Current status of the USS Hadhafang.
Apr. 28th, 2013 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianGenerally doing okay, really. Also, in case you're wondering why I've been particularly slow on my DOCTOR WHO reviews, it's because my brother's sick. Yeah, let's say that all that homework and little sleep caught up with him, poor thing. :( *Hugs him* He was better today (even decided to go and leaf through my copy of GOOD OMENS simply because) but he's still a tad sick. I just hope he's better soon (and he learns to be good to himself).
Anyway, we got to watching THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN. Rewatching on my part. Let's say, amazing episode, but goddamn was it sad...
I confess that the first time I watched it, it was in a public place on my iPhone (the lobby of my college, to be more precise) and by the end...well, I would have been sobbing like crazy if not for the fact that I was in the lobby of my college. The resulting conversation would have been quite awkward, methinks. But yeah, just as affecting this time around as it was last time around. I know that stuff like River's talk with Amy really got to me. Basically, it's after the Doctor heals her broken wrist with regeneration energy (which is, to say the least, a pretty fucking big deal. To put it in perspective, imagine giving away seconds, minutes, etc. of your life if only to heal someone else. It's selfless, yes, but also dangerous. And there really isn't anything wrong with giving, but that's not really what River's worried about. She's worried about her husband putting himself in danger, basically), and she slaps him in a sort of Anger Born of Worry thing. She then tells him off for being a "sentimental idiot" (and from River's point of view, well...she's looking at the more pragmatic aspects of it. The Doctor, meanwhile, is a very emotional creature. *) and echoes what the Doctor said to her back in "The Wedding of River Song" when she was putting reality at risk to save him, basically, "You embarrass me." ** After she storms off, Amy goes to find her, and River tells her about not letting the Doctor see the damage. Or the age. Which I think ties into the matter of that line of Ten to Rose in "School Reunion" about him not aging, but regenerating. Humans meanwhile either and die, and seeing that happen to Rose -- while he cuts himself short of saying "love", it's painfully clear that he's saying someone you love. It's not age itself that the Doctor is afraid of; I mean, the man is practically ancient. He might look young, but he's probably old as the world itself. But it's the very prospect of death that terrifies him. As River says too clearly, he hates endings. Even those who don't necessarily die still weigh heavily on him. And the thought of being unable to prevent death, in a way, especially a seemingly needless death...what else drove him down the path we see in "The Waters of Mars"? He wouldn't have gone that far if not for the fact that he didn't want to watch good people die. So it's not age that the Doctor is afraid of. Only the prospect of death and what it brings with it. After losing so many people, I doubt the Doctor would want to lose anyone else.
And I think it also ties into his actions at the graveyard, trying to get Amy to come back to the TARDIS (although I also believe that my statement may count as a "No shit Sherlock" moment for other people) with him. I think the worst part about it is how excited they seemed about seemingly averting destiny (the matter of Rory dying alone in that hotel room) and how the Doctor was talking about going to the pub and playing videogames or something. It seems almost like a "The Big Bang" or "The Wedding of River Song" type ending -- happy and hopeful and even funny with River and the Doctor talking about reprinting the TARDIS and such, and then Rory notices that headstone with his name on it. And then the Weeping Angel, just a survivor, just some random happenstance, comes by and sweeps Rory away. Amy's reaction doesn't help either. Because one of her worst fears is losing Rory. We see this a bit too clearly in "Amy's Choice", "Cold Blood", "The Doctor's Wife" and more . Even when they go through their rough patches, they love each other more than anything, and if one of them was hurt or killed -- well, it would be one of their worst fears. And meanwhile, the Doctor is begging Amy to come back to the TARDIS, all while Amy is going on about there being room for one more name on the headstone, and telling River to take care of the Doctor and be a good girl (and the fact that she calls River "Melody" does not help at all. Not River, Melody. Something about that detail really gets to me) before choosing to be zapped back in time to join Rory. The Doctor's reaction doesn't help either. Nor does River's reaction during the farewell.
*Sighs*
Christ, this is getting depressing. Here's the obligatory STAR TREK humor: http://cheezburger.com/7382270976.
