The Journey's End Post Of Doom
Jul. 7th, 2008 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meddowFinally, I've managed to get my reaction into some kind of series of rational thoughts and got it down.
On second viewing, I maintain that RTD did really blow it. After the build up of the past few weeks, and the three episodes in a row that had me believing the finale was going to be something truly fantastic, it turned out it wasn't. The great Dalek threat was destroyed by technobabble. Although I do love that scene to pieces because of the technobabble coming from DoctorDonna, it's still really underwhelming. Furthermore Martha and Jack and Sarah's plots to blow stuff up to save the day was solved a bit to quickly. Just beam them up, apparently.
The regeneration crisis was always going to be solved in the first moments of the episode, so I have no problems with that. The hands been used. They're not going to be able to pull that stunt again.
And then, with the Daleks finally having regained some of the fear last week, they were reduced to dodgem cars this week, in a scene which reminded me of The Daleks in which one was defeated by pushing one onto a cloak.
So really, plot wise, the episode did not do it for me. But then, I've always been willing to ignore a bad plot if the character stuff makes up for it. So did it?
First of all, Sarah Jane and Davros faced off. Thank you! I was worried that Sarah's role in Genesis would barely get a mention, but there's our Sarah Jane, still remembered by Davros after so many years. Who is this soothsayer that keeps on giving her stuff? The soothsayer, remember, gave her that box which ended up saving her from the Trickster and the Earth in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?. I think RTD is a huge fan of that episode, because he keeps on nicking bits from it (and he should be - it's an amazing piece of telly). Furthermore, Lis Sladen was absolutely wonderful.
Jackie! She got very little to do. In fact, as much as I hate to say this, but her presence was actually kind of pointless. But she was still hilarious. Loved the naming the kid 'Doctor' joke. Nobody in Who canon can hold a straight face quite like Jackie Tyler.
Mickey's become even harder since Doomsday. I really miss tin dog Mickey. Poor guy, he's probably had to put up with Rose's insistence on rejoining the Doctor for however many years it took to develop that cannon. Oh, Mickey. *Huggles him* I hope he finds someone out there who appreciates him.
Bad arse of the episode has to go to Martha. She left her mother knowing that she was probably going to murder her. Oh Martha. *Huggles her as well*
Jack was well, Jack. I said it last week and I'll say it again, I love DW Jack. I really wish they'd write him like that in Torchwood. And it was hilarious having him being pursued for once. Go Donna.
Rose. Rose. Rose. *Sigh* I was hoping, really hoping, that Rose's main motivation for travelling across universes was not to find the Doctor because she want to return to him, rather because she needs him to fix something. I hoped that she had established a life for herself and not spent years pining away after him and that she realised that going back to him would be ripping a hole in the fabric of the universe and thus a very very bad thing to aim to do. But it was not to be. She really is a teenager yet to grow up.
Really, I would have preferred if the beach scene did not exist at all. I'd have vastly preferred if Rose said goodbye to the Doctor and went on her own way, mentioning she's got a job and a little brother and a hot date with some wonderful guy in accounting waiting for her back in the alt!world. Maybe Nine!Ten could ask to tag along.
Giving her a Doctor was kind of great in an evil way. She got her cake, she's eating it, but it's carrot and not chocolate. Sometimes life has its disappointments. But in most ways I didn’t like it. Ten was treating her like his own personal emotional mechanic, when he's got a issue, ship him off to Rose's Auto Repairs. She'll fix him. Which is absolutely no way to treat a person and possibly the least romantic thing a person can do. But then, the payment was what she dreamed of: her own personal Doctor. Well, half Doctor, the other half is Donna. I wonder how having Donna's mouth is going to work out for him? I wonder if there is another Donna wandering around Pete's world. I'd imagine DonnaTen would want to seek her out, since he is part her. I'm really in a few different minds about the whole thing.
