Doctor Who 30.12: "The Stolen Earth"

[annathepiper]

To echo some of the sentiments I've seen going around about this weekend's episode, "Russell T. Davies, you bastard!"

Also, I must now also admit that the first words out of my mouth after the intro were, "The Earth has been STOLEN, GIR!" (Okay, surely I couldn't have been the only person flashing on Invader Zim while watching this?)


This episode had a whole fleet of boatloads of cool going for it. First and foremost: the Shadow Proclamation and the Judoon warriors who were there. I still have no earthly idea what the Shadow Proclamation actually is, mind you, but it was pretty cool to see it on camera after hearing it mentioned a few times in the course of this series.

Second: the Medusa Cascade, another thing we've heard mentioned before. Stunning effects shots in the bits when the TARDIS materializes there.

Third: Effects shots in general, with the 26 (!!!) planets in the sky over the stolen Earth, and the fleet of Dalek ships swarming all over London.

And speaking of which: ZOMG DAVROS. He really was pretty much the only other major Doctor Who villain we had yet to see in the new series, and yet, even as it's bitchin' cool to see him on camera, it does lead to the very point raised by spazzkat after we finished watching this episode:

To wit, the finality of the Time War doesn't seem particularly... final at this point. ;)

I mean, seriously, this makes what, three separate groups of Daleks who have managed to escape the Time War? And we haven't yet had a whisper of any Time Lords escaping, aside from the Master. Though... I have to admit I'm halfway wondering whether we're going to get some more Time Lords showing up on camera in Part 3, just because that would be a super-cool thing for RTD to pull off on his last episode.

Some more interesting stuff with foreshadowing for Donna, while she was at the Shadow Proclamation. Her loss yet to come: the Doctor getting killed, or something else? Her humanity?

Meanwhile, planetside, most of this episode wound up being about getting all the Companions to touch bases. I am resigned to the fact that I am woefully behind on Torchwood; I haven't even watched the episodes involving Martha yet. So I'm clearly missing backstory there. But! HARRIET JONES! *squee* Her organizing the subwave network was one of the shining points of this episode. And, sniffle, when the Daleks stormed in and she turned and faced them and WAAAAH.

Great mileage with Sarah Jane, because of all the Companions in the episode, she was first up with experiencing the Daleks. That look on her face was just piercing. So was the look on Jack's face, for that matter--and he sure as hell has reason to flip right the fuck out at the Daleks swarming over the Earth. After all, last time, he died fighting them.

And yet, even in the face of this, we still had some great little bits with Jack getting ogled. Hee. And hitting on Sarah Jane, bwaha! And Donna ogling him too even as the Doctor sternly ordered her to back down.

And, of course, Rose.

Really loved the shot of her bamfing in at the beginning with that enormous gun. BOOYA. I need that as an icon. And watching the Subwave find her along with the others, though she wasn't able to patch in... AIGH! I kept going AIGH! on her behalf as she kept mumbling "hey, what about me?!" comments and reacting to Martha and everything.

And oh. My. God. The reunion. I was wondering if we were going to have Rose finally make it to the Doctor just in time to see him regenerate and ZOMG I was RIGHT...

And WTF REGENERATION BUH?!

This is me now wondering what the hell. I haven't heard any confirmation one way or another about whether Tennant will be back for Series Five; all I know is that he is supposed to be in the four specials through the course of 2009, and Series Five is supposed to be in 2010.

Operating on the assumption that Tennant is keeping the role, this of course leads to the question of how the HELL are they going to keep him from really regenerating?

I noticed his remark about the Medusa Cascade being out of sync with the rest of Time, so I'm wondering if that will affect things somehow... and I also caught that babbled remark from the crazy Dalek, something about a "threefold man" or something, though I didn't quite get the exact quote. I'm wondering if that's also a clue. Or, if the walls between universes and Time in general is being all weird and stuff, enough that Rose was able to hop worlds and come back, maybe that'll be a factor.

