Doctor Who 4.12: The Stolen Earth
Jun. 30th, 2008 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayMultiple spoilers beneath the cut. Trust me, you don't want to peek if you
haven't seen the episode yet!
I finally got to see Doctor Who last night and I am now so, so, so glad that
I didn't peek at any of the spoilers I've been seeing around for the last
few weeks. The episode left me rather stunned and I'm still not sure that
I've recovered yet.
Wow.
Things of note (apart from the obvious final three minutes):
- Donna! Donna!
- Wilf is so cool :-)
- Despite Wilf being super cool, I am actually glad that the paint gun
didn't work. That would have been way too old school Dalek. The thing with
the Daleks in modern DW is that they really feel like an implacable,
indestructable enemy.
- Rose managed to lose the speech impediment from last week and became even
cooler. Yay for Rose!
- Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister. I still adore her to pieces.
- I was ridiculously excited to see the Torchwood and SJA crew. Yes, I had
seen the hints that they would be there, but it was still very exciting.
- Shadow Proclamation! I think I called on them being important in episode
two. Good to see my assumptions proved correct.
- The Judoon (sp?) proving to work for the Shadow Proclamation actually
works really well for me.
- Time Lords as myth? Also works surprisingly well.
- The Time War is time-locked. That actually makes sense and solves the
eternal question of why nobody just went back and tried to stop it.
- OK, so the Confidential last week had spoiled me for Davros (I have
avoided this week's Confidential totally) but it was still a bit of a thrill
to see him. The reveal was done really well, I thought. The gradual showing
of him, hiding in the shadows but with enough for old school fans to
immediately recognise him really worked.
- Re-creating the Daleks from Davros' cells also worked. He created "true
Daleks": made from Kaled cells rather than trying to find human cells with
sufficient resemblance. Why yes, I have just watched Parting of the
Ways.
- Dalek Caan was definitely creepy. And if he could get past the time-lock,
I'm starting to think that this might be a loop-hole that could be used to
bring the Time Lords back. Worth pondering and I suspect there will be a
flood of fanfic on the subject.
- Martha is very cool. And for some reason, I really liked seeing her
mother.
- The expression on each character's face as they heard the Daleks
broadcast, the knowledge of what was facing them and that they were going to
die, was both heartbreaking and beautiful.
- I knew we would have a cliff-hanger, but I am now so unbelievably
impatient for next Saturday. Seriously. And I'm going to be playing trailer
avoidance because I really want to get to next Saturday unspoiled.
I suspect that I'll be forgetting things in this review so there may be some
follow-up reviews :-)
The thing that really got me was that ending. I've been avoiding spoilers
like the plague and now I'm really glad because the regeneration took me
totally by surprise. Nope, I hadn't even seen a hint. I watched the
Confidential for the second library episode afterwards (yes, I'm behind in
my Confidential watching) and I spotted a couple of hints that this might be
what would happen, but none of those hints would have stood out until I
watched this episode. My anti-spoiler policy really paid off because the
impact from the regeneration was incredible. I just sat there and felt
stunned.
The other thing that got me was the way that Ten died. That moment of pure
joy as he ran to Rose was beautiful and then the Dalek appeared. I was sure
that it would shoot Rose and then the Doctor went negative and collapsed.
Ouch.
Donna's reaction was just perfect. I loved the knowing smile as she told the
Doctor to turn around because Rose was there, the understanding that his
relationship with Rose is different from her relationship with him and that
it's OK, it doesn't change their friendship. It was just right. Then her
fear and pain at the idea that the Doctor is going to die. I liked that he
hadn't told her about regeneration because really, how do you explain it?
Jenny didn't regenerate and obviously Martha didn't explain that she should
have. Of all the people in the TARDIS, it was only Donna that didn't know
what would happen and her reaction was exactly what it should have been.
