Commentary: TL, TSE, JE
So I went off and rewatched Turn Left - Journey's End because those were the three episodes I've avoided like the plague because they just depress me so bad. But hey, I did it. I never really paid close attention to what was happening when I first got around to them (or I got like PTSD from them and can’t really remember anything), and watching them when you already know what's happening is good for noticing some other stuff. So these are my thoughts as I watched. (some old, some new, some built on...most of it isn’t very insightful, don’t hold your breath) I’m very anti-Rose here, so if you’re not cool widdat, well. Why are you on my journal anyway.
Turn Left:
1. The Doctor and Donna look so happy together I could cry for the next five years of my life.
2. Catherine is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
3. Rose is annoying.
4. Hee, the way Donna said Merry Christmas was so fucking adorable.
5. Jacqueline King has amazing facial acting.
6. I like that guy they shared refuge homes with's accent.
7. Catherine is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen without makeup.
8. LOL BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY.
9. Rose should go back to her dimension.
10. Well. After she makes Donna turn left.
11. Donna, I love you.
12. DONNA, Y U NO FEEL SPECIAL. C'mere, lemme give you a hug.....
13. Labor camps. :( I didn't really realize what was going on because I knew nothing about WW2 when I watched it. D'oh!
14. Sylvia went from losing her husband, to losing her home, to the friends she had and the people she knew, to the friends she made in a short amount of time, and........god, the hopelessness on her face. I know people think Sylvia's a horrible person especially during this episode, but I really, really don't think she's a horrible person. I think she's a very realistically done person.
15. Brb, crying. The tragedy of this episode is just…so much.
16. ROSE, Y U SO HAPPY AT A TIME LIKE THIS
17. Ugh, just, get out of here Rose. I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU NO MORE.
18. I realize I'm very ticked with a brilliant episode just because of her presence....man.
19. Donna trying to run half a mile in 4 minutes sounds like me running a mile without taking my inhaler beforehand.
20. Going from "I can't die" to stepping in front of a lorry for something that might not work... *standing ovation for Donna*
21. I'm thinking about the time my friend said that he thought Donna was a bit of a bitch in this episode.......I'm going to make him watch it VERY CLOSELY NEXT TIME.
22. Yay hug time :)
23. They're sitting too far away from each other. Donna should be right next to him holding his hand for dear life. Or be on his lap snogging him.
24. BAD WOLF GTFO. Well, no, you can't, because apparently you're the only way the Doctor knows the universe is ending, because his time lord geniusness and senses just happen to be taking a vacation today.
25. Most of the episode was just sort of reacting to things rather than thinking about things for me, since it’s a different universe with a different storyline and what not. I dunno.
The Stolen Earth:
1. I think Rose + gun was just too much. First you bring her back. That was one thing. Now you try to make her look like the most badass thing in the world by making her carry a massive steroidal gun walk with some beastly swag away from an explosion. What were you thinking, RTD?
2. See, Donna, on the other hand, has wit and beastly temp abilities. Hmm… wit and temping vs guns and cliché swag…
3. Davros is one ugly mofo.
4. I remember the first time watching this, unaware of Donna’s fate, I had a theory that maybe the heartbreats thing was because Donna was secretly a time lady. Eh.
5. The experience from the alternate universe seems to have grabbed Donna’s insecurities and shoved them in her face. It feels like a dream to her, but she still went through the traumatizing experiences of that alternate universe, and some of her feelings from there are sort of just…resonating to her right now. Particularly the I’m-not-special-what-a-fat-lot-of-good-I-am-to-the-world ones. This is probably because she thinks that without the Doctor in her life, not only is it complete crap, but she’s completely useless. And I hate to say. I REALLY HATE TO SAY IT. But Rose was there to say otherwise. And I will admit, I am grateful that she was there to help Donna show her she could save herself, despite her intentions of just getting to the Doctor.
6. “Are you saying bees are aliens?” “Don’t be so daft… not all of them, BUT.” LOL.
7. FYI, Rose. You said it yourself, both the Doctor and Donna are needed to save da universe. Stop acting like it’s just him. Urgh.
8. Just wandering back to a thought when my friend who has never watched DW watched Father’s Day. I quote, “She’s stupid and she needs to do something with her hair.” Lulz.
9. I realize there are a number scenes containing “Doctor, what do we do?”s from Donna followed by a grim look from the Doctor.
