Doctor Who: "The Power of Three"
Sep. 23rd, 2012 08:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeThis was GREAT. I kept watching it feeling like it was a lost episode from the RTD era, what with Mysterious Alien Devices insinuating themselves into day to day life, and expository television news, and famous real people cameos. And UNIT!
Only, it was with Ponds, and it was really all about the Ponds, so it was more like a Moff-era remix of the RTD contemporary invasion stories. Though I have to say, never have I mourned a lack of Martha more than when the Doctor was stumbling around UNIT HQ in need of someone to re-start his heart.
It also felt a bit like SJA, but that was mostly when the villain turned up and started ranting, and it was all a bit ... well, SJA with a dash of Babylon 5, actually. THAT'S NOT NECESSARILY A CRITICISM! Just, you had this lovely little mystery, and then it was all dodgy make-up and Patented Villain Speeches. And then the Doctor reversed the polarity of the neutron flow to the cubes, so magically no one died.
SO MANY THINGS! Amy has a new job! (Turn 25, get too old for modelling!) I look forward to seeing fandom fall all over themselves with very feminist explanations of how some jobs are just more suitable for women than others. Freelance writing is brilliant for her situation, and also creative, so well done Amy! And there was a vase of sunflowers in the Pond kitchen! I do enjoy a nice callback.
Really, this felt like every fic where the Doctor has to do domestic, only funnier, because those fics don't usually include really enthusiastic fathers-in-law. And it was so nice to have a story that's just about the Doctor's relationship with the Ponds, and the Doctor's relationship with companions in general. Especially one that doesn't exclude people who aren't companions!
OH YEAH, KATE STEWART. SHE HAS RAVENS OF DEATH, YOU KNOW. And it's so great to have a UNIT that isn't evil, or even morally ambiguous! SCIENCE LEADS! I bet the Brig asked Liz Shaw to babysit one time, and Liz was like, "Children? No." But she became friends with Kate anyway. And now Kate runs UNIT, and Captain Magambo and Martha answer to her, and Brigadier Bambera (ret.) likes to call up and nitpick, and there's Friday night drinks with Ms Smith from Bannerman Road, who keeps trying to get her to hire these kids she knows, and ... YEAH.
And the official DW Twitter said this is Kate's "debut", so SHE'LL BE BACK!
It's weird, but the Doctor Who universe suddenly seems a lot bigger now. It's right that each companion's time with the Doctor shouldn't be overshadowed by his or her predecessors, but it's nice to open up that self-containment a bit, especially now that we're preparing to let the Ponds go. DON'T GO, PONDS! I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE BOTH SO DOCTOR-Y NOW!
Something else I was going to say. OH YEAH, for once it's not the Doctor marrying an historical figure! Though Henry VIII, gross!
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Date: 2012-09-23 12:44 am (UTC)