Watching Classic Who: Jo's farewell
Oct. 18th, 2015 05:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newmoonstarMy Classic Who watch-a-thon continues- I've just finished marathoning 'Planet of the Daleks' and 'The Green Death', both of which were amazingly awesome!
'Planet of the Daleks' reminded me of the very first Dalek serial a lot (no surprise there- it was written by Terry Nation) and that's probably what I liked about it! It was pretty fast moving, with a particularly strong cast of supporting characters- I especially liked the friendship between the Doctor and Kodal. Even though it even re-used some of the exact same devices as 'The Daleks', with the Daleks cutting through a door, someone hiding inside a Dalek, etc, it was still nail-biting to watch! The one thing it could have done without was the horribly sexist conversation between the Thal leader and his girlfriend- you can tell something is written by a man when a male character says "my judgement is clouded by having you around, therefore it's YOUR fault if I fail to carry out my mission!" and the female character says "oh dear! I hadn't though of that, I'm sorry!" instead of telling him to shut up and stop blaming other people for his own hang-ups! :P
But the one piece of vintage sexism aside, it was great fun. There was enough that was different that it didn't feel stale, and anyway, even the same story is still fun when it features characters you like to spend time with. I don't know where it happened, but somewhere along the line I got very fond of Jo, and how cute she & the Doctor are together, and I knew that it was her second to last serial & I'd miss her when she left. It seems like they might have been trying to write her out in this serial, but I'm glad they didn't just have her go off to Skaro with that Thal she barely knew! (Poor Thal dudes, they just don't have any luck with those Earth chicks! LOL)
'The Green Death' was also fantastic- a proper UNIT adventure with the whole gang- and a really fast-paced, exciting story once again. I just loved the beginning with Jo getting all excited about ecology & saving the planet, but it was a bit of a sad foreshadowing when the Doctor ignored her & tried to interest her in a TARDIS trip instead- he's like the Papa bird who doesn't realize Baby bird is ready to leave the nest. :(
And UNIT really is like a nest- the Doctor & Jo & the Brig & Benton & Yates are like the family who always come back to roost together. It was lovely to see them all together in this one, how well they know each other, how easily they work together, little looks and jokes that just make your heart melt, even though it's all in the middle of battling really disgusting giant maggots! I mean those things were gross- but there were so many lovely moments- the little dinner party at the hippie house is one of my favorite things ever, but it's bittersweet because you know Jo is going to leave. I feel very ambivalent toward Cliff, I must say. On the one hand, he's an arrogant asshole, and you feel like 'oh my god, why would Jo like this guy?' but on the other hand, she'll have the same kind of adventuring, world-saving, exciting life she has with the Doctor, but she'll get to have a family & some kind of permanence with him, so you kind of understand why she'd choose him. I mean, he's not who I'd have picked for her, but he's not entirely awful, and I always want to believe that companions end up happy, so I'd like to think that he mellows out over the years after being around Jo's sunny cheerfulness for so long, and that they're happy together. (I know she comes back in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but I haven't watched past the first season of that, so I'm avoiding any spoilers for now.)
I wasn't expecting the ending- not how it was done, at least. The final scenes didn't feel perfunctory (even if the romance itself kinda did). The Doctor & Jo's reactions were handled as in a mature drama, and it felt very much like a father watching his daughter grow up & leave him- sad, but fitting and necessary. That's the thing that I feel is missing about the new series- all these young women the Doctor travels with, they're not girlfriends he's in love with, they're surrogate grandchildren he looks after. When I first started watching Classic Who, the Doctor finally made sense to me when I saw him with Susan- he's a family man at heart, & when his family is gone, he finds more people to take care of, & starts looking after the whole universe. So much is made of the Doctor's 'renegade' or 'lonely god' status these days, but the thing that strikes me watching the Third Doctor now is how even though he's the suave action man, & can't wait to run off to adventure in the TARDIS, he still wants Jo to go off with him, because it's not the same for him without someone to share it with. People can say what they like about the Doctor's deep dark tortured soul, how he's not nice, or so alien, or whatever hipster buzzwords come up next, but to me, the most important thing about the Doctor is his capacity to love. To help people & give to them, and let them fly when the time comes, and never to give up on loving again even when his hearts break. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know beyond doubt that my Doctor *is* a good man.
(And now I think I need a box of tissues so I can go cry over Jo leaving some more- I have too many feels!)
