In the eighth episode of the third series of Doctor Who, Martha and the Doctor travel to 1913 in order to avoid “The Family,” a mysterious group of aliens who desire the Doctor more than anything. But in order to stay hidden, the Doctor chooses to become a biological human. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who.
Identity is a funny thing, isn’t it? How many of you have spent time thinking about the uniqueness of your identity, who you’ve chosen to be and what has come to shape you? I think it’s one of things that’s hard to wrap your mind around once you try to figure out. What’s your own personal identity? What’s your social identity? How do the two relate? How do they conflict with each other? What is it about you that makes you you, as opposed to me or the person sitting next you?
In “Human Nature,” which includes a title with a double meaning of sorts, we see the very identity of the Doctor dissected before our eyes. Who is the Doctor if he’s been stripped of his intelligence, stripped of his Time Lord DNA, and stripped of his entire past? Will he be similar to who he was before? Will he remain friends with those he loved before?
“Human Nature” seeks to answer these questions (along with a few about the philosophy of identity) in one of the best scripts of the whole show, written by Paul Cornel and Russell T Davies. I love how this particular episode opens with such a jarring introduction to the situation. We see glimpses of The Doctor being attacked, Martha falling to the floor. He tries telling Martha that there’s something very important that she needs to do. And the image cuts away, as The Doctor wakes up from a dream. In fact, it may be the very scene we just saw. Martha, dressed as a servant, chats with the Doctor casually. We slowly learn that these aren’t actually the Martha and Doctor we’ve come to know. Has everything been a dream? WHAT IS GOING ON?
This story unfolds very slowly, amping up the tension and the creepiness, all the way barely explaining what’s going on. We soon find out that Martha is indeed herself, but just pretending to be a servant to John Smith. John Smith is…well, he’s John Smith. He is not the Doctor. How is that even possible? I wondered. How could he…not be the Doctor?
As we seem him interact with the students at the Farringham School For Boys, it’s clear that this is a completely different person. Gone is the flamboyant, fiery personality I was so used to, replaced with a quiet, sensible man with a love for teaching, a somber temperament. So changing the Doctor’s biology, his very DNA, turns him into someone we only recognize based on his physical appearance.
Given that, it’s really surprising and refreshing how much of this episode focuses on Martha Jones, who, for three months, is forced to live without the Doctor being himself. Even worse, she also has to spend those three months observing the Doctor be human, to experience the human condition completely. Unfortunately for her, that also means he has to watch him fall in love…with someone else.
It’s a frustrating story to watch unfold, and while I may have my own feelings about Martha’s desire for intimacy with the Doctor, it’s impossible to ignore the jealous and pain that she goes through here in “Human Nature.” How are they even going to be the same after this is over?
Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. The alien plot intertwined with the story of the Doctor, Martha, and Joan is no less interesting for once. Timothy, a strangely perceptive kid who attends the school the Doctor is teaching at, begins to pick up on the weirdness of the people around him. Some group called “The Family” is after the Doctor, hence why he hides in 1913, and these unseen entities are able to possess people and scarecrows. UGH WHY ARE THOSE SCARECROWS SO TERRIFYING. I know they’re not real and it’s such a hokey trope to use and STILL IT GETS TO ME. Maybe it’s their faces. LOOK I DON’T EVEN KNOW.
Suspicious that something terrible is going on, he inadvertently makes everything worse when he discovers the pocketwatch holding the Doctor’s identity and opens it, allowing some of his memories to creep out and into Timothy’s mind. When the Doctor walks in on him, he pockets it, setting up the disaster that is to come. The Family recognizes the presence of the Doctor and, that night, they descend on the school.
Poor Martha. Forced into a difficult, seemingly impossible situation, tries to confront the Doctor and snap him out of the trance he is in. When she can’t find the pocketwatch, she actually slaps him. It doesn’t work, so that clearly makes things a thousand times worse as the Doctor fires Martha for her insubordination. UGH I AM SO FRUSTRATED. I don’t mean that as a complaint, but in praise of this story: the Doctor is going to head to the dance and the Family will confront him and EVERYTHING WILL BE AWFUL.
But not before my favorite scene takes place. Martha, persistent as ever, shows up at the dance to spell things out to Joan. Doesn’t John Smith seem strange, as if there’s an entire world in his mind, as if he’s from somewhere else? Doesn’t he say things that make absolutely no sense? The Doctor returns, upset at seeing Martha again, and she pulls out the sonic screwdriver, demanding that he identify it. Surely that will trigger his memory, she thinks.
It doesn’t and it’s too late. The Family arrives and vaporizes two people. They’ve figured out that John Smith is the Doctor. Unfortunately for everyone involved, they believe the Doctor can simply change back to his Time Lord form, which they need for something. It creates an awkward cliffhanger: the Doctor is forced to choose between Joan and Martha, but neither one will give him happiness, nor will it give the Family what they want.
Shit is so real, guys.
THOUGHTS
- I appreciated that they didn’t ignore the rampant racism of the time in this episode. They skirted around it in “The Shakespeare Code,” but we’re dealt a few lines that are particularly difficult to experience.
- Man, fuck Baines. He was already terrible, but his “conversion” makes him a whole lot worse.
- How awesome is the art direction on Smith’s A Journal of Impossible Things? I would love to own that book. It looked completely real!
- AWWW OF COURSE ROSE WAS IN THE BOOK. Awkward Town, Population: Martha.
- I loved this episode a great deal, and I feel good about the next one, but I am not looking forward to a heartbroken Joan. She’s nice. 🙁
- THE OOD!! Oh god, I really hope we see them again sometime.
- “I sometimes think how magical life would be if stories like this were true.” Me too, John Smith, me too.
- THE DOCTOR’S VIDEO LIST HAD TWENTY-THREE ITEMS ON IT. Oh god, I love him so much. I wish we could have seen all twenty-three items.
Ok, so I mentioned it on my Tumblr and I’d like to make it a fun little event for us here. Tomorrow, at 8:00pm PST, we will be having a liveblog party for “Blink,” since I am about to arrive on the infamous episode. If you can watch along, fantastic. I wish there was a way to do it at a better time, but I don’t get home from work until 6:30-7:00pm most weekdays.
I’ll post the liveblog tonight so we can spread the word. It should be a grand ol’ time!
Awesome episode is awesome.
I hated this episode and Part II, the Family of Blood, it was inexcusable how the Doctor manipulated and lied to Martha to get her to agree to him becoming human. Really he gave her no choice as the Doctor pretended there was no other way to defeat the Family of Blood which is not true as is seen at the end of the Family of Blood episode.
The Doctor went on to obfuscate and conceal what he asked of Joan Redfern at the end of Part II and he didn't care what Martha suffered in 1913 all alone in a school of bratty White male aristocrats. The latter have been known to treat White female "commoners" abysmally, so they could have raped and killed Martha in 1913 and no one would have said a word against them.
I could never forgive the 10th Doctor from this episode on to the end of his reign. I officially don’t consider the 10th Doctor a good person.
I figured I'd unlurk to let you know how much I love your reviews. Also this is one of my favorite episodes, the journal is beautiful and the scarecrows scare me from now until forever.
