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aunt_zeldaThankfully I DID finish this off, and I'm gonna watch 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' for the first time tonight, so hope is blossoming.
The Sonta … the Sontra … the Son … the S … The S Stratag … Ok, that’s waaaaaay too much of a mouthful for me, and, I expect, the ten-year-olds in the UK who watch this, so how about I call it ‘The SS’ so I don’t make any spelling mistakes, y/y?
Btw, remember about those nasty rumors that Davros is coming back? Last week, after watching one of llordllama's reviews, which he always ends with a mention of 'Oh noes! Davros!', I had the awful thought that he might be Rose. I mean, DavROS ... ROSE ... DavROSE ... Davros ... please gods above NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Ok, whatever you guys say, I liked this episode. Considering last season we had ‘Daleks in Manhattan’ anything is wonderful, but despite the many storylines, the Doctor’s strange new habit of making bad puns, and people’s inability to smash a windshield with a trashcan, it’s a pretty great episode. And I love the Sontarans. I love the way they talk. I love their ship. I love the wisecracks they accidentally make. Most especially I love that they know of the Doctor and respect him as a worthy adversary.
I’m divided on the subject of Luke. It’s like they took the template of Adam (the one who got the computer inside his brain) tweaked a few things, and made the Doctor identify with him. To the Doctor and Luke, everyone else is so slow, like they’re walking through molasses. That’s why the Doctor needs the Master back someday: nobody else can match him. I’m afraid that, without anyone to compete with intellectually, the Doctor will work too hard to make a proper connection with Luke. I hope that if next week Luke isn’t in dire-peril and rescued by the Doctor at a very high cost. Blowing up your planet to save the universe, and even creating a paradox to torment your boyfriend, is different from selling out your home planet, your race, because you think it’s cool. Luke is worse than the Master, who seemed to limit his Time-Lord-targeting to the Doctor. Going against your family, your race, is one of the most atrocious crimes ever. I hope the show doesn’t botch the job of showing that, but I fear the Doctor, desperate to connect with someone, won’t see that, and he’ll hug Luke at the end of the next episode.
When the Doctor expresses his desire to hang out at the Academy and then explains “I get lonely” he sounds flippant, but you know that he’s thinking of the Master. You just know it. He doesn’t mean the lonely that Donna, Martha, and Rose get rid of. He means the lonely only the Master (or, to be fair, another Time Lord) can remedy.
On the subject of the plot-device, the car-GPS-carbon-emission-controller thingy, I think it’s a clever idea, and a very scary thought. It’s something we all want right now: zero carbon emissions in our cars. Well, there it is, and didn’t the whole world jump to get one. *shivers*
My Thoughts As I Watched The Episode:
So, we begin with some cult throwing a reporter-girl down some stairs. These things never end well, I’ve seen it on Buffy …
The girl stupidly insists she’ll find someone who does believe her and get her documents published. Then she tells her GPS thingy to take her to UNIT headquarters.
Wait … the public actually knows where UNIT headquarters is?!
And her GPS is DRIVING THE CAR FOR HER?! IT CAN’T BE DISABLED?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS?!
The annoyingly-voiced Rat-Kid is talking to someone with a blustery voice. He’s got the Votex from the credits as his screensaver. Hee, can I get that?
Reporter-Girl gets the answering machine for UNIT. Now, incompetent as they are, at Torchwood, no matter the hour, Jack is always there to answer the phone. Not that anyone ever calls, mind you, but if they DID he’d be there to listen!
Then Reporter-Girl dies. Her car drives her into the river. It’s very disturbing. I’m not using auto-pilot ever again.
The Doctor is letting Donna ‘drive’ the TARDIS. *sporfles* It’s the bestest thing EVER. Also, who put a dent in the 1980s?
Then the phone the Doctor got from Martha rings. Donna is amazed that he’s got a mobile, and seeing as he had one of those cord-ones my grandmother has in ‘World War Three’ I don’t blame her.
