DW rewatch - 2x04, The Girl in the Fireplace

[caz963]

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.

Comments

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

Here's my theory - we won't see their first meeting. I suspect she first met The Doctor as Ten some time before he went to the Ood Planet in "End of Time". But most of her relationship with the Doctor is with Eleven, which starts this season. I suspect we'll see her once a year - perhaps more! I'd love if she traveled with the Doctor but it's probably better if she's one of those characters we rarely see. And, frankly, the more out of order their relationship the better. This is a show about a Time Traveler - I want Moffat to mess with my head!

I actually like that we know her end already

[caz963.livejournal.com]

I'd never really thought about this until the other day when someone asked me to explain a throwaway comment I'd made about the Doctor not meeting River for another 3000 years.
The library episodes are set in the 51st century, so unless River is a time traveller (which I don't think she is) then surely the Doctor didn't meet her "for the first time" until a long way ahead in his future, i.e, in the 51st century, assuming she's got a fairly normal human lifespan. This part of it makes my head ache to be honest! Of course, there are times - as we've seen - when she might come across him accidentally in his future, and presumably all the talk about "spoilers" is because he's prepared her for that possibility.

I'm glad we'll be seeing her again, and I certainly don't get all the River-hate that seems to fly around the fandom.

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

Um, you're not thinking like a Time Traveler. For instance, I don't really think of 2010 as the Doctor's "home time" - and I don't think that would ever be specified. So obviously he can *meet* her for the first time - or specifically she can meet him for the first time - whenever he runs across her. He doesn't have to live until the 51st century in a linear way, because he's a Time Traveler!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're completely right - the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff makes my head ache when I think about it too much, so I try not to!

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to say, that if the Doctor doesn't meet River until 3000 years from now, it kinda blows the 12 regenerations thing outta the water. I mean, he's used up 10 of them in the last 45 years, so he's got to have a lot more in order to make it until the 51st Century!! *g*

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

And, again, I think you're being too literal ;-)

There's the possibility a lot has happened off-screen between seasons and between Companions. Who knows how many adventures Ten had between "Runaway Bride" and "Smith & Jones". He might have lived another hundred years in there - of course, Rusty ruined that by having the Doctor talk about his age ALL THE TIME in the series. But potentially he's lying about that - once you get past 900, you stop counting :P

But I believe the original series said the First Doctor lived til 450 years - and now he's 900 years old. So those other 9 lives weren't as long lived as the first, but potentially 50 years each! :D