As soon as they started flipping through the book I thought, oh poor Martha, there's totally going to be a picture of Rose in it. This episode just kind of crapped on Martha in general, didn't it?
I really enjoyed this episode. I loved the time setting and I loved how creepy and awful the actor played Baines. That smirk was so freaky!
Yeah, it did crap on Martha, but it also showed her finest qualities – her persistence, her patience, her willingness to do everything to help the Doctor, and her common sense and maturity. Heck, she even turned Baines's racist insult into a joke, because she knew it would be beneath her dignity to be offended by a primitive idiot like Baines; she's so much more.
Oh definitely. She was so strong in this episode, I would have cracked long before. How long are they there? Nearly three months? And all that time she has to make it on her own and she does it with grace and style.
Yes. These are totally Martha's redeeming qualities, and I love seeing her grow into her role as a Companion here… even if it happens in pretty much the suckiest way EVER.
These past 8 episodes just kind of crapped on Martha in general, didn't they?
FTFY 😉
All kidding aside, I completely agree with you. But poor Martha's been getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop all season long =(
Hahaha! Yes, this is true. But I really started to feel it with this episode and just having a general sense of, oh come one, give the girl a break! Sheesh! That he asked her to do this for him is bad enough, but he asks her to do this in a rush and doesn't give her time to even register how hard it's going to be before he's gone. Poor Martha. 🙁
The whole time I was watching this, I couldn't help but think that this was not what she had signed up for. Of course Martha had been in harrowing situations before, but this was long term and kind of demoralizing. I could not have handled it at all. I have to say that the whole "don't let me abandon you" part of the instructions was massively sad because it was a likely enough possibility to be included. 🙁
This is so not what Martha signed up for. I mean, there's traveling through time and space, and then there's being stuck in the past for god knows how long and having to do menial work (not that menial work is bad, but she's very nearly a doctor, for crying out loud, and because she's black, working in her field isn't going to be an option for her… well, that plus the near-century's-worth of advanced techniques and medical knowledge).
Sometimes life in (with? near?) the Tardis in no fun at all.
*POKE* You are everywhere!!
IKR?? I'm like a weed on the Internet! =D
`The fuzzy end of the lollipop?` Is it wrong that I think that sounds kind of rude…and also kind of fun?
*hides*
Aww why hide? The phrase is from the 1950s movie "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe. I saw it on TV when I was a kid – and for some reason that line really stuck in my head. So I kind of adopted it and use it to describe situations where one person really gets the short end of the stick, while the other person gets the goodies.
That still sounds rude and fun.
The family and their scarecrow minions are terrifying. Especially for 6pm, which is when Dr Who is shown! I think this is on of the best episodes of the new series to date. Ranks at about number four or five for me.
The racism made me uncomfortable, as did knowing what's coming in a few short months for these boys at the school. WW1 will start soon and a lot of those young men will die. In a lot of ways John Smith is indicitave of how a lot of people see the pre-war years- innocence, nobility and the stiffupper lip, hidebound and resolute. The destruction of John Smith that's necessary to save these people is similar to the Destruction of Pre-war britain.
The worst part for this episode for me is seeing all the boys going through military training. WWI is about to break out and here this school is training them like it's a good thing. The line about how maybe the boys will be able to fight in a 'glorious war' someday? I tear up every time. They just don't know the horrors to come.
Then again, we do get the Lord of the Rings out of it, but still…..
In other news, I created a blog for spoilers. The only rule is that spoilers go there instead of here to protect those that wish to go unspoiled.
http://markspoils.blogspot.com/
We're mostly freaking out over Doctor Who over there, but I created posts for Mockingjay too. Also, for talking about Doctor Who season 6 / 32, be sure to put a spoiler warning in your post before you start talking about it please. Up through season 5 is fair game, but there are people who don't want to be spoiled for season 6 there too.
Oh, and Mark? Here's the rest of the video of the instructions! Just don't look at the comments. There are spoilers there. And don't look at the sidebar either! Just the video! Focus your vision!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsGzSz0KyNI
Thanks for creating a spoiler blog for Doctor Who!
I adore the Doctor's "whole" message to Martha. I may have it on my mp3 player for instant access wherever I am. >>
Oh, agreed about the boys preparing for war. Like when Jenny tells Martha that those boys will be running things in a few years, and Martha says, "1913… maybe not." You know, because they'll go off to war and probably die. Depressing.
I know WWI is pretty horrible but I keep thinking of Black Adder. Here is a link because my embedding didn't work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk37TD_08eA
One of the items (which they decided not to show in the final cut) was the Doctor explaining how much he hated pears and how worried he was that he might do something really stupid like EAT A PEAR, so Martha was instructed not to let him eat pears (cut to John Smith eating a pear). Which shows how alien the Doctor is that he was worried about that, but never thought he'd fall in love.
This adventure is a real gem. Beautifully written and filmed and of course David Tennant really is playing a totally different character.
I love this two-parter so very much, which is why you get a long comment today. It is a bit frustrating the first time around. You want the Doctor back, but you can't help sort of liking John Smith and Nurse Redfern.
This two-parter really shows off Tennant’s acting chops. John Smith is a completely new character in his own right and you can’t help but disassociate him somewhat from the Doctor. He draws a lot, has a posh accent, doesn’t object to boys beating their classmates, and is politely condescending in a very Edwardian English way. Even so, he’s awkward and a bit charming as well.
To us, every little clue about his true identity is glaringly obvious, every tiny little thing that’s wrong with him that doesn’t quite register with him. I love how the Doctor’s subconsious just peeks out every now and then, like when Joan asks him where he grew up. His immediate response is Gallifrey and he sort of trails off with yes, it must be in Ireland. He saves a baby from a falling piano in a very convoluted way, when really, couldn’t he have just yelled for the mother to stop?
Unfortunately, these episodes are another example of Matha abuse on the part of Ten. He puts her in a horrible position, not only having to keep him safe, but having to keep an eye on him as a colored maid in a 1910s British boarding school. Jesus, Doctor, these are upper-class teenaged boys of their era. They’re going to be mean, and they’re going to be racist. Wasn’t there anywhere/anytime else you could have hidden?
The Journal of Impossible Things is pure fanservice and I love it. We get sketches of past Doctors and monsters and Paul McGann is officially made canon. YAY. (Also, http://spune.deviantart.com/gallery/24548422#/d2k… lol)
Having John Smith’s parents be Sydney and Verity made me go “AWWW! :3” (fyi, Sydney Newman was the creator of Doctor Who and Verity Lambert was the first producer.)
Finally, you must watch this deleted scene a right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGG0RSgJT1I
“Don’t let me eat pears, I hate pears!”
Ifr you go by Dr Who magazine (who run comic stories of the Dr and his companions) McGann has always been canon. They are technically an independant, but licensed and ok'd by the BBC.
I've never discounted the magazine or Big Finish, but it's the first time he's been acknowledged it the series proper. For that matter, it's the first time we've seen pictures of any of the previous incarnations in the New Series.
Oh, you beat me to posting that deleted scene! I love it!
Ugh, no, BOO. Because if Paul McGann is officially canon, then so is the Doctor’s heritage as revealed in that execrable failed pilot. And it also means he has one fewer regeneration left.
