Doctor Who, Fear Her, Torchwood, Everything Changes, and Cracker (with Christopher Eccleston)
I had a very Who-based evening of viewing last night and I just feel like squeeing about it.
Spoilers for all of the above below the cut, as well as bits of S2 Who.
I'd seen Fear Her before (I actually wondered if the lady playing Chloe's mother was Freema, because by the time it aired here, we'd got the news about the companion change), but watching it again, for the first time on DVD, it was good. I thought the Doctor was at his most adorable, especially when lighting the Olympic torch, and was vastly amused at Rose crooning "beautiful boy" and the Doctor thinking she meant him. I have no idea what backcombing is, beyond something to do with one's hair, but I hope the hair people continue, because the Doctor looked rather lovely in that scene.
I did wonder, after realising that this was the episode in which the Doctor says "I was a dad once," just how long a time period there is between the end of this episode and the beginning of the next two, because if it's a short time, that might actually be why he never got to tell Rose about it. Just a possibility, as there were a lot of things going on.
I also think Rose leaving was heavily anvilled (made up word) from at least The Impossible Planet.
After rewatching this season, incidentally, I've come to a conclusion. If you ship Ten/Rose or at least are not opposed to the pairing (I, personally, am somewhere in the middle, leaning to the shipping side), it was probably a lot better if you didn't. Not that shippy or potentially romantic scenes save bad plots, just that the show as a whole seems more appealing if you don't absolutely loathe the idea.
Unpopular opinions: I loved Girl In The Fireplace unreservedly - it satisfied my historical kink, my pretty people kink, made me decide that Sophia Myles is one of the luckiest people in the world. I was a bit annoyed that it was a 51st century ship and not even a tiny acknowledgement of Jack (in an epsisode written by the guy who wrote his first episodes! *glare in the direction of Mr Moffatt*) though. Also, why has no one written Ten/Louis? He was lovely (Louis). Or Ten/Louis/Reinette for that matter.
I didn't hate Love & Monsters but I think the fact that it was Marc Warren playing Elton saved that from hatred. Though I did wonder if it was necessarily an oral sex joke (and btw it didn't, actually, feel like a joke either) at the end, though I suppose there isn't anything else they could really do as she was a head.
Also, I adore Sarah Jane uneservedly, and Anthony Stewart Head rocks in everything. Period. Oh how I wish a certain casting spoiler for Torchwood were him...
Australian TV got its first look at Torchwood last night and I, of coruse, watched it again.
Things of note.
I really do not like Suzie. It wasn't just her turning out to be insane. I just didn't like her. I'm not sure if it was the actress or not, having never seen Indira Varma in anything else but Suzie was awful.
Even knowing that something was supposedly going on later (we still have no on-screen confirmation but I would like it either way for next season as soon as possible please), that line about Ianto looking good in a suit still looks like nothing more than typical Jack flirtation, and Ianto's response simply friendly by-play. And the sir was so not meant in a kinky way.
I really do adore Owen. He's a bastard but the kind I like. I still think he's from the Stuart Alan Jones school of RTD characters. He also looks really hot kissing a guy. More Owen slash! And I still think the girl was checking him out before he sprayed her. Yes, he was lazy, yes, the spray is questionable at least, no it was not rape.
Tosh was horribly un-impression-making.
And Gwen was more fun than I remember, I hope that isn't an indication of how her character changes. Then again, I remember enjoying her in other episodes and this is six months or more from when I last saw it.
Oh and I found the stuff about Captain Jack Harkness most interesting. I still wonder if real!Jack actually died. I know the missing thing was so Jack could take his identity, but still... ambiguity is a fic writer's friend.
Speaking of fic, I got a terribly amusing porn bunny (note to self, check porn battle prompts for something like this) about the invisible lift when Jack was showing it to Gwen. I just thought... oh, he's shagged there. Public sex without being public sex. I so want to write this and read it!
Hopefully, though, it went over well. And please, let the DVD box set come out over here.
And speaking of DVD box sets...
I caught twenty minutes of Cracker a couple of weeks ago. Cracker is a really interesting British police drama series that stars Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies) and several other interesting people, including a very young Christopher Eccleston, who of course was why I had any interest in watching it.
This twenty minutes captured me so much, I ordered the DVD box set on the strength of it. Then I watched the next two episodes (btw, isn't Frances Tomelty Sting's ex-wife?) which unfortunately rounded out the series (Brits have such short series). I have not regretted ordering it. Got a lot of cute moments from Chris in it - his character's wife had a baby and he was adorable as the dad giving the mum labour coaching and getting told to shut up and I admit it, I found the part where he held the baby... oh god, the look on his face... so beautiful. I know. I'm a sap. But it was just... wonderful.
