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amberfocusI have pretty much been ignoring LJ for the past couple of days to avoid spoilers and then of course, until I watched Journey's End. Which I've done now. And I'm...well...uncertain is the best word I can think of to describe it.
SPOILERS if you click on the Cut.
For the most part I actually liked the episode until the last few minutes or so, though lots of little things bugged me. I loved it when Donna made the Daleks go spinny and how joyful it made her. I think that might have been my favorite part in the whole thing. Even more so than Donna spouting brilliantly.
I hope this means we are done with the Daleks now. I'm sick of the Daleks. Really, really sick of them. I know this is probably Who sacrilege, but I've never liked the Daleks. I've always thought they were just...stupid. *sighs* Can't believe I'm admitting that out loud, but 34 years of being a fan of Who has not changed my opinion, no matter how bling they try to make them or in the fact that they gave them the power to float. There are far more interesting villains in all the years of Who and yet...Daleks. Responsible for saving the show from certain death when it began and yadda, yadda, yadda, but...yeah, just not my thing. They're boring. They have no motivation other than if it isn't like me, kill it. They don't yearn for anything. They don't want or love or care. They just hate. And there's no reason for it. How do you identify with that kind of monster? How do you make any connection?
I was hoping something, anything in the episode would actually make me cry. I was gutted by Doomsday and by The Parting of the Ways and by the death of the Master. I thought my heart would be pulled out and stomped on and was kind of looking forward to it. It wasn't. Maybe it should have been, maybe I've been spending far too much time in my own 'verses where I can make things hurt, make myself cry, and yet still have proper happy endings.
You see, Ten, the original, not Nu!Ten, should have said he loved Rose. He should have said it out loud. Even thought Nu!Ten said it, whispered it, and he kissed her and it was all very sweet and lovely, it should have made first!Ten jealous (yes, of himself) and finally able to spit those words out. And there should have been tears then, heartache as he confessed it and pulled her away from Nu!Ten and held her tightly and kissed her properly, and then and only then should he have been forced to give her up to Nu!Ten. I wanted to see that it hurt him and I wanted to see it hurt him in front of Rose. But I didn't. Instead I saw him simply walk away from every emotion he could have or should have been feeling in this moment. Even if he'd gotten into the TARDIS and just leaned hard against the doors and let it go, I would have felt better. But the way it was done, it was hard to believe it hurt and we know it should have hurt! But I didn't get that, not then, and I'm not sure I really got it even at the end.
And I wanted Rose to rail at him for leaving her and not saying the damn words to her or I wanted Nu!Ten to have kept her from going after him, prevented it somehow in his own bit of jealousy. I wanted more. So much more. And now I'm never going to get it. Unless I write it. Or someone else does.
And Donna. Well, I'll console myself with the fact that Donna remains an integral part of the Time Eternal universe and it's just tough, canon can go and whistle. Because she's brilliant and beautiful and strong and important and one of the best Who companions I've ever seen. And making her clueless, sleeping through yet another alien thing, ticked me off because she's better than that, darn it! Donna, more than just about anyone, felt like the Doctor's family. And though she remembers nothing, all that she gained by travelling with the Doctor, all that she became, is gone. And that's just wrong. Because that woman was so much more than the sum of her parts. And I adored her. And the Doctor did, too. I'm firmly convinced of it.
I'm glad at least that Nu!Ten is supposedly like Nine. And I think I'd like to explore that aspect at some point in fanfic when it's no longer so new and I'm no longer quite so confused about what this episode feels like inside my brain and my heart. Ten emphasized the negative of that, but Nine was so much more than what he said and Rose of all people would see that and bring it out. In a way, I think Nu!Ten has a leg up because he only destroyed one species and it was not his own species, and let's face it, he made the right choice here and I think he knows it. Finally. About bloody time he was willing to wipe the stinking Daleks out again. And I don't know what first!Ten was getting all high-horsey for anyway. He's wiped out three species if you count sending the Cybermen into the Void.
