DW 4x04 - The Sontaran Stratagem
Apr. 27th, 2008 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficWow, Martha. I see this as more of a coda to her run as companion then a continuation of her story, if that makes any sense, so her engagement to Tom and position in UNIT are more of a happy ending than epic love story/epic adventure. Still, nice companion/companion with Donna. Who, in turn, got a pretty nice Home subplot. It's funny that a series about time travel has so few episodes about facing your past.
Rattigan... okay villain, in the Adam 2.0 way, and a continuation on the series' thesis of "knowledge is power, but knowledge without heart is corruptible." Interesting point to make on a episode featuring two Companions, since I kinda see the Doctor/Companion team-up as mind/heart. So, if you count the Sontarans as Rattigan's ("From the brain that brought you the Big Ben Caper / The head that made headlines in every newspaper / And wondrous things like the Tower Bridge Job / That cunning display that made London sob!") companions, that would back up NuWho's preoccupation with the importance of not just having a companion, but that it's the right one... that he or she is "the best."
In the "DO WANT!" category, I liked the way UNIT was presented as professional and "good guys," albeit a bit out of their depth (but knowing when to call for help). Jenkins, the Major, and even the obligatory body-count grunts got some good, likeable characterization, which is more than we've seen from, say, S2 Torchwood.
The one bad bit was Donna's military-bashing, comparing a completely professional operation against potentially hostile aliens to Guantanamo Bay (WTF?) and then snobbily saying that Martha had been turned into a soldier. With the Doctor, that kind of long-haired hippie crap and hypocrisy ("No second chances... unless we used to be besties.") is IC, but given that Donna is characterized as the voice of reason to his OMGFLAIL, seeing her not just echo but go a step further with his anti-militarism seems like TPTB telling the people what they should think instead of just presenting them with a situation and letting them draw their own conclusions. Especially coupled with Martha's truly bizarre statement that she'd joined UNIT to fix it from the inside. What exactly needs fixing, other than telling the soldiers "Hey, if you call for back-up and no one says 'Acknowledged,' it's because there's no one coming, not because we all stepped out to the loo!"?
I would've much preferred for Martha to be the dissenting opinion and for Donna to at least be neutral, given that the opportunity existed to draw a contrast between a "good" military (UNIT) and a "bad" one (the fascist, warmongering Sontarans). Which, okay, RTD and co. would probably present a good military as one that got kittens out of tree and danced in gay pride parades when they weren't at war (and when they go to war, all they do is shoot the guns out of people's hands so that no one ever has to die, yayz!), but it'd be more useful than "GUNS ARE BAD MMMKAY AND THE MILITARY IS ALWAYS BAD AND ALL SITUATIONS CAN BE RESOLVED BY A WACKY ALIEN WITH A SONIC SCREWDRIVER AND THAT IS TOTALLY APPLICABLE TO THE REAL WORLD!"
The Sontarans themselves were well-realized, if quite generic, but with a nicely chilling plan (although the contrived "let me get into the DEADLY DEATH-TRAP OF DEATH car to get it off the road" at the end made me think more "Good riddance" than "OH NOES MARTHA'S GRANDAD!"). I've got to wonder, though, if the Atmos system comes with vibranium windows, as no one seems to be able to just break through them.
I do wonder if Martha is meant to be a new Brigadier, someone to provide plots by calling the Doctor to Earth when there's trouble instead of just blundering into stories. Given that the Doctor's MO is to show his companion the sights of the universe, it doesn't make much sense to show them their own world in their own time.
Donna: Wow. It's Cardiff. Never seen that before.
Doctor: Quiet, you, any minute now something is going to happen to propel us into breathtaking danger!
...
Doctor: Any minute.
...
Doctor: Any minute now.
...
Doctor: Annnnnnnnny minute.
...
Donna: Is this a two-parter?
One last thing. In regards to Martha's situation, I'm betting the clone's reliance on Martha's memories and personality to keep functioning is going to wreck the Sontarans' shit when Martha overcomes the programming because (le gasp!) she's still in love with the Doctor.
Oh, and what's the only thing better than twincest? Evil twincest.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2008-04-27 08:47 pm (UTC)Ah, thank you for that thought. You're quite correct.
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Date: 2008-04-27 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-27 09:01 pm (UTC)...
Doctor: Any minute now.
...
