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TELLY
I have been staring at screens for alarming stretches of time! Besides trawling Yuletide all day (tomorrow I am actually attempting to go alphabetically, & also making a concerted effort to go through the whole dSSS archive), I also watched SO MUCH TELLY. There was the traditional debate about holiday films, which ended in screenings of It's a Wonderful Life and Muppet Christmas Carol -- two films that I have never actually watched the same year before, and the unexpected synchronicity was weird. There was also, to my great delight, the Christmas episode of QI, wherein I learned that watching David Tennant and Bill Bailey sit next to each other is actually hazardous for my health, since I about died laughing. To my faint horror I seem to have finally processed that David's leaving, and have taken the opportunity to get all starry-eyed about him all over again.
And then of course there was Doctor Who. I'll say this first: there were more bits I liked than actual good bits, by which I mean a lot of the plotholes and sheer wtfery are beautiful brilliant fic fodder. These things include, but are not limited to:
+ the ~mystical books of Saxon~
+ what might have happened to Lucy (because the obvious answer, "She was FUCKING AWESOME for thirty seconds and then died," is one I flatly refuse to accept in fic-land)
+ the Master's botched regeneration, which aside from his new-found abilities to leap tall buildings in a single bound and shoot lightning a la Emperor Palpatine, was an interesting concept that could have gone so many ways besides "OM NOM MEEEEAT"
On the other hand, things that are not saved by my desire to make them better in fic:
+ unexpected Obama! no, I don't know either
+ the Doctor and the Master have apparently downgraded from telepathic abilities to, um, smelling each other?
+ BILLIONS OF MASTERS IN HILARIOUS DRESSES
Speaking of billions of Masters in hilarious dresses, though, my god, for a single shining moment I hoped that the Master was going to use the healing machine thingy to heal his botched regeneration and genetically alter the human race into a new albeit confused Time Lord empire in one fell swoop. Because, for fucking serious, as evil plans go, "Turn the Doctor's favourite species into the one he desperately misses and spent most of his lives running from" is more psychologically interesting and less cracky than "Turn everyone into ME!!" Actually I think I had about five different single shining moments of "OH OH WILL THEY" and then they ... didn't, and something rubbish happened instead. At least the skull effect bothered me a lot less than I thought it would?
(Parenthetical confession, especially re: single shining moments of hope: I kept on having flashes of "omg, I called that!" followed by "...only RTD didn't do it very well." See: Lucy being clever; the bit where Donna -- all right, mostly Wilf, but also Donna -- is at the center of a weird complicated web of coincidences; and maybe that's it and my ego needs to shut up, but still. Mostly it makes me want to write MORE FIC.)
Genuinely good bits, by the way, included most of the stuff with Wilf or Donna, and the scene in the cafe where the Doctor almost broke down crying. Personally I don't think that he should be allowed to learn his lesson so damn easily, but again this is what fic is for. I also loved, loved, the scene where the Doctor and the Master are lying in the dust together, and the Doctor wants to help him, and the Master wants to laugh about how far they've fallen, and then the Doctor HEARS THE DRUMS, and they are not a metaphor for madness but something ACTUALLY IN THE MASTER'S HEAD (hey I think I've read that fic), and I may have gouged holes in my knees with my fingernails, I was clutching my legs so hard in joy.
I am excited for Timothy Dalton and all his Time Lords (I AM SO EASY FOR TIME LORDS OMGGGG), and for the bit where Donna and Wilf better save the world, and for the bit where deep in my heart I am harboring a secret fervent wish that [a] the invisible woman following Wilf around is Romana and [b] that if this is so, RTD doesn't screw her up too badly. Meanwhile I am terrified of the rubbish billions of Masters, and of the inevitable reset button (although -- that might actually be all right, for once: if we want to return to zero we could erase the Time War, maybe? except that Moffat loves that all the Time Lords are dead, so I have not the faintest); I am also terrified that they won't have time to wrap anything up properly, let alone everything, because if there's one thing this year's specials have proved, it's that the longer the episode, the bewilderingly less economical the use of time. awkljdfs hold meee.