It was Rose's reaction to the regeneration that surprised me. She is the
only one who has seen a regeneration in person so she knew that he wasn't
going to die. I wonder whether her reaction was because she knows better
than anyone that even though the Doctor wouldn't die, the Doctor that she
had known would die. She is able to make that distinction between the
different bodies and yet also understand that they are the same person, but
she didn't want to lose the Doctor that she had come to know and love.
I suspect that the regeneration is going to be discussed to death this week.
I can't wait :-) I don't know who Eleven is going to be. Part of me wants to
know because I'm curious, but a bigger part of me really wants to see it
revealed for the first time next week. I suspect that the impact is going to
be bigger if I don't know but I have this nasty feeling that no matter how
hard I try, I won't be able to avoid finding out.
The scenes with Donna's family were done really well. I love how brave Wilf
is, even though he knows that he can't really do anything. Sylvia's
disbelief in Donna is both sad and appropriate to her character. I can see
why the pre-Bride Donna was the way she was: she learned from her mother how
to avoid seeing the big picture and only see the world she has created
around her. The Doctor pricked that little bubble and Donna is enough like
her grandfather to relish everything that she can now see. Her mother
doesn't want to see it and, even more importantly, doesn't want to see how
much her daughter has changed. Sylvia almost seems afraid of the idea that
Donna could be out there doing something more than she did. The contrast
with Jackie, who was afraid for her daughter but also so proud, really
stands out having watched the S1 finale so recently.
I loved the scenes in Torchwood, Jack so protective of his people and those
tiny hints at what Jack and Ianto share. Something about Doctor Who seems to
bring John Barrowman's acting talents out - maybe it's because he suits the
big finale stories better than some of the smaller, more nuanced stories
he's had in Torchwood?
As I mentioned, one of the moments that got me was the reaction shots of
each character as they heard the Dalek broadcast. They all know what the
Daleks are, they've all experienced what they can do and they know that
without the Doctor they stand no chance.
The mass telephone call had echoes of last year's season finale, but without
some of the overtones that I wasn't happy with last year. RTD does have a
bit of an obsession with the idea and this year he's doing a better job with
it. In general, this year's finale already feels much better than last
year's, closer in tone to the previous two finales. Perhaps it's because
Daleks just make really good finale enemies?
Finally seeing the Shadow Proclamation was very cool. The hints that we've
seen over the years have told us that they're powerful and only interfere in
fairly major events. The Judoon make sense as their active field agents. It
makes me wonder exactly what the creature in Smith and Jones had done
to get the Shadow Proclamation after it. They don't strike me as a group
that goes after low-level psychopathic murderers. It's interesting that the
Doctor didn't want them actually involved - perhaps he knows that they
aren't going to have much regard for the victims on the stolen planets as
long as they find who did it?
The stolen planet still intrigue me. "Perfectly balanced" and the hints that
they can create huge amounts of energy imply that there is something else to
be revealed about this idea. Davros must have a plan beyond the simple
subjugation of Earth, he always does.
The disappearing bees are so cool. Some bees are alien: I love it.
There is so much in this episode to discuss and I know that there are things
lurking in the back of my mind that I wanted to mention. RTD has created
another huge, epic finale and I know that it's only going to get bigger next
week. It's one of the things that he's so good at. His smaller scale
episodes often fall apart (Midnight being the exception IMO), but when RTD
gets his hands on the big epics he delivers. Is it Saturday yet?
haven't seen the episode yet!
I finally got to see Doctor Who last night and I am now so, so, so glad that
I didn't peek at any of the spoilers I've been seeing around for the last
few weeks. The episode left me rather stunned and I'm still not sure that
I've recovered yet.
Wow.
Things of note (apart from the obvious final three minutes):
- Donna! Donna!
- Wilf is so cool :-)
- Despite Wilf being super cool, I am actually glad that the paint gun
didn't work. That would have been way too old school Dalek. The thing with
the Daleks in modern DW is that they really feel like an implacable,
indestructable enemy.
