Random Dr. Who stuff

[wiseheart]

So, thanks to altariel and the_wild_iris, not to mention my own good luck in Vienna, I'm now the proud order of Series 1 (C. Ecclestone), 3 and 4 (both D. Tennant) of the new Dr. Who. I foresee no sleep in the remaining week of my holidays at all. *]*

I must admit that I watch them a bit randomly, so my impressions are rather... erm, mixed. As I only saw the episodes with Jack Harkness before (thanks, rcfinch!), my chronological order is already messed up, so what the heck...

Impressions in no particular order:

- Donna Noble is awesome (and not only b/c he slapped the 10th Doctor twice in "The Runaway Bride")

- So is Martha, but I already knew that. I loved her in her TW visits already.

- Tenth Doctor is still getting on my nerves. Perhaps it's work-related; I have to deal with manic, hyperactive teenagers on a daily basis. I like Nine, though. At least he's an adult.

- Martha's family is hilarious. Rose's Mother is a horror. Small wonder the girl turned out a bit twisted. Donna's Gramps is very loveable.

- Sarah Parish as evil Spider Queen was awe-inspiringly creepy. Still, why is this beautiful woman always playing monsters? (See the troll in "Merlin"!) Yasmin Bannerman as Jabe, the tree-woman is amazing. Someone has an icon with her and with the inscription "I know where the Entwives have gone" - I find that great.

- Was interesting to watch "The Sontaran Strategem", as I've resurrected some of the UNIT personnel for Torchwoodgate. Now I relly need to get my grubby little hands on "The Planet of the Dead", so that I can see my chosen villain, Dr. Malcolm Taylor, and Capt. Magambo in action.

- First Rose episode actually wasn't that bad. The killer plastic puppets were creepy... almost as creepy as Rose herself. Erm... yes... no, I could bear her better than I thought I would. Still not liking her, but not half as bad as Gwen-bloody-Cooper from TW. And at least she has the excuse of being very young at the start.

- Colin Morgan was cute in "Midnight". But I guess I'm biased.

Stupid DVDs I bought in Vienna don't have English subtitles. C. Eccleston isn't always easy to understand. Sometimes I have to switch to German dubbing. Ah, well, it's still a great experience.

Watched some classic episodes online, too. I seem to like the Third Doctor. He really has class.

Comments

[cirdan-havens.livejournal.com]

I just love the Ninth Doctor. It's the only thing that made Rose and family tolerable for me. She's just a companion who gets into a lot of trouble. And yeah, that accent, like he says, lots of planet have a north. But I use my subtitles too. Re-watching always helps me.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I guess re-watching will be the way of it for me, too; since the stupid German edition doesn't have English subtitles. It's most annoying. They gave subtitles to Andromeda, to Heroes, to a lot of other things, but not to Dr. Who. Ah, well.

The Ninth Doctor is great. Ten makes me want to scratch myself with nerves.

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you had such a nice visit with the_wild_iris. The Beloved and I very much enjoyed our brief time with her.

And what a treasure trove you found! Enjoy submerging yourself in all the goodies for your final week of summer!!!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, she mentioned being in Boston, but I never realized the three of you actually met.

Gah, I wish you wouldn't live so far away from here. It's either swimming or flying, and I'm not that big on either of those. :(

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd like Donna! Best companion in years, IMHO.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Haha, your icon is a hoot!

My favourite piece of dialogue so far:

Doctor: I just need a mate.

Donna: I'm not mating with you, sunshine! *rotlf*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

ROFL! Donna's glorious.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Especially when she's pissed off. And I love how she keeps criticizing the Doctor for being so thin. *g*

[makamu]

I am glad you liked the DVDs so much and I have to agree with you on almost everything (except Ten, whom I...uhm, like (<-- understatement, I am afraid). That may be the age difference between us, though I like Nine as well, or just the fact that I like my men geeky.

Oh, and I always thought that Rose was okay in Season 1, but she got downright annoying once they started to push the Rose/Ten crap (why her? why couldn't they have gone for Martha?!) in season 2.

Season 2 is the worst of the lot, but there are still some episodes I can recommend (for watching online), first of them all "Tooth and Claw" and "The Girl in the Fireplace".

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I definitely need to see the Torchwood-related episodes, *including* "Tooth and Claw". Although the first one on my emergency list is the Canary Wharf two-parter.

Martha deserves better than Ten, IMO.

[makamu]

Although the first one on my emergency list is the Canary Wharf two-parter.

While I can see why you would have that impression coming at it with TW knowledge first, let me warn you: IMHO, "Carary Wharf" is rather boring as DW episodes, inclusing season two episodes, go. Oh, and the Rose/Ten levels set my teeth on edge like nothing else. It's the context they put it in for Torchwood that makes it important, but little else.

Martha deserves better than Ten, IMO.

In the long run, I would tend to agree. I just would have liked to see *him* acknowledge that, while there are other methods around to give a DNA sample to someone (kiss on the hand, to pick something innocent to us humans), he chose the one he did consciously ;) Besides, it would have been nice for her to have her crush acknowledged for a while.

I am working steadily on the beta for your fic and will give it a final polish when I am done with termpapers next week. Just so you know that I am still on it *hugs*

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, since my whole interest in the new Dr. Who is primarily Torchwood-related, I'm probably a little biased, so I do want to watch the Canary Wharf episodes very much, despite everything. I want to see more TW1 personnel, so that I can imagine better where Ianto used to work. And I'd like to see Freema as Adeola. ;)

Although I must admit that the more I see from Series 3 and 4, the lower my tolerance for Ten falls. I think he has serious mental problems. Perhaps absorbing all that Vortex energy damaged more than just his physical body, at the end of Series 1.

