tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post6416292903030681991..comments2023-05-02T14:07:48.207-04:00Comments on The Resident Alien: How would Journey's End have looked if the tenth doctor had regenerated?Mark Goodacrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115370166754797529noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post-29680631685075841392008-09-23T11:43:00.000-04:002008-09-23T11:43:00.000-04:00Im glad my thoughts got this level of reaction.tha...Im glad my thoughts got this level of reaction.<BR/><BR/>thanks for listening<BR/><BR/>Tin DogAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post-88315637780055788272008-08-03T00:13:00.000-04:002008-08-03T00:13:00.000-04:00Well, first of all, I've been a part-time Whovian ...Well, first of all, I've been a part-time Whovian since Tom Baker days. But I miss a lot of things, like the business about "the atrocious betrayal going on with Rose's character" just sails right over my head. I liked the reunion of so many of the old companions, but I really thought the regeneration thing was botched, and violated Who Traditions. <BR/><BR/>I thought they were maybe getting ready to introduce a new FEMALE Dr. Who, but then was disappointed to find that the Elevated Companion chose to return to a pedestrian existance (somewhat like Pangloss deciding to tend his garden rather than go off on another adventure at the end of Candide?)<BR/><BR/>So I really don't like the whole regeneration meme resulting in the same old Dr. Who. Golly, if you're gonna regenerate, then regenerate. If not, don't call it regeneration!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post-63986953197874277152008-07-17T15:52:00.000-04:002008-07-17T15:52:00.000-04:00Oh Mark, where to begin? Let me take a deep breath...Oh Mark, where to begin? Let me take a deep breath and try...<BR/><BR/><I>Bear in mind that the punters absolutely loved this episode -- best ever chart placing for Who in its 45 year history, and an AI figure of 91. It's difficult to argue with that kind of success.</I><BR/><BR/>I think it's easy to argue with. On the basis of "AI's", you may as well conclude that Keanu Reeves and Arnold Schwarznegger are good actors, that Dan Brown and Robert James Waller are decent fiction writers, and that MacDonald's and Taco Bell are as good as gourmet cuisine. <BR/><BR/>Furthermore, I guarantee that a lot of the viewers of Stolen Earth/Journey's End had never seen Army of Ghosts/Doomsday (and would thus be unaware of the atrocious betrayal going on with Rose's character). A lot of viewers were tuning in for the first time, on the strength of publicity for RTD's last finale. <BR/><BR/>But however we cut it, "AI's" don't mean a lot in my book. As I pointed out earlier on Doug's blog, a touch of critical reasoning ("elitism" pejoratively called) doesn't hurt now and then. Doctor Who is has been popular enough, and we don't need it dumbed down for this kind of mass appeal. <BR/><BR/><I>I think you are over-reacting a bit to Journey's End. True, it didn't quite live up to the heights reached by The Stolen Earth, or generated before that by Midnight and Turn Left, but it was still a rollicking good story, perfectly structured, and with several great moments. Just think of Wilf. Of Davros. Of Donna's tragic end. Of the German daleks. Of Mickey in the park. Of the doctor in the rain.</I><BR/><BR/>I honestly thought it was a complete non-story. The companions were brought back just so that we could have old faces to look at -- to watch them hug each other and laugh, with nothing significant to do. The German Daleks were amusing (as were Davros' rants), but everything else was so appalling I just couldn't care.<BR/><BR/>Donna's end was tragic, but the mocking decimation of her character left me, again, not caring. Plus it was copycatting Rose's season two non-death. (It worked for Rose, but with Donna it just felt like RTD was jerking us around.) <BR/> <BR/><I>There were too many sublime moments for one to get to upset about some of the more, shall we say, slightly screwy ideas?</I><BR/><BR/>Slightly?!<BR/><BR/>To a large extent, our difference of opinion can be attributed to what you admit in your recent post. You're a fan of Josh Whedon, and I think the Russell Davies era of Doctor Who has been a bit too in thrall to Whedon. (The season-four finale bringing out the worst in this regard.) In your review of Journey's End, for instance, you cry for "More Mickey, please!", while people like me have been saying, "No, enough already of Mickey!" (All Mickey did in this finale was appear with Jackie out of nowhere, hug Captain Jack, stand around the TARDIS consul, and then -- dammit -- come back to our world, instead of staying where he belonged in the parallel world, once again undermining the tragic end to Age of Steel and Doomsday.) In the classic days we never pined like mawkish teens for what was being lost (even though we were teens!), and for Hollywood happy-ever-after endings. We were always looking forward to new and fresh ideas without needing to resurrect the past so cheaply. Stories like the Five Doctors were exceptional, and haven't aged well at all. I predict we'll eventualy look back on the current enthusiasm for Stolen Earth/Journey's End with stupendous wonder.<BR/><BR/>Well, I do go on... :)Loren Rosson IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15002312216839280976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post-52639878077794795342008-07-17T12:09:00.000-04:002008-07-17T12:09:00.000-04:00But what do you think of Tin Dog's hypothesis, Lor...But what do you think of Tin Dog's hypothesis, Loren? You've got to admit that it is interesting stuff, even if you feel that that too would not have worked. <BR/><BR/>I think you are over-reacting a bit to Journey's End. True, it didn't quite live up to the heights reached by The Stolen Earth, or generated before that by Midnight and Turn Left, but it was still a rollicking good story, perfectly structured, and with several great moments. Just think of Wilf. Of Davros. Of Donna's tragic end. Of the German daleks. Of Mickey in the park. Of the doctor in the rain. There were too many sublime moments for one to get to upset about some of the more, shall we say, slightly screwy ideas? Bear in mind that the punters absolutely loved this episode -- best ever chart placing for Who in its 45 year history, and an AI figure of 91. It's difficult to argue with that kind of success. I'd rather have Doctor Who out that making a big splash, talked about by everyone, than a cult for us geeks :)Mark Goodacrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05115370166754797529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post-16901261881608740572008-07-17T07:05:00.000-04:002008-07-17T07:05:00.000-04:00Just imagine the feel of that -- it would have bee...<I>Just imagine the feel of that -- it would have been perfect: Rose is united with her doctor, while the new doctor, still unfamiliar to us all, goes off in his TARDIS. What a fantastic way of creating a transition between the doctors that would have been! What an end of an era!</I><BR/><BR/>Uh, no, Mark, it would have been just as horrible. Rose getting a pet Doctor is just plain wrong no matter how you get there.<BR/><BR/>RTD really shouldn't have brought back Rose at all, though she worked fine in Turn Left (and that was because she had no interaction with the Doctor she was "never supposed to see again"). If she could have had an actual role to play in the finale (which she obviously didn't, like the other companions), and if she could have not encountered the Doctor until <I>after</I> his regeneration into the 11th incarnation -- and if the offensive hand-to-clone idea were scrapped altogether -- then bringing her back <I>might</I> have worked. But her swan song in season two was perfect closure and really should have been left at that.<BR/><BR/>But it's interesting how you're speculating like this, because I've started writing up my own "script" for a season four finale. I'm so disgusted with Stolen Earth/Journey's End that I'm pretending it never happened. (I'll probably never watch it again.) If I like what I come up with, I may blog it: "What should have happened after Turn Left". I notice some OG fans are already penning similar fantasies.Loren Rosson IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15002312216839280976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6637802895814137825.post-23770032464481549822008-07-17T04:49:00.000-04:002008-07-17T04:49:00.000-04:00Speculative tradition-history often is fascinating...Speculative tradition-history often is fascinating.Peter M. Headhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03379103292621457026noreply@blogger.com