Who 4X13: Bless Russel and his romantic fan-boy heart.

DW 4x13

ita, I really hoping that would be the case, because the notion of Donna ending back exactly where she was, all her personal growth earned during her travel negated, is too wretched to be borne. Man, there are going to be SO MANY fix-it fic to this episode. I don't read DW fanfic usually, but I may make an exception in this case.

Vonnie, I think it was in your LJ that I read that in DW 4x12 Rose getting miffy at Martha was fanservice on RTD's part. So...what is it? What do the fans want? A Rose who deserves a Doctor, or one who's pissy? From my reading I thought RTD didn't like fan opinion anyway, but I'm out of touch.

I'm with Vonnie and ita.

Also, I think Catherine Tate owns a part of my soul.

DW 4x13

Vonnie, I too wish that they had just straight up killed Donna rather than send her back to her pitiful existence, especially after Doctor v2 sees how and why she ticks.

and oh how joyous all the companions flying the tardis, the music, that whole sequence, I think that may have been the happiest moment of television ever.

but now I think I'm just terribly depressed. So much more to talk about, but I think I just want to curl up and cry into my pillow.

I do have this to say: holy hell, what a way to externalize the Doctor's self-flagellation and guilt over the Time War by having him condemn his second self for the genocide. I knew something was very wrong the second he came running out of the Tardis with a *gun* in his hand. And yet I want to smack the Doctor for his desire to save creatures who want to wipe out all of existence. And that's why I'm not a Time Lord. Lady. Whatevs.

Julie, SERIOUSLY. It was like the ultimate combination of OMG SO AWESOME and OMG SO SAD.

I think she's going to do much better this time round,

ita, I hope your right, and I think that there is some glimmer of hope for this, especially if the Doctor's command to have Donna's mum tell Donna that she loves her every once in a while/show it.

Oh! other thing: Torchwood is going to be fun with Mickey (het-est guy on the planet) and Martha filling out the team next year.

Oh yes indeed, Deb!

also, was I the only one who found some of DT's acting reminiscent of The Master? There was a little bit of John Simm I found in some moments. Just me?

Jules,

Yeah, that sequence with all the companions flying the TARDIS was extremely squeetastic. And the fantastic music! It's apparently all Murray Gold's work, who composes the incidental music on the show, and this particular piece is the full-orchestra, full-chorus version of the gorgeous music we heard at the end of "Planet of Ood".

ita, I'm not sure about the fan-service re. Rose's ending. They were going for bittersweet, and I think they've succeeded. Mind you, I've never liked Ten/Rose relationship in S2 very much (they struck me as too smug and kind of juvenile together, and I didn't care for the conventional romantic angle they were pushing with these two), but I'm much more intrigued by the notion of human!Ten/Rose, because of all the things that are sad and broken about that relationship. She ends up with someone who looks and acts exactly like the Doctor she loves, without being quite him. Because the Doctor she loved was the Doctor travelling the time and space in TARDIS. So what if he has the memories and the mannerisms? He's without that which defines him, and will always be less to her eyes because of that. And it's even sadder for him. To have Doctor's memories, the lifetime of his extraordinary experiences in his head, but stuck in one place and time -- it's a tragedy; a certain death, I think. Rose's love may be enough to compensate for that, but somehow, I can't imagine it being an entirely happy relationship. While it may have made the shippers squee, it's the undercurrent of pathos that predominates the scene. It was an unusual and interesting resolution, I thought. I might be (for the first time ever) interested in reading some Ten/Rose fic now.