBC announced that John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack, will be coming back for the finale of Season 3. This makes me wonder, since the hand was glowing, does that mean that the Doctor will be regenerating again at the end of Season 3?
Echoes
There were a lot of visual and thematic echoes in Season 2. 1) Micky : K-9 :: Rose : Terrier. In "School Reunion" Mickey comes to the realization that he's "the tin dog" of the group. In the "Rise of the Cybermen," Rose finds out that in parallel earth she's an actual dog. 2) Clockwork Men : Robots of Death. In the "Girl in the Fireplace" the villainous robots are clockwork repair droids who have gone mad in repairing the ship. The droids are often seen wearing masks, clothes and wigs of 18th Century France. Having recently watched the old Tom Baker episode "The Robots of Death" it's interesting to me that those robots also have a similar manner of dress and their metal head includes a sculpted hair, reminiscent of a French wig. Interesting. 3) The Wall. In the "Tooth and Claw" the scene where they are stuck in the library when the wolf is at the door there is a scene where the doctor puts his head against the wall and the wolf is on the other side and with a split screen camera shot you see them together, looking the same way. This exact same scene is played out in reverse in the final episode "Doomsday" when the Doctor and Rose are separated by the wall between the two parallel Torchwoods. Same scene, radically different emotional context. Beautiful.
Deleted Scenes
One of the things that watching the DVD's really drove home is how much the Sci-Fi channel chops Dr. Who to fit the hellacious amount of commercials we have in America. There were so many scenes, in every single episode that you just never see, and lines, that are REALLY IMPORTANT that they just left out. Like I had no idea that the crew working on the "Impossible Planet" were actually employees of Torchwood. That line was just cut out. There were even character deaths that were cut that I didn't even realize. And the whole scene with the music "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in "Rise fo the Cybermen" was just gone. All of that was supremely annoying.
Torchwood Crossovers and Speculation
If you've watched Torchwood you know that Captain Jack has the hand of the Doctor in a jar, the hand that was severed by the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion." Also, if you watched Season 2 of Doctor Who then you know that the beast in "The Satan Pit" called itself Abaddon. This was the name that Bilis Manger in Torchwood called the beast that rose from the rift in Cardiff. Putting aside any question about how the beast got from the Satan Pit and back to earth (possibly via Torchwood and the survivors of the impossible planet?), after Captain Jack revives at the end of the last episode of Torchwood you see him looking at the hand of the Doctor and it's glowing in that time vortex way, you hear the TARDIS grinding and Captain Jack disappears, presumably to go back to the Doctor. Well, the BBC announced that John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack, will be coming back for the finale of Season 3. This makes me wonder, since the hand was glowing, does that mean that the Doctor will be regenerating again at the end of Season 3?