Sarah Jane adventures ret-conned the regeneration thing, I believe.
Haven’t seen the Sarah Jane Adventures – but I know that certain other Time Lords have managed to get around the limit, too.
You mean when the Doctor told Clyde he could regenerate 507 times? I'm pretty sure he was joking, but without the Time Lords to impose a limit, the Doctor could theoretically have a perpetual amount of regenerations.
I thought he was joking too, and I was surprised at all of the anger from fans about it.
Agreed. The Doctor sounded like he was just trying to get Clyde off his back.
Besides, the Doctor's 'heritage' has been quietly ret-conned and I'm sure we'll get past the regeneration thing when we come to it.
yeah, I'm pretty certain about that. The regeneration thing has been quietly ignored so far.
Yeah, it came off as "Shut up, kid, I'm busy saving the world." Still, I suspect that if the show continues its run long enough for a thirteenth regeneration to become a possibility, they'll find some way to have him regenerate again.
Anyway, I was never clear on if it was their physiology that limited them to twelve regenerations, or if it was Time Lord law.
At the rate the new series is going, the thirteenth regeneration could be only five (or less!) years from now. That's one of the things I don't like about the new series; the older actors stayed as the Doctor for years upon years, but the newer ones aren't sticking around for that long. If Matt Smith doesn't stick around for longer than his current contract, we could get up to Thirteen pretty soon, which makes me worried.
(I'm trying to not be specific because I think Mark has no clue when Ten regenerates, just that he does leave.)
Well, in the new series' defense, they are making pretty intense shows for much of the year, and the shows are, I'm sure, much more physical than the original show. That's gotta take it out of a person.
Which might be why the Doctor seems to be getting younger; he needs all that energy for all the running and climbing and falling and screaming and not looking at explosions and, and, and….
That'd have been the case in 70s, when they cut back the number of episodes, but in the 60s they filmed nearly all year round and it was very demanding. Neither actor did more than three years under those circumstances.
Still there are far more takes and more location shooting with the new series. Plus a lot of night shoots – which the original could almost never afford to do.
The older series actors stayed for 3 years, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, 3 years, 2 years and 3 years. If the series hadn't have been cancelled, McCoy would have done 4 years.
Matt's contract length is only a rumour and even if it's correct doesn't mean anything – if he wants to leave or they want him to leave then he'll go. But if he stays for the rumoured amount of time then we'll have had three doctors in eight years, as against eleven years for the first three. Also Eccleston will definitely be the odd one out there, dragging the average down but not typical. I'd suggest the earliest we'd be looking at a regeneration would be 2018, which would be the new series' 14th year and 22 years since the limit was last mentioned.
If it makes for a good story they'll use it, if it doesn't they'll handwave it away and most people won't notice. Either way it's not going to be the end of the series.
I suspect that if the show continues its run long enough for a thirteenth regeneration to become a possibility, they'll find some way to have him regenerate again.
It's fun to imagine someone at the BBC saying, no we must stop making this epically popular and beloved and money-making television show because it would contradict canon! The horror!
That would be pretty funny, actually. Especially considering that there's precious little in the Whoniverse that is unalterable canon, and with soft sci-fi AND time travel, you can pretty much do anything you want.
Actually, even the "13 incarnations" limit is contradicting canon – the Second Doctor specifically said that "barring accidents, I could live forever". And it's not like the limit hasn't been broken already (won't say more, possible spoilers).
I personally think they should get rid of the limit (either by saying that since the Time Lords are no longer around, it's void; or some other excuse), but it should be addressed. They can't just ignore it. It would make a nice story arc for the Twelfth Doctor – he could be unsure whether the limit is still standing or not… it could lead to all sorts of interesting situations and choices.
Maybe as the Last of the Time Lords he feels he has a duty to keep on living even though he's not "supposed" to. Like what he told the Face of Boe about how he's the last of his kind so he has to keep going.
Aww, but I love the Eighth Doctor. 🙁
Can I just ignore that part of the movie please? McGann's Doctor forgot about it soon enough.
I believe with this show, Doctor Who canon is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.
(And now I owe Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio a dollar for that. Worth every penny. :D)
Nah, you owe it to Terry Pratchett.
One thing you never have to worry about, in Doctor Who, is which backstory is canon.
Canon and continuity are not the same thing. It's entirely possible for the Doctor to have been half-human in the TV movie and not since. Nobody is beholden to past decisions, it's just a fan game to try and make sense of it all.
In a similar fashion, the Doctor has said himself that he can live forever barring accidents and we've also seen many previous regenerations before the first Doctor. Both of those are contradicted by later statements, but they're all part of the televised Doctor Who canon, which has always included the TV movie. You don't get to chuck stuff out on the basis that it causes continuity problems.
My explanation is that we're seeing various retellings of a mythical story and sometimes the details get a bit fuzzy.
Wait, regenerations pre-One? Who what when where why?
There's a huge controversy over whether William hartnell was actually the First Doctor based on something from the Fourth Doctor serial "The Brain of Morbius." I've not seen the story, so I don't really understand it, but the gist of it is the Doctor had a mind-bending battle with Morbius and you see a bunch of different faces projected. The first four Doctors appear among them, so some assume that the rest are pre-Hartnell Doctors. http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Morbius_Doctors
Anyone who's actually watched this serial is welcome to correct me or elaborate, because I'm really sketchy on the details.
That's correct. It's basically a joke, as the pre-Hartnell Doctors are actually members of the production team (including Graeme Harper, director of 42 and the four Cyberman episodes in series two – as well as Caves of Androzani and Revelation of the Daleks in the old series).
There's no real ambiguity, Morbius says, "How far Doctor, how long have you lived?" and we see regenerations four through to one.The we see a quick succession of faces and Morbius says, "Your puny mind is powerless against the strength of Morbius. Back, back, to your beginning…"
At the time there was only one way to read that scene – that the Hartnell Doctor was at least the ninth Doctor. In the light of The Deadly Assassin (broadcast ten months later, with the same production team and with the script editor, Robert Holmes, heavily involved in writing both scripts) there's enough wiggle room to come up with alternative explanations, if trying to make everything fit together is really important to you.
What's clear though, is that contradicting what's gone before has never bothered the productions teams that much – the Morbius/Assassin team even contradicted themselves. It's up to fans to deal with those contradictions in any way they like.
Kind of funny you bring that up in the comments section of the episode that could give a plausible explanation for that little horrible revelation. 😉 BUT I also fully support accepting McGann as canon but sticking fingers in ears and shouting "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" for everything else about that movie.
To be fair to the Doctor, I don't think he really had a lot of opportunity to pick a landing point. I mean, emergencies just don't wait for you to home in on a conveniently non-racist time period. That, and the writers picking that time period let them address interesting, challenging things like institutionalized racism and violence and the whole "war, glorious war!" mindset that made young men so eager to volunteer when war broke out.
Don't get me wrong, I love the setting and how they play with the time period. It is very powerful and I do love that they addressed the matter of racism and the tyranny and lust for war of the British Empire.
