who's on first

[xparrot]

Went to The Prestige this afternoon - it just opened in Japan. The bro had highly recommended it, and with that cast and Christopher Nolan at the helm, how could it go wrong? It didn't disappoint. (Also, hee, it begins with a note from the director, "Please do not tell the ending of this film to anyone." Adorable! We live in the age of spoilers...)

Then we came back, showed a friend some SPN, then watched the latest Dr. Who. (Yup, we're all caught up with - the new, not the twenty-whatever seasons before - DW.) And "Utopia" - was that awesome or was it just me?

JAAAACK! JACK JACK JACK ^___^

Okay, now that I got that out of my system - no, wait, not quite out. JAAAACK! Oh, he was awesome. Back and on top of his game, an-y-thing that moves. But the Doctor, the Doctor is something special to him. Over a century later (ah-hah! I was thinking Jack had lived through a good chunk of time on Earth, glad to get confirmation of that) and Captain Jack is rightfully angry at being abandoned, bitter and pissy and...so thrilled to be back. He loves the Doctor so incredibly much.

And the Doctor loves him - not going to try to define the nature of that love, but he loves Jack. The hug, that Rose is alive!! (Oh Em Gee. Oh Tee Three.) And the conversation when Jack is in the reactor (erm, whatever it was?)...oh. Just, oh. "Do you want to die?" And he leans his head against the window, and the "Ja~ck." (I...I can't even squee over how much I love the way he says it, enunciates it. Just. The way he says it.) And Jack - Jack who in Torchwood so desperately needed that special kind of Doctor, the man who perhaps could finally end his tiresome existence - "I thought I did...I don't know." David Tennant and John Barrowman have amazing chemistry and I'm already depressed that we only get two more eps of it.

But anyway! The Doctor! Is back! Okay, the thing is, the last three eps before this - don't get me wrong, they were great. "Human Factor"/"Family of Blood" were just gorgeous and intense and heartbreaking. And "Blink" was so flippin' cool (okay, the weeping angels? totally freaked me out, like, spooked me worse than all of SPN last season, and that's not dissing SPN. And the "quantum lock" was not only the most wicked concept but to call it that, gave me a technobabble hard-on right there).

But the eps were all sadly lacking in the Doctor! HF/FoB had lots of David Tennant being delectably adorable, but John Smith was not the Doctor. And I may be...a little...teeny...weensy...bit madly hopelessly completely in love with the Doctor, and was suffering withdrawal pains. But we have him back now in such fine form. "Hermits United. We meet up every ten years, talk about caves...good fun!" (my gracious, the show is kind enough to name its OT3s for you! How convenient. Not that this is OT3 yet but it could be...)

Martha can actually be really, really funny. Her freak-out about the hand? Hee. And she's very willing to do what needs to be done, even if it's just hitting a button repeatedly (I think this makes sense; as a medical student she's got experience doing boring or gross tasks that are still absolutely necessary. And she's used to deferring to people who know more than her, while not losing confidence in her own abilities or intelligence; she just needs experience, and knows it.) I quite like Martha - I don't love her like Rose yet, but it took me a while to warm to Rose, and Martha hasn't had much chance to shine; I'm looking forward to seeing her get that chance.

Sir Derek Jacobi! as The Master! Eeeeep! I'd heard spoilers that the Master would be coming (err, not that I have much idea who he is beyond the name. But the name, like the Doctor and the Daleks, spreads beyond the bounds of Who-dom to leach into most SF fandom. Unless there's another evil Master wandering about fandom? Wouldn't be surprised.) Anyway, I knew the Master was coming and so when he mentioned the drums in his head I started to suspect what was happening. And that just makes it more tense. Then, when he finally emerges - whee! (Though I felt so sorry for his poor sweetly devoted lab assistant.) Now that is a supervillain! I think I'm in love already. The previews look (forgive me) fantastic.

Incidentally, I desire the soundtrack for season 3 bad - Murray Gold has been kicking all kinds of ass this season. Yes, I am such a sucker for overly bombastic action themes.

Do we really haveta wait a whole week for the next ep? Siiiigh!