YAY MARTHA! She’s in the credits! Sadly she’s lost that sensible way she wore her hair, but that’s ok because she’s still wearing her badass black clothes.
She and the Doctor hug, Donna shows up, the Doctor introduces them and asks them to please not fight.
“Oh, you wish,” snerks Donna, coming forward to shake Martha’s hand. *SQUEE*
“She’s engaged, you prawn.”
Bahahahhhahahahhhahhahahahahahhahahaa … please excuse me …
Yay! Tom! No longer a Red-Shirt, he’s Martha’s fiancé!
“And yes, I know, I’ve got a doctor who disappears off to distance places, tell me about it.”
“Is he skinny?” gushes Donna, and she goes on about how the Doctor is so skinny that when you hug him you get a paper-cut. Bahahhhhhaahhahahahhahhaa … excuse me again …
UNIT runs around, barking impressive-sounding orders. Martha leaps into the thick of it. Donna turns to the Doctor “Is that what you did to her? Turned her into a soldier?”
Is that a bad thing, Donna? Martha is one BAMF at this point, and I’m sure that’s one of the reasons Tom finds her so attractive.
Some Important Dude salutes the Doctor.
“Oh, don’t salute,” the Doctor moans. Tee hee … that’s the fundamental difference between the Doctor and the Master: the Doctor craves anonymity, the Master survives on fame.
“Technically you’re still on staff, you never resigned.”
*sporfles*
“Back in the 70s … or was it the 80s? It was all a bit more … homespun back then.”
No Brig … *sigh*
Donna lits into the General about it being
“.. that’s why we needed an expert.”
“Really, who’d you get?” the Doctor asks as he puts on his Sexy-Specs.
Martha smirks. Donna tilts her head. The General looks confuzzled … well, as confuzzled as an uber-serious-general can get.
“Oh!” says the Doctor. “Oh, right, me, yes …”
Martha and I smile to ourselves and shake our heads. It’s kinda creepy.
Two Red Hats … I mean, Red Shirts, find a big ass coffin with wires connected to it, surrounded by the pink-disco-lights from the Valiant.
Stupid-Cocky-Bloke opens it, and it’s a vat of green bubbly liquid. A human body … well, a template, I guess, pops up, then goes back down.
“Someone’s growing a body. A human body.”
Then the Sonta-whatsit appears.
“Is that a reference to my height?”
*sporfles*
Ok, I like the way this guy talks. He’s scary as hell, but his speech is like Anya-Gone-Soldier.
“Do you mind, could you stand back a bit?”
“Sorry, have I done something wrong?”
“You’re carrying a gun, I don’t like people with guns hanging around me, alright?”
Hee …
Martha accuses the Doctor of being ‘tetchy’ and he explains that people-with-guns are usually enemies in his book. They bicker, and Martha exclaims that from the inside she stands a chance of changing UNIT. The Doctor beams at her. I beam at her, though I never doubted her for a second.
Donna bursts in and is awesome.
… ok, she uses her file-reading skilz to deduce that not one of the workers has taken a sick-day. EVER. But she makes it sound way more awesome. Because she is Donna.
“I can see why he likes you,” Martha says.
Donna smiles. “Mmmhmm.”
“You’re good.” Martha says.
“Supper-temp.” Donna smiles. *punches the air* I cannot get over how much I love this girl.
Donna and Martha share this really wonderful scene, talking about their families, the Doctor, and danger. It’s fantastic. Martha warns Donna that the Doctor is like fire. “Stand too close, and people get burned.”
Rose had it lucky. Her family was reunited, and got to live together happily ever after, but at the cost of their entire universe (and we saw how it shattered both Rose and the Doctor.) Martha’s family was tortured for a year, a year they can never talk about. I hope Donna’s family is ok … but with this ominous hint, plus the finale of this season being called ‘Journey’s End,’ I’m starting to worry for them.
“You are not coming with me, I wanna talk to Luke Rattagen, not point a gun at him.”
“It’s ten miles outside
“Why don’t you get me a jeep?” the Doctor suggests.
“According to the records you travel by TARDIS.”
