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DW rewatch - 2x04, The Girl in the Fireplace
I think I’m about to commit Doctor Who heresy when I say that I just don’t ‘get’ The Girl in the Fireplace. Or more precisely, that I don’t get what it is about that particular episode that puts it at – or near – the top of so many people’s “best of” episode lists.
It’s a Moffat-penned episode, so it’s well-written, and it’s beautifully filmed. The Moff gets to explore his fascination with the principles and implications of time-travel (which I’d not really registered until someone mentioned it on the commentary for The Silence in the Library). Considering he’s now at the helm of a show about a time-travelling hero, that’s probably a good preoccupation to have.
It’s a good episode, yes. I like it, and there’s a great mixture of the funny and the serious. Like I said, it’s well-written. So maybe I’m just being very dense.
It does make a change to see the Doctor all cow-eyed over a woman, instead of the other way around, though. Is that the attraction? I’d imagine all the Ten/Rose shippers (of which I’m not one) wouldn’t have been too pleased. I mean, one week he’s all cosy with Sarah-Jane and the next he’s in love with an eighteenth century French aristocrat. A real coup de foudre.
But then, this incarnation of the Doctor always was a bit of a tart! (Which Mr Caz usually protests is a term of affection when he applies it to me, so I’m using it in the same sense here!)
There is lots of dark and atmospherically lit pretty in this one.
See?
The sexy brainy specs. And because you can never have too much of a good thing –
My, how she’s grown!
Poor bloke. Just been snogged to within an inch of his life!
Peek-a-boo!
The Gallifreyan mind-meld (!) I rather like this bit; Reinette is able to see into the Doctor’s mind rather than his just being able to see into hers. Which is clearly a bit of a shock to his system.
Ah. Eliza Doolitle’s arrived!
He’s just got himself stuck in the eighteenth century. Oops.
He looks surprisingly cheerful, considering…
But of course, he finds a way back. Or forward. Whatever.
I’m such a sucker for emo!Ten. Couldn’t you just drown in those eyes?
Although Doctor Who gets a lot of repeats here on various channels, the odd thing is that I've not seen a great number of the episodes all the way through since their original transmission. It's one of the hazards of watching things with kids around - they need feeding and stuff like that! So sitting down to watch the entirety of Ten's run each weeknight means that there are some episodes I'm seeing for only the second time, and this - and the last one - are among them. So I'm noticing things in retospect that I didn't see before, like the way Ten's loneliness is pointed out so frequently. In School Reunion, Evil-Headmaster-Giles makes mention of how lonely he must be as the last of his race and there were have lots of references here - Reinette calls the Doctor her "lonely angel" and sees him as a lonely child when she sees into his mind. So expect lots of - "oooh, I've just realised that..." moments!
Next episode airs on Monday, the first of the Cybermen two-parter. I remember how excited I was when I saw the trailer. I do love me some of the old villains coming back!
screencaps from demon-cry.net and The Medusa Cascade.
It’s a Moffat-penned episode, so it’s well-written, and it’s beautifully filmed. The Moff gets to explore his fascination with the principles and implications of time-travel (which I’d not really registered until someone mentioned it on the commentary for The Silence in the Library). Considering he’s now at the helm of a show about a time-travelling hero, that’s probably a good preoccupation to have.
It’s a good episode, yes. I like it, and there’s a great mixture of the funny and the serious. Like I said, it’s well-written. So maybe I’m just being very dense.
It does make a change to see the Doctor all cow-eyed over a woman, instead of the other way around, though. Is that the attraction? I’d imagine all the Ten/Rose shippers (of which I’m not one) wouldn’t have been too pleased. I mean, one week he’s all cosy with Sarah-Jane and the next he’s in love with an eighteenth century French aristocrat. A real coup de foudre.
But then, this incarnation of the Doctor always was a bit of a tart! (Which Mr Caz usually protests is a term of affection when he applies it to me, so I’m using it in the same sense here!)
There is lots of dark and atmospherically lit pretty in this one.
See?
The sexy brainy specs. And because you can never have too much of a good thing –
My, how she’s grown!
Poor bloke. Just been snogged to within an inch of his life!
Peek-a-boo!
The Gallifreyan mind-meld (!) I rather like this bit; Reinette is able to see into the Doctor’s mind rather than his just being able to see into hers. Which is clearly a bit of a shock to his system.
Ah. Eliza Doolitle’s arrived!
He’s just got himself stuck in the eighteenth century. Oops.
He looks surprisingly cheerful, considering…
But of course, he finds a way back. Or forward. Whatever.
I’m such a sucker for emo!Ten. Couldn’t you just drown in those eyes?
Although Doctor Who gets a lot of repeats here on various channels, the odd thing is that I've not seen a great number of the episodes all the way through since their original transmission. It's one of the hazards of watching things with kids around - they need feeding and stuff like that! So sitting down to watch the entirety of Ten's run each weeknight means that there are some episodes I'm seeing for only the second time, and this - and the last one - are among them. So I'm noticing things in retospect that I didn't see before, like the way Ten's loneliness is pointed out so frequently. In School Reunion, Evil-Headmaster-Giles makes mention of how lonely he must be as the last of his race and there were have lots of references here - Reinette calls the Doctor her "lonely angel" and sees him as a lonely child when she sees into his mind. So expect lots of - "oooh, I've just realised that..." moments!
Next episode airs on Monday, the first of the Cybermen two-parter. I remember how excited I was when I saw the trailer. I do love me some of the old villains coming back!
screencaps from demon-cry.net and The Medusa Cascade.
no subject
Yes, spot on. And that comes out in School Reunion with the chat outside the cafe when Rose is having a go about being the "latest in a long line". The Doctor is over 900 for gawd's sake - if most people find at least one love during a normal life span, surely he's going to have found himself a few more? In my head, he was probably in love with Sarah-Jane as well (even though it wasn't so overt, back in the day), we're shown him falling for Reinette here, and yes, there's River Song somewhere in the distant future.
I think he's ultimately correct in his criticism of Rose Tyler. Moff? I've missed that - link me?
no subject
no subject
I want to say something about River as well, but I'll do that in response to your other comment :-)