For the dark things cannot stand the light.
I'm enjoying DC's big Blackest Night much more than I thought I would, especially considering that the company was all but dead to me this time last year. Most of that is a combination of Guy and Kyle's epic Guy Love, the "bring dead titles back to life" stunt from this month, and how ridiculously awesome Wonder Woman has been, but what really makes this storyline fun is that it infects you. Watching a show becomes an exercise in figuring out which characters would wear what color ring, or gleefully announcing what color they'd be projecting to a Black Lantern, like announcing your favorite color to cross the bridge in Holy Grail. (Blue! No, Yellow---Arggghhhh!) It came up during a Doctor Who marathon last week, when all agreed that Rose would rock a green ring. (For the uninitiated, the power rings in DC all have ties to individual emotions, both positive and negative. Green=will, red=rage, yellow=fear, orange=avarice, blue=hope, indigo=compassion, sapphire=love. Yes, DC's definition of "emotion" is a tad broader than most. And yes, indigo and sapphire look virtually identical a lot of the time. Work with me here.)
So of course I started giving everyone else power rings, too.:)
The Doctor would be Blue, with indigo and sapphire as secondary colors (hey, if Hal can wear multiple rings!). Not that he doesn't have a strong will, he does, but the Doctor is always strongest when he has something to fight for. He needs a cause, the bleaker the better, and the blue rings are interesting in that they're the weakest until things get so bad there's almost no chance of victory, then look out. That's the Doctor in a nutshell.
Of course, the blue rings are at their best when working with the green rings, and that's where the Companions shine. Rose would indeed rock a green ring, but so would Martha and Donna and Sarah and pretty much everyone else who travels with the Doctor. You just don't last as a Companion unless you have a fearsome will; look at poor Adam, who was an orange ring if I ever saw one. (With some exceptions: I would argue that Fitz was a sapphire ring, for example.) The differences come in what their secondary colors would be; Rose and Donna both have Compassion as their secondaries (Rose is really marvelously empathetic; there's hardly an episode where she doesn't bond with one of the NPCs, and her pain over the idea of the Doctor being alone is compassion at its finest, whereas you only have to see Donna trying to hear the Ood's song to see her glow sapphire.) Martha and Sarah Jane have Love as their second, love for the Doctor and for their families and for Earth (Martha reminds me so much of Sarah Jane, right down to the Doctor putting them in impossible situations.)
Let's leave Jack aside for the moment (he's complicated) and jump to the rest of Torchwood. Gwen is another Will/Compassion combo, very like Rose (I've always theorized that Jack recruited Gwen because she reminded him of an older Rose, especially considering how hard he's working his Nine impression in "Everything Changes.") Tosh and Ianto are both sapphire rings, while Owen is probably red. He's so unhappy and resentful and gleefully takes it out on everyone, especially in S1 ("I sabotage happy relationships.") He actually gets better at compassion after he dies.
The Master is either yellow or orange, depending on the incarnation.
Which brings us to Jack. This question actually came up watching Torchwood and no one could agree. It's not green; the man runs from his problems and he falls into despair too often to be hope. Unlike the Doctor, Jack doesn't get stronger the worse things get, he buckles. And the strongest emotion he has in S1 of Torchwood is rage. Rewatch that season: he is an angry SOB. He snaps at everyone and has no patience and even all of his efforts to find the Doctor again stem as much from anger at being left as from love. So yeah, he probably could power a red ring pretty well. Which is not someone you want in charge.
Oh, Jack. S2 and afterwards he shines sapphire a lot more often; hopefully by the time he comes back he'll have figured out a way to push that ahead of the self-loathing and resentment.
***
The Oscar noms (put it that way and it sounds like muppet food) came out today and...look, I'm a Watchmen fangirl. I love that movie beyond all reason, but this isn't coming from a fangirl place: it's a crime that Jackie Earle Haley isn't on one of those acting lists. The man put in a performance that I would bet good money is as good as any of the ones nominated, and he did half of it wearing a full face mask. Gah.
At least I have Christoph Waltz to root for.
***
New Lost tonight! Loooooooossssssssttttt!
So of course I started giving everyone else power rings, too.:)
The Doctor would be Blue, with indigo and sapphire as secondary colors (hey, if Hal can wear multiple rings!). Not that he doesn't have a strong will, he does, but the Doctor is always strongest when he has something to fight for. He needs a cause, the bleaker the better, and the blue rings are interesting in that they're the weakest until things get so bad there's almost no chance of victory, then look out. That's the Doctor in a nutshell.
Of course, the blue rings are at their best when working with the green rings, and that's where the Companions shine. Rose would indeed rock a green ring, but so would Martha and Donna and Sarah and pretty much everyone else who travels with the Doctor. You just don't last as a Companion unless you have a fearsome will; look at poor Adam, who was an orange ring if I ever saw one. (With some exceptions: I would argue that Fitz was a sapphire ring, for example.) The differences come in what their secondary colors would be; Rose and Donna both have Compassion as their secondaries (Rose is really marvelously empathetic; there's hardly an episode where she doesn't bond with one of the NPCs, and her pain over the idea of the Doctor being alone is compassion at its finest, whereas you only have to see Donna trying to hear the Ood's song to see her glow sapphire.) Martha and Sarah Jane have Love as their second, love for the Doctor and for their families and for Earth (Martha reminds me so much of Sarah Jane, right down to the Doctor putting them in impossible situations.)
Let's leave Jack aside for the moment (he's complicated) and jump to the rest of Torchwood. Gwen is another Will/Compassion combo, very like Rose (I've always theorized that Jack recruited Gwen because she reminded him of an older Rose, especially considering how hard he's working his Nine impression in "Everything Changes.") Tosh and Ianto are both sapphire rings, while Owen is probably red. He's so unhappy and resentful and gleefully takes it out on everyone, especially in S1 ("I sabotage happy relationships.") He actually gets better at compassion after he dies.
The Master is either yellow or orange, depending on the incarnation.
Which brings us to Jack. This question actually came up watching Torchwood and no one could agree. It's not green; the man runs from his problems and he falls into despair too often to be hope. Unlike the Doctor, Jack doesn't get stronger the worse things get, he buckles. And the strongest emotion he has in S1 of Torchwood is rage. Rewatch that season: he is an angry SOB. He snaps at everyone and has no patience and even all of his efforts to find the Doctor again stem as much from anger at being left as from love. So yeah, he probably could power a red ring pretty well. Which is not someone you want in charge.
Oh, Jack. S2 and afterwards he shines sapphire a lot more often; hopefully by the time he comes back he'll have figured out a way to push that ahead of the self-loathing and resentment.
***
The Oscar noms (put it that way and it sounds like muppet food) came out today and...look, I'm a Watchmen fangirl. I love that movie beyond all reason, but this isn't coming from a fangirl place: it's a crime that Jackie Earle Haley isn't on one of those acting lists. The man put in a performance that I would bet good money is as good as any of the ones nominated, and he did half of it wearing a full face mask. Gah.
At least I have Christoph Waltz to root for.
***
New Lost tonight! Loooooooossssssssttttt!