New Who Review for "Parting of the Ways"

[puppetmaker]

Well this is the end of the first season of the New Who Review and Eccleston's Doctor in one swell foop. I still got a bit teary at the end. A lot of the threads that had been running through the season were tied up into a pretty neat little package with a bow on top. Solid performances by all I think. I liked Rose having to deal with things that she didn't want to deal with or be forced to find another way. I will miss Mr. Eccleston's Doctor but I am glad that he added his take on our favorite Time Lord. Someone (I think it was Terry O) described this Doctor as having post-traumatic Stress Disorder. I don't think they are far off considering what this Doctor when through before meeting up with Rose.

Now a question for the Doctor Who fans. Do all the Doctors have blue eyes? Or have we a brown eyed one finally? I believe that Paul McGann's are green. (I won't even go into the color of his jacket.)

Spoilers of course behind the cut and in the comments.

I am grateful to everyone who got Doctor Who back on the air.



Wrapping the Tardis and its force field around Rose to rescue her was brilliant. The Doctor came through in spades on this one. The dalek who was the emperor and now is the self-proclaimed Dalek God was fun as was all the Daleks saying Worship with the same vocal tones as exterminate. I can't decide if I like the fact that we now see the "pilot" for the machine almost every episode they appear now. It was almost more fun when we didn't know what the blobs within looked like.

"Bad Wolf" is finally explained sort of. The question is what it Rose or the TARDIS who did that or a combination of both. I really didn't mind that the TARDIS is basically presented as female. I had always assumed so since the Doctor first called her old girl with great affection. I can remember many years ago getting into a debate that almost turned into an argument about the reason that the Doctor didn't "do" Romana was that he was already committed to the TARDIS. The other question comes was it Mickey who opened the heart of the TARDIS or the TARDIS itself knowing that it was going to save the Doctor.

I loved Rose trying to explain to her Mother and Mickey why she was going to miss the Doctor so much and what her travels meant to her. They went for the obvious well you saw strange new worlds and stuff, where her explanation was much more emotional and intangible. "He showed me a better way."

I knew that Captain Jack was coming back at some point because I had heard about Torchwood and that the actor was connected to the project as Captain Jack. But he died a good death. Now did Rose heal the rest of the people on the station or just Jack? And I am still unclear what the Daleks did with the people that were trans-matted to them.
And then there was the sacrifice and the regeneration of the Doctor. Morphing technology has made that process look a lot smoother than in the past. I think the first one we saw was 3 into 4 and that was a very simple camera trick. Now they can do the whole head change. The final speech was wonderful and poignant all at the same time.

I have seen the first 7 1/2 episodes of the first Tennant season. So far School Reunion is my favorite of this season.

Comments

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

PTSD, with a very healthy dose of survivor guilt. There were times I got the distinct feeling he'd wished he'd died along with Gallifrey.

And I think Rose's speech at the end was a combination of her and the TARDIS talking. I think the TARDIS needed a "vessel" of sorts to do what it needed to do to save the Doctor, and we know that the TARDIS has a telepathic link (the translation matrix, IIRC), so I suspect it used Rose to finally have a voice.

As to why we haven't seen the TARDIS do something like that before, we haven't seen it be the only TARDIS left before. That has got to change the way it deals with things.

At least, if I were writing it, that's how I'd have explained it.

[budgie-uk.livejournal.com]

I thought Ecclestone was superb... but Tenant did more and better acting in the last five seconds of PARTING OF THE WAYS than Ecclestone did in the rest of that episode.

If you've not seen it yet, make sure you get the "Children In Need" seven-minute bit that bridges the last five seconds of PARTING OF THE WAYS and THE CHRISTMAS INVASION. It's criminal that it's not been shown other than on that telethon.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

A kind soul dubbed me off a copy of the Children in Need along with Christmas Invasion and I agree that short 7 minute piece was wonderful.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I can't agree about Tennant. I've been watching the second season, and -- while Tennant is good -- I think Eccleston is better in every measurable sense.

Tennant is right in the mid-range of good, solid Doctors, along with the Troughtons and the McCoys. Eccleston, to my mind, is one of the absolute best.

But that's just me. *grin*

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

I would have to agree. I'm going to give Tennant a chance, as a lot of people really like him, but I wasn't blown away by his first lines the way I was by Eccleston's. Then again, Eccleston was my first doctor, and I suspect a lot of people "imprint" on their first.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I can't decide if I like the fact that we now see the "pilot" for the machine almost every episode they appear now.

Yeah, but that goes back to "Genesis of the Daleks." Heck, every one of Davison, C. Baker, and McCoy's Dalek episodes felt the need to show the goo inside. *chuckle*

[readinggeek451]

When the Dalek attack started, I thought "This can't be Doctor Who; the special effects aren't cheesy enough!" [g]

But it was good. Any idea if Sci-Fi is going to pick up the second season?

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Spoilers for the "season one" final ep.



Heck with Rose fixing the rest of the station defenders; how about that nuked so hard the continents changed shape Earth?

And that's the big problem I had with this ep. The Earth's been nuked hard, and any humans still alive are toast once the Daleks land. Everyone's died on the station. The Doctor has done something during the Time War that killed off all the Daleks (well, except two. So far) and I at least infer probably killed off the last of the other Time Lords as well. The situation is completely hopeless; Rose's return as a deus ex machina wasn't something he had any reason to expect. So why doesn't he hit the bloody switch to release the delta wave he's just spent a half hour and numerous people died defending? "I'm a coward" doesn't cut it.