All the cool kids are doing it
Apr. 29th, 2007 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalleahSince all the cool kids are doing it -- my brilliant observations on Evolution of the Daleks.
Solomon actually said "Respect my authority." Apparently Helen Raynor's never watched South Park. Unfortunate. And I so liked him in the last episode. As it was ... I wasn't sorry to see him go, just sorry for Frank and the look on the Doctor's face to see the inevitable carried out.
I don't think the Doctor was bluffing. Maybe he thought there was a chance, but it wasn't his usual self-assured bravado. He assessed what odds there were and thought maybe 50-50. When Martha asked to go with him, he was pretty cold to her -- granted, he knew that she could genuinely help the people who needed medical care. He might have given her the psychic paper as part of his impromptu plan, but she was very much an afterthought. I thought she had a good right to be quite pissed off.
The Doctor actually grew to respect Sec in a way, and it was a credit to both Raynor's writing and Tennant's acting that I didn't laugh them both out of the room. His aside to Lazlo made his thought process pretty clear to me -- he was working, in a quiet way, to destroy the race that had caused so much death and chaos across time, through change rather than more killing. In a way, this solution is much more the Doctor's style than to kill, even to kill a Dalek. But, he seemed so surprised, despite his earlier Significant Looks given to the other Daleks that they would disobey Sec. This was not a big shocker to me, and I am not a genius. However, I'm also not deluding myself that the greatest enemy in all of space and time could be (somewhat) peacefully assimilated into the general culture.
I still love Tallulah. Without being bitchy about it, she put Martha quite squarely in her place about her Doctor!emo. Basically, "talk to me when you have some real problems." I did like Martha much more in this episode than I had previously, but a lot of it was feeling sorry for her, and I don't want to go there. She and Tallulah were a great team working on the blueprint puzzle, and her idea about the giant lightning-rod-cum-pig-cooker was excellent. Martha also had a beautiful moment of self-doubt and guilt over the death of the pig men, even though she didn't have a choice. Her regret was genuine and completely understandable for it.
When the hybrids were killed, I ached all over again for the Doctor. I had been reminded of the creation of the new species on New Earth and his joy at that new beginning -- and then seeing that hope eliminated all over again was truly terrible. His offer to the last Dalek standing was so .... I can't even describe. Tennant was brilliant in that scene, all physical casualness masking such a brittle interior. I got misty.
Ultimately, he's given even the Daleks, his greatest enemy, second chances, and more than one of them. And he saved Lazlo, thank God for small favors. If Lazlo had died (which I am glad he did not), I think Tallulah would have come with the Doctor and Martha. The Doctor got to have his "at least somebody lived" moment, which while not as grand and moving as the "everybody lives!" joy of The Doctor Dances, ended the episode on a somewhat optimistic note.
In summary ... This wasn't my favorite episode, but it had some good moments in it, and I had the first stirrings of some affection for Martha. I suppose I need not even say this with the audience in question, but David Tennant is a hell of an actor.
And I miss Rose.
I don't think the Doctor was bluffing. Maybe he thought there was a chance, but it wasn't his usual self-assured bravado. He assessed what odds there were and thought maybe 50-50. When Martha asked to go with him, he was pretty cold to her -- granted, he knew that she could genuinely help the people who needed medical care. He might have given her the psychic paper as part of his impromptu plan, but she was very much an afterthought. I thought she had a good right to be quite pissed off.
The Doctor actually grew to respect Sec in a way, and it was a credit to both Raynor's writing and Tennant's acting that I didn't laugh them both out of the room. His aside to Lazlo made his thought process pretty clear to me -- he was working, in a quiet way, to destroy the race that had caused so much death and chaos across time, through change rather than more killing. In a way, this solution is much more the Doctor's style than to kill, even to kill a Dalek. But, he seemed so surprised, despite his earlier Significant Looks given to the other Daleks that they would disobey Sec. This was not a big shocker to me, and I am not a genius. However, I'm also not deluding myself that the greatest enemy in all of space and time could be (somewhat) peacefully assimilated into the general culture.
I still love Tallulah. Without being bitchy about it, she put Martha quite squarely in her place about her Doctor!emo. Basically, "talk to me when you have some real problems." I did like Martha much more in this episode than I had previously, but a lot of it was feeling sorry for her, and I don't want to go there. She and Tallulah were a great team working on the blueprint puzzle, and her idea about the giant lightning-rod-cum-pig-cooker was excellent. Martha also had a beautiful moment of self-doubt and guilt over the death of the pig men, even though she didn't have a choice. Her regret was genuine and completely understandable for it.
When the hybrids were killed, I ached all over again for the Doctor. I had been reminded of the creation of the new species on New Earth and his joy at that new beginning -- and then seeing that hope eliminated all over again was truly terrible. His offer to the last Dalek standing was so .... I can't even describe. Tennant was brilliant in that scene, all physical casualness masking such a brittle interior. I got misty.
Ultimately, he's given even the Daleks, his greatest enemy, second chances, and more than one of them. And he saved Lazlo, thank God for small favors. If Lazlo had died (which I am glad he did not), I think Tallulah would have come with the Doctor and Martha. The Doctor got to have his "at least somebody lived" moment, which while not as grand and moving as the "everybody lives!" joy of The Doctor Dances, ended the episode on a somewhat optimistic note.