Comments

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

::reintroduces himself as the guy who used to send her Quantum Leap tapes a couple hundred years ago::

This is not quite a spoiler, but if you haven't seen the movie it won't quite make sense. It's about the copy of The Prestige we, um, borrowed earlier this year:

http://captainsblog.livejournal.com/356859.html

[gnine.livejournal.com]

BAHAH, your icon is fantastic!! (and a very belated thanks for all the QL a verry long time ago, xparrot and I had such a great time watching 'em ^_^

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

The entry I was linking to was friend-locked, so you likely didn't even see it.

::friends, fixes that::

Shoulda done that some time ago, I suppose. I vaguely knew about you being the Sister Person, and the Cornell thing alone is enough to seal the deal (even if I did graduate two years before you were born, grrrr get out of my damn yard).

I don't quite get all the manga stuff, but I do have a kid, who definitely does:

http://pandaluffx3.deviantart.com/

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ray! Hey! Hee, 'course I remember you!

And hee to the story, too - I've had similar adventures myself, and there are certain films that seem to be cursed (or else my DVD player is a'feared of them...)

[littlehollyleaf.livejournal.com]

Yup, not knowing old!school Who you can't comprehend the true fanulousness of the Master returning. Because it is possibly the best event since the new series started! Tops the Daleks and the Cybermen easily, because the Master is THE BEST!

Well, to me anyways. I thought he was a fab DW villain. And a villain he IS. There'll be none of this Smallville-Lex-like 'actually I'm heartbreakingly more on the side of good than I appear' stuff with the Master. He is evil!genius completely. Well, sometimes lacking in the genius dept, but... :p

Glad you're liking stuff so far :) Now, update All the Difference now pls :p

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Whaha! Better than Daleks? IM-PO--SS-I-BLE! XD

But no, the Master does look awesome. In the bit we see of him in this ep he seems like the dark-side version of the Doctor himself?! All giddy and thrilled to be utterly irredeemably evil.
I looooove villains like that! Not Lex, nope - well, Onyx-Lex, maybe...(and I cannot tell you how much I loved Onyx-Lex) The James Bond-style baddies, arch-villains who are having the time of their lives, yep, they're some of my faves. Can't wait for more of him!

(and more AtD soon, x my heart! Just need to post the end of that other fic and then back to that!)

[naye]

JACK!!! OMG YOUR ICON!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!! ♥♥♥

And, oh, oh, neechan! You need to get the Confidential! You've been curious about them, and this latest one - called "'Ello 'ello 'ello", for some reason - was just WONDERFUL and adorable and great, and I know you'll get a kick out of watching it! So go; get!

*flails*

Yes - yes, it was. Awesome. So awesome, SO MUCH LOVE. ♥ Oh, Jack. Oh, Doctor. Oh, Martha, and OH TEE THREE! ♥

...I'll be back with coherence... coherence-y... stuff. Later. ♥

(For now, I'm just dancing a little happy dance that you DO love the Doctor, you do, you do! *hugs*)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heeee I needed an icon from the moment I saw this shot in the previews XD

& we have the Confidential (just need J-chan to wake up to watch it!) We've seen a few of them now (the one for Blink, the first two and the one for Dalek, because, eee, Dalek...what other ones are not-to-be-missed? I've been meaning to ask you for the list!)

and YES I LOVE HIM ALL YOUR FAULT GRRRR NO DID NOT NEED THIS! WAAH! *bangs head against wall to try to shake out OT3*

But...it's the Doctor! <33333

[naye]

I'm having far too much fun with Doctor Who icons, but I have far too few silly icons for such an adorably silly show! It doesn't help that I never did get around to getting the hang of animating gifs in PS, and now I have the Gimp, and I have even less of an idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. Seriously - the awesome "burns at the center of time" quote needs to be iconed with the silliest caps ever. It's just begging for it!

Confidentials! I'd say you definitely want the one for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances from season 1, because that's when everyone gets to talk a lot about introducing Jack and the dynamics changing and such. I can't remember exactly which one it was, but both of them have interesting stuff. The 12th one for season to is called "Welcome to Torchwood", and has a lot of Jack, despite the fact that he wasn't even in the second season... But that was a good one. Hmm. You might get a kick out of the one for "The Long Game"... episode 8 of season 1; they talk a lot about evil geniuses in general and the Master in particular!