“Yeah but if there is a danger of hostile aliens I think it’s best to keep your super-duper-time-machine away from the front lines.”
“I see, then you have weapons but you choose to keep them hidden.”
The Doctor looks skyward. If the Master were here, he’d insert a snarky, grating comment right about now. Sadly, he’s not, and Donna is off connecting with Martha, so we fangirls have to think something up ourselves.
“I said no salutes …”
“Now you’re giving orders.” The General snerks, marching off.
“Oooo, you’re getting a bit cheeky, aren’t you?” the Doctor mutters to himself. Tee hee hee …
Then Donna comes up. The Doctor tries to drag her off on the adventure, but Donna’s having none of it. She says she’s going back to her family. The Doctor looks stunned. He asks if she’s sure, and then lists all these places he’d been planning to take her. *blinks back tears* Then he thanks her. “Thank you. Thank you Donna Noble, it’s been brilliant you … you saved my life in so many ways … you’re … you’re just popping back home for a visit, that’s what you mean.”
*has a heart-attack*
THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR RTD! UNCALLED FOR! I’M SUING THE BBC FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL TORMENT! *collapses with relief onto the floor* You evil, evil bastards!
“You dumbo.” Donna whispers.
“And then you’re coming back.” the Doctor says, thoroughly embarrassed, as the awkward-music starts to play.
“Do ya know what you are? A great big, outer-space, dunce.”
“Yeah …” the Doctor holds the side of his face in shame. *panting with relief*
“What’s more, you can give me a lift, come on!”
And Donna takes off in front. Yahoo! *still recovering*
Utto, Martha’s gonna get in trouble with the hypnotized peoples!
Donna walks down her street and has flashbacks of the last few episodes: cute fat-creatures, trying vainly to save people in
Then she sees her Granddad. Words fail them. She runs up and hugs him. It’s lovely.
Martha sees the purple-and-green disco lights from the Valiant and tries to flee before the strains of the Scissor Sisters reach her ears, but the guards overpower her. She screams.
“I said so, didn’t I? Aliens. I said they was real! I just didn’t expect them in a little blue box.”
He then inquires to Donna’s safety. She says the Doctor is ‘dazzling’ and demands her gramps never tell the Doctor that, then insists she trusts the Doctor with her life. Awwwww …
Then her mommy comes in and Donna doesn’t tell her.
The Doctor enters the Academy and has a field day. He’s leaping about, examining and naming things, as ecstatic as we’ve seen him in a very very long time.
“Dya know, with equipment like this you could, I dunno, move to another planet or something.”
“If only that was possible.” Ratt says.
“If only that were possible. Condition-clause.”
D’oh!
The Doctor goes all badass with his Sontaran-knowledge. This leads the Sontaran General Starl to take off his helmet and reveal a bald, large head. Not so bad, visual-wise, to a Buffy-veteran.
“Oh that’s not a very good nickname, what if you do get defeated? Starl-the-not-quite-so-undefeated-anymore-but-never-mind?”
“You look like a pink weasel to him.”
*sporfles* They should teach alien-tolerance classes at UNIT. Seriously, don’t insult the invading race! It’s just bad manners.
“Oh, come on, it’s a good weakness!”
Then the Doctor bings a birdie with a racquet off the teleport and hits the Sontaran in his weak-spot. AWESOME.
“Primitive sonic trickery!”
Oi! Don’t insult our fandom! I think your voice is cool!
“How do you tell each other apart?” Luke asks stupidly.
The General glares at him. “We say the same of humans.”
Luke had better never meet up with the Cylons …
“That is so cool, man!”
“Is the temperature significant?”
It takes a second for Luke to figure that out. “No, no, that’s just a phrase.” Hee hee … did I mention that I love the Sontarans?
Martha’s chained down, and about to have something awful done to her involving green slime. God, this is like a bad fanfic …
“There is an enemy of the Sontarans known as the Doctor. A face-changer.” Oooo, there’s a cool new way to refer to the Doctor! Lonely God, face-changer … someone should keep a list …
“Do you mean he’s an alien too?!”
