Doctor Who: the I've finally seen the end of series four edition
(also, Planet of the Dead)
A. Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead
1. I... had some of it figured out; like, that the little girl was the computer and living in a virtual world (I couldn't decide if the Doctor and others were inside the girl's mind or if she was inside theirs or something). I didn't have it all worked-out, that the people in the library were still 'living'. I assumed they were just stored. Possibly being replicated as those wierd Information Points.
2. So. Before I get into what I liked, though, does anyone know what actually happened to the shadow vampires? Because they gave the Doctor a day to find them somewhere to go and... nothing ever happened. Did he get them home? Did he forget and leave and then they ate everyone? idk. It was a bad loose end to leave. BAD FORM, MOFF.
3. If there is anyone shocked that I loved and adored River Song where have you been? I don't even know if I can put into words how much I squeaked and clapped at how confident, smug and brazen she was about her connection to the Doctor and living her life. I love the concept of an otp that don't cling, but meet for random hook-ups, and SOMETIMES they aren't remembering the same things, because ONE OF THEM TRAVELS IN TIME. ahahahahahahah. I WOULD DRAW HEARTS ALL OVER HER. If she weren't now nothing more than an echo stored in a computer, that is. (there's a whole other episode in that, btw, what's real, what constitutes consciousness? What's in our bodies, or the last imprint of our brain before death? Might be a bit deep for Who and now I want to go dig out Ballyntyne's books and finish them, since they're on this VERY SUBJECT)
4. Teh Moff likes those 'Everybody Lives' endings. Even if they're not all alive-alive.
5. New bad guys! YAY! I mean, I don't think they'll ever be a huge presence, but as with the clockwork androids (eee!) and the weeping angels, they're new and different and exploring that whole "the universe is AWESOME" concept that I've got my fingers crossed will continue with the new series (I have little faith in tv these days, so it's always a nice surprise when it doesn't turn out to be the daleks/master/cybermen for the ten billionth time)
6. I am... torn on Donna's storyline, though. I'm ok with the computer essentially removing her from the narrative so that teh Moff could have River be smug a lot (I'm ok with smugness it makes her adorable), along with Anita (THAT WAS A MEAN TRICK) and the others. But, otoh, I'm... not sure what I think about the whole "Donna's fantasy world is a man and kids". I guess it sort of is, though, she's so normal after all, that it doesn't feel like she's just being diminished into a traditional role. I am sad she never met her dream man again, though. I think they could have been interesting together.
7. It was so disconcerting to see Annabelle from St. Trinian's, though. I was all "OH, ANNABELLE, Kelly will be SO disappointed!" at her, though I had no issues with her going exploring (exploring is better than cowering! YES, even if you end up brain-sucked), I was sort of saddened to be able to pick out who would die when.
8. A LIBRARY THAT COVERS A WHOLE PLANET. Mommy, I have been SO SO GOOD, pleeeeeeeeease can I go? PLEASE?
9. I am also annoyed that, essentially, the only people who survived were the two white dudes, though. Especially since whatsisface was an asshole who made the entire thing drag on way too fucking long. (which is a bit reminiscent of that whole Ood creator bullshit from earlier in the season, sigh)
10. I think my ranking for Moff episodes puts this one at second from last, despite my love of River Song. (Blink, Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Library/Forests, GitFace....which is hard to rank, can the last two tie?)
B. Midnight
1. So. I'm sure this was a really good movie, back when it was called 'Lifepod' or 'Lifeboat'. This was not an original idea, sadly. And people being hysterical and plotting to kill each other gets yawn-worthy pretty fast. Especially when most of them are assholes anyway.
2. Lesley Sharp was hired based on her work in Afterlife, quite obviously. She is fabulous and spot-on, really bringing the disturbing pathos.
3. The worst thing about this episode is that I was far more interested in the cities made of diamonds that we never got to investigate. I was hugely looking forward to that. I sort of feel cheated, really. Sigh. If they could have combined the "let's explore!" elements of Library/Forests with Midnight and stretched Midnight into two episodes, they could have made Boring Earth/Journey's Blah one episode! And saved me a lot of "wow, this needed editing, wtf" whining.
