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Wrote this last week and keep forgetting to post it!
Well, this certainly is an epic season finale! Thousands of Daleks, the horror of Daleks made out of humans, the horror of the Doctor having to kill everyone – on earth as well as the Game Station, the angst of poor Rose being sent back home to safety, the heroics of Jack and the Doctor willing to die for the cause, golden-eyed Rose atomising all the Daleks and reviving Jack, the TARDIS leaving without him, the Doctor regenerating… Could RTD possibly get any more into one episode?
Possibly too much, I have to admit. All the hordes of Daleks just don't scare me (they just look even more like pepperpots than ever); it's the individual ones who do, like the scene with Lynda in the observation room near the end –one Dalek producing a blowtorch, and then three appearing outside the window. Likewise, the Dalek Emperor doesn't do it for me either, because he doesn't look like a Dalek. Daleks are scary because you can't see inside, because you can't see their faces. I did like the idea of the human parts of them driving them mad, though. And the Emperor as God.
Oh, and more confusion on the 'removed from time and space' thing – Roderick (Rose's 'friend' from The Weakest Link) has heard of Daleks too. "They disappeared thousands of years ago," he says. Hmm.
And a kind of explanation about the timeline crossing: Rose asks why they can't just go back to last week and the Doctor explains that "as soon as the TARDIS lands it becomes part of events, stuck in the timeline." Which doesn't actually explain anything. It didn't get stuck in Father's Day, did it? On the other hand, I did quite like his ruse of pretending he could use the timeline-crossing thing to trick Rose into staying in the TARDIS so he could get her out of there.
I also still don't really get the Bad Wolf thing. OK, Rose explains that she scatters the words across time to tell herself to return to the Doctor. But I don't get how she knows that's what it means. I mean, why not leave herself a message like "Go back to the Doctor!" or something a bit clearer?
Also, Rose telling Jackie about her meeting Pete felt very shoe-horned in. She didn't really need to tell her about that, just to convince her that Pete would have helped! It just felt like RTD wanted yet another angsty moment in there, as if there weren't enough already!
Anyway, the things I like:
I like the TARDIS materialising round Rose in the Dalek ship. And Rose being the first to say she never doubted the Doctor (which I've never seen quoted, unlike the Jack quote – has everyone else forgotten she says it too, or is it just that I avoid Rose fics like the plague? *g*).
The Doctor's face as he realises the Time Lords all died for nothing – brilliant acting from Christopher Eccleston throughout.
Rose's look at Lynda when she realises she's got companion-competition. Jack kissing everyone goodbye – good old Jack! Jack's speech to the folks on Floor 0 – very cool.
TheEMH Emergency Programme One Doctor was fun. And I love the way all the shots of Rose alone in the TARDIS make it look very big, without the Doctor – cleverly done.
The chilling three-way conversation between Jack, the Doctor and the Dalek Emperor. Jack accepting he's going to die. The Emperor's "If I am God, the creator of all things, what does that make you, Doctor?" The Doctor's "Die as a human or live as a Dalek?" Jack's "Never doubted him, never will."
Rose trying to understand how she could possibly fit back into her old life, and her "There's nothing left for me here" – poor Mickey! And he still stands by her and helps her get the TARDIS panel open! What a guy – he's kind of her Jack! :-)
Jack using the Anne-Droid to kill the Daleks – very cool. A Dalek going "I cannot see!" (my brother and I used to quote that to each other all the time when we were little, though I have no idea which episode(s) it comes from originally!)
Rose using the Time Vortex to atomise all the Daleks felt a bit deus ex machine (I think I'd have quite liked the Doctor to have to deal with having killed everyone on earth as well as Gallifrey!), but I did like her "My head is killing me" and the Doctor's "I think you need a Doctor. And a nice chaste little kiss for no purpose other than to absorb the Time Vortex. And the fact she doesn't remember any of it – or Jack being revived, presumably! Poor Jack! Left with a pile of his own ashes – and his face when he sees the TARDIS leaving… no wonder he leaps and clings to it the next time it does that!
And the regeneration – bit confusing, the Doctor's sorrow that he won't be with Rose again "like this" – he's still the same person, with the same memories, isn't he? And doesn't David Tennant look young???
So. Lots in this episode: some good, some bad. Unfortunately, quantity doesn't necessary equal quality, a lesson I think RTD needs to learn some time.
8/10
Just wanted to add, for anyone who's reading Master Plan, there's a close-up of Jack near the end when he gets cornered by the Daleks, has used up both his guns, and knows it's the end – it's just his face but he's doing his slightly belligerent chin up thing, and it's exactly what I was picturing for that description of when the Master has that chain round his neck in Part 5. Just wanted to share that! :-)
Well, this certainly is an epic season finale! Thousands of Daleks, the horror of Daleks made out of humans, the horror of the Doctor having to kill everyone – on earth as well as the Game Station, the angst of poor Rose being sent back home to safety, the heroics of Jack and the Doctor willing to die for the cause, golden-eyed Rose atomising all the Daleks and reviving Jack, the TARDIS leaving without him, the Doctor regenerating… Could RTD possibly get any more into one episode?
