unfeathered (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unfeathered) wrote2024-06-09 09:24 am
unfeathered) wrote2024-06-09 09:24 am
Rogue (Doctor Who - Disney S1.6)
I had trouble with this one and a large part of that was probably that Rogue was so very obviously a replacement for Captain Jack but (to me at least) lacking John Barrowman's charm and charisma. Whatever you think of JB himself (and I have to admit my own feelings vary from moment to moment) you have to admit that the character of Jack was incredibly complex and nuanced. I have been role playing Jack since 2009 and am still finding new things about the character to discover. Rogue… just felt very shallow in comparison. In fact, the whole episode felt very – well, "superficial" is the word that came to my mind. Perhaps that's deliberate, implying that the aliens themselves were very shallow and superficial by the way they kept wanting to switch 'costumes' (and I did enjoy the whole riff on the 'cosplay' idea, along with the twist that Ruby was actually cosplaying one of the aliens), but the whole thing with the Doctor and Rogue just felt sudden and forced and not very believable.
I don't know. Quite possibly it's because he wasn't Jack, and these were all things I would have liked to have seen with Jack. I guess actually I had a similar reaction to River originally, because she was very Jack-like, and because of that she put my back up at first. But I did eventually come to love her, and that too was because of her Jack-like qualities – her warmth and vulnerability and sexiness. Perhaps, if Rogue comes back (which surely he will) I will also come to love him. I just didn't feel the performance was strong enough?
As a side note, I haven't seen Jonathan Groff in anything apart from Hamilton, but he certainly gave a properly over-the-top performance in that so he's obviously capable of it. Plus, like JB, he's a musical theatre actor. So it ought to be there. Perhaps it is there and I was just too prejudiced to see it on this first time round. (Cue Jack's voice saying "So what you're saying is, you're prejudiced?" in my ear :-D )
I also felt we didn't get to know enough about Rogue in this one episode for the transition from bounty hunter to someone willing to sacrifice himself to save the world to feel satisfying, in the way that Jack transitioned to do exactly that by the end of The Doctor Dances. And, actually, I just realised River gets the same storyline of sacrificing herself instead of the Doctor in her first story as well! Perhaps it just works better because both of those are two-parters? Perhaps this was another thing that felt too rushed because this season is being squashed into so few episodes?
I did enjoy the idea of gay dancing and drama being the thing that saved the day (in a way). That was fun in a very Doctor Who kind of way!
Other things:
Nice to see Indira Varma in the Whoniverse again!
Loved the Doctor playing Kylie, and all the modern music played by an orchestra for dancing.
All those faces of the Doctor – was that or was that not Richard E Grant in amongst them? Was he the Shalka Doctor or the Curse of Fatal Death Doctor, or even the Great Intelligence inserting itself into the Doctor's timeline? Who knows? But I like fun little titbits like that!
Anyway. Here's to a rewatch, when I have time! And at some point I'll make some notes about 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble, both of which I very much enjoyed too…
I don't know. Quite possibly it's because he wasn't Jack, and these were all things I would have liked to have seen with Jack. I guess actually I had a similar reaction to River originally, because she was very Jack-like, and because of that she put my back up at first. But I did eventually come to love her, and that too was because of her Jack-like qualities – her warmth and vulnerability and sexiness. Perhaps, if Rogue comes back (which surely he will) I will also come to love him. I just didn't feel the performance was strong enough?
As a side note, I haven't seen Jonathan Groff in anything apart from Hamilton, but he certainly gave a properly over-the-top performance in that so he's obviously capable of it. Plus, like JB, he's a musical theatre actor. So it ought to be there. Perhaps it is there and I was just too prejudiced to see it on this first time round. (Cue Jack's voice saying "So what you're saying is, you're prejudiced?" in my ear :-D )
I also felt we didn't get to know enough about Rogue in this one episode for the transition from bounty hunter to someone willing to sacrifice himself to save the world to feel satisfying, in the way that Jack transitioned to do exactly that by the end of The Doctor Dances. And, actually, I just realised River gets the same storyline of sacrificing herself instead of the Doctor in her first story as well! Perhaps it just works better because both of those are two-parters? Perhaps this was another thing that felt too rushed because this season is being squashed into so few episodes?
I did enjoy the idea of gay dancing and drama being the thing that saved the day (in a way). That was fun in a very Doctor Who kind of way!
Other things:
Nice to see Indira Varma in the Whoniverse again!
Loved the Doctor playing Kylie, and all the modern music played by an orchestra for dancing.
All those faces of the Doctor – was that or was that not Richard E Grant in amongst them? Was he the Shalka Doctor or the Curse of Fatal Death Doctor, or even the Great Intelligence inserting itself into the Doctor's timeline? Who knows? But I like fun little titbits like that!
Anyway. Here's to a rewatch, when I have time! And at some point I'll make some notes about 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble, both of which I very much enjoyed too…
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I haven't watched it yet, but I feel you so much on that!
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Still, yes, exactly. I think there are probably quite a few of us who feel this way, especially those of us on Dreamwidth who tend to be the older fans from the RTD1 era! I'm sure most newer/younger viewers don't have these qualms :-D
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Yeah, I'm sure we're not the only ones feeling like that! Might change depending on where they go with Rogue (if they're going anywhere), but for now ... I wanted JACK, dammit.
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Yes of course, please do! :-)
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