DWM Mighty 200 - Top Ten Watchathon: Human Nature (Family of Blood) (#6) Reaction Post
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/311737.html">DWM Mighty 200 - Top Ten Watchathon: #6 Reaction Post by < lj user=persiflage_1>
This week's episode is the first half of the mid-Season 3 two-parter, 'Human Nature'. I opted to watch and also comment on 'Family of Blood'.
Martha and the Doctor are under attack in the TARDIS.
Human Nature
- This story has a very dramatic opening with our heroes getting shot at as they come tumbling into the TARDIS. And then, suddenly, the Doctor's lying in bed in stripey pyjamas.
- The piece of music that's playing as John Smith tells Martha about his dreams of being the Doctor is called 'Only Martha Knows'.
- John Smith seems a bit vague when he's not actually teaching.
- Martha and Jenny have clearly built a strong bond over the two months Martha and John Smith have been at the school.
- Joan flusters John, lending weight to the idea that he's a virgin. She's very forward in angling for an invitation from him to the dance at the Village Hall.
- John's a bit of a wimp, judging by his groaning as Joan's examining his bumped head.
- Here comes Martha, forgetting that she's meant to be undercover, barging into John's study in her concern for the Doctor's wellbeing.
- I love Martha going back to the door to knock on it - such sarcasm!
- Martha asks Joan if she's checked for concussion - first and foremost, Martha's a healer.
- It's easy to see Martha's very interested when John produces the Journal of Impossible Things.
- Martha seethes with anger when Joan reprimands her about her over-familiarity towards John.
- Latimer's 'otherness' because of his innate telepathic ability is made clear from the outset, even before we know its significance.
- I feel bad for Martha and Jenny having to sit outside the pub to have a drink.
- Martha's counting the days until she and 'John Smith' can leave - and who can blame her?
- John sounds pretty patronising when he's telling the three women that they've seen a meteorite.
- Martha must seem very impulsive to Jenny when she goes running off to investigate the 'meteorite'.
- Jenny refers to 'your Mr Smith' when talking of John to Martha.
- Latimer knows there's something wrong with Baines as soon as he sets eyes on him. Presumably he telepathically picks up on Baines' possession by Son of Mine.
- Martha seems to visit the TARDIS regularly, given how familiar she seems with the console controls.
- The Doctor fully trusts Martha to look after him and keep him safe while he's human, but does he guess just how much he's putting on her shoulders?
- Latimer's having visions of WW1 - which is interesting - who's he telepathically picking up those thoughts from?
- John Smith's very casual in agreeing to Hutchison giving Latimer a beating - which is vastly different from the original book, and rather irritating.
- Why is Joan watching the boys if anything military upsets her? She later accuses Martha of being infatuated with John, but Joan must be pretty infatuated with him herself to be there.
- The piano/pram stunt is clever, but also contrived.
- I love the fact that John's parents are named after Sidney Newman and Verity Lambert, Doctor Who's original creators.
- In the scene where John's drawing Joan isn't she faking the modesty rather, given how forward she was in angling for that invitation to the village dance?
- Martha's comment (when she's watching Ten's instructional recording) about John not falling in love with her both irritates me and makes me pity her. On the one hand, it seems like yet another instance of the 'unrequited love' thing being crow-barred into the story, but on the other, it seems a fair comment for Martha to make because she instinctively knows that John falling for Joan will make it harder for her to persuade him to go back to being the Doctor.
- Martha's very quick to realise that Jenny's not herself.
- John Smith's patronising 'cultural differences' makes me sympathise with Martha and cheer when she slaps him!
- I feel bad for Martha when she's trying to recall the Doctor.
- Joan's comment about Martha being dangerously infatuated with John makes me want to slap her!
- Martha's intense determination when she goes to the Village Hall carrying the Doctor's Sonic makes me cheer.
- Martha's kinder to Joan, when she's trying to get Joan to accept John Smith's the Doctor, than I would have been in her shoes.
- It was smart of Martha to take the Sonic along to try to recall the Doctor to himself.
- Baines calls humans 'simple, thick and dull' - which is pretty ironic, given how 'Family of Blood' ends!
Family of Blood
Martha shows Jenny and Baines that she's not simple, thick or dull.
- Martha's very quick to take advantage of Tim's distraction with the watch.
- Baines and Jenny both admire Martha's spirit and fire.
- I always laugh when Martha tells John Smith that he's 'rubbish as a human'!
- Martha's horrified when John calls on the boys to stand and fight against the Family.
- It amazes me that the Headmaster starts bellowing at the boys without first bothering to find out from either John or Joan what's going on.
- The Headmaster's sarcasm over Martha's warning to him not to go outside makes me want to slap him. It really serves him right that he ends up dead.
- Martha rushes off to find the watch - and Joan goes too - is this to make sure Martha doesn't steal anything? Because she doesn't actually *help* in the search for the watch.
- Martha's 'Oh, do you think?' followed by 'Bones of the hand: Carpal bones, proximal row; scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform. Distal row; trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metecarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges; proximal, middle, distal.' always makes me cheer. Lady, you've just been pwned!