Possibly too much, I have to admit. All the hordes of Daleks just don't scare me (they just look even more like pepperpots than ever); it's the individual ones who do, like the scene with Lynda in the observation room near the end –one Dalek producing a blowtorch, and then three appearing outside the window. Likewise, the Dalek Emperor doesn't do it for me either, because he doesn't look like a Dalek. Daleks are scary because you can't see inside, because you can't see their faces. I did like the idea of the human parts of them driving them mad, though. And the Emperor as God.
Oh, and more confusion on the 'removed from time and space' thing – Roderick (Rose's 'friend' from The Weakest Link) has heard of Daleks too. "They disappeared thousands of years ago," he says. Hmm.
And a kind of explanation about the timeline crossing: Rose asks why they can't just go back to last week and the Doctor explains that "as soon as the TARDIS lands it becomes part of events, stuck in the timeline." Which doesn't actually explain anything. It didn't get stuck in Father's Day, did it? On the other hand, I did quite like his ruse of pretending he could use the timeline-crossing thing to trick Rose into staying in the TARDIS so he could get her out of there.
I also still don't really get the Bad Wolf thing. OK, Rose explains that she scatters the words across time to tell herself to return to the Doctor. But I don't get how she knows that's what it means. I mean, why not leave herself a message like "Go back to the Doctor!" or something a bit clearer?
Also, Rose telling Jackie about her meeting Pete felt very shoe-horned in. She didn't really need to tell her about that, just to convince her that Pete would have helped! It just felt like RTD wanted yet another angsty moment in there, as if there weren't enough already!
Anyway, the things I like:
I like the TARDIS materialising round Rose in the Dalek ship. And Rose being the first to say she never doubted the Doctor (which I've never seen quoted, unlike the Jack quote – has everyone else forgotten she says it too, or is it just that I avoid Rose fics like the plague? *g*).
The Doctor's face as he realises the Time Lords all died for nothing – brilliant acting from Christopher Eccleston throughout.
Rose's look at Lynda when she realises she's got companion-competition. Jack kissing everyone goodbye – good old Jack! Jack's speech to the folks on Floor 0 – very cool.
The
The chilling three-way conversation between Jack, the Doctor and the Dalek Emperor. Jack accepting he's going to die. The Emperor's "If I am God, the creator of all things, what does that make you, Doctor?" The Doctor's "Die as a human or live as a Dalek?" Jack's "Never doubted him, never will."
Rose trying to understand how she could possibly fit back into her old life, and her "There's nothing left for me here" – poor Mickey! And he still stands by her and helps her get the TARDIS panel open! What a guy – he's kind of her Jack! :-)
Jack using the Anne-Droid to kill the Daleks – very cool. A Dalek going "I cannot see!" (my brother and I used to quote that to each other all the time when we were little, though I have no idea which episode(s) it comes from originally!)
Rose using the Time Vortex to atomise all the Daleks felt a bit deus ex machine (I think I'd have quite liked the Doctor to have to deal with having killed everyone on earth as well as Gallifrey!), but I did like her "My head is killing me" and the Doctor's "I think you need a Doctor. And a nice chaste little kiss for no purpose other than to absorb the Time Vortex. And the fact she doesn't remember any of it – or Jack being revived, presumably! Poor Jack! Left with a pile of his own ashes – and his face when he sees the TARDIS leaving… no wonder he leaps and clings to it the next time it does that!
And the regeneration – bit confusing, the Doctor's sorrow that he won't be with Rose again "like this" – he's still the same person, with the same memories, isn't he? And doesn't David Tennant look young???
So. Lots in this episode: some good, some bad. Unfortunately, quantity doesn't necessary equal quality, a lesson I think RTD needs to learn some time.
8/10
Just wanted to add, for anyone who's reading Master Plan, there's a close-up of Jack near the end when he gets cornered by the Daleks, has used up both his guns, and knows it's the end – it's just his face but he's doing his slightly belligerent chin up thing, and it's exactly what I was picturing for that description of when the Master has that chain round his neck in Part 5. Just wanted to share that! :-)
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I agree that, as a fleet, Daleks are not scary. And, frankly, their voices give me headaches.
The 'Bad wolf' thing... It had to be something simple that could be woven in easily and not horribly noticeably. It shows up a LOT through the series, as graffiti in two episodes, as the chopper in "dalek" as Margaret's powerplant in "Boom Town", etc, etc....
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You may very well be right... I just thought it was meant to be like the pile of 'Rose' ash in the previous episode - she wasn't really dead then, and now here's just arisen from the dead. But from the position of the ash, yeah, it's more likely to be the Daleks.
How can you not love Dalek voices????
I know the Bad Wolf thing shows up before - I made a special point of noticing it this time round - but I still don't 'get' it. If all it was was a message from Rose to herself to tell herself it was OK to force open the TARDIS and go and get the Doctor... I mean, I think she'd have done that anyway. Without any message at all.
And I maintain it would have been a more wrenching climax to have the Doctor kill everyone on earth like he'd killed all the Time Lords. *g*
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re: Bad wolf, I dunno. It was contrived, but not implausable.
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It's recursion(sp) she can only send it out as a message to herself because she's already interpreted it as a message to herself...
Am I still the only person who has problems with believing Jack was the only person she brought back to life?
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Am I still the only person who has problems with believing Jack was the only person she brought back to life?
I actually never thought of that...!
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Of course, I couldn't remember much about the episode till just recently, so that's my excuse. *g*
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So you just happily went along with the flow, hey? :D
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