However, I don't recall if the question of how the Doctor formulated John Smith's memories ever addressed. If it was a random emergency landing, then the memories must have formed themselves as soon as he arrived in the time period. It seems more likely that he planned out the memories (John Smith is "a character he made up"), in which case he must have known where and when he was going.
The Doctor said the TARDIS would take care of everything, inventing a life story, finding a setting, and integrating him. It just didn't do anything for Martha. Either the TARDIS doesn't like Martha, or she doesn't understand what certain time periods were like for women of color.
Now I remember that! Thank you.
The setting definitely sucks for Martha, but it could have been a lot worse. The TARDIS could have dropped them in Barbados in the 1760's, or Mississippi circa 1830. That would have been truly a disaster.
I thought the TARDIS chose their hiding place, not the Doctor?
For your consideration, a few strange noises with my mouth: "Bingle bongle, dingle dangle, lickety doo, lickety dah, ping pong, lippy toppy too tah."
<img src="http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/7920/strangenoises.gif">
(Sorry it's so huge!)
*right-click* *save image*
If I could upvote you a thousand times for posting this, I WOULD.
LOVE <3
BLINK!!! I am so glad it is 8 Pm. I can totally do it at 8.
Ugh, that means i have to get up at like 6am in UK.
*cries*
UGH I'm so sorry Fiona. I live in the same time zone as Mark and I get off work just before that time too.
4 am, I think. Either way, I can't do it.
Yep, 4am. For the times around the world:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.h…
We're going out tomorrow night, so I am kind of considering just staying up a bit longer when I get back home to join in. I've never done one of Mark's liveblogs, but Blink!
That would possibly just be committing myself to an all nighter though, as I have to be on a bus at 9 am on Wednesday, so maybe not one of my best ideas…
It's 11pm for me, but I can do that. EXCITED!
“THE DOCTOR’S VIDEO LIST HAD TWENTY-THREE ITEMS ON IT. Oh god, I love him so much. I wish we could have seen all twenty-three items.”
There is video! Okay, it’s not all twenty-three items, but it’s worth watching.
Here’s a full video of the Doctor’s instructions that Martha fast-forwarded through.
Oh god when I first watched this episode, I wasn’t sure where it was going at the beginning, and I thought it might have been one of those “convince him he’s delusional and imaging himself as a superhero and that he’s not special like he thinks he is” sorts of scifi/fantasy plots. But this is so much better – I mean, it’s basically the reversal of the above trope (where he’s convinced he’s not special), and it’s self-induced. Major angst potential.
The Journal of Impossible Things is lovely, of course, but my favorite is the drawings of the past regenerations. I think it’s just such a sad thing, that he’s writing about himself and not necessarily just his wacky space adventures.
Also, the guy playing Jeremy Baines is so goddamn good at being creepy I am super impressed at both him and whoever casted him.
I will say, though, that I would like to change something about this story: I think the premise of Doctor Who is such that there’s basically always going to be a power disparity between Doctor and companion (at least from what we’ve seen of new Who companions so far, and I’m pretty sure most of the classic Who companions fit this bill too), given that he’s a Time Lord and his companions are generally “ordinary” humans – even Jack wasn’t an equal. He’s much older, and more knowledgeable, and knows how to travel through time and space, that I think there’s pretty much always an inequality between him and his companion (this, btw, is one reason I don’t care to ship the Doctor much). And this could have been the story to change that – he’s human, he’s had his knowledge and abilities removed, and yet, Martha’s still subordinate and given much less power than he is. I really wish we could have screwed with the Doctor/companion relationship more. Honestly, I think this story just has this major wasted opportunity. I know this is a fan favorite, but it’s not one of mine since I think there’s so much more that could have been done with this premise that would have appealed to me a lot more than what they’re doing. I had the same reaction to Father’s Day – another fan favorite, but so much wasted potential with the time travel paradoxes that I couldn’t love it.
Finally, I can’t help but think Love and Monsters would have been better if they told a Doctor-light story as from the perspective of an already established guest-star who knows a fair bit about the Doctor already, like with Timothy Latimer who’s getting the Doctor’s story from basically a first person perspective, and have that character live their life (e.g. going to war) knowing someone like the Doctor exists, and how that would shape their view of the world. Whatever, I’m writing fanfic in my head, apparently. Or I just wish Love and Monsters had only focused on Jackie or something (wow that could have been awesome).
Also, the guy playing Jeremy Baines is so goddamn good at being creepy I am super impressed at both him and whoever casted him.
Harry Lloyd IS my Tom Riddle.
Unpopular opinion, apparently, but I prefer the Tom Riddle we got in CoS (Christian Coulson) because he's supposed to be charismatic and classically handsome and stuff, if I remember the books correctly. So Lloyd doesn't fit my headcanon as well, since he can't pull off the good boy/teacher's pet look that I think Riddle should have, in my opinion.
Don't get me wrong! I liked Christian Coulson, too! However, Harry Lloyd CAN look sweet and clean-cut: http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/system/images/3736/defa…
And this could have been the story to change that – he's human, he's had his knowledge and abilities removed, and yet, Martha's still subordinate and given much less power than he is. I really wish we could have screwed with the Doctor/companion relationship more. Honestly, I think this story just has this major wasted opportunity.
This is such an amazing summation of what has always bothered me about this episode – beyond the racism, because wow, Martha is getting the shortest end of the stick in the whole 'verse on her travels – all of time and space where she could take charge and be awesome, and she's stuck AS A MAID. Argh.
My unpopular opinion is not as unpopular as it could be, cool.
But yeah, this episode reaps so much fanlove, and I'm like, pouting on the side because I want a rewrite.
I mean, I think the racism aspect is interesting, but this really is the "shit all over the companion" season.
I like your unpopular opinion as well! I'll definitely have more to say about the "shit all over the companion season" bit when it's not spoilery.
Nah, it's not really a favorite of mine either, for the reasons you stated (and some more I can't talk about yet).
I think there's pretty much always an inequality between him and his companion (this, btw, is one reason I don't care to ship the Doctor much). And this could have been the story to change that – he's human, he's had his knowledge and abilities removed, and yet, Martha's still subordinate and given much less power than he is. I really wish we could have screwed with the Doctor/companion relationship more.
YES to all of this. I love Martha — she always does her best with the crap end of the stick that she's given, but that doesn't change the fact that she is given some really, REALLY crappy stick-ends. (… That metaphor got away from me a bit.) She's fantastic, so smart and persistent and loyal, and she deserves better.
Far as I see it, you people been given the shortest end of the stick ever been offered a human soul in this crap-heel 'verse. But you took that end, and you…well, you took it!
I haven't followed this blog in like a week but I felt compelled to check it out today so I could stan for Human Nature appropriately. It is one of my very very favourite episodes of the whole show, probably #3, I love it so hard. I can't say much about the first half for risk of giving away the second half, but ugh it is great. The plot is so NEAT, there is loads of Martha Jones being a bamf forever, David Tennant makes the distinction between the Doctor and John Smith so well, and that kid from Love Actually is there to play British Actor Bingo.
Also, Baines reminds me of Tom Riddle.
<img src=http://i.imgur.com/nbYka.gif>
AWWW OF COURSE ROSE WAS IN THE BOOK. Awkward Town, Population: Martha.
lol, John Smith writes Doctor/Rose fanfiction. (And then… shows it to his girlfriend. Oh, John Smith.)
