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!)
