Doctor Who: Even when it's crack!tastic and heartbreaking, I love it liek whoa
So, I watched “Journey’s End” today … aaaaand haven’t been able to do much since. Is it sad or awesome when a show is able to suck out your soul consume you so much? I’ve seen the episode in its entirety three times and several scenes in particular way too many times to say without a bit of shame. Overall verdict: I LOVED IT.
•I’m not going to nitpick about the plot. When the plot is great, I take notice (e.g. Blink, Midnight, etc. etc.), but when it isn’t (such as in this episode), it’s still fun and crazy and uniquely Doctor Who and I wouldn’t ask for it any other way. I watch this show for the awesomeness of the Doctor, for his relationships with people and his brilliant companions in particular, and for their endless adventures. I watch this show knowing (and expecting!) they will save the day at the last second even when the whole universe is at stake, waiting for the sad/heartbreaking repercussions, and understanding that if I try to make sense of the bits of pieces, I’m just going to give myself a headache. Also, I don’t hate RTD as much as it seems most of fandom does, and I guess I’m easy to please. I wouldn’t say the show is shallow either---it often does make me think and bawl my eyes out-but when I want “gritty realism”, I go to BSG, not DW.
(Sorry for the above. I’ve been reading a lot of negative and nitpicky comments lately, so I guess I’m just trying to make sense to myself why I’m generally pleased with the show and not very critical as I tend to be with other things *cough*Heroes*cough*.)
•That said, I do have one grippy request: Can this PLEASE be the end of the daleks now? Why have they become the default villain of New!Who? Yeah, I was frightened in Dalek and nervous for the Doctor and co. in Bad Wolf/PoTW, but since then, they’ve been nothing more than a joke. Davros didn’t do anything for me either, but perhaps that’s just an old skool thing. Meh.
•At least no one died! I was unspoiled for the episode, and so I was terrified that one of the characters was going to kick it by the end (I was even concerned for Clone!Ten, bless him.). And when they were all around the TARDIS console flying it together (well, excluding Jackie on that bit…but at least she was there!) and then hugging, I thought that this is how the TARDIS should be all of the time. Couldn’t there be a few more adventures with The Doctor, Clone!Doctor, Doctor!Donna, Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Martha, Jack, and Sarah Jane trumping around the universe and saving planets together?! Please and thank you. And Martha and Rose hugged! And Donna glomped Jack! Hee!
(Just like in BSG though, I knew that if all of the characters were happy and celebrating, it’d soon be ending in tears. *siiiigh*)
•DONNA. Oh, Donna. She alone was brilliant, but Doctor!Donna is something I would love to have seen at least for another season just as much. I’m still torn up about how the show left her-how could the Doctor take the time vortex out of Rose’s head without her losing all of her memories of being in the TARDIS and not do the same for Donna? :‘( It reminds me of the end of 4x07 The Unicorn and The Wasp:
The Doctor: She [Agatha Christie] is the best-selling novelist of all time.
Donna: But she never knew.
The Doctor: Well, no one knows how they’re going to be remembered. All we can do is hope for the best. Maybe that’s what kept her writing. Same thing that keeps me traveling. Onwards?
Donna: Onwards.
So tragic. Donna will never recognize her potential or see herself as more than “just a temp.” …I’m going to go cry again over this for awhile…
•Speaking of ouch moments…the beach scene, take 2. I’ve read comments that it was Rusty’s way of tying the story up neatly in a pretty little bow, but I didn’t see it that way at all! I thought it was really fucked up for all of them…and maybe that’s partly why I love it so much. I kept repeating that scene and watching it from different perspectives (because I am a freak, shut up :P): mine, as the viewer of course, the Doctor’s, clone!Doctor’s, Rose’s, and even Jackie’s, just for fun.
