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Cybermen!
I was out at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
panloaf's birthday so I'm a bit late putting up by Rise of the Cybermen thoughts:
Overall impression: I liked it a lot. Didn't have the overwhelming love that I did for the last three episodes, but it was campy good fun. It seemed oddly slow, but maybe I'm just too used to the mad pace of the standalones? Roger Lloyd Pack was so over the top he could only see the top with binoculars - I didn't imagine the "muahaha!" did I? - and got lumbered with some atrocious lines. "Set sail for Great Britain!" indeed. In short, he's a true Doctor Who bad guy, and I both salute him and await his inevitable promotion to Cyber Controller. I hope he has a magnificent headpiece to distinguish him from the run-of-the-mill Cybermen.
I liked the President, and spent most of the episode thinking "I know he's the guy from Rising Damp, but where the hell do I know him from recently?" Thenconnorbeast pointed out he plays Rassilon in the Big Finish audios. And he was in Red Dwarf, too. If they bring the Time Lords back, he should play one. And then get his own spinoff series with Romana and the Rani, yes.
The death of the TARDIS made me whimper. A little more reaction from the Doctor would have been nice. (Hey, some people have issues with him leaving Rose and Mickey behind in GitF: I was fine with that but thought he should have been a wee bit more upset about the TARDIS dying. I do not know what this says about me.) All three of them seemed blase about the idea of being stuck in a parallel universe, too - maybe they assume that something always comes along to make it turn out all right?
But aw, giving ten years of his life to the Ship. "Worth every second."So OTP.
Oh, and he called the TARDIS 'she', which I don't think Nine ever did, did he?
Rose rushing off to see her dad when the Doctor repeatedly told her not to: a bit selfish, maybe (she obviously knows where Mickey's going but is too focused on her dad to give him any sympathy) but understandable, and it's not as if she can cause a paradox in this reality. I think the Doctor might be more thinking that she's going to get herself hurt and he doesn't want to deal with it. I was glad she had no dreams of staying to play happy families: she said what I was thinking, that the alt-Tylers have each other but her mother has no-one.
Totally idle speculation here - I could see Rose, in the finale, deciding to go home because her mum's all alone now, only for Jackie to get killed. Except I really can't see them killing off the mother of the person who's meant to be the viewpoint character of the kids watching. "Look, you could travel with the Doctor and be his best friend and have loads of fun adventures! AND THEN YOUR WHOLE FAMILY COULD DIE OF CYBERMEN, MUAHAHA!"
I did cringe through her scene with alt-Pete because I thought he was going to feel her up. Phew, thank goodness for Magical Bonds Across Reality that let him feel their deep connection. Love alt-Jackie's demands for a Zeppelin, and her little Rose dog.
Anyway, onto the bit of the episode that interested me most: Mickey's story.
Way back in Rose I wouldn't have ever anticipated Mickey being one of my favourite characters (that's including Old School) but he grew on me. And grew and grew, in the manner of some out of control carnivorous plant. He went from being a bit of a useless loser who got eaten by a wheelie-bin to a funny, snarky, self-deprecating Thoroughly Decent Bloke, and that's a character type I like a lot.
This was where we got his backstory - dad who buggered off to Spain, mum who presumably walked out (connorbeast suggested she might have committed suicide, but she gets mentioned in Rose - so he must have some kind of contact with her, or at least know who she is.) So he was raised by his nan - nice continuity to Father's Day - and she tripped down the stairs and died and he always blamed himself because he was meant to fix the carpet and *woe*. I'm not sure I'll be able to rewatch Aliens of London without huge dollops of Mickey angst: I was assuming he at least had his mother and grandmother in the year when people thought he'd killed Rose. Not to mention the Doctor constantly calling him a useless idiot when deep down that's what Mickey believes, and I just want somebody to hug him and take him on picnics and tell him he's not useless.
On a somewhat related note: according to someone at OG who heard RTD talk at this episode's press screening, Ricky and Jake are meant to be in a relationship, but the explicit references to it were removed since it was a bit too Doppelgangland (that episode of Buffy with Willow's alt-universe counterpart and the "I think I'm kinda gay" line, a year before it's revealed that yes, she is). I have no idea if this is true, but it would please me, and fits with that interview with the guy who plays Jake where he stated his character is gay and it was debated whether he was going to get to kiss another male character. OMG IT'S THE GAY AGENDA.
