New Who 4.13, Journey's End

[strange_complex]

So, well. There ya go, then.

I am actually seriously impressed at how much of that was correctly predicted by livejournallers: largely people on doctorwho, I think, though I could have got mixed up. To be fair, a lot of it was predicated on set reports of the scene filmed on the 'Bad Wolf Bay' beach, in which David Tennant was seen wearing his two different suits; and once you've got the basic idea of two Doctors from that, many of the rest of the predictions follow logically. Also, with the entire blogosphere feverishly generating crack!spec for the last week, the law of averages dictates that there will be a few hits amongst the misses. But still! Fandom clearly does have a pretty firm hold on the RTD psyche. Over the last week, I've seen the following correctly called:

• The Doctor being 'saved' from a normal regeneration by glowy!energy 'arcing' to the hand.
• The Doctor noticing the remarkable resemblence between Gwen from Torchwood and Gwyneth from The Unquiet Dead when he sees her.
• Martha and Mickey going off to join Torchwood.
• Rose returning to her Universe with her own version of the Doctor (which - GAH!).
• Donna going home at the end, but without her memories of the Doctor.

Then again, we didn't get everything. No one quite figured out what would happen to Donna (probably mainly because it was unsatisfying hand-wavey bollocks, of course...), guessed the true nature of the Osterhagen key (which was wonderfully bleak and awful in the end), predicted Unexpected Naked Ten, OR called the appearance of K-9!!!! And I really hope my neighbours didn't think I was being killed when he turned up, because I can tell you, I shrieked like there was no tomorrow!

So the RTD era, and its major themes, is neatly wrapped up. I didn't like all of it, and there's one thing in particular I do envy Donna for: having no memory of that desperate, awful kiss on the beach between a broken teenager and a blow-up doll. There's also a very definite case for characterising it as all one big, breathless, unregulated run through the tropes and events of the last four seasons - on drugs. But Davros was great, and the TARDIS was great, and having all RTD's major characters around the console at once was great. Also, much kudos is deserved for Jack's reaction to the idea of three Doctors: "I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now!"

Then again, I don't know why the Osterhagen key didn't control twenty-seven nuclear warheads instead of twenty-five, since that would underscore the awfulness of what it meant by drawing a comparison between humanity and the Daleks. And Donna's ending? She's not the first companion it's happened to - but just why? I suppose the answer is meant to be that if she remembered anything about the Doctor, it would 'reawaken' his Time Lord mind within her. But it felt awfully, awfully unfair - although I suppose that was the point, really. It was meant to traumatise the viewers by doing something even worse to this plucky, loveable character than just killing her off. :-(

Anyway, on the whole, it was fun, in the epic-yet-strangely-forgettable way RTD season finales tend to be. He's done a pretty good job while he's been around, and it's pleasing to see him tying up all his loose ends, even if in a predictably icky way in some cases. But it's good to know things will be moving in a different direction now.

Comments

[paulgregory.livejournal.com]

I didn't document my prediction of K-9's appearance anywhere on the interwebs, but I did encourage my parents to watch a few SJAs before they saw 4x12 as I felt it was important to know who SJ's son is, who Mr Smith is (at least in broad terms) *and* where K-9 is. I *would* have put money on K-9 being in 4x13 - although my only published prediction re Other Characters Not Yet Seen was that Noel Clarke would be a funny 11th Doctor for Rose. But instead of a Timelord looking like a human she'd once loved, she got a human looking like a Timelord she loved. (I do have a concern about the way they conveniently forget that he's part-Donna, which I raise in my own LJ).

I also encouraged my parents to drop their original plan of watching 4x12 and 4x13 back-to-back as this would Totally Ruin The Fun Of A Cliff-Hanger - and because I feared RTD would ret-con the highs of 4x12 with some cop-out in 4x13. Thankfully I was wrong on that point. Arguably showing the Doctor "his soul" and pointing out his use of others as weapons gives additional purpose and worth to some previous adventures, but I'm not entirely sure a master villain should consider it to be a great victory to emulate Tony Head from Doctor Who Confidential.

I think having the same number of planets as nuclear warheads would have been confusing rather than helping draw a parallel. The key is interesting - a cyanide pill forced on the rest of the Earth in defiance by 3 parties (albeit relunctantly in Not In My Name guy's case).

I'm in two minds whether "calling" plot points is a good or bad thing. I guess I did back up the hand thing last week. I did think about saying "I bet K-9 does something useful in the last episode", but I wasn't sure it would enhance the show for anyone. Do you find yourself thinking "yep, X called that" during the episode itself or just on reflection? Mind, part of me wouldn't mind you thinking of me mid-squeegasm. I will miss your reviews - I'll have to watch some of the other stuff you've covered.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Do you find yourself thinking "yep, X called that" during the episode itself...?

Yes, very much so. Largely because I go into the episode with a list of theories already washing around my mind, so it's natural to be looking out for them and crossing them off as they crop up.

It's more a case of me thinking 'Yes, that was called' that 'Yes, X called that', though. If you have doctorwho on your friendslist (which I do), every other post at this stage in a season features someone or other propounding their latest theories. Amongst that hubbub, the identity of who predicted what very quickly dissolves into an undifferentiated blur - especially since many posters are building on earlier theories already established by others, so that some ideas have become quasi-canonical by the time an episode actually airs.

And as for whether the practice of calling plot points in advance enhances the show for anyone, I really don't think that's why people try to do it. It's about proving how clever they are! Which is all good fun - although it does tend to backfire somewhat when their predictions turn out to be far cleverer and more interesting than what RTD actually serves up...