rosa_acicularis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rosa_acicularis) wrote2009-12-09 11:44 pm
rosa_acicularis) wrote2009-12-09 11:44 pm
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so I'm rewatching Doctor Who.
Now, I've spent the past six months or so avoiding all Who related thoughts. Part of it was simple distraction, as I'd discovered Merlin and SGA and other shows and fandoms to become mildly obsessed with. Nothing on the level of Who in my heyday, of course, but still. Distracted. And then came Waters of Mars, about which I have extremely mixed feelings (the two main feelings being boredom and deja vu) but nevertheless it brought the upcoming specials to the forefront of my mind.
Thus the rewatch.
Last night I watched Rose with my roommates, who'd never seen any Who at all. They didn't exactly hate it, but neither were they jumping at the bit to watch more. Honestly, though it has some wonderful moments it's not exactly my favorite either. I love Jackie, and I remember loving her from the beginning, but that episode doesn't do her any favors, and it's really rough on Mickey. It sucks that RTD felt like he had to make them cartoons to justify Rose running away -- but then, at least it only takes a few episodes to bring her back again and make her face the consequences, and to let Jackie and Mickey become the much more complex characters they would grow to be.
Tonight I've watched The End of the World, and I'm in the middle of The Unquiet Dead, two of my very favorite episodes of all time. I love everything about End of the World. The beginning of the ep introduces the perfect question to start with for the first season of the show --
Rose: So when it says 'guests', does that mean people?
Doctor: Depends on what you mean by 'people'.
Rose: I mean people. What you mean?
Doctor: Aliens.
And then there's the look of panic on Rose's face as the jukebox begins to play Toxic Love, the way you can feel her utter disorientation, the alienness of everything around her -- including the Doctor. ("The aliens -- they're so alien. You just look at them and they're...alien.") And the way she begins to deal with it, slowly -- the fight with the Doctor, their tentative peace (don't argue with the designated driver) and then when she goes after Cassandra -- god, I forgot how much I loved that bit. Rose is lost and afraid, and she takes it out on Cassandra, who should be the least alien thing in the room and is actually the most strange and threatening. Cassandra hasn't really done anything yet to deserve Rose's abuse (yet being the operative word) but Rose verbally bitchslaps her anyway, and it's fun to watch.
And at the end, Rose comes back to that room, is surrounded by aliens who are frightened and grieving and injured and don't look so strange anymore. People have died, and Cassandra replies, "It depends on your definition of people."
Cassandra might be my favorite Who villain. I bet the Daleks would be terrified of her, and worship her as their queen.
As for The Unquiet Dead, I might have more thoughts later, but for the moment -- CHARLES DICKENS. "Do the death of Little Nelly. It cracks me up!"
Also so much is made of "Better with two," which is cute and all, but just before that Rose launches into a beautiful speech of time travel and finishes with, "No wonder you never stay still." Which is just -- it's so perfect, and so much of what I love about their relationship, whether it be Rose and Nine or Rose and Ten. I really believe that Rose falls in love with the running before she falls in love with him, and that after that first burst of panic she thrives on the strangeness, on the movement.
The TARDIS lands in Naples, 1860 (give or take) and Rose stops the Doctor before he reaches the door, rushes past him and says, "You stay there. You've done this before. This is mine."
Geez. How did I ever forget how much I love this show?
Thus the rewatch.
Last night I watched Rose with my roommates, who'd never seen any Who at all. They didn't exactly hate it, but neither were they jumping at the bit to watch more. Honestly, though it has some wonderful moments it's not exactly my favorite either. I love Jackie, and I remember loving her from the beginning, but that episode doesn't do her any favors, and it's really rough on Mickey. It sucks that RTD felt like he had to make them cartoons to justify Rose running away -- but then, at least it only takes a few episodes to bring her back again and make her face the consequences, and to let Jackie and Mickey become the much more complex characters they would grow to be.
Tonight I've watched The End of the World, and I'm in the middle of The Unquiet Dead, two of my very favorite episodes of all time. I love everything about End of the World. The beginning of the ep introduces the perfect question to start with for the first season of the show --
Rose: So when it says 'guests', does that mean people?
Doctor: Depends on what you mean by 'people'.
Rose: I mean people. What you mean?
Doctor: Aliens.
And then there's the look of panic on Rose's face as the jukebox begins to play Toxic Love, the way you can feel her utter disorientation, the alienness of everything around her -- including the Doctor. ("The aliens -- they're so alien. You just look at them and they're...alien.") And the way she begins to deal with it, slowly -- the fight with the Doctor, their tentative peace (don't argue with the designated driver) and then when she goes after Cassandra -- god, I forgot how much I loved that bit. Rose is lost and afraid, and she takes it out on Cassandra, who should be the least alien thing in the room and is actually the most strange and threatening. Cassandra hasn't really done anything yet to deserve Rose's abuse (yet being the operative word) but Rose verbally bitchslaps her anyway, and it's fun to watch.
And at the end, Rose comes back to that room, is surrounded by aliens who are frightened and grieving and injured and don't look so strange anymore. People have died, and Cassandra replies, "It depends on your definition of people."
Cassandra might be my favorite Who villain. I bet the Daleks would be terrified of her, and worship her as their queen.
As for The Unquiet Dead, I might have more thoughts later, but for the moment -- CHARLES DICKENS. "Do the death of Little Nelly. It cracks me up!"
Also so much is made of "Better with two," which is cute and all, but just before that Rose launches into a beautiful speech of time travel and finishes with, "No wonder you never stay still." Which is just -- it's so perfect, and so much of what I love about their relationship, whether it be Rose and Nine or Rose and Ten. I really believe that Rose falls in love with the running before she falls in love with him, and that after that first burst of panic she thrives on the strangeness, on the movement.
The TARDIS lands in Naples, 1860 (give or take) and Rose stops the Doctor before he reaches the door, rushes past him and says, "You stay there. You've done this before. This is mine."
Geez. How did I ever forget how much I love this show?