Also, Alec is much hotter than Ben, or at least he was before the show turned into an anti-sex polemic (IIRPlei's phraseC) and stripped everyone of any sex appeal.

That is my phrase for it! Yep.

I mean, okay, the Big Bad? A centuries-old BREEDING CULT.

Up against the lab-created Manticore kids.

The central couple thwarted by a virus that makes her touch fatal to him. Yet at the end of the season, rather than either of them moving on, even for just physical comfort, it's all sexless gloved hand-holding.

There's the thread of Dogman/Blind Girl Love Untainted By The Physical.

Max's nightmare in Boo, leading to her decision to reject adult fun in favor of hanging with Joshua.

One could, if one were bored enough and have enough unstructured free time, spend hours looking at the various ways in which the show shows us that Sex Is Bad, Mmkay? Not that I have. No really, of course not.

I swear, by the end of the season, I was missing Sweeps Heat something awful.

Not that Sweep Cagefighting is ever a bad thing.

I found it amusing that "young Ben" was played by an actor named James Kirk.

...easily amused.

Mmm, cagefighting.

New Doctor Who!!!! WF: I like Martha a lot! I mean, I love Rose, but I like that Martha seems to have the potential to keep up with Ten, whereas he and Rose always felt slightly out of sync. To me, anyway. I love love love his human impersonation with the plasmavore, "Rhino thingies!" and all. I love Ten's bare feet, and Martha's sheer goreousness. I thought her family was quite funny too. Most of all I loved that Who did what it does best, which is couch something seemingly microcosmic in something much, much bigger, thus making you realise just how large the universe it. And the episode in particular seemed to have alot of HGttG refs, which were not lost on me.

I kept having to stop the show to squee. Oh SHOW!

SA, I liked that ep. of Doctor Who, too. It just seemed Sooooo classic Who, and yet definitely in touch with the last two seasons. Here are some shippy thoughts: I don't mind that Martha would have a crush on the Doctor. I liked shipping Rose and the Doctor, and I liked the idea that whether they were bumping uglies or no, they were soulmates on a level that the Doctor rarely has with his companions. Then again, I didn't mind that they used Sarah Jane and Mme du Pompadour to show that all companions are special, he loves 'em all, even if Rose is more special than others. But I wonder if all his flirting with Martha above and beyond the meaning-nothing kiss is going to pan out to indicate that he's just a big ol' Flirt Flirt Flirt Flirty McFlirterson to everyone, or if they are trying to put out the purposeful 'ship vibes into the whole series, retconning him from mostly asexual in his past incarnations (though I _always_ figured the Doctor and Romana were going at it like bunnies when they weren't busy doing anything else) into having the Doctor be an enormous slut. Huh. Maybe the sluttiness is a residual effect of the post-Time War trauma.

ION, I had a dream that CFerg was coming to town, and I tried to get tickets to an Indians game for him - but my mother talked me out of that. Instead I ended up going to a Special Olympics tee-ball game with her and my older brother, where she proceded to not leave room on the bleachers for me, then get mad that I went and sat on the other side of my brother to get away from her. And then I couldn't even see the game. Hmm, I wonder if this was really more about P-C than about me or CFerg.

WindSparrow, I'm not entirely sure--I think we'll have to see more of this series to figure anything out--but my first thoughts are that yeah, all the companions are special (and Rose perhaps moreso than most) but there was definitely a sexual undercurrent there with Martha--not explicitly sexual, but very flirty-datey in a way I didn't see Ten being with Rose [though I did see it with Nine]. I mean, with Nine you could practically see the sparks flying between Eccleston and Piper, and then with the addition of Barrowman it was pretty mind-blowing! With Ten, though, the dynamic changed so that you could see them as being especially close, but (IMO) not particularly sexual.

But I have my own thoughts on why this might be. For example, he and Martha could have a shippy sexual type relationship without going into the heavy emotional stuff he was in with Rose. de Pompadour and Sarah Jane served to illustrate how that might be possible. And additionally (perhaps more weighty for my interpretation) if we're going to see (I hope I hope I hope!) Ten and Jack on the screen together, and all the twisty heart and sex things therein, we might be priming the pump, in a way, to see Ten as more, mm, sexual.

I say this, of course, with the understanding that this is my more adult interpretation of the canon, which (for all intents and purposes) remains a kid's show at its heart. But I see these interesting fault-lines of the characters, and I can't help but wonder if this new thing with Martha is an attempt to prepare us for the Jack/Ten we may never see.

Overall, I thought the episode was a letdown. Considering it was dealing with a lot of major issues: Harry's past, Bob's past, Harry and Murphy's relationship, and Murphy coming to terms with the supernatural, it should have been a two parter. As it stood, it came across as a little too easily wrapped up and Harry and Justin's magical smackdown was rather cheesy.

&

They packed a little too much into this one. It wasn't "All About Murphy". I'd rather they'd have left Murphy's part in this to another episode of its own.

Agreed, Kalshane and Zenkitty. It was all rather rushed and smooshed, what with all the "build-up" of all the points you mentioned... and rather than dealing with each in it's own ep, we get four for the price of one and they end up sharing (and therefore losing) screentime.

The fight between Justin and Harry wasn't anywhere near what the flashbacks in Storm Front implied (and that was something I thought would be the *only* thing to come out of that non-existent ep in synch with the continuity!). The degree of damage and woundiness doesn't flow with the beginning of Bad Blood where he's wandering down the alley, either.

What was up with the previouslies making it look like it would deal with Murphy, and then flashbacks within the episode that would have served better with the previouslies. Why not something new, some show, instead of tell (for the second time!)? Also, where this ep got moved up, could Murphy be referencing something from that happens to her in the remaining two episodes, and not The Boone Identity? Because it's been a long time since then and we haven't seen any indication that she's been suffering nightmares all this while.

Terrence Mann was fantastic. Loved the way he looked upon and spoke to the young Harry, so kind and patient.

Have to rewatch, but was Justin and Bob saying that Harry was going to die from being "drained" of all that power?

Psst, Paul, you're a hottie, but you weren't selling the near-death thing.

I get the feeling they're afraid they're not going to get another season, so they're trying to cram the whole story they want to tell into only 12 episodes.

Grrr. I'd rather have well-told stories that have an open-end. I mean, what if they do get several more seasons?! Sure, there are plenty more stories and plots, but they just burnt through several interesting story and character-relationship points like wildfire.

You know? I'd have liked to have materialized!Bob for a couple episodes, so that when he gave it up to save Harry, it would have been even more wrenching (not that Mann was bad at selling it, but he just wasn't allowed enough to do it.

I'm enjoying the Who whitefont, as I did get to see it (with a room o' squee) at the fanfic con this weekend and am all anticipatory about goodness to come, because it started out so very much fun....

So this episode was the one that was supposed to be the pilot? I'll be watching it when I get home.

I'll be disappointed if TDF doesn't get picked up for a second season. But I can't imagine that they wouldn't--it fits nicely into their SciFi Friday, it's a workhorse kind of program, and it's one of those that, given the proper infusion of money and a good buffering of programs, like Atlantis and BSG, could stick around for awhile with a small coterie of loyal fans and the folks who just tune in occasionally for one-offs.

Ah, if I ruled the world. Or television programming.

Have to rewatch, but was Justin and Bob saying that Harry was going to die from being "drained" of all that power?

Yes, because the "power" that he used was Harry's life-force.

No, "Storm Front" is the one that was supposed to be the two-hour pilot.