“Legend says he led the battle in the last great Time War. The finest war in history and we weren’t allowed to be part of it … oh, but this is excellent. The Last of the Time Lords will die at the hands of the Sontaran Empire, in the ruins of his precious Earth!”
Greater entities than you have tried, Mr. Sontaran …
Euuuurrgh! They cloned Martha! (Though, of all the people in the world you’d clone to help take over the world, I can see why they chose Martha. I mean, seriously, she just gives off waves of badass …)
“An ordinary death for such a remarkable enemy … but proceed.”
Now, really, that’s the second reason I love the Sontarans. #1 is their speech, #2 is their honor-code. It’s just … you can’t go wrong with villains that have codes. Really.
The Doctor cleverly escapes from the jeep, he and Ross duck down, and the ATMOS just gives these little sparks …
“Oh, is that it?” the Doctor asks, a little disappointed.
The Doctor rings the doorbell and Donna answers.
“You would not believe the day I’m having.”
Wanna bet, spaceman?
“See the thing is Doctor, that Donna is my only grandchild and you’ve gotta promise me you’ll take care of her.” I love how Gramps is like the anti-Jackie. Don’t get me wrong, I ♥ Jackie,
“Oh, she takes care of me!”
“Oh yeah, that’s my Donna, she was always bossing us around, even when she was tiny, the little General we used to call her.”
Then he goes on about the boys Donna would turn up with. Apparently one now lives with another man. Hee hee, you could never ever do that on a ‘kid’s show’ in the
“The Doctor, he survived! Excellent!”
These Sontarans remind me of the Master … in a weird, twisted way, ya know?
“What kind of doctor blows up cars?!”
An excellent question, madam …
Then all the cars start spewing white, noxious fumes. The Sontarans start this weird chant, and Luke stupidly joins in. He looks ridiculous, so skinny and weak, next to the short, squat, strong Sontarans. I bet they’ll airlock him, really, I do.
Donna’s granddad is locked inside the car, and the gas is inside the car. The Doctor, clever though he is, keeps trying to sonic the door and the device in the engine. Smoke fills the street. Donna and her grandfather bang on the door from opposite ends. Donna’s grandfather looses conciousness. What the Doctor had better do is seize a trashcan or something and smash the window in. That’s what any stupid ape would do, and that’s what works in situations like this! Then he should vamoose to …
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Date: 2008-04-29 10:52 pm (UTC)And yes, Martha = epic win, as always.
I loved this episode too! I can't wait for the next one! ^.^
(By the way, we have fewer cars in Australia because there are fewer people - our entire population is only about 21 million.)
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Date: 2008-04-30 12:14 pm (UTC)Martha is BADASS! *huggles her*
*on edge of seat for next episode* I hope they don't kill Gramps!
I want to live in Australia. I have since I was a little kid.
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Date: 2008-04-30 10:05 pm (UTC)If they kill him, I will be SO MAD.
Haha, you're not missing out on much. I've always wanted to live somewhere else myself. But then, the grass is always greener on the other side...
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Date: 2008-05-01 04:10 pm (UTC)Oh hells yeah! (That'd keep the femmeslashers happy, at least ...)
If they kill him, I will be SO MAD.
Me too! KID'S SHOW, RTD, KID'S SHOW!
Why is it that we can see disturbing deaths and monsters that send us scurrying behind the couch (not matter our age) but not the Doctor chained up in the Master's bedroom? Seriously, get your priorities straight ... or gay, as the case may be ...
aha, you're not missing out on much. I've always wanted to live somewhere else myself. But then, the grass is always greener on the other side...
If you ever visit the USA, I really recommend my homestate, Maine (the bit at the top right that sticks into Canada.) Come right after the snow melts but BEFORE the blackflies and mosquitoes (re: birds of prey) show up. Right about now is prime ... the beaches are FANTASTIC, as long as you come BEFORE the tourists show, or you can't walk in a straight line without tripping over someone's towel.