- Rose managed to lose the speech impediment from last week and became even
cooler. Yay for Rose!
- Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister. I still adore her to pieces.
- I was ridiculously excited to see the Torchwood and SJA crew. Yes, I had
seen the hints that they would be there, but it was still very exciting.
- Shadow Proclamation! I think I called on them being important in episode
two. Good to see my assumptions proved correct.
- The Judoon (sp?) proving to work for the Shadow Proclamation actually
works really well for me.
- Time Lords as myth? Also works surprisingly well.
- The Time War is time-locked. That actually makes sense and solves the
eternal question of why nobody just went back and tried to stop it.
- OK, so the Confidential last week had spoiled me for Davros (I have
avoided this week's Confidential totally) but it was still a bit of a thrill
to see him. The reveal was done really well, I thought. The gradual showing
of him, hiding in the shadows but with enough for old school fans to
immediately recognise him really worked.
- Re-creating the Daleks from Davros' cells also worked. He created "true
Daleks": made from Kaled cells rather than trying to find human cells with
sufficient resemblance. Why yes, I have just watched Parting of the
Ways.
- Dalek Caan was definitely creepy. And if he could get past the time-lock,
I'm starting to think that this might be a loop-hole that could be used to
bring the Time Lords back. Worth pondering and I suspect there will be a
flood of fanfic on the subject.
- Martha is very cool. And for some reason, I really liked seeing her
mother.
- The expression on each character's face as they heard the Daleks
broadcast, the knowledge of what was facing them and that they were going to
die, was both heartbreaking and beautiful.
- I knew we would have a cliff-hanger, but I am now so unbelievably
impatient for next Saturday. Seriously. And I'm going to be playing trailer
avoidance because I really want to get to next Saturday unspoiled.
I suspect that I'll be forgetting things in this review so there may be some
follow-up reviews :-)
The thing that really got me was that ending. I've been avoiding spoilers
like the plague and now I'm really glad because the regeneration took me
totally by surprise. Nope, I hadn't even seen a hint. I watched the
Confidential for the second library episode afterwards (yes, I'm behind in
my Confidential watching) and I spotted a couple of hints that this might be
what would happen, but none of those hints would have stood out until I
watched this episode. My anti-spoiler policy really paid off because the
impact from the regeneration was incredible. I just sat there and felt
stunned.
The other thing that got me was the way that Ten died. That moment of pure
joy as he ran to Rose was beautiful and then the Dalek appeared. I was sure
that it would shoot Rose and then the Doctor went negative and collapsed.
Ouch.
Donna's reaction was just perfect. I loved the knowing smile as she told the
Doctor to turn around because Rose was there, the understanding that his
relationship with Rose is different from her relationship with him and that
it's OK, it doesn't change their friendship. It was just right. Then her
fear and pain at the idea that the Doctor is going to die. I liked that he
hadn't told her about regeneration because really, how do you explain it?
Jenny didn't regenerate and obviously Martha didn't explain that she should
have. Of all the people in the TARDIS, it was only Donna that didn't know
what would happen and her reaction was exactly what it should have been.
It was Rose's reaction to the regeneration that surprised me. She is the
only one who has seen a regeneration in person so she knew that he wasn't
going to die. I wonder whether her reaction was because she knows better
than anyone that even though the Doctor wouldn't die, the Doctor that she
had known would die. She is able to make that distinction between the
different bodies and yet also understand that they are the same person, but
she didn't want to lose the Doctor that she had come to know and love.
I suspect that the regeneration is going to be discussed to death this week.
I can't wait :-) I don't know who Eleven is going to be. Part of me wants to
know because I'm curious, but a bigger part of me really wants to see it
revealed for the first time next week. I suspect that the impact is going to
be bigger if I don't know but I have this nasty feeling that no matter how
hard I try, I won't be able to avoid finding out.