Waaaah! Hurt Doctor in Rose's arms. Sniff. I don't want Eleventh Doctor yet. I'm not READY for Eleventh Doctor. So this is me desperately hoping that they'll come up with a way that he'll just reset or something... though now I'm also wondering whether they'll pull something along the lines of, Doctor gets "killed" twice more in part 3, tying into Crazy Dalek's babblings, and he stabilizes once Time is normal again... only then, Rose has to go back to the other universe. That's how I'd write this, anyway. We'll see how RTD did it!

AIGH!

And... OOH OOH OOH, I have a theory. A really easy way for them to keep Tennant and to have it fit what we've seen in the canon so far is to have the Doctor simply finally learn how to control his own regeneration. If we go back to Romana's controlling her on-screen regeneration, we know that a Time Lord/Time Lady can presumably try on different shapes if desired. And if we tie Romana's actions on screen with the 15-hour regeneration cycle established when Ten came on camera, we could therefore conclude... it would be possible, as long as the Doctor does it fast enough, to simply make his body keep the same shape.

And here's the kicker... if Rose begs him not to change, maybe that'll be enough impetus to get him to fight to control the whole process.

That's what I'll be hoping for, anyway!

AIGH!

Comments

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

This is me now wondering what the hell. I haven't heard any confirmation one way or another about whether Tennant will be back for Series Five; all I know is that he is supposed to be in the four specials through the course of 2009, and Series Five is supposed to be in 2010.

Operating on the assumption that Tennant is keeping the role, this of course leads to the question of how the HELL are they going to keep him from really regenerating?

With how often they've shown The Hand this season, they basically HAVE to use it, and all things considered, I think Ten will get a freebie. After freaking out all the fans of course.

[annathepiper]

Mm, yes, the Hand! That's an idea--though I'm not sure whether there will be enough time for Jack, Rose, or Donna to actually grab it, break open the canister, and have the Doctor lock in on its genetic code before the initial reset completes. It may be faster for him to just do something telepathically off Rose or Donna or Jack or all three of them--after all, tail end of last season, we DID see him reset himself to his current shape after the Master had withered him down to a little gnome, on the strength of the telepathic urging of an entire planet. Maybe he could do that again just based on the urging of the three who are with him, especially given that one of them is Rose. ^_^

But assuming that Ten stays Ten, that does also raise the question of whether this regeneration will still count as his eleventh--in which case, would that mean Tennant is the Tenth Doctor AND the Eleventh Doctor? ;)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I think for the ease of everybody's brain, he will remain Ten, and Eleven will be along eventually. :)

We just watched it. We thought it was the season finale. We screamed. AUGH!

[annathepiper]

Oh, I'm not even worried about the nomenclature, I'm just wondering whether, if this regeneration actually counts, this means we'll only get an Eleven and Twelve and not also a Thirteen.

Which leads me to suspect that this regeneration will not actually count.

Also: AUGH! indeed! AUGH! Especially at Rose holding him in her arms and AUGH!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah yeah no, that was what I meant. that it wouldn't count, 'cause it'd be so much easier for all our brains if it didn't. :)

If Ten and Rose don't get their kiss I am going to *kill* somebody. ZOMG. ZOH. MAH. GOD. *squinchy face* ZOMG!

[annathepiper]

*nodnodnods fiercely* I DEMAND MY TIME LORD SNOGGING!

Especially given how I strongly suspect Rose's presence will be only temporary, there had better DAMN WELL BETTER be a suitable kiss going on. Preferably after he manages to stay in the shape that Rose clearly fell in love with. ;)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

YES.

I liked somebody's suggestion somewhere that The Hand was going to regenerate too, and that we'd end up with multiple Doctors and maybe one would get to go home with Rose (leaving the other to snivel about how the other guy always gets the girl). That would...satisfy my fangirl squee. It's not the story I'd have written for Rose, but I'd be pretty pleased with it. :)

[annathepiper]

Oh wow, the Hand regenerating too? That'd be a real interesting angle, though I'm not sure that I'd buy it. I think it'd depend on whether that tissue is tied in with Ten's system enough that his regeneration would trigger it too. I'm kind of inclined against--unless breaking the jar would 'kill' the Hand and trigger a regeneration in it, too.