Me, the viewer: *sobs and squees throughout all of it*
The Doctor: Ouch. *heartbroken* Knowing what he’ll soon have to do to Donna and then lose her as well, it had to be even that much harder to see the life he’ll never have, that eternal companionship impossible for him. Yet he made himself appear stoic about the whole thing…maybe to make it easier for Rose to accept the clone? He’s lost Rose forever (again), and this time he’s lost her to himself. *hugs emo Doctor tightly*
Clone!Doctor: I think right now he’s still new and full of wonder at the life he’s going to have as a human with Rose that he’s in a daze? In this scene, he is mostly conscious of and concerned for Rose, but eventually the genocide is going to hit him. I predict a brooding human!Doctor in the days ahead who misses his other heart, who dreams of the sound of his TARDIS and who hungers for adventures on alien worlds. Not to mention how he may wonder whether he’ll ever be enough for Rose or if this life will ever be enough for him.
(Clone!Doctor fascinates me…another reason why I loved the episode and this scene in particular. I want to read tons of alt!universe fic now-fluffy, angsty, humorous where it’s still obvious how Donna imprinted on him, …I want it all!)
Rose: *confused* It’s like she feels screwed over but also feels guilty for it. And losing him again because of the “impossibilities” of parallel universes and blah blah blah is so overwhelming that she can’t even begin to fathom what she has gained just yet. This guy next to her-this clone-is even newer to her than when he regenerated into the tenth Doctor before because traveling in the TARDIS and being so alien is largely what makes the Doctor who he is. It’ll take some getting used to.
Jackie: Hee! I like to think that she’s wondering how they’re going to accommodate the Doctor now that he’s part of their family. Where will he sleep (because he certainly won’t be sleeping in the same bed as Rose under her roof, thank you very much!)? They’re going to have to buy him so new clothes! And I imagine that she wants to hug her daughter and make everything better, misses her baby and Pete, and is thinking about Mickey.
As fucked up and heartbreaking as it was for the Doctor to leave Rose with his clone in the parallel universe, it was best that they could do. Hopefully it works out okay, and hopefully the Doctor, knowing that at least a version of him and Rose are somewhere out there together, can put it behind him lose some of that emo-ness during the specials. Poor guy.
And some random thoughts
•I wanted a proper Jack/Rose reunion, dammit!
•So glad the Doctor didn’t regenerate! I love Tennant, but the way Donna and the Doctor bounced off of each other made me really appreciate Ten for the first time. Now that I’m finally growing attached to this Doctor, I want him to stick around forever and ever and ever and…yeah, I’ll be happily sipping martinis at Denial Island if anyone wants to join me. ;)
•More nekkid Doctor, please. ♥
•I think I may check into the Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah Jane was just too cute talking and being concerned about Luke. Also? I want a Mr. Smith computer!
•I’d also start watching Torchwood again if Mickey and Martha join the team.
•Speaking of Mickey, …
1.Was he checking out that guy at the end when he was talking with the Doctor (and
coincidentally when he said there’s nothing in the parallel universe for him
now, “certainly not Rose”)? (That’s also a goof moment. The guy passes by before Mickey steps out of the TARDIS and then again as Mickey walks by the Doctor. Ha, I never catch these things!)
2.Mickey/Jack anyone?
3.Aww, Mickey and Jackie together. I feel so bad for him being off on his own lonesome now…especially since Jackie was like his adopted mother or aunt or something.
•Martha and Rose were a 100x more decent to one another than some Martha fans and Rose fans are. “She’s good.” Did I mention the hugging? *g*
•Rose: Three Doctors?
Jack: I can’t tell you what I’m thinking right now!
Ha! Captain Jack should be writing fanfic-I’d read it!
•the Doctor: He needs you. That’s very me.
And my heart breaks a little more. I love how clone!Ten is such a callback to Nine (down to the maroon jumper even!) though. ♥
•Also love that the Gwen/Gwyneth connection was finally made.
•At least the beach scene is bittersweet…I can’t watch anything from the moment Donna gets hung up on “binary” to Ten being lonely, wet, and depressed in the empty TARDIS at the end without getting seriously choked up. Oh. My. God. Wilf talking to the Doctor at the end also makes me lose it. I’m going to miss him too! :(
Can I has more Who now pleaz? I would love *love* LOVE if they did a one-off of clone!Doctor and Rose saving the alt!universe with Torchwood and simultaneously planning their wedding or something like that. Please don’t tease me. :P
I also feel like watching all of Rose’s run on the show now with the knowledge that she *is* going to be with the Doctor forever. I can’t help being such a shipper, sigh. I need to find good fic, especially fix-it Donna fic, and read more comments about the episode as well because seriously, this show has stolen my brain again.
