journey's end
Aug. 21st, 2008 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dbskylerOkay, way, way, way late, but I'm finally feeling in the mood to summarize my thoughts on "Journey's End."
It wasn't a home run. Or a hat trick, or whatever the equivalent would be in cricket (sorry, I'm American, I don't know cricket). But on the whole it was well done, and some of it was very, very good. Let's start off with what I didn't like and go from there:
1) The hand. The handy dandy fix-the-cliffhanger regeneration receptacle. Didn't like it, don't like the whole idea of it. But I will stop short of saying it was a cop-out, because let's be fair, an awful lot of the cliffhanger resolutions in the old series were similarly magical fix-its ("oh, look! Someone else just came in to knock the gun away / untie the ropes / press the big red button! The gun missed! He's /she's / they're not dead after all! They were android versions!" Etc.) On the other hand, when you've got to come up with 3-5 cliffhangers every episode, you can be forgiven for some clunkers. So far, the new series hasn't been doing a great job with their much rarer cliffhangers. The best cliffhangers in the old series weren't the ones that involved an immediate threat that was just as immediately removed as soon as we came back; they were the ones that simply served to kick the story up a notch in a compelling and sometimes spine-curdling way. The hand suddenly starting to move in "Hand of Fear" is the perfect example. And my all-time favorite cliffhanger is even simpler than that -- it was nothing but the word "Doctor," uttered by the Count in "City of Death." That was it, just the one word, but oh, its import -- the Count recognizes him! I swear, that moment gave me chills, it really did.
2) The duplicate, blue-suit, partly human Doctor. Don't like him or the idea of him either. As far as I could tell, he didn't really do a damn thing to resolve anything in the episode, so why was he even there? Other than to become Rose's Doctor-substitute-boy-toy at the end, that is. (And I've read enough fanfic to know that I am not the only one to be slightly squicked out by that.) Plot-wise, it would have been just as easy to go straight from regeneration-energy-in-hand to Time-Lord-human-metacrisis without creating another version of the Doctor as the intermediary. Really, he was completely useless. Okay, he did kill off all the Daleks at the end, but someone else could have done that instead. Maybe Caan. I kind of grew to like Caan quite a bit, there. But sorry, we're getting ahead of ourselves; this part is still about what I didn't like. Which brings me to:
3) Time Lord Donna. I ranted about this already in my review of "Turn Left," but I will say it again -- why can't Donna just be regular old human Donna, and still be special? Wouldn't it have been fantastic if she had saved the universe -- all universes -- with her own, human brain instead of the Doctor's? And yes, I know the script put in some throwaway lines about how Donna's humanity made her able to use the Doctor's knowledge in new ways, yada yada yada. It doesn't change the fact that she had to become super-Time-Lord-metacrisis-being in order to be the heroine. I just don't like it.
Okay, now seeing that the above were all major plot points / major characters of "Journey's End," you may be wondering how I can say that overall, I thought it was a good episode. Well, given that the above exist, their execution was extremely well done. I didn't like the way the Doctor redirected the regeneration energy into the hand, but wasn't that look on Jack's face afterwards priceless? I didn't like the idea, or lack of use, of blue-suit Doctor, but David Tennant did an excellent job portraying him -- I really think they could have dressed him in the same clothes as the other Doctor and we still could have told them apart, that's how good the acting was. And I didn't like Time Lord Donna, but what an amazing, beautiful and heart-wrenching end for the character. There was a real cost, and a real consequence, and I loved that. And while I didn't like everything, there were no groans, or cringy moments, or anything approaching the "I'm so embarrassed" feeling I got from last season's finale, "Last of the Time Lords." And then, there were all the really great things, to wit:
1) Very, very, very good use of every single character in the episode. So many people, so many histories and motives, so many plot points, and they all came together wonderfully in ways that felt absolutely right and not at all haphazard or arbitrary. RTD, you get my vote for going back to remake "The Five Doctors," because it certainly could have used your skills. You even worked in K-9!!!
2) The moment when Davros recognized Sarah -- oh my god, chills!! SO well directed, and while I was hoping for just such a nod to their past, when it actually came all I could think was "No! What's he gonna do to Sarah??????? Wah!!!!!!!!" Of course, it turned out he wasn't going to do anything in particular to Sarah at all, but still, it was a great moment.
