kalleah: (critic)
kalleah ([personal profile] kalleah) wrote2007-06-30 09:19 pm
Entry tags:

Last of the Time Lords

I'll cut everything except my excessive relief at finally having seen it.  :)

Hmm.

I think I liked it, but I'm not entirely sure.  Let me mull over my response in handy bulleted format.

  • WTF was with the creepy chibi!Doctor?  I felt the overwhelming urge to smack Uncle Rusty on the snout with a rolled up newspaper and say "no" in a firm voice.
  • John Simm was wonderful although not as cool as the last episode ... but really, he so completely rocked in the last one that I can't fault him for that.
  • WTF with Lucy?  I got that she went batty, but why shoot him?  I mean, someone clearly needed to.  The Master as the Doctor's pet in the TARDIS is too squicky for words.  Now, there's a case to be made for Doctor/Master.  I'm not entirely opposed to that, either, but it seems like keeping the Master caged up in the TARDIS is a lot like what the Master did to him.
  • I loved, loved, loved the Master's death scene.  Tennant is a superb actor and I just ached for him being all alone, again.
  • Yes, the funeral pyre was a little Return of the Jedi.  No Ewoks though.  Look on the bright side.
  • The woman's hand picking up the ring was a little wrinkly.  I don't think it's Lucy.
  • I do love how they undid the Toclafane's arrival and still had Martha et all remembering what happened.  It would be a damn shame for the Joneses and Jack to go through that and then just forget.  The population of the Earth?  As usual, better off not knowing.
  • Jack as the Face of Boe?  WTF?  (I seem to be saying that a fair bit.)  One assumes that as a time traveler that he'd have heard of the Face of Boe.  Seems like a weird thing for him to toss out then, but I guess it does answer the "does Jack die" question.  He dies in the year five billion as a big head in a jar with no penis.  (One assumes.)  I suspect for Jack, the whole lack of a penis thing is more awful than the whole unable to die thing.
  • The Doctor invited Jack along.  Yay.  And of course he messed with the vortex manipulator.  He had to.
  • Rose moment.  The Doctor didn't say "second best to whom?" either.  He's just rude enough to say that, too, if he didn't already know.
  • The HMS Titanic busts through the wall of the TARDIS?  I guess a really big-ass boat is stronger than the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan.
I want to watch the Confidential, but I can at least get through for a day or so until I do so.

[identity profile] misssara11.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh how you had me laughing. The Jack thing is funny because it's true.

I loved that the Doctor didn't bother denying that she was second best. And it still leaves a bit of Rose-angst there.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
Poor Jack. It's a fate worse than not-death.
platypus: (Default)

[personal profile] platypus 2007-07-01 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
I would love to know what RTD was thinking. You've got Tennant and Simm, who are fantastic together, and so you bend over backwards finding ways to remove Tennant from the equation? WTF? Like the potatohead wasn't bad enough.

There was an awful lot of creepy and/or weird in this one. There were bits of awesome, like the death scene, but I'm left with the nagging feeling that more should have been accomplished. I like my Doctor with a side of angst, but are we ever, ever going to see him traveling with a companion and they're friends and it's okay? I don't think "Rose ruined him for everybody" is a very satisfying long-term solution.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
You've got Tennant and Simm, who are fantastic together, and so you bend over backwards finding ways to remove Tennant from the equation?

Exactly ... Tennant has the most expressive face, and doing away with that is really too bad. He did emote with the eyes as Old Doctor #1 but CGIing him completely was a damn shame.

I don't think "Rose ruined him for everybody" is a very satisfying long-term solution.

Well, to defend RTD on that point, we've really only seen two companions (if you count Donna, which I do) and only one of them had any romantic angst. Donna traveled with him for a (brief) while, and they became friends in the end.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
And as a side note, I liked Donna.
platypus: (Default)

[personal profile] platypus 2007-07-01 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
I liked Donna too. I just don't get this whole arc. Why come out of TRB and write somebody with whom he can't really have a workable friendship, and make us watch it all year? Why keep at it with the "he doesn't really want to bond with her, she wants something he can't deliver, in the end neither of them is happy"? He unbent a bit after a while, but it just never felt all that solid, not when they kept pushing the crush. There were about five minutes in 42 where it felt like the Doctor and his companion were having adventures, and I miss that dynamic a lot. I don't know what they're going to do about a steady companion next year, but it almost feels as though they... tried and failed to write one this year? That makes me uneasy. They need to get attached to him, he needs to get attached to them. It doesn't have to be romantic to be meaningful. And you're right, they have managed to do a companion without the emotional angst, so why couldn't they do it again?

