Oh look a reaction post how shocking!

[eponymous_rose]

That was fun! I enjoyed it muchly, because new episodes! New Doctor Who! That never fails to make me overuse exclamation points!

Donna was excellent, really excellent - she's all the bits I liked best about "The Runaway Bride" and more besides. And her gung-ho enthusiasm is just adorable! She's got the brashness covering more than a bit of vulnerability, but she's undeniably a strong character, and there's a lot of room for her to grow this series. I look forward to it.

Anyway, yes. Plot was, uh, silly and pretty much "Invasion of the Bane", wasn't it, with the conspiracy and none-too-subtle but slightly muddled social messages and just a few more in the way of silly monsters. Spaceship was extremely pretty, though!

(And oh, the poor transcripters who'll be stuck trying to make sense of the through-the-window conversation. Which, of course, had me giggling.)

"Don't you ever change?"

"You look older."

Some really nice shoutouts to the events of series three, and in particular the Doctor's whole new set of guilt issues over Martha. This is gonna be an interesting ride from a character-related perspective. Still haven't a clue what to expect, plotwise at least.

I liked all the "level 5 planet" and "galactic law" and "Shadow Proclamation" (which can be alerted, so I guess this makes it a collective noun of some sort, which I love) stuff - it was part of what hooked me on the series in the first place, the idea that all these amazing things are going on right behind our backs, and they're organised enough to have governments and such. Sci-fi worldbuilding nerdery!

Ooh, and the "What do you need?" from Donna while the Doctor's freaking out and already starting to soliloquise. Little nod to TCI, which was interesting.

Thing that could potentially be irksome is Donna's whole belief that you can't have adventures in a so-called "normal" life. Unless it's just the starting point, and they're gonna go all out with her character like they did a la SJA, which could be neat (and how apt is calapine's comparison of Rose = Jo, Martha = Liz, Donna = SJ?). Anyway.

I was actually unspoiled for the Rose appearance - I thought she'd just be in the finale - and I nearly fell off my chair. It was nicely done, I thought!

As a final note, I have a line scribbled in my notebook that seems to read "cooking the manly way". I'm pretty sure I just can't read my own writing, but thought I'd toss that out there in case it was relevant and/or clever.

Comments

[scarletsherlock.livejournal.com]

I have been FLAAAILLLING for like 20 minutes. A lot of it was super silly but overall I enjoyed it immensely. Donna is fabulous and I want to steal her grandpa and take him home. I was nearly jumping out of my chair at the Doctor's admissions about Martha...that was perfect. I was surprised to see Rose, too. Is she going to be the recurring theme this year, instead of a code word like Torchwood or Vote Saxon? I can't help but feel that all this hype about her is going to overshadow Catherine Tate, which is completely unfair, because she was absolutely awesome. I was really looking forward to her before, but now I'm just thrilled. She and Tennant are so great together--I can't wait for next week. This helped take the sting off the weep-fest and shock that was Torchwood last night. Oy.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

I really liked this episode too, and I thought Donna was great. I really really really hope that she continues not to fancy the Doctor, and not to be too worshipful of him. The show needs that.

[magicallaw.livejournal.com]

I was totally unspoiled for Unexpected Rose, and I'm so glad I was. If I did know, I think I'd have been quite annoyed by it, but it wasn't that bad at all, really.

Oh, and the Martha fixes made me so happy. Well done, Doctor. Well done.

[rosengirl.livejournal.com]

I AM SO EXPECTING TO DIE OF LAUGHING DURING 13 EPISODES NOW.

I liked the quieter moments too but their just so... EXPLOSIVE together ! I wanted to love this new team and I'm far from disappointed.

The Martha guilt really was icing on the cake.

[teyla]

I totally agree about Donna. It irks me when people put her off as boring or annoying character just because the only opportunity she had to get her character developed was one episode, and a Christmas special (read: silliness in spades) to boot. Well, I'm hoping this will change now! :D

Donna's best lines in this episode were about Martha. I lol'ed every single time.

And I didn't know Rose was gonna show up, either! I wasn't as surprised as much as confused - more like, um, wait, you're not supposed to be there, are you - um, how did I manage to miss this spoiler?!

Aw, I cannot WAIT for next week.

[bellabelball.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it a lot too! I have to admit that I thought those little adipose creatures were SO CUTE, I squeed throughout about how cute they were. XD

[northern_magic]

*is still flailing*

I agree with pretty much everything everyone's put forth so far, and HOW MUCH LOVE do I have for Donna's grandfather? xD

Alas, I got impatient and was spoiled for Rose's appearance about an hour before I watched the episode. But I was still surprised (that is, I screamed an odd, harsh, happy scream into an empty house), which is all that counts in the end, really.

Can't wait for my cousin to watch xD

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

THAT WAS SO GOOD!!! I haven't enjoyed a new who ep that much in SO LONG. It was just pure fun and gleefulness all the way through. I love Donna, I love how much she wants to be in on the adventure, and I didn't even mind Tennant. Oh sweet happy day. I LOVE NEW WHO AGAIN!!!

Sci-fi worldbuilding nerdery!

Hee! One of my most favorite things.

[bone-lady.livejournal.com]

Boo~ ! Been busy as hell, but totally agree about DW!! It nucking focked! Donna stole the show. Oh and I love that I need a mate line at the end! Hee...I think this was like the best first episode in a long time...silly plot...but I so wants me one of those adipose babies...hee..

Rose scared me...she did I tell you. Disappearing like that...she's not human is she? Or is she? And how in the hell did she move from dimension to dimension and why does she look like Cassandra *stretches skin.*

Bet she didn't even tell Donna's mum about the car keys.

Can't wait till next episode...This was a nice rebound from Torchwood. I'm still totally pissed over that...GRRR..

[pockyandkoalas.livejournal.com]

Grrrrr...Torchwood. Yeah, that's all I have to say...

[pockyandkoalas.livejournal.com]

I thought it was quite good overall. Bernard Cribbins was in it and everything! *Does not care about Rose* And I was happier with Donna than I was expecting to be. I never found much of The Catherine Tate Show any good so I was pleased.
Cooking the manly way sounds interesting. Not sure how one would go about doing so, though...

[rapunzelita.livejournal.com]

I thought the whole plot thing (...hang on. Was there a plot?) was rather silly and a bit inexistant (inexistent? oh well.), but the whole Ten-Donna interaction was sooo awesome I decided to forget it. A bit like in The Idiot's Lantern really. Which has no consistent plot whatsoever but plenty of Doctor/Rose fluff.

I really hope at the end of the season there's an serious and sense-making explanation for this Rose thingie. It's just, hm, WTF? Although I'm always very happy to see Rose, of course! ♥