Doctor Who 4x01 "Partners in Crime"
Apr. 6th, 2008 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenI kept on putting off watching it today, because I was trying to use it as a bribe for myself, to do chores and writing. Well, I did write a paragraph or two of my Multiverse story, but at this point I feel like ripping it up, because someone else has already written a story (which I read recently) which crosses these two particular universes, and they did it so brilliantly that anything I do will be crap in comparison. This year's multiverse there's only one of the three I can do at all, because I haven't seen the shows for the other choices.
Anyway, on to Doctor Who squee!
CHARACTERS
Donna: was in character, yay!
I think they managed to be plausible in her change of mind about travelling with the Doctor. I liked how (a) it's harder to change one's life than it seems when one makes bold promises, (b) she did try to see the world, (c) her let-down in seeing Egypt was plausible, because the "tourist thing" can make travelling less fun, I know (which is why I've never been attracted to package tours).
I also loved how she sort of bulldozed the Doctor into taking her to the TARDIS -- you can see how she nagged Lance into marrying her. And I loved how she'd packed for it! Be Prepared. She'd have to be the most prepared companion of all. Rose would be the second-most-prepared (since she did pack a backpack after "World War Three").
I think it was a good balance between her enthusiasm, and then her remembering that, yes, if you go with the Doctor, you are likely to end up hanging from a cable half-way up a skyscraper.
The Doctor:
At first I was puzzled why he was behaving as if he hadn't asked Donna to come with him; had he forgotten? Surely not. And then he explained at the end, and that made sense: he was regretting how he'd messed up with Martha, and he didn't want to mess up again. (I didn't quite catch what he said about Martha, did he say "I ruined her for life"? or "I ruined half her life" or something else?)
I loved how, when the Doctor and Donna finally were in the same space, the first thing they did was hug each other. And how, at the end, they both obviously wanted to hug each other, but the previous conversation had made them all awkward.
But c'mon, Doctor, surely you could have said "a friend" after it was obvious that she'd misunderstood what you meant by "a mate"?
But I'm glad that they seem to have made it quite clear that Donna isn't going to fall for the Doctor. Phew!
The Doctor is still an adrenaline junkie.
Very good point that Donna made about the Doctor sparing the Adipose Babies, considering that it was the opposite of what he'd done with the spider-babies in "The Runaway Bride". Mind you, the situations were different, and not just that the Adipose Babies were really cute. The Adipose Babies were going away; and let's face it, the Doctor is usually reasonably happy to let alien invaders off, if they actually leave. Whereas the spider-babies were going to be ravenous when they hatched, and were going to be going on a killing rampage, so that's a reasonable difference.
But it's interesting that he attributes the change to Martha.
Donna's Grandfather:
Oh, I loved him! His existance also makes it a bit more plausible that she might change her mind about travelling with the Doctor, that she had someone in her life who was interested in space, and would encourage her.
Donna's Mother:
Well, you can tell where Donna got some of her more annoying traits from...
PLOT
So, RTD stole the plot from "Invasion of the Bane"; well, it felt very similar, what with evil blonde corporate head, fishy business with food-related products, procreation of aliens, investigative reporters, alien signals activating the thing that was ingested...
Not too bad, though.
It was indeed amusing how Donna and the Doctor kept on missing each other. I started wondering if they would miss each other for the whole episode, and only meet at the end, but they put us out of our misery, and in such a fun way; I loved the miming-through-the-windows scene. Yes, I had a flashback to the scene between Martha and the Doctor in "42", but this was... as different from that as Donna is different from Martha.
"Health and Safety" -- and they both thought of it!
I figured there must be something significant in the fact that when Foster was reviewing the security footage, we weren't shown who she was looking at. But I was still surprised when they caught the reporter rather than Donna.
Some plot holes:
- if each pill was a "spark of life", then how could the emergency override give life to the extra Adipose Babies?
- if the pendant was tuned to the bio-signature of the first person to touch it, wouldn't accidents happen before this; you couldn't expect all your workers not to touch the pendants.
- what about customers who were night-shift workers?
- how could Foster tell that the woman had seen the Adipose Baby?
- c'mon, two pendants enable the Doctor to interfere with the master controls? Okay, okay, technobabble-handwave.
STYLE
Those Adipose-babies were so cute!
The nursery-ship was very "flying saucer" -- pretty lights!