And we meet again, hiatus. *stares it down menacingly*
•I’m not going to nitpick about the plot. When the plot is great, I take notice (e.g. Blink, Midnight, etc. etc.), but when it isn’t (such as in this episode), it’s still fun and crazy and uniquely Doctor Who and I wouldn’t ask for it any other way. I watch this show for the awesomeness of the Doctor, for his relationships with people and his brilliant companions in particular, and for their endless adventures. I watch this show knowing (and expecting!) they will save the day at the last second even when the whole universe is at stake, waiting for the sad/heartbreaking repercussions, and understanding that if I try to make sense of the bits of pieces, I’m just going to give myself a headache. Also, I don’t hate RTD as much as it seems most of fandom does, and I guess I’m easy to please. I wouldn’t say the show is shallow either---it often does make me think and bawl my eyes out-but when I want “gritty realism”, I go to BSG, not DW.
(Sorry for the above. I’ve been reading a lot of negative and nitpicky comments lately, so I guess I’m just trying to make sense to myself why I’m generally pleased with the show and not very critical as I tend to be with other things *cough*Heroes*cough*.)
•That said, I do have one grippy request: Can this PLEASE be the end of the daleks now? Why have they become the default villain of New!Who? Yeah, I was frightened in Dalek and nervous for the Doctor and co. in Bad Wolf/PoTW, but since then, they’ve been nothing more than a joke. Davros didn’t do anything for me either, but perhaps that’s just an old skool thing. Meh.
•At least no one died! I was unspoiled for the episode, and so I was terrified that one of the characters was going to kick it by the end (I was even concerned for Clone!Ten, bless him.). And when they were all around the TARDIS console flying it together (well, excluding Jackie on that bit…but at least she was there!) and then hugging, I thought that this is how the TARDIS should be all of the time. Couldn’t there be a few more adventures with The Doctor, Clone!Doctor, Doctor!Donna, Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Martha, Jack, and Sarah Jane trumping around the universe and saving planets together?! Please and thank you. And Martha and Rose hugged! And Donna glomped Jack! Hee!
(Just like in BSG though, I knew that if all of the characters were happy and celebrating, it’d soon be ending in tears. *siiiigh*)
•DONNA. Oh, Donna. She alone was brilliant, but Doctor!Donna is something I would love to have seen at least for another season just as much. I’m still torn up about how the show left her-how could the Doctor take the time vortex out of Rose’s head without her losing all of her memories of being in the TARDIS and not do the same for Donna? :‘( It reminds me of the end of 4x07 The Unicorn and The Wasp:
The Doctor: She [Agatha Christie] is the best-selling novelist of all time.
Donna: But she never knew.
The Doctor: Well, no one knows how they’re going to be remembered. All we can do is hope for the best. Maybe that’s what kept her writing. Same thing that keeps me traveling. Onwards?
Donna: Onwards.
So tragic. Donna will never recognize her potential or see herself as more than “just a temp.” …I’m going to go cry again over this for awhile…
•Speaking of ouch moments…the beach scene, take 2. I’ve read comments that it was Rusty’s way of tying the story up neatly in a pretty little bow, but I didn’t see it that way at all! I thought it was really fucked up for all of them…and maybe that’s partly why I love it so much. I kept repeating that scene and watching it from different perspectives (because I am a freak, shut up :P): mine, as the viewer of course, the Doctor’s, clone!Doctor’s, Rose’s, and even Jackie’s, just for fun.
Me, the viewer: *sobs and squees throughout all of it*
The Doctor: Ouch. *heartbroken* Knowing what he’ll soon have to do to Donna and then lose her as well, it had to be even that much harder to see the life he’ll never have, that eternal companionship impossible for him. Yet he made himself appear stoic about the whole thing…maybe to make it easier for Rose to accept the clone? He’s lost Rose forever (again), and this time he’s lost her to himself. *hugs emo Doctor tightly*
Clone!Doctor: I think right now he’s still new and full of wonder at the life he’s going to have as a human with Rose that he’s in a daze? In this scene, he is mostly conscious of and concerned for Rose, but eventually the genocide is going to hit him. I predict a brooding human!Doctor in the days ahead who misses his other heart, who dreams of the sound of his TARDIS and who hungers for adventures on alien worlds. Not to mention how he may wonder whether he’ll ever be enough for Rose or if this life will ever be enough for him.
