TV Meme--Day 26

[earlgreytea68]

Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale

Journey's End.* I will be brutally honest here and say that words almost can't describe how much I dislike this season finale. I was so excited for it, and so wanted to love it, and then it aired and my reaction was pretty much...WTF? For me, this episode is just chock full of wasted potential. All those characters I'd adored, all in one space again, and I'd been waiting for it FOREVER, and it should have been epic, and instead it felt like no one interacted with anyone else, except for one hurried scene on the TARDIS that just reminded me of how awesome the whole episode could have been, and the Doctor seemed stagnant for most of the episode (oh, wait, because he was literally trapped in some cone of light or something, wasn't he?), and the best part of this episode turned out to be the crazy Dalek. Or the Daleks speaking German, that was pretty good, too. It starts with WTF-ness, I think, with the avoided regeneration, and then it ends with WTF-ness, with that weird, abrupt scene on Bad Wolf Bay that ties up four seasons with two sentences, and then Ten mind-rapes Donna, oh, and then he ends the whole season alone, again, to commence a few specials' worth of severe emo moping. Oh, and the episode ends with rain, in case you missed how woefully sad and tragic the Doctor's life is.

Sorry, I just really hate this episode. Although I appreciate the brief flash of shirtless!David!Tennant that RTD threw to me.

I'd like to pick End of Time Part 1 as my runner-up, because there is no moment so "OMG WTF?" as the Secret Books of Saxon moment, but I suppose that is not, strictly speaking, a season finale, so instead I'm going with The Last of the Time Lords as a runner-up, for the Tinkerbell!Jesus!Doctor moment.

And before you think that I hate all RTD finales, I will say that I think Parting of the Ways is brilliant, and that Doomsday might actually be my pick for the second most perfect season finale ever written (after The West Wing's Two Cathedrals, but who can compete with that?).

*All descriptions of Journey's End based on my recollections, as I only re-watched once, years ago, and then decided to try to ignore it forevermore, because I realized that if I thought too hard about it, I would be unable to continue writing Ten.

Past

Day 01 - A show that should never have been canceled: Dirty Sexy Money
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching: Gossip Girl
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season): White Collar
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever: The West Wing
Day 05 - A show you hate: Robin Hood
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show: Celestial Navigation
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show: The episode where the shuttle leak is revealed
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Day 09 - Best scene ever: The President rants at God, in the West Wing episode Two Cathedrals
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving: Top Gear
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: the Doctor Who episode Tooth & Claw
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show: Belle and Sebastian
Day 14 - Favorite male character: the Doctor from Doctor Who
Day 15 - Favorite female character: Liz Lemon from 30 Rock
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show: America's Next Top Model
Day 17 - Favorite mini series: Pride and Prejudice
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence: Mad Men
Day 19 - Best TV show cast: Arrested Development
Day 20 - Favorite kiss: Chuck tells Blair he loves her on Gossip Girl
Day 21 - Favorite ship: Josh and Donna from The West Wing
Day 22 - Favorite series finale: The O.C.
Day 23 - Most annoying character: The Humphreys from Gossip Girl 
Day 24 - Best quote: "Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land!" from The West Wing
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new): The Good Guys

Future   

Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

Comments

[glorious-clio.livejournal.com]

You stole mine. *pout*
I intend to use it anyway.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Ha! Solidarity!

[fishface44.livejournal.com]

"Or the Daleks speaking German, that was pretty good, too." This may be my favorite Dalek appearance ever.

"if I thought too hard about it, I would be unable to continue writing Ten." Please NEVER THINK ABOUT IT AGAIN!!! ;)

[glorious-clio.livejournal.com]

I second this motion.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

lol - I shall strive!

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

I totally missed that line. It did become REALLY hard to write Ten without abusing him after that finale! D:

Luckily, it never happened in the Chaosverse!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

It took me a long time to get to that point, though. That's why Brem yells at him so much in "College."

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

You might be right, those German Daleks are pretty awesome.

Heh. Yes, I try not to think about it, although I think I've gotten to the point where it's become "my" Ten and "that" Ten, if it makes sense.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

I knew I liked you for some reason. The episode is, "The Doctor screws over everyone, including himself." Even Jack and Mickey don't get the opportunity to give Rose a real goodbye! You know they assumed she'd be staying in the TARDIS.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Ugh, you're right, that's really terrible for Jack and Mickey. I've never really thought about that before.

And the worst part is that Ten screws everybody over, and then somehow we're supposed to feel bad for him?