A+ gif. Baines is so hammy, it's actually kind of scary.
LOL. I love everything that this comment chooses to be. <3
LOL CAN YOU GUESS WHICH EPISODES I WILL PERIODICALLY STAN FOR? With full blinders on at all times.
YES. I am particularly looking forward to stanning some episodes from series 4 and a certain special with you. I THINK OUR EXUBERANCE WILL SINGLE HANDEDLY SILENCE ALL HATERS.
I thought he was Tom Riddle….(bad Harry Potter fan, hides face in shame)
I just commented about Baines/Riddle, too! IT'S UNCANNY.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAINES!
I love these episodes too. I think the first time I watched them I wasn't so enamoured because I was like "John Smith, look at your life, look at your choices" but watching it a second time really helped me see the brilliance of it all.
When you wrote "John Smith, look at your life, look at your choices"
Isiah Mustafa came to mind. "Now back to me"
How awesome is the art direction on Smith’s A Journal of Impossible Things? I would love to own that book. It looked completely real!
Hee! I DO own the journal. Bwaahaha. A couple of years ago they sold a version of the Journal of Impossible things (that also came with a sonic screwdriver!). I feel like that fact that I own this cements me as a nerd forever. I AM TOTALLY OK WITH THAT.
FAVORITE EPISODES OF SERIES 3. (Sorry, “Blink”.) THIS IS GOING TO BE REALLY LONG AND EPIC.
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/21aiwcj.gif">
This two parter is two of my favorite episodes of all of Doctor Who, due in no small part to David Tennant’s incredible acting. He really becomes a different person as John Smith, and makes you care about John Smith so that you join him on his emotional journey and mourn his loss when he must become the Doctor once more. I just adore how these episodes function as a way of exploring the Doctor’s character further by removing him from the story. We get to learn more about the Doctor and better understand him by comparing him to John Smith and by seeing how the Doctor didn’t even consider that his human self might fall in love. And I love the characters in this episode. Yes, there are things about John and Joan that offend our modern sensibilities, but we still get the sense that these are good and decent people, even if they are products of their time. Basically, I just think these episodes are all around brilliant. So let’s start talking about this episode, shall we?
Setting the story in 1913 was an absolutely brilliant choice. Nineteen thirteen is still the Victorian Era in so many ways, but at the same time, as modern viewers, we know that WWI and the modern era is just around the corner, so we can watch these scenes with knowledge of the future that the characters within the story don’t have, creating a great sense of dramatic irony.
Rocastle: You need to be better than the best. Those targets are tribesmen from the dark continent.
Tim Latimer: That's exactly the problem, sir. They only have spears.
Rocastle: Oh dear me. Latimer takes it upon himself to make us realize how wrong we all are. I hope, Latimer, that one day you may have a just and proper war in which to prove yourself.
This idea of war as a noble and manly thing is a hold over from the Victorian Era, but these ideals are about to come crashing down. There are rumblings in Europe. Europe is on the edge of WWI and the Modern Era. And you really feel that tension in this episode. Being set in a military school, these boys are going to be going to the war. Many of them will die. This is the Lost Generation.
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/s4zbl3.jpg">
And you know, the Family of Blood are excellent villains. The way that Son of Mine tilts his head with that crooked smile on his face is just so wonderfully creepy. Daughter of Mine with her red balloon is that fantastic trope of an evil child. Even their names "Son of Mine" etc, lend this episode a sense of the mythic. And those animated scarecrows are just so perfectly unsettling. The plot of this episode is not incredibly complex (yet still good!), but as a character piece, these episodes are almost unrivaled.
In spite of my quibbles with how Martha’s character arc was handled throughout series 3, I really do have a lot of admiration for the way Martha handled her situation in this story. I am not known for being patient or long-suffering. I would never have been able to suffer through this with as much grace as she did. And I love the way that she tests Jenny to see if she’s human after she suspects that something is off. That was super clever.
The one minor thing that bothers me with Martha in this episode is that bit when she’s back in the Tardis and slips into self-pitying Martha mode.
Martha Jones: You had to, didn’t you? You had to go and fall in love with a human… and it wasn’t me.
The line would have been so much better if it had ended after “You had to go and fall in love with a human.” And then just let Freema’s acting sell the rest. Actually saying, “and it wasn’t me” pushes it a bit too far towards Martha just feeling sorry for herself and I HATE that aspect of her storyline. But really that’s my only quibble with these two episodes.
John Smith is a wonderful character. He has this sweet boyish awkwardness and eagerness about him. He’s an ordinary man thrust into an impossible situation.
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/bhfkw.jpg">
John Smith: Mankind doesn't need warfare and bloodshed to prove itself. Everyday life can provide honor and valor. Let's hope that from now on this country can find its heroes in smaller places. In the most ordinary of deeds.
That quote encapsulates one of my favorite things about John Smith and RTD-era Who. It is all about showing how ordinary people can be heroes. And this time around John Smith is one of those ordinary people. (Also, it’s completely cute that after he saves the day with the cricket ball, high on the excitement of it all, he’s able to find the courage to ask Joan to the dance.)
John Smith, this ordinary man, has had greatness conferred upon him. And that’s terrifying. That look of fear on his face when he sees the sonic screwdriver tugs at my heart strings. It’s impossible. The thing from his dreams. Those dreams are impossible. He is John Smith. A teacher. He doesn’t know what is happening to him. It’s this wonderful blend of fear, self-doubt, and confusion.
I also love Joan Redfern (and Jessica Hynes who plays her- she’s brilliant in Spaced). She’s kind and caring, but there is so much more to her than just that. She’s experienced loss and she knows first hand the true cost of war. Don’t get me wrong, in her treatment of Martha she is very much a woman of her time period and station in life, but I do think she is a sweet and compassionate woman with a quiet strength about her.
Seeing Joan and John fall in love is just so sweet. The way that she gently hints about the village dance is adorable.
Joan Redfern: Do you think you’ll go?
John Smith: I… uh… I hadn’t thought about it.
Joan Redfern: It’s been ages since I’ve been to a dance. Only, no one’s asked me.
John Smith: Well, I should imagine that you’d be… um… I mean… uh… I-I never thought you’d be one for- I mean, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t- If you do, you may not, um- I probably won’t. But even if I did, then I couldn’t. I mean, I wouldn’t to-
Joan Redfern: [interrupting] -the stairs.
John Smith: What about the stairs?
Joan Redfern: They’re right behind you!
Seriously! How cute are they?
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/5yxbtc.jpg">
And then he shows her the Journal of Impossible Things. Back when this episode first came out people capped this scene and transcribed the writing and it really is wonderful. And since I am a Ten/Rose shipper, I’m going to take this little moment to talk about Rose’s page.
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/j6rc5y.jpg">
It’s full of phrases like “perfect Rose” and “In my dreams I keep asking a girl where to find one, and she is dressed in the most extraordinarily immodest way.” “She will not answer me, and she keeps walking away.” Even when the Time Lord is locked away deep inside of this human body, the Doctor is still searching for Rose.