3) Dalek Caan. Crazy, insane, marvelous Dalek Caan. Never thought I would actually like an individual Dalek as a character, but he was great. Bring him back.
4) Davros. Again, very, very well done. I completely believed he was the same character whom I met back in "Genesis of the Daleks," and I completely believed he was insane enough to glory in setting off the Reality Bomb just for the sake of having the power to destroy on such a multi-universal scale. I'd say bring him back too, but I don't need to say it -- he'll be back, just as the Master will be back. We just don't know when. But it's inevitable.
5) The whole group flying the TARDIS, towing the Earth home -- oh, what a marvelous scene. Yes, the science was ridiculous (I loved the comment from the reviewer at www.behindthesofa.org.uk about the brief shot of the moon as the Earth resumed its place -- "while the Earth was gone, what was it orbiting???"), but still, that ranks as one of the best and most overall feel-good scenes ever in "Doctor Who."
6) The goodbyes. All well done, all perfectly in character, and not a single repetitive moment in the lot. Again, "Five Doctors" remake anyone? And this isn't going to surprise the people who've read my fanfic, but my favorite goodbye was Sarah's. Did anyone else notice that she was the only one to get a goodbye hug? : )
7) Bad Wolf Bay. While the whole Doctor-substitute thing kind of squicked me, it was a very poignant scene. And I did like how it left off, with Rose rushing too late towards the leaving TARDIS and ending on a fairly ambiguous, but still hopeful, holding of hands.
8) Donna. Donna, Donna, Donna. As I said above, what an ending. So well acted, so well written, so gut-wrenching. I didn't quite catch on to what the Doctor was doing the first time I saw the memory-removal scene, and when she collapsed I was actually afraid she was dead. Just very, very good.
9) The very last scene, with the Doctor in the rain, then the Doctor alone in the TARDIS. An excellent ending, and what a contrast to just a few minutes earlier when everyone was celebrating in the TARDIS together.
So yes, that sums it up. Not a perfect finale, but an overall good one with some amazing moments. Definitely a fitting end to RTD's tenure. Now if he could only get going on that remake . . . isn't it the 45th anniversary of "Doctor Who" right about now? "The Ten Doctors" sounds like a pretty good title to me . . . : )
It wasn't a home run. Or a hat trick, or whatever the equivalent would be in cricket (sorry, I'm American, I don't know cricket). But on the whole it was well done, and some of it was very, very good. Let's start off with what I didn't like and go from there:
1) The hand. The handy dandy fix-the-cliffhanger regeneration receptacle. Didn't like it, don't like the whole idea of it. But I will stop short of saying it was a cop-out, because let's be fair, an awful lot of the cliffhanger resolutions in the old series were similarly magical fix-its ("oh, look! Someone else just came in to knock the gun away / untie the ropes / press the big red button! The gun missed! He's /she's / they're not dead after all! They were android versions!" Etc.) On the other hand, when you've got to come up with 3-5 cliffhangers every episode, you can be forgiven for some clunkers. So far, the new series hasn't been doing a great job with their much rarer cliffhangers. The best cliffhangers in the old series weren't the ones that involved an immediate threat that was just as immediately removed as soon as we came back; they were the ones that simply served to kick the story up a notch in a compelling and sometimes spine-curdling way. The hand suddenly starting to move in "Hand of Fear" is the perfect example. And my all-time favorite cliffhanger is even simpler than that -- it was nothing but the word "Doctor," uttered by the Count in "City of Death." That was it, just the one word, but oh, its import -- the Count recognizes him! I swear, that moment gave me chills, it really did.
2) The duplicate, blue-suit, partly human Doctor. Don't like him or the idea of him either. As far as I could tell, he didn't really do a damn thing to resolve anything in the episode, so why was he even there? Other than to become Rose's Doctor-substitute-boy-toy at the end, that is. (And I've read enough fanfic to know that I am not the only one to be slightly squicked out by that.) Plot-wise, it would have been just as easy to go straight from regeneration-energy-in-hand to Time-Lord-human-metacrisis without creating another version of the Doctor as the intermediary. Really, he was completely useless. Okay, he did kill off all the Daleks at the end, but someone else could have done that instead. Maybe Caan. I kind of grew to like Caan quite a bit, there. But sorry, we're getting ahead of ourselves; this part is still about what I didn't like. Which brings me to:
3) Time Lord Donna. I ranted about this already in my review of "Turn Left," but I will say it again -- why can't Donna just be regular old human Donna, and still be special? Wouldn't it have been fantastic if she had saved the universe -- all universes -- with her own, human brain instead of the Doctor's? And yes, I know the script put in some throwaway lines about how Donna's humanity made her able to use the Doctor's knowledge in new ways, yada yada yada. It doesn't change the fact that she had to become super-Time-Lord-metacrisis-being in order to be the heroine. I just don't like it.
