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Children of Earth, the last half, and Doctor Ten, the end of.
My tone here is consistently squeekill, just for a warning.
So yeah, there's not a lot to say about this that hasn't already been said - wah Ianto (but it made sense in the plotline, if not in the things the no-longer-writing-for-Who RTD said later about it), man that was violent, etc.
One thing that I'm wondering about is what that plotline looks like in the UK context. In the US, "don't send your children to school because they'll vaccinate them but it's really a Nefarious Plot" is straight-up the idea that informs lots of peoples' whole lives, so the plot reads as straight-up right-wing fantasy even before you get into the idea that children are an extension of their parents and their parents have the right of life or death over them, a la Frobisher. Is it different from a UK perspective? Does the context of, for instance, the British class system historically and in modern context change how that reads?
Also, I was counting the things that could conceivably be used to kill a Prime Minister in that scene where Frobisher, ordered to give his children to aliens for Nefarious Purposes, goes so far as to raise his voice. I know that that wasn't the point and the plotline was important and character and blah blah blah blah, but there was an entire shelf of heavy glass objects behind him. Just hit him until he stops moving and then take your family into hiding, dude. ... I think it's interesting that I really hate screen violence that happens, but I'm always rooting for people to just break the plotline into bits and hit someone in the head with a giant ledger and escape over the countryside.
Also, how far exactly does RTD expect to push our loyalty to Jack and have us still be sympathetic to Jack? Because man, Jack just fucked that one up in every possible way, though admittedly the Government fucked it up way worse than he did. No one tried to get any information out of the aliens about their purposes until, like, episode five, and the Head of Unit got zero credit for actually working out what the fuck was going on. Those aliens probably didn't need a whole child, they needed some functioning immature pituitary glands and a bunch of other components that could be grown in a lab by someone with science fiction at their behest. I know RTD didn't want an easy save, but come on, after a certain point canons have an internal life and within the plot of this one, those people were pretty stupid.
This does not necessarily extend to Gwen, who was sincere and ran a lot. Typical bits here about how a pregnancy you've been trying super hard to prevent is a creepy thing to have your significant other be delighted about, but I liked Rhys in general for getting out of the way and not throwing too many fits and being useful. I still totally hope it's, like, Ianto's baby. What, Rhys can totally have more kids because he's not dead.
Yeah, I'm suddenly caught up on all my RTD-era canon, probably because with the glorious advent of Eleven and The Moff I am no longer worried about hating Doctor Who forever if I watch it. The front end of End of Time, with the leaping and the lightning and the cannibalism, I thought was super crap. The end, with the plot and all the fanservice, was kind of okay, though I am told by others that that might just be because I was worn down by watching the whole thing at once. Though I will not buy that the Master only cares about the Doctor because there are no other Time Lords and throws him over the second that's not true. If nothing else, whether or not they're the last two people of their species, the Doctor is crazy attached to the Master as hisex-boyfriend childhood friend, whatever, and that is power over the Doctor that the Master doesn't have with random Time Lord strangers. Sure, make them cannibals who can fly, but stay away from my OTP.
I am sure that if you watched Original Who, the end with Evil Gallifrey etc. made you rend your clothes, but I didn't, so I kind of handwaved. It sounds like Gallifrey is locked in a time bubble and left to make their own decision about how to end the War, which is not consistent with earlier canon, or possibly Ten knows what decision they will eventually make and that's why he goes on about Gallifrey burning, because it's that Time Lord dude's future and his past. There, fanwanked.
The end was meant to make me go: DONNA! MARTHA! SARAH JANE! ROOOOOOOOSE! and it kind of did, though man, "great year" is a matter of opinion. Also, I hope the Advent of Alonso means that we'll get some Doctor Who-type Jack. I like Doctor Who type Jack, even if I'm not sure the world needs any more Torchwood Jack.
So yeah, there's not a lot to say about this that hasn't already been said - wah Ianto (but it made sense in the plotline, if not in the things the no-longer-writing-for-Who RTD said later about it), man that was violent, etc.
One thing that I'm wondering about is what that plotline looks like in the UK context. In the US, "don't send your children to school because they'll vaccinate them but it's really a Nefarious Plot" is straight-up the idea that informs lots of peoples' whole lives, so the plot reads as straight-up right-wing fantasy even before you get into the idea that children are an extension of their parents and their parents have the right of life or death over them, a la Frobisher. Is it different from a UK perspective? Does the context of, for instance, the British class system historically and in modern context change how that reads?
Also, I was counting the things that could conceivably be used to kill a Prime Minister in that scene where Frobisher, ordered to give his children to aliens for Nefarious Purposes, goes so far as to raise his voice. I know that that wasn't the point and the plotline was important and character and blah blah blah blah, but there was an entire shelf of heavy glass objects behind him. Just hit him until he stops moving and then take your family into hiding, dude. ... I think it's interesting that I really hate screen violence that happens, but I'm always rooting for people to just break the plotline into bits and hit someone in the head with a giant ledger and escape over the countryside.
Also, how far exactly does RTD expect to push our loyalty to Jack and have us still be sympathetic to Jack? Because man, Jack just fucked that one up in every possible way, though admittedly the Government fucked it up way worse than he did. No one tried to get any information out of the aliens about their purposes until, like, episode five, and the Head of Unit got zero credit for actually working out what the fuck was going on. Those aliens probably didn't need a whole child, they needed some functioning immature pituitary glands and a bunch of other components that could be grown in a lab by someone with science fiction at their behest. I know RTD didn't want an easy save, but come on, after a certain point canons have an internal life and within the plot of this one, those people were pretty stupid.
This does not necessarily extend to Gwen, who was sincere and ran a lot. Typical bits here about how a pregnancy you've been trying super hard to prevent is a creepy thing to have your significant other be delighted about, but I liked Rhys in general for getting out of the way and not throwing too many fits and being useful. I still totally hope it's, like, Ianto's baby. What, Rhys can totally have more kids because he's not dead.
Yeah, I'm suddenly caught up on all my RTD-era canon, probably because with the glorious advent of Eleven and The Moff I am no longer worried about hating Doctor Who forever if I watch it. The front end of End of Time, with the leaping and the lightning and the cannibalism, I thought was super crap. The end, with the plot and all the fanservice, was kind of okay, though I am told by others that that might just be because I was worn down by watching the whole thing at once. Though I will not buy that the Master only cares about the Doctor because there are no other Time Lords and throws him over the second that's not true. If nothing else, whether or not they're the last two people of their species, the Doctor is crazy attached to the Master as his
I am sure that if you watched Original Who, the end with Evil Gallifrey etc. made you rend your clothes, but I didn't, so I kind of handwaved. It sounds like Gallifrey is locked in a time bubble and left to make their own decision about how to end the War, which is not consistent with earlier canon, or possibly Ten knows what decision they will eventually make and that's why he goes on about Gallifrey burning, because it's that Time Lord dude's future and his past. There, fanwanked.
The end was meant to make me go: DONNA! MARTHA! SARAH JANE! ROOOOOOOOSE! and it kind of did, though man, "great year" is a matter of opinion. Also, I hope the Advent of Alonso means that we'll get some Doctor Who-type Jack. I like Doctor Who type Jack, even if I'm not sure the world needs any more Torchwood Jack.