Doomsday

[poliphilo]

A lot of Whovians hated Rose and her family. John Pertwee, they protest,  never got all huggy and kissy with his companions and their hangers-on. I take the line that the new show is a reinvention not a reproduction and personally I rather like having my emotions played like a zither.

I guessed the denouement. I knew there had to be some reason for introducing that parallel universe and by the end (or rather, just before the end) I'd worked out what it was.  I've liked the story arc in this season.
 
And even though I knew how it was going to pan out, I liked the way it was done.  It could have been slushy and unconvincing and groan-making and it wasn't. Russell T Davies is a damn good writer.

I'll miss Billie Piper. She's marvellous. 

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

> slushy and unconvincing and groan-making

Mm, I did think it was, I fear. The whole dream and race across the continent business dragged on and was hard to believe; I don't think there was any hard sci-fi explanation for the Doctor entering her dreams.

Rose acted like a complete brat at the end - No! Don't save my life! How dare you? - and seemed entirely ungrateful for having a daddy again.

Christmas Special, though! Yay!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think Russell T has ever been very interested in hard SF. The show is riddled with stuff that doesn't bear close examination. I sort of accept it as a given.

I wonder how they'll handle his relationship with the new companion. I hope it won't be another endlessly thwarted love affair. While I enjoyed the emotional roller-coaster of the Doctor/Rose relationship, once is enough!

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree: new companion, new style of relationship.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping for a more intellectual, gives as good as she gets companion, a la Romana.

Mind you, I wanted Harriet Jones MP to be the new companion...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Love stories are what Russell T Davies seems to be good at. I think a different kind of Doctor/companion relationship will stretch him.

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought so too, and even the rescue by Pete was very deux ex machina and didn't seem to make sense in the context of the science we HAD got during the episode.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I was quite puzzled by how he guessed from his universe that he was needed to rescue Rose, or where exactly he should appear to do so, I must say. I suppose we're meant to think that he and Jackie simply decided together to over-ride Rose's decision to stay with the doctor, and that it was just luck that the outcome of their decision was that she didn't get sucked into the Void.

Still, on the whole I really enjoyed the episode, and thought it brought a number of hanging threads together very satisfactorily.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I covet your userpic. What is it? Is there a larger version of it around?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Billie Piper is a terrific actor. She's signed some sort of a deal with the Beeb and is going to be doing other things for them. She's currently filming a TV adaption of one of Philip Pullman's books.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Who is this Rose of whom you speak?

I hated Rose and her family, too, but that was the Rose in "Keeping Up Appearances," and I especially hated her sister Hyacinth.

Which reminds me -- the TV show meme that's running through LJ is certainly short on Britcoms, isn't it?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

"Who is this Rose of whom you speak?"

Dr Who's latest companion.

I've glanced at that meme, but it's so Americocentric I lost interest.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

just watched the season final. and yeah. pretty darn good, i'd say. i think the writers take a few wrong turns now and then, and often the writing, and the directing, can be pretty bad. but occasioanlly they really really nail it.

stand outs would be the girl in the fireplace, love and monsters, fear her, and the finale doomsday.

they were all about poignancy, and loneliness, and dealing with being alone. and that made them feel real. i don't much remember ever noticing the loneliness of the Dr. when i was watching it as a kid. was it there? i don't know. but it's there in spades now- and yeah- it really brings depth.

he's the last of the last of the last, and he will be forever. poor bastard.

but he manages to keep his chin up. some chick in a wedding dress turns up, and all memory of rose tyler's gone out the window. don't imagine he ever really stops going. if he ever did- he'd probably never get started again.

good stuff, though. a good showing for british tv, and seems to be an export well-enjoyed in the states.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The old time Who was largely thrills and spills and chases- lots of chases- with the odd one-liner tossed in. It was a kid's show and there was little emotional depth to it. Russell T Davies has taken it to a new place with all the stuff about loneliness and relationship.

I like what he's doing with the show, but a lot of Whovians seem to hate it. They particularly loathe and detest Rose Tyler.

Oh well, they won't have her to kick about any more.

Girl in the Fireplace would be the stand out episode for me this time round with School Reunion coming in a close second.