In summary ... This wasn't my favorite episode, but it had some good moments in it, and I had the first stirrings of some affection for Martha. I suppose I need not even say this with the audience in question, but David Tennant is a hell of an actor.
And I miss Rose.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 03:06 pm (UTC)That bit totally cracked me up and I immediately *lost* respect for him.
I don't think the Doctor was bluffing.
I don't think he was either, which made that scene absolutely heart wrenching.
Without being bitchy about it, she put Martha quite squarely in her place about her Doctor!emo. Basically, "talk to me when you have some real problems."
I lovelovelove her for that. She has consistently shown how to be a strong, forward, challenging companion without being an uber-bitch. I so wish we could trade Martha for Tallulah. *sobs*
All in all, it was "Meh" for me. I don't know if you've read mine or not yet but I really like the acting and characterization but the plot completely lost me. It had more holes than swiss cheese. Oh well, next week is DT in a tux! *Squee!*
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-30 06:00 am (UTC)Some of this stuf reminds me of Trek and all their "time paradox jumping around episodes"lol
no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 12:29 am (UTC)Here's my Big Grain of Salt for any comment about something being the "last" of anything.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 08:24 pm (UTC)It was Dalek Caan at the end disappearing... instinctively, I invoked my inner Shatner and yelled "Khaaaaaan!"
;)
All in all, though, I thought it was a decent episode. Definitely saved the two parter after a slow ep last week. And Tennant's underplay was absolutely fantastic.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 08:30 pm (UTC)Any time you have instincts that involve channeling Shatner ... oh, my. I worry.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 08:38 pm (UTC)OMG! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY DORK WHO DID THAT!
It's so good to know there are like-minded folks out there.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-30 05:51 am (UTC)KHAAAAAAAAANNNNN
I can STILL hear Shatner hollering!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 08:54 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I can respect Raynor's writing tho. Some of the dialogue was god-awful. And the Daleks were horrendously out of character, gossiping in the sewers. sure it was funny, but wtf. lol
I like Tallulah a lot, and I'm glad she got to be happy in the end. Or at least as happy as one can be with pig man as husband hehe.
The no hug time nao part made me very happy lol. It was very amusing....seemed like there was lots of time for hugs last season heh.
Oh and poor doctor, so emo. At least hes cute while hes emo lolz.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 09:00 pm (UTC)He's got these ... well, we'll call them tentacles for the sake of argument ... and he's chained up. It's not Star Trek, it's Star Wars. He's a combination of Jabba the Hutt slave dancers Oola (http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/oola/img/eu_bg.jpg) and Princess Leia (http://starwars.ugo.com/images/girls/starwars_carriefisher/starwars_carriefisher_3.jpg).
no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 09:49 pm (UTC)Actually, he looks a bit like Davy Jones (http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/Davy-Jones-After.jpg) from Pirates of the Caribbean, too.
I'm just happy that some alien or another actually had tentacles.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-30 01:24 am (UTC)I like it, but it happened so fast, and with so little discussion, that I was waiting for his real agenda to come out through the whole thing. (Though, to be fair, I shouldn't complain when they decline to get anvillicious about something.) It seems like a little more uncertainty -- and distrust of Sec -- might have been in order, but the script was rushing them along. The Doctor's taking a debatably-stable hybrid Dalek's word for a lot of things, and I can't believe he wouldn't be a bit more outraged about the thousand bodies.
But I am glad that he can't genocide the Daleks (yet again). He can't keep destroying races and remain sane, and at some point the back and forth between him and the Daleks did need somebody to break the cycle. Offering Caan a second chance -- who knows what it was, but something -- felt appropriate. As did the refusal. I'm a little unhappy that we're down, again, to The Last Dalek, and so more handwaving will need to ensue for there to be an appropriately big threat next time they want to bring the Daleks out. OTOH, I don't want a lot of Daleks back, either; I came to really appreciate the whole angstful premise of the new series, that the Doctor had wiped out the Daleks and Time Lords both, and I'm not crazy about Daleks (or Time Lords) popping up to say, "Well, but not really."
I don't think the Doctor was bluffing.
Me neither. If he were sure it would work out okay, it wouldn't have been half as wrenching. RTD has said this season isn't really all that dark, and I suppose there are shiny things for the kids, but the Doctor is not the stablest person in the universe. Which is why I'm really nervous about what's going to happen with Martha and how Human Nature is going to come about. Going into the season, I thought it would be frustrating to take until the halfway mark to resolve some of these things, but Tennant's so damned good at it, and it's been pretty compelling to watch even when I'm not thrilled with some elements of the stories.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 12:22 am (UTC)The Doctor's taking a debatably-stable hybrid Dalek's word for a lot of things, and I can't believe he wouldn't be a bit more outraged about the thousand bodies.
True ... and true ... that did cross my mind. A small flashback to New Earth and the "Rose would care" comment.
I'm not crazy about Daleks (or Time Lords) popping up to say, "Well, but not really."
Me, neither ... and I like your comment that someone needed to break the cycle. There had to be an olive branch at some point, and you can make the argument that it was Sec, not the Doctor, who first offered it here.
the Doctor is not the stablest person in the universe
Understatement of the century. He is perhaps less stable now than he was as Nine. Yikes.