I had a hard time buying the TARDIS towing the planet Earth back into it's orbit. Spaceships, yes. Planets? DW skience strikes again.
I suspected this before and now I feel it to really be true, this whole Nu!Ten with Rose thing is why there is a River Song. To give original!Ten hope that there will be love again in his future so he can give up his Rose knowing she'll likely be happy with a humanish him and that he won't be alone forever. Even if it has ended before it's begun. Too bad he had no chemistry with the actress playing her.
Little things that bothered me most: No real Jack/Rose reunion. No real Jack/Rose good-bye. No one explaining to Rose why Jack came back from the dead. Jack not hugging Donna early on. I mean, come on, the woman is gorgeous and she's stacked. He's not going to hug her or try to cop a little feel? Please! He's Jack. Of course he would. Cheesy fake regeneration. Cheesy creation of Nu!Ten without proper science to back it. No big scorch marks in the TARDIS after she was freaking on fire! Luke not getting to meet the Doctor in person.
Little moments of win: Rose and Ten asking Gwen if she was from an old Cardiff family, the Gwyneth reference I wanted. Jackie fighting beside Mickey with her own BFG and I so hope someone makes an icon of that. I might even try it myself, I want it enough. Francine underneath the table like in an earthquake drill or something when the Earth is towed back to its orbit. Wilf saying he'll search the stars every night for the Doctor. Rose pretty much saying Martha was wonderful (which she is, darn it, when they let her be) or that she liked her or whatever it was she actually said and them hugging later. The Jack and Donna hug. Martha and Jack strolling off hand in hand at the end. Mickey going to join them (and hopefully Torchwood). Not to mention the Mickey/Jack greeting and hug.
I'm really frustrated. I kind of want to bang my head against the wall. They could have done better. That's what I'm left with and I've never been left with that in a new Who finale before. And that, too, is just wrong.
SPOILERS if you click on the Cut.
For the most part I actually liked the episode until the last few minutes or so, though lots of little things bugged me. I loved it when Donna made the Daleks go spinny and how joyful it made her. I think that might have been my favorite part in the whole thing. Even more so than Donna spouting brilliantly.
I hope this means we are done with the Daleks now. I'm sick of the Daleks. Really, really sick of them. I know this is probably Who sacrilege, but I've never liked the Daleks. I've always thought they were just...stupid. *sighs* Can't believe I'm admitting that out loud, but 34 years of being a fan of Who has not changed my opinion, no matter how bling they try to make them or in the fact that they gave them the power to float. There are far more interesting villains in all the years of Who and yet...Daleks. Responsible for saving the show from certain death when it began and yadda, yadda, yadda, but...yeah, just not my thing. They're boring. They have no motivation other than if it isn't like me, kill it. They don't yearn for anything. They don't want or love or care. They just hate. And there's no reason for it. How do you identify with that kind of monster? How do you make any connection?
I was hoping something, anything in the episode would actually make me cry. I was gutted by Doomsday and by The Parting of the Ways and by the death of the Master. I thought my heart would be pulled out and stomped on and was kind of looking forward to it. It wasn't. Maybe it should have been, maybe I've been spending far too much time in my own 'verses where I can make things hurt, make myself cry, and yet still have proper happy endings.
You see, Ten, the original, not Nu!Ten, should have said he loved Rose. He should have said it out loud. Even thought Nu!Ten said it, whispered it, and he kissed her and it was all very sweet and lovely, it should have made first!Ten jealous (yes, of himself) and finally able to spit those words out. And there should have been tears then, heartache as he confessed it and pulled her away from Nu!Ten and held her tightly and kissed her properly, and then and only then should he have been forced to give her up to Nu!Ten. I wanted to see that it hurt him and I wanted to see it hurt him in front of Rose. But I didn't. Instead I saw him simply walk away from every emotion he could have or should have been feeling in this moment. Even if he'd gotten into the TARDIS and just leaned hard against the doors and let it go, I would have felt better. But the way it was done, it was hard to believe it hurt and we know it should have hurt! But I didn't get that, not then, and I'm not sure I really got it even at the end.
