paratti (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} paratti) wrote,@ 2008-04-05 20:30:00 |
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Doctor Who - Partners in Crime
Aka a screwball comedy with cute monsters that did just what it had to do in re-establishing Donna, mark out the nature of their future relationship, show that he's learnt his lessons from his relationships with both Rose and Martha and reference both guns on the wall and top it off with a Holy Frak moment with Rose's appearance and fading away. That both shows that something is seriously wrong with the structure of the universe and reflects the way that Donna and the Doctor keep missing each other until the moment is essential to audience and story in that we won't get an answer until that becomes essential and needed. That's a good thing. We'll get Donna and Doctor on a screwball trip round time and space without missing the simple human drama or the moral issues.
It's a story that some in fandom will hate. It's funny, the monsters are cute and it's not about the minutiae of either made up skience or nuclear power stations. Others will claim fatism, given that the creatures are made from the fat and formerly fat, and that those characters we're introduced to who will die and be in peril are shown as happy that they've been losing weight. I'm sure some Doctor haters will claim the deaths that do occur are the Doctor's fault rather than the Supernanny From Hell that accelerated the process or the criminals who broke the laws by ordering a seeding of Earth. I'm also, unfortunately sure that some of the extreme Martha fen will focus on Donna joking about Martha fancying the Doctor rather than the Doctor's own words of respect for her, acknowledgement of his role in destroying half her life and showing he's learned from that relationship in being upfront with Donna from the start.
But I'm paralysed by not caring very much about all of this.
It gave me the light and the funny I needed after last night. It gave me Donna back, who I love, and who has great chemistry with DT. It gave me a lead female who isn't a size zero, botoxed/cosmetic surguried to hell and back but a real adult woman as lead. CT would be cast as the mum on the CW, if they'd cast her at all without removing that reality and facial mobility. We've got a woman lead who's lead a life, had her formative experiences and is on the next stage of building on that by having worked out what she wants and gone out and got it, right down to the packing. How rare is that in a genre full of coming of age stories?
Instead we've gone screwball and got a female lead that can fit into that genre of strong, ballsy, funny adult women. Bring it on. It's going to be fun.
And it isn't going to be at the expense of the character work. They establish Donna's family relationships. Her one with her mum is all her own from Rose's and Martha's while still very believable. I love that they've made the newspaper seller of VotD her grandad. She and Bernard Cribbins not only have a lovely supportive relationship, the also reflect the linking of the generations of British comic actors. It also explains Donna's mum's social climbing and the tradition of working class self-improvement in grandad's astronomy hobby. That Donna is able to go and see what her grandad never was also not only reflects reality for many but is lovely and reflects well on both that she pops over to see him and he's happy for her.
There is some moral issue work in there. The children are innocent though their parents and the nanny aren't. These children aren't destroyed.
He's learned, but these children also aren't about to consume the Earth, as the Racnoss were.He does offer the Nanny one chance and tries to save her by telling her the truth at the end. It's her own fault and result of her own actions that she goes splat.
Hopes Captain John was there in the background. He'd have enjoyed it.
I know I did.
Though the Tegan parallels - especially his response to her inviting herself back - do worry me a bit given that Tegan left so hurt in spirit. Wraps Donna in protective gear and then realises she has probably got that in her massive amount of luggage. But either way, it's going to be fun.
An next week, Volcano Day:)
To add to the Cardiff Torchwood reference:)
Pets both beloved shows.
Aka a screwball comedy with cute monsters that did just what it had to do in re-establishing Donna, mark out the nature of their future relationship, show that he's learnt his lessons from his relationships with both Rose and Martha and reference both guns on the wall and top it off with a Holy Frak moment with Rose's appearance and fading away. That both shows that something is seriously wrong with the structure of the universe and reflects the way that Donna and the Doctor keep missing each other until the moment is essential to audience and story in that we won't get an answer until that becomes essential and needed. That's a good thing. We'll get Donna and Doctor on a screwball trip round time and space without missing the simple human drama or the moral issues.
It's a story that some in fandom will hate. It's funny, the monsters are cute and it's not about the minutiae of either made up skience or nuclear power stations. Others will claim fatism, given that the creatures are made from the fat and formerly fat, and that those characters we're introduced to who will die and be in peril are shown as happy that they've been losing weight. I'm sure some Doctor haters will claim the deaths that do occur are the Doctor's fault rather than the Supernanny From Hell that accelerated the process or the criminals who broke the laws by ordering a seeding of Earth. I'm also, unfortunately sure that some of the extreme Martha fen will focus on Donna joking about Martha fancying the Doctor rather than the Doctor's own words of respect for her, acknowledgement of his role in destroying half her life and showing he's learned from that relationship in being upfront with Donna from the start.
But I'm paralysed by not caring very much about all of this.
It gave me the light and the funny I needed after last night. It gave me Donna back, who I love, and who has great chemistry with DT. It gave me a lead female who isn't a size zero, botoxed/cosmetic surguried to hell and back but a real adult woman as lead. CT would be cast as the mum on the CW, if they'd cast her at all without removing that reality and facial mobility. We've got a woman lead who's lead a life, had her formative experiences and is on the next stage of building on that by having worked out what she wants and gone out and got it, right down to the packing. How rare is that in a genre full of coming of age stories?
Instead we've gone screwball and got a female lead that can fit into that genre of strong, ballsy, funny adult women. Bring it on. It's going to be fun.
And it isn't going to be at the expense of the character work. They establish Donna's family relationships. Her one with her mum is all her own from Rose's and Martha's while still very believable. I love that they've made the newspaper seller of VotD her grandad. She and Bernard Cribbins not only have a lovely supportive relationship, the also reflect the linking of the generations of British comic actors. It also explains Donna's mum's social climbing and the tradition of working class self-improvement in grandad's astronomy hobby. That Donna is able to go and see what her grandad never was also not only reflects reality for many but is lovely and reflects well on both that she pops over to see him and he's happy for her.
There is some moral issue work in there. The children are innocent though their parents and the nanny aren't. These children aren't destroyed.
He's learned, but these children also aren't about to consume the Earth, as the Racnoss were.He does offer the Nanny one chance and tries to save her by telling her the truth at the end. It's her own fault and result of her own actions that she goes splat.
Hopes Captain John was there in the background. He'd have enjoyed it.
I know I did.
Though the Tegan parallels - especially his response to her inviting herself back - do worry me a bit given that Tegan left so hurt in spirit. Wraps Donna in protective gear and then realises she has probably got that in her massive amount of luggage. But either way, it's going to be fun.
An next week, Volcano Day:)
To add to the Cardiff Torchwood reference:)
Pets both beloved shows.
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