Donna waving from the TARDIS, that was a bit silly, though. I don't like having a flying TARDIS, that just is irritating to me. I know, I know, they did it as far back as "Parting of the Ways" but I didn't like it then either.
(ETA: I didn't like the change in the theme music, but I expect I will get used to it.)
SPECULATION
Oh-ho! So we have a mysteriously appearing and vanishing Rose...
I expect we will have a Rose-sighting each episode until the Grand Finale.
It's interesting how Rose looks more mature.
Overall, a very promising start. RTD was writing to his strengths this time, that is, the characterisation was good, and the plot wasn't too handwavy.
Anyway, on to Doctor Who squee!
CHARACTERS
Donna: was in character, yay!
I think they managed to be plausible in her change of mind about travelling with the Doctor. I liked how (a) it's harder to change one's life than it seems when one makes bold promises, (b) she did try to see the world, (c) her let-down in seeing Egypt was plausible, because the "tourist thing" can make travelling less fun, I know (which is why I've never been attracted to package tours).
I also loved how she sort of bulldozed the Doctor into taking her to the TARDIS -- you can see how she nagged Lance into marrying her. And I loved how she'd packed for it! Be Prepared. She'd have to be the most prepared companion of all. Rose would be the second-most-prepared (since she did pack a backpack after "World War Three").
I think it was a good balance between her enthusiasm, and then her remembering that, yes, if you go with the Doctor, you are likely to end up hanging from a cable half-way up a skyscraper.
The Doctor:
At first I was puzzled why he was behaving as if he hadn't asked Donna to come with him; had he forgotten? Surely not. And then he explained at the end, and that made sense: he was regretting how he'd messed up with Martha, and he didn't want to mess up again. (I didn't quite catch what he said about Martha, did he say "I ruined her for life"? or "I ruined half her life" or something else?)
I loved how, when the Doctor and Donna finally were in the same space, the first thing they did was hug each other. And how, at the end, they both obviously wanted to hug each other, but the previous conversation had made them all awkward.
But c'mon, Doctor, surely you could have said "a friend" after it was obvious that she'd misunderstood what you meant by "a mate"?
But I'm glad that they seem to have made it quite clear that Donna isn't going to fall for the Doctor. Phew!
The Doctor is still an adrenaline junkie.
Very good point that Donna made about the Doctor sparing the Adipose Babies, considering that it was the opposite of what he'd done with the spider-babies in "The Runaway Bride". Mind you, the situations were different, and not just that the Adipose Babies were really cute. The Adipose Babies were going away; and let's face it, the Doctor is usually reasonably happy to let alien invaders off, if they actually leave. Whereas the spider-babies were going to be ravenous when they hatched, and were going to be going on a killing rampage, so that's a reasonable difference.
But it's interesting that he attributes the change to Martha.
Donna's Grandfather:
Oh, I loved him! His existance also makes it a bit more plausible that she might change her mind about travelling with the Doctor, that she had someone in her life who was interested in space, and would encourage her.
Donna's Mother:
Well, you can tell where Donna got some of her more annoying traits from...
PLOT
So, RTD stole the plot from "Invasion of the Bane"; well, it felt very similar, what with evil blonde corporate head, fishy business with food-related products, procreation of aliens, investigative reporters, alien signals activating the thing that was ingested...
Not too bad, though.
It was indeed amusing how Donna and the Doctor kept on missing each other. I started wondering if they would miss each other for the whole episode, and only meet at the end, but they put us out of our misery, and in such a fun way; I loved the miming-through-the-windows scene. Yes, I had a flashback to the scene between Martha and the Doctor in "42", but this was... as different from that as Donna is different from Martha.
"Health and Safety" -- and they both thought of it!
I figured there must be something significant in the fact that when Foster was reviewing the security footage, we weren't shown who she was looking at. But I was still surprised when they caught the reporter rather than Donna.
Some plot holes:
- if each pill was a "spark of life", then how could the emergency override give life to the extra Adipose Babies?
- if the pendant was tuned to the bio-signature of the first person to touch it, wouldn't accidents happen before this; you couldn't expect all your workers not to touch the pendants.
- what about customers who were night-shift workers?
- how could Foster tell that the woman had seen the Adipose Baby?
- c'mon, two pendants enable the Doctor to interfere with the master controls? Okay, okay, technobabble-handwave.