- John looks as if he's wondering if this is quite the right time for Joan to be quizzing him about his childhood.
- John thinks the Doctor sounds like a 'romantic lost prince' - frankly, that's preferable to the Lonely God schtick.
- Martha throwing the paperwork into the air out of sheer frustration makes me want to hug her.
- I noticed that John doesn't fire his rifle during the scarecrow attack.
- The Headmaster, Rocastle, refuses to listen to sense.
- Martha's upset that John's upset at the idea of being 'just a story'.
- Martha looks so hurt when John demands to know what she does for the Doctor.
- Tim's speech: He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
always reminds me a bit of Nine's 'turn of the Earth' speech in Rose (It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.)
- John says it's Martha's job to execute him - which must hurt her.
- John knows Ten won't love Joan, yet later Ten begs Joan to travel with him.
- The watch 'flashforward' showing the life John and Joan could have had gets me every time, even though I don't like Joan.
- Tennant's 'bumbling John Smith' act to fool the Family while the Doctor sets up the overload in the ship's systems was totally convincing.
- Ten's revenge on the Family is brutal.
- Joan asks Ten to change back into John Smith, just like Rose asked Ten to change back into Nine.
- Joan refuses to meet the Doctor's eyes until she asks if anyone would have died had he not chosen Farringham on a whim. (To be fair to Ten, it was the TARDIS' choice, not his.)
- Has Martha been standing outside the TARDIS in the rain the whole time that Ten was going to see Joan?
- The Doctor gives Tim the watch for good luck, while Martha gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I know which I'd prefer! :P
- Tim says to Hutchinson 'As I told you all those years ago' - but it's only a year ago. o_O
- I confess to getting a bit choked at Ten and Martha attending the Remembrance Service, but that's because I studied the WW1 era for so many years.
I always watch this two-parter with mixed feelings: Tennant's differentiation between John Smith and the Doctor is fascinating, particularly in the way Ten slightly bleeds through into Smith on occasion (even before Martha gives him the watch to hold). Joan's a product of her era, but her attitude to Martha grates on my nerves every single time. And Martha - well, Martha Jones is the hero of this story: she has to watch over the Doctor's human persona in a time and place where she's considered less than nothing, she has to use her own judgement about how to deal with the various things that crop up, and all the while John Smith's treating her as an annoying servant who won't keep to her place (egged on by Joan Redfern).
Martha pwning Joan with her 'bones of the hand' speech.
Feel free to add your thoughts/comments below. Next week's Watchathon episode(s) will be 'The Empty Child' (and I'll be watching 'The Doctor Dances' as well).
This week's episode is the first half of the mid-Season 3 two-parter, 'Human Nature'. I opted to watch and also comment on 'Family of Blood'.
Martha and the Doctor are under attack in the TARDIS.
Human Nature
- This story has a very dramatic opening with our heroes getting shot at as they come tumbling into the TARDIS. And then, suddenly, the Doctor's lying in bed in stripey pyjamas.
- The piece of music that's playing as John Smith tells Martha about his dreams of being the Doctor is called 'Only Martha Knows'.
- John Smith seems a bit vague when he's not actually teaching.
- Martha and Jenny have clearly built a strong bond over the two months Martha and John Smith have been at the school.
- Joan flusters John, lending weight to the idea that he's a virgin. She's very forward in angling for an invitation from him to the dance at the Village Hall.
- John's a bit of a wimp, judging by his groaning as Joan's examining his bumped head.
- Here comes Martha, forgetting that she's meant to be undercover, barging into John's study in her concern for the Doctor's wellbeing.
- I love Martha going back to the door to knock on it - such sarcasm!
- Martha asks Joan if she's checked for concussion - first and foremost, Martha's a healer.
- It's easy to see Martha's very interested when John produces the Journal of Impossible Things.
- Martha seethes with anger when Joan reprimands her about her over-familiarity towards John.
- Latimer's 'otherness' because of his innate telepathic ability is made clear from the outset, even before we know its significance.
- I feel bad for Martha and Jenny having to sit outside the pub to have a drink.
- Martha's counting the days until she and 'John Smith' can leave - and who can blame her?
- John sounds pretty patronising when he's telling the three women that they've seen a meteorite.
- Martha must seem very impulsive to Jenny when she goes running off to investigate the 'meteorite'.
- Jenny refers to 'your Mr Smith' when talking of John to Martha.
- Latimer knows there's something wrong with Baines as soon as he sets eyes on him. Presumably he telepathically picks up on Baines' possession by Son of Mine.
- Martha seems to visit the TARDIS regularly, given how familiar she seems with the console controls.
- The Doctor fully trusts Martha to look after him and keep him safe while he's human, but does he guess just how much he's putting on her shoulders?
- Latimer's having visions of WW1 - which is interesting - who's he telepathically picking up those thoughts from?
- John Smith's very casual in agreeing to Hutchison giving Latimer a beating - which is vastly different from the original book, and rather irritating.