The scenes with Donna's family were done really well. I love how brave Wilf
is, even though he knows that he can't really do anything. Sylvia's
disbelief in Donna is both sad and appropriate to her character. I can see
why the pre-Bride Donna was the way she was: she learned from her mother how
to avoid seeing the big picture and only see the world she has created
around her. The Doctor pricked that little bubble and Donna is enough like
her grandfather to relish everything that she can now see. Her mother
doesn't want to see it and, even more importantly, doesn't want to see how
much her daughter has changed. Sylvia almost seems afraid of the idea that
Donna could be out there doing something more than she did. The contrast
with Jackie, who was afraid for her daughter but also so proud, really
stands out having watched the S1 finale so recently.
I loved the scenes in Torchwood, Jack so protective of his people and those
tiny hints at what Jack and Ianto share. Something about Doctor Who seems to
bring John Barrowman's acting talents out - maybe it's because he suits the
big finale stories better than some of the smaller, more nuanced stories
he's had in Torchwood?
As I mentioned, one of the moments that got me was the reaction shots of
each character as they heard the Dalek broadcast. They all know what the
Daleks are, they've all experienced what they can do and they know that
without the Doctor they stand no chance.
The mass telephone call had echoes of last year's season finale, but without
some of the overtones that I wasn't happy with last year. RTD does have a
bit of an obsession with the idea and this year he's doing a better job with
it. In general, this year's finale already feels much better than last
year's, closer in tone to the previous two finales. Perhaps it's because
Daleks just make really good finale enemies?
Finally seeing the Shadow Proclamation was very cool. The hints that we've
seen over the years have told us that they're powerful and only interfere in
fairly major events. The Judoon make sense as their active field agents. It
makes me wonder exactly what the creature in Smith and Jones had done
to get the Shadow Proclamation after it. They don't strike me as a group
that goes after low-level psychopathic murderers. It's interesting that the
Doctor didn't want them actually involved - perhaps he knows that they
aren't going to have much regard for the victims on the stolen planets as
long as they find who did it?
The stolen planet still intrigue me. "Perfectly balanced" and the hints that
they can create huge amounts of energy imply that there is something else to
be revealed about this idea. Davros must have a plan beyond the simple
subjugation of Earth, he always does.
The disappearing bees are so cool. Some bees are alien: I love it.
There is so much in this episode to discuss and I know that there are things
lurking in the back of my mind that I wanted to mention. RTD has created
another huge, epic finale and I know that it's only going to get bigger next
week. It's one of the things that he's so good at. His smaller scale
episodes often fall apart (Midnight being the exception IMO), but when RTD
gets his hands on the big epics he delivers. Is it Saturday yet?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 08:44 am (UTC)So ... I expect twists a plenty (not to mention the Doc's spare Hand featured rather prominently in several shots) ...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 06:52 pm (UTC)That's currently the strongest argument in favour of there being some plot twist to get them out of this. Except I can't work out what it could be. I will be mad it RTD just has a five seconds "Ha! Fooled ya!" moment at the start of the next episode. And equally mad if he has a Plot Device Reset Button hidden somewhere. I want something twisty and cool and neat. I suspect that you're right and it will involve The Hand.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 06:54 pm (UTC)Would you know of a non-Torrent source? BT doesn't let me play Torrent :-( Anonymous comments are screened here so if you have a link to anything it would be pretty private...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 05:39 pm (UTC)Basically, all I was going to say that even people who READ spoilers had no idea that the regeneration was coming. You may have gathered that yourself by now. ;)
But by saying that, I figured it would mean that it was a fake-out because it's extremely unlikely that the spoiler-junkies would have been unaware of a new Doctor.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-01 10:10 pm (UTC)On a surreal, illogical note, part of me wonders what would be the reaction in the fandom if the Doctor regenerated into his daughter. *gg*
As for all the characters' reactions to seeing the Daleks... that was mine, too. I'm sitting there staring at the screen and I gasped, "No way!" That, and the Dalek hitting the Doctor and his regeneration, completely hit me by surprise.