The first confidential of each series is almost a must-see, because of how it introduces the show (if you've seen the very first one, did you notice it was narrated by David Tennant? ♥) and the characters and actors (David in the second series; Freema in the third). Oh, and Gridlock ("Are we there yet?") was fun! Not only because it has David and kittens, but because there was a lot of interesting talk about the plot idea and execution, and also a lot of character analysis from RTD and David Tennant, if I remember correctly. Actually, the last Confidential of each season is also really cool, because they've both been such huge emotional moments, and it's interesting to hear what they have to say about it. Oh, and "School Reunion"! The ep where Sarah Jane comes back, that had a lot of old-Who info and character analysis and really put a lot of things with new Who in perspective for me (in a good way!).

More... well, the thing is, there's usually a little character analysis a lot of behind-the-scenes coolness in all eps. I tend to watch the interviews and such, and maybe skip a bit of the explanation of how they made the special effects happen - though those can be tons of fun, too. Thinking about it now, the "Satan Pit" Confidential had some interesting insights from David and RTD on the Doctor's faith, and "42" had David reflecting over the Doctor admitting he's scared, and of course HN/FoB had tons of comments from the actors and RTD and the writer and such on the tragedy of the Time Lords and the choices the Doctor has to make...

Huh. Yes, it IS my fault, isn't it? *beams* But it's such a cute little OT3! And it's the Doctor! Him I can't take any credit for, that's all forty years of BBC history and the genius of RTD's writing and David Tennant's acting. ♥ *OT3 icons you*

[airairo.livejournal.com]

Not reading your DW stuff because I've only just finished the first series (and OMG LOVE), but The Prestige is friggin' awesome.

I really need to watch it again because I've only seen it once and it's one of those movies that you have to see at least twice.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've really been looking forward to The Prestige, and it was marvelous. Definitely needs to be seen again, too - I figured it out about halfway through, want to watch the whole thing knowing to get all the details...!

I had to respond to this, whilst carefully keeping from reading any spoilers above...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

... because we get Season 3 in Canada, starting on Monday. I'm just jumping up and down with antici...pation. :-)))

Unwanted spoilers can be horrible. Sometimes I don't mind. I'm not one of those people who want to know nothing ahead of time. But last year, I came across something by accident, that cast a cloud over most of Season 2 Doctor Who for me, and it was all for nothing. Someone on LJ had a long essay claiming that Doctor Who was sexist, and that Rose turned into a submissive, dependent female, or some such crap. And as I watched the eps, I kept waiting in horror for this to happen. And it didn't! Rose remained brave and awesome. She went back to help the Doctor because she loved him, not because she was dependent. They're not the same thing. How could anyone not see that????

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Season 3, and don't want any clouds hanging over my enjoyment this year. I just had to chime in with, 'Yay! Doctor Who!' :-)))

Re: I had to respond to this, whilst carefully keeping from reading any spoilers above...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Enjoy Series 3!! It's great fun! The only spoilers I'll give is that the last few eps have been some of the best of the whole show, hands' down, so look forward to them!! ^_^

Yeah, I'm sort of scared to dip my toes even in just modern Who-fandom, because I've heard there's Rose-hate and such, and I loved Rose. And no, no idea how her trying to do anything to keep her promise makes her submissive and dependent. (you want sexism, watch Smallville! You want good female chars - along with awesome SF and brilliantly funny scripts - watch DW!!)

Re: I had to respond to this, whilst carefully keeping from reading any spoilers above...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

As I was scrolling down to my own message, I noticed The Master's name. I don't mind that kind of minor spoiler. Yay! The Master!

Er, I mean, Hiss! Boo! :-)))

Rose-hate, I do not understand. I can understand not liking a character, or having criticisms of their actions, things like that. But I do not get the concentrated Rose-hate. Rose is young, a shop girl without much experience in the world, but she adapts, she grows, becomes brave, learns how to deal with the weirdest aliens, and the most dangerous situations, stands up to Daleks, for God's sake, and is completely devoted to The Doctor. What's to hate? And one cannot even make the excuse that she's a Mary Sue, because she isn't perfect. She's an ordinary person, who reaches her potential because of courage.

So, I started to wonder, jealous much? Perhaps at least some critics hate her because she's young and ordinary before she meets The Doctor. Like, why did she deserve his love and devotion?