- Why is Joan watching the boys if anything military upsets her? She later accuses Martha of being infatuated with John, but Joan must be pretty infatuated with him herself to be there.
- The piano/pram stunt is clever, but also contrived.
- I love the fact that John's parents are named after Sidney Newman and Verity Lambert, Doctor Who's original creators.
- In the scene where John's drawing Joan isn't she faking the modesty rather, given how forward she was in angling for that invitation to the village dance?
- Martha's comment (when she's watching Ten's instructional recording) about John not falling in love with her both irritates me and makes me pity her. On the one hand, it seems like yet another instance of the 'unrequited love' thing being crow-barred into the story, but on the other, it seems a fair comment for Martha to make because she instinctively knows that John falling for Joan will make it harder for her to persuade him to go back to being the Doctor.
- Martha's very quick to realise that Jenny's not herself.
- John Smith's patronising 'cultural differences' makes me sympathise with Martha and cheer when she slaps him!
- I feel bad for Martha when she's trying to recall the Doctor.
- Joan's comment about Martha being dangerously infatuated with John makes me want to slap her!
- Martha's intense determination when she goes to the Village Hall carrying the Doctor's Sonic makes me cheer.
- Martha's kinder to Joan, when she's trying to get Joan to accept John Smith's the Doctor, than I would have been in her shoes.
- It was smart of Martha to take the Sonic along to try to recall the Doctor to himself.
- Baines calls humans 'simple, thick and dull' - which is pretty ironic, given how 'Family of Blood' ends!
Family of Blood
Martha shows Jenny and Baines that she's not simple, thick or dull.
- Martha's very quick to take advantage of Tim's distraction with the watch.
- Baines and Jenny both admire Martha's spirit and fire.
- I always laugh when Martha tells John Smith that he's 'rubbish as a human'!
- Martha's horrified when John calls on the boys to stand and fight against the Family.
- It amazes me that the Headmaster starts bellowing at the boys without first bothering to find out from either John or Joan what's going on.
- The Headmaster's sarcasm over Martha's warning to him not to go outside makes me want to slap him. It really serves him right that he ends up dead.
- Martha rushes off to find the watch - and Joan goes too - is this to make sure Martha doesn't steal anything? Because she doesn't actually *help* in the search for the watch.
- Martha's 'Oh, do you think?' followed by 'Bones of the hand: Carpal bones, proximal row; scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform. Distal row; trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metecarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges; proximal, middle, distal.' always makes me cheer. Lady, you've just been pwned!
- John looks as if he's wondering if this is quite the right time for Joan to be quizzing him about his childhood.
- John thinks the Doctor sounds like a 'romantic lost prince' - frankly, that's preferable to the Lonely God schtick.
- Martha throwing the paperwork into the air out of sheer frustration makes me want to hug her.
- I noticed that John doesn't fire his rifle during the scarecrow attack.
- The Headmaster, Rocastle, refuses to listen to sense.
- Martha's upset that John's upset at the idea of being 'just a story'.
- Martha looks so hurt when John demands to know what she does for the Doctor.
- Tim's speech: He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
always reminds me a bit of Nine's 'turn of the Earth' speech in Rose (It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.)
- John says it's Martha's job to execute him - which must hurt her.
- John knows Ten won't love Joan, yet later Ten begs Joan to travel with him.
- The watch 'flashforward' showing the life John and Joan could have had gets me every time, even though I don't like Joan.
- Tennant's 'bumbling John Smith' act to fool the Family while the Doctor sets up the overload in the ship's systems was totally convincing.
- Ten's revenge on the Family is brutal.
- Joan asks Ten to change back into John Smith, just like Rose asked Ten to change back into Nine.
- Joan refuses to meet the Doctor's eyes until she asks if anyone would have died had he not chosen Farringham on a whim. (To be fair to Ten, it was the TARDIS' choice, not his.)
- Has Martha been standing outside the TARDIS in the rain the whole time that Ten was going to see Joan?
- The Doctor gives Tim the watch for good luck, while Martha gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I know which I'd prefer! :P
- Tim says to Hutchinson 'As I told you all those years ago' - but it's only a year ago. o_O
- I confess to getting a bit choked at Ten and Martha attending the Remembrance Service, but that's because I studied the WW1 era for so many years.
I always watch this two-parter with mixed feelings: Tennant's differentiation between John Smith and the Doctor is fascinating, particularly in the way Ten slightly bleeds through into Smith on occasion (even before Martha gives him the watch to hold). Joan's a product of her era, but her attitude to Martha grates on my nerves every single time. And Martha - well, Martha Jones is the hero of this story: she has to watch over the Doctor's human persona in a time and place where she's considered less than nothing, she has to use her own judgement about how to deal with the various things that crop up, and all the while John Smith's treating her as an annoying servant who won't keep to her place (egged on by Joan Redfern).
Martha pwning Joan with her 'bones of the hand' speech.
Feel free to add your thoughts/comments below. Next week's Watchathon episode(s) will be 'The Empty Child' (and I'll be watching 'The Doctor Dances' as well).