The Sontaran Stratagem - Reaction Post
I started writing this last night, but I was too cranky to be calm about it, so I left finishing it until this morning. (And I've soothed my crankiness with writing fic!)
So the positives first:
Donna flying the TARDIS was a laugh (loved the shout-out to the UNIT dating controversy: "someone's put a dent in the 1980s" (and ditto the later reference when Ten's explaining to Donna that he used to work for UNIT in the 70s, or was it the 80s?)
Martha looked FANTASTIC in her black ops outfit, and with her hair down ! And I liked the way she and Ten were a little bit tentative and awkward before they hugged.
Laughed at Donna and Martha INSTANTLY hitting it off - and how big is Ten's ego that he thought they'd get into a fight - although, to be fair, Rose and Sarah Jane didn't exactly hit it off straight away, so I guess it wasn't that surprising a reaction. (This was this week's Rose reference, I think). Trust Donna to notice Martha was engaged when Ten didn't ! (And Tom's "strong" eh? That sounds a bit kinky!)
Loved the fact that Martha got to be in charge of "Operation Blue Sky"...
Donna as Super Temp was a hoot - once again she demonstrates she's observant... (Bet she's the one who realises they're dealing with EvilClone!Martha - unless the evil clone slaps Ten and then seckses him ('cos evil women always do secks the hero, look at James Bond!) - then even Ten'll realise...)
Ross is the New Benton (he's lovely - "we like Ross" !)
I laughed rather a lot at the Sontaran version of the Haka.
Wilf is fantastic - and I love how much he loves Donna and values her (unlike Sylvia - and by the way, isn't it about time RTD got over his habit of airing his mother issues on the show?).
Can't wait to see what they do with EvilClone!Martha (you can expect at least two fics centred around that from me before next weekend when, no doubt, my ideas will get Russelled!)
The things I didn't like:
Ten's rant about guns. Yes, the Doctor has a long history of not liking UNIT's habit of blowing stuff up - after all I watched "Terror of the Autons" yesterday, before this episode aired (and I've recently watched a handful of other UNIT based stories), so I know the Doctor disapproves, but he's never made such an unnecessary fuss about soldiers carrying weapons as part of their jobs. And it's a bit hypocritical coming from the person who destroyed Gallifrey and ended the Time War !!
The goodbye to Donna. "You saved my life in so many ways" - the fact that Ten's making an idiot of himself doesn't excuse the fact that so far we haven't actually seen Donna save the Doctor's life (literally or even emotionally) - yet Martha had already literally saved Ten's life twice by this point last year AND saved a number of other people's lives into the bargain... Compare Ten's goodbye speech to Donna here with his goodbye speech to Martha at the start of "The Lazarus Experiment", when he's fully intending to never see her again - then tell me why Martha didn't get a decent goodbye. And the goodbye she got in "The Last of the Time Lords" is "Thank you" and a quick hug, exactly what she got from him at the end of "Family of Blood". (Still, I've written - and will shortly post - a fic that covers that...)
I'm waiting for The Poison Sky with more trepidation than glee...
So the positives first:
Donna flying the TARDIS was a laugh (loved the shout-out to the UNIT dating controversy: "someone's put a dent in the 1980s" (and ditto the later reference when Ten's explaining to Donna that he used to work for UNIT in the 70s, or was it the 80s?)
Martha looked FANTASTIC in her black ops outfit, and with her hair down ! And I liked the way she and Ten were a little bit tentative and awkward before they hugged.
Laughed at Donna and Martha INSTANTLY hitting it off - and how big is Ten's ego that he thought they'd get into a fight - although, to be fair, Rose and Sarah Jane didn't exactly hit it off straight away, so I guess it wasn't that surprising a reaction. (This was this week's Rose reference, I think). Trust Donna to notice Martha was engaged when Ten didn't ! (And Tom's "strong" eh? That sounds a bit kinky!)
Loved the fact that Martha got to be in charge of "Operation Blue Sky"...
Donna as Super Temp was a hoot - once again she demonstrates she's observant... (Bet she's the one who realises they're dealing with EvilClone!Martha - unless the evil clone slaps Ten and then seckses him ('cos evil women always do secks the hero, look at James Bond!) - then even Ten'll realise...)
Ross is the New Benton (he's lovely - "we like Ross" !)
I laughed rather a lot at the Sontaran version of the Haka.
Wilf is fantastic - and I love how much he loves Donna and values her (unlike Sylvia - and by the way, isn't it about time RTD got over his habit of airing his mother issues on the show?).
Can't wait to see what they do with EvilClone!Martha (you can expect at least two fics centred around that from me before next weekend when, no doubt, my ideas will get Russelled!)
The things I didn't like:
Ten's rant about guns. Yes, the Doctor has a long history of not liking UNIT's habit of blowing stuff up - after all I watched "Terror of the Autons" yesterday, before this episode aired (and I've recently watched a handful of other UNIT based stories), so I know the Doctor disapproves, but he's never made such an unnecessary fuss about soldiers carrying weapons as part of their jobs. And it's a bit hypocritical coming from the person who destroyed Gallifrey and ended the Time War !!
The goodbye to Donna. "You saved my life in so many ways" - the fact that Ten's making an idiot of himself doesn't excuse the fact that so far we haven't actually seen Donna save the Doctor's life (literally or even emotionally) - yet Martha had already literally saved Ten's life twice by this point last year AND saved a number of other people's lives into the bargain... Compare Ten's goodbye speech to Donna here with his goodbye speech to Martha at the start of "The Lazarus Experiment", when he's fully intending to never see her again - then tell me why Martha didn't get a decent goodbye. And the goodbye she got in "The Last of the Time Lords" is "Thank you" and a quick hug, exactly what she got from him at the end of "Family of Blood". (Still, I've written - and will shortly post - a fic that covers that...)
I'm waiting for The Poison Sky with more trepidation than glee...