Part of it, too, is the fact of the old time DW fans, who often have trouble accepting new Doctors and new Companions, despite the nature of the show. Some of these fans don't the new one hour format and better special effects. It's all that cult status stuff. 'Don't mess with our show.' That's okay for them, they can feel that way if they like. But, bleah! I'm not a cultish sort of person.

And there's another point to make, since I'm writing a book on the subject. The Doctor's Companions in the past, severed their ties to their home planets, for the most part, when they entered the Tardis. We knew little about the Doctor's previous life, and he had few, if any connections back on Gallifrey. He'd fled his planet, by stealing his Tardis. There was an episode with a trial over that, and meetings with a few other Time Lords. But mostly, the episodes weren't driven by the characters' personal lives. The current incarnation of the show is, however. We keep going back to Earth, we know Rose's mother, her father, her boyfriend. We learn a lot about Rose's emotions, her sexuality and so on.

And I think some of that is driven by The Doctor's need to connect with someone, in a deep way, after his home planet is destroyed in the Time Wars. He's feeling lonely and lost, but won't really admit it. Instead, he forms a deep bond with someone who is young and innocent, but brave and able to deal with him, and who also is looking for something -- a father figure. And the first thing he does when they go off together, is to take her to the far future to watch the death of her own planet. Rose is troubled, but she deals, and he knows he's found someone special.

These dynamics are quite a bit different from The Doctor's relationships with earlier Companions. Rose is closer to being his equal than most other Companions -- if anyone ever can be his equal. And some fans don't like that.

[naye]

Kinda need to be in bed, but I had to stop by with another random thought (fan-spamming neechan is so much fun! ♥): the Doctor's annoyance with Jack flirting. Why? Did he react like that because it was how he used to react, back when they were the three of them, and he's finding himself slipping into their old patterns? Or is there some kind of - too tired to think of the right word, so I'll just go with "jealousy"? I mean, if he really doesn't care about Jack one way or the other, why should he care that Jack's flirting with everything pretty in sight? (I love Jack's definition of "pretty", too!)

...also, why am I totally hung up on the fact that Jack stepped forward to take the Doctor's coat without the Doctor even giving him a look, much less a word of thanks? (Something Martha noticed, and looked quite amused by!)

And, OH, the way the Doctor says his name. Yes. It's. I. Wow. Wow.

Not to mention how he says the Master's name. Because. Uh. Yeah. When will there be fic for that? XD

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

<333 to your icon! ^____^ Oh Jack! <333

(...I want to watch the ep again. And we've watched the conversation in the reactor 3 times already...)

The Doctor's annoyance, yessss...did seem rather jealous. There's also his grin when Jack calls him 'cheeky'. Our take is that the Doctor gets annoyed/distressed by anyone who could potentially distract one of his Companions off the TARDIS (witness how irritable he was with Jack going after Rose - and then once Jack was on the TARDIS as well he wasn't annoyed at all!) But then he was annoyed with Jack flirting with Martha (eeeeee I love how Jack can wake up after riding a time vortex on the wrong side to the END OF THE UNIVERSE and still touch the lady's chin...!)
I don't know if the Doctor really minds the flirting, or if he's doing it just to get Jack's goat. Ten is...cheeky, like he says XDDD

I'm also veeeerry curious to see the Doctor with the Master. Because the Master hasn't yet faced this Doctor. Ten can be...ruthless, in a way I don't think all the Doctors are. He's not as overtly angsty and messed-up as Nine, but if you cross him...you go down. Hard. "I don't give second chances...I'm that kind of man." (only he does, of course, but only if you're really sincere about it...)

The way Jack took the Doctor's coat had me squeeing for like hours. Well, a good minute, anyway XDDD

[naye]

I've watched most of it again already. I stayed up until waaaay too late for me, really, just to be able to do it while vargen was sleeping. We're at episode 4 of season 3 now, so I'll be able to watch it with him soon, but it's not soon enough!! It had so much awesome, I haven't really had the time to digest it all. ("...and you're - blogging!" Oh, hon. I don't think that word means quite what you think it does...! ♥)

Hee! Yes, the reaction to "cheeky" was lovely. And it is a good point that he doesn't like it when there are shiny things he has no control over to tempt his companions away. (He loves showing off, but if they wander off to find things on their own...) And also a good point that he seems to enjoy teasing Jack, quite a bit. His line about having the sports car of time travel... hee. Boys will be boys? Last time it was a "who has the biggest tool" competition - this time it's about the rides, because the Doctor KNOWS he can win that one!