4. That isn't to say I hated it, it just... falls flat, the more I think about it. :/
C. Turn Left
1. FANFIC. It wasn't awful, and it was nice to see the GIRL POWAH of Rose, Donna and the UNIT Captain (Erisa Magambo, I think?). BUT. Who was trying to remove Donna? The daleks? That was never really explained, though I do like that "Donna is so special we gotta take her out, like killing the Queen in a chess match" thing. (Ten would play Parcheesi not Chess, even if you thought you were playing Chess)
2. No, really, I liked Donna and how the future changes without her around to keep the timeline on track.
3. Also, Wilf's comment about 'work camps' made me sad.
4. This episode does do what I like about Who, though. It asks "what if we change this" and then runs off to play in the sandbox. So, yay for that. (I did like the episode, even if this review is so short).
D. Stolen Earth/Journey's End
1. Wow. Everyone crying about how the Daleks mean the end of the world was fucking hilarious. OMG DALEKS. SO BORED. SO MOTHERFUCKING BORED. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I'm supposed to be frightened by flying pepper pots with delusions of grandeur? This was one of the stupidest bad guys to pull out (AGAIN, wtf) ever.
2. *eyerolls* Yes. Running down an empty street without checking to see if the Daleks could find you, too, is so very smart. (please, please, don't tell me that Who is about the Epic Love and Destiny of Rose and the Doctor).
3. So, Davros' and the Dalek's evil evil plan is... to destory everything. ....um. So. Who are they going to subjugate, then?
4. Wow. Rusty's "Good Women Change Bad Men" schtick is in full-play, with the Rose and clone!Doc crap. I.... yeah, no.
5. Yes, I can see how saving Donna's life was more important than leaving her remembering that she is awesome. At least River Song kept all of her memories.
6. Both of these episodes needed serious editing. What was with all of the "Let's Keep Rose Out of Things, so she is proved to be Specialer than everyone else" bullshit? That was utterly pointless crap.
7. The above said, I really liked how Rose was trying to find the Doctor so that the universe didn't end. As long as I believe that, I can ignore the part where her life only mattered if she found a man. It was sort of awesome to see her dedicated to saving the universe, even without him. Right down to a BFG. =D (even if it went missing as soon as a man arrived to save her) I sort of wonder how long they've been using their cannon to find the Doctor (I guess a little phone call would have ruined everything), and I'm glad to see Mickey and Jackie again, even if they didn't get to do much.
8. I liked Rose, except when she opened her mouth. She sounded like someone had punched her in the mouth and she couldn't talk properly anymore, it was ridiculously distracting and kept pulling me out of any moment she was in. :/ Pity they didn't go in and re-dub when Billie could talk again.
9. MARTHA JONES COMMANDO. ok, not so much. But still! <3 And in charge of some big project (that she then fixed or something). Even if she was going to blow up Earth (something the Doctor should remember the inhabitants wouldn't mind).
10. Sidenote, though, what's going to happen when the oldskool daleks turn up and invade in 20whatsit? Are they going to find traces of new daleks there? This is possibly why I was like, "Daleks have taken over Earth? *yawn* Really? WHEN ARE THEY STARTING LABOR CAMPS?"
11. Also, it was the Cybermen who tried to move Earth when Mondas was destroyed, wasn't it? Or is this some stupid newskool thing?
12. Gwen and Ianto defending the Hub. Awww. So useless, but so adorable. TOSH PWNS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. <3 <3 <3 <3 (pity it's never used again, eh? I bet Tosh would've worked out a way to expand the effect, too.)
13. The Deux ex Donna was sort of... meh. I like Donna. But she's sort of supposed to be the average, every-day girl.... giving her big Mental Powers changes that. She didn't need that to be special and important, dammit. She just needed to be herself (sadly, she isn't even that, anymore).
