'not known, because not looked for'

[subtle1science]

Ha!  Look what I found!  The Thinking Tiger icon Silver Ink Pot made for me, oh, a long time ago on a website far, far away....I had forgotten I had it, although I always loved it (*tigers*); I stopped using it there because one of the expletives made a mockery of it....Whatever.  Those days are gone now, happily enough.  And I found the tiger

Comments

[subtle1science]

As is the case with the majority of Rusty's writing: it isn't just that Wilf suddenly becomes a dithering twit and I don't like how Rusty wrote one of my favorite characters....it's that Ten's viciousness makes absolutely zero sense--the Doctor doesn't die; he regenerates. He loses nothing except his former appearance. Even Rusty's own canon emphasizes that: he has Nine state it...and, to prove that the Doctor himself doesn't change, Ten echoes Nine: "Barcelona!"

I don't find anything compelling about Ten's overly drawn out farewell: the whole thing smacks of a temper tantrum by a head writer who may not have left entirely voluntarily.

"The Lodger" never fails to make me laugh...."Has anyone ever told you you're weird?" "They never stop...." The Doctor cleaning himself like a cat after his meal with Craig...."Madrid? HA! What a dump!"

But I think the comedy serves to mask the underlying threat and distract from the unanswered questions--questions that carry over into "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang" (does it matter that Craig says he heard "a big bang" coming from upstairs?)....It would surprise me if "The Lodger" plot didn't go further.

[suo_gan]

I hated the entire finale, both parts, as you know but what I resented more than anything else was how Rusty once again took a character who resonated so well with the audience and turned him on his ear, forcing him into actions that were out of character in order to advance a weak plot. Like Ianto.

No intelligent adult would walk into that Stargate ripoff contraction, not willingly at least, but a child would, and that's what I hate so much that lovable, wise and compassionate Wilf was reduced to the type of bumbling a child might do, just so Ten could get a lethal dose of radiation. What utter crap.

The outsider trying to fit in - the subject of many a fine comedy, and 'Lodger' was no exception. This is one wildly funny episode, showing just how alien and yet, humane, the Doctor really is. But... there does really seem to be a whole lot more to the episode, in that it's very evident at the beginning that the Doctor hasn't arrived at Craig's on a whim, or because of the advertisement - he was there investigating, and that's a might large thread to leave hanging, like the missing 24 hours.

[subtle1science]

Poor Wilf became a bumbling fool--and Ten could then excoriate him and pitch the most massive hissy fit ever seen in DW.....over nothing, really, since he could save the old man and regenerate and come back and shake Wilf's hand. Typical Rusty--overblown and senseless....and, actually....inadvertently funny. Rather like Jack's instruction to the dying Ianto: "Save your breath." That makes the Ten hissy fit look good, in contrast.

What I love about the comedy of "The Lodger"--and Smith's performance, which depicts it--is that the Doctor views himself as perfectly normal; it's the humans who are quaint and eccentric. Everything the Doctor's doing makes sense to the Doctor; the young little humans don't know or understand and are better off that way, protected from whatever evil is upstairs. The only time things don't make sense to the Doctor is when he has to do something the human way--but he joins in with gusto and enjoys the weirdness of it....like playing football or working a job.

[suo_gan]

By the time Ten's regeneration came, I was happy to see him go. Tennant was great as Ten, don't get me wrong, but the facade of easy humor finally slipped in the last episode, and the railing, angry Doctor that had been lurking underneath finally came out. That he'd have a hissy fit over Wilf being the cause of his regeneration - well, how does that fit with Nine's cheerful acceptance of his under similar circumstances, only with Rose? Was Wilf any less? Actually, in terms of understanding, he was the only one who truly understood and empathized with the Doctor, asked for nothing in return, and in the end he was treated like yesterday's rubbish. Nice way for Ten to go out. Then again, so was Jack after dying for Ten, so it shouldn't have come a surprise. Neither of them are one of Rusty's idealized clinging women characters.

