Bright Young Things

i say, i've become rather fond of Fenella Woolgar, who is quite funny, but hasn't been in much actually. She's playing an Agatha in this film again--girl can drive fast!--and has more screen time than Tennant as it turns out.

Which is actually a relief, oddly enough: i've never seen him look less attractive. i can live with the beard and neck hair and depressed look, weird blondness and lame jokes, but limp greasy hair and a bushy mustache??? /shudders Though i will admit that he was really good at the coin trick: just because the other fellow could do the same thing didn't mean that he could do it with flair. And the bit about the birthmark was just funny.

Gah! Didn't even realize that the gay guy was Aro until the credits rolled. i knew he looked familiar, but wow, i never realized that he's Lucian from Underworld!!!

L.A. Without a Map

This movie makes me really happy that i never moved to LA and tried to break into acting. Does one really have to party it up and give sexual favors for parts? It's simply ridiculous. This movie was actually made right about the time i really wanted to move to LA, too.

This movie came out nearly 11 years ago, which means David Tennant was about my age, but he looks so young. i have learned to never trust him with electrical appliances, that he's prone to start fires, and that i love how goofy he is when he dances. i've seen some clips from this before, i don't know why Barbara looks down at him while he's jamming, though i must admit the music wasn't all that great. Ah, well, another happy ending i suppose; back to homework.

more historical DT

He Knew He Was Right
This miniseries was written by the screenwriter of Pride and Prejudice, was long, and had quite a few actors in it. It took me two nights to get through this along with homework and knitting. There's Henriette from Casanova, Charlotte Lucas and aunt Gardiner from the new and old Pride and Prejudice respectively, Viktor/Phillip/Davy being a cad, and Agatha Christie marries the Doctor! (There's actually several other actors that i'm familliar with such as Magpie/Cook). The main character was certifiable, but many of these characters were stupid, yet somehow everyone managed to get a happy ending. It was very, very odd to see DT as in inept, stammering, speechless minister with absolutely no backbone. He wasn't very good with the ladies, though i didn't like the fake hair, either.

Who Do You Think You Are?
It was truly interesting to see a bit about DT's ancestry. The island off Scotland was beautiful and Londonderry has a tumultuous history. i wonder if Gran Blair was the one who knit the Tom Baker scarf for wee David and what exactly his objections are to her being on the right politically. Is this mainly because she wasn't for Irish independence? There was the great grandfather ostensibly participating in gerrymandering, but that occurs on both sides of the aisle (would it be in bad taste to be punny and say isle?). i just find it confusing for him to be apparently espousing socialism in one interview and then mad at his grandfather for not being democratic enough in another. It must be very different to grow up in the UK than in the US though, no doubt.

the most faithful companion

My sister and i were talking about Doctor/Rose versus Doctor/Donna again Sunday night, and i cannot believe how much i've done a 360 on this.  i became a Doctor/Rose shipper with Doctor 9 (though i must admit i was a bit hesitant because of the age difference of all things... i mean, what does it matter that there's nearly a nine century difference in age when you look 50 rather than 30?), which only continued to gain strength throughout series two.  The crazy thing is that the Doctor and Rose never actually got "together" as it were.  They would flirt, but they were really just friends, and Rose made it clear that she would stay with him even if there was nothing more to their relationship.  At the time i strongly identified with Rose but wasn't really sure why as i really have little in common with her.

Then came Heartbreak Bay.  Rose chose to stay with the Doctor, but then gets sucked into the Void, only to be saved by her dad.  At least she's alive, right?  It wasn't ideal, but i could live with it.  At this point, it became very clear, though, that the Doctor did love Rose but had just never taken the time/had the chance to tell her.  This was slightly tainted by the whole Girl in the Fireplace thing, because the Doctor presumably would have chosen Madame Pompadour over Rose.  At any rate, at the beginning of series three, it was abundantly clear that the Doctor's heart was unavailable.

