Etc.

[icepixie]

I had a longish, half-finished post on why Rusty's Sue issues and "OMG Rose/Doctor Is The Most Specialist Of All Relationships Ever!!11!!!" thing has irritated me more and more this season, particularly as I get deeper into Old Skool stuff, but decided that a.) it's been done before (often by nostalgia_lj), and b.) it would probably piss off at least half the Who fans on my flist, so screw it. Plus, I'm lazy and don't want to finish trying to explain thoughts I'm finding it very difficult to put into words. Basically, IMO there is OTP and there is OTPForNow when dealing with the Doctor, and the latter is the best I can do. Also, more blah-di-blah on why Rose and Ten don't work as well together as Rose and Nine did, because she puts up with more from Ten than she did with Nine, and this robs the relationship of much of its interesting dynamic.

In conclusion, all problems would go away with judicious application of bugs made out of spray-painted bubblewrap. (Why yes, I did watch "Ark in Space" last week. Green spray-painted bubblewrap is the Bestest Villain Ever.)

*

So I watched "School Reunion" again a couple days ago. Can I just say that I'm glad I hadn't watched any SJS episodes before seeing this for the first time with other people? 'Cause I wouldn't have come out of that screening with any dignity left intact, I can tell you that. *sniffle* Not to mention K-9! I get the impression most people hate him, but I kind of love that little dog. And I was very sad indeed when Mark III sacrificed himself to the burning fires of french fry goo. And I was crying like a little girl at the end, with Sarah and her brand-new robot dog. Awww, Sarah!

Scenes in this episode made me think that Ten would actually work better with a group of companions--two or three, anyway. He's good at the coordinating stuff he does in this episode with Mickey, Sarah, and Rose. He's a bit of an army commander (or Stargate team leader), actually, giving assignments and having his underlings team gang companions do individual jobs like a well-oiled machine. Also, it might not be a bad idea to spread the fact that DT can have UST with a shoe hyperactive puppy energy around a bit.

*

Wishlist for S3

1.) No returning to early 21st-century Earth until at least the second half of the season. At least. Preferably NOT AT ALL.
2.) Martha should be a historical companion! Who's with me? Yeah, yeah?
3.) ROMANA III. Yes, yes, A THOUSAND TIMES YES.
3a.) Martha is Romana III?
4.) Martha gets to blow shit up, like Ace, or is a scientist-type person, or has some other fun and useful skill that is all her own. Not that Rose didn't have her good and interesting qualities--compassion, bravery, etc.--but I think maybe last season she wasn't often written into situations where she could make use of them, and thus came off feeling a bit superfluous at times? Like, "Fear Her" required compassion to make the resolution work, whereas, say, "The Idiot's Lantern" didn't, and so she got sucked into the telly. Yeah.
5.) More of the TARDIS, please.
6.) More than just one or two frustrating hints a season about the bloody Time War, FCOL!

*

Following on from numbers 3 and 3a, I watched part of "Shada" the other day.

Oh, such fun. I've only seen the first two episodes, but oh, the love. PUNTING! Hee. Also, I love that silly old professor. Felt very bad when he died. :( And I kind of want Romana's hat, except I think if I had it I'd hang it on a wall rather than wear it, because it goes just about an inch over the line between "fashion accessory" and "home decor."

Someone over at otp_probably has posted video clips of various Romana episodes, and they're much fun. I fully believe that Four and Romana are involved in, like, the Time Lord equivalent of a common law marriage. There's one scene in...hmmm...maybe "Creature from the Pit"? I forget. Anyway, Romana drags a box of junk into the console room, and is going through it asking the Doctor what all this junk is, and why he hasn't cleaned out the storage areas in the last few centuries, and it's totally the stereotypical neatnik girlfriend moving in and trying to create space for her stuff and make her boyfriend Not A Slob. Then in "Shada," when Professor Chronitis runs out of milk for tea, she's all, "We've got plenty," and is a bit proud of (her and) the Doctor's TARDIS, sort of like one might be of one's house, and it's really quite a couple-y little moment, particularly since the Doctor isn't even there.