Speaking of minds and getting to the part that really rattled me: Donna. With Donna I can't help but think of River Song. River died rather than have her time with the Doctor taken away from her. What is the better option? A short life with him or a lifetime without? I think I've said a couple of times before this episode that I would actually rather see Donna go out dramatically doing something heroic than see her have everything erased, and I've reassessed this position. Because if there's anything Turn Left taught us, is that Donna doesn't need the Doctor to become that compassionate, inquisitive, brilliant woman we've been watching this series. Maybe she'll never become her again, but she's there somewhere. Furthermore Wilf and especially Sylvia know she's there. Donna needed the Doctor to believe in her in the series, she needed Rose to believe in her in Turn Left and now she's got her grandfather and her mother to believe in her. Donna's still can do amazing things. And I'm pretty bloody certain Martha, Jack and Sarah will be helping out where they can (though someone might want to inform them of what happened, otherwise a chance meeting in a supermarket could turn nasty).
On the other hand, while it memory erasure may be a better ending for Donna the character than death, for me the viewer it wasn't. This show follows the Doctor. If the Doctor never gets to see Donna again, we never get to see Donna again. Furthermore, if she ever does remember, she will die. She is as good as dead but it's horrible, because we know she's out there. We can't properly mourn her because she didn’t really die. When those theories emerged about Donna having a fobwatch, I went on a bit about that being cruel as it put the audience in the position of Joan Redfern. We lose a character we love, only to know they're still there but inaccessible and it's that last bit which makes it so painful. There was no fobwatch involved the audience are in Joan's position and if hurts.
Companions have to go, and it's always sad. But that was the saddest Companion leaving scene and the saddest 'death' I have ever seen on this show. Possibly the saddest I have ever watched on TV. I can't think of anything other character exit that has ever made me so miserable. I was prepared to be heartbroken, but I was not prepared for it to be that bad.
And how freaking fantastic was Catherine Tate? We've now had at least four different versions of Donna Noble, all distinct, all the same character, all played to perfection. She's been absolutely amazing this series. No character in this episode made me laugh as much, and no character made me cry as much. She's had one hell of a challenged placed upon her this season, we've had her do comedy, from the perfectly delivered one-liners, to miming, charades and more physical comedy. But also she's regularly faced some of the most challenging scenes I think an actress playing a companion has faced, or many actresses face at all on a regular basis. There's been a death scene, her mother losing her children, horror and desperation at incredible destruction and cruelty, complete terror and now add to the list that scene where she pleads with him 'no.' Every single time she's blown me away. I think she's absolutely amazing. And it's a real shame that I'm running out of her back catalogue of work to watch.
Catherine Tate for Eleven (or twelve. Is Tennant now also Eleven?). Actually DoctorDonna instead of Eleven. More DoctorDonna!
Although, I think I prefer just regular Donna to DoctorDonna. DoctorDonna was difficult for me, because I so desperately wanted Donna to save the day by being Donna rather than a Bad Wolf type scenario. In the DoctorDonna, we got the halfway house. And I'm not sure if that was really a satisfactory compromise. At times it felt like the Doctor was more influential than Donna. At times Donna seemed in full control. DoctorDonna was never really given enough screen time or exploration to really let me get to grips as to who this person really was. Although she was just great, like girl!Doctor but even better because it was Donna. I could quite happily watch DoctorDonna and the actual Doctor travel together. Hell, who needs the Doctor? We could have Donna Who
Similarly to Catherine Tate, David Tennant's shown he can do different versions of the same character just brilliantly as well. Human!Ten was his own man, and it was particularly noticeable on the beach scene. He made me cry as well. He's been doing amazing work this season as well, and his final scenes with Donna's family made me cry even more.
And fanservice! David Tennant seemed to be shedding or putting on clothes in half his scenes. Not to mention actor service. I get the feeling that David Tennant and Catherine Tate would have utterly loved giving their takes of each other's performance and character.
One of the absolute best bits of the episode was the revelation of the Doctor's soul. I thought that was so well done. The only Companion that didn't go into rather dark territory was Donna, but she's been there earlier in the season. It was particularly noticeable in TUATW with the killing of the Vespiform. Actually, thinking about it, that episode, while a comedy, contained some of the best foreshadowing for Journey's End. Not only do you have Agatha Christie loosing her memory and the Doctor and Donna discussing being remembered, but you have an earlier scene where Donna compares herself to Agatha.
