unfeathered (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unfeathered) wrote2023-12-29 12:06 pm
unfeathered) wrote2023-12-29 12:06 pm
Rewatch: Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle (DW 14.2 & 14.3)
A few more notes from my respective rewatches of these two episodes.
Wild Blue Yonder rewatch
Contrary to what I’ve seen from most people, I wasn’t quite as blown away by this on second viewing, but I still really enjoyed it. If nothing else (and there was plenty else) it’s a fantastic showcase for the acting skills of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and for their obvious friendship and the wonderful way they work together.
This is a mostly random list of things that popped into my head whilst watching.
I’d never heard of the song before and by the sound of it neither had many other people, so it seems an odd thing to make so prominent in the episode. Still haven’t seen anything explaining what the point of that was, unless it really was just the jolly song/ war song, "two things being true at the same time" thing.
If the captain was a horse-type creature, assuming she’s the same species that built the ship, then why was there a captain’s chair and why would their language work in base 10? As far as I’m aware, we use base 10 because we have ten fingers, and ten toes. Or do horses have 5 toes on each hoof too?
Why is the ship so huge? Wouldn’t that be ridiculously expensive to build and maintain?
The TARDIS running to the edge of the universe feels very reminiscent of her running to the end of the universe to get away from Jack.
Mavity – it’s not the Doctor, just Donna. He gives her a funny look the first time she says mavity, and then says gravity himself, amending it to mavity for her. Is it *just* Donna (because she was there when history changed) or is it the whole of the human race now?
Loved the visuals of the Doctor literally dragging his knuckles along the floor.
Apparently only half the universe was destroyed by the Flux. Sure seemed like more than that at the time!
The believing two things at once thing confused me somewhat. As did the whole thing with the salt. The Doctor explained it as having to believe that something was both a superstition and true, which is fine, but why did that make fake Donna try and count the salt, and why did she then stop? Also, why would ‘invoking a superstition’ at the edge of the universe be a bad thing? (Later note: apparently this is what let the Toymaker in, but I don't really get why.)
The copies were both incredibly creepy, and I definitely saw the similarities with Midnight this time round. I also found it interesting that when they weren’t pretending to be the real Doctor and Donna, the copies both spoke with a ‘posher’ accent. Not hugely different, but perhaps a nod to all those classic well-spoken British villains (not just in DW)?
The copy Doctor cheating by running on all fours down the corridor was fun, as was the Doctor scooting the TARDIS along to get to Donna. Picking up the wrong Donna was incredibly scary, especially the first time around, as I could really believe RTD would leave her behind and just leave us with the copy! Loved the entry ramp in the TARDIS flipping up and turning into a slide to eject her!
All the good conversations that the Doctor and Donna each had in this episode were with their copies, not with each other. It’s so sad that they never got to have these conversations with *each other*. I was particularly intrigued when they started talking at the end and Donna said she couldn’t remember what she’d picked up about the Doctor’s time since she last saw him. Was she lying? Was it actually just too bad to think about, rather than being too big for her human head?
I though this exchange was interesting in the light of what happens at the end of the next episode: “You OK?” “I will be.” “When?” “A million years.” I wonder if it’ll actually take him a million years in retirement as Fourteen to be OK? :-)
The Giggle rewatch
Again, just notes I made during my rewatch:
I feel it’s a shame they couldn’t work the John Logie Baird connection in to last year’s BBC centenary episode instead – that would have been a great thing to reference there!
I thought the shot of the TARDIS being airlifted by UNIT was a nice callback to the same thing happening in the 50th anniversary episode.
I didn't get why they had to take out the Korean satellite and risk international complications. Surely they could have taken out any British satellite to break the 'circuit' of satellites covering the whole world?
I liked the fact that they made use of Mel's knowledge of computers, and Donna's fast typing.
