Thinking about Doomsday again

[kerravonsen]

Well, they showed "Doomsday" tonight on the local TV... so that's the last of Who until I fire up the bittorrent at Christmas. On this second viewing, some further thoughts...

I think the Jackie-Pete reunion is my favourite bit. And the Dalek and Cybermen snark at the start.

One thing I didn't notice first time around was that it was the Doctor who had decided that Rose had to go to the alt-universe. Arbitrarily. Without asking her, or anybody. Where does he get off on being heartbroken about it, then?

One of the things that aizain and I were discussing when brainstorming about Incongruity was that part of the point of the story was the difference between being predictable and being known, being understood. I kept on bringing up the word "love" and he kept on bringing up the word "respect".

Thing is, how on earth, in "Doomsday", could the Tenth Doctor claim to love Rose, if he didn't respect her? And yet he isn't respecting her, not when he's making these decisions for her. Sure, he can make decisions for other people to save their lives, that's reasonable, but if he can stay in this universe, there's no life-threatening reason for her to have to go.
Of course, he thinks that Pete and Jackie are better off together (and he's probably right) and he thinks that Rose ought to be with them -- why? Enforced domesticity is not really life-affirming, is it?

Of course, in this season, Rose has hardly been a poster-child for mature behaviour. And the Tenth Doctor has been, yes, arrogant. Repeatedly. (Bah! He needs Methos to give him a good laughing at)

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think the Jackie-Pete reunion is my favourite bit. And the Dalek and Cybermen snark at the start.

Double yes.

I suppose Rose has spent two seasons going on about wanting to see her Dad (though AU Pete isn't her Dad - one of my favourite scenes in that season was when he rejected her). And, I think uniquely among his companions, she keeps going home to see her Mum and friends, or, when she's busy, rings them up. So he does have reason to suppose that, whatever she says, she's never been ready to make that break with her family. This isn't an attempt to justify his decision - I don't like the Tenth Doctor enough to bother - but I can see reasons for it, and by that stage I was so fed up with the Rose situation I'd have accepted any means of getting her out of the way.

[kerravonsen]

and by that stage I was so fed up with the Rose situation I'd have accepted any means of getting her out of the way

I felt cheated that she didn't die.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

You mean that clip where the piano fell on her didn't happen in the real show?

[kerravonsen]

8-P

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That was just on here too. :-D

I too love the Pete/Jackie interplay and the Cybermen and Dalek snark is just wonderful. I also love the music when the Daleks emerged from their prison; it seemed a reprise of that used at the end of S1 but I don't mind. Music properly done really adds emotion, grandeur, and a real frisson to a scene like that. B5 did it very well.

The blubbing and clinging to the past still annoyed me though. I wish I'd seen a stronger Rose who was working for Unit and had moved on, who could say goodbye with dignity to the person who had helped her grow up. Well, all right, the regeneration of one who did.