bibliodragon

Oh Ten!

First off; the plot. And that...wasn't bad? I know, I know, I'm shocked too. Oh it probably won't hold up to much critical thought, but the emotional beats carried me through so that I was not stuck thinking about how much sense it was not making while watching it. Which is really all you can get from RTD at his best when it comes to plots, but plots were never his strong point anyway.

Cactus people were quite fun, though where did they go? I must have blinked and missed that bit. And John Simm's many costume changes, though I can't help but doubt that billions of Masters would have been so accepting of the chain of command. And Wilf remains made of much win, his reaction to seeing Earth from space and getting trapped because he unthinkingly went to some nameless guy's rescue.

I bitched about the evil Time Lords last time, but it managed to make sense here. Because RASSILON! He is the biggest bastard of the lot, of course he would lead them down the road of evil to stave off death. And I am glad that Romana was not the final President of Galifrey and so had gone completely evil, a fear that has precedent with RTD and his thing about women in authority (and it was annoying as all hell when the EDA's went down that route). And yay for Rassilon jokes (the Diamond Bling...of Rassilon, the Dramatic Spittle...of Rassilon). Though I'm surprised RTD managed to resist throwing one of those in there. Of Rassilon jokes for Time Lords are up there with "my vision is impared" jokes for Daleks, they never get old.

And I've said before that I'm not too keen on Simm's Master, but that moment when he brought back the Timelords, he was so little boy desperately seeking approval that I really felt sorry for the hopping, lightning throwing little bastard, and Simm played it really well. Yes, yes, I feel bad for saying he had no subtlety as the Master, he did there. Though what actually happened to the Master at the end there? I must have blinked and missed that moment too.

Mysterious Woman. I've heard said that the idea was for her to be the Doctor's mother, which would explain the vagueness (though he's half human on his mother's side!), but I can see her as the Doctor's wife or even Susan. I know Romana is a favorite fan theory, but I'd rather she not be. I'd rather that Romana told the Time Lords "screw you guys, I'm going home (to E Space)" when they kicked her out of the Presidency (no matter how out of character that is) taking Leela, K9 and Narvin with her (I love Narvin!). And Brax followed too, because he is creepy like that but still awesome. From there they watch the Doctor and mock his emo, and one day she might pop up in an episode sometime without vagueness.

The Death of Ten, dun dun dun. The actual cause of the death I felt was wonderfully done; the initial joy at still being alive, the knocking, Wilf, oh Wilf and his little wave. Even Ten's initial snit fit at Wilf getting stuck and him having to sacrifice himself to get him out was alright, did not like the writing of it but Tennant managed to save it with his delivery of sarcasm and anger but no doubt that he was actually going to do it. And that little moment when he pulls himself together and then goes ahead and does it, had he regenerated then and there in Wilf's arms it would have been a wonderfully sad send off.

But oh dear.

Damn it Russel!

The Harry Potter epilogue ending of Longest Regeneration Ever! Damn it, it just went too far and spoiled the initial poignancy.

Ok, first off, lets do fate of the companions. Mickey and Martha. I hated that spoiler, and it turned out to be true, but at least they both turned up, so they weren't just married off and then got a piddly little mention. And I'm going to take those different hairstyles as code for that took place many years in the future, after they got to know each other and something tragic happened to off screen Doctor Tom. And in the end I still think the two of them come out of it the best, stronger more in spite of the Doctor than just because of him and kicking arse and saving the Earth on their own.

Jack, because nothing solves dead boyfriend and killing your own grandson to save Earth angst like hot sex from George the werewolf.

Rose, I am surprised but the Rose one was the best. Having her last did make sense as a bookend, and going back to 2005 pre-Doctor was nice (and too little Jackie, but a little can go a long way with her). Even though it did remind me how much I hated how her character was mangled with the constant bringing back, at least with this being in the past it did not add to that.

Donna, Donna gets last in my book. Oh Donna. Well, at least she is not dead, and while I get the feeling that I am supposed to applaud that shallow ending for her, (who needs personal growth when you have money and a man) there is still all that fix it fanfic. And no doubt that one day there will be a fix it with the official canon stamp on it, be it episode, audio or book. I can live with that.

I can understand that he wanted to say goodbye to the characters he created, but it really should have been edited out in the final draft. It was just too self indulgent and I really doubt the idea was to make me think "just regenerate already dammit!".

Now for the end, and Ten's last lines. I hated that. Way to have him go out like a whiney emo baby. I hated how this just had to be the most important, saddest, yes, most epic regeneration of them all! I came away with that irritated that not even the Companions are not allowed to want to leave, instead they must go kicking and screaming, he had to give it to the Doctor too. Damn it Russel! I couldn't help but feel that David Tennant deserved better.

Eleven! I'm going to take that "I'm a girl" crack at his baby face, has Matt Smith even gone through puberty? I can wait for his reaction when he looks in a mirror and realizes he's turned into a twelve year old. It's always impossible to make a proper judgment after just a few minutes of post regeneration madness, but I like him. The first person he kissed was himself!