Oh no, I double posted... But hey @Mr. 0 was "Stranded 1" any good? (I haven't listened to it yet.)
Tom Baker as "A Future Doctor, or is he?" was probably the part of the 50th that pissed me off the most. At *very* best, he's something that the show proper will *NEVER* be able to follow up on, because let's face it- how many years does Tom Baker even have left? The dude's in his mid 80's now. I'd bet my family fortune (so in other words nothing ) that old Baker *won't* be the next Doctor when Jodie finally leaves.
My *hope* is that 'Stranded' finds some way to explain how The Curator is just an old human dude who *isn't* the Doctor, but looks like an elderly 4 (and presumably even knows it, maybe because he met 4 earlier in his life.) This isn't even unprecedented... Multiple Doctors have doppelgangers. Off the top of my head, Doctors 1, 2, Sixie, 10 (if you count Big Finish- which of course I do),
*Edit: 11 literally encountered a "ganger" version of himself I originally forgot that for some reason, the reasons for this are different, but it still counts.*
and 12 (twice) all have doppelgangers.. who look/sound like them. Those Doctors obviously *don't* always meet their doppelgangers... But they have more times than not.
BF could even still make this hypothetical meeting between 4 and "The Curator" happen right now in their 4th Doctor Adventures if they really wanted to... And they could even come up with reasons why 11 didn't immediately recognize the Curator in the 50th... But nah, that's probably too much effort.
I've ordered it, but I'm waiting for the CD to arrive until I have a listen. I could listen to it right now since I have the download available, but I'm autistic and I prefer listening to the hard copy. If @Mr. 0 hasn't already listened to it, I'll report back my findings when I do.
I will say, Ravenous 4 was pretty damn good. Usually the Eighth Doctor boxsets start strong and then don't stick the landing, but Ravenous started weak and built to a very entertaining climax. My one gripe is
I think they killed off the Eleven too soon. I would've liked to see more of him in future boxsets, but given his earlier incarnations pop up all the time, maybe we haven't seen the last of him.
The other issue is Ravenous 4 ended on a pretty final note, whereas Doom Coalition 4 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I don't have that momentum pulling me through to the next boxset. Still, I am interested to see what they do with this one.
I... sort of like that part. I like the idea that when the Doctor ends his life by retiring somewhere peaceful and cycling through his old regenerations, sort of like how Sherlock Holmes became a beekeeper after retiring from detective work.
I will see what Stranded does with this though. Although the answer is still most likely to be inconclusive.
I haven't listened to Stranded yet, so @TheImportantFart is all clear for takeoff. Based on the setting I expect more down-to-earth dumb and creepy shit kind of like what pops up in Torchwood from time to time.
My *hope* is that 'Stranded' finds some way to explain how The Curator is just an old human dude who *isn't* the Doctor, but looks like an elderly 4 (and presumably even knows it, maybe because he met 4 earlier in his life.) This isn't even unprecedented... Multiple Doctors have doppelgangers. Off the top of my head, Doctors 1, 2, Sixie, 10 (if you count Big Finish- which of course I do),
*Edit: 11 literally encountered a "ganger" version of himself I originally forgot that for some reason, the reasons for this are different, but it still counts.*
and 12 (twice) all have doppelgangers.. who look/sound like them. Those Doctors obviously *don't* always meet their doppelgangers... But they have more times than not.
BF could even still make this hypothetical meeting between 4 and "The Curator" happen right now in their 4th Doctor Adventures if they really wanted to... And they could even come up with reasons why 11 didn't immediately recognize the Curator in the 50th... But nah, that's probably too much effort.
I'll admit, I kind of like the Doctor having dopplegangers with no explanation. Enemy of the World is awesome and there was no reason Salamander looked like #2. It just bugs me that whole bit #12 had with his "I remember this face..." thing.
Just stop. Let mysteries float out there once in awhile.
Heck not even a human, I'd be fine with the Curator being an alien or maybe even another Time Lord sent to give the Doctor a message of hope.