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Date: 2008-05-01 10:31 pm (UTC)I don't mind the monsters and body counts - after all, we got a lot of that with Old Who, and I really liked it. (Horror of Fang Rock, anyone? The Doctor and Leela were the only ones who got out alive.) But yes, Rusty does have a few serious priority issues.
I really don't like the outdoors - including and especially beaches! - but Maine does sound lovely. ^.^
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Date: 2008-05-03 12:23 am (UTC)Hee hee, I write shy, confuzzled lesbians WAY TOO EASILY. It scares me from time to time ...
Speaking of 'never met in canon,' around Thanksgiving I burst out with this Heroes fic in which everyone hooks up (mostly gayly) around the holiday. Then everyone loved it so much that I did two Christmas companion-pieces. Claire/Monica was well recieved, which is odd, seeing as I'd never written femmeslash before and the characters have yet to meet onscreen.
... wait, you don't have Thanksgiving in Australia, do you? (You're not missing much, it's torture for vegetarians and historians alike.)
I don't mind the monsters and body counts -
I don't tend to mind, but every so often I think "Hey, ten-year-olds are watching this" but mostly it's the fact that NOTHING like that could broadcast in the US without public outcry.
But yes, Rusty does have a few serious priority issues.
Yes indeedy! 'Gay agenda' and yet no Doctor in chains on the Valiant! For SHAME, Mr. Davies, for SHAME!
I really don't like the outdoors - including and especially beaches! - but Maine does sound lovely. ^.^
I mostly hate the outdoors. But once your school drags you up a mountain and back down the next day in snowshoes in the dead of winter, you really adore quiet walks on the beach and sunbathing on rocks.
Maine is lovely. It's why everyone has a summer-home here.
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Date: 2008-05-03 04:45 am (UTC)The US is odd like that, I think. There's a comedy group here in Australia called the Chaser who used to have a TV show on our public broadcaster, and when I showed a couple of their sketches to a friend in the US, he said it'd never be allowed to play in the US, except maybe very late at night on a cable channel or something. And yet, it was playing at 9pm on a Wednesday night here.
Mountains! Snow! These are things that an Australian can only dream about. I've always wanted a little house in the mountains somewhere. I think it'd be a lovely place to escape from civilisation every once in a while. So I am perhaps not the consumer that Maine's tourism industry has in mind. ^.^
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Date: 2008-05-03 10:53 pm (UTC)I dunno, it's fun, I just never really got into it as much as guy-slash. *shugs* It's ok.
The US is odd like that, I think. There's a comedy group here in Australia called the Chaser who used to have a TV show on our public broadcaster, and when I showed a couple of their sketches to a friend in the US, he said it'd never be allowed to play in the US, except maybe very late at night on a cable channel or something. And yet, it was playing at 9pm on a Wednesday night here.
*sigh* America is pretty sweet in some respects, but in other it REALLY sucks. Plus everyone thinks we're all stupid, fat, arrogant SUV drivers. You're lucky, when people think of YOUR country, they think of kangaroos. And the Opera House. And Finding Nemo. And Lost. And digeridoos (which I can't spell, re: stupid American.)
Mountains! Snow! These are things that an Australian can only dream about.
Really? That's too bad ... though the snow is awfully pretty, in Maine it doesn't GO AWAY until mid-April (if we're lucky.) Count yer blessings, girl.
I think it'd be a lovely place to escape from civilisation every once in a while. So I am perhaps not the consumer that Maine's tourism industry has in mind. ^.^
Frist you have to try it all out! Visit Old Orchard beach (the only sandy one in Maine!) Buy expensive, long-lasting clothing from L.L. Bean! Pick blueberries! Eat lobster (just not in front of me, please!) Stalk Stephen King! Nearly run over a moose with your car!
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Date: 2008-05-05 10:04 am (UTC)See, I know enough Americans that I actually think of most of you as awesome if slightly geeky people who are kind of sick of being stereotypes as stupid, fat, arrogant SUV owners. ^.^ I've had people ask me if I ride a kangaroo to school. Um, what?