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
It doesn't have to be romantic to be meaningful.

Absolutely. It's a bit frustrating to have a male and a female together and have to have some UST. It's not always that way. Grumble.

[identity profile] beck-liz.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
WTF with Lucy? I got that she went batty, but why shoot him? I mean, someone clearly needed to.

My current theory is that Lucy's actually his last-ditch Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card. Like, she deliberately shot him so that he could engineer a different sort of regeneration. I mean, I'm pretty sure those were her fingers picking up his ring at the end - maybe he's in it?

The Master as the Doctor's pet in the TARDIS is too squicky for words. Now, there's a case to be made for Doctor/Master. I'm not entirely opposed to that, either, but it seems like keeping the Master caged up in the TARDIS is a lot like what the Master did to him.

Yeah, no. That really, really wouldn't have worked, no matter what the Doctor thought. Gah.

I suspect for Jack, the whole lack of a penis thing is more awful than the whole unable to die thing.

On the one hand, I think the Face of Boe thing is cool. On the other... gah. Poor Jack. Also, why didn't the Doctor pick up on Boe's being a "Fact"?

# The HMS Titanic busts through the wall of the TARDIS? I guess a really big-ass boat is stronger than the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan.

Rusty broke the TARDIS again! And the Doctor had just gotten her back into working order. Hmph.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
My current theory is that Lucy's actually his last-ditch Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card.

It's an intriguing theory, but that would require the Master to be less than optimally confident in his evil!plan. I'm not sure there was even a smidgen of doubt in his mind that he would be successful.

Also, why didn't the Doctor pick up on Boe's being a "Fact"?

I don't follow. ?

Rusty broke the TARDIS again!

Naughty. That's quite a dent, too. ;)

And the Doctor had just gotten her back into working order.

Brings me to a different thought process. The Doctor, the Master, the Joneses, etc. remembered the events of the year that didn't happen ... the TARDIS is sentient, and she was there too. I hope like hell that she doesn't remember being a paradox machine and used like that. Poor girl.

[identity profile] beck-liz.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 09:43 am (UTC)(link)
Also, why didn't the Doctor pick up on Boe's being a "Fact"?

I don't follow. ?


The Doctor could feel that Jack was wrong because he was a Fact and ran away. So why didn't he feel the same wrongness from Boe?

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
The Doctor could feel that Jack was wrong because he was a Fact and ran away.

Ah, I gotcha. That is an excellent question. Maybe because by that point, Jack/Boe were evolving, changing, moving on. After all, we did see him die.
ext_23543: (Default)

[identity profile] starlightmoonla.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
WTF was with the creepy chibi!Doctor?

And here I was thinking that the 100+ year old Ten Doctor was bad the chibi!Doctor...showing his full 900+ years of age was definitely... creepy. But at least The Doctor was alive... :)

WTF with Lucy?

In her review of the episode, [profile] teskafuture, brought up the issue of whether Lucy was out for revenge or if it was something that she and the Master had previously discussed. I'm not entirely sure of this one because although we see her joining in with the rest of the world and thinking of the Doctor at 0 seconds, we later see someone picking up The Master's ring... First thought was that it was Lucy but there's nothing concrete.

I loved, loved, loved the Master's death scene. Tennant is a superb actor and I just ached for him being all alone, again.

I started tearing up at the fact that the Master was leaving the Doctor all on his own... as the last of the Time Lords anyway. In the end, the Master did win. And I agree Tennant is superb in this scene.

Jack as the Face of Boe?

I started cracking up at that point! Because honestly as much I didn't see that coming now I can be happy to know that at least Jack...sometime in the future will see Nine/Rose and Ten/Rose again.

The HMS Titanic busts through the wall of the TARDIS? I guess a really big-ass boat is stronger than the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan.

