all the happy fanboy geeking
Last night, Ted and I watched the first two episodes of
Well, *we* liked it. *beam* I, er, sort of knocked my plate over from the excitement when "Based on the novels by Jim Butcher" came up for the first time, and there was squeeing and laughter, and yeah, generally, we liked it a lot. Replacing the Blue Beetle with the Jeep worked just fine for me, though I do wish he had the duster. Bob is great--I was really dubious about them being able to pull off a Bob the Skull character in any fashion that was even vaguely effective, so I'm totally happy with the Give Bob A Body plan, and plus, Terrance Mann. :) But yeah, I liked that: it works.
Murphy, to my surprise, is really, really good. Except not blonde. I normally don't care about things like hair color, but it does throw me that she's not blonde. First time I saw her picture, I thought, "Oh, okay, she's a pretty good Sus--uh. That's not Susan. Agh." But I think she's excellent in the part. Very Murphy-like.
Haven't seen lots of Harry-magic yet, and I do wish they'd started with Storm Front and the whole episode of it at that, but I liked the first shown episode pretty well; the kid made a nice hook, I thought. I'm assuming and hoping the character will be back.
I like Harry a lot. Poor bastard got the shit beat out of him in both the first episodes, keeping very true to the books. *laugh* And he's tall! And quirky! And...doesn't look or sound like Jim, which is weird! But probably only to those of us who know him and therefore kinda think of Harry as Jim. :)
Yeah, okay, I've clearly got nothing analytical here, just "me like!" And also, YAY!
So, THANK YOU, tersa! You have made us very very happy! *beam* YAY! :) (And boy have I gotten spoiled, though, between watching TV on DVD and just watching TV in Ireland in general: I was horrified at the sheer number and regularity of commercials interrupting the show! Wow! So spoiled!)
And on the note of European TV, we also watched the first epsiode of
I was completely happy with the episode, except I did think the "one, two, three, everybody panic NOW!" thing was a little overdone. On the other hand, it was entirely made up for by the *straw*, which had great personal hilarity to me as many years ago spaceparasite used that same joke, and I still think it's terribly funny. :)
I have no profound insights into its commentary on the war in Iraq, on British social classes, on literary allusions in character names, or any of the other things I've read about people noticing. All I've got is general delight with the show. :) And, as a total Who newbit with no previous experience as to how the Doctor relates to his Companions, I have some Real Particular Ideas on how the relationship with Martha Jones ought to go, and *that's* what I'm going to talk about. :)
Now, to start off, I really liked Rose. I liked her a lot. She wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I thought she was a delightful character, and I loved her relationship with the Doctor. It was good in general and best, I think, from "School Reunion" on, after Rose learned there'd been other Companions and really realized that, as the Doctor said, she could spend the rest of her life with him, but he couldn't spend the rest of his life with her. That moment hit an intensity that kept accelarating, and I think both actors handled it well, all the way through to the very end, which was gorgeously heartbreaking.
That said, I totally understand that for the Doctor's own sake, he's got to move on and do it quickly. Somebody somewhere said "the current Companion is always the Doctor's bestest friend EVAR", and yeah, I think that for him, that's how it has to be. Anything else would drive you crazy, and the character's obviously fundamentally very lonely. So I know that in general there's always going to be some kind of romantic tension between the Doctor and his companion, and that's probably part of the formula they're not going to muck with.
But Martha Jones is really, really not Rose Tyler. She's an adult, she's got a career and focus and education, and while I can absolutely see her being fond of the Doctor, I would be so very happy to see her not fall in love with him. I'd like to see them stand more or less as equals; I think it'd be better for the Doctor as a character (and a person) and from one episode of series 3, it seems to me that that's what would be in character for Martha. A little bit of attraction, sure, that's fine, but I don't want to see her fall head over heels like Rose did. She's a much more fully formed person, and to me the Doctor doesn't seem as romantic to her as a character as he would to Rose.
Also, the Doctor *mentioned* Rose, which "School Reunion" indicates Does Not Happen. He doesn't talk about his former companions. Again, I see why he doesn't do that, but it makes him mentioning Rose that much more important. The *Doctor* isn't ready to fall in love again. I don't want to see that forced, for all that I understand that for his own sake he's got to fall in and out of love quickly*. (Now, I can see kind of semi-forced levity/flirting going dangerously near the edge of real feelings, which sammywol suggests from watching the Doctor Who Confidential stuff may be coming up, but perhaps on Martha's side rather than the Doctor's, but I wouldn't want it shoved over the edge.) It'd be artificial, and while the show silly and everything, it's also surprisingly free of artifice, at least in regards to its emotional side.
Now, if it were my show, Martha'd go away after a while (I like her a lot--she's *smart*, and not intimidated by the Doctor ("What are your people called?" "I'm a Time Lord." "So not pompous at all then."), and keeps her head on her shoulders and was thrilled to be on the Moon regardless of the circumstances, but I don't see her leaving her life for long. She's seems too dedicated and focused a person, and the Doctor strikes me as a phase, not a lifestyle choice: I'd see her leaving him before he left her) and the next Companion to come along would fall hopelessly, totally in love with the Doctor...and be completely aware that he wasn't in love with her. *That* would be proper agony. :) And after that, introducing somebody he could fall in love with (or bringing Rose back, which I would only do if I were ending this run of the series and intended to bring the Doctor back as the Eleventh when I began again) would be okay.