That and there's the matter of the whole Rassilon-created-the-Weeping-Angels theory. Add that to the episode, and...well, it gives so much of an impression of What Could Have Been, for everyone. Rose, for example, and the Master, and so many others. And it might explain their behavior -- lashing out at others so they can feel what they felt, doing a new twisted rendition of preserving order, all that. Granted, the episode works just as well without the theory, but if nothing else, I think it adds a new layer to the episodes they appear in. At least, it's interesting (horrifying, but still) to consider.
*Sighs* Dammit, this is getting more depressing to think about. Here's tribble humor: http://cheezburger.com/7376629248.
But I think the part where I came closest to losing it was when the Doctor read Amy's afterword. What seems like a funny joke in the beginning with the Doctor ripping out the last page in the book he's reading (which River wrote, very long story) becomes extra devastating when the Doctor sits down to read it. Basically, it's just Amy leaving a personal message for the Doctor, reassuring him that she and Rory were happy in the end, and that they both still love the Doctor always (which I think the Doctor needs, more than anything. At the very least, it will be nice for him, at least, to know that Amy and Rory were all right in the end). Not to mention telling the Doctor not to travel alone. It's a lovely statement already, but combined with Amy's statement in "A Town Called Mercy" about what happens when the Doctor travels alone too long, it takes on an extra layer of lovely. That and there's the fact that it's one of the many themes of DOCTOR WHO. Don't travel alone, you're never really alone, all of that. It's shown up so many times throughout the series, such as with Donna imploring Ten to "find someone" at the end of "The Runaway Bride", Rose helping to make the Doctor better, Amy and Rory being shelter to Eleven...all of that (because in the wake of the specials, "Journey's End", etc., he needed someone, really. I think that's one of many reasons why Amy and Rory meant so much to him). Indeed, it's telling that the moments where the Doctor is at his darkest are when he's traveling alone or has been traveling alone for too long. (The only exception is "Closing Time", and even he had Craig) I think it's important because...I don't think anyone likes being alone. I think there's a difference between enjoying your solitude and feeling a sense of isolation and loneliness. Destroying Gallifrey didn't just physically destroy the Time Lords (except for the Master), but it destroyed the Doctor's sort of link with them, as he tells Rose in "Dalek". He doesn't just need someone to hold him back from the edge. He needs someone to keep him going. And it lends an extra layer of meaning to Amy telling River to look after the Doctor. Because to the end, Amy is still very worried about the Doctor, and wants, at least, for him to be all right. And even to the end, the Doctor needs River. But he even loses her too in the end. Everything may have its time and everything may end, but it doesn't make the pain hurt any less. We are human, in the end. We still feel things very strongly. And the Doctor may be a Time Lord, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a lot of humanity in him.
That and, really, it's okay to be human. It really is.
*Sighs*
And this is getting further depressing. Here's more STAR TREK humor: http://cheezburger.com/7352450048.
Not to mention Amy telling the Doctor to find her younger self in the garden and such. Might raise a lot of questions with timelines, but it was a lovely bookend nonetheless. When we first met Amy, she was a little girl. Now, we meet her again as a little girl. Bookends...definitely lovely things.