10. Okay I am going to just ignore Rose from now on.
11. Harriet Jones. :(
12. Intergalactic facebook! You would, Donna. You would.
13. The look on Donna’s face when she sees Rose breaks my heart. Throughout this whole episode Donna is very out of it, and it does indeed seem like she’s convinced that the Doctor is going to leave her. And really, his behavior makes it seem like it, too. If you caught Donna’s face when he said “everybody’s here…all except Rose”, it basically (to me) shouted of “…yeah. Rose. You’re surrounded by all your friends but all you really want is Rose.” The Doctor never really mentioned her while Donna was with him, but now he is, and I don’t think she’s taking it as well as she thought she would.
14. And really, running to each other to dramatic music? Really? RTD, what the fuck.
15. I think everyone saw that Dalek coming. If you’re running to someone for THAT LONG, you know something’s going to go ahead and interrupt.
16. I wonder why the Doctor never tells his companions about his regenerating. Does he feel that maybe they won’t last long enough to see him regenerate? Or maybe is he all like psh-like-I’m-gunna-get-that-seriously-injured-I’m-a-time-lord-ninja? I sort of see why he wouldn’t, because maybe it would make his companion think “oh, he’s going to change, what’s the point”, but it would save a lot of…well, this!
Journey’s End:
1. I think we saw that one coming, too. Of course he’s not going to regenerate, come on!
2. Okay, the Doctor getting all giggly over Rose just kind of makes me...sick. But I notice a change in his mood when she tells him about the dimension canon. Probably because he’s disappointed or because it is indeed a serious matter. I’m going with the former.
3. And I also hate how cold he’s treating Donna. Okay so not ice cold or anything, but it’s as if…she’s not really important. If they were alone, I felt it would be different, that he would care a little more.
4. I don’t quite appreciate Rose with a steroidal gun, but I do very much appreciate her mother with a steroidal gun.
5. Donna is just sooooo out of it! I like the way Catherine acts it, like you just know something strange is going to happen. You know, aside from the constant heartbeats all over the place.
6. The TARDIS door shutting was the TARDIS’s doing. It makes me wonder how the TARDIS herself feels when she does that, being a sentient ship ‘n all. She, like Dalek Caan, must’ve known this was going to happen…
7. Speaking of which, that damn Dalek Caan “the most faithful one will die” business. After watching everything, I certainly know who he’s referring to. And that depresses me. They give so so so so so so so so so so so so many clues as to what’s going to happen to Donna, but it doesn’t make it any easier for us Donnalubbers to deal with. On the bright side…it’s script-official that she’s the most faithful to the Doctor. Eat your heart out, Rose.
8. Huh…I see most of my comments are becoming lengthier and less spazzy…
9. The Doctor is going nuts. If Donna could just see how he’s acting, any doubt of him caring so intensely for her would vanish. I know it did it for me.
10. It just barely dawned on me that the Doctor hasn’t realized how majorly insecure Donna feels. Which is understandable. I mean she’s brilliant, for pete’s sake. And she hasn’t really shown to think otherwise up until now, after Turn Left. And then I come to think that they really haven’t had enough time together, because I think if they had, he’d know her like the back of his hand by now.
11. Davros be playin’ psychological tripouts on the Doc. And I think the effects of it last beyond that episode. I think maybe because he did what he wasn’t supposed to do, that because he looked back, and lost Donna during the same day, it all just kind of teamed up on him and… broke him.
12. And I don’t appreciate Rose’s appreciation for what the Doctor is staring gravely at the floor about. Which is very hypocritical of me, because when I first watched this, I thought the same thing as her about the whole Ostahargen key and Warpstar business. Then I saw the Doctor’s face and I was like “hmmm…maybe I shouldn’t be finding this badass.”
13. What I’m wondering, and what I’ve been wondering ever since this episode, is that, well, what is the point of reducing all of matter into nothing? What are they going to do AFTER? Play golf?
14. Donna + technobabble has got to be the sexiest thing EVER.
15. There are too many characters in this episode. Not everyone is given a proper role in saving the universe, and not everyone is given, well, dialogue.
16. I think Sarah Jane’s (RIP Lis Sladen) comment about the Doctor seeming so lonely when he has the biggest family in the world struck me very hard. It was probably just kind of cruel to stick that in the script, knowing that he goes from all his friends to nobody at all.
17. Okay, I think the Doctor is full of shit during that whole scene on bad wolf bay.
18. “Does it need saying?” No. Because it’s not true. I doubt by this point it’s true, because by this time I think there’s only one thing on his mind. By now he’s realized that Donna can’t survive the metacrisis any longer, and I think his reasoning with Rose seemed rather rushed and not thought about for very long as if he were distracted. And I know in the confidentials, Raynor (was it Raynor?) said that the Doctor’s supposed to be standing there in pain watching the other him have the woman he really really loves, but honestly, I think that’s full of shit, too. Excuse my language.
