the woman in the red dress

I've been hankering to do some sewing lately.  Some geek related sewing.  I explain more on my knit/sew/diy blog.

tentatively venturing into Torchwood

So i watched the first two episodes of Torchwood last night (this morning actually) because i was looking to fill insomnia time. Thus far, i don't feel anything for the team: they're all so closed and standoffish. Even Captain Jack doesn't seem his usual happy go lucky self, not any real flirting to speak of. i guess he's lived through a lot, and it's all hidden, and he's not the same person he was when traveling with the Doctor. It's a bit odd that he's obsessive about handy (how did the alien pick up on that?) and standing on top of buildings (i guess he's looking for the Doctor?).

It's all more raw than Doctor Who. So far, we've seen everything through Gwen's eyes, except for brief glimpses of the lives of the Torchwood members. i like her well enough, i suppose, but she seems very innocent, whereas Jack basically knows everything (kind of a Doctor figure in a way, especially with the technobabble). There are bows to Star Trek DS9, with the cog-like door and bringing sex to the forefront. So far, it's not moving me enough to feel anything for it, really, not love or hatred, it's just kind of meh. Time will tell, i suppose.

Merlin "Sweet Dreams"

i hope that i don't offend anyone when i confess that i found this show to be well bad, and it did little to improve my opinion of Georgia Moffett as an actress. It was a little funny, but considering the fact that John Hurt is in it: travesty. Even the evil jester (formerly from Big Train) couldn't redeem it. Georgia's voice is sooooooooo annoying (ETA2: i guess she got her voice from her mother), and nothing about the show is at all realistic. Epic fail.

i'm really trying to give her a chance here, guys, i am.

ETA: Okay, i will admit that the fact that she decided to keep her son definitely earns her props. Videos like this are just too cute! ("I don't have a third favorite")

finally, someone is on the same wavelength as me

My sister stumbled upon this quite by accident, but i had searched to see if anyone shared my theory of "Amy Pond" actually being a young Donna.  She finally found someone who came up with this theory last May:  Could Karen Gillan Be the Young Donna Noble?. Their theory is slightly different than mine (they believe that Donna is going to grow younger?) as i think that the Tardis will take the Doctor back to a point in time where he happens to run into her. Only a couple more weeks to find out!

DW the Christmas Invasion

So... Rose is such a whiner in this.  One third of the world's population is about to kill itself, and she's whining about the Doctor being unconscious (ETA: when, ironically enough, it's her fault).  "Oh, he's abandoned me, boo hoo" get a grip.  The universe does not revolve around Rose Tyler.  She acts like the Doctor is a god or something.  Nearly invincible, he may be, but everyone gets sick from time to time, at least us mere mortals do.  i'm also not sure what she was hoping to accomplish lying through her teeth to the Sycorax:  she could have died, two men already had for less lip.

i love the new Doctor.  He talks a mile a minute, is clever, sarcastic, champion of the planet, i could go on.  Simply put, he's brilliant.

dw Bad Wolf and Parting of the Ways

i love Lynda, she's sweet.  (:  The Doctor says all he's looking for is a "quiet life."

The Doctor and Jack are both affected by Rose's "death" equally, they just react in completely different ways.  It was very weird for me to see him do his "shut down and think" thing for the first time.  In fact, he doesn't do it often.  He usually plows ahead and makes things up as he goes along.  Jack, on the other hand, charges in, guns blazing, but doesn't even shoot anyone other than the Anne-droid.  He'll fight if he has to, but not needlessly.  They were actually smart to wait until they were no longer outnumbered and could make an easier escape without needless casualties.

i love the Doctor when he's goofy, but i love him even more when he's indignant.  The most brilliant lines in all of series one on his part are from "No...it means no" to "And doesn't that just scare ya to death."  The Doctor is like a sleeping dragon, he's all cuddly until you tickle him, and you only get so many chances before you run out of his mercy.

Rose is slightly jealous of Lynda it seems.  Lynda and the Doctor have an awkward good-bye, and cannot tell whether they should hug, or kiss, or what.  Jack, on the other hand, is soooo young.  He trusts the Doctor implicitly.  But the Doctor... the choice that he is planning to make, the destruction of Earth and the majority of the human race, is horrible.  This is the same sort of choice that Ten was against in Journey's End, the choice that Martha was going to make.  It's odd how things change.

i cannot believe that Rose was cruel enough to tell Mickey that there was nothing left for her back on earth.  This includes him and her mother!  And when she said something so utterly cruel, i cannot believe that he helped her.