(Clone!Doctor fascinates me…another reason why I loved the episode and this scene in particular. I want to read tons of alt!universe fic now-fluffy, angsty, humorous where it’s still obvious how Donna imprinted on him, …I want it all!)
Rose: *confused* It’s like she feels screwed over but also feels guilty for it. And losing him again because of the “impossibilities” of parallel universes and blah blah blah is so overwhelming that she can’t even begin to fathom what she has gained just yet. This guy next to her-this clone-is even newer to her than when he regenerated into the tenth Doctor before because traveling in the TARDIS and being so alien is largely what makes the Doctor who he is. It’ll take some getting used to.
Jackie: Hee! I like to think that she’s wondering how they’re going to accommodate the Doctor now that he’s part of their family. Where will he sleep (because he certainly won’t be sleeping in the same bed as Rose under her roof, thank you very much!)? They’re going to have to buy him so new clothes! And I imagine that she wants to hug her daughter and make everything better, misses her baby and Pete, and is thinking about Mickey.
As fucked up and heartbreaking as it was for the Doctor to leave Rose with his clone in the parallel universe, it was best that they could do. Hopefully it works out okay, and hopefully the Doctor, knowing that at least a version of him and Rose are somewhere out there together, can put it behind him lose some of that emo-ness during the specials. Poor guy.
And some random thoughts
•I wanted a proper Jack/Rose reunion, dammit!
•So glad the Doctor didn’t regenerate! I love Tennant, but the way Donna and the Doctor bounced off of each other made me really appreciate Ten for the first time. Now that I’m finally growing attached to this Doctor, I want him to stick around forever and ever and ever and…yeah, I’ll be happily sipping martinis at Denial Island if anyone wants to join me. ;)
•More nekkid Doctor, please. ♥
•I think I may check into the Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah Jane was just too cute talking and being concerned about Luke. Also? I want a Mr. Smith computer!
•I’d also start watching Torchwood again if Mickey and Martha join the team.
•Speaking of Mickey, …
1.Was he checking out that guy at the end when he was talking with the Doctor (and
coincidentally when he said there’s nothing in the parallel universe for him
now, “certainly not Rose”)? (That’s also a goof moment. The guy passes by before Mickey steps out of the TARDIS and then again as Mickey walks by the Doctor. Ha, I never catch these things!)
2.Mickey/Jack anyone?
3.Aww, Mickey and Jackie together. I feel so bad for him being off on his own lonesome now…especially since Jackie was like his adopted mother or aunt or something.
•Martha and Rose were a 100x more decent to one another than some Martha fans and Rose fans are. “She’s good.” Did I mention the hugging? *g*
•Rose: Three Doctors?
Jack: I can’t tell you what I’m thinking right now!
Ha! Captain Jack should be writing fanfic-I’d read it!
•the Doctor: He needs you. That’s very me.
And my heart breaks a little more. I love how clone!Ten is such a callback to Nine (down to the maroon jumper even!) though. ♥
•Also love that the Gwen/Gwyneth connection was finally made.
•At least the beach scene is bittersweet…I can’t watch anything from the moment Donna gets hung up on “binary” to Ten being lonely, wet, and depressed in the empty TARDIS at the end without getting seriously choked up. Oh. My. God. Wilf talking to the Doctor at the end also makes me lose it. I’m going to miss him too! :(
Can I has more Who now pleaz? I would love *love* LOVE if they did a one-off of clone!Doctor and Rose saving the alt!universe with Torchwood and simultaneously planning their wedding or something like that. Please don’t tease me. :P
I also feel like watching all of Rose’s run on the show now with the knowledge that she *is* going to be with the Doctor forever. I can’t help being such a shipper, sigh. I need to find good fic, especially fix-it Donna fic, and read more comments about the episode as well because seriously, this show has stolen my brain again.
And we meet again, hiatus. *stares it down menacingly*