Doctor Who season finale
That was, quite possible, the most intense hour and a half of television I have ever watched. And quite possible the best hour and a half of television I've ever watched. I mean, everything was absolutely fantastic, from the writing to the acting to...everything.
The last...about thirty minutes or so were, in particular, sheer brilliance. From the moment that the Doctor announced that they were going to Bad Wolf Bay to the moment the TARDIS disappeared from in front of Donna's house, I was speechless.
I absolutely love what they did with the 2 Doctors and "Doctor Donna". The way that they had both the "normal Doctor", the half Time Lord/half human Doctor and the half Time Lord/half human Donna was astoundingly creative and beautifully acted.
There were two moments, in particular, which really hit me hard. One was the entire scene at Bad Wolf Bay between Rose and the two Doctors, how Rose finally got to hear what the Doctor had meant to tell her those years ago, that they finally had a chance to be together. I think the main reason that the Doctor hadn't let himself get close to Rose in a romantic sense was because he simply didn't want to get hurt again- didn't want to have to deal with the pain of her dying eventually, whether during some adventure with him or by old age. He doesn't die- humans do. Simple fact that means everything to the Doctor. But, they managed to find a loophole of sorts in v2.0 of the Doctor, the Time Lord with the life span of a human. He gets to stay with Rose.
The catch is- the other Doctor doesn't. Which makes the entire scenario heartbreakingly bittersweet. Because, yes, one of the Doctors gets to stay with Rose. But one of them doesn't. And they both have the same feelings for Rose. The "original" Doctor, the one who continually, almost invitably, gets left behind or loses people he loves, is yet again denied the opportunity to stay with someone he loves. His "copy" gets Rose. He doesn't.
Then, as if to deal a double blow, the Doctor loses Donna. Her mind can't handle the Time Lord mind it now possessess, and so the Doctor has to remove evrerything Time Lord-related from it. Including himself. He had, yet again, the opportunity to stay with someone he loves (albeit not in the romantic sense he loves Rose). Just as his copy can live with Rose his entire life, because he now has a human life span, the original Doctor could have stayed with Rose their entire lives, because of her newly gained Time Lord life span. But, just as Rose is taken from him, so is Donna. As the Doctor said in the episode, Time Lords and humans are incompatible- genetically and seemingly otherwise, as well. He is doomed to be alone.
I thought that the Doctor having been unable to contact Rose, due to the whole separate realities thing- knowing that she was safe, knowing (or at least hoping) that she wouldn't forget him, that she would remember what they'd done together- was bad, but I think that the Doctor being unable to contact Donna because she does not, and cannot, remember him is much, much worse. Because it's like their relationship may as well have never existed. He is, once again, left behind. Yes another companion, for all intents and purposes, dies. I think it may be even worse thatn her having actually died, because she's there- he could go visit her, something he couldn't even do with Rose. But she doesn't know him.
I think one of the shots in the finale that most poignantly and effectively shows the way the Doctor is alone once again is the shot at the end with him walking around fiddling with the TARDIS controls. Earlier in the episode, he said that the TARDIS was meant to be operated by several people, and for the first time in years, that happens- Rose, Martha, Jack, everybody helps. The Doctor is surrounded by what is, essentially, his family.
By the end of the episode, they're all gone.
Jack has Torchwood- Gwen, Ianto, and whoever else joins the team to replace Tosh and Owen. Martha has her fiance and her job. Rose has her Doctor; Sarah Jane has her son. The Doctor has no one.
I'm both interested and wary of whatever new companion they decide to bring into the picture. I mean, I feel like Donna was just finally starting to really fit in the role of a companion, and in a way that I feel like had never happened before. The writers made it clear that there would be no romantic feelings between them, which was startlingly different from the mutual feelings between Rose and the Doctor and Marth'a one-sided feelings for him. She was sarcastic, witty, and unafraid to call the Doctor on his mistakes and flaws. I wonder what kind of person they'll bring in to replace her. I wish there was some way that the writers could keep her as the companion, but I don't see how, seeing as she'll, in the Doctor's words, "burn" if she remembers him or what happened.
God, that was a good season finale. I'm going to be pondering all this stuff for a long while to come. And I realize that maybe 2 of you guys acutually watch Doctor Who, but I needed to get all these thoughts out so they made some sense in my head. Dear God, I might be inspired to write some Doctor Who fanfiction because of this episode, and I haven't written fanfiction in a while (since my last couple Stargate fics, actually).