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

I've never really thought about that before.

Oops. Now I feel a little bad for bringing it up. >_>

It really stuck out to me at the time, though, probably because I write Rose/Doctor/Jack fic.

[lorelaisquared.livejournal.com]

I was SO looking forward to this episode and was so disappointed when I finally saw it. The only thing that got me through s3 was knowing Rose came back, and then to barely get ANY real interaction between them (or Jack, I was looking forward to a conversation between Rose and Jack as well - esp about the Bad Wolf/not dying stuff) and THEN have her end up on that bloody beach again broke my heart. You know, even if he'd said goodbye properly and if it had been HIM that kissed her and then he left, I think I would have felt a little better about the ending, but the way it stands, I have a hard time properly accepting it. I understand it, but I don't like it. AT ALL.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Even as I was watching, I thought that if she just kissed the "right" Doctor, I could probably get over the rest of it. But if I was sitting there thinking one Doctor was "right" and one was "wrong," I couldn't believe that Rose already saw them both as interchangeable. And yes, we were so cheated on the Jack/Rose front. So much.

[kholly.livejournal.com]

You should never do anything that would make you unable to continue writing Ten.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Awww, thank you.

[jellybean728.livejournal.com]

I hereby forbid you to ever watch this episode again. EVER.

From a practical and distanced standpoint, I understand why it played out like it did, because RTD couldn't keep them to play with anymore, but I don't disagree with anything you said.

Although, I also enjoyed Jack's line about there being three Doctor's, and us not wanting to know what he was thinking. As if there was ANY DOUBT. Puh-lease!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

lol - I will strive to avoid it from hereon out.

I get why RTD ended it that way, I just wish--honestly--that he'd done a better job writing it.

Ha! I'd forgotten the Jack line!

[rosewarren.livejournal.com]

THIS EPISODE. Gah. It was so absurd and ridiculous and just...just so baffling to me. I mean, I was reduced to writing fic just to make sense of what happened on Bad Wolf Bay. Of all the endings RTD could have chosen, this was by far the worst.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. I think it's just terrible, and writing fic that reacts to it is the only thing I can think of to do!

[pncwho.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one. The biggest stories on my LJ are both JE-fixits.

Of all the endings RTD could have chosen, this was by far the worst.

Indeed. What was stopping him from getting the real Doctor and Rose together, then starting the next season with "One hundred years later", maybe having the now-widowed Doctor traveling with his grandkids? Okay, maybe that's too lovey-dovey, but it's better than what really happened.

What got me was the character assassination. RTD totally had to change the characterizations of the Doctor and Rose to make them do what they did. Rose as I know her, after risking her life to get back to the Doctor (and not for the first time, I might add) would not accept a substitute. I would've preferred to see Rose not come back at all, or even die in battle against the Daleks, than turned into a disloyal airhead who'll kiss the first guy who says those Three Little Words.

The Doctor, after pining for the love of his life, even borderline suicidal over losing Rose, would not just dump her off with his clone with some BS excuse about making him better. The decent and caring man who's tried so many times to make the Universe a better place sure as hell would not psychically lobotomize Donna! That is so far from the Doctor's character I'm truly baffled that RTD thought it was a good idea.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I don't even know how to fix JE. Which is why I try to ignore it.

But I agree: JE completely destroys the characterization of Rose and the Doctor, which is why I had such a hard time writing them after the episode. They just seemed so incomprehensible to me.

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

All descriptions of Journey's End based on my recollections, as I only re-watched once, years ago, and then decided to try to ignore it forevermore, because I realized that if I thought too hard about it, I would be unable to continue writing Ten.


You were very wise. It had exactly that effect on me - not an immediate death of my Muse but a slow bleeding away of my writing confidence and ability as I turned out one mediocre fic after another in an attempt to fix the unfixable. I have never written D/R to my own satisfaction since, apart from an OT3 where the Doctor goes back to TCI and kicks off a whole new timeline by making up with Jack.

It's strange - you'd think that a terrible ending that even it's own writer didn't believe in would inspire fanfic, but I think the fanfic writer's parachute has to fill with the air of the original writer's love and respect for the characters, which is precisely what was utterly lacking in JE. I have never quite forgiven Rusty for it.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Awww, I'm sorry about that. I find your analysis very interesting. Oddly, many writers have found Ten II very inspiring and see JE as a tremendous gift to the fans from RTD. I've never been able to see it that way, but it's clear that there are two very different approaches to JE, and I find that fascinating.