'Last if the Timelords'

[ithildin]

I know everyone is probably sick to death of seeing those words on their f'list, but I need to get out my two cents [g]


Overall, I enjoyed it, though there were parts I liked less than others. Floating glowing Tinker Bell Doctor? Not so much. That was probably the silliest part of the episode for me. Made me think of 'flying Nick face' on Forever Knight. And Gollum Doctor in the bird cage? Okay. Then the Master was doing his song and dance routine, I was thinking of Hugh Grant in Love Actually, dancing and singing around Ten Downing Street.

But on to the stuff I liked! Martha is made of awesome! I loved her before, now she's an official 'girl crush'! when she comes back next series, it would be cool if a few years have gone by and she's an actual doctor. and maybe the cute pediatrician can tag along!

Jack! Jack was pretty cool for a guy that was in chains most of the episode. And I like how he decided to take responsibility for his dysfunctional and socially maladjusted team at Torchwood. Good for him! I wonder how different he'll be when Torchwood comes on again? And the Face of Bo thing? Errr... I'm not so sure I'm down with that, but it's so far in the future, even show wise, that I've decided not to dwell on it. Some other producer could take on the series and change it again, so...

The Master. Other than the Hugh Grant bit, he was much more Mastery for me than he was last week. He had that underlying layer of cruelty that I expect the Master to have. I thought that him smacking Lucy around was an interesting choice. We never see it, but we see the bruises on her face. Now what I'm trying to figure out is if he 'made' Lucy shoot him, and if Lucy's body is what he's using to fake regenerate and then the rest of him in the ring like the watch before that. Unless they're ignoring the fact that the Master can't regenerate anymore, which they might be since the Doctor told him to regenerate. I'm going to have to think on that a bit more. But a female Master would be kind of cool!

Cosmic reset. If everything was set back to just before the rift opened, shouldn't everyone who'd been on the ship be back there? Just asking!

Comments

[michelleann68.livejournal.com]

I thought they really did not use Jack very much, he was just dirty and chained up or looking sexy in the background most of the time.

I did like them dropping him off to see his team, and I liked his devotion to them, but I have to wonder how much time has past, it seems like just a few weeks. I guess time will tell.

Most of the ep had me rolling my eyes to some extent. I really thought John Simm was masterful as The Master. I really wanted to see more of him in the future.

The whole "to regenerate or not to regenerate" thing kinda bothered me, I did not think time lords had a choice, they just regenerated when necessary. When Lucy shot him, I also had the impression that it was set up. I thought the entire ep, she looked a little off, I asked a freind if it was just "abused woman syndrome" or if she was a shell of a person that was just there waiting for something to happen. Then when the red nails picked up the ring, I figured that he somehow transfered to her .. but I have no idea, just trying to make the puzzle pieces fit.

Jack as Boe.. seems like fanwanking to me. Boe is all calm and cool and wise, I guess maybe Jack will evolve into that, but still seems like not quite a canon fit.

Martha was cool, I have been hot and cold on her. I just hated when she looked all doe eyed at him, it was nice that she finally realized that she was getting no where and had other things to attend to.

I thought at the re-set that since they were in the eye of the storm, they did not get reset, just everything around them. That is why her family could remember and why they were all still on the ship.

I would love to see JS, JB and DT do a movie together, a big road trip movie .. that would be cool, the three of them have some mad chemistry.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

The whole "to regenerate or not to regenerate" thing kinda bothered me, I did not think time lords had a choice, they just regenerated when necessary.

I haven't seen any third season New Who, but I can tell you Classic Who Romanadvoratrelundar chose to regenerate from Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward. She even played around during it asking the Doctor about what form to settle on before she picked Lalla. I don't remember all of the forms she tried before she picked one, but I do remember one of them was a large older scotsman. So, yes, a Time Lord does have a choice in Classic Who. Of course if you're limited to only 12 of them you might chose to save them for emergencies. ;)

[michelleann68.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info.... I have only seen 9th and 10th doctor and have not gone back to catch up on the entire canon.

I appreciate the information.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

No problem. You're welcome. I grew up watching Classic Who on my local PBS station. My favorite Doctor is the 4th one, and the Romanas where Companions of his. In fact the only time I actually did something that really qualified as "Cosplay" was when I dressed up as Marry Tamm's Romana for a gathering of Doctor Who fans at my local PBS station. I didn't win anything, but my brother won a coffee mug with a liquid crystal TARDIS on it. I've seen lots of Classic Who. But I haven't seen third season New Who, or any of Torchwood. *Sighs.*

[michelleann68.livejournal.com]

That is cool.. I remember very little of TV when I was a youngin, so I clearly missed out.