This time around I was much more aware of how fake the Toymaker's German accent and word usage was, and that he almost completely loses his accent at points when talking to the Doctor. Presumably because he gets absorbed in the game of it all and forgets to put on the accent/character he's built up.
I liked the Doctor's bit about the fact that the universe is not binary (tying back to the binary stuff in The Star Beast) – there's order and chaos AND play. I don't know, I just liked that idea!
When they were playing catch, did anyone else feel there should have been some sort of reference to the Fifth Doctor and his cricket skills? Like in Human Nature?
I bet Shaun's mix-up with the vegan food at the end annoyed a few vegans! Not really PC in this day and age to make a joke about vegans mistakenly eating meat, surely?
TARDIS wheelchair ramp: second viewing confirms this is on the 'copy' TARDIS which Fifteen eventually took possession of, but of course there's no reason why Fourteen's TARDIS shouldn't discover it's got one too. They seem to be identical in most ways, after all, barring the jukebox!
The pacing of the episode was a bit odd. Some bits seemed to drag a bit (e.g. the Doctor and Donna opening door after door in the Toymaker’s realm) and others seemed implausibly fast (e.g. Shirley finding Stooky Bill online REALLY quickly, and the Doctor making a whole lot of assumptions and connections really quickly without, I felt, much to go on). And I think this was why I came out of my initial viewing without remembering much about the Toymaker, because yes he was actually there for a lot of the episode, but there was a whole big section after he was defeated which was just about the two Doctors. Which actually isn't unusual for a big episode so fair enough.
I've read various theories about whether the bigeneration produced a new 'Slayer' line through Fourteen or whether when he eventually regenerates Fourteen will get pulled back to the moment of bigeneration to emerge as Fifteen. On rewatch, I believe the latter is what's intended but it could well be changed by the time we get to that point (if in fact it's ever clarified at all). I guess for the general viewing public it really doesn't matter and leaving it vague allows the showrunners to go in whichever direction they want to. It's only as a writer that I'd like to know one way or the other…
As for The Church on Ruby Road, I absolutely loved it and the new Doctor and companion! Review to come when I've had a chance to sit and watch it again properly.
P.S. I need some Fifteen icons!!
Wild Blue Yonder rewatch
Contrary to what I’ve seen from most people, I wasn’t quite as blown away by this on second viewing, but I still really enjoyed it. If nothing else (and there was plenty else) it’s a fantastic showcase for the acting skills of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and for their obvious friendship and the wonderful way they work together.
This is a mostly random list of things that popped into my head whilst watching.
I’d never heard of the song before and by the sound of it neither had many other people, so it seems an odd thing to make so prominent in the episode. Still haven’t seen anything explaining what the point of that was, unless it really was just the jolly song/ war song, "two things being true at the same time" thing.
If the captain was a horse-type creature, assuming she’s the same species that built the ship, then why was there a captain’s chair and why would their language work in base 10? As far as I’m aware, we use base 10 because we have ten fingers, and ten toes. Or do horses have 5 toes on each hoof too?
Why is the ship so huge? Wouldn’t that be ridiculously expensive to build and maintain?
The TARDIS running to the edge of the universe feels very reminiscent of her running to the end of the universe to get away from Jack.
Mavity – it’s not the Doctor, just Donna. He gives her a funny look the first time she says mavity, and then says gravity himself, amending it to mavity for her. Is it *just* Donna (because she was there when history changed) or is it the whole of the human race now?
Loved the visuals of the Doctor literally dragging his knuckles along the floor.
Apparently only half the universe was destroyed by the Flux. Sure seemed like more than that at the time!
The believing two things at once thing confused me somewhat. As did the whole thing with the salt. The Doctor explained it as having to believe that something was both a superstition and true, which is fine, but why did that make fake Donna try and count the salt, and why did she then stop? Also, why would ‘invoking a superstition’ at the edge of the universe be a bad thing? (Later note: apparently this is what let the Toymaker in, but I don't really get why.)