(Of course that's assuming the new series didn't screw up Gallifrey and the Time Lords*.)
*You know, I think that's probably what bugged me most about the 50th. (or at least, is in the top 5 reasons) Is that part of me knew that the show would completely screw up Gallifrey and the Time Lords. And that goes back to End of Time (which I haven't seen, only SFDebris' review) but it just proved to me that modern Doc writers had no idea how to do an antagonistic force that wasn't completely evil. (Heck, they could even be good on the whole - and still be antagonistic of the Doctor.)
-9 gets outsmarted yet again this episode. A sad running theme for this series. This time, it's by a mentally retarded chav girl a fraction of his age.
-The purpose of having 9 and Rose attend Pete and Jackie's wedding appears to be showing us what a doofus Pete is, because he doesn't remember Jackie's absurdly pretentious full name right after hearing someone else say it. Guess he's his daughter's father after all. I love the little look of condescension on Roses's face when she sees what a bumbling fool he is, like she isn't just as dumb when it comes to repeating words that somebody just said.
Pete died.
-Stupid Britbongs, that's what you get for driving on the wrong side of the road.
-I'm glad 9 kicks Rose to the curb (at least tries to), but I don't really see his logic in leaving her in 1987. He at least dumped soyboy back in his proper time. (even though in *that* case it would have made more sense to leave him in the future, anachronistic hole in the head and all.)
-It would be pretty funny if 9 just picked the wrong police box to get into, and that's why it was the correct size on the inside. Fuck it, that's my official headcanon for this episode.
-Oh wow, this episode just Rickrolled me. That takes me back.
-You have to hand it to Pete, the same car tried to run him down 3 different times today, and some stupid monkey-faced chav just called him "dad", and he's taking it all in stride. I guess being married to Jackie Tyler for several years will do that to you.
-Lol, I forgot that a large chunk of this episode was a langoliers ripoff.
-Pete: "I gave you my car keys, you don't give your car keys to a complete stranger." Well I'm glad somebody said it.
I'm not buying for even one second that on some level he knew it was his daughter though.
-I'm not kidding, this scene between 9 and the (soon to be) married couple in the church, is very probably my favorite scene of Series 1 so far:
The married couple are rightly terrified, so they go up to the Doctor (because he "seems to know what's going on") while he's busy fortifying the walls or something, it isn't clear. 9 is a dismissive asshole to them at first. They call him "Mister" and he coldly corrects them with "It's Doctor" without even looking at them.
Then the wife begs "Can you save us?" And 9 stops what he's doing, actually turns to look at them, and then asks them who they (including their unborn child) are. It's subtle, and extremely well-acted. Eccleston switches from playing a character who is blatantly being an asshole, to a character who is trying to put up the facade of being an asshole against his better nature. Just like a man who has had to be an uncaring monster for a long time, but still actually cares deep down.
For seemingly no real reason, 9 (still a bit cold) asks the two, pointing to the wive's stomach, "How did all this get started?" (Wanting to hear their story.) He listens to them explain how they met, fell in love, and came to be getting married today. This comes to a head when the wife says "I know we're not important, but..." which leads to what I can only in retrospect (because this was my first Doctor Who series at the time when I first saw it) call the Doctor's true nature bubbling up to the surface, and he asks them: "Who says you're not important?"
His tone immediately shifts and he then proceeds to tell them that they in fact *are* important, about how special their story, how he's done things they can't even imagine but their story is still special, etc... and that Yes, he would try to save them. *This* is the good stuff. In the context of the narrative (The last survivor of the Time War with PTSD), I get why 9 couldn't *always* be this guy, but I do wish that 9 was this Doctor more often, because man when he was, he was fantastic.
-Pete (To Rose): "I suppose I thought you'd be a bit useless, what with my useless genes and all." Oh Pete, you have no idea. (Also, don't be so hard on yourself. She has her mother's useless genes as well.)