'Planet of the Daleks' reminded me of the very first Dalek serial a lot (no surprise there- it was written by Terry Nation) and that's probably what I liked about it! It was pretty fast moving, with a particularly strong cast of supporting characters- I especially liked the friendship between the Doctor and Kodal. Even though it even re-used some of the exact same devices as 'The Daleks', with the Daleks cutting through a door, someone hiding inside a Dalek, etc, it was still nail-biting to watch! The one thing it could have done without was the horribly sexist conversation between the Thal leader and his girlfriend- you can tell something is written by a man when a male character says "my judgement is clouded by having you around, therefore it's YOUR fault if I fail to carry out my mission!" and the female character says "oh dear! I hadn't though of that, I'm sorry!" instead of telling him to shut up and stop blaming other people for his own hang-ups! :P
But the one piece of vintage sexism aside, it was great fun. There was enough that was different that it didn't feel stale, and anyway, even the same story is still fun when it features characters you like to spend time with. I don't know where it happened, but somewhere along the line I got very fond of Jo, and how cute she & the Doctor are together, and I knew that it was her second to last serial & I'd miss her when she left. It seems like they might have been trying to write her out in this serial, but I'm glad they didn't just have her go off to Skaro with that Thal she barely knew! (Poor Thal dudes, they just don't have any luck with those Earth chicks! LOL)
'The Green Death' was also fantastic- a proper UNIT adventure with the whole gang- and a really fast-paced, exciting story once again. I just loved the beginning with Jo getting all excited about ecology & saving the planet, but it was a bit of a sad foreshadowing when the Doctor ignored her & tried to interest her in a TARDIS trip instead- he's like the Papa bird who doesn't realize Baby bird is ready to leave the nest. :(
And UNIT really is like a nest- the Doctor & Jo & the Brig & Benton & Yates are like the family who always come back to roost together. It was lovely to see them all together in this one, how well they know each other, how easily they work together, little looks and jokes that just make your heart melt, even though it's all in the middle of battling really disgusting giant maggots! I mean those things were gross- but there were so many lovely moments- the little dinner party at the hippie house is one of my favorite things ever, but it's bittersweet because you know Jo is going to leave. I feel very ambivalent toward Cliff, I must say. On the one hand, he's an arrogant asshole, and you feel like 'oh my god, why would Jo like this guy?' but on the other hand, she'll have the same kind of adventuring, world-saving, exciting life she has with the Doctor, but she'll get to have a family & some kind of permanence with him, so you kind of understand why she'd choose him. I mean, he's not who I'd have picked for her, but he's not entirely awful, and I always want to believe that companions end up happy, so I'd like to think that he mellows out over the years after being around Jo's sunny cheerfulness for so long, and that they're happy together. (I know she comes back in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but I haven't watched past the first season of that, so I'm avoiding any spoilers for now.)
I wasn't expecting the ending- not how it was done, at least. The final scenes didn't feel perfunctory (even if the romance itself kinda did). The Doctor & Jo's reactions were handled as in a mature drama, and it felt very much like a father watching his daughter grow up & leave him- sad, but fitting and necessary. That's the thing that I feel is missing about the new series- all these young women the Doctor travels with, they're not girlfriends he's in love with, they're surrogate grandchildren he looks after. When I first started watching Classic Who, the Doctor finally made sense to me when I saw him with Susan- he's a family man at heart, & when his family is gone, he finds more people to take care of, & starts looking after the whole universe. So much is made of the Doctor's 'renegade' or 'lonely god' status these days, but the thing that strikes me watching the Third Doctor now is how even though he's the suave action man, & can't wait to run off to adventure in the TARDIS, he still wants Jo to go off with him, because it's not the same for him without someone to share it with. People can say what they like about the Doctor's deep dark tortured soul, how he's not nice, or so alien, or whatever hipster buzzwords come up next, but to me, the most important thing about the Doctor is his capacity to love. To help people & give to them, and let them fly when the time comes, and never to give up on loving again even when his hearts break. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know beyond doubt that my Doctor *is* a good man.
(And now I think I need a box of tissues so I can go cry over Jo leaving some more- I have too many feels!)
