"run with me--one last time"
An odd collision happened: the other day, I threw "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" into the DVD player and watched for about the millionth time, and I just thoroughly enjoyed how wonderful those episodes are, and I was thinking over some of the elements of the story and the connections to DW5....and how there was so much to look forward to in the story of Eleven and River......
And then the news broke of the plot/character synposes for Rusty's CoE2. Talk about jarring. Kind of derailed what I was thinking about "Silence"/"Forest"......CoE2 really sounds appallingly bad. What I realized is that what makes it enter a whole new level of bad is the slapping of TW on top of a collection of cliches about spies, corrupt government, vile humanity, etc., etc. It's all been seen a zillion times before; it's not an interesting concept. But Rusty is trying to lay bait, by referencing TW and forcing Jack and Gwen into the storyline about CIA Rex and the Pedo. And that's the final touch that makes the synopses sound so thoroughly off putting--eye rolling worthy. Rusty has almost been successful at erasing the last bit of TW; I think he'll finish the job after this latest effort--he just needs to use the former show as a baited hook, to try to get an audience for this latest pastiche of other people's ideas. By the end of CoE2, I would not be surprised if he jettisoned all remaining elements of TW and so finished off the corpse of that show.
In the meantime....it all just makes Moffat's work shine all the brighter. Even as I was putting the DVD in, I was thinking about how I really was watching this two-parter for the millionth time (with that little twinge of potential guilt over being obsessed--oh, well!). And then I sank into the story.....and the idea in the story about how much humans love stories, and how good stories are worth savoring, over and over......
That becomes one of the underlying themes (a reason to love Moffat's writing--the sheer depth that provides multiple layers, multiple themes): set in a library, containing all the stories of humanity; it becomes one of the chapters of the story of the Doctor and River; River refuses to give up that story--she dies, in part, because she doesn't want to lose that "plot"--emphasized by how she dives into her diary and savors the memories, written down there, of adventures with the Doctor; and then River lives in stories, telling stories, in the computer.....She turns her 'real-life' story with the Doctor into a tale to entertain the children....which is a parallel to exactly what Moffat is doing. And, like River, I keep returning to the story over and over, because it is so compelling, so wonderful......
I love how Ten becomes caught up in the story. At first, he doesn't know the character and the plot, so to speak. But then he is absorbed in them--he wants to know more; he joins in and can't let the story end. By the end of the episodes, he's even echoing River's phrasing, "when you run with the Doctor," as he bolts for the main computer in order to 'save' River: "Run with me--one last time!" It's their final (maybe?) adventure together--even if he hasn't experienced all the previous adventures, he's been hooked by this one in the Library....and he wants to read, as it were, the rest of the stories in the collection of their life together.
And then the news broke of the plot/character synposes for Rusty's CoE2. Talk about jarring. Kind of derailed what I was thinking about "Silence"/"Forest"......CoE2 really sounds appallingly bad. What I realized is that what makes it enter a whole new level of bad is the slapping of TW on top of a collection of cliches about spies, corrupt government, vile humanity, etc., etc. It's all been seen a zillion times before; it's not an interesting concept. But Rusty is trying to lay bait, by referencing TW and forcing Jack and Gwen into the storyline about CIA Rex and the Pedo. And that's the final touch that makes the synopses sound so thoroughly off putting--eye rolling worthy. Rusty has almost been successful at erasing the last bit of TW; I think he'll finish the job after this latest effort--he just needs to use the former show as a baited hook, to try to get an audience for this latest pastiche of other people's ideas. By the end of CoE2, I would not be surprised if he jettisoned all remaining elements of TW and so finished off the corpse of that show.
In the meantime....it all just makes Moffat's work shine all the brighter. Even as I was putting the DVD in, I was thinking about how I really was watching this two-parter for the millionth time (with that little twinge of potential guilt over being obsessed--oh, well!). And then I sank into the story.....and the idea in the story about how much humans love stories, and how good stories are worth savoring, over and over......
That becomes one of the underlying themes (a reason to love Moffat's writing--the sheer depth that provides multiple layers, multiple themes): set in a library, containing all the stories of humanity; it becomes one of the chapters of the story of the Doctor and River; River refuses to give up that story--she dies, in part, because she doesn't want to lose that "plot"--emphasized by how she dives into her diary and savors the memories, written down there, of adventures with the Doctor; and then River lives in stories, telling stories, in the computer.....She turns her 'real-life' story with the Doctor into a tale to entertain the children....which is a parallel to exactly what Moffat is doing. And, like River, I keep returning to the story over and over, because it is so compelling, so wonderful......
I love how Ten becomes caught up in the story. At first, he doesn't know the character and the plot, so to speak. But then he is absorbed in them--he wants to know more; he joins in and can't let the story end. By the end of the episodes, he's even echoing River's phrasing, "when you run with the Doctor," as he bolts for the main computer in order to 'save' River: "Run with me--one last time!" It's their final (maybe?) adventure together--even if he hasn't experienced all the previous adventures, he's been hooked by this one in the Library....and he wants to read, as it were, the rest of the stories in the collection of their life together.