Also, the regeneration scene from "Destiny of the Daleks" is so funny I can't even put it into words.

Romana is hilarious and deadpan and knowledgeable and totally awesome. I need Romana II icons, stat.

*

I started reading Bridget Jones today, after about six years of avoiding it. Mostly that was because of my Austen H8 and my general "eh" reaction to the movie, but also because I have pretty much no interest in the Trials of Finding Love After Thirty or whatever it's been billed as. Obviously, I shall eat something laced with crow tonight, because it's pretty funny. Not the best book I've ever read, but entertaining all the same. The Lit!Snob part of my brain is little eyerolly at the fact that every character, with the possible exception of Bridget and, perhaps later, Mark Darcy, is a blatant caricature, but the more easily amused half is busy saying, "It's a farce; get over yourself."

Plus, it does have lines like: "It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party." Although Fielding then immediately takes it a hair too far with, "It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting 'Cathy' and and banging your head against a tree." Ah, well.

Also, there is brief mocking of postmodernism, which is grand.

I'm wondering who exactly decided that Renee Zellweger fit this role, though, 'cause I'm not picturing her in it at all. I'm not sure who would fit, but it's not her.

(Related to none of the above: in what world is 124 pounds even remotely overweight? Is she really short or something?)

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Outpost Gallifrey is just...well, it's a great place to find things like books or the Big Finish discs for a more reasonable price (if you're in the US), but otherwise? Ridiculous. I sometimes will pop in and read some posts, but unless I am starting a new thread with a question about something (like which books folks recommend, for instance), I don't post there.

I forgot about rec.arts.drwho! Discovered it in college, though my memories of it are foggy. I don't think it struck me as ridiculous at the time, but then, I also don't think I knew any better!

You are right about New Earth being far away from Old Earth. I just...why must everything be Earth all the time? I'm starting to think that the Doctor was exiled again somehow, by the Time Lords, after blowing up Gallifrey (maybe their collective consciousness reached back and blew up the TARDIS space travel circuit? ;) ). It just starts to stretch belief, when you realize we've almost never left the same bloody planet. Maybe Kinda was a bad example, but I still think it's possible to do a good episoe set somewhere else without even needing a whole lot of CGI, necessarily. It does seem like there's a lack of imagination in that particular part of story development for the new series, and I really think that's a shame. Sure, monsters are scarier in your own backyard, but surely any planet would land in the Guinness Book of Improbable Galactic Records if this many aliens tried to conquer it. And let's not forget that Shakespeare set most of his more critical plays in other countries so as not to land in trouble at home--alien worlds offer a great opportunity for social commentary in a way that's tough to do at home.

And you're not annoying--I hope I'm not, either! I do think the glass is half-full, just because there's so much potential on this show. I just think it's a shame that so little of it has been tapped so far.

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Outpost Gallifrey: Yeah, I love the site for news, but I don't delve too deeply into the forums. Occasionally I'll start a post, or see what people are saying about a certain audio or epi. Now and then I'll find a real gem of a post there, though...like one I found after Doomsday with a great defense of Rose's decision to (try and) remain with the Doctor.

Earth: Well...there *is* the incredibly sacreligious explanation that the Doctor is half-human. I was one of the Few, the Weird, the Fans Who Saw the TV Movie and Didn't Mind That. *snerk* It DOES make for the simplest explanation of why the Doctor keeps going back to Earth...and even more so now, when his 'other' home world is gone. There's also been a lot of speculation that Earth is some kind of time-space nexus point, key in the big universal picture somehow. On the whole...yeah, I would like to see them stretch themselves even more, to trust that they can make an alien planet work, but as long as they're telling great Who stories I'm not gonna worry about it too much.

Shakespeare: Interesting point, but to be fair, I don't think RTD has shied away from social commentary at all--especially in the modern Earth based stories, actually. AoL/WW3 and CI were loaded with it. Perhaps Shakespeare should've done a few England-with-aliens stories. *g*

Annoying: Not at all...I always enjoy a good Who debate! :?)