Doctor Who 4.6: The Doctor's Daughter

[selenay]

Um, wow. This was one of those episodes that had me completely hooked and speechless at various times. Things to love:

- Donna! Donna! Donna!
- "Hello Dad."
- Jenny.
- The hints at what the Doctor saw and did during the Time War. It just makes me want to know more. My Da commented that you could make an entire series out of the Time War and I have to agree.
- The idea behind this episode, of a culture fighting a war through the generations...but it's only lasted a week. Each generation lasts perhaps a few hours before being slaughtered. It's a huge SF idea and RTD and co. did pretty well with it. Not perfect by any stretch, but not a failure either.
- This hopefully won't be the last we see of Jenny. I knew they wouldn't let her die permanently :-)
- The sheer joy Jenny has in what she can do and, at the end, the excitement at going out and seeing what's out there. She's the Doctor's daughter in more ways than just the genetics.
- Martha.
- The reminder of why Martha can't travel with him. Right at the start, I think she was remembering all the great stuff and it would have been easy for her to start travelling again. She needed to remember the bad stuff, too.
- Donna, again. She wants to travel for the rest of her life.
- The show is becoming less afraid to reference pre-New Who canon with each series.
- The Doctor's initial reaction to Jenny and his reluctance to go through the painful parts of parenthood again.
- The way his relationship with Jenny grew and, yes, the pain when she died in his arms.

Can we have Jenny back again? Regularly?

I kind of had a nasty feeling that the Doctor would be given time to care for her and then she'd be killed. It's the way this show works. I loved that she grew from being a pure soldier into something much more, understanding why the Doctor is a man who wouldn't and ending wanting to be like him. It was a relationship that really worked for me.

The thing that rather surprised me is that she didn't regenerate, but I am handwaving it as not regenerating because the terraforming gas is already doing the job. Why would a Time Lord waste a regeneration when his injuries can be healed in some other way? It works for me! The idea of there being another Time Lord out there doing good is great and I really love all the new possibilities it opens up. It's an exciting thought and I hope they make use of it later.

Doctor Who hasn't done a lot of really big SF ideas since it came back, so it was interesting to see them taking this one out for a spin. I thought there was some more follow-up they could have done with it because they are dealing with a group of people who almost have an inbred hatred for each other. The word that came to my mind during the big reveal was 'mayfly'. But it was great to see them playing with a big idea and doing it pretty well. It was one of those episodes that's almost a treatise on the futility of war because, at heart, this was one of the most pointless wars you can imagine. All of these generations of people dying in a few hours over nothing.

It was great to see Donna being the one to start figuring it out. "Good with numbers". Oh Donna, I adore thee. May you always increase in fabulousness exponentially.

It would be interesting to know more about the Doctor's family, although the hints we had were wonderful. What actually happened to Susan after she left? Did she regenerate eventually? If so, did she stay on Earth or did she have to leave at some stage? Did she join the Time War or had she already died when it started? RTD and co. just keep throwing out hints that wet the appetite without ever answering anything. It's both frustrating and addictive.

Although I didn't spot any overt mentions of the Medusa Cascade, Shadow Proclamation or disappearing bees, I am wondering whether this episode might still hold one of the keys to this season's theme. After all, there was more mention here of the Time War than usual and we have the unresolved thread of Jenny. Was there something in the background that I missed?

This was one of those episodes that had me gasping at some of the ideas, had my heart in my mouth at times and left me feeling excited and happy about all the wonderful possibilities inherent in Doctor Who. Just brilliant.

Comments

[elfinessy.livejournal.com]

huh. all the stuff you loved, me and the majority of my flist have down as negative points....

My only hope after the daughter left the planet was that her ship exploded on take-off.

[selenay]

This is why fandom is wonderful - people can see the same show and come out with different reactions and then sit down and discuss them :-)

My only hope after the daughter left the planet was that her ship exploded on take-off.

Well, it would definitely have given the episode a different atmosphere!

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

I was just so thrilled that Jenny survived at the end. I can't wait to have her and the Doctor meet up again. :)

[selenay]

*g* I think it will be very cool when it happens. She's a great character :-)