STYLE
Those Adipose-babies were so cute!
The nursery-ship was very "flying saucer" -- pretty lights!
Donna waving from the TARDIS, that was a bit silly, though. I don't like having a flying TARDIS, that just is irritating to me. I know, I know, they did it as far back as "Parting of the Ways" but I didn't like it then either.
(ETA: I didn't like the change in the theme music, but I expect I will get used to it.)
SPECULATION
Oh-ho! So we have a mysteriously appearing and vanishing Rose...
I expect we will have a Rose-sighting each episode until the Grand Finale.
It's interesting how Rose looks more mature.
Overall, a very promising start. RTD was writing to his strengths this time, that is, the characterisation was good, and the plot wasn't too handwavy.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-06 01:34 pm (UTC)"half her life", I think.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-06 02:10 pm (UTC)I have seven words for you:
Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.
Though now that you mention it? It is kind of disappointing given that the biology technobabble that Foster was giving at the start of the episode was valid, if a little out there. (A lipase could certainly chew up fat, that's what it's for, but all the resultant sugars have to go somewhere. Diabetes much?)
no subject
Date: 2008-04-06 04:56 pm (UTC)Rose would be the second-most-prepared (since she did pack a backpack after "World War Three").
Sorry, I have to give that award to Ace, with her habit of toting a backpack full of useful (and frequently explosive) items everywhere. :)
But c'mon, Doctor, surely you could have said "a friend" after it was obvious that she'd misunderstood what you meant by "a mate"?
As I've just said in a comment elsewhere, I do wish he had, because that's likely to cause a lot of confusion among general audiences in the US, where "mate" pretty much means spouse and is never, ever used to mean "friend."
Those Adipose-babies were so cute!
They were adorable! I want a toy one. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-04-06 09:58 pm (UTC)True. But it didn't look like she brought many possessions with her into the TARDIS, though.
As I've just said in a comment elsewhere, I do wish he had, because that's likely to cause a lot of confusion among general audiences in the US, where "mate" pretty much means spouse and is never, ever used to mean "friend."
Well, the primary audience is British, they aren't going to be bothering to think of international audiences any more than US-made programmes think of international audiences when they're made. Tit for tat.
But you've just made me realize that we might be flooded with Doctor/Donna fic by US teenyboppers who write about how the Doctor can no longer control his mating urge. (shudder)
Oh dear.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-06 10:20 pm (UTC)I don't think she had many possessions at that point...
(shudder)
Yeah, exactly. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 12:55 am (UTC)That's exactly what I thought. Why go on using a term that's being misunderstood? Actually. it's odd how that word can have such different meaning depending on context.
I liked Donna a lot in this: her investigations of odd phenomena in the hopes of meeting the Doctor made sense, and her grandfather was wonderful. I hope we see him again.
I thought the blonde hair looked like Rose and was both disappointed and intrigued to find it was. Can she move between universes?
It bothered me that the Adipose came to Earth to breed--like so many aliens--but my theory is that the Doctor's presence there attracts other aliens. Perhaps Earth shows up as a frequent destination on the spaceways.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-26 03:29 am (UTC)I thoroughly enjoyed this ep, though for some reason it seemed a bit exposition heavy. Or something. I have no idea why I feel that way, because it really didn't have any more exposition than any other ep, but there ya go.
I really, really do like Donna, as annoying as she is. And you know one of the things I like most about her? She seems real. As in physically. She's not this little bitty wisp of a thing; there's substance to her body and her presence. I'm not saying that Martha was particularly waif-like. Maybe it's Donna's age, too. There's life experience there. Whatever it is, I like it.
Well, the primary audience is British, they aren't going to be bothering to think of international audiences any more than US-made programmes think of international audiences when they're made. Tit for tat.
Indeed. At the very least, it gives rise to the opportunity for learning cultural/lingual connotations.
And I really do think that Adipose babies are going to be the next Dr. Who toy in the collection. Because, aww! Cute!
Re: Rose . . . I called that. About the point where Donna tells the blonde that someone named "Sylvia" would be by and it would make sense . . . I gasped and said, "That's Rose." And when she turned around, oh the shock! And then she disappeared! I suspect that that is not Rose at all, but someone or something disguised as Rose. (Don't tell me if I'm wrong or right. We're a few eps behind you all.)
TV is good right now. I've got new Who, new N3, and new SPN. Yippee!!!