Remix & Doctor Who 4x04: The Sontaran Stragetem
So, Remix reveals today! I remixed rian219 to produce The Tyranny of Petty Things (The Unconquered Skies Remix) [HP; Remus/Sirius; PG-13], which I shall repost here and talk about sometime next week. It was spotted alarmingly quickly by avendya, possibly because she has spies in my brain - Ave, let me know what you'd like as your smartypants prize and I'll get on it.
For tonight, though, Doctor Who!
HI MARTHA HI I MISSED YOUUUU! I feel the need to admit at this juncture that evil!Martha is kind of hot. Seriously. Also, she had gorgeous hair this whole episode. People, how is she so awesome? I want charts and diagrams and statistics and picspams, plz. ♥
Similarly - DONNA FREAKING NOBLE. YOU ROCK MY WORLD. Getting the Colonel to salute! Winding the Doctor up! Being fantastic with Martha! My love knows no bounds. Donna has a lot more knowledge about the Doctor and his history than Rose or Martha ever did, and thus her decision to go with him is a lot more level-headed in some ways. She doesn't go with him because she wants to be a hero, she just wants to see more of the universe, and that's going to involve her being a lot more badass along the way but that never means she takes leave of the common sense she's so grounded in. This is, after all, the woman who stepped out onto an alien world for the first time in her life, shivered a bit and went back inside to get a coat because she is prepared for these things and did I mention I love her?
What I'm enjoying about Series Four is the way it's a meta-arc about What It Is to be a companion. In Series 1, a lot of the focus was on Rose, I think, and on learning about just how the hell this Doctor man was, for new viewers. Series 2, it was the Doctor&Rose as a unit that was gradually being set up to take a massive fall, so in Series 3 the focus really shifted to the Doctor by himself, with the storylines they used reflecting that - the whole 'just one trip' arc plus episodes like 'Human Nature' and bringing the Master back, with nothing that was as Martha-focused the way that plotlines like 'Father's Day' and the discovery of Pete's World were for Rose. There's a lot I could say about that, actually, but my point is that now we're really starting to question just what a good idea it is to go travelling with the Doctor in the first place. Rose is 'lost', he 'destroyed half of Martha's life', and Martha is clearly concerned for Donna when she meets her. Add that to the weird prophecies that are flying around the place, and Donna's going to be more than a little freaked. I don't think this is the last time she's going to mention the idea of going home.
Also, I'm beginning to wonder if we're going to see more parallels than I'd previously thought between Rose and Martha, when Rose comes back. Because Martha's been hardened and changed and a little broken by her experiences and I suspect that maybe Rose will be the same, even though the nature of those experiences is quite different. Hmm.
Anyway! Back to this week before I start going into full-on companion essay territory.
I really, really love the Sontarans. I think maybe it's a hangover from my Star Trek days but there's just something about the honourable warrior race that I rather enjoy - that's it, I think, the fact that their motivations and limits are clearly laid out and their actions make sense within their own code of ethics, which is terribly helpful from a plotting perspective.
The supporting characters in this were in general made of win - loved everyone from UNIT, Ross especially was fab, and in general I liked the organisation much more than the Doctor seemed willing to allow. On that note, I think he's starting to take his anti-gun thing a leetle far, I mean really. As long as you blow things up more imaginatively because you happen to be a super genius then that is apparently fine. Especially, I think, coming from Torchwood, who are much less together than UNIT, seeing the Doctor being so scornful is sort of weird. I'd like people like that around to counter against alien threats, please!
Annoying child genius boy is annoying. I hope he either goes psychotic or heroic next episode, because currently he's the least developed guest character.
WILF IS AMAZING. And noooo, he is in peril! Eeep! Tying up the loose ends from the Christmas specials with him and Donna's mother (does she have a name yet?) was great fun.
Basically, I really enjoyed this, and is it Saturday yet? :D
For tonight, though, Doctor Who!
HI MARTHA HI I MISSED YOUUUU! I feel the need to admit at this juncture that evil!Martha is kind of hot. Seriously. Also, she had gorgeous hair this whole episode. People, how is she so awesome? I want charts and diagrams and statistics and picspams, plz. ♥
Similarly - DONNA FREAKING NOBLE. YOU ROCK MY WORLD. Getting the Colonel to salute! Winding the Doctor up! Being fantastic with Martha! My love knows no bounds. Donna has a lot more knowledge about the Doctor and his history than Rose or Martha ever did, and thus her decision to go with him is a lot more level-headed in some ways. She doesn't go with him because she wants to be a hero, she just wants to see more of the universe, and that's going to involve her being a lot more badass along the way but that never means she takes leave of the common sense she's so grounded in. This is, after all, the woman who stepped out onto an alien world for the first time in her life, shivered a bit and went back inside to get a coat because she is prepared for these things and did I mention I love her?
What I'm enjoying about Series Four is the way it's a meta-arc about What It Is to be a companion. In Series 1, a lot of the focus was on Rose, I think, and on learning about just how the hell this Doctor man was, for new viewers. Series 2, it was the Doctor&Rose as a unit that was gradually being set up to take a massive fall, so in Series 3 the focus really shifted to the Doctor by himself, with the storylines they used reflecting that - the whole 'just one trip' arc plus episodes like 'Human Nature' and bringing the Master back, with nothing that was as Martha-focused the way that plotlines like 'Father's Day' and the discovery of Pete's World were for Rose. There's a lot I could say about that, actually, but my point is that now we're really starting to question just what a good idea it is to go travelling with the Doctor in the first place. Rose is 'lost', he 'destroyed half of Martha's life', and Martha is clearly concerned for Donna when she meets her. Add that to the weird prophecies that are flying around the place, and Donna's going to be more than a little freaked. I don't think this is the last time she's going to mention the idea of going home.
Also, I'm beginning to wonder if we're going to see more parallels than I'd previously thought between Rose and Martha, when Rose comes back. Because Martha's been hardened and changed and a little broken by her experiences and I suspect that maybe Rose will be the same, even though the nature of those experiences is quite different. Hmm.
Anyway! Back to this week before I start going into full-on companion essay territory.
I really, really love the Sontarans. I think maybe it's a hangover from my Star Trek days but there's just something about the honourable warrior race that I rather enjoy - that's it, I think, the fact that their motivations and limits are clearly laid out and their actions make sense within their own code of ethics, which is terribly helpful from a plotting perspective.
The supporting characters in this were in general made of win - loved everyone from UNIT, Ross especially was fab, and in general I liked the organisation much more than the Doctor seemed willing to allow. On that note, I think he's starting to take his anti-gun thing a leetle far, I mean really. As long as you blow things up more imaginatively because you happen to be a super genius then that is apparently fine. Especially, I think, coming from Torchwood, who are much less together than UNIT, seeing the Doctor being so scornful is sort of weird. I'd like people like that around to counter against alien threats, please!
Annoying child genius boy is annoying. I hope he either goes psychotic or heroic next episode, because currently he's the least developed guest character.
WILF IS AMAZING. And noooo, he is in peril! Eeep! Tying up the loose ends from the Christmas specials with him and Donna's mother (does she have a name yet?) was great fun.
Basically, I really enjoyed this, and is it Saturday yet? :D