Doctor Who 3x11: Utopia
Okay, I'm going to try and attempt a semi-coherent commentary review of "Utopia" now that I can type actual words again.
1. TARDIS landing in Cardiff = extremely random plot device to pick up Captain Jack. Who somehow shoved the Doctor's hand in a backpack, put on his duster, and went outside screaming between the season finale of Torchwood and right then. Also I think he changed his shirt.
2. But that leap of his was really funny.
3. So was that shot of him clinging to the TARDIS.
4. O hay thar Darth Maul? And does that chick with the teeth remind anyone else of someone? It's really bugging me.
5. I let out a squee when I saw John Barrowman's name in the title credits. :)
6. So, are the teeth people feral? Do they chase humans because they want to eat them?
7. Oh, Derek Jacobi. I wanted to put him in my pocket. Poor Professor Yana--all sweet and noble and wistful and self-sacrificing. Even though I knew what was going to happen with him, my heart just went out to him. And then broke because I knew he wouldn't last.
8. I wonder who Yana's bossman is?
9. Hooray for Martha getting to exhibit the fact that she's a doctor-in-training. Dammit.
10. I cracked up every time Jack said hello to someone and the Doctor bitched about it, though towards the end I was sort of expecting Jack to pick something up and clobber him upside the head. I mean, the Doctor knows that's how Jack greets people. He flirts with anything that moves. So why the grouchiness now?
9. Jack's reaction to learning Rose was alive = d'aw. Though I found Ten's distinct coldness to Jack throughout the entire episode, save that one moment, to be extremely bizarre. And Martha muttering "Good old Rose"? OH SNAP.
10. "Not if you're blonde." = exponentially bigger OH SNAP. Dude is that some bitterness there, and Jack is totally justified in it too. Especially with the Doctor being all glibly "I was busy". Way to make and keep friends, jackass.
11. I found the idea that part of the reason it's dark there is because all the stars have burnt out to be incredibly interesting, because I can't even really fathom would that would be like.
12. Liked Jack shooting into the air instead into the encroaching horde after the Doctor yelled at him.
13. Did Maul-dude say he was hungry? And was it just me or did the Doctor's expression change slightly at that? I thought it was vaguely odd that that seeming plot point got dropped. I mean, when that one chick in the silo started going beserk on the wiring, what was her motivation? I felt like she didn't have one, except to be evil and thwart the good guys.
14. Oh, Yana was so cute when he heard the Doctor might be a scientist. Damn you Jacobi for making my heart bleed like a damn sieve.
15. Blue Peter winner = cuteness. :)
16. And DAMN YOU Murray Gold for playing cute happy music when Yana showed up to drag the Doctor off! QUIT PULLING AT MY FUCKING HEARTSTRINGS!
17. LMAO at Martha's "Oh. My. GOD" at the Doctor's hand in the jar in Jack's backpack, and the ensuing hilarity. The befuddlement on Yana's face when the Doctor said he was a Time Lord... how the hell can the Doctor bitch at Jack for flirting when he practically just shot the finger-guns at Martha (and I think Jack was thinking that exact same thing, too)... Yana totally not buying the Doctor's bullshitting about Hermits United...
18. The Doctor's "I'm brilliant" was totally something Nine would have said. Damn, I miss him sometimes.
19. Even despite the definite tension between Jack and the Doctor, I loved that they seem to have slipped right back into working seamlessly together as a team (with Martha included, of course)--the tossing-things at each other while readying the rocket for launch indicated that rather well, I think.
20. The Doctor praising Yana and their talk was such a lovely little scene. You could tell the Doctor already admired him a great deal, which just made it all the more worse at the end. Also I felt that Yana's wishing for a little admiration was possibly reminiscent of the Master.
21. Oh, I hurt at the suggestion that the Doctor would take Yana and Chantho off that dead planet when the rocket was gone, especially since Yana was staring at the image of the TARDIS as the sound of the drums played...
22. I have to wonder if the fact that it is the sound of drums in his head means anything. And the Doctor seemed vaguely touched somehow by it. I dunno.
23. The scene with Martha and Chantho was really sweet. It sort of reminded me of Rose wanting to change peoples' lives for the better whenever she and the Doctor encountered anything she perceived as injustice. Besides, it gave them (Martha and Chantho) a little bond as companions to their own Doctor/Professor. And further headlined the fact that Martha feels unappreciated and unrequited. Oy.
