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

[weepingcross.livejournal.com]

I've flipflopped at least twice on this since last night. I've managed to swallow The Kiss as more than just a climactic emotional bleurgh that could be resisted no longer, but actually a coherent response by Rose to her situation: a life with the 'real' Dr would be tragic and hopeless too, as she would age and die and he wouldn't. Perhaps we saw her recognising that. But yes, of course it was tasteless, and desperate is probably another helpful word. As for Donna, I can't recall seeing anything so viciously cruel in a fiction. It's not just what happens to her - after all, she doesn't know how cruel her fate has been - but to her family who now have to hold her secret themselves, and the Dr who has to remember and deal with her lack of memory. Her dismissive goodbye to him, as someone she no longer recognises, was heartwrenching. I never saw Runaway Bride so I had no prior expectations. But the character has been wonderful this season, developing into a brave and sensitive person - and I kept increasingly thinking how beautiful Catherine Tate is. No wonder all those people who denounced the idea of Donna have apparently been won over.

Yes, I really enjoyed the German Daleks - although there was a slight shudder from the conceit being rather too close to history ... And I'd love to know whether the idea of the Daleks needing precisely 27 planets to build their weapon, and everything going wrong if one dropped out, came before or after the Irish voted down the Lisbon Treaty! Julian Bleach was marvellous, as I'd expect (having seen him in Shockheaded Peter AND The Gorey End with the Tiger Lillies, so nyah), even carrying off the maniacal laugh. His goading the Dr was splendid and so needed to be said, and Davros then lurching to impotent disbelief as everything falls apart (again) was enormously funny.

But overall, as you say, it had all the virtues and vices of the RTD era. The wit, moral ambiguity, invention and style on the plus side, and on the other the colossal overblown emotionalism and inability to think things through beyond the stunning images and grandiose concepts which the stories are framed around. I can forgive everything and everybody being chucked into this final stage though - as somebody said to me today, it was the end-of-school party. I'm looking forward to something a bit more restrained now!

I hope you can find more Who to watch. Your wonderful reviews will be all I have to keep me enthused until Christmas ...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, you sum up those virtues and vices very aptly. And I like the end-of-school party image, too. There's quite a case for saying that most of those characters didn't really need to be there from a plot perspective, and that having so many robbed each of them of the chance to experience any very significant character moments. But it was damned good fun, and I'm glad that amongst all that, RTD chose to keep the real star role for Donna.

Runaway Bride I would recommend catching if you can. Like the other two Christmas specials, it leans more towards Big! Action! Adventure! than some of the regular episodes, and lets go of some of their subtlety and careful craftsmanship in the process. But it's pretty good stuff, and will be especially interesting for you now, seeing it with the knowledge of what Donna becomes later.

As for your last line - aw, bless you! Do not fear, though - there is still much Classic Who for me to get through. :-)