Interestingly, although I know the Doctor did what had to be done regarding Donna, I'm as pissed at him as I was after The Christmas Invasion. Of course it wasn't like Harriet Jones, but he took away Donna. Really, his story has gone full circle, or at least the story of my affection for him has.
Now I think I'm running out of thoughts so I'm going to end this post. I don't know how to leave it, but then I'm still somewhat undecided upon the episode itself. It wasn’t a great swansong of the RTD era that it could have been, but it wasn't all that bad either. I suppose in away it was perfectly reflective of RTD's reign – bits that make you cheer, but that make you want to violently throw things, bits that make you laugh, bits that make you cry, big ideas, great set up but with a disappointing plot complete with a underwhelming resolution but some beautiful character moments and all the while a wonderfully entertaining spectacle.
On second viewing, I maintain that RTD did really blow it. After the build up of the past few weeks, and the three episodes in a row that had me believing the finale was going to be something truly fantastic, it turned out it wasn't. The great Dalek threat was destroyed by technobabble. Although I do love that scene to pieces because of the technobabble coming from DoctorDonna, it's still really underwhelming. Furthermore Martha and Jack and Sarah's plots to blow stuff up to save the day was solved a bit to quickly. Just beam them up, apparently.
The regeneration crisis was always going to be solved in the first moments of the episode, so I have no problems with that. The hands been used. They're not going to be able to pull that stunt again.
And then, with the Daleks finally having regained some of the fear last week, they were reduced to dodgem cars this week, in a scene which reminded me of The Daleks in which one was defeated by pushing one onto a cloak.
So really, plot wise, the episode did not do it for me. But then, I've always been willing to ignore a bad plot if the character stuff makes up for it. So did it?
First of all, Sarah Jane and Davros faced off. Thank you! I was worried that Sarah's role in Genesis would barely get a mention, but there's our Sarah Jane, still remembered by Davros after so many years. Who is this soothsayer that keeps on giving her stuff? The soothsayer, remember, gave her that box which ended up saving her from the Trickster and the Earth in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?. I think RTD is a huge fan of that episode, because he keeps on nicking bits from it (and he should be - it's an amazing piece of telly). Furthermore, Lis Sladen was absolutely wonderful.
Jackie! She got very little to do. In fact, as much as I hate to say this, but her presence was actually kind of pointless. But she was still hilarious. Loved the naming the kid 'Doctor' joke. Nobody in Who canon can hold a straight face quite like Jackie Tyler.
Mickey's become even harder since Doomsday. I really miss tin dog Mickey. Poor guy, he's probably had to put up with Rose's insistence on rejoining the Doctor for however many years it took to develop that cannon. Oh, Mickey. *Huggles him* I hope he finds someone out there who appreciates him.
Bad arse of the episode has to go to Martha. She left her mother knowing that she was probably going to murder her. Oh Martha. *Huggles her as well*
Jack was well, Jack. I said it last week and I'll say it again, I love DW Jack. I really wish they'd write him like that in Torchwood. And it was hilarious having him being pursued for once. Go Donna.
Rose. Rose. Rose. *Sigh* I was hoping, really hoping, that Rose's main motivation for travelling across universes was not to find the Doctor because she want to return to him, rather because she needs him to fix something. I hoped that she had established a life for herself and not spent years pining away after him and that she realised that going back to him would be ripping a hole in the fabric of the universe and thus a very very bad thing to aim to do. But it was not to be. She really is a teenager yet to grow up.
Really, I would have preferred if the beach scene did not exist at all. I'd have vastly preferred if Rose said goodbye to the Doctor and went on her own way, mentioning she's got a job and a little brother and a hot date with some wonderful guy in accounting waiting for her back in the alt!world. Maybe Nine!Ten could ask to tag along.