And even earlier than that, the dive from Winter Quay. Amy's "if you were in my position would you be able to do it" was very powerful, for example. And Rory's "To save you, I could do anything." Because it's true. Waiting two thousand years to keep her safe, for example. And a lot more. And Amy's "together or not at all" and her echo of River's earlier "It's called marriage, honey" before the plummet. Also, the music -- perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces in DOCTOR WHO, which says volumes all things considered. And earlier than that, River's conversation with the Doctor regarding her broken wrist, with her, via perhaps the most heartwrenching Bait and Switch Comparison, admitting that hiding the damage and such hurts probably as much as if not more than the broken wrist ever could. (Which...poor River. That has to weigh heavily on her, all these secrets she can't reveal to the Doctor. Trying to protect him because...well, see also his reaction to learning about Amy's impending doom. The man does not take stuff like other people dying terribly well. Add in River's overall story, and I think it may be one of the saddest stories in DOCTOR WHO. Which says volumes -- DOCTOR WHO really loves taking lovable characters and just putting them through hell. It's an odd sort of thing -- me, putting characters through hell, I can take it. It hurts, but I can take it. But watching other characters be out through hell...well, it hurts a lot)
Even in between the sadness, though, there were some light moments. For example, the Doctor reading aloud in Central Park all while Amy's getting a tad annoyed at him. At least, at the "Yowsa!" exclamations and such, to the point she has to sternly tell him to stop doing it. (Yeah, I know, Amy, it really is annoying. I haven't had that with books much, but people being loud in general when I'm trying to concentrate...ugh. Probably the Eighth Circle of Hell, really. People blaring their music loudly is probably the Ninth. :P) On the other hand, the Doctor would be a good sort of storyteller -- at least entertaining. I think he'd probably have the magic power of making Daniel Quinn's ISHMAEL seem actually entertaining. *** At least I'd pay for The Quintessential Collection of the Doctor's Dramatic Readings. That and River snarking about the Weeping Angel in that one crimelord's collection, the Doctor writing "Yowza" on that vase to alert River, etc. And building the Nightmare Fuel with the baby Weeping Angels (seriously. D:) and their *laughs* (DNW). And the Statue of Liberty being a Weeping Angel -- Oancitizen made some really funny jokes about it on Twitter, but it really doesn't take away from the fact that that face is terrifying as hell.
So yeah, awesome episode was awesome. Emotional, but awesome.
* And it isn't as if River has never been emotional before -- see also "The Wedding of River Song" when she puts all of reality at stake just to not kill the Doctor. But I don't think she would understand something like what the Doctor did -- at the very least, she's more than a tad freaked out.
** And yes, it's just as devastating here as it was in that episode.
*** For those who don't know, let's say it's a book about a guy who visits a gorilla that lectures him about how humanity's gone astray and all that. Yeah, absurd premise plus all the subtlety of a bulldozer...it's one of those few books I've really honestly disliked just because of how much it seemed to loathe the reader and bore the reader at the same time. I don't mind a moral message, but it has to be done well and this one was not (even if there were a few good bits in it). At least I can picture Eleven just rolling his eyes and going "Bullshit" at some parts in it. (And variations on "hurdlededur" to break things up) But enough about my middle school life -- sorry.
So overall? Loved it. Definitely recommended.
Anyway, we got to watching THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN. Rewatching on my part. Let's say, amazing episode, but goddamn was it sad...
I confess that the first time I watched it, it was in a public place on my iPhone (the lobby of my college, to be more precise) and by the end...well, I would have been sobbing like crazy if not for the fact that I was in the lobby of my college. The resulting conversation would have been quite awkward, methinks. But yeah, just as affecting this time around as it was last time around. I know that stuff like River's talk with Amy really got to me. Basically, it's after the Doctor heals her broken wrist with regeneration energy (which is, to say the least, a pretty fucking big deal. To put it in perspective, imagine giving away seconds, minutes, etc. of your life if only to heal someone else. It's selfless, yes, but also dangerous. And there really isn't anything wrong with giving, but that's not really what River's worried about. She's worried about her husband putting himself in danger, basically), and she slaps him in a sort of Anger Born of Worry thing. She then tells him off for being a "sentimental idiot" (and from River's point of view, well...she's looking at the more pragmatic aspects of it. The Doctor, meanwhile, is a very emotional creature. *) and echoes what the Doctor said to her back in "The Wedding of River Song" when she was putting reality at risk to save him, basically, "You embarrass me." ** After she storms off, Amy goes to find her, and River tells her about not letting the Doctor see the damage. Or the age. Which I think ties into the matter of that line of Ten to Rose in "School Reunion" about him not aging, but regenerating. Humans meanwhile either and die, and seeing that happen to Rose -- while he cuts himself short of saying "love", it's painfully clear that he's saying someone you love. It's not age itself that the Doctor is afraid of; I mean, the man is practically ancient. He might look young, but he's probably old as the world itself. But it's the very prospect of death that terrifies him. As River says too clearly, he hates endings. Even those who don't necessarily die still weigh heavily on him. And the thought of being unable to prevent death, in a way, especially a seemingly needless death...what else drove him down the path we see in "The Waters of Mars"? He wouldn't have gone that far if not for the fact that he didn't want to watch good people die. So it's not age that the Doctor is afraid of. Only the prospect of death and what it brings with it. After losing so many people, I doubt the Doctor would want to lose anyone else.
