Contemplations of Who.

[jmtorres]

Showed stariceling Runaway Bride thru Last of the Time Lords in the last two days. Took notes on what I thought of things now that I had full season of context.

Runaway Bride--There's some great moments in here. Pockets bigger on the inside. I didn't catch it the first time around, but Mr. Saxon ordered the tanks to fire on the Rachnos star. I think that's all the foreshadowing in this one, though I wasn't paying real sharp attention yet.

I am kind of startled that after being About To Die of huon particles, Donna is totally, totally fine. Considering that the Doctor lied to her about the huon particles being harmless at first, I wonder if there might be lingering effects. I also wonder--I mean, they use the gold shiny effect a lot, but when Rose took the heart of the TARDIS, was she taking on huon particles? Was that part of what was going to kill her?

Smith and Jones--There was a Saxon reference on the radio again, I think? And "Vote Saxon" behind Martha's head when the Doctor invites her along. Favorite bits: the Doctor mouthing along with "it's bigger on the inside" followed immediately by, "Really? I hadn't noticed!" and then he just drags her off, before she's properly agreed to it. I mean, I think she could have boggled at the ship a bit more quite happily.

I am kind of disturbed at how Martha can't save the world herself, even if it's something as completely obvious as unplugging the MRI machine; her role is to save the Doctor so he can save the world. Seriously. She couldn't unplug the MRI machine, THEN do the CPR? I guess part of it was the doctorly impulse to help the body in front of her. But. Unplug the MRI machine. Seriously. That's what the Doctor ended up doing, when he had no screwdriver. And I thought of it. Why not Martha?

Shakespeare Code--butterfly, I think, commented on the place of this in the arc/foreshadowing as introducing the power of words. Although I am really bugged that there's random strings of numbers in the "words," considering the Doctor explains their word power specifically in contrast to humans using numbers and math to split the atom.

Re: the Carrionites--it seems to me that the Doctor is running into a lot of elder races/races from the beginning of time/races the Time Lords wiped out. First the Rachnoss, then Carrionites, then the Macra in Gridlock--what does he say? Long ago the Macro had an empire and enslaved humans? Billions of years ago? But from the perspective of New Earth, "a long time ago" is a little different, so I don't know if the Macra count.

But the Rachnoss, now. When they went to see the solar system forming and the Rachnoss ship as a the first rock in the center of the Earth, the Doctor said it was further back in history than he'd ever been before [if I remember correctly, when there was a Gallifrey, Gallifreyan history previous to Rassilon and the implementation of time travel is locked, not allowed to be visited. I wonder if this is related?]. Anyway, compare that to Utopia: further forward than the Doctor (or any time lord, so he thought) had ever been before. There's that... mirror image. But also, is it possible that all these ancient races from early early early in the history of the universe are popping up as foreshadowing to someone from the Doctor's early personal history, who goes back all the way with him, popping up?

Gridlock--I maintain that this episode was inspired by someone's horrible commute to work.

One of the things that most fascinated me about this episode was that I was open to reacting to the religious manipulation. The hymns and choral work and light above, and I know it's manipulation, and I am still moved, despite not being traditionally religious.

I suppose that was foreshadowing for Tinkerbell Jesus Doctor, which... hm. See, paralleling the Doctor to God/religious figure of choice with all the standard audiovisual manipulation: I'm okay with that. Martha making a personal statement that she believed in the Doctor as much as her kidnappers believed in all their hymns etc: I'm okay with that.

Martha evangelizing and converting the whole world to the Cult of the Doctor, and the Doctor manifesting the god-powers--not just having technology x and therefore the choice of whether people live or die in his hands, but having belief-endowed superpowers of godhead--no. I am not okay with that. I like the Lonely God as a metaphor. I dislike it as a literalism.

Daleks of Manhattan--I started typing this up as this ep started, so, I completely fail at paying attention. I may have missed important bits in the beginning.

Tallulah's stage gun made me think, because in Gridlock they also have a "oh, that? that's not real, where would you get a real gun these days" gun. Is there significance to the image of a weapon that the bearer never intends to fire? I have my theory that the Master was just trying piss the Doctor off into killing him. Maybe the rocket weapons he was building to take over the universe with were just something to get a reaction, that he never meant to use. Or maybe those earlier guns--both in women's hands--for that matter, the cat nun in Gridlock had a gun, too, that she didn't really mean to use for anything--was meant to be in contrast to Lucy: the gun she didn't show or threaten with at all, but did fire. Hm.