24. I also feel the need to give Murray Gold a shout-out for the music in this episode--I loved it. From the quiet, happy and yet anxious-at-times piano cues, to the drum beats, to the electric rock, to that awesomely evil Swirly Music Of Doom.
25. You could so see Hazmat Guy making the conscious decision to stay in the chamber and keep attaching the couplings. Kudos to him.
26. LOL Jack undressing to go in the chamber. (Besides, it did look like it got a bit warm in there, so phooey on you, Doctor.) And DAMN how innuendo-laden was that "Ever since I left you"?
27. Okay, maybe it's just me, but I found the scene between the Doctor and Jack as Jack was finishing up with the couplings to be exceedingly weird. Jack I felt was perfectly in character, but the Doctor kept right on with being so fucking glib, indifferent practically, and he left Jack behind because he's wrong? I practically can't understand that, nevermind the fact that it's incredibly lame, IMHO. It just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. And boy did I want to slap the Doctor in the face.
28. Yana shed that tear and I up and died.
29. And then he busted out with that watch and I died for real. Seriously. I was spoiled six ways to Sunday for this episode and I still shit my pants.
30. So basically, from that point on, my brain kept repeating "oh shit oh shit oh shit".
31. So was Martha's for sure
32. Especially at "What about now? Can he see it now?"
33. And then even more at "(Y)ou (A)re (N)ot (A)lone"
34. And then all Jacobi has to do was turn around
35. That was a beautiful fucking sequence
36. Oh God, poor Chantho. It was like Yana's evil side come to the fore (and I suppose it was, really), saying everything the good professor would never have voiced.
37. For those new fans who've never done their homework, I wonder how the big reveal of The Worst-Kept Secret Ever affected them?
38. Someone please explain why Yana *weep* the Master stole the Doctor's hand?
39. Dude. "Use my name." "Master. ...I'm sorry..." One, they were so totally Doing It in the past, and two, why the sorry? But loved David Tennant's trembling lips.
40. John Simm is totally batshit. Maybe he'll calm down next week. It sorta-maybe looks like it, from the preview.
41. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ENDED LIKE THAT.
So, in summary, Derek Jacobi owns the universe, the Doctor just got fucking pwned, I want some of that soundtrack, and I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST WATCHED. That whole sequence where Yana opens the watch just went down as my favorite of the new series. CAN IT BE NEXT WEEK ALREADY PLZKTHNX.
1. TARDIS landing in Cardiff = extremely random plot device to pick up Captain Jack. Who somehow shoved the Doctor's hand in a backpack, put on his duster, and went outside screaming between the season finale of Torchwood and right then. Also I think he changed his shirt.
2. But that leap of his was really funny.
3. So was that shot of him clinging to the TARDIS.
4. O hay thar Darth Maul? And does that chick with the teeth remind anyone else of someone? It's really bugging me.
5. I let out a squee when I saw John Barrowman's name in the title credits. :)
6. So, are the teeth people feral? Do they chase humans because they want to eat them?
7. Oh, Derek Jacobi. I wanted to put him in my pocket. Poor Professor Yana--all sweet and noble and wistful and self-sacrificing. Even though I knew what was going to happen with him, my heart just went out to him. And then broke because I knew he wouldn't last.
8. I wonder who Yana's bossman is?
9. Hooray for Martha getting to exhibit the fact that she's a doctor-in-training. Dammit.
10. I cracked up every time Jack said hello to someone and the Doctor bitched about it, though towards the end I was sort of expecting Jack to pick something up and clobber him upside the head. I mean, the Doctor knows that's how Jack greets people. He flirts with anything that moves. So why the grouchiness now?
9. Jack's reaction to learning Rose was alive = d'aw. Though I found Ten's distinct coldness to Jack throughout the entire episode, save that one moment, to be extremely bizarre. And Martha muttering "Good old Rose"? OH SNAP.
10. "Not if you're blonde." = exponentially bigger OH SNAP. Dude is that some bitterness there, and Jack is totally justified in it too. Especially with the Doctor being all glibly "I was busy". Way to make and keep friends, jackass.
11. I found the idea that part of the reason it's dark there is because all the stars have burnt out to be incredibly interesting, because I can't even really fathom would that would be like.
12. Liked Jack shooting into the air instead into the encroaching horde after the Doctor yelled at him.
13. Did Maul-dude say he was hungry? And was it just me or did the Doctor's expression change slightly at that? I thought it was vaguely odd that that seeming plot point got dropped. I mean, when that one chick in the silo started going beserk on the wiring, what was her motivation? I felt like she didn't have one, except to be evil and thwart the good guys.