And this is JACK! Of course his first reaction at reviving at the end of the universe after clinging to the TARDIS through a couple of trillion years worth of Vortex-travel is to charm the socks of the pretty girl. XD

Seems the Master has been doing his homework on the new and improved Doctor, though. So he might not be all that surprised by what he finds... Though the Doctor's ruthlessness seems to surprise even himself, sometimes. ("I used to have so much mercy." Oh, Doctor.)

The coat!! You noticed it too! ♥ It's so... domestic, and comfortable, and at the same time it's Jack doing everything to be allowed to stay, and the Doctor not really wanting to think too hard about that...

[attaccabottoni.livejournal.com]

The Prestige was so awesome a headtrip, I don't know why my friends/family were disappointed of either
1. that the presentation of the movie's story was a magic trick, or
2. that it was about two sociopathic magicians and no magic really happened at all.

It's because of both that it was so clever! And add the fact that both lead actors are still so hot when they're obsessive and insane! *grins*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was quite fun! and I loved the presentation, set up as a magic trick, that was cool. The only possible objection I had was having 'real' magic, I think it might've worked better for me without Tesla's scifi. On the other hand what was done with it was so creepy weird and cool that it's forgiven ^^

add the fact that both lead actors are still so hot when they're obsessive and insane!

You mean, "are more hot," don't you? ;) Yeah, Wolverine vs Batman, doesn't get better than that!

[yma2.livejournal.com]

Is Doctor Who not made of win?
I am **adoring** this new series. It's beating the socks of series two and damn, in places it's far better than series 1! (of the new Who.) I cannot WAIT until the next episode because we get to see more of the Master. And the Master was one of the best and most fleshed out villains there is in Doctor Who so it'll facinating to see what RTD does to him. I can't wait!!
I may post some more squee later, when I've woken up a bit more.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I loved S2, but mainly because I love Ten & Rose's dynamic; the individual episodes of s3 have been stronger, the last few especially. This latest one might be the best of the show (at least, it's the one I've watched the most...)

Stop talking about "Who" this way

[ro-anshi.livejournal.com]

Because if you don't, you'll drag me (back) into the fandom. You're good with stuff like that.

BTW, I'm counting down how long it's going to take you to write your first fic in this fandom. :P

Re: Stop talking about "Who" this way

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Mwaahahahaha!

But no, the new Who is fantastic. Though I don't know how easy it'd be for an old-school fan to make the transition...still, fantastic! (and I'm attempting to download "Pyramids of Mars" now ^^)

There may be a little fic, but not very much...this isn't a fic'ing fandom for me, it's perfect enough on its own, there's very little I'd have to say about it that the show isn't already saying, and better than I could!

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

And "Blink" was so flippin' cool (okay, the weeping angels? totally freaked me out, like, spooked me worse than all of SPN last season, and that's not dissing SPN. And the "quantum lock" was not only the most wicked concept but to call it that, gave me a technobabble hard-on right there).

Yes to all of that. So very much yes. Usually SPN doesn't scare me a bit. In fact, independent of Winchester-related angst, only the 'clown' in ELAC and the hell hounds in Crossroad Blues have ever actually made me jump.

But in Blink, I actually screamed outloud more than once. heh And the quantum lock thing was technobabble beauty. :D

Back to Utopia, god it was awesome to see Jack flirting with everything that moved again. And yes, that scene in the reactor was made of awesome. I loved how they were separated by literal walls while Jack performed a task that just really reinforced his 'wrongness'. So very cool.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

SPN makes me hide my eyes a lot...I'm a wuss...but the "Blink" angels actually made me screech aloud, the first time you see them attack ^^

In the Confidential for "Utopia", RTD has a great bit talking about the reactor scene, noting that the only way to get two guys to talk about their feelings like that is to put them in a terrible crisis, lives on the line, and yes, a wall between them. Even if the Doctor and Jack are hardly typical 'guys'...yeah. Heh!