"He's into musical theatre, huh." This is the second textual reference this season to the idea that the Doctor might be not exactly straight, the first being when Shakespeare flirts with him. (And later in this ep: "You can kiss me, later. You, too, Frank, if you want.") Potentially this is lead-up to the SEX that is the Doctor and the Master? Also, there's kind of a parallel in "girl likes boy, boy doesn't like her because he likes other boys" and "human likes time lord, time lord doesn't like her because he likes other time lords." Hm. I kind of like that interpretation of why they were flapping Martha's unrequited infatuation with the Doctor all season.

I seem to recall fandom bitching about how if the Doctor wiped out all the Daleks, why do they keep popping up? In this case, I think it is a reminder that there were survivors of the Time War, leading to the concept that there could be Time Lord survivors, too.

"The final experiment" reeks of "The final solution"; the Dalek obsession with genetic purity has always been a little Nazi-ish but considering that in Human Nature/Family of Blood, they hide in the shadow of WWI, I wonder if the point is that there will be an aftermath of the Time War: at the time, it is considered the Great War, the war to end all wars, but despite this perception, there will be Time War II, from the fallout of the original? Is the Master's decimation of Earth's population and despotism of the Lost Year intended to be that, Time War II? Or is that yet to come?

Evolution of the Daleks--Face-off in the theatre, though notably the Doctor is walking on the seats in the audience. All the world's a stage, and the Doctor went on stage with Shakespeare, but he was also in the audience at the beginning there. I am thinking about the performance element: I think the Master was putting on a show, with the Doctor as his intended audience. The Master on the telly, kissing his wife on the news, knowing it was driving the Doctor crazy. Have I mentioned my theory? (The Doctor ends up on the screen too, in Blink, but hidden in Easter eggs: he doesn't want to be see the way the Master wants to be seen.)

The Human Daaaalek says, in explaining their plan, "What is the greatest resource of this planet? Its people," which echoes both what the Doctor says in Gridlock about how what is a city but its people, and the bit in Runaway Bride about Lance being the head of Human Resources. People are a source of energy that can be used. I'm really disliking where that puts the Doctor's use of the people's belief in Last of the Time Lords. He sent Martha to ask them to lend their support, give their consent... but did they have any idea what they were supporting?

Tallulah's euphemism du jour for the Doctor's sexuality is how "different" he is, to which Martha replies, "You have no idea." Martha's referring to the alienness: queerness and otherworldliness are equated like I suggested before. I think Tallulah's euphemisms might be telling all around, because who's really into musical theatre? To the point of taking over the world to his favorite techno tune? The Master. Huh. I wonder what else has popped out of Tallulah's mouth in the guise of cute idioms.

The Doctor wanted to spare both the last Dalek and the Master. He's... something.

Electricity: the Doctor references his mate Ben Franklin in Smith and Jones, and the Judoon's method of bringing people to the moon looks like a thunderstorm. The Doctor takes a lightning strike in Evolution of the Daleks. Does this motif carry on? Can't think of further stuff.

The Doctor's taking the electricity/gamma radiation strike (*headdesk* skience) contributes some to the Jesus motif, sacrifices self on the cross spire, falls down "dead," revives. But I find this acceptable: doing something within the scope of mortal ability to save people = fine, even including the amazing survival of it. Tinkerbell Jesus omnipotence = wtf. Is this a distinction that makes sense to people?

Lazarus Experiment--Religious stuff some more. Music in a cathedral brings Richard Lazarus down. Again, I am okay with this. As long as there is skience to back it up, some reason, I can go with the religious imagery. *grump*

Doctor's been using the literal aspect of the sonic a lot this season. Runaway Bride: don't let a man with a sonic screwdriver near a sound system. Evolution of the Daleks: that radio. Music, you can sing to it, dance to it, fall in love to it, unless you're a Dalek, then it's just noise. Now the organ in Lazarus Experiment. ("I have to turn this up to eleven." Do you think the Doctor calls the song Lick My Love Pump?) Leading up to "Here come the drums, here come the drums"?

Another WWII reference: Richard Lazarus reminisces.

Unplugging Lazarus's machine turns it off when it's about to explode. Like the MRI machine. It's a really obvious method of stopping electrically powered things (electricity link?) that we really don't need a Doctor to think of. Does anything else get unplugged later? Arguably when the TARDIS is a paradox machine, all it needs is "unplugging" to undo the paradox, but that's a bit more involved. Jack has to unplug it with a great deal of firepower. If it was simple enough to have done when they first got there at the end of Sound of Drums, would it have short-circuited the Master's plans? The Toclafane would have showed up, tried to kill folks, and evaporated?