14. Um, so. Sarah Jane. Liked her. Loathed the kiddie computer and 'son' bit. Very meh on that (I'm ok with her having a kid, but the very... "this is so ultra-special, kiddies, isn't this funny-fun-funfun-times now!" slant towards the way she and he and their computer were written made me gag. A lot). K-9 being some sort of genie in a bottle=also annoying. [Yeah, there's a reason I only managed five minutes of an episode of SJA, and it wasn't because I dislike Sarah Jane.]
15. ONLY TINKERBELL FAIRY JESUS DOCTOR CAN SAVE THE UNIVERSE. meh. so meh. GET OVER THE DOCTOR, SHOW. HE IS NOT A FUCKING GOD. SOMETIMES? SOMETIMES, HE LOSES. Also, no one can wreck Earth, we've already seen the future.
16. The Shadow Proclamation were... interesting. I suppose.
17. What would I have edited? Old Home Week: Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Martha, Sarah and the kid. Donna's family could have stayed, Rose, Jackie and Mickey were fine. But the streamlining would have made the episode a lot less stupid and overly-complicated. You don't need to have big, neon signs about your other franchises, we don't mind if one or two ex-newskool-companions DON'T MAKE THE PARTY. Really. Sigh.
18. Which reminds me of Harriet Jones: created to be deposed, then brought back to be murdered. REALLY. THAT WAS SO AWESOME. Except, y'know, not. She didn't even blow up daleks as she died. HARRIET JONES WOULD HAVE BLOWN THEM UP. Dalekenium isn't unknown, after all. Harriet Jones did not actually die on-screen, therefore she is not dead.
So, my thoughts on series four, as a whole:
1. I like Donna, but I prefer Martha (when the narrative isn't telling me about how she is Not as Good as Rose). and... I sort of wish the Rose stuff had been less about her True and Pure Love for the Doctor and more about her need to save the universe. (also, I want the spin-off where Rose, Martha, and Donna track down Sally Sparrow and steal the TARDIS for shenanigans)
2. I could watch a season of River Song exploring the planets with Anita her pilot/tech sidekick and Sally Sparrow as a refugee from a time storm. Harriet Jones bankrolls them. (shut up, this is my fantasy)
3. If I ever see another fucking dalek again it will be TOO SOON.
4. NEEDS MOAR CLOCKWORK DROIDS and weird devils in blackholes.
5. I think it was sort of uneven, but it didn't all suck? Like, in half-season portions, it didn't make me "blah", and the first half was sort of shit when compared to the second.
6. I am really glad that Rusty is gone, though I fear it won't really help.
and, the only post-s4 I've seen: Planet of the Dead
1. Lady Christina can come burgle me ANY time. =D
2. Shut up, I am not easy because I love competent, take-charge women. It's just that Captain Magambo was pretty fucking awesome. It was like "why isn't it Lady C. vs the Captain in a caper-chase across the city?"
3. It's such a pity the captain didn't shoot the annoying generic geeky white boy, though. Matthew or whatever his name was. :/ (she was AWESOME for threatening it and pointing a gun at him, and OMG even if she had shot him, it wouldn't have mattered, since Lady C and her bus weren't ready until he would have been dead, anyway--AND EARTH FIRST, ALWAYS)
4. So. I still think Horns of Nimon is better? But, like, deserts and shiny shiny flying piranhas are more fun than endless corridors. ALSO. This gives me ideas for Romana vs. Lady Christina in Paris, or something. Possibly with a twelve-city thieving tour afterwords, and K-9 accidentally zapping them to the other side of the galaxy.
5. It was nice that almost no one died, too, except for whomever was on top of the bus? Was there anyone?
6. What is she going to do with a flying bus? Or can it travel in time, too? (obviously, she should find Suzie, who is not really dead, and they should modify it and go steal borrow things for the thrill of it whilst thwarting some alien invasions and stopping robot rebellions)
Overall newskool thought: can we get back to over-throwing fascist governments soon?
A. Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead
1. I... had some of it figured out; like, that the little girl was the computer and living in a virtual world (I couldn't decide if the Doctor and others were inside the girl's mind or if she was inside theirs or something). I didn't have it all worked-out, that the people in the library were still 'living'. I assumed they were just stored. Possibly being replicated as those wierd Information Points.
2. So. Before I get into what I liked, though, does anyone know what actually happened to the shadow vampires? Because they gave the Doctor a day to find them somewhere to go and... nothing ever happened. Did he get them home? Did he forget and leave and then they ate everyone? idk. It was a bad loose end to leave. BAD FORM, MOFF.
3. If there is anyone shocked that I loved and adored River Song where have you been? I don't even know if I can put into words how much I squeaked and clapped at how confident, smug and brazen she was about her connection to the Doctor and living her life. I love the concept of an otp that don't cling, but meet for random hook-ups, and SOMETIMES they aren't remembering the same things, because ONE OF THEM TRAVELS IN TIME. ahahahahahahah. I WOULD DRAW HEARTS ALL OVER HER. If she weren't now nothing more than an echo stored in a computer, that is. (there's a whole other episode in that, btw, what's real, what constitutes consciousness? What's in our bodies, or the last imprint of our brain before death? Might be a bit deep for Who and now I want to go dig out Ballyntyne's books and finish them, since they're on this VERY SUBJECT)
4. Teh Moff likes those 'Everybody Lives' endings. Even if they're not all alive-alive.
5. New bad guys! YAY! I mean, I don't think they'll ever be a huge presence, but as with the clockwork androids (eee!) and the weeping angels, they're new and different and exploring that whole "the universe is AWESOME" concept that I've got my fingers crossed will continue with the new series (I have little faith in tv these days, so it's always a nice surprise when it doesn't turn out to be the daleks/master/cybermen for the ten billionth time)
6. I am... torn on Donna's storyline, though. I'm ok with the computer essentially removing her from the narrative so that teh Moff could have River be smug a lot (I'm ok with smugness it makes her adorable), along with Anita (THAT WAS A MEAN TRICK) and the others. But, otoh, I'm... not sure what I think about the whole "Donna's fantasy world is a man and kids". I guess it sort of is, though, she's so normal after all, that it doesn't feel like she's just being diminished into a traditional role. I am sad she never met her dream man again, though. I think they could have been interesting together.
7. It was so disconcerting to see Annabelle from St. Trinian's, though. I was all "OH, ANNABELLE, Kelly will be SO disappointed!" at her, though I had no issues with her going exploring (exploring is better than cowering! YES, even if you end up brain-sucked), I was sort of saddened to be able to pick out who would die when.
8. A LIBRARY THAT COVERS A WHOLE PLANET. Mommy, I have been SO SO GOOD, pleeeeeeeeease can I go? PLEASE?
9. I am also annoyed that, essentially, the only people who survived were the two white dudes, though. Especially since whatsisface was an asshole who made the entire thing drag on way too fucking long. (which is a bit reminiscent of that whole Ood creator bullshit from earlier in the season, sigh)
10. I think my ranking for Moff episodes puts this one at second from last, despite my love of River Song. (Blink, Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Library/Forests, GitFace....which is hard to rank, can the last two tie?)
B. Midnight
1. So. I'm sure this was a really good movie, back when it was called 'Lifepod' or 'Lifeboat'. This was not an original idea, sadly. And people being hysterical and plotting to kill each other gets yawn-worthy pretty fast. Especially when most of them are assholes anyway.
2. Lesley Sharp was hired based on her work in Afterlife, quite obviously. She is fabulous and spot-on, really bringing the disturbing pathos.
3. The worst thing about this episode is that I was far more interested in the cities made of diamonds that we never got to investigate. I was hugely looking forward to that. I sort of feel cheated, really. Sigh. If they could have combined the "let's explore!" elements of Library/Forests with Midnight and stretched Midnight into two episodes, they could have made Boring Earth/Journey's Blah one episode! And saved me a lot of "wow, this needed editing, wtf" whining.