But i do love the Bad Wolf.  She is brilliant, but she is also deadly.  All that light pouring out of her, the ability to see what was and is and is to come... it's like she became a goddess.  And though she saved Jack's life, no one is meant to have that power.  But at the same time it was good, because she was being selfless, and she enabled the Doctor to be selfless.  Instead of a Doctor born of the Time War, we received one born of love and mercy.  That's the most powerful thing in the universe all creation.

DW Boom Town

i had only seen this episode once before, and i must confess that it was a lot better than i remember. Actually, all i really remembered from it was the date with the assassination attempts and the egg. There's a lot in the middle, like Mickey and Captain Jack and the Doctor verbally sparring (too much testosterone in the Tardis, methinks). What's really funny is how Rose and Mickey go off on their date, and then the Doctor and Margaret, and Captain Jack is gleefully tinkering away in the Tardis with a cheesy grin. It's absolutely hilarious.



But Rose is horrible. Her entire date, all she does is talk about the Doctor. Then she puts down the fat shop girl, when all she used to be was the skinny shop girl. Mickey has a valid point when he says that all she does is cut him down and leave him waiting.  By the end of the episode, you can see that she wants to turn back time and be with Mickey, but you can also tell that the Doctor's feelings towards her changed in the Empty Child (he certainly doesn't want Captain Jack to have her).  My sister points out that all she does is use people, and it's a very valid observation.  She used the Doctor to go back and see her father.  She used Adam to show off.  She uses Mickey all the time without a second thought (i've never really understood why she was with him, but because of the events in Age of Steel, i am totally on his side).  The more i rewatch this series one, the more i wonder why i liked Rose so much:  she certainly had issues.

Spooks Code 9 Stunk

i just watched the last part of it, and i cannot believe the way it ended. From the beginning, i felt the show was trying to do a Dark Angel meets Alias type thing, but it never really delivered. None of the characters were fully developed, and the ending was just epic fail. What was the point of watching any of it if it was all going to be for nothing???

Doctor Who the Long Game and Father's Day

LG
This episode is odd. Adam is saying that he can't compete with the Doctor and the Doctor is annoyed with both him and Mickey. When Simon Pegg said: "There's something wrong here" i was like "yeah, you're blond." The Face of Boe is announcing that he's pregnant... i thought that Captain Jack was the one who said he'd been pregnant before???

FD
"An ordinary man, that's the most important thing in creation." That seems to be a very odd thing for the Doctor to say. Is that was Rose is thinking of while talking to Donna in Turn Left? And since when does everyone think that she and the Doctor are a couple? He's so much older than her, and they have absolutely no chemistry. The Doctor already thinks an "ordinary" life is the ideal, the getting married and having kids stuff. Why can't the Doctor ever have that? Is it because he hasn't met the right person yet? That he won't let himself? What.

Little Mickey is so cute. Rose is not so bright, and a terrible liar. Course, Jackie isn't so bright, either. How did Rose get brown eyes when both of her parents have blue? Lol, Companion Brown, Doctor Blue --> Companion Brown, Doctor Brown --> Companion Blue, Doctor Brown

p.s. Something that's odd is the posters saying that Margaret Thatcher won't serve a third term, when i'm pretty sure she did. Wishful thinking on the parts of TPTB?

Dalek

First off, stop flirting with that idiot, Rose. Secondly, they keep throwing around this love word, and i don't see any chemistry between the Doctor and Rose (not to mention that she's still with Mickey, for crying out loud). Third off, the Doctor eagerly holding a gun is SOOOOO wrong (this i cannot emphasize enough, and it's one of the things i'm worried about possibly being problematic with Eleven. Fourthly... what did he just do with his spheres?

This is a great bit of science fiction, making you feel sorry for the bad guys, but what message were they trying to send?

Lastly, stop putting down the Tardis, it's so much more than a box!


ETA: i'm not meaning to insinuate that the Doctor couldn't love Rose in other ways, of course, however, Nine isn't exactly fuzzy. In fact, it's very hard for me to come to grips with the fact that all Doctors are the same man atm. i'm in for another period of readjustment. Don't worry, as soon as i get used to Matt Smith, they'll kill him off.

Aliens of London/WWIII

Rose is still getting on well with Mickey, and the Doctor is lying and sneaking off. He doesn't exactly have the best relationship with Rose, does he? However, you must admit that she is very practical, and brave, willing to die so the rest of the world can live. i must admit that's important in a Companion.

i didn't realize quite how quickly they brought in Harriet Jones ("i'd vote for her"). i quite like Harriet, and still hold that we haven't seen the last of her (they didn't exactly show her die, did they?).

i don't quite agree with the Doctor about humans being thick. /sigh i know people are going to hate me for this, but why did i love Chris' Doctor so much? Mind you, there are problematic episodes and issues throughout, i suppose.