First big obvious Mr. Saxon reference.

The Doctor quotes Frost, re: Lazarus. He ends with not a bang, but a whimper. The boy in Family of Blood references the same Frost poem too, re: the Doctor (sorry to be skipping forward so much, just watched the rest-of-season trailer). He's like fire and ice.

42--I still think they recycled the Satan Pit set, costumes, and plot just a bit... The religious stuff was more explicit in Satan Pit, but the hellfire allusions are coming through pretty strong.

I'm also reminded of Idiot's Lantern, when Martha and what's his face get jettisoned and Martha and the Doctor are screaming at each other across the vaccuum, repeating words the other can't hear. Martha's is "Doctor," the Doctor's is "I'll save you," over and over, "I'll save you." In Idiot's Lantern, when everyone was trapped in the television silently repeating their words, everyone but Rose said, "Help me," and Rose said "Doctor."

Interestingly, I think the Doctor was trying to tell Martha about regeneration when he thought the star parasites were going to kill him. She shushed him and froze him up, but he was talking about, "If I'm about to die--" Maybe he learned a lesson from Rose's shock and disbelief. (How have previous companions taken it? I've never seen other regeneration eps.)

Thematic epilogue: What's his face says he found someone to believe in, aka, Martha. Martha is someone to believe in, in her own right. And. Somehow I don't think she quite knows that. She believes in the Doctor to the exclusion of realizing her own capability.

Mr. Saxon has folks stalking Martha's mum, and it's Election Day. So this episode marks the turning point where the Master took power in Martha's time. The Doctor lost control to the star parasites; is there a see-saw of Master win-Doctor lose? That doesn't feel balanced, somehow. In every episode there comes a moment where the Doctor seems to be trapped. I mean, that's the climax of a story. But I want to somehow tie this turning point with the Master to a turning point for the Doctor. Maybe. Hm. Next episode is Human Nature. Just after election day, the Master will rise to power, while the Doctor gets subsumed in a much more meaningful and less common way. The Doctor does not become human every episode. There we go. That feels better.

Human Nature--This is the second time in the new series that we've seen the Doctor in disguise as a teacher. (Physics. Phyyyyysics. PhysICs. School Reunion.) I'm not sure how much stock to put in cross-season connections, since I'm pretty sure they're only plotting a season-arc at a time. But the Doctor and the Master go back to school days, and the Master's madness was caused by that school initiation.

I am kind of considering using wee psychic boy (Latimer) as school-age Doctor for the purposes of vidding. There's a good shot of him with the J. Smith door behind his head. We have wee Master looking into the vortex, but we need wee Doctor. Theta? Anyway.

John Smith: This is the second time this season we've seen the Doctor doing John Smith. I know it's an old alias, easy, but I wonder if there's an implication. The Doctor seeking anonymity. The impercibility keys they use in Sound of Drums?

The TARDIS is quiet. Silent running? Hibernating? All the lights are out, all the glow gone. At least it's not an empty box like in Father's Day, that seems like it might be the parallel to a Doctor who's not the Doctor anymore. But the grey TARDIS freaks me out.

Baines is always Master Baines. I know it was a perfectly common form of address, but I do wonder if the relationship between the boy with the watch and Master Baines is at all representative of the Master and Doctor in school. I could so see the Master being a school bully in his youth.

Family of Blood--John Smith is from Nottingham. Like Robin Hood?

When the boy Latimer runs off, Hutchinson calls him a filthy coward, and Latimer calls back, "Yes, sir, every time!" Like Nine. *heart*

The family of blood repeatedly says "Come to the family." Even though they mean their family, not the Doctor's family, possibly this is foreshadowing for the Master being the Doctor's... extended family? Family in the sense of "my people"?

The Doctor is usually portrayed as peaceful, not wanting to kill anyone. He doesn't carry a gun, etc. This is sort of a... fuzzy line, he's perfectly capable of judging people. They burned the aliens in the Dickens episode of Nine, they bombed the Slitheen in Aliens of London/World War 3, but by and large the Doctor prefers bananas to blasters, and where possible, to let other people do the killing (by which I think he would prefer to think "people enforcing their laws through their own judicial system" but which Jack fairly rightly snarks about him wanting someone else for the muscle--will need to look up the exact Utopia quote when it comes up). But: John Smith can't shoot the scarecrows, and his punishment for the family blood is that they should live for ever, not that they should die.