Well, we have snow in some parts of Australia - like the mountains down south - but that's about it.
You'd make an excellent tourism marketing person. ^.^ But you have piqued my curiosity. I shall have to visit some day.
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Date: 2008-05-05 12:11 pm (UTC)Who knows!
See, I know enough Americans that I actually think of most of you as awesome if slightly geeky people who are kind of sick of being stereotypes as stupid, fat, arrogant SUV owners. ^.^
Ah, well, that's us then. *smiles*
I've had people ask me if I ride a kangaroo to school. Um, what?
Eh? Even I know that kangaroos can drop-kick you to death if you get too close! And how would one ride one?
Well, we have snow in some parts of Australia - like the mountains down south - but that's about it.
Snow in the south ... hee hee, that's such an odd concept to me ... then again go far enough south and ou find Antarctica ... do you get those little penguins or is that just in South America?
You'd make an excellent tourism marketing person. ^.^ But you have piqued my curiosity. I shall have to visit some day.
Hee hee! Future job, here I come! Yes, please do visit, if only in the fall when the leaves are GORGEOUS. Ride one of those silly busses with old people from Massachusetes, so I can point and laugh and call you a 'Leaf Peeper!'
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Date: 2008-05-05 10:57 pm (UTC)XD
I don't know how one would ride a kangaroo, seeing as I've never tried.
Well, it's like the opposite of the Northern Hemisphere here - the further south you get, the cooler the weather is. And yes, I think we do have penguins in Antarctica. ^.^
Oooh, I've always wanted to go to a place where you get actual Autumn with actual red-gold leaves and things! Now I'm going to have to visit.
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Date: 2008-04-30 12:12 am (UTC)I loved it as well. Especially the aliens! Ah. I have to go now! Homework awaits! XD
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Date: 2008-04-30 12:18 pm (UTC)Yay for aliens! Awesome aliens! (Go do your homework! School first, slash later!)
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Date: 2008-04-30 04:56 pm (UTC)Definitely! ALIENS!!! ROLF
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Date: 2008-05-01 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 12:31 am (UTC)you're quitting Mylar?? why???
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Date: 2008-05-03 12:27 am (UTC)I had an unexpected funeral, then I was in a play. I was steadily getting sucked into Doctor/Master fanfiction. (I was late for one of my scenes one rehersal because I was reading a fic *blushes*) Then, once things had calmed down, I was faced with about two months of Mylar. Last week I realized it was three months. I haven't the time. I have dance and flying lessons. I have SCHOOL. And SLEEP. And friends who I see face-to-face. I feel AWFUL, because I was in the middle of several stories (which I'm gonna finish up sooner or later, but still ...)
I feel AWFUL, but I can't keep up.
When Heroes comes back on-air I'll probably leap back in, but I just can't right now.
You been writing anything new I haven't read? Gimme linkies, por favor! *slinks off in shame*
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Date: 2008-05-06 09:47 pm (UTC)Sure!!...Now all i got to do is find them! LOL ^_~
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Date: 2008-05-07 12:10 pm (UTC)Yay for linkes! Whenever you've got the time!
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Date: 2008-05-08 01:25 am (UTC)http://aussievamp.livejournal.com/33135.html#cutid1
http://aussievamp.livejournal.com/33490.html#cutid1
http://aussievamp.livejournal.com/33658.html#cutid1
http://aussievamp.livejournal.com/33932.html#cutid1
http://aussievamp.livejournal.com/34684.html#cutid1
there all by the same person. maybe u can add her as a friend! ^_^
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Date: 2008-05-08 04:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-30 04:26 am (UTC)This was such a good episode.
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Date: 2008-04-30 12:20 pm (UTC)I want the Master there, but Donna is fantastic. If the Master hadn't 'died' the Doctor wouldn't have needed Donna ... and I love Donna but I wants my canon OTP!
Fantastic episode! Is it wrong that I love the Sontarans?
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Date: 2008-05-04 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 05:08 pm (UTC)