ROFL the Doctor thinks Rose is bringing a lot of stuff when Rose has one bag... just wait til he meets Donna.

Why So Serious?

Yep, i finally saw the Dark Knight, and yes, Heath Ledger was brilliant in it, but he wasn't the only one. i always hated the original Batman because, like everything else Tim Burton does, it's just so over the top. As a kid, Jack Nicholson scared me to death. i still don't like to watch his movies, he's just so oily and /shudder. But Heath brought a certain rationality to the character. Yes, he did things that were insane, but because he was smart, because he was brilliantly orchestrating things behind the scenes, and putting on a crazy face so no one took him seriously. It's funny, they could have turned this into another "why is the Joker what he is?" film, but fortunately they didn't; we didn't need that, it had been done before (badly). Instead, we got a brilliant look at what made Two-Face what he was.

Another thing that's interesting about this version of the franchise is that Batman is so much more dark and twisty even while he's being more noble and moral. He's harder on himself than he needs to be, in my opinion. i'm really enjoying these films much more than the old ones, and am really starting to hope that David Tennant will be the next Riddler, because i really cannot imagine anyone else bringing the same level of brilliance to the game.

Oh, and i'm enjoying the Scarecrow, too. And the mayor (Richard!). And more than anything, it just's wonderful to see Gary Oldman playing someone who isn't a bad guy. FINALLY.

Doctor Who the Unquiet Dead

Ugh, i still hate this episode. This kind of shenanigans seems to happen every season, though, what with werewolves, three witches, and Sybiline sisters. What i did find interesting was the fact that Rose stood up to the Doctor, telling him that he couldn't let the aliens through the Rift, and he ignored her, to disastrous results. i didn't remember the Doctor being so hotheaded and stubborn, as i dearly love his more comical moments, such as reading books with sad endings, spilling cards everywhere, breathing on aliens, and gushing about Dickens (whose works i can't stand, but hey it takes all kinds). They've met Dickens, Shakespeare, Christie... next thing you know and they'll be meeting Austen, Melville, Dickenson, Poe, or Shelley. Actually, Austen's life was too boring for Doctor Who, and she's who i'd like to see most of all.

Ruby in the Smoke

Well, i finally watched something with Matt Smith in it for more than 30 seconds (though it still wasn't a very large part), and i must say that i'm feeling slightly better about him being Eleven, though he wasn't acting very much like the Doctor most of the time. He was nice enough, but i still feel like i have no idea who he is. Incidentally, Lance was also in the film, and got his due, and Mrs. Weasley was very murderous! Still, makes me long to see her dueling Bellatrix in Deathly Hallows. i had a hard time figuring out what was going on in this film, but it was probably the best i've ever seen Billie do at anything.

Doctor Who series one - Rose and EotW

This afternoon i don't have any homework (the professors aren't laying it on because spring break is next week), so i watched Rose and The End of the World. First off, let me just say that, looking back, as a pilot, Rose was pretty lame. The plasticine thingies were funny, but not really that menacing (though they certainly caused a lot of destruction quickly). Rose didn't exactly save the day, because the Doctor shook one off, and flipped the other into the molten blob consciousness before she kicked the first farther out of the way. It's a shame that they didn't bring more of her supposed gymnastics skills to the character, not that this was exactly a good example of gymnastics! i do like that he gave them a chance to leave, and wasn't keen on killing them, but then in EotW he turns right around and kills Cassandra without any regret. i think i have whiplash. It's all very well that the Doctor is saying that everything ends, but quite another to coldly cause a human to die.

i suppose this is because we have a damaged Doctor, but so far, Rose isn't pulling her weight. She's a damsel in distress, huddling in the observation room because she was moping about, whereas by this point Donna had already stopped the Doctor from killing himself and figured out that he needed to be kept in line (this after he had been ostensibly healed by running around for two years with Rose). i'm sorely tempted to start writing a series where Donna is traveling with the Doctor in series one onward... course i don't like to do that rewriting tom foolery when i can avoid it.

Chris, however, is hilarious as Nine. i especially enjoy his gift of the breath of his lungs and interaction with Jackie in her room. i want to keep a running tally of mentions of Bad Wolf, so far the Face of Boe has mentioned it, but i think i might have seen posters in an ally... need screencaps or a website that already has figured all that stuff out!

where's my Doctor Who?

i've been talking about Doctor 10 and Donna a lot lately on LiveJournal (my picspam and some fics were a great hit), so i'm a little antsy for the new series to start. i keep meaning to update my header with 10/Donna (instead of 9/Rose), and now 11/Amy is upon us! i'm not very good at waiting. /sigh

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