Doctor Who - Partners in Crime

[neadods]

Yes, it was cheap, tacky, cheesy, and a plot that has already been used twice in Torchwood and once in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

I still loved it; my standards are low.

Well, they have to be, because the logic side of the brain starts kicking in pretty fast. How can twiddling one master control activate only one set of critters instead of every one in signal range? Why does the Doctor need the screwdriver to operate the window washer, when it should have controls in the cart? If Donna has been out there investigating odd stories, why hasn't she smacked into Sarah Jane? (Fanfic ahoy!) If the Shadow Proclamation enforces the universal laws, as dialog suggests, why hasn't the Doctor run into them yet - and do they see him as an agent or a criminal? (Fanfic ahoy, part II!)

Also, the stereotypes are out in full force: the nagging, shallow mother; the cool, polished villainess; the cheap CGI (although they seem to have gone with their strength and created a cheap, easy character)

But the good stereotypes are out in full force too, most particularly the one that I've been missing in New Who - that to be Doctor-touched is to be made better. They've been wobbly about that one these days. I love that she traveled, and investigated, and that she had learned the empathy to give that moment to her grandfather. I'm still grinning about that scene, it was so sweet.

Another good bit is showing how much the Doctor hates being alone. I liked him talking to the empty console room and stopping, and talking about Martha to Donna. Hopefully he won't go on and on and on, but it puts the grief and repetitions of Rose back into the perspective of his long life: he loves them all, he misses them all, and now it's Martha's turn to be grieved over.

There's been some controversy over what he says about Martha. I'm fine with it. "She fancied me" was a statement of fact - and the Doctor has always had a gigantic ego (which had just taken a bit of a ding). "I destroyed her whole life" is, from the Doctor's point of view, exactly what happened - HE sees traveling with him as a gift that he can grant to those he likes, but for her, travel with him meant having to support him (1960s), servitude on his behalf (the school), and walking an post-apocalyptic world while her family was in danger (the year that never was). Hardly the joys he wishes to share. And I loved, loved, loved "That Martha must have done you good." She certainly did. At the end, right when you think they're playing his frozen reaction as a comic moment, he proves that he really has THOUGHT about what carrying people away does to them, and how it can hurt them. Yeah, they turned it right back into comedy and romance with the whole "mate" dialog (which I thought was hilarious), but in conjunction with the lines about how Martha was good for him and how much danger she had been in, I think the Doctor wasn't just meaning romance... he just couldn't bring himself to say "I'm afraid of hurting you." But he said *something* at least, and that's a good start.

I don't like the new opening theme. I was quite happy with the old one. On the other hand, I think I'm going to love the Doctor-Donna Team TARDIS. David and Catherine have amazing comic timing, and it was used to full effect, from the "missed each other by that much" scenes through the silent conversation to the full-body snark when they finally started interacting.

And I am so INTRIGUED by the "that bin there" scene! I suppose I'm supposed to be beside myself or horrified depending on which ship I'm supposed to sail, but, still secure in the belief that this is about all companions and not just one, and that at the end of the season Nos will owe me 500 words of porn and not the other way around, I'm absolutely fascinated to see how this will play out.

I have a history of squeeing over opening episodes and then sort of sniffing at them by the end of the season because they've been thoroughly surpassed. I look forward to being blown away.

Comments

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved this too - no surprise there. And, in relation to Donna and the Doctor, for exactly the reasons you did. Donna was brilliant with her granddad; loved that scene. I adored the scene where she notices he looks older and shows that she really cares. She's got a lot of insight and empathy, and I'm going to love that. It's something Rose had in spades, and I missed in Martha.

And, yes, the scene where he starts talking to himself and realises he's alone... oh, I wanted to hug him.

As for the moments when Donna thinks he's changing his mind... so wonderfully played, as you said, with that look on the Doctor's face as he realises what it is that travelling with him does to people. He 'destroyed half of Martha's life' - yes, he did. And Rose is 'lost', which means he still thinks she's worse off than when he found her, even though her family's in the other universe with her. I love it when we see him remembering and realising what he's done to people.