And I wanted Rose to rail at him for leaving her and not saying the damn words to her or I wanted Nu!Ten to have kept her from going after him, prevented it somehow in his own bit of jealousy. I wanted more. So much more. And now I'm never going to get it. Unless I write it. Or someone else does.
And Donna. Well, I'll console myself with the fact that Donna remains an integral part of the Time Eternal universe and it's just tough, canon can go and whistle. Because she's brilliant and beautiful and strong and important and one of the best Who companions I've ever seen. And making her clueless, sleeping through yet another alien thing, ticked me off because she's better than that, darn it! Donna, more than just about anyone, felt like the Doctor's family. And though she remembers nothing, all that she gained by travelling with the Doctor, all that she became, is gone. And that's just wrong. Because that woman was so much more than the sum of her parts. And I adored her. And the Doctor did, too. I'm firmly convinced of it.
I'm glad at least that Nu!Ten is supposedly like Nine. And I think I'd like to explore that aspect at some point in fanfic when it's no longer so new and I'm no longer quite so confused about what this episode feels like inside my brain and my heart. Ten emphasized the negative of that, but Nine was so much more than what he said and Rose of all people would see that and bring it out. In a way, I think Nu!Ten has a leg up because he only destroyed one species and it was not his own species, and let's face it, he made the right choice here and I think he knows it. Finally. About bloody time he was willing to wipe the stinking Daleks out again. And I don't know what first!Ten was getting all high-horsey for anyway. He's wiped out three species if you count sending the Cybermen into the Void.
I had a hard time buying the TARDIS towing the planet Earth back into it's orbit. Spaceships, yes. Planets? DW skience strikes again.
I suspected this before and now I feel it to really be true, this whole Nu!Ten with Rose thing is why there is a River Song. To give original!Ten hope that there will be love again in his future so he can give up his Rose knowing she'll likely be happy with a humanish him and that he won't be alone forever. Even if it has ended before it's begun. Too bad he had no chemistry with the actress playing her.
Little things that bothered me most: No real Jack/Rose reunion. No real Jack/Rose good-bye. No one explaining to Rose why Jack came back from the dead. Jack not hugging Donna early on. I mean, come on, the woman is gorgeous and she's stacked. He's not going to hug her or try to cop a little feel? Please! He's Jack. Of course he would. Cheesy fake regeneration. Cheesy creation of Nu!Ten without proper science to back it. No big scorch marks in the TARDIS after she was freaking on fire! Luke not getting to meet the Doctor in person.
Little moments of win: Rose and Ten asking Gwen if she was from an old Cardiff family, the Gwyneth reference I wanted. Jackie fighting beside Mickey with her own BFG and I so hope someone makes an icon of that. I might even try it myself, I want it enough. Francine underneath the table like in an earthquake drill or something when the Earth is towed back to its orbit. Wilf saying he'll search the stars every night for the Doctor. Rose pretty much saying Martha was wonderful (which she is, darn it, when they let her be) or that she liked her or whatever it was she actually said and them hugging later. The Jack and Donna hug. Martha and Jack strolling off hand in hand at the end. Mickey going to join them (and hopefully Torchwood). Not to mention the Mickey/Jack greeting and hug.
I'm really frustrated. I kind of want to bang my head against the wall. They could have done better. That's what I'm left with and I've never been left with that in a new Who finale before. And that, too, is just wrong.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-09 01:43 am (UTC)I agree with the others. I would love to see you rewrite that scene (maybe even throw in a little smut) since RTD royally screwed us over.
And what was that thing with River Song? No chemistry between the actors and the story is over before it begins. YUCK!!!
Can't wait for your next updates to Hunger Moon and You're What?
no subject
Date: 2008-07-10 11:51 pm (UTC)I will be redoing the last several minutes of the episode and then progressing into the future of new Ten and Rose, but not yet. I can't deal with it just yet.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-11 01:33 am (UTC)