The Sarah Jane Adventures and the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie

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I probably shouldn’t have posted my “Fires of Pompeii” review at midnight on Sunday night. Alas, it gave me so much to think about that I just couldn’t sleep until I wrote it all down.

jaydk and I had a lot of fun watching it; we managed three viewings, plus the commentary and the Confidential (OMG tourist!Tennant! In shorts! And he’s such a liberal! Awww.) And somehow we also managed to squeeze in the first couple episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures and the horrid 1996 Doctor Who TV movie.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Invasion of the Bane and Revenge of the Slitheen

I liked this a lot! Yes, it's directed at kids, but this is a worthy Doctor Who spin-off; it's infinitely superior to Torchwood in terms of plot and characterization.

I love Sarah Jane! I mean, I liked her fine in "School Reunion," but I didn't really get a feel for her personality there. Here she is badass and awesome. She's totally emulating the Doctor, like Jack in Torchwood! Only Sarah Jane's got the sense not to do it as part of a military organization! And she's all mysterious and rude! Hee.

On one level, it's kind of a sad comment on our culture that the show has to keep justifying its older female lead, but OTOH, it does an awesome job of tearing apart the cultural prejudices against her. It puts all the typical criticisms into the mouths of the villains--they dismiss Sarah Jane as an "old woman," her life has been wasted, she's completely useless and irrelevant because she's unmarried and too old to bear children. And then Sarah Jane proves them wrong, kicks their asses, and saves the world. >:)

I suppose it's a little annoying that she's finding her purpose as an adoptive mother, but really, that's because this is a show for children and they've got to come up with a reason for her to spend so much time hanging out with kids. As we see when the series begins, she's already found a purpose, investigating and dealing with aliens. And yeah, she's a bit lonely and needing human connection, but that's the exact same arc as the Doctor, so I don't think it has any sexist undertones.

And I like the other characters! Maria and her father are great (although her mother... *sigh*... someday I'm going to write a post about RTD's weirdly screwed-up mother characterizations). Kelsey was annoying, but thank god they replaced her. And Luke! Luke is awesome! Brilliant but innocent, trying to adjust to and understand human culture.

The show is simpler than Doctor Who, but the characterization feels very true. I like that Sarah Jane is the mysterious central figure, like the Doctor, and that we're seeing her emotional growth. (Seriously, there was infinitely more complex characterization in the pilot of The Sarah Jane Adventures than in that whole horrible TV movie.) And they even put in one of those nifty Doctor Who style moral dilemmas, when the characters have to decide whether to kill the Slitheen father and son.

I'm really looking forward to watching more. (And, yay, it'll give us something more to do on Saturdays along with watching that week's Doctor Who episode over and over.)

The Doctor Who 1996 TV Movie

I had heard this was bad, but I had no idea. It's like a study in everything you shouldn't do when writing a TV show.

First of all, it's like they transferred the Doctor Who mythology into a bad mid-90s action movie. No, wait, a bad mid-90s action TV show. It's like Renegade! Renegade, Doctor Who style. (*shudders*)

And, man, it's like they do everything wrong. They threw in some tea and filled the inside of the TARDIS with leftovers from the Masterpiece Theater set, so you know he's British, and they put clocks everywhere to remind you that he's a Time Lord. And the Seventh Doctor gets the most pointless death imaginable. He strolls out of the TARDIS into a gunfight? How has this guy lived 900 years?

Daphne Ashbrook makes Freema Agyeman look like Laurence Olivier. I can't remember the last time I saw such painfully bad acting. And her character, Grace Holloway, is a textbook example of how to write a Mary Sue. She's a heart surgeon! She cries at the opera! She performs surgery in a beautiful gown! Her mean boyfriend dumps her because she's so dedicated to her job! She wouldn't know humor if it smacked her in the face! She's on the board of trustees! The Doctor kisses her twice! She gets magically resurrected!

Speaking of the magical resurrection, can you say cop-out? Thank god RTD knew not to go there in "Voyage of the Damned." This thing is literally like Bad Writing 101. And there's not a moment of dialogue that's about deepening the characters or relationships; it's just endless plot and exposition that we have no reason to care about.

And the Master! What the hell? He's the Terminator now? And he speaks in an American accent? And he can turn into a snake? There wasn't even an explanation for how he survived! He's wearing cats-eye contacts and everyone runs away screaming--it's 1999, haven't you people ever been to a Goth club? And they had to write him as such an utter textbook villain, taking away everything that makes him fun, and ruining all the nuance of his weird obsessive relationship with the Doctor. (The only thing I liked there was that the Doctor reached out and tried to save him.)

I know people bitch about the claim that the Doctor is half-human, but it's easy enough to dismiss. It wasn't really even integral to the plot; maybe the Doctor didn't bother denying it because it's too ridiculous to bother? Maybe this entire thing is just some nightmare the Master had! Who knows? (I do find the part human thing icky--like I always hated the idea of human Spike. I like my aliens and vampires aliens and vampires; I'm not so shallow that I need them to be part human in order to relate to them, and I think it's far more interesting if they hang out with humans because they genuinely enjoy it rather than because they have some biological connection. It's that whole essence versus existence thing again.)

Um, so. This thing was an hilarious nightmare, BUT. I actually really liked the Eighth Doctor! And not just because Paul McGann is cute. He's a good actor and he brought a sense of vulnerability that could've been really interesting to see in a being with such power. I might have enjoyed seeing what he would've done in an actual good story. Alas.

But mainly, this was an entertainingly bad lesson in What Not To Do, and it certainly made everything Russell T. Davies has written look even brighter and shinier in comparison.

Partners in Crime

I also rewatched "Partners in Crime" and had a few more thoughts.

It really struck me how the Doctor and companion roles are reversed in this episode. Donna grabs the Doctor's hand and pulls him to the TARDIS, then she stands in the doorway and cajoles him while he stands outside and hesitates. It's the exact inverse of what we saw with Rose and Martha.

He's in such a bad place right now, so alone, having lost so many. He's in the typical companion position of needing someone to come in and shake up his life, and it's Donna! I have a feeling he's going to change more because of her than she is because of him.

And it also struck me how much emphasis there was on the Doctor's fear of losing people. It's understandably one of his biggest issues. In "Partners in Crime" we see him trying to save people three times: Donna as she dangles from the building (he tells her to "hold on," as with Rose in "Doomsday"), the million people endangered by the Adipose (reminiscent of the Titanic), and Miss Foster (as with the Master, after he saves the humans, his goal is to save the villain). Of course, this was basically a light-hearted episode, but I liked that it had these echoes of the Doctor's more serious issues.

***

And here's a fic rec: a Doctor/Rose fic that I didn't hate! The Scientist by orange_crushed, which has a Doctor and Rose that I actually find recognizable and interesting! No tiembabies or weddings, but a genuine exploration of what they mean to each other. Plus, plot and action! (And, I admit, I particularly love that it starts out shattering the cliche by having Rose "married" to human!Doctor and ... she's miserable. Heee.)

That said, when the Master showed up, I was very disappointed that he didn't have sex with the Doctor. *sigh* I need more Doctor/Master fic! Look at this, I've been reduced to reading het! :P

Current Mood: amused

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