Spoilers for all of the above below the cut, as well as bits of S2 Who.
I'd seen Fear Her before (I actually wondered if the lady playing Chloe's mother was Freema, because by the time it aired here, we'd got the news about the companion change), but watching it again, for the first time on DVD, it was good. I thought the Doctor was at his most adorable, especially when lighting the Olympic torch, and was vastly amused at Rose crooning "beautiful boy" and the Doctor thinking she meant him. I have no idea what backcombing is, beyond something to do with one's hair, but I hope the hair people continue, because the Doctor looked rather lovely in that scene.
I did wonder, after realising that this was the episode in which the Doctor says "I was a dad once," just how long a time period there is between the end of this episode and the beginning of the next two, because if it's a short time, that might actually be why he never got to tell Rose about it. Just a possibility, as there were a lot of things going on.
I also think Rose leaving was heavily anvilled (made up word) from at least The Impossible Planet.
After rewatching this season, incidentally, I've come to a conclusion. If you ship Ten/Rose or at least are not opposed to the pairing (I, personally, am somewhere in the middle, leaning to the shipping side), it was probably a lot better if you didn't. Not that shippy or potentially romantic scenes save bad plots, just that the show as a whole seems more appealing if you don't absolutely loathe the idea.
Unpopular opinions: I loved Girl In The Fireplace unreservedly - it satisfied my historical kink, my pretty people kink, made me decide that Sophia Myles is one of the luckiest people in the world. I was a bit annoyed that it was a 51st century ship and not even a tiny acknowledgement of Jack (in an epsisode written by the guy who wrote his first episodes! *glare in the direction of Mr Moffatt*) though. Also, why has no one written Ten/Louis? He was lovely (Louis). Or Ten/Louis/Reinette for that matter.
I didn't hate Love & Monsters but I think the fact that it was Marc Warren playing Elton saved that from hatred. Though I did wonder if it was necessarily an oral sex joke (and btw it didn't, actually, feel like a joke either) at the end, though I suppose there isn't anything else they could really do as she was a head.
Also, I adore Sarah Jane uneservedly, and Anthony Stewart Head rocks in everything. Period. Oh how I wish a certain casting spoiler for Torchwood were him...
Australian TV got its first look at Torchwood last night and I, of coruse, watched it again.
Things of note.
I really do not like Suzie. It wasn't just her turning out to be insane. I just didn't like her. I'm not sure if it was the actress or not, having never seen Indira Varma in anything else but Suzie was awful.
Even knowing that something was supposedly going on later (we still have no on-screen confirmation but I would like it either way for next season as soon as possible please), that line about Ianto looking good in a suit still looks like nothing more than typical Jack flirtation, and Ianto's response simply friendly by-play. And the sir was so not meant in a kinky way.
I really do adore Owen. He's a bastard but the kind I like. I still think he's from the Stuart Alan Jones school of RTD characters. He also looks really hot kissing a guy. More Owen slash! And I still think the girl was checking him out before he sprayed her. Yes, he was lazy, yes, the spray is questionable at least, no it was not rape.
Tosh was horribly un-impression-making.
And Gwen was more fun than I remember, I hope that isn't an indication of how her character changes. Then again, I remember enjoying her in other episodes and this is six months or more from when I last saw it.
Oh and I found the stuff about Captain Jack Harkness most interesting. I still wonder if real!Jack actually died. I know the missing thing was so Jack could take his identity, but still... ambiguity is a fic writer's friend.
Speaking of fic, I got a terribly amusing porn bunny (note to self, check porn battle prompts for something like this) about the invisible lift when Jack was showing it to Gwen. I just thought... oh, he's shagged there. Public sex without being public sex. I so want to write this and read it!
Hopefully, though, it went over well. And please, let the DVD box set come out over here.
And speaking of DVD box sets...
I caught twenty minutes of Cracker a couple of weeks ago. Cracker is a really interesting British police drama series that stars Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies) and several other interesting people, including a very young Christopher Eccleston, who of course was why I had any interest in watching it.
This twenty minutes captured me so much, I ordered the DVD box set on the strength of it. Then I watched the next two episodes (btw, isn't Frances Tomelty Sting's ex-wife?) which unfortunately rounded out the series (Brits have such short series). I have not regretted ordering it. Got a lot of cute moments from Chris in it - his character's wife had a baby and he was adorable as the dad giving the mum labour coaching and getting told to shut up and I admit it, I found the part where he held the baby... oh god, the look on his face... so beautiful. I know. I'm a sap. But it was just... wonderful.