19. I’m surprised I didn’t cry very hard when I watched the mindwipe again after so long. It’s still very depressing. And god, god when he’s talking to Sylvia and Wilf, he’s shaking so much.
20. I hate that there’s such a lack of closure to it all. Ugh.
And I suppose that’s all. These are actually pretty fun…
Turn Left:
1. The Doctor and Donna look so happy together I could cry for the next five years of my life.
2. Catherine is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
3. Rose is annoying.
4. Hee, the way Donna said Merry Christmas was so fucking adorable.
5. Jacqueline King has amazing facial acting.
6. I like that guy they shared refuge homes with's accent.
7. Catherine is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen without makeup.
8. LOL BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY.
9. Rose should go back to her dimension.
10. Well. After she makes Donna turn left.
11. Donna, I love you.
12. DONNA, Y U NO FEEL SPECIAL. C'mere, lemme give you a hug.....
13. Labor camps. :( I didn't really realize what was going on because I knew nothing about WW2 when I watched it. D'oh!
14. Sylvia went from losing her husband, to losing her home, to the friends she had and the people she knew, to the friends she made in a short amount of time, and........god, the hopelessness on her face. I know people think Sylvia's a horrible person especially during this episode, but I really, really don't think she's a horrible person. I think she's a very realistically done person.
15. Brb, crying. The tragedy of this episode is just…so much.
16. ROSE, Y U SO HAPPY AT A TIME LIKE THIS
17. Ugh, just, get out of here Rose. I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU NO MORE.
18. I realize I'm very ticked with a brilliant episode just because of her presence....man.
19. Donna trying to run half a mile in 4 minutes sounds like me running a mile without taking my inhaler beforehand.
20. Going from "I can't die" to stepping in front of a lorry for something that might not work... *standing ovation for Donna*
21. I'm thinking about the time my friend said that he thought Donna was a bit of a bitch in this episode.......I'm going to make him watch it VERY CLOSELY NEXT TIME.
22. Yay hug time :)
23. They're sitting too far away from each other. Donna should be right next to him holding his hand for dear life. Or be on his lap snogging him.
24. BAD WOLF GTFO. Well, no, you can't, because apparently you're the only way the Doctor knows the universe is ending, because his time lord geniusness and senses just happen to be taking a vacation today.
25. Most of the episode was just sort of reacting to things rather than thinking about things for me, since it’s a different universe with a different storyline and what not. I dunno.
The Stolen Earth:
1. I think Rose + gun was just too much. First you bring her back. That was one thing. Now you try to make her look like the most badass thing in the world by making her carry a massive steroidal gun walk with some beastly swag away from an explosion. What were you thinking, RTD?
2. See, Donna, on the other hand, has wit and beastly temp abilities. Hmm… wit and temping vs guns and cliché swag…
3. Davros is one ugly mofo.
4. I remember the first time watching this, unaware of Donna’s fate, I had a theory that maybe the heartbreats thing was because Donna was secretly a time lady. Eh.
5. The experience from the alternate universe seems to have grabbed Donna’s insecurities and shoved them in her face. It feels like a dream to her, but she still went through the traumatizing experiences of that alternate universe, and some of her feelings from there are sort of just…resonating to her right now. Particularly the I’m-not-special-what-a-fat-lot-of-good-I-am-to-the-world ones. This is probably because she thinks that without the Doctor in her life, not only is it complete crap, but she’s completely useless. And I hate to say. I REALLY HATE TO SAY IT. But Rose was there to say otherwise. And I will admit, I am grateful that she was there to help Donna show her she could save herself, despite her intentions of just getting to the Doctor.
6. “Are you saying bees are aliens?” “Don’t be so daft… not all of them, BUT.” LOL.
7. FYI, Rose. You said it yourself, both the Doctor and Donna are needed to save da universe. Stop acting like it’s just him. Urgh.
8. Just wandering back to a thought when my friend who has never watched DW watched Father’s Day. I quote, “She’s stupid and she needs to do something with her hair.” Lulz.
9. I realize there are a number scenes containing “Doctor, what do we do?”s from Donna followed by a grim look from the Doctor.
10. Okay I am going to just ignore Rose from now on.
11. Harriet Jones. :(
12. Intergalactic facebook! You would, Donna. You would.
13. The look on Donna’s face when she sees Rose breaks my heart. Throughout this whole episode Donna is very out of it, and it does indeed seem like she’s convinced that the Doctor is going to leave her. And really, his behavior makes it seem like it, too. If you caught Donna’s face when he said “everybody’s here…all except Rose”, it basically (to me) shouted of “…yeah. Rose. You’re surrounded by all your friends but all you really want is Rose.” The Doctor never really mentioned her while Donna was with him, but now he is, and I don’t think she’s taking it as well as she thought she would.
