A reaction post! Well, I never! Ever!

[eponymous_rose]

Let's start out by saying that I haven't read anyone else's meta on this one yet, so I'm probably stating the obvious over and over again. Also, I was not in a Who-watching mood when I started (three-hour wait at the hairdresser's that I'd rather not relive).

Anyway. I loved this episode. Adored it like nobody's business. Last week was fun, but they really stepped up their game, and I was riveted! Could've done without the coda, though, because I kept expecting something truly startling to happen, and it was like there was no payoff. That would've been a near-perfect episode otherwise.

Random notes jotted down:

- lolCeltic. "I just said 'seriously' in Latin!" "Don't get clever in Latin!" Hee.

- I liked the secondary characters, honestly. It was like an ancient Roman sitcom, only without the Latin laugh-track. I love when the familiar becomes ridiculous/bizarre - the totally modern family wearing togas and whatnot. Gorgeous.

- Running motif in the ep: all the monsters/bad things were hidden in some way (behind a grating, behind a curtain, behind a mountain), seemed inaccessible but weren't actually. Last ep's "second chances" idea continues here liek woah.

- "I am... Spartacus!" "And so am I!"

- The scene with the two prophets out-soothsaying each other was genuinely startling. "Man from Gallifrey", indeed.

- "This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth." Obviously, not such a great gift to have, which brings us to another motif of the episode: gifts that aren't, really. The Doctor saves that family, and they get to watch their city die. "You're free," he says. Are they, now that they're worshiping him? He saves the family, and Donna gets an even stronger reminder of everyone who didn't get saved. But it works out in the end, doesn't it? New life in Rome, new life on the TARDIS. Interesting stuff. Razor's edge.

- Donna's prophecy: "There is something on your back"? How very... intriguing.

- Anyone else suspecting Rose's return across the void is gonna be linked to all these planets disappearing? That can't be good. But interesting, yes.

- It's a silly sort of thing, but I love the idea that everything up until now has been predictable, except tomorrow. Still can't see tomorrow coming. Hm.

- Couple of Nine-ish moments, sort of. "'armless enough", Shadow Proclamation again, "Everyone dies". Unrelated reference: a random nod to Barcelona.

- Interesting that Donna and the Doctor did the whole brother-and-sister thing, because the actual brother and sister in the story looked nothing alike. Just sayin'.

- Donna arguing for everyone's lives could have come across as blustery or whiny, but it's just heartbreaking, really. It's honest, and it's serious, and she does it incredibly well. Major props. And my notes seem to think that Ten said "Sometimes I read smores", but I think that actually says: "Sometimes I need someone." True dat, Doctor.

- Love the way they've tackled all the issues with saving everyone, because nearly every other time it comes up, it winds up being glossed over in some way (the problem disappears, etc.). "Not the whole town. Just save someone!" says Donna, and she's really echoing us, because that's what the Doctor does. And I think he's just starting to realise that, too. And ooh, it's ambiguous. "I can never go back, I can't." "Save us, Doctor." End of The Myth Makers, with One going: "I am not a god." It happened even then, even unassuming and hrming and ahhing and grabbing the lapels, and Ten gives them a bit of what they want - like pulling the coin from behind the boy's ear, he's a bit of a compulsive showman.

- Interesting that the big confrontation here was between Donna and the Doctor; the bad guys were incidental but necessary. Felt good, that balance.

- Another motif: "Tell me your name!" They know the Doctor's name, his real name (or at least where it's been scattered or whatever they were on about) - flashbacks to "The Shakespeare Code", and the power of a name.

- "You have got to be kidding me" re: being sacrificed. Donna! She is so excellent. "I bloody love you."

- "Even the longest night must end." That one's just too easy; draw your own conclusions.

- Doctor running around with a water gun was clever, but felt weird. (Probably because I grew up in a really anti-gun household, and so wasn't allowed to play with water pistols as a kid. Don't mind me.)