-Wow... Just wow. Pete just asked Rose if she had a bloke, and she's literally in the middle of saying that no she doesn't, when little kid Mickey for no reason runs in and hugs her. Again, I'm fairly sure 2005 Mickey is still under the impression that they're dating next time she shows up to the present in a few episodes. You have a fucking phone that can do it Rose, call his stupid ass and break up if that's what you want. SMDH.
-If it's so important that Rose not touch her younger self, one wonders why the Doctor was willing to leave her in 1987 with her dad (even though he later claims he wasn't going to.) Where that was almost certainly going to happen at least once when she didn't know any better.
Ok so let me get this straight:
-Last episode, soyboy made a dumb selfish mistake on his very first Tardis trip which had no lasting repercussions on the Doctor or anyone else, so he got dumped back to his own time with hole in his head that makes it unlikely he can ever live a normal life again.
-This episode, Rose who's had several Tardis trips under her belt by this point, made a dumb selfish mistake (albeit with slightly more honorable intentions) that may very well end the entire world in 1987, and her punishment is that she has to pretend to be really sorry?
Too bad for Adam he didn't have peroxide blonde hair, fake tits and a monkey face. He'd probably still be traveling with them.
-I'm convinced that Rose is the biggest villain of this whole series. Yeah Pete's the one who put baby Rose in her arms, but Rose just grabbed the baby, didn't even try to stop him, even knowing the consequences. At some point, you just have to say, she's either really stupid or really evil. (Why not both?)
-Man, I almost feel bad for hit and run guy. Almost (he's still a murderer who in the original timeline killed a guy and fled the scene) That's got to be hell to forced to keep circling around a church popping in and out of existence because you didn't kill the guy that fate said you were supposed to kill. The way it was shot was hilarious though.
-Wait... So Rose's actions here changed history? Hit and run guy stuck around now, and history now remembers Rose being at her dad's side when he died. Does history also remember the giant demons that almost ended life on the planet in 1987?
Oh whatever. I'm just glad that next time it's "Are you my mummy?" Moffat's first (official) episode.
-I'm convinced that Rose is the biggest villain of this whole series. Yeah Pete's the one who put baby Rose in her arms, but Rose just grabbed the baby, didn't even try to stop him, even knowing the consequences. At some point, you just have to say, she's either really stupid or really evil. (Why not both?)
-Wait... So Rose's actions here changed history? Hit and run guy stuck around now, and history now remembers Rose being at her dad's side when he died. Does history also remember the giant demons that almost ended life on the planet in 1987?
My Fan Theory is that Pete placing baby Rose in adult Rose's arms creates the parralel universe we later see in Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel.
The majority of the Episode is sort of a 'bubble'. Everything from Rose saving Pete to him sacrificing himself exists outside of regular time, hence the Car driving in a loop and the older Doctor and Rose disappearing. I think it's one of those cases where only The Doctor and Rose remembers everything during the bubble and everyone else only remembers the altered timeline as Jackie only acknowledges Rose staying with Pete while he died, not flyng monsters or having met the Doctor before.
-Pete: "I gave you my car keys, you don't give your car keys to a complete stranger." Well I'm glad somebody said it.
I'm not buying for even one second that on some level he knew it was his daughter though.
As long as people are still enjoying my... well I guess these aren't reviews... More like, drunken live reactions to episodes? I guess I'll keep them going. Hell, I'm enjoying them too.
I originally wanted to do a double feature of both parts of this 2 parter tonight, but this one's been a doozy, and I put a lot more effort into it than I usually do.
In addition to this being the first official Moffat-written story, and the first "really good" story of Nu Who (for most people anyway), this is also the first Doctor Who story that I distinctly remember watching. (well actually part 2 of it.)
This episode starts off with a bang... And a joke that I'm probably not British enough to get.
Mauve alert everybody!
(because Red alert is apparently too camp), we're going in.
-2 Minutes in and Rose hasn't said or done anything too obnoxious yet. This may be a record. Also, unlike 9, I'm really digging that Union Jack shirt, so we're already off to a good start.
-I'm going to try to ignore Rose's insistence that the Doctor "give her some Spock, for once..."