14. Oh, Yana was so cute when he heard the Doctor might be a scientist. Damn you Jacobi for making my heart bleed like a damn sieve.
15. Blue Peter winner = cuteness. :)
16. And DAMN YOU Murray Gold for playing cute happy music when Yana showed up to drag the Doctor off! QUIT PULLING AT MY FUCKING HEARTSTRINGS!
17. LMAO at Martha's "Oh. My. GOD" at the Doctor's hand in the jar in Jack's backpack, and the ensuing hilarity. The befuddlement on Yana's face when the Doctor said he was a Time Lord... how the hell can the Doctor bitch at Jack for flirting when he practically just shot the finger-guns at Martha (and I think Jack was thinking that exact same thing, too)... Yana totally not buying the Doctor's bullshitting about Hermits United...
18. The Doctor's "I'm brilliant" was totally something Nine would have said. Damn, I miss him sometimes.
19. Even despite the definite tension between Jack and the Doctor, I loved that they seem to have slipped right back into working seamlessly together as a team (with Martha included, of course)--the tossing-things at each other while readying the rocket for launch indicated that rather well, I think.
20. The Doctor praising Yana and their talk was such a lovely little scene. You could tell the Doctor already admired him a great deal, which just made it all the more worse at the end. Also I felt that Yana's wishing for a little admiration was possibly reminiscent of the Master.
21. Oh, I hurt at the suggestion that the Doctor would take Yana and Chantho off that dead planet when the rocket was gone, especially since Yana was staring at the image of the TARDIS as the sound of the drums played...
22. I have to wonder if the fact that it is the sound of drums in his head means anything. And the Doctor seemed vaguely touched somehow by it. I dunno.
23. The scene with Martha and Chantho was really sweet. It sort of reminded me of Rose wanting to change peoples' lives for the better whenever she and the Doctor encountered anything she perceived as injustice. Besides, it gave them (Martha and Chantho) a little bond as companions to their own Doctor/Professor. And further headlined the fact that Martha feels unappreciated and unrequited. Oy.
24. I also feel the need to give Murray Gold a shout-out for the music in this episode--I loved it. From the quiet, happy and yet anxious-at-times piano cues, to the drum beats, to the electric rock, to that awesomely evil Swirly Music Of Doom.
25. You could so see Hazmat Guy making the conscious decision to stay in the chamber and keep attaching the couplings. Kudos to him.
26. LOL Jack undressing to go in the chamber. (Besides, it did look like it got a bit warm in there, so phooey on you, Doctor.) And DAMN how innuendo-laden was that "Ever since I left you"?
27. Okay, maybe it's just me, but I found the scene between the Doctor and Jack as Jack was finishing up with the couplings to be exceedingly weird. Jack I felt was perfectly in character, but the Doctor kept right on with being so fucking glib, indifferent practically, and he left Jack behind because he's wrong? I practically can't understand that, nevermind the fact that it's incredibly lame, IMHO. It just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. And boy did I want to slap the Doctor in the face.
28. Yana shed that tear and I up and died.
29. And then he busted out with that watch and I died for real. Seriously. I was spoiled six ways to Sunday for this episode and I still shit my pants.
30. So basically, from that point on, my brain kept repeating "oh shit oh shit oh shit".
31. So was Martha's for sure
32. Especially at "What about now? Can he see it now?"
33. And then even more at "(Y)ou (A)re (N)ot (A)lone"
34. And then all Jacobi has to do was turn around
35. That was a beautiful fucking sequence
36. Oh God, poor Chantho. It was like Yana's evil side come to the fore (and I suppose it was, really), saying everything the good professor would never have voiced.
37. For those new fans who've never done their homework, I wonder how the big reveal of The Worst-Kept Secret Ever affected them?
38. Someone please explain why Yana *weep* the Master stole the Doctor's hand?
39. Dude. "Use my name." "Master. ...I'm sorry..." One, they were so totally Doing It in the past, and two, why the sorry? But loved David Tennant's trembling lips.
40. John Simm is totally batshit. Maybe he'll calm down next week. It sorta-maybe looks like it, from the preview.
41. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ENDED LIKE THAT.
So, in summary, Derek Jacobi owns the universe, the Doctor just got fucking pwned, I want some of that soundtrack, and I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST WATCHED. That whole sequence where Yana opens the watch just went down as my favorite of the new series. CAN IT BE NEXT WEEK ALREADY PLZKTHNX.