It would have been a hard thing for any new companion coming into series three because of the open wounds left by Rose being torn away.  i remember seeing the Runaway Bride for the first time... i wanted to hate Donna, but i couldn't quite manage it, annoying as she was.  Then Martha showed up, and i didn't even have to try to hate her!  Series three has some of the very best episodes but has, hands down, the very worst companion.  There will always be one line that sums up Martha:  "Oh, she was blonde!"  She was living in Rose's shadow, and she was completely selfish.  A companion is meant to support the Doctor, help him make hard choices, stop him when he goes too far.  Donna did this from day one (once she got over the kidnapping bit) when she stopped him from drowning after killing the Racnoss (Turn Left confirms this).  Martha is whiney whiney "Why doesn't he love me?", "Why do I have to work in a shop?", "Oh look, a fob watch!"  She never stops to think of the repercussions of her actions, which is really odd because she's meant to be smart.  My impression of Martha is still that she mostly got in the way and made the Doctor miserable because she was constantly mooning over him.

Martha exits, Donna steps back in, and it's like a breath of fresh air.  Donna has no interest in the Doctor as a love interest when they resume their relationship (which is a ready relief, as we are all still Doctor/Rose shipping, right?).  Once she's gotten over the entire "I'm totally oblivious to aliens" thing, and "Marry me, marry me, marry me Lance!" it turns out the Donna is smart, funny, and exactly what the Doctor needs in terms of being challenged and cheered up whenever the need calls for it.  A third of Donna's season effectively gets sucked up by Martha still hanging around and then the whole finale reunion, but she never complains or is bitter about it.  She's willing to share the Doctor (she's a better woman than i am, i'll tell you that).

Truth be told, Donna turns out to be a better companion than Rose was even.  Rose was always getting into trouble (Donna does this a bit, but not nearly as much), lost about what was going on (Donna figured things out more quickly than the Doctor on several occasions), and most of the time didn't even challenge the Doctor to be a better person (this is from what i remember, the obvious exception being in the episode when she touched the Dalek).  When Caan mentioned the "most faithful companion", i don't even consider Rose to be an option.  Sure, Rose fixed the Doctor, but you have to admit that she's far from a pacifist.  Donna spent a year searching for the Doctor before they started traveling together, and she didn't have a string of boyfriends hanging on (Rose had Mickey, Adam, and Captain Jack at various times), merely the one encounter with Lee in the Library that was really beyond her control.  Over the course of series four, you have reminders of Rose in the background, and of course you still want her to get her happy ending, but at the same time the Doctor and Donna get on so well together, and as the series progresses they no longer even protest at the suggestion that they are a couple.  Then we return to Heartbreak Bay.

So, my sister Megan thinks that even now the Doctor is pining after Rose (during the interim year of specials all the way up to the End of Time).  My sister Katie and i disagree.  First off, the Doctor could have decided to keep Rose with him, or Rose could have decided to stay with him (impractical on the part of the actors and certain logistics, but from the vantage point of logical options in the story, totally true).  The Doctor chose to leave Rose behind with his clone:  he didn't say that he loved Rose, he decided to leave.  i'm sure that there was a part of him that wanted to stay with Rose, but for some reason he rejected that, and from that point forward any option of him ending up with Rose is completely over.  The Doctor is a free man.

So Donna is the one to fly off with the Doctor, leaving him free to travel with her forever (or so we are possibly thinking the first time we watch Journey's End).  Unfortunately, the Doctor already knows that Donna's mind is going to burn up.  He already knows that he's going to leave Donna at home with her mind wiped.  Which really just stinks on multiple levels because Caan and Rose both predicted Donna's death, and instead she gets her mind wiped, personality removed, progression undone.  It is dark days for Donna, and unfortunately they have yet to be fixed.  She doesn't belong with a guy she can push around, who is stupid and never going to amount to anything, she deserves the Doctor (whether you're a shipper or not, her life was meant to be spent with him as friends and equals at the very least).

