Laurus Nobilis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
laurus_nobilis) wrote2008-06-10 03:54 pm
laurus_nobilis) wrote2008-06-10 03:54 pm
Entry tags:
Doctor Who 4x09
I've finally had time to watch this...
- Overall, I really liked it. Something that oftens happens to me with Who, and particularly with Moffat, is that I'm not sure if the episodes are actually that good or if it's just that they play with themes and stuff I really like. Books! Fake realities! Books! :D I can forgive that it was predictable in places and even the Scooby Doo chases. I really, really enjoyed it as a whole.
- My thoughts about the Vashta Narada hatching in books: clearly we need to switch to sugar cane paper.
- I wasn't looking for Ende-vibes, honest, but a little girl sustaining the library? Really? How am I supposed to not mention that? XD On the other hand, I liked that her family did it to help her, instead of going with the usual plot where she'd have been a victim.
- Dude, I feel so sorry for Donna. ;_; Part of me wanted to think she'd find Lee again at the end of the season, sort of like Martha and Tom, then he showed up there and reminded me that they're from different times/planets. And then I remembered I'm supposed to be preparing myself for Donna's Horrible Death. Meh.
- On a good note, I did like the dream-like feel of those scenes, and I like that she noticed. I also thought it was clever to bring back the dead girl from the first part, I didn't think we'd see her again.
- You know, for a couple of episodes that were all about spoilers, the BBC should have been more careful. *rolls eyes* I'm pretty careful and even so I did get spoiled between eps. 8 and 9... although not really, technically, because they never said she was his WIFE in the actual episode. I still would have liked to see it unspoiled, though.
- With that out of the way: I liked River. I really, really liked that they left her role ambiguous; she's obviously important, but they don't say exactly how and I love that. I did get the impression that they're a couple at some point, but not in a very "domestic" sense. She made it sound more like he shows up now and then and they have adventures together and then he leaves again.
Also, speaking of the romance angle, it still annoys me that this fandom is so wanky about it. One would think that a canon where the main character is a 900-year-old time traveller wouldn't have such a There Can Only Be One attitude to shipping. Seriously, people. He's lived hundreds of years and he's not one of Tolkien's Elves. Chances are he loved more than one person. But nooo, it's implied that he might have an off-screen relationship with a character that probably won't ever show up again, and that RUINS EVERYTHING OMG. Oh, fandom. *sigh*
- I have to say it... I liked the fingers snapping scene. Mostly because I'm pretty sure we'll never see such thing again, heh. ;P And I guess I didn't see it so much as an ego thing, but as a special-relationship-with-the-TARDIS thing.
(Not that I mind the Doctor's ego. At all. I've liked smart-and-arrogant characters since I can remember, and I blame it on Odysseus, but the Doctor Who vs. The Odyssey comparisons are a post forsomeone else another day.)
- As for the ending... I didn't like the "everybody lives" line. DDD: First, because the Doctor can pull off the OH LOOK AT ME I'M AWESOME thing, but Moffat can't. Seriously. Insane amounts of ego in a fictional character =/= insane amounts of ego in a real person. And second, because it reminds me of how much I still prefer Nine. I miss you, Nine. ;_;
That said, I did like what he did for River, even if the voice-over was pretty cheesy. I think the idea did work. Yes, it's fake, and yes, it's arrogant of him, but he did have good intentions and tried his best to make them all happy. *obligatory Clow mention here* And it made the ending considerably less emo than it could have been. I'm pretty sure we'll have enough of that in the season's ending, so I'm glad to have an everybody-sort-of-lives story now. :)
- Aaaand I'm not going to make any theories about his name and its importance or lack thereof, and instead I'm just going to sit here and hope it's nothing incredibly stupid. One thing I've noticed about New Who is that even if I love most episodes individually, the overall story doesn't always work for me (see: Martha). So I'd rather focus on each separate story than on the overarching plot.
- Overall, I really liked it. Something that oftens happens to me with Who, and particularly with Moffat, is that I'm not sure if the episodes are actually that good or if it's just that they play with themes and stuff I really like. Books! Fake realities! Books! :D I can forgive that it was predictable in places and even the Scooby Doo chases. I really, really enjoyed it as a whole.
- My thoughts about the Vashta Narada hatching in books: clearly we need to switch to sugar cane paper.
- I wasn't looking for Ende-vibes, honest, but a little girl sustaining the library? Really? How am I supposed to not mention that? XD On the other hand, I liked that her family did it to help her, instead of going with the usual plot where she'd have been a victim.
- Dude, I feel so sorry for Donna. ;_; Part of me wanted to think she'd find Lee again at the end of the season, sort of like Martha and Tom, then he showed up there and reminded me that they're from different times/planets. And then I remembered I'm supposed to be preparing myself for Donna's Horrible Death. Meh.
- On a good note, I did like the dream-like feel of those scenes, and I like that she noticed. I also thought it was clever to bring back the dead girl from the first part, I didn't think we'd see her again.
- You know, for a couple of episodes that were all about spoilers, the BBC should have been more careful. *rolls eyes* I'm pretty careful and even so I did get spoiled between eps. 8 and 9... although not really, technically, because they never said she was his WIFE in the actual episode. I still would have liked to see it unspoiled, though.
- With that out of the way: I liked River. I really, really liked that they left her role ambiguous; she's obviously important, but they don't say exactly how and I love that. I did get the impression that they're a couple at some point, but not in a very "domestic" sense. She made it sound more like he shows up now and then and they have adventures together and then he leaves again.
Also, speaking of the romance angle, it still annoys me that this fandom is so wanky about it. One would think that a canon where the main character is a 900-year-old time traveller wouldn't have such a There Can Only Be One attitude to shipping. Seriously, people. He's lived hundreds of years and he's not one of Tolkien's Elves. Chances are he loved more than one person. But nooo, it's implied that he might have an off-screen relationship with a character that probably won't ever show up again, and that RUINS EVERYTHING OMG. Oh, fandom. *sigh*
- I have to say it... I liked the fingers snapping scene. Mostly because I'm pretty sure we'll never see such thing again, heh. ;P And I guess I didn't see it so much as an ego thing, but as a special-relationship-with-the-TARDIS thing.
(Not that I mind the Doctor's ego. At all. I've liked smart-and-arrogant characters since I can remember, and I blame it on Odysseus, but the Doctor Who vs. The Odyssey comparisons are a post for
- As for the ending... I didn't like the "everybody lives" line. DDD: First, because the Doctor can pull off the OH LOOK AT ME I'M AWESOME thing, but Moffat can't. Seriously. Insane amounts of ego in a fictional character =/= insane amounts of ego in a real person. And second, because it reminds me of how much I still prefer Nine. I miss you, Nine. ;_;
That said, I did like what he did for River, even if the voice-over was pretty cheesy. I think the idea did work. Yes, it's fake, and yes, it's arrogant of him, but he did have good intentions and tried his best to make them all happy. *obligatory Clow mention here* And it made the ending considerably less emo than it could have been. I'm pretty sure we'll have enough of that in the season's ending, so I'm glad to have an everybody-sort-of-lives story now. :)
- Aaaand I'm not going to make any theories about his name and its importance or lack thereof, and instead I'm just going to sit here and hope it's nothing incredibly stupid. One thing I've noticed about New Who is that even if I love most episodes individually, the overall story doesn't always work for me (see: Martha). So I'd rather focus on each separate story than on the overarching plot.