LOL. Exactly my thoughts! And I thought the Doctor had already been on the Titanic. Seriously Ten has to work on his driving skills... this is getting ridiculous.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
And here I was thinking that the 100+ year old Ten Doctor was bad the chibi!Doctor...showing his full 900+ years of age was definitely... creepy.

In thinking about this again ... the chibi!Doctor had a tiny pinstripe suit. That really disturbs me.

In the end, the Master did win.

He did, he did. ::sniffles::

[identity profile] morgaine-nicely.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Well, i'm left with the WTF feeling as well....
Boe and Jack=same being?
That's just......well, i mean it's sorta cool, but damn...Guess that means we'll have TONS of seasons of Torchwood? LMAO!
Seriously tho...it was a bit wierd to know that. Although that scene makes sense now that i've heard it with sound (thanks you tube).
I have mixed emotions about Martha "coming back" next season, and now i'm wondering well, how's he gonna die, what will happen that will kill him off? Will he meet the master again? Mayhaps heh.
6 months more til xmas, something to actually look forward to since i dont really like xmas anymore....
And WTF a BIG WTF was with putting Doc in that friggin birdcage....jeezus RTD...that's just messed up and a bit creepy.
Although you could STILL tell David was in there, somewhere hehe.
Now i want an icon of the Doctor when he was all lit up and glowing and hovering, that was awesome hehe.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Guess that means we'll have TONS of seasons of Torchwood?

Hee. Well, in theory, we'll see Jack around a fair bit.

[identity profile] lorien-johnson.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 01:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Nevermind Jack!Boe and his lack of penis. He has several large tentacle-type things in the end. One of which the Doctor kicks at the end of Gridlock.

Someone is going to make very disturbing fic out of that bit.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-01 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Someone is going to make very disturbing fic out of that bit.

Not I, said the fly!

[identity profile] vinceliav.livejournal.com 2007-07-02 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
So then, one must ask, does Jack end up extremely rich at some point? Because if I remember correctly, FOB was the one hosting the ceremony on platform one...right? (or was it cassandra...I'm pretty sure it's Boe) and not to mention it's a bit weird that we hear him talking to the Max of Balboon about the bad wolf theory.

And second, I'm hoping they don't ignore the loophole at the end. I'm hoping we're going to see a surprise return of Chris for an episode. Because I would LOVE to see 9 and 10 together. Whether it be A)Them working together, and both doctors constantly snarking at each other (9:Great I turn into a pretty boy, 10:Yea well you have big ears) or B) I'd love for 10 to have some sort of thing he has to help out with, but the entire time he's got to hide and avoid 9.(I can totally see David talking to someone and then ducking and hiding behind a window as we see Chris walk by it, or David diving into supply closets. lol)

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-02 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
I would LOVE to see 9 and 10 together.

It would be very, very interesting. I don't see Eccleston making a return appearance, but I guess stranger things have happened.

[identity profile] vinceliav.livejournal.com 2007-07-02 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
Me either, but I can hope :)

[identity profile] blackcat-1.livejournal.com 2007-07-12 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
OK, so I'm ridiculously late joining the party, but sadly, real life got in the way, so haven't had time to post until now.

Laughed when I read your "Hmm" at the start of this entry because not only was that my first response as the credits rolled, but I have also seen that on another LJ review about the episode.

I have to admit that I looked at my watch several times during the ep, wondering when it was going to end. It seemed rather slow. Granted, there were good points, but I re-watched Doomsday last night for the first time in 6 months (although I've watched it about a million times before then) and I have to say that LotTL really lacked the pace and emo tug at the heartstrings. Maybe that's a bit unfair - it was hardly likely to leave us swimming in tears like before, was it? But even allowing for that, I feel there were missed opportunities here and it did not live up to the promise of Utopia.

I did like the way the Doctor dealt with Martha - it really showed the contrast in his feelings for her and Rose - he clearly does not love Martha as he loved Rose, but he does respect and care about her. Also thought DT was brill in the Master's death scene.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2007-07-13 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
it was hardly likely to leave us swimming in tears like before

I hope not. I haven't had the emotional fortitude to watch Doomsday again.

Like you ... I did look at the time. ::shakes head in dismay:: Utopia was so fantastically good -- and really, I liked The Sound of Drums nearly as much -- that I can't be terribly disappointed in the finale for not being better.