Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009
Apr. 15th, 2010 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99Somewhat late to the party because, well, my Mum hates 10 and I don't much like him, and so I didn't watch it at Christmas, and then when I finally got round to downloading it I couldn't be bothered watching it. (BTW, I have no problem with David Tennant and adore a lot of RTD's writing, I just got sick of 10.)
Thankfully, the fantastic Dr. Stu and the equally awesome ex-housemate N (I know I have 3 different housemates who fit into that description, but just roll with me on this one), I got the chance to watch it last night with housemate P.
Any time the Master was on-screen. Now I grant that I am not very fond of random superpowers! Master, but John Simm brought it, particularly in those bits where he wasn't being drummed all the way to meglomania. I loved 4 things in particular:
1) The man is good with technology. And he knows it.
2) 'It wasn't a childhood, it was duty'.
3) Indeed the whole 'you could be beautiful' discussion hit me somewhere unfortunate. (In my defence, the first Who story I ever saw was the Daemons.)
4) 'Move out of the way'. The Master actually deals with the knowledge that the Time Lords have screwed up his life (and thanks be to the timey-wimey ball that the dissonance between the Master proper and nu!Master has been explained) better than I would have done. I love that it isn't some grand, glorious redemption, it's vengence, pure and simple. Of course, he's not dead, merely resting. He's the Master, if there's no body, he's not dead, if there's a body, he's probably not dead, and if someone shows you remains, he's definitely not dead.
Wilf. While Bernard Cribbins was saddled with some terrible, terrible dialogue, he did a good job.
I love that the 3 dissenting Time Lords we see were all women. Also, someone needs to tell Julie Gardner that the author is dead and, if I can't tell something from what's on the show, then it didn't happen, so she is probably either his daughter or Susan and not his mother, because his mother is human and he said so.
The cacti aliens. Geeky, alien, accidental hero cacti are love.
As the Ood. Unimpressed Ood Sigma especially. I have been been womanfully resisting getting an Ood action figure. On Saturday that resistance ends.
I know, I'm a little too fond of aliens. I loved the alien cantina, for all it's ripped offedness, because I got to alien spot. Adipose!!
Of the interminable goodbyes, I liked the one with Luke Smith the best, because well, of course the Doctor is using up his remaining time to change history for the bestter. I also really liked the one with Joan's descendent.
The dialogue. The terrible stilted dialogue. Come on Davies, I know you can do better than that.
The soundtrack. I'd say something about Murray Gould being able to do better, but he really can't.
That 10 wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for a man who'd done it for others and was willing to do it for him. I know it's a terrible expectation of me, but I expect Doctor Who to be better than me.
The interminable, senseless goodbyes.
The general rushedness of the Time Lord part of the plot. What a waste of Timothy Dalton!
a) The Master/Doctor fixation.
b) The horrid paternalistic thing. Mostly because DT can't quite pull it off, mostly, I think, because he's neither authorotative enough, nor old enough. Also, because 3 frequently got mocked by his sidekicks (I am thinking particularly of Benton getting the upper hand a couple of times, and Liz's memo to UNIT that what the Doctor needed in a sidekick was someone who would make tea and tell him that he was fantastic). No one ever seems to get the better of 10.
c) The violently non-violent thing.
d) It would also explain the fascination with 'ordinary', because dear lord love a duck, Jo is and always will be my favourite companion, but she's also written, acted and expressed as dim, ditzy and unspeakably kind. She's also not ordinary, if I recall she's the niece of a Minister.
e) The 'I don't want to die' bit. 3's last episode was largely about that, the continuation of other peoples's lives despite the Doctor and him coming to terms with it. It's also by radiation.
Thankfully, the fantastic Dr. Stu and the equally awesome ex-housemate N (I know I have 3 different housemates who fit into that description, but just roll with me on this one), I got the chance to watch it last night with housemate P.
Any time the Master was on-screen. Now I grant that I am not very fond of random superpowers! Master, but John Simm brought it, particularly in those bits where he wasn't being drummed all the way to meglomania. I loved 4 things in particular:
1) The man is good with technology. And he knows it.
2) 'It wasn't a childhood, it was duty'.
3) Indeed the whole 'you could be beautiful' discussion hit me somewhere unfortunate. (In my defence, the first Who story I ever saw was the Daemons.)
4) 'Move out of the way'. The Master actually deals with the knowledge that the Time Lords have screwed up his life (and thanks be to the timey-wimey ball that the dissonance between the Master proper and nu!Master has been explained) better than I would have done. I love that it isn't some grand, glorious redemption, it's vengence, pure and simple. Of course, he's not dead, merely resting. He's the Master, if there's no body, he's not dead, if there's a body, he's probably not dead, and if someone shows you remains, he's definitely not dead.
Wilf. While Bernard Cribbins was saddled with some terrible, terrible dialogue, he did a good job.
I love that the 3 dissenting Time Lords we see were all women. Also, someone needs to tell Julie Gardner that the author is dead and, if I can't tell something from what's on the show, then it didn't happen, so she is probably either his daughter or Susan and not his mother, because his mother is human and he said so.
The cacti aliens. Geeky, alien, accidental hero cacti are love.
As the Ood. Unimpressed Ood Sigma especially. I have been been womanfully resisting getting an Ood action figure. On Saturday that resistance ends.
I know, I'm a little too fond of aliens. I loved the alien cantina, for all it's ripped offedness, because I got to alien spot. Adipose!!
Of the interminable goodbyes, I liked the one with Luke Smith the best, because well, of course the Doctor is using up his remaining time to change history for the bestter. I also really liked the one with Joan's descendent.
The dialogue. The terrible stilted dialogue. Come on Davies, I know you can do better than that.
The soundtrack. I'd say something about Murray Gould being able to do better, but he really can't.
That 10 wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for a man who'd done it for others and was willing to do it for him. I know it's a terrible expectation of me, but I expect Doctor Who to be better than me.
The interminable, senseless goodbyes.
The general rushedness of the Time Lord part of the plot. What a waste of Timothy Dalton!
a) The Master/Doctor fixation.
b) The horrid paternalistic thing. Mostly because DT can't quite pull it off, mostly, I think, because he's neither authorotative enough, nor old enough. Also, because 3 frequently got mocked by his sidekicks (I am thinking particularly of Benton getting the upper hand a couple of times, and Liz's memo to UNIT that what the Doctor needed in a sidekick was someone who would make tea and tell him that he was fantastic). No one ever seems to get the better of 10.
c) The violently non-violent thing.
d) It would also explain the fascination with 'ordinary', because dear lord love a duck, Jo is and always will be my favourite companion, but she's also written, acted and expressed as dim, ditzy and unspeakably kind. She's also not ordinary, if I recall she's the niece of a Minister.
e) The 'I don't want to die' bit. 3's last episode was largely about that, the continuation of other peoples's lives despite the Doctor and him coming to terms with it. It's also by radiation.