Joan Redfern: Quite an eye for the pretty girls.
John Smith: Oh, no. She’s just an invention. This character. Rose, I call her, Rose- seems to disappear later on.
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/ivd9bq.jpg">
Joan Redfern [looking at the drawing John Smith has done of her]: You’ve made me far too beautiful.
John Smith: Well, that’s how I see you.
Joan Redern: Widows aren’t supposed to be beautiful. I think the world would rather we stopped. Is that fair? That we stop?
John Smith: That’s not fair at all.
[they kiss]
Their kiss is wonderfully shy and uncertain at first. Joan is a widow who probably thought that she’d never find love again, and John is a bookish school teacher who has never had a relationship with a woman before. But they’ve found each other and they’ve found love. Unfortunately this is Doctor Who, so by the end of the episode it is already starting to go to crap. DUN DUN DUN.
"And I love the way that she tests Jenny to see if she’s human after she suspects that something is off. That was super clever."
Yeah I do love that bit! Martha really is perfectly capable, and smart and brilliant 🙂
Don't forget! In Rose's picture, right up by her hairline on the top left side of the picture you posted, it says "she is my s—"
S– = what?
(my fanon, it's for soulmate. Ymmv … stripper? snogger? shagger? All fine alternate possibilities .. j/k!)
OMG I AM GONNA TOTALLY HAVE TO DO ANOTHER CRACK POLL ABOUT THIS ON MY LJ AREN'T I???? XD
The one minor thing that bothers me with Martha in this episode is that bit when she’s back in the Tardis and slips into self-pitying Martha mode.
Martha Jones: You had to, didn’t you? You had to go and fall in love with a human… and it wasn’t me.
Oh, give the girl a break! She has spent three months looking after this guy, enduring racist and classist remarks every single day, and then he falls in love with someone else! She needs to vent and she does so in the privacy of the TARDIS (and the TARDIS is probably sympathising with her, we all know she loves the Doctor, too).
My point with that wasn't meant to be "ugh Martha", but rather that line just really sticks out to me as a bi of awkward and unnecessary heavy handedness in an otherwise pretty flawless episode.
Ah, I see. Thanks for explaining. I agree that the addition of "and it wasn't me" is unnecessary (but I could say that about the beach scene in Doomsday). I honestly thought you were having a go at Martha for being miserable, my apologies for misunderstanding.
I agree on everything, aside from 1913 being the Victorian Era, since it was the Edwardian Era! 😉 I know it's nitpicking, but I'm a great lover of the Edwardian Period.
Paul Cornell is great at "greatness cast upon the ordinary".
Captain Britain & MI:13 forevah!
The line would have been so much better if it had ended after “You had to go and fall in love with a human.” And then just let Freema’s acting sell the rest. Actually saying, “and it wasn’t me” pushes it a bit too far towards Martha just feeling sorry for herself and I HATE that aspect of her storyline. But really that’s my only quibble with these two episodes.
Yeah this is one of my few issues with this episode — it's not even that I don't like Martha feeling sorry for herself, because frankly her situation especially in this episode blows, so hey Martha, throw a pity party in the TARDIS all you want. There is probably some icecream in the fridge that you can eat out of the tub, the Doctor clearly stocked up after Doomsday. But the line itself is clunky with the "and it wasn't me"; I totally agree that they should've let Freema sell that part herself. I remember watching it the first time and being like "aww Martha" at the "had to go and fall in love" bit, and then being totally surprised when she KEPT TALKING, lol. I don't mind characters talking about their ~feelings but this felt like an unnecessary overstatement of it.
TBH though it would be like ninety times more complicated and weird and gross if John had fallen in love with Martha, lol, so I think she dodged a bullet there, really.
I totally agree with you and Karen about that Martha's line. It was a bit too "in your face" to the audience. We aren't stupid, RTD, you don't have to spell every single thing to us!
There is probably some icecream in the fridge that you can eat out of the tub, the Doctor clearly stocked up after Doomsday.
*snort*
Gosh, the Tenth Doctor, could you stop falling in love for just a minute??
I have no idea how this TARDIS life can be worth it for Martha, I really don't.
Actually I have to qualify my thumbing up – I totally see how it would still be worth it. I mean, not easy, but worth every second.
(But yes – Ten doesn't actually snog every girl he meets, but sometimes it feels that way. For god's sake, so far this series has been all about how into Martha he's not, and he still snogged her in her first episode.)
Maybe the tenth regeneration is when all Time Lords and Ladies go a bit funny, start buying sports cars, making eyes at mortals and shouting at kids in the street.
This comment made me laugh hysterically at my screen for a bit.
You should probably be proud of yourself.
I will then!
awesome comment is awesome 😀
And, to be fair, he's not the Doctor. He's John Smith, who is, as we've seen, a different man.
“I wish we could have seen all twenty-three items.”
O rlli?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGG0RSgJT1I
You've got to love the fact he doesn't break character for when he's talking about the concert.
Aaaaaaaand now I just fell in love with David Tennant. Again.
It doesn't matter what he's in, I fall in love with him.
He was in the remake of The Quatermass Experiment with his scottish accent on, and I was all for that.
You can buy the Journal of Impossible things its on amazon.
Although you may want to be careful about looking for it. Some versions (like the one I have) are packed in with a replica of a spoilery prop.
Ah bugger, i'd forgotten about that, don't anybody buy it until the season is over.
Love this two-parter, so so much. Would say more, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I will leave you with this:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/p4DOo.gif">
YES!!!
Love this. Oh Paul Cornell why are there only three Doctor Who episodes with your name in the titles? Both this story and Father's day are so good. The world needs more Doctor Who episodes written by Paul Cornell.
And because I should have told you this last episode:
YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
And because I need to tell you this now:
YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
And because no one is ever prepared for Blink:
YOU ARE NOT PREPARED
And because there's three more episodes after that:
YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
I'll probably get commentninjaed by this but: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGG0RSgJT1I The full, non-sped up version of the video the Doctor leaves for Martha. It is a work of brilliance by David Tennant.
"How awesome is the art direction on Smith’s A Journal of Impossible Things? I would love to own that book. It looked completely real!"
They have in fact made replicas of the book (I have my copy of it on my desk right now actually). The replica is a lot smaller than the prop which makes the text rather tricky to read but it's still really amazing to look through. There's a lot of stuff they didn't show on screen (or they may have done but very quickly). There's actually more than one sketch of Rose in it, I don't think the others were shown though.
As for the episode:
I say this on many episodes but Martha is awesome and oh god do I just want to hug her for this episode.
When did Sam from Love Actually get so tall?!
FUCK YES. That video rules!
oh my god that was one of the best videos I've watched ALL DAY.
I just want to point out to fans of the OldWho that the school is (I believe) yet another frequently re-used set- I recognised it almost immediatedly, it or a similar building having been used in nearly every OldWho where they needed an old-redbrick building to be vaugely ominous.
It may look similar but it's not the same. Old Who was mainly filmed in and around London, new Who is mainly filmed in South Wales. The locations used for the school have only been used in new Who. They are Treberfydd House:
http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/trebe… (spoilers for the next episode but not used anywhere else)
and Tredegar House:
http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/trede… (used in several upcoming episodes, so some brief spoilery mentions of what they contain).