And I think it also ties into his actions at the graveyard, trying to get Amy to come back to the TARDIS (although I also believe that my statement may count as a "No shit Sherlock" moment for other people) with him. I think the worst part about it is how excited they seemed about seemingly averting destiny (the matter of Rory dying alone in that hotel room) and how the Doctor was talking about going to the pub and playing videogames or something. It seems almost like a "The Big Bang" or "The Wedding of River Song" type ending -- happy and hopeful and even funny with River and the Doctor talking about reprinting the TARDIS and such, and then Rory notices that headstone with his name on it. And then the Weeping Angel, just a survivor, just some random happenstance, comes by and sweeps Rory away. Amy's reaction doesn't help either. Because one of her worst fears is losing Rory. We see this a bit too clearly in "Amy's Choice", "Cold Blood", "The Doctor's Wife" and more . Even when they go through their rough patches, they love each other more than anything, and if one of them was hurt or killed -- well, it would be one of their worst fears. And meanwhile, the Doctor is begging Amy to come back to the TARDIS, all while Amy is going on about there being room for one more name on the headstone, and telling River to take care of the Doctor and be a good girl (and the fact that she calls River "Melody" does not help at all. Not River, Melody. Something about that detail really gets to me) before choosing to be zapped back in time to join Rory. The Doctor's reaction doesn't help either. Nor does River's reaction during the farewell.
*Sighs*
Christ, this is getting depressing. Here's the obligatory STAR TREK humor: http://cheezburger.com/7382270976.
That and there's the matter of the whole Rassilon-created-the-Weeping-Angels theory. Add that to the episode, and...well, it gives so much of an impression of What Could Have Been, for everyone. Rose, for example, and the Master, and so many others. And it might explain their behavior -- lashing out at others so they can feel what they felt, doing a new twisted rendition of preserving order, all that. Granted, the episode works just as well without the theory, but if nothing else, I think it adds a new layer to the episodes they appear in. At least, it's interesting (horrifying, but still) to consider.
*Sighs* Dammit, this is getting more depressing to think about. Here's tribble humor: http://cheezburger.com/7376629248.
But I think the part where I came closest to losing it was when the Doctor read Amy's afterword. What seems like a funny joke in the beginning with the Doctor ripping out the last page in the book he's reading (which River wrote, very long story) becomes extra devastating when the Doctor sits down to read it. Basically, it's just Amy leaving a personal message for the Doctor, reassuring him that she and Rory were happy in the end, and that they both still love the Doctor always (which I think the Doctor needs, more than anything. At the very least, it will be nice for him, at least, to know that Amy and Rory were all right in the end). Not to mention telling the Doctor not to travel alone. It's a lovely statement already, but combined with Amy's statement in "A Town Called Mercy" about what happens when the Doctor travels alone too long, it takes on an extra layer of lovely. That and there's the fact that it's one of the many themes of DOCTOR WHO. Don't travel alone, you're never really alone, all of that. It's shown up so many times throughout the series, such as with Donna imploring Ten to "find someone" at the end of "The Runaway Bride", Rose helping to make the Doctor better, Amy and Rory being shelter to Eleven...all of that (because in the wake of the specials, "Journey's End", etc., he needed someone, really. I think that's one of many reasons why Amy and Rory meant so much to him). Indeed, it's telling that the moments where the Doctor is at his darkest are when he's traveling alone or has been traveling alone for too long. (The only exception is "Closing Time", and even he had Craig) I think it's important because...I don't think anyone likes being alone. I think there's a difference between enjoying your solitude and feeling a sense of isolation and loneliness. Destroying Gallifrey didn't just physically destroy the Time Lords (except for the Master), but it destroyed the Doctor's sort of link with them, as he tells Rose in "Dalek". He doesn't just need someone to hold him back from the edge. He needs someone to keep him going. And it lends an extra layer of meaning to Amy telling River to look after the Doctor. Because to the end, Amy is still very worried about the Doctor, and wants, at least, for him to be all right. And even to the end, the Doctor needs River. But he even loses her too in the end. Everything may have its time and everything may end, but it doesn't make the pain hurt any less. We are human, in the end. We still feel things very strongly. And the Doctor may be a Time Lord, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a lot of humanity in him.