...because she's actually being the sensible one. She's asking why the Doctor isn't scanning for alien tech when they already showed up late, and have no clue what may have already been unleashed. 9 says nah, he'll just ask around for... reasons (I sure hope that doesn't come back to bite them in any way.)
-A child cries out loudly for his "mummy", late in the middle of the night. The Doctor *must* have heard this... Rose heard it, and she's standing like a foot away from him. I'm assuming that Timelord hearing is at *least* as good as stupid chav hearing is.
For some reason though, the Doctor doesn't give a shit. Instead he keeps trying to break into the random building for his "ask the locals" plan (which takes far longer than it probably should have, considering this is just a regular 1940's building.) and doesn't even care enough about Rose to see why she isn't following him after he goes inside.
-The point of this was obviously to split the two up, and I like that idea in theory, but the execution was stupid and I hate it. I especially don't like the implications of the Doctor blatantly ignoring a crying kid to go fuck around inside a nightclub that has nothing to do with the rest of this plot except for...
Ok ok, so tell me if you heard this one before: A Time-traveling alien follows a crashing space/time pod to Earth. Through no fault of his own, he arrives several weeks/months later than the pod does... but when he gets there, he doesn't bother using his own time machine to do any scans at all, not even the ones he normally does when he gets to a new random location after traveling through time and space. Despite all this, his (below-average intelligence) traveling companion asks him why he isn't using any of his superior technology to find that crashed pod. He has no real answer for her, and also ignores a crying child while trying to break into a random building so he can ask the locals if they saw the pod...
...So anyway, he breaks into a jazzy night club, and asks the club-goers if they've seen anything fall from the sky recently.... And it turns out he's in the middle of the 1941 London Blitz.
-Rose, who so far this episode has been acting far more intelligent and caring than the Doctor has, (in other words totally out of character for Rose), now grabs onto a random rope hanging from the sky without even bothering to see what that rope is hanging from. (in other words totally *in* character for Rose.) Her goal at this point is to somehow climb that rope and save the crying little kid that the Doctor ignored earlier (no I won't let this go)... So I'm going to give this stupidity another pass, because she's at least *trying* to be noble. That's a nice change for Rose Tyler.
-So yeah, that random rope that Rose climbed up without looking... Was attached to a German barrage balloon, so she's now somehow dangling hundreds of feet in the air over London in the middle of a blitz. Ruh roh...
-Ok, so *now* 9 is wondering where Rose went off to (While she's hanging on for dear life in the middle of a blitzed London). I guess your stand up career bombing in the middle of a literal London bombing is as good a time as any to go back to your roots Doctor.
-9: "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing."
You know 9, in *any* other situation, I'd be on your side here... But YOU'RE the one who ignored a crying child to go fuck around in a night club when the important stuff was going on outside. Rose.. -urrrgh- I'm throwing up in my mouth a little even *thinking* this... Rose did nothing wrong here. You did, you idiot.
-I'm drawing a blank here (I have not seen even close to every episode of Original Who yet.) so somebody please let me know... Is this the first time that the dummy phone on the Tardis ever rang?
-Ok. How did the fuck did that girl... Nancy I think her name was? (Who *is* your mummy, by the way kid, sorry for spoilers) just disappear like that? Is she Batman? Please tell me she's Batman.
-Sorry "Mummy" (it's a spoiler that I remember that, but most people reading this have already seen this episode anyway.) you aren't Robin Hood when you steal from people in the middle of the Blitz. For all you know, that's the first decent meal that family's had in ages and you and the cast of Oliver Twist just came in and stole it from them while they were cowering in a bunker.
-Rose falls to her death into Jack's tractor beam, and I wish that scene where she falls screaming had happened in any other episode so far, because Rose has been pretty ok so far this episode. I still laughed though.
-I'm old enough to chuckle at the joke of Captain Jack telling Rose to turn off her cel phone, and Rose saying that nobody believes that. (We totally didn't.) But I just said "Jack" and "Rose" in the same sentence and just realized that Moffat was cribbing from:
Especially in this episode. You never were subtle Moffat, I'm not sure why I thought you might have been this early on.