For the Doctor's part, spending a year without a Companion actually brought about some very good character progression.  His loneliness is more poignant in the Next Doctor as a result, and Lady Christina could not be a worse companion.  The ending of the Waters of Mars would not have unfolded in the same way had Donna been there!  Rose probably would have watched him save the day, cheering him on, but Donna would have seen the danger in what he was doing and stopped him before he went too far (or slapped some sense into him if need be).  Rose is everygirl while Donna is exceptional.  In my opinion it was okay to save those three people, he just shouldn't have taken them back to earth to affect the timeline (after all, the grandaughter was traveling through space as if searching for her lost grandmother).  He should have left them on another planet, somewhere across the galaxy, to rebuild their lives, or kept them on as companions.

And so we arrive at the End of Time with a very wounded Doctor.  The last time i watched this, i really did try to see it from a Doctor/Rose perspective, but it simply didn't work.  When the Doctor sees Donna, he cannot help stare at her with longing, he cannot help but cry.  Rose is not what his life is missing, it's very clearly Donna.  It's true that there is no overt overture there that indicates that his love has shifted from platonic to romantic, but it is very much obvious that he has moved on from Rose and realized too late who the better woman was.

i still feel like the coincidences with the ring looking just like the first Doctor's and Romana = Roman woman, Donna = woman, first stop = Rome are too great to ignore.  And it's very Lost fan of me, but come on, you have to admit that Amy Pond does rearrange to my Don(n)a... sure the p doesn't fit anywhere, except in standing for past possibly.  River obviously knew something about Donna but didn't recognize her.  So i'm still hoping that Amy = young Donna, but at the same time, realistically, Russell T. Davies burnt me too many times, so i'm not holding my breath.  But it just makes so much sense!  /sigh

finally starting to get tired of David Tennant

Posh Nosh
Two Doctors together... is DT trying to tell us something?  Both episodes are absolutely hilarious, though Mr. Tennant is hardly in them.

Old Street
Very small part:  another short film that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  DT plays the night manager, and is very funny when the main character hugs him.

The Deputy
i just love nerdy, sarcastic DT!  This show was pretty interesting, slightly West Wing (only slightly though).  i guess this was a pilot that wasn't picked up, which is interesting because in a recent interview DT compared pilots in the UK to the US, and he says in the UK if your pilot isn't picked up it can be career suicide.  i certainly hope that isn't the case if this Rex pilot turns out to be a bomb.

The Traffic Warden
This short film is really good:  no one has any dialogue, really, but there are a lot of ads and newspaper headlines that communicate a running commentary about what's happening in the film.  To be perfectly honest, DT is still a little physically awkward in this, but maybe that was part of the poor guy's charm.  It's actually kind of funny that he's saving goldfish because he's never had a pet before.  i wouldn't mind him breaking a fishbowl that i was holding and kissing me. (;

Desert Island Discs
Interesting, how i know absolutely none of his favorite music.  It sounds as if he is more socialist than i was hoping, based on his first job at a certain theater company (7:84, which has now ceased to be).  He says he's solitary, too, which is funny.  i'm not exactly a party animal myself, i'm only really looking for a couple of good friends and one person to spend the rest of my life with, you know?  It's interesting to hear him actually talking about himself for a change instead of constantly hamming it up.

i am so confused

9 1/2 Minutes
Short film, about 10 minutes long, jumps around a lot and makes no sense whatsoever.  Apparently DT is on a blind date with a VP of something or other, and they're acting as if it's not their first date, then later in the relationship, then over.  i have no idea what the film is trying to say or what the point is or if they're going to see each other ever again or what.  There's no plot here, really.  Oddly enough, David looks rather blond, which is strange.