Giving her a Doctor was kind of great in an evil way. She got her cake, she's eating it, but it's carrot and not chocolate. Sometimes life has its disappointments. But in most ways I didn’t like it. Ten was treating her like his own personal emotional mechanic, when he's got a issue, ship him off to Rose's Auto Repairs. She'll fix him. Which is absolutely no way to treat a person and possibly the least romantic thing a person can do. But then, the payment was what she dreamed of: her own personal Doctor. Well, half Doctor, the other half is Donna. I wonder how having Donna's mouth is going to work out for him? I wonder if there is another Donna wandering around Pete's world. I'd imagine DonnaTen would want to seek her out, since he is part her. I'm really in a few different minds about the whole thing.
Speaking of minds and getting to the part that really rattled me: Donna. With Donna I can't help but think of River Song. River died rather than have her time with the Doctor taken away from her. What is the better option? A short life with him or a lifetime without? I think I've said a couple of times before this episode that I would actually rather see Donna go out dramatically doing something heroic than see her have everything erased, and I've reassessed this position. Because if there's anything Turn Left taught us, is that Donna doesn't need the Doctor to become that compassionate, inquisitive, brilliant woman we've been watching this series. Maybe she'll never become her again, but she's there somewhere. Furthermore Wilf and especially Sylvia know she's there. Donna needed the Doctor to believe in her in the series, she needed Rose to believe in her in Turn Left and now she's got her grandfather and her mother to believe in her. Donna's still can do amazing things. And I'm pretty bloody certain Martha, Jack and Sarah will be helping out where they can (though someone might want to inform them of what happened, otherwise a chance meeting in a supermarket could turn nasty).
On the other hand, while it memory erasure may be a better ending for Donna the character than death, for me the viewer it wasn't. This show follows the Doctor. If the Doctor never gets to see Donna again, we never get to see Donna again. Furthermore, if she ever does remember, she will die. She is as good as dead but it's horrible, because we know she's out there. We can't properly mourn her because she didn’t really die. When those theories emerged about Donna having a fobwatch, I went on a bit about that being cruel as it put the audience in the position of Joan Redfern. We lose a character we love, only to know they're still there but inaccessible and it's that last bit which makes it so painful. There was no fobwatch involved the audience are in Joan's position and if hurts.
Companions have to go, and it's always sad. But that was the saddest Companion leaving scene and the saddest 'death' I have ever seen on this show. Possibly the saddest I have ever watched on TV. I can't think of anything other character exit that has ever made me so miserable. I was prepared to be heartbroken, but I was not prepared for it to be that bad.
And how freaking fantastic was Catherine Tate? We've now had at least four different versions of Donna Noble, all distinct, all the same character, all played to perfection. She's been absolutely amazing this series. No character in this episode made me laugh as much, and no character made me cry as much. She's had one hell of a challenged placed upon her this season, we've had her do comedy, from the perfectly delivered one-liners, to miming, charades and more physical comedy. But also she's regularly faced some of the most challenging scenes I think an actress playing a companion has faced, or many actresses face at all on a regular basis. There's been a death scene, her mother losing her children, horror and desperation at incredible destruction and cruelty, complete terror and now add to the list that scene where she pleads with him 'no.' Every single time she's blown me away. I think she's absolutely amazing. And it's a real shame that I'm running out of her back catalogue of work to watch.
Catherine Tate for Eleven (or twelve. Is Tennant now also Eleven?). Actually DoctorDonna instead of Eleven. More DoctorDonna!
Although, I think I prefer just regular Donna to DoctorDonna. DoctorDonna was difficult for me, because I so desperately wanted Donna to save the day by being Donna rather than a Bad Wolf type scenario. In the DoctorDonna, we got the halfway house. And I'm not sure if that was really a satisfactory compromise. At times it felt like the Doctor was more influential than Donna. At times Donna seemed in full control. DoctorDonna was never really given enough screen time or exploration to really let me get to grips as to who this person really was. Although she was just great, like girl!Doctor but even better because it was Donna. I could quite happily watch DoctorDonna and the actual Doctor travel together. Hell, who needs the Doctor? We could have Donna Who
Similarly to Catherine Tate, David Tennant's shown he can do different versions of the same character just brilliantly as well. Human!Ten was his own man, and it was particularly noticeable on the beach scene. He made me cry as well. He's been doing amazing work this season as well, and his final scenes with Donna's family made me cry even more.
