And I agree with almost all of it. That’s not too surprising—I agree with most of what you’ve written about this series. I only had two… “disagreements” isn’t quite the word. More like “differences.” Because you are not me.
About the Joss School of Pain: I went to that school. I learned to take it. I never learned to like it. I don’t enjoy pain—especially when it seems pointless.
And I can’t see the point of this. What are Rose and the Doctor supposed to learn from this? (Not that Rose can learn anything, since she’s not a character anymore.) What are we the audience supposed to learn?
Unless it’s that “everything ends”—that the Doctor’s loneliness is a permanent condition. If that’s it, I’ll just say that I find angst incredibly boring. Which brings me to my second difference.
The story no longer interests me. Rose took half my interest with her when she left. (A bit more than half, really, since Jackie and Mickey left with her.) And the other half—the half that used to be the Doctor’s—I don’t think it survived “School Reunion” and “The Girl in the Fireplace.”
I cared about him—the Doctor, I mean. After the season one finale, I think I was a little bit in love with him. I was looking forward to seeing him build a new home and a new family, to replace the ones he lost in the war.
But then I met Sarah Jane, and I realized that his loneliness is at least partly a self-inflicted wound. (“The Girl in the Fireplace” just cemented it.) And then I watched Saturday’s Confidential, and I realized that I’d completely misunderstood the story. I’d seen (and gotten emotionally invested in) a “domestic” story arc that didn’t actually exist.
The Doctor has no home and no family and that’s never going to change. Everyone who told me that the Doctor was Peter Pan was right. But I didn’t like Peter Pan the first time around, and I like it no better now.
The best thing I can say about “Doomsday” is that it helped me understand the season as a whole. Season two bored the life out of me, and I finally understand why.
I was expecting them to build on season one. I was expecting to see… well, a lot of things. How channeling the Time Vortex had affected Rose. How it would affect her relationship with the Doctor—it proved she was playing for keeps, and I don’t think he’d realized that. How Jack’s absence would affect them both.
But the writers never planned to build on season one. They tore it down, instead. Season three is going to start completely from scratch (except that I actively dislike the main character).
Sorry about the length—this is almost a journal entry in its own right. But it was sparked by your entry, so I’ll go ahead and post it here. I owe you a debt of gratitude, really—putting this into words has helped me understand it a little better. Next is closure, I think.
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regna
This is beautiful...
Date: 2006-07-11 12:27 am (UTC)And I agree with almost all of it. That’s not too surprising—I agree with most of what you’ve written about this series. I only had two… “disagreements” isn’t quite the word. More like “differences.” Because you are not me.
About the Joss School of Pain: I went to that school. I learned to take it.
I never learned to like it. I don’t enjoy pain—especially when it seems
pointless.
And I can’t see the point of this. What are Rose and the Doctor supposed
to learn from this? (Not that Rose can learn anything, since she’s not a
character anymore.) What are we the audience supposed to learn?
Unless it’s that “everything ends”—that the Doctor’s loneliness is a
permanent condition. If that’s it, I’ll just say that I find angst
incredibly boring. Which brings me to my second difference.
The story no longer interests me. Rose took half my interest with her when
she left. (A bit more than half, really, since Jackie and Mickey left with
her.) And the other half—the half that used to be the Doctor’s—I don’t think
it survived “School Reunion” and “The Girl in the Fireplace.”
I cared about him—the Doctor, I mean. After the season one finale, I
think I was a little bit in love with him. I was looking forward to
seeing him build a new home and a new family, to replace the ones he
lost in the war.
But then I met Sarah Jane, and I realized that his loneliness is at
least partly a self-inflicted wound. (“The Girl in the Fireplace” just
cemented it.) And then I watched Saturday’s Confidential, and I realized
that I’d completely misunderstood the story. I’d seen (and gotten
emotionally invested in) a “domestic” story arc that didn’t actually
exist.
The Doctor has no home and no family and that’s never going to change.
Everyone who told me that the Doctor was Peter Pan was right. But I
didn’t like Peter Pan the first time around, and I like it no better now.
The best thing I can say about “Doomsday” is that it helped me understand the season as a whole. Season two bored the life out of me, and I finally understand why.
I was expecting them to build on season one. I was expecting to see… well, a lot of things. How channeling the Time Vortex had affected Rose. How it would affect her relationship with the Doctor—it proved she was playing for keeps, and I don’t think he’d realized that. How Jack’s absence would affect them both.
But the writers never planned to build on season one. They tore it down, instead. Season three is going to start completely from scratch (except that I actively dislike the main character).
Sorry about the length—this is almost a journal entry in its own right. But it was sparked by your entry, so I’ll go ahead and post it here. I owe you a debt of gratitude, really—putting this into words has helped me understand it a little better. Next is closure, I think.
Thank you for sharing this.
Shaela Scanlon