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no subject
Date: 2015-10-18 12:17 pm (UTC)I agree with the Doctor needing a family. I saw the Classics before New Who started, so I’ve never seen the Doctor as a romantic hero, even if he sometimes has romantic feels. And I think he is nice. He has his darker sides, he doesn’t always save the day and he can be very alien, but he is nice. I can understand why Nine, Ten and Eleven were tortured souls, they did believe they had killed his whole race, but I don’t think this is truly the Doctor’s essential being. Twelve, despite his grumpiness, feel a lot like the older Doctor’s to me, which in part, I believe, is because he doesn’t have to be a tortured soul anymore and he feels a lot like the classic Doctor’s to me.
the most important thing about the Doctor is his capacity to love. To help people & give to them, and let them fly when the time comes, and never to give up on loving again even when his hearts break. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know beyond doubt that my Doctor *is* a good man.
Yes, yes and yes!
no subject
Date: 2015-10-19 04:55 am (UTC)Haha I thought the computer voice in Green Death sounded like the Master too! I wondered if maybe Roger Delgado had recorded it beforehand at first, but then the more I heard, I realized it was someone else after all.
I can understand why Nine, Ten and Eleven were tortured souls, they did believe they had killed his whole race, but I don’t think this is truly the Doctor’s essential being.
Yes, definitely! Even though I saw New Who first, the idea of the Doctor as an angsty romantic hero always felt weird to me somehow, and I felt like I finally got to understand him better when I saw him without that on Classic Who. I do understand why they decided to make him the last Time Lord in New Who tho, and I think it was a good idea at first, because new viewers like me didn't have to deal with all the backstory right away, we could just focus on 'okay, he's lonely & needs a friend to travel with, I get it.' (Nowadays I find New Who to be a bit too focused on the Doctor having 'last Time Lord angst' for my taste, but I'm sure if I wait long enough it'll change into something I like again, and I'm having fun watching Classic Who in the meantime.) :D
no subject
Date: 2015-10-19 04:46 pm (UTC)LOL, yes!
Haha I thought the computer voice in Green Death sounded like the Master too!
I'm glad I'm not alone.
Even though I saw New Who first, the idea of the Doctor as an angsty romantic hero always felt weird to me somehow
It felt a bit strange to me. It's not that I mind that the Doctor is romantic at times, but I prefer him when he isn't. And I got really tired of all the companions who suddenly fell in love with him. But then I only ship the Doctor with the Master and even that mostly in subtext.
I do understand why they decided to make him the last Time Lord in New Who tho, and I think it was a good idea at first, because new viewers like me didn't have to deal with all the backstory right away, we could just focus on 'okay, he's lonely & needs a friend to travel with, I get it.'
I was really afraid they would reboot Who from scratch when I first Heard about the new series, but making him the only Time Lord was really smart. It makes the show "new", but still draw on everything that has happened before. I love both Classic an New Who, though the Classics sparks my imagination a lot more. Perhaps because there are thses annoying plot holes were people doesn't get proper story acrs or are written out very clumsily. I also really love how the Classic Doctors regenerate in a way that makes it very clear how events shape and change them. Three, for example, is practically rendered impotent in his relation to his TARDIS and he is stuck on Earth. So his snarkiness and anger is quite understandable. And he reads more like eccentric scinetist than alien, which makes sense- if he is stuck on Earth it is a good idea to not be too alien. And Four, Five and Six all have very logical personalities to me.
(Also, Classic Who has Delgado!Master, which is my fav Who villain ever.)
no subject
Date: 2015-10-18 04:08 pm (UTC)I'm a bit Terry Nationed out after also watching B7, though. I mean, Terry Nation Cliches could be a drinking game, and you'd be paralytic even just from one Dalek serial. It works fine the first time and then less and less each time after (unless we've been lucky enough for it to be one of those times he left the first draft behind while he went on holiday and it had to be rewritten by a more talented script editor.) We're lucky to have had him, because he's so splendid at great TV ideas and concepts, but his devotion to certain plots is pretty amusing, to say the least!
no subject
Date: 2015-10-19 05:26 am (UTC)But of course, I think it's also a case of 'no one is good enough for my baby' syndrome too, since I doubt I'd be entirely pleased with anyone who took Jo away from UNIT. I think Jo & Cliff will have great adventures in the end though, since she seems able to see the good in everyone, and never backs down from a challenge, and Cliff's icy side will get melted by her sunshine eventually. ;)
And yes, I do know what you mean about being Terry Nationed out after a while. There are a few other DW stories if his where it felt a bit like deja vu, but knowing 'Planet of the Daleks' aired around ten years after the first Dalek story premiered, I was expecting it to reference the original & be more of an homage to that one than an attempt to be new & different, so I went with it. But yes, the carbon-copy elements were somewhat amusing when I realized how many there were! He must have had a check-list beside his typewriter, lol.