Doctor Who:  Scream of the Shalka
What on earth is going on?!?  What help are show tunes?  And why is the Doctor so inept?  Said Doctor is one of the incarnations from The Curse of the Fatal Death (the mirror licker, to be exact), the Master is Derek Jacobi (no idea why, but he's a robot in the Tardis, actually), and DT is a humble caretaker that's nowhere to be found until episode five, where he promptly gets trampled by a mob.  Apparently not considered to be canon anymore, this cartoon is rather horrific (and i don't mean that in a good way at all).  i have no idea how there is a black hole under Lancashire and the planet hasn't been destroyed yet, nor how the Doctor got out of said black hole, nor how i survived this horrible cartoon.

rewatched SweetNightGoodHeart
i don't know why, i didn't realize that it was Kate Ashfield.  This time around, i recognized her name and her voice immediately.  She looks different with her hair a darker blonde (DT also starred with her in Secret Smile, and of course i originally know her from Shaun of the Dead "Bye, bye, bye").  David is really pale in this, no freckles at all, and his hair looks to be a very dark ginger, shorter than we're now used to.

In other news, series 5 of Doctor Who (or the third series 1, depending how you look at it) seems to be premiering March 13 according to imdb, and i really need to get some sleep.

more DT

On Friday i managed to not watch any David Tennant until 9 p.m. or later; this is partially because i went snowboarding and to a baby shower, but still!  Thursday night i watched Einstein and Eddington:  it was weird to think of a Quaker as gay, let alone DT.  Both title roles were superbly acted (probably the most normal role i've ever seen Serkis--best known as Gollum--play, to be honest).  As it turns out, Eddington was actually gay from what i have been able to discover.  Sexuality aside, i was very happy with their depiction of Eddington as a man that combined his faith with science (Newton was also similar in his beliefs).  i did not like that Einstein was having an affair (i wouldn't have taken her back, either), but of course that's a matter of history.  Overall, this movie was excellent.

Other viewing over the past few days:

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
Absolutely horrible:  DT plays a crazy artist (and i don't mean that in a good way).  The entire show wasn't really working for me, poor plot, poor humor, and more than a little disturbing.

People Like Us
Absolutely hilarious!  The narrator, of course, was the funniest part, but DT is in this a great deal as he's the main person the mockumentary was being made about.

two Friday Night Project appearances
So, uh, i guess DT is not afraid to kiss other men.  i'm so envious of the girl that got to run her hands through his hair!  i'm not really impressed with this show because it's very lewd.

Foyle's War
He's hardly in this, and i was actually a bit bored at first (which is disappointing, as i've heard this show is good), but that's not to say that he isn't good in the role.  See, Theo is another pacifist during the war (sound familliar?) but he's really mad because his fellow pacifist friend committed suicide after being denied the right to not fight in the war and being abused by the police.  This is the earliest example i have seen to date of his bitter anger (that can be seen in Doctor Who), but this anger doesn't seem as righteous, he's struggling with a murderous rage that goes against what he believes in, and it's kind of scary but not in the way that he has been in other films.  idk, he didn't have a lot to work with, but of course he nails it, in fact i feel he's more convincing at this than he was in Secret Smile, which somehow wasn't quite working for me.  i think he was holding back too much in that, actually.  Anyways, by the end of the show, he decides to go into the military because he realizes that he wanted to murder in revenge, but that isn't who he wants to be, but he knows now that he is capable of killing.  He doesn't believe that war is the best option, but that at least fighting in war would be fighting for the right things.  The good news is, he didn't commit the crime!  Sophia Myles is also in this, she's excellent.

Labour Party ad
DT is hardly in it (there's a flash of Patrick Stewart near the end as well).  i was surprised by some of the things said in the ad, and looked up some more info on Wikipedia, only to discover that Tony Blair is a member of the Labour Party.  Margaret Thatcher was part of the Conservative party, but both parties seem to be fairly centrist and some of the issues that would be considered to be conservative here in the U.S. are supported by Labour and some of the things considered to be liberal here are supported by the Tories (as the Conservative party members are sometimes called apparently).  So just because i was raised conservative does not guarantee that i would choose to vote Conservative were i a citizen of the UK.  i also discovered that Labour is not all that socialist anymore, that there's a third party for that, but even they seem more centrist than the U.S.'s Democratic party seems to be at the moment.  Of course i'm no expert, but it was eye opening.

