Watching Doctor Who

This is the last episode of season two. Interesting to note that as shown on the Sci Fi Channel, there were a few tiny pieces missing. Seconds and interesting lines were shaved off of scenes. Luckily, the DVD set for this season comes out in a couple of weeks. I love this episode, and wow did it hurt me the first time through. (Okay, it actually hurts me every time.) All hail Russell T. Davies for the script and Murray Gold for the incredible music. Okay, let’s gets to the spoilers.

Episode: Doomsday
Rating (1 to 5): 5
Baddie: Cybermen & Daleks! (luckily not as allies)
Rose is trapped: In another reality. That is pretty final. (sob.)
The Doctor is trapped: here without Rose in the end. Before that he is briefly trapped in Pete’s World. He was a prisoner of the Cybermen for a little bit before that, even.
The Doctor enjoys: The emotion of Hope and the phrase “via the void.”
The Doctor dislikes: Losing Rose. He burns up a Sun to say goodbye. (He also dislikes Daleks and Cybermen)
Doctor-y Strangeness: The 3-D glasses. The Doctor as an inter-reality matchmaker?
Scary Stuff: Cybermen & Daleks!?!? The Void.
Does someone local help out? Cyber-Yvonne.
What we learn: Kill one Cyberleader and they just download into another. The parallel Torchwood is under the control of the People’s Government. Harriet Jones is President in Pete’s World. The Time Lords built the Genesis Ark. It’s a prison ship that is bigger on the inside. Every time you travel from one reality to another you rip a hole in the universe. The Doctor fought on the front lines of the Time War, and he was there at the fall of Arcadia. When you travel in time you soak up background radiation.
My Favorite Bits: “Oh, do some reasearch. We don’t have a central world authority.” The Daleks and The Cybermen taunting each other. Jackie and Pete’s first interaction. The name of Bad Wolf bay. The Doctor and Rose on either side of the white wall, and the fact that they seem to be able to sense each other. The scene on the beach.

Observations and musings:

Well, this is it. The end of Rose’s story arc. Look how far she’s come. Seriously, go back and watch Rose. See the difference? She has experience to go along with her adaptability and her slightly unusual thought process. And she did sort of die in battle. See, the baddie from The Satan Pit was telling another half-truth. I was interested to see how she took charge of the Dalek situation. Once she saw who was leaving the sphere, she moved right on to the problem of the Genesis Arc. She didn’t waste time wondering why they were alive. I was also glad to know that she remembers what she did to the Emperor. Her mother was right it seems. She has changed. Rose has grown up. Trapped in another reality from The Doctor she loves, she got a job at Torchwood. She’s still defending the Earth

Dear heavens, the poor Doctor. He tries to send Rose away again. How well did that work last time, eh? Let’s see, last time she came back, saved your life, and you ended up having to regenerate. I’m thinking that The Doctor should have realized that it wasn’t going to be that easy. ( I wonder if she would have been safe in the TARDIS?) You could see how much it cost him to make the decision to send her away, but he did it anyway. Then when he was walking away from the White Wall, he looked seriously shell-shocked. At least Rose didn’t fall into the void. Who knows what he would have been like then? I would like to take this moment to point out that he found the last hole in reality and burned up a sun to say good-bye, and yet he still has the problem that he had during The Satan Pit. He couldn’t say it. He missed his only chance to tell Rose that he loved her back. He waited just a bit too long. (And wasn’t his face a study for the two seconds that he thought she might be pregnant?) I wonder what he will be like with his one stabilizing influence gone?

I am unable to be objective about Doomsday. This episode destroyed me the first time I saw it. I couldn’t sleep afterwards. Seriously. It really got to me. I’ve seen it several times, and every time I still cry. Maybe it’s the music at the beach, which is currently stuck in my head. I’m not sure. Perhaps it is the sheer visceral emotion of the episode. Reunion, Loss, Death, Sorrow, Heartbreak, and Anger, Doomsday has it all. All of that and the fall of Torchwood one. Poor Rose can’t even visit Sarah Jane. (FYI, for little bits and pieces that have been cut out for the American version, you may want to watch the the DVDs. For example, the Doctor isn’t angry with Mickey for touching the Genesis Ark.)

Well, this is it for new episodes in the USA until the Summer. There is another Sci Fi Channel marathon on the 12th, and BBC America continues it’s showings of Doctor Who Season one. So, next Saturday I will post my review for The Unquiet Dead and move forward from there. Have a Happy New Year!

Image Source: http://www.time-and-space.co.uk/

Doomsday, Russell T. Davies, Murray Gold, Doctor Who