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rabid1stSo...people have stopped by to see what I think of the Moffat episode part 2.
Seemed very much like a Moffat episode to me. His Mary Sue...and that right there is the very definition of Mary Sue (something Rose has been accused of being but is not)...shows up and elbows all else aside in her wake. Sometimes the Mary Sue is interesting. I was saying to some people in chat that Moffat does seem to follow the Whore or Virgin Mother model for women. And his "love of his life" people...Reinette and now River seem to be cut from the whore cloth. While Sally and Nancy were cut for the madonna side of the material. Now, when I say whore...I don't necessarily mean in the exact sense of Reinette...but in the "he stops by and visits her and she loves him intently while demanding nothing" model of womanhood.
Anyway, enough about literary models. Let's talk about voiceovers to explain how the audience should be feeling. It is not enough that the Doctor is this God figure that opens doors with a snap of his fingers and stares down armies...no...he must also be the answer to every male and female fantasy rolled into one. There is a problem with that...and it's this...he hasn't really earned all of this slavish devotion. It violates that old chestnut from writing school..."Show don't tell!" You shouldn't have to tell me over and over again how magnificient the Doctor will be one day.
Moffat just tries too damned hard. And he doesn't need to...because his storyline was good...even padded with the voiceover...and telegraphing the plot to me in the first few moments of the episode. I did still find it very scary in places...the distorted face might haunt MY dreams. And I think I would definitely be scared of creepying shadows and skeletons in space suits if I was 9 or so. Those are creepy things. Also, the idea that everyone is lying to you that Donna deals with...and that your family will be taken away and leave you devastated.
Things I found annoying:
1) Mary Sue love of the Doctor's life. If there's going to be another one of those...let's learn about her the old fashioned way, shall we.
2) Voiceover explaining what we are supposed to feel about all this.
3) Donna being the virginal mother figure this time around.
4) Constant references to things that weren't all that memorable the first time we saw them...bananas, squareness guns, and "I'm always alright"...and the five hour takes you home program in the TARDIS.
5) And the notion of the Doctor getting even more full of himself in the future.
6) Donna being totally useless to the Doctor...that Mary Sue thing again...it is, of course, Moffat's girl who must save the day and be the center of his world.
7) That River was basically Jack without a...let's say...five o'clock shadow.
Things I found cool...
1) The Vashta Narada...living in trees and the books that were the real thing again. So neat.
2) Donna's virtual world hopping about like that.
3) Evangelist...skipping over the name having definite virginal overtones.
4) Finally getting that "Always wait 5 and 1/2 hours" thing settled.
5) The Doctor as a timeless being and everyone will be with him for a short time only...I am okay with this view of Rose, too. If Rose is what I would consider the true love of his life...the one who gives him a family and home again.
6) Even though I called it about ten minutes in...and it is very like the end of Disheveled...I enjoyed Dr. Moon and the virtual world and the little girl from Girl in the Fireplace as a brunette.
Things that played to our themes...
1) Children by asexual reproduction...Donna's kids...then Rivers. BTW, where did they get the children templates? I expected they were real children from the library, but maybe not. How could there be no children in the library? Seems unlikely. Oh, I know...maybe these were children donated at death. You don't often see library benches donated in honor of children.
2) The idea of the Doctor having a wife. And wouldn't it be neat if Rose knows his name...if the very reason that River apologizes to him is that her knowing his name means Rose is gone for good and River knows that will hurt him deeply.
3) Another chance at happiness cut short for him...even with a completely shipper face on River...she's not the love of his life...he gave her his screwdriver on that last day to save her life, knowing that he would know he wouldn't give her his screwdriver. And knowing is the key, he always knew she's going to die like this...begging him to give her the brief happiness she had with him...don't change anything she tells him. So...he is honor bound to tell her his name now. She spoiled her own life. All of that stacks the deck against her as a real character in his future.
4) Transformation of humans into something else...in this case data and computers.
5) And finally...the Doctor again said his head was too full...all those voices in his head.
I did like his reaction to River. I think David played it very well...as if he couldn't believe it could be true. And that begs the question...why couldn't he believe it. And that leads us straight to Rose Tyler.