-Back to "Mummy": Hey bitch. Pretending to be polite, and making a bunch of little children also pretend to be polite, while you're all stealing food from somebody who you don't know's table doesn't make you a "guest." Fuck off with that shit.
I am not a fan of how 9 somehow *approved* of this...
"Mummy": (paraphrasing: We're stealing food from people we don't know, what's wrong with that?)
9: "What's wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."
Hmm... On second thought, breaking in and stealing food off the plate of someone you don't know, while they cower in fear, all because you've decided that they have too much, and it should be yours instead. I guess this really *is* Marxism in action. Right on.
-9: "And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." I chuckled.
-Jack: (To Rose) "You sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith, but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free. Actually, the word you use is 'available' and 'very'." ...Nope. Not gonna say anything more about this topic right now.
-So Rose's fixation on Mr. Spock is apparently a running gag for this episode...
-Why does Jack tie up Rose's hands to use the nanogenes? This was somebody's (tbh... rather tame) bdsm fetish wasn't it?
-
"Mummy": How'd you follow me here?
9: I'm good at following, mate. I've got the nose for it.
"Mummy": People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to.
9: My nose has special powers.
"Mummy": Yeah? That's why it's uh...
9: What?
"Mummy": Nothing.
9: What?
"Mummy": Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?
I laughed harder than I should have at that exchange.
-Rose: "Okay, we're standing in midair, on a spaceship, during a German air raid. Do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me ?"
Oh Rose... You really don't know Jack.
-So Jack's all like, "I'll find the Doctor it will be easy, I'll just scan for alien tech." and Rose is all "Finally a professional." I know she's been creaming her panties for Mister Spock all episode, but it was extremely out of character for 9 to not scan ANYTHING at the beginning of all this (and all for the 'have you seen anything fall from the sky lately?' "joke.") Granted, he had to be... The Tardis would have found the crashed pod in 5 seconds if he looked for it, which would mean no episode. I just don't get why the show is pretending that the Doctor is always that stupid, because he usually isn't.
-I liked Doctor Constantine. It's funny, I recognize him now as Gaius from that 2008 BBC Merlin show which was... alright. But when I watched Merlin (which came later), I didn't recognize that actor from this episode. I'm sure that this actor has done plenty of other things over the years, but I'm not a Britbong, so my access to Britbong media is limited.
-Holy shit. That bit where Doctor Constantine woke up all the patients was super creepy, well done.
-No wonder Rose is so relatively likable in this episode. There are only so many units of bitch that an episode of any particular show can have before it collapses. Nancy (i.e. "Mummy") is the post master Bitch general of this episode. She literally wastes 9's time, leading him to Doctor Constantine, just so Constantine could tell 9 something that Nancy could have just as easily told 9 herself Even though it wasn't even true. Namely, that the creepy boy asking for "mummy" was her "brother".
-Constantine sputtering "Are... you.... my... mummy" as his face weirdly morphs into a gas mask is genuinely creepy. You might call this effect dated, but I still call it good shit. I guess the Doctor disagrees though.
-After seeing this, 9 keeps up the theme of him apparently not caring about anyone else this episode. He just walks away without even trying to help Constantine. What the fuck? Yeah, he hears Captain Jack calling for him, but he doesn't even fucking know Captain Jack yet. (Side note, Captain Jack is a lot farther away than that crying kid that 9 ignored earlier this episode.) Ok, did 9 and Rose switch personalities for this episode?
Or wait, Rose keeps mentioning Spock... (She apparently told Jack offscreen that the Doctor's name was Spock.) Is this the Doctor Who Mirror Universe? Sadly no it's not, but I have to admit Captain Jack calling the Doctor "Mister Spock" made me laugh enough to say that this stupid running joke was justified.
Also Rose drops the first of.. well, more than one "You're a Doctor, Doctor Who?" 's of Nu Who.
-Jack *finally* realizes that Rose isn't time agent... You know Jack, you have nobody to blame but yourself dude. She was always an idiot from the beginning, you just assumed that she was a time agent because you wanted to fuck her. (And you still do after learning she wasn't, because you always want to fuck everybody ever...)