That and, really, it's okay to be human. It really is.
*Sighs*
And this is getting further depressing. Here's more STAR TREK humor: http://cheezburger.com/7352450048.
Not to mention Amy telling the Doctor to find her younger self in the garden and such. Might raise a lot of questions with timelines, but it was a lovely bookend nonetheless. When we first met Amy, she was a little girl. Now, we meet her again as a little girl. Bookends...definitely lovely things.
And even earlier than that, the dive from Winter Quay. Amy's "if you were in my position would you be able to do it" was very powerful, for example. And Rory's "To save you, I could do anything." Because it's true. Waiting two thousand years to keep her safe, for example. And a lot more. And Amy's "together or not at all" and her echo of River's earlier "It's called marriage, honey" before the plummet. Also, the music -- perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces in DOCTOR WHO, which says volumes all things considered. And earlier than that, River's conversation with the Doctor regarding her broken wrist, with her, via perhaps the most heartwrenching Bait and Switch Comparison, admitting that hiding the damage and such hurts probably as much as if not more than the broken wrist ever could. (Which...poor River. That has to weigh heavily on her, all these secrets she can't reveal to the Doctor. Trying to protect him because...well, see also his reaction to learning about Amy's impending doom. The man does not take stuff like other people dying terribly well. Add in River's overall story, and I think it may be one of the saddest stories in DOCTOR WHO. Which says volumes -- DOCTOR WHO really loves taking lovable characters and just putting them through hell. It's an odd sort of thing -- me, putting characters through hell, I can take it. It hurts, but I can take it. But watching other characters be out through hell...well, it hurts a lot)
Even in between the sadness, though, there were some light moments. For example, the Doctor reading aloud in Central Park all while Amy's getting a tad annoyed at him. At least, at the "Yowsa!" exclamations and such, to the point she has to sternly tell him to stop doing it. (Yeah, I know, Amy, it really is annoying. I haven't had that with books much, but people being loud in general when I'm trying to concentrate...ugh. Probably the Eighth Circle of Hell, really. People blaring their music loudly is probably the Ninth. :P) On the other hand, the Doctor would be a good sort of storyteller -- at least entertaining. I think he'd probably have the magic power of making Daniel Quinn's ISHMAEL seem actually entertaining. *** At least I'd pay for The Quintessential Collection of the Doctor's Dramatic Readings. That and River snarking about the Weeping Angel in that one crimelord's collection, the Doctor writing "Yowza" on that vase to alert River, etc. And building the Nightmare Fuel with the baby Weeping Angels (seriously. D:) and their *laughs* (DNW). And the Statue of Liberty being a Weeping Angel -- Oancitizen made some really funny jokes about it on Twitter, but it really doesn't take away from the fact that that face is terrifying as hell.
So yeah, awesome episode was awesome. Emotional, but awesome.
* And it isn't as if River has never been emotional before -- see also "The Wedding of River Song" when she puts all of reality at stake just to not kill the Doctor. But I don't think she would understand something like what the Doctor did -- at the very least, she's more than a tad freaked out.
** And yes, it's just as devastating here as it was in that episode.
*** For those who don't know, let's say it's a book about a guy who visits a gorilla that lectures him about how humanity's gone astray and all that. Yeah, absurd premise plus all the subtlety of a bulldozer...it's one of those few books I've really honestly disliked just because of how much it seemed to loathe the reader and bore the reader at the same time. I don't mind a moral message, but it has to be done well and this one was not (even if there were a few good bits in it). At least I can picture Eleven just rolling his eyes and going "Bullshit" at some parts in it. (And variations on "hurdlededur" to break things up) But enough about my middle school life -- sorry.
So overall? Loved it. Definitely recommended.