Personally, my policy is to vote for the person who runs a fair campaign and believes most similarly to the way i do (from what i can determine), regardless of their party affiliation.  For example, about eight years ago a Republican candidate was running a dirty campaign here in CO, which she freely admitted, but she was willing to do anything to win and pay the fines later on.  i would have voted for her opponent had i been in her district, and he was a catholic that sounded slightly more conservative than most Democrats.  As it was, i live in another district and voted for Josh Penry, but him and his opponent had both agreed to run a clean race, and did so.  Buscher (the Democrat that won over the dirty Republican) didn't turn out to be as centrist as he sounded, either.  Anyways, enough with the politics, and let's just suffice to say that if i ever have to vote in the UK i'll have a lot of research to do just to figure out who believes in what!

analyze me, please, Doctor

Just watched the episode of Spine Chillers that had DT in it, "Bradford in My Dreams."  It was really funny and there is a twist at the end.  So far, i think the worst thing that DT has been in that i've seen is Jude.  i'm also listening to a radio program called Double Income No Kids at the moment and was watching Duck Patrol earlier but am waiting for my sister to get back from 4-H to watch the last three episodes.  That's pretty funny, too, Hero takes his shirt off at least once every episode ("It's like Baywatch around here") and DT is not too skilled with the lady he wants to woo.  Funny stuff all around!

justice for gingers and Mrs. Bradley

For the past few days i've been noticing a headline stating that people are mad about the newest Doctor saying "Still not ginger."  They seem to think that it was an anti-ginger (red hair) sentiment.  i really don't understand when people get needlessly offended about stuff like this:  the Doctor was expressing regret that he isn't ginger!  Donna is ginger and Catherine Tate had two episodes of her show focusing on a fictional Russet Lodge where gingers could go to be safe from discrimination.  There were lots of indicators in series four that Davies is a fan of Tate's show and thought that the anti-ginger stuff was a great laugh.  The new Companion is ginger, too.  Pay attention, idiots!

In other David Tennant related news, i watched the Mrs. Bradley Mystery DT was in, and he's suspected for a bit, but turns out not to be the one who did it.  Ironically enough, Peter Davison also had a small role, but was in the episode less than David!  DT was also golfing at one point, which i suppose was good practice for his new pilot... unless, of course, he actually golfs!  It is a sport that originated in Scotland, after all.

hey jude...

i watched Jude last night, which was a little boring, then very depressing.  It was really strange to have to skip Christopher Eccleston in sex scenes (they were a lot more graphic than anything that David has done, from what i could tell).  David Tennant's role was very small, only one scene, and more flamboyant than what he had done previously, small hints of the Doctor that we now know and love.  Pleasantly surprised to see how nice Eccleston's hair is, lol.

David Tennant: the early roles

Dramarama
Rather high pitched (voice).

Rab C. Nesbitt
Rather breasty... and balls-y (he looks surprisingly feminine, but his chest is way too high and shelved.  He's so tall that he must have been wearing heels!)

Takin' Over the Asylum
Rather loony (and proud of it!):  this show makes you genuinely feel that your life could be so much worse; definitely has some sad bits.

The Tales of Para Handy
Rather ginger, hairless (in the bare chested department), high pitched, and unlucky in love (not that she was any great loss, she was so spoiled)

The Bill
Rather psycho (good practice for Secret Smile)

A Mug's Game
Rather nerdy (hair is darker and too long, horrible glasses). musical (playing the flute, of all things), high pitched (his voice still hadn't changed, the poor guy was 24-25), sick (too much to drink), and not at all sure of himself.