4. That isn't to say I hated it, it just... falls flat, the more I think about it. :/
C. Turn Left
1. FANFIC. It wasn't awful, and it was nice to see the GIRL POWAH of Rose, Donna and the UNIT Captain (Erisa Magambo, I think?). BUT. Who was trying to remove Donna? The daleks? That was never really explained, though I do like that "Donna is so special we gotta take her out, like killing the Queen in a chess match" thing. (Ten would play Parcheesi not Chess, even if you thought you were playing Chess)
2. No, really, I liked Donna and how the future changes without her around to keep the timeline on track.
3. Also, Wilf's comment about 'work camps' made me sad.
4. This episode does do what I like about Who, though. It asks "what if we change this" and then runs off to play in the sandbox. So, yay for that. (I did like the episode, even if this review is so short).
D. Stolen Earth/Journey's End
1. Wow. Everyone crying about how the Daleks mean the end of the world was fucking hilarious. OMG DALEKS. SO BORED. SO MOTHERFUCKING BORED. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I'm supposed to be frightened by flying pepper pots with delusions of grandeur? This was one of the stupidest bad guys to pull out (AGAIN, wtf) ever.
2. *eyerolls* Yes. Running down an empty street without checking to see if the Daleks could find you, too, is so very smart. (please, please, don't tell me that Who is about the Epic Love and Destiny of Rose and the Doctor).
3. So, Davros' and the Dalek's evil evil plan is... to destory everything. ....um. So. Who are they going to subjugate, then?
4. Wow. Rusty's "Good Women Change Bad Men" schtick is in full-play, with the Rose and clone!Doc crap. I.... yeah, no.
5. Yes, I can see how saving Donna's life was more important than leaving her remembering that she is awesome. At least River Song kept all of her memories.
6. Both of these episodes needed serious editing. What was with all of the "Let's Keep Rose Out of Things, so she is proved to be Specialer than everyone else" bullshit? That was utterly pointless crap.
7. The above said, I really liked how Rose was trying to find the Doctor so that the universe didn't end. As long as I believe that, I can ignore the part where her life only mattered if she found a man. It was sort of awesome to see her dedicated to saving the universe, even without him. Right down to a BFG. =D (even if it went missing as soon as a man arrived to save her) I sort of wonder how long they've been using their cannon to find the Doctor (I guess a little phone call would have ruined everything), and I'm glad to see Mickey and Jackie again, even if they didn't get to do much.
8. I liked Rose, except when she opened her mouth. She sounded like someone had punched her in the mouth and she couldn't talk properly anymore, it was ridiculously distracting and kept pulling me out of any moment she was in. :/ Pity they didn't go in and re-dub when Billie could talk again.
9. MARTHA JONES COMMANDO. ok, not so much. But still! <3 And in charge of some big project (that she then fixed or something). Even if she was going to blow up Earth (something the Doctor should remember the inhabitants wouldn't mind).
10. Sidenote, though, what's going to happen when the oldskool daleks turn up and invade in 20whatsit? Are they going to find traces of new daleks there? This is possibly why I was like, "Daleks have taken over Earth? *yawn* Really? WHEN ARE THEY STARTING LABOR CAMPS?"
11. Also, it was the Cybermen who tried to move Earth when Mondas was destroyed, wasn't it? Or is this some stupid newskool thing?
12. Gwen and Ianto defending the Hub. Awww. So useless, but so adorable. TOSH PWNS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. <3 <3 <3 <3 (pity it's never used again, eh? I bet Tosh would've worked out a way to expand the effect, too.)
13. The Deux ex Donna was sort of... meh. I like Donna. But she's sort of supposed to be the average, every-day girl.... giving her big Mental Powers changes that. She didn't need that to be special and important, dammit. She just needed to be herself (sadly, she isn't even that, anymore).