14. And really, running to each other to dramatic music? Really? RTD, what the fuck.
15. I think everyone saw that Dalek coming. If you’re running to someone for THAT LONG, you know something’s going to go ahead and interrupt.
16. I wonder why the Doctor never tells his companions about his regenerating. Does he feel that maybe they won’t last long enough to see him regenerate? Or maybe is he all like psh-like-I’m-gunna-get-that-seriously-injured-I’m-a-time-lord-ninja? I sort of see why he wouldn’t, because maybe it would make his companion think “oh, he’s going to change, what’s the point”, but it would save a lot of…well, this!
Journey’s End:
1. I think we saw that one coming, too. Of course he’s not going to regenerate, come on!
2. Okay, the Doctor getting all giggly over Rose just kind of makes me...sick. But I notice a change in his mood when she tells him about the dimension canon. Probably because he’s disappointed or because it is indeed a serious matter. I’m going with the former.
3. And I also hate how cold he’s treating Donna. Okay so not ice cold or anything, but it’s as if…she’s not really important. If they were alone, I felt it would be different, that he would care a little more.
4. I don’t quite appreciate Rose with a steroidal gun, but I do very much appreciate her mother with a steroidal gun.
5. Donna is just sooooo out of it! I like the way Catherine acts it, like you just know something strange is going to happen. You know, aside from the constant heartbeats all over the place.
6. The TARDIS door shutting was the TARDIS’s doing. It makes me wonder how the TARDIS herself feels when she does that, being a sentient ship ‘n all. She, like Dalek Caan, must’ve known this was going to happen…
7. Speaking of which, that damn Dalek Caan “the most faithful one will die” business. After watching everything, I certainly know who he’s referring to. And that depresses me. They give so so so so so so so so so so so so many clues as to what’s going to happen to Donna, but it doesn’t make it any easier for us Donnalubbers to deal with. On the bright side…it’s script-official that she’s the most faithful to the Doctor. Eat your heart out, Rose.
8. Huh…I see most of my comments are becoming lengthier and less spazzy…
9. The Doctor is going nuts. If Donna could just see how he’s acting, any doubt of him caring so intensely for her would vanish. I know it did it for me.
10. It just barely dawned on me that the Doctor hasn’t realized how majorly insecure Donna feels. Which is understandable. I mean she’s brilliant, for pete’s sake. And she hasn’t really shown to think otherwise up until now, after Turn Left. And then I come to think that they really haven’t had enough time together, because I think if they had, he’d know her like the back of his hand by now.
11. Davros be playin’ psychological tripouts on the Doc. And I think the effects of it last beyond that episode. I think maybe because he did what he wasn’t supposed to do, that because he looked back, and lost Donna during the same day, it all just kind of teamed up on him and… broke him.
12. And I don’t appreciate Rose’s appreciation for what the Doctor is staring gravely at the floor about. Which is very hypocritical of me, because when I first watched this, I thought the same thing as her about the whole Ostahargen key and Warpstar business. Then I saw the Doctor’s face and I was like “hmmm…maybe I shouldn’t be finding this badass.”
13. What I’m wondering, and what I’ve been wondering ever since this episode, is that, well, what is the point of reducing all of matter into nothing? What are they going to do AFTER? Play golf?
14. Donna + technobabble has got to be the sexiest thing EVER.
15. There are too many characters in this episode. Not everyone is given a proper role in saving the universe, and not everyone is given, well, dialogue.
16. I think Sarah Jane’s (RIP Lis Sladen) comment about the Doctor seeming so lonely when he has the biggest family in the world struck me very hard. It was probably just kind of cruel to stick that in the script, knowing that he goes from all his friends to nobody at all.
17. Okay, I think the Doctor is full of shit during that whole scene on bad wolf bay.
18. “Does it need saying?” No. Because it’s not true. I doubt by this point it’s true, because by this time I think there’s only one thing on his mind. By now he’s realized that Donna can’t survive the metacrisis any longer, and I think his reasoning with Rose seemed rather rushed and not thought about for very long as if he were distracted. And I know in the confidentials, Raynor (was it Raynor?) said that the Doctor’s supposed to be standing there in pain watching the other him have the woman he really really loves, but honestly, I think that’s full of shit, too. Excuse my language.
19. I’m surprised I didn’t cry very hard when I watched the mindwipe again after so long. It’s still very depressing. And god, god when he’s talking to Sylvia and Wilf, he’s shaking so much.
20. I hate that there’s such a lack of closure to it all. Ugh.
And I suppose that’s all. These are actually pretty fun…