carmen_lj | Rise of the Cybermen (Reply)

Ra! It is under the cut. Comment things. That could be interpeted as some sort of review type whatsit.

OMG! OMG!

MICKEY IS DA MAN MICKEY IS DA MAN!! SO MUCH LOVE! DUDE!
That was fabulous, so much love. This was not purely because the Doctor was in a tuxedo. IT WAS NOT. Though he was beautiful in that suit. They must surely release that as an action figure, yes? Yes. Good. I await with much anticipation.
That opening was so very Venegence on Varos (or Frontios, possibly). "Oh noes! My TARDIS is broken! We is doomed forever!" (*headdesk* on part of viewer for we KNOW it will get fixed) Luckily instead of Peri, Ten has Mickey who CHECKED OUTSIDE. "London, baby!" says Mickey. "Oh, Mickey," says the Doctor, "I mock only with love!" Gosh, he is a wee bit mean to Mickey in this one, and Mickey knows it, but still THERE IS LOVE. Mickey gets good stuff here. And I love that bit in the TARDIS where he and the Doctor fix the TARDIS. I know Mickey does not actively help, persay, but I firmly believe his mere presence caused the TARDIS not to give up, woo!
In maintaining my Evidence for Romana/Doctor OTP, here we see Exactly What Ten would look like if he ever saw Romana die (she is NOT DEAD, dammit) as the TARDIS is the closest thing he has to a Romana at the moment and the sadness and hopelessness is so very thinking of Romana when the TARDIS cops it, yes. Dude.
Oh my, oh my, those Cybermen were scary. And a bit Tenth Planet with their voices (but, y'know, unlike TP, you could make out what they were saying) and OH MY GOD THEY KILL YOU WITH TOUCH. It is scary, it is, it is. And that cliffhanger was just OH MY GOD, SO DOCTOR WHO. And the Doctor was desperate and fabulous and dramatic and the Cybermen were SO SO SCARY. I had the fear, and my pillow. Which was not actually my pillow but I was clinging to it and that was good.
Rose, dear, dear Rose. WILL YOU NEVER LEARN? Listen, to the Doctor. He knows what he's talking about. Ra. But she doesn't, and she does not irritate in this episode (much). Funny how I'm much more sympathetic to seeing Mickey's family than Rose's. Ahem. Also, how long before fandom starts talking about the relative wealth of the two Tyler families and WHAT THIS MEANS?
This was so much action-advanture fun. Plenty of lovely location stuff and the sky looked cool. And there was running and sekrit headquarters and VANS! With TEAMS! In manner of the Mystery Mobile! Dude! That was truly fabulous. I do love alt-Mickey, and his resistance team.
I know the President was in Rising Damp, but where I know him from was that episode of Red Dwarf with the holoship and Lister says he's gonna whip him with a holo-whip. So my ability to take him seriously somewhat diminished. Though, omg, what a death scene. That was great.
Same goes for Trigger. He almost, almost did it. And it was a very good, very scary performance, and I've clearly just watched too much Only Fools and Horses. Great character.
And, just, yes, tragic creation, those Cybermen. A man who doesn't believe he should die. Though it's not really clarified whether it's because he doesn't want to die, or doesn't think the world could go on without his genius, and I hope his actual motivations are made clearer because I really want to know, but there's certainly plenty to infer from. And anyone else find that he reminded them a bit of Davros? Not just the wheelchair, but the lines and the intonation?
So another ticking in What The Time Lords Actually Did box. In addition to stopping worlds that had messed with time travel being eaten alive by Reapers (Father's Day), they also oversaw safe travel between the alternate dimensions. And I think, given the absence of a Time Vortex, that it's pretty safe to say there aren't any Time Lords in this dimension, which would imply the Vortex was created by the Time Lords (another ticky box) in order to allow time travel. Or the TARDIS simply couldn't connect to the AU Vortex...but the Doctor did say it was Just Gone, so the whole thing's open to (interesting, yay!) interpretation. (I do wonder whether the Doctor's fervent reminders to Rose that it is not her Mum and Dad are more him telling himself that Time lords in other dimensions are not his Time Lords, or, (more Romana/Doctor, yay) he once found an AU Romana after he (thought she) died in his universe, and IT WAS NOT HER AND HE HAD TO LEAVE AND IT WAS ALL AWFUL AND TRAUMATISING. Yes. That's what I think happened. Well, that and he's shit scared of AUs after what happened the last time. In Inferno, yo.)
And in addition to No Annoying Preview pre-credits, the announcer Did Not Talk through the middle eight, hurrah! Shiny music!

So, in conclusion, much love (heh, that's five for five, unsurprisingly) and desperately looking forward to next week. Ra!