Okay, now seeing that the above were all major plot points / major characters of "Journey's End," you may be wondering how I can say that overall, I thought it was a good episode. Well, given that the above exist, their execution was extremely well done. I didn't like the way the Doctor redirected the regeneration energy into the hand, but wasn't that look on Jack's face afterwards priceless? I didn't like the idea, or lack of use, of blue-suit Doctor, but David Tennant did an excellent job portraying him -- I really think they could have dressed him in the same clothes as the other Doctor and we still could have told them apart, that's how good the acting was. And I didn't like Time Lord Donna, but what an amazing, beautiful and heart-wrenching end for the character. There was a real cost, and a real consequence, and I loved that. And while I didn't like everything, there were no groans, or cringy moments, or anything approaching the "I'm so embarrassed" feeling I got from last season's finale, "Last of the Time Lords." And then, there were all the really great things, to wit:
1) Very, very, very good use of every single character in the episode. So many people, so many histories and motives, so many plot points, and they all came together wonderfully in ways that felt absolutely right and not at all haphazard or arbitrary. RTD, you get my vote for going back to remake "The Five Doctors," because it certainly could have used your skills. You even worked in K-9!!!
2) The moment when Davros recognized Sarah -- oh my god, chills!! SO well directed, and while I was hoping for just such a nod to their past, when it actually came all I could think was "No! What's he gonna do to Sarah??????? Wah!!!!!!!!" Of course, it turned out he wasn't going to do anything in particular to Sarah at all, but still, it was a great moment.
3) Dalek Caan. Crazy, insane, marvelous Dalek Caan. Never thought I would actually like an individual Dalek as a character, but he was great. Bring him back.
4) Davros. Again, very, very well done. I completely believed he was the same character whom I met back in "Genesis of the Daleks," and I completely believed he was insane enough to glory in setting off the Reality Bomb just for the sake of having the power to destroy on such a multi-universal scale. I'd say bring him back too, but I don't need to say it -- he'll be back, just as the Master will be back. We just don't know when. But it's inevitable.
5) The whole group flying the TARDIS, towing the Earth home -- oh, what a marvelous scene. Yes, the science was ridiculous (I loved the comment from the reviewer at www.behindthesofa.org.uk about the brief shot of the moon as the Earth resumed its place -- "while the Earth was gone, what was it orbiting???"), but still, that ranks as one of the best and most overall feel-good scenes ever in "Doctor Who."
6) The goodbyes. All well done, all perfectly in character, and not a single repetitive moment in the lot. Again, "Five Doctors" remake anyone? And this isn't going to surprise the people who've read my fanfic, but my favorite goodbye was Sarah's. Did anyone else notice that she was the only one to get a goodbye hug? : )
7) Bad Wolf Bay. While the whole Doctor-substitute thing kind of squicked me, it was a very poignant scene. And I did like how it left off, with Rose rushing too late towards the leaving TARDIS and ending on a fairly ambiguous, but still hopeful, holding of hands.
8) Donna. Donna, Donna, Donna. As I said above, what an ending. So well acted, so well written, so gut-wrenching. I didn't quite catch on to what the Doctor was doing the first time I saw the memory-removal scene, and when she collapsed I was actually afraid she was dead. Just very, very good.
9) The very last scene, with the Doctor in the rain, then the Doctor alone in the TARDIS. An excellent ending, and what a contrast to just a few minutes earlier when everyone was celebrating in the TARDIS together.
So yes, that sums it up. Not a perfect finale, but an overall good one with some amazing moments. Definitely a fitting end to RTD's tenure. Now if he could only get going on that remake . . . isn't it the 45th anniversary of "Doctor Who" right about now? "The Ten Doctors" sounds like a pretty good title to me . . . : )