Anyway, I loved Mickey as the outsider to the Doctor and Rose's little clique, very aware of where he stands. Based on his scene with the Doctor in the deceased TARDIS and his moment of jealousy ("you can only follow one of us and it's never gonna be me") I'm choosing to extrapolate that they've had a few adventures between TGitF and this and Mickey's realised he gets on well with the Doctor when it's just them - Ten seems like he'd be good at convincing you he's your best mate - and he might as well be invisible when Rose is around.
I predict Mickey will stay behind in alt-world. My reasoning is thus:
1. The sudden reveal that he has nobody in our world who'd miss him, and that in this world his gran's alive.
2. He got stripped down to his pants, following the exiting-companion trail blazed by Nyssa in Terminus and Turlough in Planet of Fire.
I think Mickey would have been a good companion for Five. He would have been snarky about his inability to land the TARDIS and tried to chat up Tegan.
ETA: andandand! Mickey's nan was Blossom off EastEnders who was also Susu in Porkpie! She's lovely. She's one of my Telly Grans.
I appear to have written over 1000 words about a Cyberman episode without mentioning them. Hm. I liked them. Chunky, weren't they? And like skulls. Cool voice. Reserving full judgement till next week. All in all a 7/10 from me.
panloaf's birthday so I'm a bit late putting up by Rise of the Cybermen thoughts:Overall impression: I liked it a lot. Didn't have the overwhelming love that I did for the last three episodes, but it was campy good fun. It seemed oddly slow, but maybe I'm just too used to the mad pace of the standalones? Roger Lloyd Pack was so over the top he could only see the top with binoculars - I didn't imagine the "muahaha!" did I? - and got lumbered with some atrocious lines. "Set sail for Great Britain!" indeed. In short, he's a true Doctor Who bad guy, and I both salute him and await his inevitable promotion to Cyber Controller. I hope he has a magnificent headpiece to distinguish him from the run-of-the-mill Cybermen.
I liked the President, and spent most of the episode thinking "I know he's the guy from Rising Damp, but where the hell do I know him from recently?" Then
connorbeast pointed out he plays Rassilon in the Big Finish audios. And he was in Red Dwarf, too. If they bring the Time Lords back, he should play one. And then get his own spinoff series with Romana and the Rani, yes.The death of the TARDIS made me whimper. A little more reaction from the Doctor would have been nice. (Hey, some people have issues with him leaving Rose and Mickey behind in GitF: I was fine with that but thought he should have been a wee bit more upset about the TARDIS dying. I do not know what this says about me.) All three of them seemed blase about the idea of being stuck in a parallel universe, too - maybe they assume that something always comes along to make it turn out all right?
But aw, giving ten years of his life to the Ship. "Worth every second."
Oh, and he called the TARDIS 'she', which I don't think Nine ever did, did he?
Rose rushing off to see her dad when the Doctor repeatedly told her not to: a bit selfish, maybe (she obviously knows where Mickey's going but is too focused on her dad to give him any sympathy) but understandable, and it's not as if she can cause a paradox in this reality. I think the Doctor might be more thinking that she's going to get herself hurt and he doesn't want to deal with it. I was glad she had no dreams of staying to play happy families: she said what I was thinking, that the alt-Tylers have each other but her mother has no-one.
Totally idle speculation here - I could see Rose, in the finale, deciding to go home because her mum's all alone now, only for Jackie to get killed. Except I really can't see them killing off the mother of the person who's meant to be the viewpoint character of the kids watching. "Look, you could travel with the Doctor and be his best friend and have loads of fun adventures! AND THEN YOUR WHOLE FAMILY COULD DIE OF CYBERMEN, MUAHAHA!"
I did cringe through her scene with alt-Pete because I thought he was going to feel her up. Phew, thank goodness for Magical Bonds Across Reality that let him feel their deep connection. Love alt-Jackie's demands for a Zeppelin, and her little Rose dog.
Anyway, onto the bit of the episode that interested me most: Mickey's story.
Way back in Rose I wouldn't have ever anticipated Mickey being one of my favourite characters (that's including Old School) but he grew on me. And grew and grew, in the manner of some out of control carnivorous plant. He went from being a bit of a useless loser who got eaten by a wheelie-bin to a funny, snarky, self-deprecating Thoroughly Decent Bloke, and that's a character type I like a lot.