-This was a good cliffhanger, a ton of gas maskers all closing in on our main characters... All asking "Are you my mummy?"
Tune in tomorrow night to see what happens next. (Even though you probably already know. lol.)
My guess is that the Doctor will dance at some point...
I am a newbie who recently decided to start binging all the episodes available on BritBox. I plan on cancelling BritBox once I am done with this little lazy project of mine. I am regretting nothing about it so far.
I rather enjoyed it overall. I'd rank it above Ravenous 1 and Dark Eyes 1, but below Doom Coalition 1. Your enjoyment however will depend on whether you like slower-paced, down to earth stories, or prefer something with a bit more momentum. When they say the Doctor's stranded, they really mean it. This is about as earthbound as things have ever gotten for Doctor Who. One of the stories is literally about the Doctor trying to track down a mugger. That's it. No sci-fi elements whatsoever.
I thought this made a nice change. I usually listen to these audios while I'm driving and the timey wimey stuff can be quite hard to keep track of in those circumstances, so I appreciated something that was easier to follow.
Oh yeah, I have to address the elephant with the inverted trunk in the room don't I? First up, there's been a bit of false advertising going around. I wouldn't really call Tania a companion strictly speaking (at least not yet) since there's no TARDIS, although if you follow the Companion Chronicles range (and if you don't, I recommend you do, because it's excellent), you know the definition of "companion" can get rather generous. The Doctor and co are based at his house in Baker Street in this story, which has been converted into flats since he was last there, and Tania's one of the people who lives in the building. It's also revealed that she's a
Torchwood operative.
As for whether the fact Tania's trans ever comes up... yeah, it does, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was with You Know Who and I found Tania substantially less annoying than Bliss from the Eighth Doctor Time War series (oh yeah, Time War 4's coming out soon. Thank fuck for Terry Molloy and Julia McKenzie), although that's not a particularly high bar to clear.
My one major quibble with the Tania character is they put her in a relationship with the Doctor's companion Liv. The two characters have no chemistry whatsoever and it feels incredibly forced. It also plays into a scene that made me laugh for all the wrong reasons. Although Rebecca Root passes reasonably well (before you laugh at me for saying that, please bear in mind this is Britfagistan and the average middle aged woman looks like this over here):
she literally sounds like a gay man. So when she reveals to Liz that she's trans (to which Liz responds with "So what"), my first thought was:
I know we know because of the marketing, but the script treats it like a big dramatic reveal and all I was thinking was "Gee, what gave it away?" I just hope we're spared a stink ditch sex scene before this range is out. Given the fact that Tania's a
Torchwood operative
is kept secret from Liz, I can only see this ending badly.
The other new characters are a mixed bag. There's an elderly gay couple who live in one of the other flats in Baker Street and are a pair of casual racists which amused me. Good to know even LGBT characters can be bigots now. There's a whiny kid with daddy issues who's played by Peter Davison's son (how's that for a meta narrative?) and a trio of pajeet sisters who are kind of bland.
The Curator's barely in this. He shows up right at the beginning acting as a sort of guardian angel figure, and then disappears for the rest of the set. I knew things were going to be inconclusive in terms of who he was, but I was hoping we'd see more of him. The cynical side of me thinks this might just have been a marketing ploy to get people interested, and he'll never show up again in this series, but we'll see.
All that said, I thought this was a nice change of pace for the Eighth Doctor range. It might be a bit too sleepy for some though.
Rose was actually relatively likable last episode, and that made the thing especially hard to comment on for me @_@, let's see if they fuck that up this time. Anyway, without further ado: The Doctor Dances.
-Telling the monster of the week to go to its (their?) room, now that's an anticlimactic AF way to resolve a cliffhanger. Needless to say, I loved it. I don't know what the camera guy was going for with the drunk vision goggles look though. I've never worn a gas mask before, but I would imagine it wouldn't work very well in dangerous situations if it fucked up your vision that badly.