I'm quite sure none of this is going to pan out the way I want it to, but it'll be fun to see how it goes anyway. :)
*See Madame du Pompadour
*happysigh* I luff being a geek. :)
Well, *we* liked it. *beam* I, er, sort of knocked my plate over from the excitement when "Based on the novels by Jim Butcher" came up for the first time, and there was squeeing and laughter, and yeah, generally, we liked it a lot. Replacing the Blue Beetle with the Jeep worked just fine for me, though I do wish he had the duster. Bob is great--I was really dubious about them being able to pull off a Bob the Skull character in any fashion that was even vaguely effective, so I'm totally happy with the Give Bob A Body plan, and plus, Terrance Mann. :) But yeah, I liked that: it works.
Murphy, to my surprise, is really, really good. Except not blonde. I normally don't care about things like hair color, but it does throw me that she's not blonde. First time I saw her picture, I thought, "Oh, okay, she's a pretty good Sus--uh. That's not Susan. Agh." But I think she's excellent in the part. Very Murphy-like.
Haven't seen lots of Harry-magic yet, and I do wish they'd started with Storm Front and the whole episode of it at that, but I liked the first shown episode pretty well; the kid made a nice hook, I thought. I'm assuming and hoping the character will be back.
I like Harry a lot. Poor bastard got the shit beat out of him in both the first episodes, keeping very true to the books. *laugh* And he's tall! And quirky! And...doesn't look or sound like Jim, which is weird! But probably only to those of us who know him and therefore kinda think of Harry as Jim. :)
Yeah, okay, I've clearly got nothing analytical here, just "me like!" And also, YAY!
So, THANK YOU, tersa! You have made us very very happy! *beam* YAY! :) (And boy have I gotten spoiled, though, between watching TV on DVD and just watching TV in Ireland in general: I was horrified at the sheer number and regularity of commercials interrupting the show! Wow! So spoiled!)
And on the note of European TV, we also watched the first epsiode of
I was completely happy with the episode, except I did think the "one, two, three, everybody panic NOW!" thing was a little overdone. On the other hand, it was entirely made up for by the *straw*, which had great personal hilarity to me as many years ago spaceparasite used that same joke, and I still think it's terribly funny. :)
I have no profound insights into its commentary on the war in Iraq, on British social classes, on literary allusions in character names, or any of the other things I've read about people noticing. All I've got is general delight with the show. :) And, as a total Who newbit with no previous experience as to how the Doctor relates to his Companions, I have some Real Particular Ideas on how the relationship with Martha Jones ought to go, and *that's* what I'm going to talk about. :)
Now, to start off, I really liked Rose. I liked her a lot. She wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I thought she was a delightful character, and I loved her relationship with the Doctor. It was good in general and best, I think, from "School Reunion" on, after Rose learned there'd been other Companions and really realized that, as the Doctor said, she could spend the rest of her life with him, but he couldn't spend the rest of his life with her. That moment hit an intensity that kept accelarating, and I think both actors handled it well, all the way through to the very end, which was gorgeously heartbreaking.
That said, I totally understand that for the Doctor's own sake, he's got to move on and do it quickly. Somebody somewhere said "the current Companion is always the Doctor's bestest friend EVAR", and yeah, I think that for him, that's how it has to be. Anything else would drive you crazy, and the character's obviously fundamentally very lonely. So I know that in general there's always going to be some kind of romantic tension between the Doctor and his companion, and that's probably part of the formula they're not going to muck with.
But Martha Jones is really, really not Rose Tyler. She's an adult, she's got a career and focus and education, and while I can absolutely see her being fond of the Doctor, I would be so very happy to see her not fall in love with him. I'd like to see them stand more or less as equals; I think it'd be better for the Doctor as a character (and a person) and from one episode of series 3, it seems to me that that's what would be in character for Martha. A little bit of attraction, sure, that's fine, but I don't want to see her fall head over heels like Rose did. She's a much more fully formed person, and to me the Doctor doesn't seem as romantic to her as a character as he would to Rose.
Also, the Doctor *mentioned* Rose, which "School Reunion" indicates Does Not Happen. He doesn't talk about his former companions. Again, I see why he doesn't do that, but it makes him mentioning Rose that much more important. The *Doctor* isn't ready to fall in love again. I don't want to see that forced, for all that I understand that for his own sake he's got to fall in and out of love quickly*. (Now, I can see kind of semi-forced levity/flirting going dangerously near the edge of real feelings, which sammywol suggests from watching the Doctor Who Confidential stuff may be coming up, but perhaps on Martha's side rather than the Doctor's, but I wouldn't want it shoved over the edge.) It'd be artificial, and while the show silly and everything, it's also surprisingly free of artifice, at least in regards to its emotional side.
Now, if it were my show, Martha'd go away after a while (I like her a lot--she's *smart*, and not intimidated by the Doctor ("What are your people called?" "I'm a Time Lord." "So not pompous at all then."), and keeps her head on her shoulders and was thrilled to be on the Moon regardless of the circumstances, but I don't see her leaving her life for long. She's seems too dedicated and focused a person, and the Doctor strikes me as a phase, not a lifestyle choice: I'd see her leaving him before he left her) and the next Companion to come along would fall hopelessly, totally in love with the Doctor...and be completely aware that he wasn't in love with her. *That* would be proper agony. :) And after that, introducing somebody he could fall in love with (or bringing Rose back, which I would only do if I were ending this run of the series and intended to bring the Doctor back as the Eleventh when I began again) would be okay.
I'm quite sure none of this is going to pan out the way I want it to, but it'll be fun to see how it goes anyway. :)
*See Madame du Pompadour
*happysigh* I luff being a geek. :)