A couple of classic series big house locations:
http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/starg… – Pyramids of Mars
http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/athel… – The Seeds of Doom
thabks! It just looked extraordinarily familiar…
<img src="http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Chritter710/Doctor/4qkbi9.gif">
This is my favorite two-parter in all of New Who.
Mark, please watch this deleted scene from this episode. No spoilers, but some wonderful Tennant goodness, I promise you won't regret it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGG0RSgJT1I&fe…
I love the callback to the satsuma throw from the Christmas Invasion when he throws the ball at the piano
<img src="http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Chritter710/chucknorris.gif">
Yes! That bit with the throwing the cricket ball is brilliant! Reminds you that he is still in there,y'know? It also reminded me of Five 😛
That's true! I didn't think about the cricket ball connection to Five. They're all in there somewhere. Obviously the dancing skills are Nine's.
CHUCK NORRIS O_O
This is a deleted/extended scene from Human Nature which will make you LOL so hard because THE DOCTOR HATES PEARS GUYS. (No spoilers.)
Also, again, HARRY LLOYD FOR TWELVE FOREVER.
This is one of my favourite episodes; I love the emotional connections, but the aliens are just as awesome and terrifying. I think the fact we get a good portion of both is a brilliant achievement, and definitely makes for one of Rusty's better scripts. 🙂
Also, when me and my friend Anna did our binge-series-3-rewatch, we totally paused the DVD on every single page of the Journal and decoded every single thing written in it. 😐
For the record, at one point it says about Rose: "I see her in my dreams. She keeps walking away and she will not answer me." MY CREYS FOREVER.
(Or something like that, I forget exactly)
Oh lol everyone already beat me to posting the deleted scene video 😐
It has been a while since I watched this episode so I don't remember it all, but I do love it, it's definitely one of my favourites. One of my favourite parts was Harry Lloyd as Baines, creepy. 😮
I absolutely love this episode. One of my favourites. I love the Doctor-Martha-dynamics and I love the acting and I love the … movieness of the episode. These two episodes really do work on their own, as independent film.
And the scarecrows creep me out. Old trope, yes, but… very effective.
I especially loved this episode because there was no deus ex machina action going on. People actually had to deal with their problems, there simply wasn't a Doctor that could appear and fix everything. Oh, and the journal! So gorgeous!
I also loved the Joan-John-romance. So nice to see such a … subtle love story unfold.
All in all: amazing episode and shit is so real and you are so unpepared. 🙂
Also: YAY BLINK LIVEBLOG WHOOO =)
This two-parter is one of my favorites! I love the Doctor as John Smith, because even though he's a different person, I feel like you still see glimpses of the Doctor in there somewhere. I LOVE the "Journal of Impossible Things," another reminder of the Doctor we know and love. I feel bad for Martha too, I imagine that if I was her, I would just want to spend the entire time safe in the TARDIS lol. I would be the most boring person to travel through time and space with, lol. "Yeah, I'm just gonna hang out in the TARDIS guys, you go ahead."
Those scarecrows were pretty freakin scary, no lie. I don't think that trope will ever NOT BE SCARY.
seriously, if i were martha i would've chilled in there for the whole 3 months. i can't imagine you'd get bored.
It has a swimming pool and a library! It (probably has a cinema in there somewhere)
It's a pity that so far we've only seen the main console room (and a glimpse of the wardrobe) of the new TARDIS.
Yeah, I'd stay in the TARDIS with you. You know, drinking tea, knitting, keeping an eye on the Doctor and the other companion(s) over the monitor, that sort of thing.
You can actually own the Doctor's Journal of Impossible Things. I got a copy for Christmas. It's not as big or as detailed as the one in the episode, but it is still a neat little thing to own. (Also, it comes with a sonic screwdriver pen that lights up. Bonus!)
Here's a link to the one I have:
http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?nu…
Important Warning to Mark: Caroline's link seems fine, but Do Not look for the Journal on Amazon because it comes with something else that you don't know about yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Journal-Impossible-Thi…
I don't know if anyone linked you, but the Journal of Impossible Things actually exists in real life.
Uhh, bit of a warning, that version has another item that's a bit of a spoiler.
OH FUCK! I didn't even realize it!
OMG I WANT IT.
my friend has it and IT IS AMAZING!!
Ahhh the book is awesome… and I bought a copy of it at Armegeddon last year! Worst part about it is they leave you all these blank pages at the end. AS IF I WOULD EVER WRITE IN IT. I AM NOT AS AWESOME AS THE DOCTOR. Even when he doesn't know it. Jeesh. Also they gave me some cheap ring instead of the screwdriver. 🙁
But yeah, its awesome and was worth every penny. And it actually had spoilers (sort of) for when the episode came out
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225/SmCrzPlyr…
I'm pretty sure that's Martha, y/y?
This episode is so much love in general.
RIGHT?? And then when HBP came out the kid who played older Riddle kind of reminded me of him, and I wasn't sure if that was because they actually did look alike, or just because I have so completed the Tom Riddle=Baines image in my mind.
oh my god he would have made an AMAZING TOM RIDDLE.
Actually, I thought the one in CoS looked a lot like HL! But yeah, he's pretty much my own personal Tom-Riddle-canon 😛
SO AWESOME.
I swear I read somewhere that he actually was the teenage Tom Riddle from HPB and I spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking he was.
I think I've IMDBed it like… multiple times. JUST TO CHECK. I mean, they may have merged into being the same person since the last time I looked.
I think they are the same person and IMDB is just lying to us. That's the theory I'm going with anyway.
I have too! Every time I re-watch Human Nature I think I re-convince myself and have to go check…
As I already said in an earlier review, this episode and the next one are probably my favorite episodes of this season, perhaps even of the series as a whole. The final scene here is as horribly frustrating for the viewer as it must be for the Family. The implication up to this point is that the parts of the Doctor that make him more than and beyond human are not completely gone, but rather suppressed. This is a situation that the Doctor would be able to think his way out of, and it's difficult to ignore the hope that somehow he will be able to access that part of himself, despite it seeming fairly clear that that's not going to happen. Because as you said, John Smith is not the Doctor; he's a human being who has only experienced life in this one time, on this one planet. He's been given a brilliant disguise, but he's been stripped of his weapons, as well.
Can we also please take a moment for how wonderfully badass Martha was during her conversation with Mother of Mine? I will freely admit that I wasn't a huge Martha fan, but this was the point in the series where I wanted to shout at the screen, "Yes! Omigod look at her being the best thing ever WHY WON'T YOU LET HER BE THIS AWESOME ALL THE TIME?" I love that by handicapping the Doctor, they were able to really let Martha shine.
Also, Harry Lloyd as Son of Mine = most brilliantly creepifying thing ever. Nonfictions.
Martha's AWESOMENESS is a FACT.
"I love that by handicapping the Doctor, they were able to really let Martha shine. "
I feel like the writers are constantly doing this with the companions, though. When it's Doctor + companion, the Doctor saves the day and the companion plays sidekick. And it's only when they're separated or he's incapacitated that the companion, whoever it is, is "allowed" to shine. Only exception I can think of is Jack in Boomtown laying out the plan. And oh look, the Doctor's annoyed by Jack taking over without permission.