It might have been greater kindness to kill them. He doesn't want to kill the last Dalek either, but even though that Dalek escapes, I think it does not enjoy its freedom. He doesn't want to kill the Master. I maintain that the Master REALLY WANTS HIM TO. That's why the Master doesn't regenerate when Lucy shoots him; he's been waiting to be killed all along. He'd have preferred it be by the Doctor's hand, but he'll settle for dying in the Doctor's arms.

I've left the kettle on. That is to say, like the Doctor, I feel like I've forgotten something.

Oh, hey, here's something I forgot: they say the family of blood has a vortex manipulator, is how they were following the Doctor around. Same technology as Jack, though stolen.

Blink--Dunno how many comments I'll have, since this is the Doctor-lite episode.

"Moon landing's brilliant. We went four times." Gracious, why did they go to the moon landing four times, how come it wasn't crossing their own timeline, didn't the astronauts notice them, etc etc etc. THERE's a missing story I'd like to hear. But, yeah, proof that there are more Martha adventures than episodes. I kind of look for those--there's references to extra adventures Rose had with Nine (Imperial Japan, the Weeping Woman planet, and so on); there's... at the very least, Rose and Ten have a montage of various moments together where she promised to stay with him forever, right before THAT didn't work out.

Martha with a job in a shop supporting the Doctor: I think this has been mentioned by someone else before, but, gosh, isn't that what Rose fantasized about in Impossible Planet and freaked him the hell out with? Although clearly Martha is supporting him because he still hasn't accepted that they're stuck and is spending all his efforts making timey-wimey detectors and setting up DVD Easter eggs for Sally to find, rather than getting a job and contributing to the rent and groceries. Though apparently he's cooking. Eggs at least.

Do Sally and what's his name, the Nightengale brother, count as Companions? Since they met the Doctor and went in the TARDIS.

Sally is not able to form a romantic relationship with the brother until she's had closure with the Doctor, but then she figures out how the whole thing works, feels better, and holds hands with the bloke. So, after Martha gets over the Doctor, she'll be able to form some kind of romantic relationship? How about Jack? Considering that while he's been getting it on, he makes comments like "there's nobody" because he is so very alone, poor emo child.

Utopia--stariceling says the futurekind look like they're from KISS. She said this just as I said "they look like they're from an 80s movie." I think it's the big hair, the tattoos, and the piercings. Oh, and the leather clothes.

Yana's hearing drums early on, but it's disguised as soundtrack. I don't remember noticing his drum interlude at all the first time around, even though I noticed he was fading in and out attention-wise.

Hey, Torchwood scoring for when they find Jack! The little bloopy bits.

Amazingly, Martha's emo and inadequacy issues about Rose are less annoying the second time around. Maybe because I'm expecting it.

1869: Jack lands AND the Dickens ep with the Rift. Related? Jack is the Rift? Jack is Torchwood? Jack is the Face of Boe? *snicker* Clearly Jack is everything. Jack is Sethra Lavode!

The Doctor has creepy up-the-nose lighting when he snarks about how Jack wouldn't freeze to death. The Doctor is evil!

I think this is the quote I was looking for earlier, re: the Doctor and guns and killing.
Jack: You didn't tell him to put his gun down.
Doctor: He's not my responsibility.
Jack: And I am? That makes a change.

I wonder if there is significance to Yana guessing that Jack was the Doctor. Is the sense of Wrong off Jack stronger than the sense of Time Lord off the Doctor? On a completely subconscious level, since Yana was humanish and didn't know what either of those sensations meant if he felt them at all?

stariceling: "He's becoming one of the thingies, isn't he?" She means Yana, and the futurekind. I feel full of win that I haven't spoiled her rotten.

Oh, my. Yana recognizes the TARDIS. They wouldn't have this problem if it had a working chameleon circuit. On the other hand, they couldn't have someone else find it and drag it in if it wasn't standing out as a blue box. Imagine if they'd been all "we need this large rock from out there..."

It fascinates me that the Master picks up Companions like the Doctor. Chan Tho, and Lucy. Did he do that in classic Who? Are there classic Master companions? Or is this something new, a dark mirror between them for these episodes?

The Doctor is freaked out about Yana being a Time Lord, the whole "depends which one," thing, before there's any real indication that he's the Master. How many Time Lords would the Doctor have a problem with it being? Are there any the Doctor wouldn't have a problem with it being? Is it possible that the Doctor was just freaked about the idea of another Time Lord in general, because it would be someone to point a finger, blame him for the loss of their people and planet, and rightly so? Does he fear being faced with that accusation from any of his kind?