The copies were both incredibly creepy, and I definitely saw the similarities with Midnight this time round. I also found it interesting that when they weren’t pretending to be the real Doctor and Donna, the copies both spoke with a ‘posher’ accent. Not hugely different, but perhaps a nod to all those classic well-spoken British villains (not just in DW)?
The copy Doctor cheating by running on all fours down the corridor was fun, as was the Doctor scooting the TARDIS along to get to Donna. Picking up the wrong Donna was incredibly scary, especially the first time around, as I could really believe RTD would leave her behind and just leave us with the copy! Loved the entry ramp in the TARDIS flipping up and turning into a slide to eject her!
All the good conversations that the Doctor and Donna each had in this episode were with their copies, not with each other. It’s so sad that they never got to have these conversations with *each other*. I was particularly intrigued when they started talking at the end and Donna said she couldn’t remember what she’d picked up about the Doctor’s time since she last saw him. Was she lying? Was it actually just too bad to think about, rather than being too big for her human head?
I though this exchange was interesting in the light of what happens at the end of the next episode: “You OK?” “I will be.” “When?” “A million years.” I wonder if it’ll actually take him a million years in retirement as Fourteen to be OK? :-)
The Giggle rewatch
Again, just notes I made during my rewatch:
I feel it’s a shame they couldn’t work the John Logie Baird connection in to last year’s BBC centenary episode instead – that would have been a great thing to reference there!
I thought the shot of the TARDIS being airlifted by UNIT was a nice callback to the same thing happening in the 50th anniversary episode.
I didn't get why they had to take out the Korean satellite and risk international complications. Surely they could have taken out any British satellite to break the 'circuit' of satellites covering the whole world?
I liked the fact that they made use of Mel's knowledge of computers, and Donna's fast typing.
This time around I was much more aware of how fake the Toymaker's German accent and word usage was, and that he almost completely loses his accent at points when talking to the Doctor. Presumably because he gets absorbed in the game of it all and forgets to put on the accent/character he's built up.
I liked the Doctor's bit about the fact that the universe is not binary (tying back to the binary stuff in The Star Beast) – there's order and chaos AND play. I don't know, I just liked that idea!
When they were playing catch, did anyone else feel there should have been some sort of reference to the Fifth Doctor and his cricket skills? Like in Human Nature?
I bet Shaun's mix-up with the vegan food at the end annoyed a few vegans! Not really PC in this day and age to make a joke about vegans mistakenly eating meat, surely?
TARDIS wheelchair ramp: second viewing confirms this is on the 'copy' TARDIS which Fifteen eventually took possession of, but of course there's no reason why Fourteen's TARDIS shouldn't discover it's got one too. They seem to be identical in most ways, after all, barring the jukebox!
The pacing of the episode was a bit odd. Some bits seemed to drag a bit (e.g. the Doctor and Donna opening door after door in the Toymaker’s realm) and others seemed implausibly fast (e.g. Shirley finding Stooky Bill online REALLY quickly, and the Doctor making a whole lot of assumptions and connections really quickly without, I felt, much to go on). And I think this was why I came out of my initial viewing without remembering much about the Toymaker, because yes he was actually there for a lot of the episode, but there was a whole big section after he was defeated which was just about the two Doctors. Which actually isn't unusual for a big episode so fair enough.
I've read various theories about whether the bigeneration produced a new 'Slayer' line through Fourteen or whether when he eventually regenerates Fourteen will get pulled back to the moment of bigeneration to emerge as Fifteen. On rewatch, I believe the latter is what's intended but it could well be changed by the time we get to that point (if in fact it's ever clarified at all). I guess for the general viewing public it really doesn't matter and leaving it vague allows the showrunners to go in whichever direction they want to. It's only as a writer that I'd like to know one way or the other…
As for The Church on Ruby Road, I absolutely loved it and the new Doctor and companion! Review to come when I've had a chance to sit and watch it again properly.
P.S. I need some Fifteen icons!!