But HAR, that universe doesn't have a Doctor. It SHOULD have one. That'd be funny. Then Doctor-2 and Rose go back to that universe and spawn off a whole new race of Time Lords. That'd be FUNNY.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Well, Davros or the nutty Dalek said something about the Threefold Man, so the possibility of Multiple Doctors doesn't seem out. I kinda like the idea of bringing 9 back for the episode, and having two 10s, or something, but I don't think they'll do that. :) But the Hand did get a prominent display shot at the beginning of the episode, and something bizarre always happens with re/generation when that happens!

Yeah, see, that's what I'd have done with Rose. I'd have sent her out in her universe to find tthat universe's Doctor (who would not, I think, be David Tennant), and when *our* Doctor finally got through to her...she's found love with her own universe's Doctor. It'd've been AWESOME. In a totally heart-stabby way... :)

[annathepiper]

Oh sure, except that didn't they establish when that universe was presented on camera to begin with that that universe didn't actually have any Time Lords...? So you'd have to finagle things to explain how there's a Doctor over there for her to fall in love with. ;)

I did catch that Threefold Man thing, and I am indeed wondering what's up with that... you're right. That may well be an amusing hint that the Hand may regenerate too.

Dara was making cracks about Ten regenerating back into Nine. Hee!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I...thought they'd just said the Time Lords couldn't travel between universes anymore. I didn't quite grasp that as "no Time Lords", but I might misremember.

I would love to see Nine and Ten together. that would be...hella cool. Nine was *so angry*, and Ten is...he's not so angry, but like the Library episode said: "I'm the Doctor. You're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up."

*pause*

*shadows retreat*

I'd like to see them together. Man.

[annathepiper]

Nah, I'm pretty sure that it was specifically mentioned in that pair of episodes that there aren't any Time Lords in that universe.

Clearly, I need to go back and re-watch them! Oh darn. ;) *twists own arm*

And yeah, a Nine and Ten joint appearance would ROCK.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I believe the "Russell T. Davies, you bastard" was the entirety of what I had to say about this episode.

Did you know that bee populations actually are decreasing?

[annathepiper]

I saw your post, yeah!

And I did indeed know that. Nice little RL reference in that entire conversation, which, I might add, impressed me with how fast Donna and the Doctor flew through it because ZOMG HAVE TO FIND THE EARTH NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

If you watch the Confidential, it's all about the Daleks, and there's a clip of the guy playing That Dalek who says "after all these years, I'mthe one who finally gottim!" and looks sooooo pleased with himself.

*bites nails* Roll on next Sunday.

[annathepiper]

Bwahaha! I've only seen a couple of the Confidentials; clearly I need to watch them more often. If that guy's got kids, I wonder if they've given him shit for it. "Daaaaaaaaaaddy! YOU SHOT THE DOCTOR! WAAAAAAH!" ;>

[brombear.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...There have been rumors of the Master showing back up, the Rani, Time Lords suspended in cryo...James Marsters(sp?) from Angel coming back to Torchwood (YAY!)

All I want to know is how does Sarah Jane keep from getting Exterminated...

[annathepiper]

Oh god yes, I didn't even touch on Sarah Jane getting cornered by the Daleks at the end. AUGH!

[kieri.livejournal.com]

What's worst is that if you watch the Confidential, RTD is just -such- an utter bastard about it -- he's like, "My god, what a cliffhanger -- and to think, I'm in just as much suspense as you are! I'm on the edge of my seat! I just can't wait to find out what happens next Saturday."

Utter. bastard.

[annathepiper]

*snork!*

So I've been getting caught up on the Doctor Who Online podcasts, and the new guys doing those were snickersnorfling all about fans "exploding" at The Doctor's Daughter. I somehow suspect RTD was chortling to himself about "they ain't seen nothin' yet, just wait till The Stolen Earth." ;)