- "We can't go in!" says Donna. "We can't go back!" says the Doctor. He's all about the inevitability, which is so, so interesting because he never used to care about that sort of thing, about history's due course. But then, things have changed/blown up a little bit since then.

- Love the idea of aliens taking their cues from the Romans and going for world domination. Again, I'm a sucker for the humans-as-baddies idea.

- "Pompeii or the world," the Doctor says, and Donna says: "Oh my god." There was something really, really nice about her reaction, there. Eee, I just love Donna. But yes, it all comes down to personal responsibility again - he can destroy Pompeii, have it be his fault, just like Gallifrey, or he can let Earth die through inactivity. It's Gallifrey all over again. And hey, think way back to "The End of the World", where Nine takes Rose back to Earth at the end, just to see the people all around, to emphasise that they're all dying but they're alive now. Ten doesn't reflect like that - he changes things, just a little, at Donna's prompting. When he says he needs someone, what he's saying is that he could have used someone around, right after Gallifrey. It's a healing process, anyway.

- Going for the lever, expecting to die. "Never mind us," says Donna. That's their moment, and they're doing it together - sharing the responsibility, which is not something Ten is used to. (Vague memories of Jo in "The Time Monster", initiating the Time-Ram when the Doctor wouldn't.)

- "The future is changing." All about the uncertainty - the Doctor is so sure that it's a fixed point, and when it isn't, he's the one to make it so again. Interesting.

- Ten's not a hero (not a household god) until he rescues somebody - the Time Lords sat back and maintained history. He keeps it safe and changes little things, and those little things change everything. Very, very nice.

Wow. Just, yes. Wow.

Comments

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

Donna's prophecy: "There is something on your back"? How very... intriguing.

That was definitely the most intriguing bit of the episode, for me—and by miles the creepiest. I don't know if they're going to be able to deliver a punchline good enough to live up to how creepy that is, but I will definitely enjoy the hell out of it until the Big Reveal, in any case.

they know the Doctor's name, his real name (or at least where it's been scattered or whatever they were on about)

*blinks* They do? All I caught was that it was "hidden," but the sound was frequently skewed to the score, so I know I missed some lines here and there.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

All I caught was that it was "hidden," but the sound was frequently skewed to the score, so I know I missed some lines here and there.

Ah, sorry, yes. I was being incoherent and vague (obviously this means that I should be writing things) and that's basically what I meant: they know that it's hidden. Or something.

All Donna's prophecy brings to mind is, uh, giant spiders or something, like in "Invasion of the Spiders". I hope it's more clever than that.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

Ah! Gotcha.

I hope it's more clever than that.

Hee! I think it worked for me because it's such an innocuous statement, yet Ambiguous Comedic/Portentous Portent Monger is so particularly portentous there. But, yes, if it's spiders, I'll be disappointed. Even if it's somehow related to Metebelis III.

[avarill.livejournal.com]

FYI, I think the line was: "[his name] burns in the stars in the cascade of medusa herself."

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you muchly! I was a bit out of it and so I think I missed a good half of the important lines in this one. Will watch again to remedy that, at some point!

something on your back...

[dree-drey.livejournal.com]

...my thought was "tumour!" but maybe because I spend all my time doing cancer genetics.

[amaresu]

It's going to be interesting to find out what Donna's prophecy means. I fear for the her. I do.

The moment when Donna put her hands on the lever with his was just perfect. It really was. She's what Ten has been needing. Someone to help him share the burden, not lighten it, not take it away, someone to share it. To remind him that there are reasons behind what he does. I really hope they stick with this motif.

Again with the reminding when she gets him to go back for the family. That is what previous Doctors would have done and now he's remembering that and doing that. It's brilliant.

[marycontraire.livejournal.com]

Doctor running around with a water gun was clever, but felt weird.