I love the way Eleven tries to fit in with the quaint earth customs. Like, where did he find out about air kisses? Amy? Or is he monitoring tv for cultural signals? In any case, it was a giggle seeing him air kiss everyone down to the very confused captain of the football team. And slyly - the matchmaker, speaking to Sophie as if she was his child, having a hard time making up her mind what to do with her future. That delighted smile when she 'gets' it, all t he while tinkering with his scanner stuff. Oh yes, great stuff here. :)

[subtle1science]

Actually, "The Lodger" points up one major problem with both Nine and Ten....They never seem to be alien. Eleven is a masterpiece on the part of Smith and the DW5 writers, under Moffat's watch. Eleven is "human" enough to have aspects in common with humans--and even to mislead those humans into thinking he's just like them; however, there is no mistaking that this incarnation of the Doctor is not human. He doesn't always react like a human; his behavior always reflects a different sensibility.

Air kisses? Maybe in France, when he learned to cook--in the 17th, no, 18th, century; it's so difficult to remember the proper order....

Getting Sophie to say, "I can do anything I want!" is one of my favorite moments--it sort of encapsulates the episode. The Doctor is busy working on the real problem--that upstairs threat. However, he doesn't talk about that to the kids--the two humans. Instead, he chats with them about their lives, solving part of their problem while he also focuses on the other. Eleven is incredibly paternal in that scene...Sophie and Criag see him as incredibly eccentric, but he's at least 30 steps ahead of them.

[suo_gan]

Eccleston relied on facial expressions to express Nine's alienness. He had one expression where he looked completely daft - wide eyes, goofy grin and that was what I'd always thought his 'Not of this world' look. Tennant started the same, particularly with the 'Barcelona', but he quickly went into the Lonely God morass. I guess his alienness came from his frenetic patter more than anything else. That, and his wide eyes.

With Smith, it's different. He seems to inhabit the character of the Doctor, and the alienness comes from within, as does the glimpses of the ancient man he is, or the ever young man he is as well. He looks human, and he thinks he understands human custom, but it's the understanding of a sojourner, and one for whom human societal changes has never been a linear experience. All of this is real gist for comedy, and that's one of the reasons I love 'Lodger' so much - there are a lot of really classic comic moments along with the scares and the red herrings.

But the real reason I love the 'Lodger' is because of the slow smile Eleven gives Sophie when she realizes she can do anything - it's knowing and it's very kind, paternal even. The other reason is the meltingly sweet smile the Doctor gives Craig in the beginning. Yep, this is the man from whom armies turned in fear, but he's also very sweet. Contradiction? Not necessarily - he's the Doctor, he's not of this earth.

[subtle1science]

There's even something not human about the way Eleven moves: Smith's got a whole library of peculiar movements, physical reactions....Nothing that's shoved in the audience's face, but just incorporated as natural to the Doctor. Like the cleaning himself like a cat after dinner: that's not what the scene is about, and the gestures aren't big enough to shout, "LOOK! I'm being ALIEN!" But it's there.

I think another element of "The Lodger" that I really like is that the episode makes it clear that the Doctor is very fond of humans. Nine and Ten were so contemptuous: I wouldn't want to travel with them, and it mades no sense why they would burden themselves with humans....Rusty's infamous line from CoE about how the Doctor turns away in disgust.....Eleven couldn't and wouldn't do that.

[suo_gan]

Well, we should give ourselves a rousing round of applause, because having seen the trailer for series 6 - there is a shot of River approaching what looks extremely similar to that Tardis from the 'Lodger'. What it means I don't know, except it's given me even more of a reason to squeal in anticipation of a really, really fine season.

I liked Eccleston and I liked Tennant, but I love Smith. He has it all - the gift of physical comedy, the chameleonlike way of changing from ancient to very young, the comedic timing and the perfect characterization of someone who is visiting the earth, but not of the earth, although he does share in a lot of human sentiments. He's just this wee bit off-kilter, and it delights me to no end, like I haven't been delighted since Tom Baker.

[subtle1science]

I saw that, too--and apparently the trailer is from the first episodes of DW6, so that console must figure in fairly early in the new season.