SitL Thoughts: Very Mixed Feelings Here

[salienne]

Well first off, I love the spoilers meta. And from a within-story perspective, Moffat rocks. As always. Great build-up, the shadows even freaked me out, and I'm very intrigued by the "saving". So, if this were the only story of DW I ever saw, I would be thrilled. Honestly. Ecstatic. Go Moffat!

But, two things:

1. His writing of Donna: In this episode, she was far far too bitchy. And if she were suspicious of River Song, then fine, I'd believe it. But... she's more observant than that. She's more patient than that. Yes, she can be abrasive and rude, but unless there is something really really wrong, not to this extent.

Though I did love her interactions with the girl who died but whose name I forget. That there is Donna being lovely.

2. And it bothers me that this bothers me, but while I like River Song the character, the whole future!Doctor/River Song thing is really impeding on my enjoyment of the episode. And, yes, a lot of this is my Doctor/Rose love getting prodded, but another part of it is, from a storytelling perspective... why tell a love story (even of some future date) right before the character we already had a love story with comes back? To show life goes on? (Then why have the Doctor mourn/pine for a season?) To show he can commit, just not with any of his companions?

It's just... bah. If I had more distance from the show, then the second bit wouldn't bother me and I'd be intrigued, adore it even. The whole diary thing is very clever, for instance, and hell, I'd probably enjoy it more if I hadn't read the spoilers. I mean, I loved GitF, which also didn't work so well from an overall storytelling POV. But as is...

*Shakes head*

I need a rewatching when I'm less judgmental, though the Donna-writing is always going to bug me.

So, all in all, 4/5. And I'm very intrigued to see where it goes. :)

Comments

[southern-ginger.livejournal.com]

I agree. I was pondering this as well, River Song's relationship. The Doctor said that he would not give his sonic screwdriver to "Just anyone." I really want to know who she is. Yes, I know there is the chance that she is in a Doctor/River Song relationship, but I have a feeling that she is not that for some odd reason. The only person I could fathom the Doctor ever letting own his sonic screwdriver is either Rose [I am a desperate shipper as well =p] or someone that is of some sort of blood-relation. I don't know how she could be blood-related, but that could be interesting. The only other theory I have is a far-fetched one. If you ever watched the Classic series, do you remember Romana? Could that be her...regenerated? That's the only other person who I could think the Doctor would trust that much besides Rose.

Though I do like the actress that portrays River Song, because I love what she did in the tv series "ER".

I don't like the way Donna was written either. She was almost portrayed as being annoying and useless in a situation. Not a typical Donna, after all she was quite the smart and useful person against the Sontarans. Obviously she has to return from the mid-series trailer ^_^

As for the journal...did you notice that it looked like the TARDIS?

[salienne.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try to hold off my speculation and just watch part 2, because my mind veers in directions I don't like (Doctor/River is just not something I'm fond of, really). As for Romana, while I've never seen the classic series, I do know who she is; if this were Romana regenerated, I think that would be incredibly awesome, but somehow I don't think they'd bring a Time Lord back in another adventure-of-the-week. It seems like it'd be all big and epic. Still, one can hope.

I totally didn't even recognize her at first, but she is the actress from "ER"! I loved her in that, and not just because of the British accent. :P

Exactly! Just... if we were given some reason for her being so unhelpful this week, I'd be fine with it, but we just... weren't. And that bugs me. Should be interesting to see how the Doctor rescues her, though.

And yes, yes I did. I figure the future Doctor gave it to her? (Or at least that's what we're meant to believe, methinks.) It is very intriguing.

Also, I don't think you've ever posted on my lj before (unless I forgot, in which case please forgive me since I have all the memory of a peanut), so hi there! Meeting fellow Doctor Who fans (and Doctor/Rose shippers, o'course) is always fun. :D

[(Anonymous)]

No I haven't sorry ^_^ I just joined the community Of Time and Chips and I saw your post on it. I do hope that it is something like I'm specuating and not jsut some new Doctor/New companion thing going on. Romana does seem like the kind of person to call the Doctor "pretty-boy"

[violet-lane.livejournal.com]

I agree (as usual)!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Donna was OOC in this episode. She was much more like TRB!Donna, which would've been fine if this had been the first episode. But it wasn't. SM is a great writer, but I think he'll make a much better showrunner than a contributing writer; that way all of the characters he creates will hopefully be more consistent. I actually gaped when Donna said something like, "Are we going to go shopping?" a little while after she had just cried over Miss Evangelista. WTF?

I also noticed how he likes to focus on his guest-star and push the companion into the background. In TEC/TDD, Rose and the Doctor are separated, she wanders off, meets Jack, but the focus of the story is definitely Nancy, who saves the day. In GitF, Rose and Mickey are separated from the Doctor, wait around for 5.5 hours and Rose has a conversation with Reinette, who also saves the day. In Blink, Martha gets what? 4 lines? She just nags at the Doctor while Sally saves the day. And finally, Donna got to snark and react to a lot of things, but she pretty much just kicked the door in, while River got a lot more to do. =/

I also feel you on the River thing. It's one of the reasons I never want any companion relationships to be timebabies+marriage+twu wuv because once you do that, how can the next one (lor future ones) possibly measure up? No matter how much he loves a companion, it's always there that they never became serious enough to settle down. >__<

But yeah, I still liked it for the twists and turns. Hopefully it's good next week and there's a killer plot twist.

[salienne.livejournal.com]

Yay being fandom twins! :D

See, I loved Donna in TRB, because she had an excuse then: wedding day, bizarre space stuff, people she cared about getting hurt, and so on and so forth. Here? The Doctor didn't take her to the beach.

...No, Moffat. Just, no.

I agree that he'll definitely do his own characters justice (he's wonderful at OC's, even if River and Jack are a bit similar). I'm just a bit apprehensive about what that means for the show, I guess?

Well, see, you can't really judge a Doctor-lite for companion lines, methinks. And I thought he gave the Doctor and Rose plenty of attention in TEC/TDD (where he was asked to introduce Jack) and in GitF (though, I agree, Rose did end up taking second place here). His stories are often more about the situation than the main players, I guess? Which worked wonderfully for the Doctor-lite and was balanced very well in TEC/TDD, but I can see why GitF=problem. Also, why SitL=problem.

Now what I find amusing is, fandom doesn't seem to much mind the Doctor's wife bit, but Rose/Doctor=evil+evil^2. Double standard much, fandom?

Yeah, his plotting is wonderful, as usual. And I did enjoy it, and now that I'm used to it, I'll probably enjoy it more on rewatching. The first part just... left me feeling a bit yicky, I guess?

And there will so be a killer plot twist, which I am pumped for. XD