who's on first
Jun. 18th, 2007 03:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotWent 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!
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!
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Re: I had to respond to this, whilst carefully keeping from reading any spoilers above...
Date: 2007-06-18 06:28 pm (UTC)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.
Re: I had to respond to this, whilst carefully keeping from reading any spoilers above...
Date: 2007-06-19 04:18 am (UTC)The Rose-hate...I haven't really encountered it much myself, but I've been avoiding Who-fandom as a whole, content to stay within the bounds of my lj-circle, no new comms or anything. Partly because char-hate in general doesn't do much for me; it's rare that I hate chars of a show I like (SV is the exception to this any many other rules. But then the key-word might be 'show I like' as I don't really like SV overall, just
Lexparts of it...)Anyway, I've noticed that pretty much every female character ever on TV is hated on by someone. Which is terrible but I think is due to a combination of factors: jealousy, like you mentioned; also there are so many *bad* female characters out there, that fans often come into a show expecting to dislike the femmes, primed to hate on them, and have to be won over.
Also, Rose's relationship with the Doctor is closer to a romance than previous Companions had? Which probably cheeses off old-school fans. And then some seem to find her too young, too immature (I think she needs to be that young, young enough to have so much wonder for the universe; young enough that she is able to tell him "I'll stay with you forever" and mean it. Martha Jones has a life, ambitions; she's not going to want to be on the TARDIS forever. But Rose could have stayed, if fate hadn't intervened...) Some fans don't seem to like that she's not educated enough in science or whatever...but she manages okay, even not...I like that Rose isn't brilliant, isn't educated, isn't especially strong or fast or physically gifted; she just does what she can, what needs to be done.
Wonder what fandom thinks of Martha...
Oh, interesting discussion!
Date: 2007-06-19 06:41 am (UTC)There are the Rose-haters, and the Martha-haters, and the Jack-haters. Not to mention those who hate Ten, or David Tennant's acting, or RTD's writing, or all of it at once. But, really, the hate is pretty evenly divided up between new skool and old skool. There's so much of it that I would be seriously worried about these people watching something they so clearly hate... but I've been in fandom for too long for that to surprise me.
I think there are a lot of reasons for the hate, but with Rose - yes, it's that its implied that she got closer to the Doctor than any previous companions. Cue a lot of "X companion of Doctor Y was much better/closer/smarter", and a lot of people whining that he shouldn't have "those kind" of feelings for anyone. At all. Ever! There's less comparing Martha to companions of old, from what I've seen, and more comparing her with Rose. Seems there are people who think she's not doing her "job" as companion, that she's self-centered and... gah, I don't know. I stop reading as soon as I feel the hate, but it's there.
One interesting thing I've gathered about Who fandom is that it's 50/50 male/female. Viewing figures and con attendance and such has always reflected that, and for most of SF fandom, I guess people were surprised by the amount of female fans. But now it sort of carries over the other way - there are a lot of guys in the on-line Who fandom. So in general discussions and such, you're just as likely to be seeing the reactions of fanboys as fangirls, and it does seem to make a difference. There's less jealousy-type hate, and more of what comes across as fanboys arguing why the Companion they had a crush on when they were kids was much better... (And I'm trying to tell myself that the Jack-hate is probably fanboy jealousy, a lot of it...)
Finally, I ♥ your summary of Rose and Rose/Doctor and Martha.
Re: Oh, interesting discussion!
Date: 2007-06-21 08:47 am (UTC)I'm happy to finally be part of DW fandom even if I am staying away from it, makes me feel like a true SF fan to be able to recognize Daleks and have my own Doctor now! <3
Rewatching bits of eps, I gotta say again that I really like Martha...one gets closer to Rose, because the Doctor is closer, while Martha is more strictly a side-kick. But of the two chars, while Rose is great, Martha's more the one I'd want to be friends with, with her smarts and logic and such...(I'd love to see Martha to get over her crush and become best friends with the Doctor, tease him even more and such...ahhh Ten needs to stay, I want to see how their relationship will develop!)
Dr. Who has made me like female chars again! Yay! ^_^
Re: Oh, interesting discussion!
Date: 2007-06-21 10:22 am (UTC)See, just for that, Doctor Who wins at life! (And this is the show that had TWO GUYS KISSING! And has Jack.) Writing all characters as people, not gender clichés. That's what RTD does, and that's why it's so brilliant.
Star Trek fandom's always been male/female 50/50? I mean, I know of the fandom history, but I did sort of assume that female fans were rarer than male. But if it's been 50/50 for the whole time, that really is interesting! And good point about being able to compare them, too.
I know! Since I wasn't even a Trekkie, it's a great feeling to finally belong to one of the big old ones. ^__^
What made me love Martha right away was the way she asked questions! About how and why and considered the possible consequences. I love that she's (almost) a Doctor, and has this busy life and a future ahead of her... Yeah. Martha kicks ass. ♥ I want to see more of her bonding with Jack! She seems to be dealing really well with her crush - do want to see their relationship develop beyond that...
Re: Oh, interesting discussion!
Date: 2007-06-21 11:41 am (UTC)Martha + Jack will be very interesting (though we're not gonna get much of it! *whiiiimper*) And Martha on the TARDIS...it's a vacation for her, I think. Unlike Rose, I don't think she's ever going to vow to stay forever. Though I'm curious about the next eps...she's faced a lot of dangers, but this is the first time her own Earth, her own time, is going to be in peril (there was the Lazarus thing, but that was pretty small-scale. I don't think this will be...) Past a certain point, you can't go back; she'll have seen too much, will know the world needs people to fight for it, and I'm wondering what she'll do...
Re: Oh, interesting discussion!
Date: 2007-06-21 12:30 pm (UTC)I love the icon someone made of the moment Martha looks over her shoulder as she's hunkered over Jack coming to life, with the caption "Can I keep him?", because - hee!
Martha and this happening now - you remember that in 42, when she calls home, her mom tells her that it's election day, right? And of course - well. I say "of course", but I'm mostly guessing - the Election is going to be a Big Plot Point really soon now. But it's not just that it's her world; her time - it's that it's her family. Unlike Rose, Martha's family never got to know (and love, though Jackie certainly had her reservations about him) the Doctor. Quite the opposite, actually, with Mr Saxon's crisply suited associates whispering in her mother's ear, spying on their conversations... I love that plot! It's totally evil and underhanded and extremely clever of Mr Saxon to attack from that angle. I wonder if he's going to make Martha choose, or if she's going to have to make a choice either way - and she has so much to lose!
For Rose, travelling with the Doctor was her life. Could be her life, because she didn't have much of one before she met him. Martha - I agree; it's a vacation. But it also means that for Rose, the choice between her Doctor and her family was easy. Heartbreaking as it is, all children leave their parents sooner or later. But Martha - it's not just her parent, it's an older sister and a little brother and two parents and a whole life ahead of her that she's probably worked really damn hard for.
So she could be placed in a verrrrry interesting - and horrible, of course - position.