This was where we got his backstory - dad who buggered off to Spain, mum who presumably walked out (
connorbeast suggested she might have committed suicide, but she gets mentioned in Rose - so he must have some kind of contact with her, or at least know who she is.) So he was raised by his nan - nice continuity to Father's Day - and she tripped down the stairs and died and he always blamed himself because he was meant to fix the carpet and *woe*. I'm not sure I'll be able to rewatch Aliens of London without huge dollops of Mickey angst: I was assuming he at least had his mother and grandmother in the year when people thought he'd killed Rose. Not to mention the Doctor constantly calling him a useless idiot when deep down that's what Mickey believes, and I just want somebody to hug him and take him on picnics and tell him he's not useless. On a somewhat related note: according to someone at OG who heard RTD talk at this episode's press screening, Ricky and Jake are meant to be in a relationship, but the explicit references to it were removed since it was a bit too Doppelgangland (that episode of Buffy with Willow's alt-universe counterpart and the "I think I'm kinda gay" line, a year before it's revealed that yes, she is). I have no idea if this is true, but it would please me, and fits with that interview with the guy who plays Jake where he stated his character is gay and it was debated whether he was going to get to kiss another male character. OMG IT'S THE GAY AGENDA.
Anyway, I loved Mickey as the outsider to the Doctor and Rose's little clique, very aware of where he stands. Based on his scene with the Doctor in the deceased TARDIS and his moment of jealousy ("you can only follow one of us and it's never gonna be me") I'm choosing to extrapolate that they've had a few adventures between TGitF and this and Mickey's realised he gets on well with the Doctor when it's just them - Ten seems like he'd be good at convincing you he's your best mate - and he might as well be invisible when Rose is around.
I predict Mickey will stay behind in alt-world. My reasoning is thus:
1. The sudden reveal that he has nobody in our world who'd miss him, and that in this world his gran's alive.
2. He got stripped down to his pants, following the exiting-companion trail blazed by Nyssa in Terminus and Turlough in Planet of Fire.
I think Mickey would have been a good companion for Five. He would have been snarky about his inability to land the TARDIS and tried to chat up Tegan.
ETA: andandand! Mickey's nan was Blossom off EastEnders who was also Susu in Porkpie! She's lovely. She's one of my Telly Grans.
I appear to have written over 1000 words about a Cyberman episode without mentioning them. Hm. I liked them. Chunky, weren't they? And like skulls. Cool voice. Reserving full judgement till next week. All in all a 7/10 from me.
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Though I do think a) the Doctor and Rose are the worst travelling companions ever and b) Mickey works better as Mickey than as Rickey. I bought him more as himself than as alt-self. Now that I've thought through that paradox I think I must rest my brain.
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They're like one of those couples who are each fine on their own but you never want to do anything with them together because they would make you want to die.
In conclusion, Mickey needs to get solo adventures with the Doctor.
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Would Jack get on just as well with 10 and Rose as he did with 9 and Rose? My guess would be yes indeed.
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Hee! This is so true.
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And I am very please with myself for on first seing Jake, saying "Aw! Look at the cute punk, gay boy!" I wish they hadn't cut out the stuff with Jake and Ricky because I found a Ricky a bit boring, but if they had gone into his relationship with Jack, I would have found him way more intersting.
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As for one-on-one adventures with the Doctor, I *adored* the comic in the DWM (I hink 358? the one with the HIS & HER covers) with just the two of them as the Odd Couple.
I so need a Mickey icon.
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Oh, I was afraid of that too!
2. He got stripped down to his pants, following the exiting-companion trail blazed by Nyssa in Terminus and Turlough in Planet of Fire.
Hee!
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Best thing ever. *harts* And I'm happy I got that Jake is totally gay, at least, on first viewing.
And, what
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Oh good. I wasn't the only one. Damn, that would have been life-scarring, worse than all the almost dying Rose has to face when traveling with the Doctor.
Can you imagine relating that to shrink, "Yeah, I know, I was almost killed by Cyberman and the Daleks and Slitheen and Gelth, but in a parallel universe my dad felt me up!"
On a somewhat related note: according to someone at OG who heard RTD talk at this episode's press screening, Ricky and Jake are meant to be in a relationship, but the explicit references to it were removed since it was a bit too Doppelgangland
Oh, that would have been awesome.
I really liked this episode, although I'm now impatient for next week's ep.
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He would have been snarky about his inability to land the TARDIS and tried to chat up Tegan.
Win!
I didn't write enough about the Cybermen either. They were BRILLIANT, though. When they marched it seemed to be rhythmical. Wicked.
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He was also in the BBC series Manchild with Anthony Stweart Head.