14. Um, so. Sarah Jane. Liked her. Loathed the kiddie computer and 'son' bit. Very meh on that (I'm ok with her having a kid, but the very... "this is so ultra-special, kiddies, isn't this funny-fun-funfun-times now!" slant towards the way she and he and their computer were written made me gag. A lot). K-9 being some sort of genie in a bottle=also annoying. [Yeah, there's a reason I only managed five minutes of an episode of SJA, and it wasn't because I dislike Sarah Jane.]
15. ONLY TINKERBELL FAIRY JESUS DOCTOR CAN SAVE THE UNIVERSE. meh. so meh. GET OVER THE DOCTOR, SHOW. HE IS NOT A FUCKING GOD. SOMETIMES? SOMETIMES, HE LOSES. Also, no one can wreck Earth, we've already seen the future.
16. The Shadow Proclamation were... interesting. I suppose.
17. What would I have edited? Old Home Week: Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Martha, Sarah and the kid. Donna's family could have stayed, Rose, Jackie and Mickey were fine. But the streamlining would have made the episode a lot less stupid and overly-complicated. You don't need to have big, neon signs about your other franchises, we don't mind if one or two ex-newskool-companions DON'T MAKE THE PARTY. Really. Sigh.
18. Which reminds me of Harriet Jones: created to be deposed, then brought back to be murdered. REALLY. THAT WAS SO AWESOME. Except, y'know, not. She didn't even blow up daleks as she died. HARRIET JONES WOULD HAVE BLOWN THEM UP. Dalekenium isn't unknown, after all. Harriet Jones did not actually die on-screen, therefore she is not dead.
So, my thoughts on series four, as a whole:
1. I like Donna, but I prefer Martha (when the narrative isn't telling me about how she is Not as Good as Rose). and... I sort of wish the Rose stuff had been less about her True and Pure Love for the Doctor and more about her need to save the universe. (also, I want the spin-off where Rose, Martha, and Donna track down Sally Sparrow and steal the TARDIS for shenanigans)
2. I could watch a season of River Song exploring the planets with Anita her pilot/tech sidekick and Sally Sparrow as a refugee from a time storm. Harriet Jones bankrolls them. (shut up, this is my fantasy)
3. If I ever see another fucking dalek again it will be TOO SOON.
4. NEEDS MOAR CLOCKWORK DROIDS and weird devils in blackholes.
5. I think it was sort of uneven, but it didn't all suck? Like, in half-season portions, it didn't make me "blah", and the first half was sort of shit when compared to the second.
6. I am really glad that Rusty is gone, though I fear it won't really help.
and, the only post-s4 I've seen: Planet of the Dead
1. Lady Christina can come burgle me ANY time. =D
2. Shut up, I am not easy because I love competent, take-charge women. It's just that Captain Magambo was pretty fucking awesome. It was like "why isn't it Lady C. vs the Captain in a caper-chase across the city?"
3. It's such a pity the captain didn't shoot the annoying generic geeky white boy, though. Matthew or whatever his name was. :/ (she was AWESOME for threatening it and pointing a gun at him, and OMG even if she had shot him, it wouldn't have mattered, since Lady C and her bus weren't ready until he would have been dead, anyway--AND EARTH FIRST, ALWAYS)
4. So. I still think Horns of Nimon is better? But, like, deserts and shiny shiny flying piranhas are more fun than endless corridors. ALSO. This gives me ideas for Romana vs. Lady Christina in Paris, or something. Possibly with a twelve-city thieving tour afterwords, and K-9 accidentally zapping them to the other side of the galaxy.
5. It was nice that almost no one died, too, except for whomever was on top of the bus? Was there anyone?
6. What is she going to do with a flying bus? Or can it travel in time, too? (obviously, she should find Suzie, who is not really dead, and they should modify it and go steal borrow things for the thrill of it whilst thwarting some alien invasions and stopping robot rebellions)
Overall newskool thought: can we get back to over-throwing fascist governments soon?