Doctor: Annnnnnnnny minute.
...
Donna: Is this a two-parter?
Thank you for summing up the entire episode so neatly and concisely. ;D
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Date: 2008-04-27 09:15 pm (UTC)I think that my be something to do with the Torchwood episode, 'Fragments' although I refuse to believe that was UNIT.
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Date: 2008-04-27 09:35 pm (UTC)"What exactly needs fixing"
Date: 2008-04-27 09:16 pm (UTC)The Third Doctor used to get quite annoyed with the Brigadier's tendacy to shoot anything that moved & to blow up anything that didn't. I guess it is all about trying to persuade UNIT not to get carried away in the name of "Homeworld Security"
Re: "What exactly needs fixing"
Date: 2008-04-27 09:31 pm (UTC)("Yes, that's right, Gwen Stacy cheated on Peter Parker with his arch-nemesis, got pregnant off of said fifty-year-old man, then trusted that her cuckold would raise her prematurely-aging Goblin twins... uh-huh... riiiiiight.")
Re: "What exactly needs fixing"
Date: 2008-04-28 01:47 am (UTC)Such as the Doctor being totally against guns and people that use them, except when he's not.
I grew up with the Marvel-verse - complete 180's make sense to me now.
Re: "What exactly needs fixing"
Date: 2008-04-28 05:49 pm (UTC)Re: "What exactly needs fixing"
Date: 2008-04-28 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 12:42 am (UTC)Yeah, that bit was very much inaccurate, but I think she was objecting to them treating the workers like the enemy when they had no control over what their bosses were doing. That fits in with Donna always being the temp and seeing things from the ground as opposed to the Doctor and Martha, who are higher up the work ladder. Also, she'd heard the Doctor saying all these marvellous things about Martha, how brilliant she is, how she's going to be a doctor, and the first time she meets her, Martha is co-ordinating an invasion of a factory. That's not really what a doctor should be doing, in Donna's eyes.
With the Doctor, that kind of long-haired hippie crap and hypocrisy ("No second chances... unless we used to be besties.") is IC, but given that Donna is characterized as the voice of reason to his OMGFLAIL, seeing her not just echo but go a step further with his anti-militarism seems like TPTB telling the people what they should think instead of just presenting them with a situation and letting them draw their own conclusions.
I think that Donna was also reacting to the snobbishness of the UNIT officer, who didn't even ask her name (which the Brig most certainly would have done, if nothing else), plus the fact that this massive operation hadn't even checked the workers and their backgrounds.
In regards to Martha's situation, I'm betting the clone's reliance on Martha's memories and personality to keep functioning is going to wreck the Sontarans' shit when Martha overcomes the programming because (le gasp!) she's still in love with the Doctor.
Oh God, please no.
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Date: 2008-04-28 04:31 pm (UTC)But every adventure she's been in that we've seen has featured henchmen going along with their alien masters. Even the Ood slaves could be dangerous. It seems a bit wanky of her to immediately assume that there's no way the workers could be dangerous, especially after it turns out that... well... they are.
I think that Donna was also reacting to the snobbishness of the UNIT officer, who didn't even ask her name (which the Brig most certainly would have done, if nothing else), plus the fact that this massive operation hadn't even checked the workers and their backgrounds.
Travelling with the Doctor, you'd think she would be used to that by now. A million people nearly got turned into fat because he didn't think to ask if she had a pendant. And those examples came after her most OTT statements. But yeah, I could totally see the "I'll do with a salute now" as just Donna being true to her innate Donna-ness. :)
Now, maybe it's part of her character that she has something against the military (in which case I still think it's manipulative to load up all the audience identification figures with the same viewpoint), but since I don't think anything will come out of it, it's just... conflict for the sake of conflict.
Oh God, please no.
You know they'd go there.
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Date: 2008-04-28 10:06 pm (UTC)You know they'd go there.
Which is why I am praying they don't. It would undermine EVERYTHING.
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Date: 2008-04-28 03:18 am (UTC)Except for dead-lock seals and car windows apparently. O_o
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Date: 2008-04-28 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 08:47 am (UTC)On the plus side- shuttlecock in the feeding vent, that's gotta hurt!
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Date: 2008-04-28 02:14 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_%28sport%29
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Date: 2008-04-28 04:24 pm (UTC)That orphanage attacked him first, you all saw it!