Torchwood is coming to BBCA and I think SciFi in the states this fall. Not every Who fan loves Torchwood. (and why do I suddenly feel I am in a Dr. Seuss story)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

That's true, but when they're near death, I didn't think they could not not regenerate. (and I always thought the Mary Tamm regeneration was silly as heck. Why they didn't kill her and have her regenerate like normal....)But Dr. Who seems to always make stuff up as they go along, so why should that change now?

But I'm still not sure the Master should be able to regenerate at all at this point without cheating. Which is why I'm wondering if he's going to steal Lucy's body as her did Nyssa's father's.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

That's true, but when they're near death, I didn't think they could not not regenerate.

I'm not sure because I haven't watched any Classic Who in a while, but if they have a choice I don't see why they wouldn't have it "near death." It might be simpler to make the "I want to live" choice then, but it would still be a choice.

I always thought the Mary Tamm regeneration was silly as heck. Why they didn't kill her and have her regenerate like normal...

I loved the regeneration. I thought it was a great change of pace from all the "near death" regenerations. According to whoever worked on the Romana Wiki last they couldn't put Mary Tamm's Romana "near death" because, "Although Tamm had left the show on relatively good terms, by the start of Season 17, she was very visibly pregnant, making her return even for a regeneration scene impractical."

But I'm still not sure the Master should be able to regenerate at all at this point without cheating.

Oh, he ran out of his original allotment of regenerations in Classic Who. Thing is, I haven't seen any third season just read spoilers, if the Time Lords "resurrected" the Master to serve as a soldier in the Time War as it says in his Wiki then he could be working from a whole new set of 12 renegerations he got when he was "resurrected". It's been bothering me that the Doctor himself is talked about as 10 putting him that close to the end of his own allotment. I'd think someone should be thinking about how to reset the clock. ;)

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

I thought that him smacking Lucy around was an interesting choice.

Wow. I *so* did not see that... I mean, I saw she was looking a bit rough and meant to come back to it - But never got up close to the screen to see it was bruising. How sick of me is it that I find that... Interesting. ???

I think the master is already two over his limit on the regeneration thing... I think his last one was killed off in the US movie (Eric Roberts). I really never did understand what the "rule" is on this - But it seems like we are heading toward a new canon which says there is no limit. They are going to have to decide definitively pretty soon - The Doctor is almost out, himself.

And, *yeah* about the "shouldn't there have been the other people there" thing... That was my first thought. That was just plain sloppy, I think.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure at first, but both Nin and I agreed that her eye was bruised and it had the look of an abused woman using makeup to try and cover the bruise. They almost did too good a job with the makeup though, because it was hard to see sometimes. But she did put her hand up to her face/eye a few times, which seemed meant to emphasize that he'd been hitting her. Or at least that was my take.

As for the regenerations, yeah, the Doctor is coming up on it. Maybe they could say it was controlled via Gallifrey, and now it's gone, they regenerations are limitless. Cheesy rationalizations are us!

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure at first, but both Nin and I agreed that her eye was bruised and it had the look of an abused woman using makeup to try and cover the bruise.

Oh, you're definitely right - I rewatched and there are times it's quite noticeable. If you should read anything about this in interviews or something, please let me know. I wonder if there was a scene that wound up on the cutting room floor where there was a one-off smack* or if it's the much more insidious option: Implied spousal abuse. I think it's a really important distinction (character building-wise) and if it's a spousal abuse thing, I just really really want to be clear about it. Not to mention, people have really big issues about that - I wouldn't want to speak inappropriately around certain friends.

* The episode was so non-stop... I could easily see them cutting some sort of scene (for time reasons) where the Master was telling Lucy to do something that she may have hesitated about and he might have hit her (just the once) - A scene like that cut for a hundred reasons... Wait a minute - I just talked myself out of that scenario - It's a kids show, they could never show him hitting her. Which makes the implied abuse all the more strange... This is driving me crazy. If it weren't for the hand-to-face thing, I'd be more inclined to think the actress had an accident with a door and it wasn't part of the show at all.

I hate to get all political about this but it seems really, really important.