"Excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona."

[intrikate88]

Oh, I know. Belated barely covers the timing of this episode reaction post. But everybody else has reacted with pretty much anything I'd say, so in the sake of avoiding redundancy, maybe we'll just pretend this is some sort of meta?

Yes, I love Donna. She is indeed fantastic, and hilarious, and expressive; I think she's right where she belongs. This episode was great fun, the plot was total and absolute crack (I was hoping for stonepunk Cyberman, if you want the truth) and it did many of the things I love sci-fi and fantasy for.

What do I love sci-fi and fantasy for? The exploration of literature, really. In literary realism there's a strong focus on the inner developments of characters, how they make decisions and how they relate to others and to the world around them. My only problem with realism is that I feel like it undermines some principle of reading/watching: if people really wanted realism, they wouldn't be sitting in a dark room watching the television, they wouldn't be curled up with a book. If they wanted real life, they'd be out living it, right?

So the Doctor's decision to either defeat monsters and bury Pompeii vs. letting those monsters destroy the earth is not realism at its finest. It's part of escapist literature, yes. But the guilt he carries over Gallifrey, and the way he feels he's sunk so low he can't do anything good, and Donna has to beg him to go back and save one family- I love that sort of development and characterization.  I thought it was so touching to see Donna put her hands over the Doctor's to blow up the volcano, and to let him know that he didn't have to carry his burdens alone.

Also the squirt gun was awesome. Just had to throw that in there. I wonder if the Doctor has some dimensional portal in his pockets that he can reach in and grab 3-D glasses and squirt guns from?

Oh, my head is hurting. I'll post more later, perhaps.

Comments

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

I have this theory where the Doctor's pockets are like millions of cubic miles, and he can fit FUCKTONS OF THINGS IN THERE.

Doctor: Rose, could you grab my sonic screwdriver for me?
Rose: ...?
Doctor: It's in my pocket.
Rose: Oh, sure, let me just fish around... hmm, you've got a unicycle in here.
Doctor: Ooh, we should try that out.
Rose: And a hamster. And Amelia Earhart's plane.
Doctor: Oops.
Rose: And -- wait -- I thought you said Gallifrey blew up?
Doctor: No, I said it was "lost."
Rose: Well, it looks like I just found it.
Doctor: NO SHIT! I always forget what I put in there!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

*DED*

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That is brilliant. I was just thinking minor allusions to Diane Duane's Young Wizards series and their magic spatial pockets but, um, CLEARLY you understand how this works.

*is still rolling in laughter*

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

TEEHEE. Yes, obviously, I have a much better grasp of the Gallifreyan manipulation of space and time than even RTD. I should write to him and tell him to put that conversation in the show. :)

(BTW, what's Ten doing in your icon? The animation's so fast that I can't tell....)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

It's from the Confidential ep for Impossible Planet/Satan Pit. David wanted to feel the sponginess of the Oods' tentacle thingies so he snuck up and grabbed them and ran off, proclaiming it 'strangely satisfying'. I don't know if it was there or in the episode commentary that he added he also really wanted to put them in his mouth and chew on them and "What, didn't you all want to do that too? Chew on the tentacles?" And he seemed frankly shocked that none of the rest of the crew had that compulsion...

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

That's just... I... just... oh, David. With your licking everything and your twelve-years-oldishness. I adore you.