-"I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words." Haha, true.
-Jack's line about Pompeii and setting your alarm for volcano day is a lot darker in retrospect. To anyone who doesn't remember, 10 and Donna actually have to actively trigger the eruption because the baddie of the week was stopping it from happening, and it was a fixed point in time or something and actually *had* to happen. He did save proto Capaldi's family though
-Ok fair enough, the dude who "Mummy" stole food from last episode could clearly stand to miss a few meals. She's still a hypocritical bitch though.
-
9: Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?
Jack: You've been to the factories?
9: Once.
Jack: Well, they gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot.
9: Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good.
heh?
-
Recording: Are you my mummy?
Rose: I've heard these words before.
9: Me too.
Well you sure as fuck didn't hear them the first time *last* episode Doctor. (No I still won't let that go.)
-The fat guy isn't wrong. He *did* work for that food, even "by the sweat of his brow". What a champ, taking it up the ass to keep his family fed. And this Wednesday Addams cunt has the nerve to homo shame him over it, with a cheeky smirk on her face no less? Fuck you... Rose (sorry, force of habit.)
-I believe that Captain Jack pulling a banana on the kid in the gas mask is the first scene of New Who I ever saw (I caught it partway through the episode.)
-I don't understand the Doctor's hate for Jack's gun over any other gun. It seems like it has at least as much application as a tool as it does a weapon. Maybe even more so. (That wall removal and replace shit would be useful in his screwdriver for example)
That callback to the banana groves was hilarious though. I particularly love the fact that 9 just so happened to have a banana (possibly even from that very grove, if he wasn't lying) in his pocket, because that is so like the Doctor.
-What?!? Rose actually using her brain and shooting the hole gun down to escape the gas maskers while 9 and Jack argue over whose penis sonic is bigger? Who are you and what have you done with the real Rose?
-
Jack: Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "oooh this could be a little more sonic"?
9: What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?
I have absolutely no proof of this, but I'd like to believe this exchange was at least partially ad-libbed. That would make it even funnier for me than it already was.
-"Well I've got a banana and in a pinch you could put up some shelves."
Sorry to be quoting so much dialogue, but so much of it is so good this episode.
-Heh the world doesn't end when the Doctor dances.
-Uh oh, Wednesday Addams, a bunch of soldiers are pointing guns at you for breaking into a secure area in the middle of the blitz. Are you going to blackmail them all for being gay too? I kid, but knowing RTD and his writing, at least half of these guys have already slept with Captain Jack...
-I forgot that Jack quit the Time Agency over losing 2 years of memories. As far as I know, to this day that plot point still hasn't been followed up on. (Unless it was in the Torchwood audios or something.)
-
Jack: There it is. Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important.
9: We've got to get past him.
Rose: Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?
Jack: I don't think that'd be such a good idea.
Rose: Don't worry I can handle it.
Jack: I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up.
Yep, lol. Fucking called it.
And Haha... Rose is put off by, and maybe even slightly angered by, the fact that the guy she's been creaming her panties over for the past 2 episodes will actually go for anybody with a pulse (and maybe even without a pulse as well). Welcome back Rose!
-One general conceit of this episode is that Captain Jack is more than smart enough to understand the future nano-gene tech that he uses every day, but is too stupid to realize that the same tech is in the "space junk" that he made crash into Earth, and could be disastrous under some circumstances. This doesn't ruin the episode for me, not even close, but it was really kind of lazy.
-A second general conceit of this episode is that a 5 or 6 year old kid who has been told all his life that his mother was actually his sister (by her even), would still be going around asking where his "mummy" is. I have a harder time buying this one tbh. It'd make more sense for this kid to be looking for his "sissy" or whatever Wednesday told him to call her because she would still be the only "mummy" he's ever known. That isn't enough to ruin this episode for me either, but that doesn't mean it was a good decision to write it that way.
-I said it in my commentary on the previous episode, and am only bringing it up again here because Captain Jack just agreed with me. Rose's Union Jack shirt is pretty fucking cool. Shame that the country... (Err, shit. Is the UK even a country? Is it considered multiple countries? I don't know or care, whatever...) it represents is so cucked these days.
