(no subject)

[doyle]

Been watching the final part of The Key to Time, the 26-episode/6-story Doctor Who season. So, the Doctor and Romana are hunting down this Key which could bring about the end of the universe, eh? And an evil godlike being wants to get its hands on it? And then it turns out that Astra, a seemingly teenage girl, actually is the Key and will have to be sacrificed to save the universe?

...Joss Whedon has seen this, hasn't he?

(ETA: between this one, various stuff in Nine and Ten's run, and the Two story I watched yesterday, The Wheel in Space, I need to do some thinking about the Doctor's willingness or otherwise to put his companions above other people/the world/the universe. The Armageddon Factor has him turning over a device that gives the owner omnipotent power to the Black Guardian because his minion threatens Romana - who, quite sensibly, is yelling her head off at him to let her die, that in the scheme of things her life doesn't matter, and he roars back "of course it matters!" But there are at least two Second Doctor stories I've heard recently, Wheel and Evil of the Daleks where he's fully, almost coldly, prepared to sacrifice Jamie and Victoria/Zoe to save the Earth. Hm, maybe these are thoughts for two_love...)

Comments

[gwynnega]

Heeeee. Dawn is Princess Astra, which makes her almost Romana II!

I adore The Key to Time...

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Dawn/Romana = too much win for one universe to hold.

Key to Time is brilliant from beginning to end, for many reasons including but not limited to Professor Rumford, Drax the cockney wide-boy Time Lord, mysterious doubles, Holmesian double-acts and mile-long squid-monsters...

[gwynnega]

I adore Professor Rumford and Drax SO MUCH. Also the Holmesian stuff...

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Drax is fabulous. I think Drax and Mickey would get along brilliantly, given their mad mechanic skills.

[ladyvivien.livejournal.com]

I was just going to post, saying someone should write Dawn/Astra fic. Someone being you, obviously ;)

[passionflows.livejournal.com]

That's kind of hilarious, I think. Oh, Joss.

Slightly random question - is it ignorant of me to ship Four/Romana based only upon viewing of City of Death? Because I, er, do.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Only if ignorant is synomynous with "completely normal" *nods* It's pretty obvious the actors were at it in real life, isn't it? But yes, City of Death is lovely, with all its running around holding hand.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

*Everyone* ships Romana/Four to some extent. Because... well, because they've got eyes and a rudimentary brain!

[paratti.livejournal.com]

I blame the Time Lords in The War Games. It took him years and many regenerations to get back to that level of ruthlessness and then it resulted in the Time War.

[cesario.livejournal.com]

Okay, you really, really have to right that story now, where Dawn and Astra are just two incarnations of the Key and Romana comes looking for it again and finds Dawn and then they have adventures, and probably sex too.

[silly-dan.livejournal.com]

Isn't "The Androids of Tara" one of the stories in that arc? That has to mean something.

[m-butterfly.livejournal.com]

I'd wonder--I saw quite a bit of Who in my childhood but it's all taken on that "I can't remember a damn thing but still get chills periodically when watching new stuff for reasons I assume relate to triggering associations to the stuff I can't remember" so I don't know how true it is, but you might wonder how much of it is what the Companion in question represents to the Doctor? I mean, Romana could very obviously be a symbol of Gallifrey/home. And the only way I've ever been able to make the Rose thing work in my head is figuring it's a combination of fallout from the Time War, in which he couldn't save anyone, and his fascination for and complete inability to have a 'regular' life. (Rose being so regular she should have a "one size fits all" tag.) Whereas other Companions, though very dear to him as companions, don't trigger quite the same associations and thus overdefensiveness.

[xipuloxx.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing is it seems to apply to pretty much every Doctor after Troughton. Certainly the fourth gave Davros information that would help prevent every Dalek defeat ever to save Sarah and Harry (though of course he destroyed it afterwards, but at the time he couldn't know he'd get the chance), and the fifth gave in to the Cybermen when they threatened to kill Tegan. I'm sure the third did something similar but can't remember. Not sure about the sixth and seventh, though.

[xipuloxx.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Whedon did it better, methinks.

Sorry, but I find Armageddon Factor to be a huge disappointment after all the cool other stories in the season - all of them apart from Power of Kroll were great, and even it had its good points.

Drax is brilliant though. Can't believe Evil Russell the Tea Lady killed off all the Time Lords, it means no more Drax or Romana or Mistress Rani! ;)

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

I must be on of the weird ones that loves the Armageddon Factor.

[azarsuerte.livejournal.com]

*blink blink* Oh man, now I suddenly want to see that crossover.