Rae
Seemed very much like a Moffat episode to me. His Mary Sue...and that right there is the very definition of Mary Sue (something Rose has been accused of being but is not)...shows up and elbows all else aside in her wake. Sometimes the Mary Sue is interesting. I was saying to some people in chat that Moffat does seem to follow the Whore or Virgin Mother model for women. And his "love of his life" people...Reinette and now River seem to be cut from the whore cloth. While Sally and Nancy were cut for the madonna side of the material. Now, when I say whore...I don't necessarily mean in the exact sense of Reinette...but in the "he stops by and visits her and she loves him intently while demanding nothing" model of womanhood.
Anyway, enough about literary models. Let's talk about voiceovers to explain how the audience should be feeling. It is not enough that the Doctor is this God figure that opens doors with a snap of his fingers and stares down armies...no...he must also be the answer to every male and female fantasy rolled into one. There is a problem with that...and it's this...he hasn't really earned all of this slavish devotion. It violates that old chestnut from writing school..."Show don't tell!" You shouldn't have to tell me over and over again how magnificient the Doctor will be one day.
Moffat just tries too damned hard. And he doesn't need to...because his storyline was good...even padded with the voiceover...and telegraphing the plot to me in the first few moments of the episode. I did still find it very scary in places...the distorted face might haunt MY dreams. And I think I would definitely be scared of creepying shadows and skeletons in space suits if I was 9 or so. Those are creepy things. Also, the idea that everyone is lying to you that Donna deals with...and that your family will be taken away and leave you devastated.
Things I found annoying:
1) Mary Sue love of the Doctor's life. If there's going to be another one of those...let's learn about her the old fashioned way, shall we.
2) Voiceover explaining what we are supposed to feel about all this.
3) Donna being the virginal mother figure this time around.
4) Constant references to things that weren't all that memorable the first time we saw them...bananas, squareness guns, and "I'm always alright"...and the five hour takes you home program in the TARDIS.
5) And the notion of the Doctor getting even more full of himself in the future.
6) Donna being totally useless to the Doctor...that Mary Sue thing again...it is, of course, Moffat's girl who must save the day and be the center of his world.
7) That River was basically Jack without a...let's say...five o'clock shadow.
Things I found cool...
1) The Vashta Narada...living in trees and the books that were the real thing again. So neat.
2) Donna's virtual world hopping about like that.
3) Evangelist...skipping over the name having definite virginal overtones.
4) Finally getting that "Always wait 5 and 1/2 hours" thing settled.
5) The Doctor as a timeless being and everyone will be with him for a short time only...I am okay with this view of Rose, too. If Rose is what I would consider the true love of his life...the one who gives him a family and home again.
6) Even though I called it about ten minutes in...and it is very like the end of Disheveled...I enjoyed Dr. Moon and the virtual world and the little girl from Girl in the Fireplace as a brunette.
Things that played to our themes...
1) Children by asexual reproduction...Donna's kids...then Rivers. BTW, where did they get the children templates? I expected they were real children from the library, but maybe not. How could there be no children in the library? Seems unlikely. Oh, I know...maybe these were children donated at death. You don't often see library benches donated in honor of children.
2) The idea of the Doctor having a wife. And wouldn't it be neat if Rose knows his name...if the very reason that River apologizes to him is that her knowing his name means Rose is gone for good and River knows that will hurt him deeply.
3) Another chance at happiness cut short for him...even with a completely shipper face on River...she's not the love of his life...he gave her his screwdriver on that last day to save her life, knowing that he would know he wouldn't give her his screwdriver. And knowing is the key, he always knew she's going to die like this...begging him to give her the brief happiness she had with him...don't change anything she tells him. So...he is honor bound to tell her his name now. She spoiled her own life. All of that stacks the deck against her as a real character in his future.
4) Transformation of humans into something else...in this case data and computers.
5) And finally...the Doctor again said his head was too full...all those voices in his head.
I did like his reaction to River. I think David played it very well...as if he couldn't believe it could be true. And that begs the question...why couldn't he believe it. And that leads us straight to Rose Tyler.
Rae