Hey, I wonder when Torchwood is coming back? I miss Ianto and Captain Jack. :D
The last...about thirty minutes or so were, in particular, sheer brilliance. From the moment that the Doctor announced that they were going to Bad Wolf Bay to the moment the TARDIS disappeared from in front of Donna's house, I was speechless.
I absolutely love what they did with the 2 Doctors and "Doctor Donna". The way that they had both the "normal Doctor", the half Time Lord/half human Doctor and the half Time Lord/half human Donna was astoundingly creative and beautifully acted.
There were two moments, in particular, which really hit me hard. One was the entire scene at Bad Wolf Bay between Rose and the two Doctors, how Rose finally got to hear what the Doctor had meant to tell her those years ago, that they finally had a chance to be together. I think the main reason that the Doctor hadn't let himself get close to Rose in a romantic sense was because he simply didn't want to get hurt again- didn't want to have to deal with the pain of her dying eventually, whether during some adventure with him or by old age. He doesn't die- humans do. Simple fact that means everything to the Doctor. But, they managed to find a loophole of sorts in v2.0 of the Doctor, the Time Lord with the life span of a human. He gets to stay with Rose.
The catch is- the other Doctor doesn't. Which makes the entire scenario heartbreakingly bittersweet. Because, yes, one of the Doctors gets to stay with Rose. But one of them doesn't. And they both have the same feelings for Rose. The "original" Doctor, the one who continually, almost invitably, gets left behind or loses people he loves, is yet again denied the opportunity to stay with someone he loves. His "copy" gets Rose. He doesn't.
Then, as if to deal a double blow, the Doctor loses Donna. Her mind can't handle the Time Lord mind it now possessess, and so the Doctor has to remove evrerything Time Lord-related from it. Including himself. He had, yet again, the opportunity to stay with someone he loves (albeit not in the romantic sense he loves Rose). Just as his copy can live with Rose his entire life, because he now has a human life span, the original Doctor could have stayed with Rose their entire lives, because of her newly gained Time Lord life span. But, just as Rose is taken from him, so is Donna. As the Doctor said in the episode, Time Lords and humans are incompatible- genetically and seemingly otherwise, as well. He is doomed to be alone.
I thought that the Doctor having been unable to contact Rose, due to the whole separate realities thing- knowing that she was safe, knowing (or at least hoping) that she wouldn't forget him, that she would remember what they'd done together- was bad, but I think that the Doctor being unable to contact Donna because she does not, and cannot, remember him is much, much worse. Because it's like their relationship may as well have never existed. He is, once again, left behind. Yes another companion, for all intents and purposes, dies. I think it may be even worse thatn her having actually died, because she's there- he could go visit her, something he couldn't even do with Rose. But she doesn't know him.
I think one of the shots in the finale that most poignantly and effectively shows the way the Doctor is alone once again is the shot at the end with him walking around fiddling with the TARDIS controls. Earlier in the episode, he said that the TARDIS was meant to be operated by several people, and for the first time in years, that happens- Rose, Martha, Jack, everybody helps. The Doctor is surrounded by what is, essentially, his family.
By the end of the episode, they're all gone.
Jack has Torchwood- Gwen, Ianto, and whoever else joins the team to replace Tosh and Owen. Martha has her fiance and her job. Rose has her Doctor; Sarah Jane has her son. The Doctor has no one.
I'm both interested and wary of whatever new companion they decide to bring into the picture. I mean, I feel like Donna was just finally starting to really fit in the role of a companion, and in a way that I feel like had never happened before. The writers made it clear that there would be no romantic feelings between them, which was startlingly different from the mutual feelings between Rose and the Doctor and Marth'a one-sided feelings for him. She was sarcastic, witty, and unafraid to call the Doctor on his mistakes and flaws. I wonder what kind of person they'll bring in to replace her. I wish there was some way that the writers could keep her as the companion, but I don't see how, seeing as she'll, in the Doctor's words, "burn" if she remembers him or what happened.
God, that was a good season finale. I'm going to be pondering all this stuff for a long while to come. And I realize that maybe 2 of you guys acutually watch Doctor Who, but I needed to get all these thoughts out so they made some sense in my head. Dear God, I might be inspired to write some Doctor Who fanfiction because of this episode, and I haven't written fanfiction in a while (since my last couple Stargate fics, actually).
Hey, I wonder when Torchwood is coming back? I miss Ianto and Captain Jack. :D