I did not grow up in a particularly pacifist household (in fact I spent a good portion of my childhood playing horrifically violent games with supersoakers, nerf guns, plastic lightsabers, and the like) and I STILL found the image of the Doctor with the water pistol disturbing. Funny, yes, but also weirdly unpalatable. The doctor is just never supposed to have a gun, you know? It's wrong. And even though it was just water, there was the whole unmistakable motion of draw, aim, fire...

Which of course brings me to my considerable problems with the way New Who has the Doctor openly disdaining guns/violence, while still often needing other people (most notably the good Captain Jack) to wield guns for him. Hypocrisy, etc., shall save such Deep Thoughts for another day.

[happydalek.livejournal.com]

What got me most about the water pistol was that the Doctor obviously knew the proper way to hold one. Most people go one-handed because they're just plastic and light, but not the Doctor. Both hands on the yellow plastic water weapon. It was, as you say, weirdly unpalatable.

[rosengirl.livejournal.com]

That was an excellent meta ! Very interesting to read.

Wow. Just, yes. Wow.

Pretty much, yeah.

[nentari.livejournal.com]

Anyone else suspecting Rose's return across the void is gonna be linked to all these planets disappearing? That can't be good. But interesting, yes.
I hadn't thought of that. It could work.

The water pistol reminded me of how Jon Pertwee and Pat Troughton used to fight against each other with water guns on Doctor Who conventions - and the guns got bigger and bigger each time.

[scarletsherlock.livejournal.com]

That was the best episode for a long time, I thought. It actually made me cry--I am loving Donna--just absolutely loving her.

[purple_bug.livejournal.com]

a random nod to Barcelona.

You know what? I didn't even register that as a reference to The Christmas Invasion until you said it. I laughed at it because "you must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona" immediately called to mind Basil Fawlty. Which I thought was quite clever, given the (delightful) City of Death, TARDIS-as-modern-art nod a few minutes before :oD

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes! I completely missed the Fawlty Towers ref until I actually sat and thought about it for a moment. ;) And I loved all the Old Skool nods in this one - I have notes on them that I very cleverly forgot to append to this post.

Serves me right for watching (and especially posting) while sleepy! Hee.

[purple_bug.livejournal.com]

Anything while sleepy is generally ill-advised. I have found this out.

Oh, and I added you on Skype but it's still showing a question mark. Don't tell me you're one of those people who never remembers to log in? ;o)

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Ahem. Er. I may or may not be one of those people. ;)

As it is, though, I will probably not be online for much longer today - term paper to write by tonight (otherwise I will be hoping Campus Security still forgets to properly lock a certain set of doors so I can hand it in tomorrow). After that is preparation for finals, which means I'll be procrastinating at every opportunity, so will very likely be online then! :D

[purple_bug.livejournal.com]

Honestly. I know too many like you :oP Almost never have a good chat these days. Well, add me for now so I know how many hours behind me you are, so I can get an idea of when in the day you're likely to be around :o) (I have to work that out way too much - I have more friends outside the UK than in, I think.) And good luck with the term paper and the possibly locked doors. I look forward to chatting fannish with you once you're semi-free :o)

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also: while I have on occasion snuck into high-security servers and accessed assorted sneaky files and done other impressive-sounding high tech stuff, I am still utterly incapable of working IM programs properly. How do I go about adding you? I'm logged in at the moment.

If it's any help, I'm on Mountain Time. I think I'm six hours behind you at this point (GMT, right?), but time zones frequently make my brain explode.

Edit: Hee, never mind!

[purple_bug.livejournal.com]

Heh :o) I'm a bit rubbish with them too - the only ones I can work are MSN and Skype. I find AIM muddling, and Yahoo's IM wouldn't even install properly on my PC.

[eers.livejournal.com]

What? He sometimes reads smores? Hah. :P

Also, the whole thereissomethingonyourback-thing is freaking me out. Did she do something with potentially terrible consequences without knowing it?