Holding the Baby
Rather sarcastic (:

Love in the 21st Century
So sexy (except for the fact that he was smoking) and the earliest sex scene to date (not that i'm searching for them)

SweetnNightGoodHeart
Rather taken out of context... and indecisive.  (He's trying to break up with his girlfriend, she thinks he's proposing, he ultimately decides to propose... very good stuff)

observations on three more David Tennant films

Recovery
This movie is heartbreaking and real to the point of ugliness.  Definitely worth watching, but it's also not for kids (there's sex and nekkidness involved), and you're going to need a tissue box.  He has a speech at the end about how, in his old life, he thought that everything was about him and that he was what's most important, but how now everything is about his kids.  Absolutely brilliant stuff, that, especially in light of this article speculating about his dating habits.

Secret Smile
So the moral of the story is, don't let the cops do their job, frame the bastard that was a bad influence on your brother and liked to control his girlfriends?  Not that i'm saying that David played a great guy or anything, but this is hardly justice, and they've committed a crime by framing him.

Love in the 21st Century - Reproduction
i'm beginning to think that Doctor Who was a huge fluke and David Tennant doesn't make any movies that don't have sex in them.  This one is hilarious, but of course there's the casual sex thing... not exactly a shining example of how one should live their life.  It's actually a little funny, she was working at a fast food place right near the professional part of town, which is how it was for me working at Quiznos.  There were so many really cute guys that came in there looking for lunch:  i was never tempted to lie to any of them and steal their sperm!  Incidentally, why is it that he always looks so much younger than all the women he plays next to that are his own age?  i feel like he looks 5-10 years younger than he actually is.

my affair with David Tennant

Dang it, David Tennant is too adorable.  i tried to get over the Doctor's regeneration and Donna's wedding by watching Blackpool, Casanova, Nan's Christmas Carol, but nothing worked:  i'm more addicted to him than ever before.

The End of Time part 2 reactions

You might not want to read this rant if you haven't seen the second part of the End of Time yet.

Yep:

spoilers

galore!

Well even though we rewatched part 1 tonight and i noticed even more material that was in line with the Donna is a Time Lady theory... Russell T. Davies went ahead and did what i expected him to do, which was screw over Donna.  Absolutely nothing was explained:  for instance, we still don't know why Donna didn't become a Master.  Not only that, when she remembered the Doctor a defense mechanism kicked on its own... which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  If that were the case then it wouldn't matter when she does remember the Doctor, she would simply keel over and pass out every single time.  There is also absolutely no reason for energy from the Time Vortex or regeneration energy to be leaking out of her head and knocking out the Masters.  i mean, come on, he can regenerate too, why would that hurt him?  Why would she have that in her anymore?  And who in their right mind thinks that Donna settling for a bloke that is all wrong for her is any sort of way to end her character?  As soon as i heard the church bells i got mad.  It wasn't enough to cut her out of the entire two parter for all intents and purposes, she had to get strapped with a miserable life that she didn't choose because the real Donna is still dead.

Putting aside the Donna fiasco, the story was fairly satisfying as far as tying up the ends of the joke of a first part.  Did it make any sense at all?  No, seeing how nothing is supposed to be able to leave a time lock, it certainly does not.  i'm also not entirely sure how the Gallifreyans suddenly became the bad guys... or was it always that way?  But even in the end the Doctor doesn't have to kill anyone, i even figured out that he head to destroy the diamond/machine.  But then, what happened to the Master?  Did he get sucked to Gallifrey?  Die in the Immortality Gate?  What was the final catalyst that made him turn good?  And lastly, it wasn't very realistic for the Doctor to get to say goodbye to everyone after his regeneration had already started.  Bringing in beloved characters for cursory nods is insulting.  How the heck did Martha end up with Mickey?  Is the only thing we're supposed to remember about Capt. Jack is that he's gay? (ETA: i know that he's meant to be "pansexual", but he seems to favor the men, particularly considering how he dissed Donna in Journey's End.)

i think i could go on for hours, but i really do not want to dwell on all of this.  i tried to look for a bright spot in all the darkness that RTD created, and then he went and let us down even more than ever before.  Boo.