As for the bin scene, I am SO glad I wasn't spoiled for it. Lovely mystery they're setting up there :) That episode so made up for last night's TW!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

oh, I wanted to hug him.

David does amazingly at scenes where he never speaks at all. So many actors can hit their marks and remember their lines, but they can't emote like that.

The bin scene utterly took me by surprise. I know about spoilers later, but that was a total shock, and such an intriguing one! Although... I have to say, if I didn't know about spoilers later, I'd probably be being swept up in the rather inevitable shipwank now, and I'm so glad I'm *not.*

That episode so made up for last night's TW!

Just about!

(frozen)

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to really get into this or anything, but saying Martha didn't have insight or empathy? No offence, but you are talking bullshit.

(frozen)

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Sounds like getting into it to me - but to me I didn't see that in Martha the way I do with Donna and Rose. Donna's first thought when she's facing Ms Foster: Stacy, who's dead. I never saw Martha making that kind of connection. I loved Martha walking the Earth to save the world, yes, but she was never written as the empathic person who connects with those around her in the way Rose was.

We all see characters differently, of course, and you're as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. I just won't call yours bullshit :)

(frozen)

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

And the very first thing Martha was shown doing was trying to get get her family to be happy without hurting anyone's feeling.

Her kidnappers in New Earth. Tallulah and Frank, Riley (stuck in the escape pod in 42), Jenny (before she's possessed by the family), Chantho. And after walking the Earth for a year, she gives flowers to the woman who sold her out.

(frozen)

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

Donna also, it might be noted, totally ignored the reporter who was tied up and helpless in Foster's office.

Sorry for interrupting!

(frozen)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

What a thread to wake up to! I appreciate your keeping it civil, but I'm still freezing this before it goes any further.

(There probably will be a companion comparison post, but that will be probably either after the companionapalooza panel at Media*West or at the end of the season when we've had enough Donna to compare.)

(frozen)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

HEY! It's one thing to disagree and explain why you disagree. It's another to rant about an opinion in a safe space.

But it's a third entirely to blow off an opinion to the poster's face with profanity as debate.

Not. In. My. Journal.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

and that at the end of the season Nos will owe me 500 words of porn

DAMMIT! I'm just betting her a fiver.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think I'll have more fun when I win. :> It's 500 words of Romana/4 (or was it Romana/10?) vs 500 of SJ/J/10.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Now I just want you to lose so there be more Romana!fic, yo. :P

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but plenty of people write that. The world needs more J/SJ/Dr!

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Porn's the better bet. I've got one of those too :)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Why does the Doctor need the screwdriver to operate the window washer, when it should have controls in the cart?

He said he'd "fixed" the controls so that only someone with a sonic device could operate them, meaning she couldn't bring it back up to the top without a sonic device - and when Donna comments on that, he says something along the lines of "how likely is it she'll have one" - only to be proved wrong because she's got a sonic pen...

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Since the thread above's frozen, I'll apologise for the use of language and blowing up in your LJ. *note to self: Not every is as casual about swearing as I am*

I just wasn't in a good mood, and seeing what seemed to be pretty much character bashing on a character I love set me off.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Not the language so much - I swear like a sailor on leave when I want - but not right at people. I don't agree with Wendy's take on Martha and am open for debate on Martha's actions and virtues, but I also respect Wendy and thus will defend her.

Apology accepted.

[fyrdrakken]

How can twiddling one master control activate only one set of critters instead of every one in signal range?

What, you mean the scene where Donna's toying with the capsule pendant triggered Adipose production in Stacy? I think that was the point with Foster talking about something having been somehow bonded or marked to its handlers and that one thingy had been touched by two people, proving they were dealing with a thief -- the capsules provide the material for the biological reaction, the pendants act as local receivers, and the central computer sends out the signals for the nightly Adipose creation and/or full on dissolution into Adiposes. Donna was sitting there twiddling with a receiver and caused it to act without having received the signal from the central command.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of the scene back at the main factory, when Ms. Foster was unscrewing of the pendants rather than activating the main machine.

[fyrdrakken]

Don't remember as much about that bit -- maybe because the focus was on what was going on with Donna and Stacy, and Foster's screentime was too loaded with oblique dialogue for me to be paying as much attention to her actual actions.