And I find it absolutely "schäbig" (sorry, don't know any matching English words) how he dealt with Jack. I mean, hello, leaving the man behind on an exploding satellite? And the poor sod waits a century and a half for him, just to be told that he's "wrong"? I mean, he runs after the TARDIS, clings to it, and they try to shake him off? Seriously, WTF? And what gets he for all his pains? The Year That Newer Was, and several hundred creative deaths? If I were Jack, I'd have nuked the frigging TARDIS the next time it stopped in Cardiff for refuelling.

I love Donna, though - how she takes no shit from the Doctor. She's so refreshingly down-to-Earth.

Also, thanks for the beta, little sis. You're truly a jewel. *hugs back*

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

I certainly second the recommendation of The Girl in the Fireplace!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think for simplicity's sake I'll just have to get hold on Season 2 entirely. Too much Torchwood background stuff to miss, even though Rose drives me up the walls.

*And* "Planet of the Dead", definitely. For the UNIT stuff in it. I put several characters into "Torchwoodgate", without ever hearing their voice, which was quite the risky thing to do. ;)

[artemis10002000]

Sounds like you're having a great time with Doctor Who! Enjoy your last week of the holidays.

Yeah, Rose's family is a true horror! I find it amusing, though (cuz I'm mean like that and enjoy other people's discomfort.)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do! I've just watched "The Aliens in London", which is the first ever appearance of Tosh in the Whoniverse, and she's absolutely amazing! Now I'm sorely tempted to write some more Tosh fic. But I must resist. I promised, not to start another fic until I've finished one of my never-ending WIPs, so Tosh has to wait. But one day...

[artemis10002000]

Can't blame you for wanting to write more Tosh fics after that! I remember the episode and Tosh's really great there.

But finishing WIPs is nice, too... Try to resist. And if you can't, ah well, at least you tried, right? :P

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I think it will be inevitable for me to write that fic one day. Starting after "The Aliens of London", and having Tosh travel with Nine, who's a much more mature character than Ten. I just have to figure out how to get rid of Rose-bloody-Tyler for a while.

BTW, I've posted a short interlude of Atlantis Café to otherworlds_lib, if you're interested. It has Rhys and Andy and Mickey, and a seriously pissed-off Gwen. *g*

[artemis10002000]

Whee, the interlude sounds fun!

I love the idea of Tosh as Nine's companion.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I think they'd make a wonderful team, mostly because Tosh would be able to get at least *some* of all that futuristic tech, and because she'd be more understanding towards Nine's loneliness. She's also a deeply wounded soul - remember, she's already working for Jack at this time, which means she's experienced the UNIT prison and is dubbing for a hung-over Owen.

Whoniverse timeline is really a bitch. Especially how to send Tosh on an adventure with Nine, without Nine running into Jack and crossing his own timeline. Gah!

BTW, did you know, that Christopher Eccleston (Nine) and Naoko Mori (Tosh) played John Lennon and Yoko Ono in "Lennon Naked"? I just found out.

[artemis10002000]

Heh, I don't envy you trying to figure that out! I've long since just given up on trying to keep the timeline straight in my head at all. But on the bright side, figuring out the timeline will keep you from starting yet another WIP right away! :D

And them having played John and Yoko Ono is so cool!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and they're bare-arsed naked in it, too, both of them. Just google for Naoko Mori and you'll find the pics, even short clips of the movie. I stumbled over them by accident and was a bit shocked, to be honest.

As for the timeline: well, the funny part is that the Doctor actually meets Tosh *before* he'd meet Jack for the first time; while, of course, the Jack Tosh knows is an almost two-hundred-years-older, immortal version, so it's really funny. In linear time, Jack's been working for TW3 a century and a half *before* Ten would get back in time to meet Queen Victoria, who feels prompted to found the TW Institute to hunt him down, after this encounter.

All right, I feel an incoming headache now...

Oh, and BTW, tw_timeline has proved quite helpful, actually.

[artemis10002000]

*nods with glazed eyes* I'm joining you in that headache... Well, actually, I cheated, I already had a headache, but Whoniverse timeline is definitely headache-inducing!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, I cheated a bit and went for the 21th century timelines alone. They are the ones with actual interest for me. The Tosh plotbunny has in the meantime firmly attached itself to my ankle and sank its shapr little fangs into my abused flesh. *sighs*

I already know it will start with Tosh putting on the borrowed white lab coat and entering the autopsy room, nervous like hell, b/c the whole area is swarming w. UNIT soldiers, and she does have her bad memories... After the crisis is over, Nine sends Rose-bloody-Tyler home to her terrible Mum to play the happy family game and meets Tosh again by accident, inviting her along for a trip. I think I'll send them to Medieval Japan first, the Cosmos series by Carl Sagan provides me with excellent background.

BTW, that Japanese singer you like so much - do you think Tosh would like him? Or her? Can you tell me more about that person?

[artemis10002000]

Haha, I somehow suspected that bunny wouldn't leave you alone once it attacked :P Torchwood bunnies are the rabid and biting-happy kind, they must be related to Weevils!

Feudal Japan sounds very interesting!

If Tosh likes Japanese pop and rock music, there's a good chance she might like Gackt and she'll certainly know of him. He is (or at least was until a few years ago, I haven't been all that involved with Japanese music lately) one of the biggest stars in Japan, if not the biggest at all. He's known for his perfectionism and his extreme work ethic, to the point of utterly overworking himself, so I think that's something Tosh would respect even if she doesn't like the music all that much.