IN CONCLUSION IF TEN DIES IN THE MASTER'S ARMS I'LL STILL FORGIVE RUSTY EVERYTHING.
Um. Brb, I think I have to go write down preliminary fic notes and wonder whether I need to resign myself to doing another fucking virtual season over J-term. At least I only have to wait until New Year's. /o\
And then of course there was Doctor Who. I'll say this first: there were more bits I liked than actual good bits, by which I mean a lot of the plotholes and sheer wtfery are beautiful brilliant fic fodder. These things include, but are not limited to:
+ the ~mystical books of Saxon~
+ what might have happened to Lucy (because the obvious answer, "She was FUCKING AWESOME for thirty seconds and then died," is one I flatly refuse to accept in fic-land)
+ the Master's botched regeneration, which aside from his new-found abilities to leap tall buildings in a single bound and shoot lightning a la Emperor Palpatine, was an interesting concept that could have gone so many ways besides "OM NOM MEEEEAT"
On the other hand, things that are not saved by my desire to make them better in fic:
+ unexpected Obama! no, I don't know either
+ the Doctor and the Master have apparently downgraded from telepathic abilities to, um, smelling each other?
+ BILLIONS OF MASTERS IN HILARIOUS DRESSES
Speaking of billions of Masters in hilarious dresses, though, my god, for a single shining moment I hoped that the Master was going to use the healing machine thingy to heal his botched regeneration and genetically alter the human race into a new albeit confused Time Lord empire in one fell swoop. Because, for fucking serious, as evil plans go, "Turn the Doctor's favourite species into the one he desperately misses and spent most of his lives running from" is more psychologically interesting and less cracky than "Turn everyone into ME!!" Actually I think I had about five different single shining moments of "OH OH WILL THEY" and then they ... didn't, and something rubbish happened instead. At least the skull effect bothered me a lot less than I thought it would?
(Parenthetical confession, especially re: single shining moments of hope: I kept on having flashes of "omg, I called that!" followed by "...only RTD didn't do it very well." See: Lucy being clever; the bit where Donna -- all right, mostly Wilf, but also Donna -- is at the center of a weird complicated web of coincidences; and maybe that's it and my ego needs to shut up, but still. Mostly it makes me want to write MORE FIC.)
Genuinely good bits, by the way, included most of the stuff with Wilf or Donna, and the scene in the cafe where the Doctor almost broke down crying. Personally I don't think that he should be allowed to learn his lesson so damn easily, but again this is what fic is for. I also loved, loved, the scene where the Doctor and the Master are lying in the dust together, and the Doctor wants to help him, and the Master wants to laugh about how far they've fallen, and then the Doctor HEARS THE DRUMS, and they are not a metaphor for madness but something ACTUALLY IN THE MASTER'S HEAD (hey I think I've read that fic), and I may have gouged holes in my knees with my fingernails, I was clutching my legs so hard in joy.
I am excited for Timothy Dalton and all his Time Lords (I AM SO EASY FOR TIME LORDS OMGGGG), and for the bit where Donna and Wilf better save the world, and for the bit where deep in my heart I am harboring a secret fervent wish that [a] the invisible woman following Wilf around is Romana and [b] that if this is so, RTD doesn't screw her up too badly. Meanwhile I am terrified of the rubbish billions of Masters, and of the inevitable reset button (although -- that might actually be all right, for once: if we want to return to zero we could erase the Time War, maybe? except that Moffat loves that all the Time Lords are dead, so I have not the faintest); I am also terrified that they won't have time to wrap anything up properly, let alone everything, because if there's one thing this year's specials have proved, it's that the longer the episode, the bewilderingly less economical the use of time. awkljdfs hold meee.
IN CONCLUSION IF TEN DIES IN THE MASTER'S ARMS I'LL STILL FORGIVE RUSTY EVERYTHING.
Um. Brb, I think I have to go write down preliminary fic notes and wonder whether I need to resign myself to doing another fucking virtual season over J-term. At least I only have to wait until New Year's. /o\
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I think you have just achieved a skill I do not have, which is the ignoring canon skill! TEACH ME YOUR WAYS.