The Stolen Earth
Jun. 28th, 2008 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charameiReaction post for Doctor Who S04E12, The Stolen Earth. Also contains spoilers for The Pirate Planet, an episode which is about 40 years old. You have been warned.
So, Callufrax was compressed into a near-black hole and then, later, vanished from the galaxy completely when it turned out to be part of the Key to Time, and now Callufrax Minor, years later, has been stolen by the Daleks. The moral of this episode is clear: if you want your planet to stay in roughly the same place, don't call it Callufrax.
I've been increasingly concerned about the series finale. This series has been universally strong, as far as I'm concerned, and has only gained momentum as it carried on; it lost it a bit at 'Midnight' (DW's horror rarely works for me), but regained it full force with 'Turn Left'. However, after the Tinkerbell Jesus denouement last year, can anyone blame me for being apprehensive?
I'm beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, this might turn out to be a reasonable finale. It's looking a lot as though teamwork on an epic scale will save the day, rather than, well, Tinkerbell Jesus (who may or may not be permanently gone, but David Tennant's been signed up for Series 5 and the Xmas special, so I'm betting... not). The group scenes were pulled off very well - I especially liked Rose's one-sided conversation with them, completely cut off from Team TARDIS. Luke is win, as always (who was it who asked, 'Is that good or bad?' I know somebody did, and it really should have been his line), and it looks as though Thomas Knight will be able to hold his own against the quite formidable cast he's got - which is particularly important if and when he shares screentime with David Tennant, of course. Torchwood, ironically, were acting better in DW than they do in TW, a prediction which I totally called about halfway into TW Series 1.
A few weak moments: we know that Jack can take other people with him on the vortex manipulator, as he did it at the end of last series, so why leave Gwen and Ianto to die? Likewise, if all he needed to get his teleport working was two numbers, surely a little trial and error - given his inability to die - was in order? And honestly, I know that Sarah Jane has only been a mother for a few months, but to leave Luke without even the tin dog protecting him? I sincerely hope that Donna - or even the Doctor - rips her a new one for that.
Why did the Doctor feel it necessary to mention that he was regenerating? He's clearly talking to himself, and this is his tenth time at it, so you'd think he'd know the signs by now - it can't even have been for audience benefit, since Jack had by that point already explained it to Donna. As a last line, that was rather weak, which only enhances the suspicion that it's, well, not his last line.
And lastly, why was Rose so surprised by Martha's presence, when she's met both Sarah-Jane and Donna at this point?
I'm griping, of course. Hopefully next week will clear much of this up, and even if it doesn't, for a getting-into-the-shit episode this was significantly better than the previous offers. The Daleks seem to actually have a plan; the crossover is reasonable and well-executed; the Doctor is not in quite as much shit as he was last series; it's, umm, hopefully very unlikely that I will be whimpering about the new equivalent of the Tinkerbell Jesus this time next week.
It's possible, it's just possible, that RTD may finally have worked out how to write a good season finale.
So, Callufrax was compressed into a near-black hole and then, later, vanished from the galaxy completely when it turned out to be part of the Key to Time, and now Callufrax Minor, years later, has been stolen by the Daleks. The moral of this episode is clear: if you want your planet to stay in roughly the same place, don't call it Callufrax.
I've been increasingly concerned about the series finale. This series has been universally strong, as far as I'm concerned, and has only gained momentum as it carried on; it lost it a bit at 'Midnight' (DW's horror rarely works for me), but regained it full force with 'Turn Left'. However, after the Tinkerbell Jesus denouement last year, can anyone blame me for being apprehensive?
I'm beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, this might turn out to be a reasonable finale. It's looking a lot as though teamwork on an epic scale will save the day, rather than, well, Tinkerbell Jesus (who may or may not be permanently gone, but David Tennant's been signed up for Series 5 and the Xmas special, so I'm betting... not). The group scenes were pulled off very well - I especially liked Rose's one-sided conversation with them, completely cut off from Team TARDIS. Luke is win, as always (who was it who asked, 'Is that good or bad?' I know somebody did, and it really should have been his line), and it looks as though Thomas Knight will be able to hold his own against the quite formidable cast he's got - which is particularly important if and when he shares screentime with David Tennant, of course. Torchwood, ironically, were acting better in DW than they do in TW, a prediction which I totally called about halfway into TW Series 1.
A few weak moments: we know that Jack can take other people with him on the vortex manipulator, as he did it at the end of last series, so why leave Gwen and Ianto to die? Likewise, if all he needed to get his teleport working was two numbers, surely a little trial and error - given his inability to die - was in order? And honestly, I know that Sarah Jane has only been a mother for a few months, but to leave Luke without even the tin dog protecting him? I sincerely hope that Donna - or even the Doctor - rips her a new one for that.
Why did the Doctor feel it necessary to mention that he was regenerating? He's clearly talking to himself, and this is his tenth time at it, so you'd think he'd know the signs by now - it can't even have been for audience benefit, since Jack had by that point already explained it to Donna. As a last line, that was rather weak, which only enhances the suspicion that it's, well, not his last line.
And lastly, why was Rose so surprised by Martha's presence, when she's met both Sarah-Jane and Donna at this point?
I'm griping, of course. Hopefully next week will clear much of this up, and even if it doesn't, for a getting-into-the-shit episode this was significantly better than the previous offers. The Daleks seem to actually have a plan; the crossover is reasonable and well-executed; the Doctor is not in quite as much shit as he was last series; it's, umm, hopefully very unlikely that I will be whimpering about the new equivalent of the Tinkerbell Jesus this time next week.
It's possible, it's just possible, that RTD may finally have worked out how to write a good season finale.