-"Everybody lives" has become something of a running gag for Moffat. He's definitely overused it over the years since, (it was much better when it was "just this once.") but it totally works here. 9's absolute joy at saving the day with no casualties (unless you count the fact that this is taking place during the blitz, which... shutup) in a situation that looked completely hopeless before, especially considering all he's been through, even put a smile on my stupid bitter face.
@TheImportantFart
-Doctor Constantine (Probably): We all seem to be standing around in a disused railway station, and aren't creepy gas mask monsters anymore. I don't believe it.
-
Doctor Constantine: Mrs. Harcourt. How much better you're looking.
Mrs. Harcourt: My leg's grown back. When I come to the hospital, I had one leg.
Doctor Constantine: Well, there is a war on. Is it possible you miscounted? My sides.
I believe I've talked negatively about Captain Jack on here before, (I do still think the character is 100% irredeemable after his decision to murder his own grandson in Series 3 of Torchwood, even if it was ultimately to save the day.) But I like him right now. I laughed that his "I'm about to die" protocol was for the computer to make him a drink. That's something I would do.
I don't know why he put the hat back on (I believe this is the last time we ever see it on him again) But I will say it looks good on him.
-I don't know what the hell a "Hyper Vodka" is, but send several of them my way.
-I'm actually glad 9 decided to save Captain Jack... and Rose and 9 dancing in the TARDIS when he comes in was cute enough that it made me throw up again.
It goes without saying, but this 2-parter was really really good. I wholeheartedly agree that this was the first "great" story of New Who. The writing was great, for the most part, to the point where Moffat even managed to make Rose herself semi-likable. Enjoy that while it lasts...
Next episode is the one where 9 Rose and Jack go back to the 'modern day' to clean up the leftover Slitheen mess in the present day.
I distinctly remember Mickey being in this episode, will Rose finally tell him that black lives don't matter? Find out with me whenever I get around to watching it! (It will probably be sooner rather than later)
-I forgot that Jack quit the Time Agency over losing 2 years of memories. As far as I know, to this day that plot point still hasn't been followed up on. (Unless it was in the Torchwood audios or something.)
It was in The Lives of Captain Jack, volume 1, episode 4 (Month 25).
Time Agency-era Jack (using his real name) finds out that the higher-ups were using him as an assassin across time and space and wiping his memories of each incident, the way he finds out is via his paycheck getting skimmed from and it escalates from there. And he apparently was arrogant as shit and an insufferable prick to work with. Oh and present-day Jack shows up to also fuck up the Time Agency bosses and they team up and end up sleeping together.
It was in The Lives of Captain Jack, volume 1, episode 4 (Month 25).
Time Agency-era Jack (using his real name) finds out that the higher-ups were using him as an assassin across time and space and wiping his memories of each incident, the way he finds out is via his paycheck getting skimmed from and it escalates from there. And he apparently was arrogant as shit and an insufferable prick to work with. Oh and present-day Jack shows up to also fuck up the Time Agency bosses and they team up and end up sleeping together.
I'm actually curious enough that I may have to check that one out. I've still only listened to the one episode where Jack and Sixie switched places in that series.
Because there's so little good to say about New Who these days, I'll just throw in that "Midnight" is really, really good. Tennant at his best, in his prime. A story that looked like a "budget saver" so much so that it could have fit in very comfortably with the old Who. Damn if it's not unnerving. Every time I see it. First when the woman starts repeating, then jumps ahead. And also when the Doctor is very visibly getting flustered as he's being accused by his fellow passengers, and finally completely helpless.
It's spiritual forerunner was the classic Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street". And a very worthy successor it is.
New Who, with that slackjawed cunt, is currently incapable of making something like this episode. From her right on down to the writers and Chinballs. It's like asking people in the middle of the Dark Ages to recreate ancient Rome. Utterly impossible.
) that old Baker *won't* be the next Doctor when Jodie finally leaves.
My sides.