And fanservice! David Tennant seemed to be shedding or putting on clothes in half his scenes. Not to mention actor service. I get the feeling that David Tennant and Catherine Tate would have utterly loved giving their takes of each other's performance and character.
One of the absolute best bits of the episode was the revelation of the Doctor's soul. I thought that was so well done. The only Companion that didn't go into rather dark territory was Donna, but she's been there earlier in the season. It was particularly noticeable in TUATW with the killing of the Vespiform. Actually, thinking about it, that episode, while a comedy, contained some of the best foreshadowing for Journey's End. Not only do you have Agatha Christie loosing her memory and the Doctor and Donna discussing being remembered, but you have an earlier scene where Donna compares herself to Agatha.
Interestingly, although I know the Doctor did what had to be done regarding Donna, I'm as pissed at him as I was after The Christmas Invasion. Of course it wasn't like Harriet Jones, but he took away Donna. Really, his story has gone full circle, or at least the story of my affection for him has.
Now I think I'm running out of thoughts so I'm going to end this post. I don't know how to leave it, but then I'm still somewhat undecided upon the episode itself. It wasn’t a great swansong of the RTD era that it could have been, but it wasn't all that bad either. I suppose in away it was perfectly reflective of RTD's reign – bits that make you cheer, but that make you want to violently throw things, bits that make you laugh, bits that make you cry, big ideas, great set up but with a disappointing plot complete with a underwhelming resolution but some beautiful character moments and all the while a wonderfully entertaining spectacle.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 05:09 am (UTC)WHOO!
Hee, "Nine!Ten," XD that's awesome.
I can't help but think leaving someone's emotional health in Rose's hands is inviting cataclysm. At least he's actually going to die soon, what with the Doctor not trying to make up for his half-breed damage problem like he did with Donna. Really, the one I feel for in all of this is Nine!Ten.
I think we can properly mourn her. It doesn't have to be death, we can be mourning a loss. I mourn what happened with Jamie and Zoe. If I were to think grieving Donna not worth it, I'd have to say being traumatized by War Games is an invalid feeling, and NO IT WAS NOT. DEAR GOD. And we always mourn the companions we love and are most likely never seeing again, as usually happens. I think people are so upset right now they're making this sound like its completely different a set of circumstances in every way rather than an individual spin on a mainstay pattern of the show.
Donna went into dark territory. She and Nine!Ten teamed up and got destructive and freaked the hell out of the Doctor in doing so.
Anyway, I can't be upset at him because I could see how hard that was, but I wouldn't have expected any Doctor of mine to let anything else happen.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 05:25 am (UTC)I didn't think Donna went into dark territory. She told Nine!Ten to wait for the Doctor. She did probably know what he was going to do and didn't stop him though, which I suppose makes her a little complicit. But worst she actually did herself was give Davros an electric shock and give the Daleks motion sickness.
I'm sure I won't be upset at the Doctor for long since it did hurt him an incredible amount. He's just getting my wrath since he was the one that did it, and couldn't he think of another way? Donna couldn't but she was going into melt down at the time, but surely there would be some other way to fix her.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 05:58 am (UTC)I like to be optimistic about Donna's future. I think one of the things that held her back and stopped her from gaining self-confidence was her mother always treating her poorly and putting her down, I don't think that'll happen anymore, and like you said, I think Donna has it inside of her to become that person again, without the Doctor this time.
And yes, the revelation of the Doctor's soul was absolutely terrific! It could've potentially gone really cheesy but I think it turned out fantastic, especially through Tennant's and Bleach's performances.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 08:37 am (UTC)Tennant and Bleach were wonderful in that scene. I keep on forgetting to compliment Bleach. He's just so Davros I forget there's an actor under there.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 08:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-07 08:41 am (UTC)