The Master is RILLY bad with women. Both his companions shot him! How much of an asshole do you have to be? Was Chan Tho foreshadowing for Lucy?

Sound of Drums--A lot of what I have to say about this ep, I've said already. Hm.

Lucy crosses her fingers when the Master does the press release about the Toclafane. For luck or for a lie?

It's not just a "Vote Saxon" sign in the background for the phone sex, it's "Saxon is your man." Because. He and the Doctor. Are SO THING.

So what is the cruciform? The thing the Dalek emperor took control of in the Time War that triggered the Master running? Possibly cruciform is your basic Jesus Christ reference foreshadowing the Doctor.

I've had conversations with folks about why the reset button took them back to 8:02, after the assassination of the president. The reason is that the paradox machine kicked in at 8:02, I think. It wasn't countering paradox before that, so theoretically anything that they effed up bad enough before that would cause them to fade out, Back to the Future style. Oh, hey, that's why the Doctor explained they were working on Back to the Future rules back in Shakespeare Code, to set up the idea that the grandfather paradox was not survivable for the grandchild.

Cell phones are evil: This is a recurring theme. Cyberman invasion via cell phone as well. And yet, the Doctor's been supersizing cell phones for his last couple of Companions. Will this come to ill?

Inside of Master's long coat is red. He totally looks like a magician out on the airstrip. Fits with the mesmerism and tricks?

"Can't you hear it?" Only this time it's the Doctor, not the Master. The Doctor can hear the TARDIS when no one else can. You don't suppose the Master's TARDIS is currently disguised as a set of bongos, do you? And that rhythm is the key? Since somebody's TARDIS was at one point a... harpsichord or something? Musical instrument played by keyboard, to which the key was a bit of tune. God, I barely know the reference but I know it exists.

Martha's still wearing the perception filter key throughout the final bit of SOund of Drums--of course, because she has it later on her mission. But, so, obviously it doesn't work on the Master, but her family doesn't have any problem seeing her at all. Hm.

Master correctly using "decimate" continues to please and amuse.

Last of the Time Lords--"It's good, isn't it?" and variations are the Master's favorite phrases. Is this a setting-himself-up-as-God thing? He saw that it was good?

...Did the Master make the Doctor a tiny little suit to wear while he was unregenerated? How did the Tinkerbell Jesus effect make his tiny suit big again? His clothes didn't shrink with him.

...a lightning strike brought a Toclafane down in South Africa, which they duplicate to catch one here. Is this the culmination of all that lightning/electrical foreshadowing? Hm.

Lucy wanted to do something for the humans in Utopia; Lucy asking how long, how long until they could come, the TOclafane. The Master took her to Utopia, and it's... all what she wanted. I think. I think the Master is flattered to lead an empire of Toclafane, but I think none of it was really... the thing he wanted. I think what he wanted was the Doctor, and death at the Doctor's hands. I still think so.

Was traitor lady in Pete's World? stariceling thinks she recognizes her.

If Martha's still got Jack's vortex manipulator (which I feel certain she's been using for travelling the world), what does she need with this complicated plot to have him capture her? Why can't she just teleport back onto the Valiant?

If the Master had killed her in the street as he meant to before her boyfriend popped up, would her death have been reversed by the reset button? Since she was on the Valiant at the reset point? Or would she still be dead? Or would she just vanish, since the Earth reset but the Valiant has still gone through the Lost Year?

How does the Master know about Rose absorbing the Time Vortex? Srsly.

Jack has seduced all the guards, says stariceling. Or possibly he is being abusively psychic. *grins in niqaeli's general direction* There's a lot of that going around.

Despite the Doctor's assertion in the face off at the gravel pit, the Master could destroy himself, or at least, willingly die: so why doesn't he explode the rockets? He doesn't want to do it himself, he still wants someone else (the Doctor) to do it for him? Is it, maybe, that he somehow savors the Doctor's forgiveness, as frustrating as it is, and doesn't want to do the thing that will make the Doctor rescind it, because he knows how much the Doctor loves the Earth, fears the Doctor loves the Earth more than him?

Because I can't quite think it's all about winning, about using his death to twist the knife, make the Doctor beg him to stay. It was. The Master wanted to die. If he'd wanted to hurt the Doctor as much as he could, it would have been the rockets after all.