I'm quite frankly bored with it. Love kick-ass companions, but I'm annoyed at the writing.
Yeah, I can understand your frustration. I think the reason it doesn't bother me too much is because, with every companion, it feels like an important milestone in their development. It's easy–and understandable, I think–for the companions to rely on the Doctor when he's around, and in all honesty they should usually defer to his judgment and expertise. He's spent centuries traveling through time and space; they've usually been at it for a few months, tops. This moment for the companions fees, for me, like the first time that you realize that your parents and/or other adults aren't going to step in and take care of things, and you're going to have to handle things yourself. It's not something that can carry over from one person to the next; Rose's assumption of possibility doesn't it any easier for Martha when her turn comes around, and her experiences here aren't going to help future companions when their time comes. So while I definitely understand your position, I have to say that it doesn't really bother me. 😆
Yeah, I'm also bored by the "ordinary human" companions, so the character growth arguments don't sway me much.
I just feel like most of the writers believe the Doctor should never be upstaged, or that if he does, he should get retribution. When I want him to be challenged by companions all the time.
Basically, I want DW to change up the formula.
Fair enough. I'd like to see a non-human (and non-robotic, sorry K-9) companion as well. Or at least someone from the future who wasn't raised on Earth.
Also, it may just be wishful thinking, but I feel like Ace wouldn't stand for this kind of crap. -_-
I wish I could give this ALL THE UP-THUMBS.
I utterly LOVE this two-parter. It features what is IMHO the best and finest acting on Davey T's part – I think here he really had the opportunity to show his acting range.
And Martha's feelings aside, isn't John-Joan just the sweetest couple ever? I love them. Very subtle, very touching, very… well, human (sorry if that's a bad pun… 😛 ).
Oh, and Baines is such a deliciously evil villain, isn't he?
And I seem to recall that this was an adaptation of a DW novel, featuring (I think) the Seventh Doctor? Except that the memories weren't stored in a fobwatch, but in a cricket ball. Someone correct me if I'm wrong…
Yep it's a book adaptation
A cricket ball? XD He better hope that his Fifth self doesn't come along and steal it.
I watch this episode and it makes me think of Harry Potter. The music, too. It's as good as a movie.
It is indeed an adaptation of the VNA Human Nature, starring the Seventh Doctor and written by Paul Cornell. I've been meandering through the novels and that one's coming up in my line-up, I kind of can't wait.
Lots of things to mention, if my wrist can cope.
"My mother was called Verity and my father was called Sydney" – named after Verity Lambert the first producer of the show (who went on to have a legendary career) and Sydney Newman, the head of BBC drama, who started the whole process running. The documents from the birth of the show are here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/doctorwho/
The cricket ball is a nod to Peter Davison's Doctor.
The family inspired Russell T Davies to make the Slitheen a family. His inspiration came from the original version which was a seventh Doctor novel written by Paul Cornell during the time the show was off the air. It used to be on the BBC site as an ebook, but they've taken it down.
Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson) co-starred in and co-wrote the amazing Spaced, with Simon Pegg (and Edgar Wright directing). Well worth seeing, if you haven't.
That all got interrupted by a power failure, so I'll now see how much of it has already been said.
So far, no one seems to have mentioned that actor Harry Lloyd (Baines) is a descendant of Charles Dickens… that guy Simon Callow played in "The Unquiet Dead".
Joan is played by Jessica Hynes, who I'd seen in the couple of episodes of Spaced I'd watched before starting Doctor Who and when I saw her in this episode I got all excited because (as you already know) Simon Pegg was in an episode. And I like silly little connection things like that. Plus, it was really really funny later, when I finished watching Spaced because I watched several of the episodes with the commentary and at one point Simon and Jessica talk about both of them being on Doctor Who. Little things like that make my nerd heart happy. XD
And I am excited for the liveblog. I do work tomorrow, but a morning shift so I'll be home way before the liveblog starts. And I love that it's at night. Best time to watch Doctor Who. XD
Oh my gosh I love this 2-parter so much. I always change my mind, as to which is my favourite, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, or this. At the moment it's this one.
I have a full comment coming for after the second part, but in the meantime, here are some cute baby animal gifs, to celebrate how happy this episode makes me.
<img src="http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/263/adorablepouncingpuppy.gif"><img src="http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5841/cuterodentnom.gif"><img src="http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8217/rawrl.gif"><img src="http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5452/tickleotterbaby.gif"><img src="http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/441/tinycutekitteh.gif">
OMG THE CUTE
HE'S SO HAPPY ABOUT HIS BROCCOLI!!
OH GOD KITTEN! KIITTEEENNNNN~!
THE OTTER IS LAUGHING!
That's pretty much how I feel when I read your review of this episode and realized you pretty much reacted the same way I did 🙂 Happy baby otter for life!
Just spent a good 10 minutes looking at these. I am in the middle of a two-parter and I spent 10 minutes looking at cute gifs…
YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
I love that like forty of you linked me to the Journal of Impossible Things.
You are all my favorites forever.
We're kind of like really enthusiastic, computer-literate puppies.
And probably had the link already copied, just waiting for the post to be up so it could be pasted.
>We're kind of like really enthusiastic, computer-literate puppies.
Absolutely! Except that I don't accidentally wee in the corner…
…well, not unless I'm *really* drunk!
If you want to see some really beautiful fanart of it, go to SheldonSands of deviantart. So, so incrediably beautiful Spoilerific for anything up to these episodes, yes, but Amazing. http://sheldonsands.deviantart.com/gallery/246597…
Seriously. Check it out.
I didn't really like this episode. Joan was blah in my opinion. Probs an unpopular opinion but it just dragged on a bit.
I thought the acting was really good though, it really made me feel for Martha, and David Tennant's transformation was amazing too.
I can't do the Blink liveblog. 8pm for you is something like 4am for me, and unemployed or not I'm not sure my beloved would be impressed with me staying up then to watch Dr Who with the other really nerdy nerds (we're both fans, and currently he believes my participation with this blog is adorably nerdy, but I suspect staying up that late to watch an episode I've already seen a dozen times will push it into 'ok, that's ridiculous' for him pretty damn quickly). So, sadly, I shall not join you, but I shall watch it in my own time and talk about it in the aftermath.
LOL. Saaaaaame. Even though I only have class on Mondays and Tuesdays, I don't need to mess up my sleep cycle even more than it already is by staying up to liveblog Blink.
‘Gallifrey.’ ‘Is that in Ireland?’ ‘Yes it must be.’ I wish. I want my own TARDIS.
As to the twenty three points, you might enjoy this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGG0RSgJT1I
It really sucks to be Martha in this episode. She's spent months being looked down on because of her class and her skin colour. Can you imagine having to say 'sir' to the boys in that school. She can't really be herself being constantly told to mind her station and it must be especailly bad for her that she can't even doctor John Smith. I do love how she figures out something's wrong with Jenny by tricking her with food questions.
I love all of the extra characters in this. I feel so bad for Joan. She's already lost her husband and there's no way I can see this ending well for her. It makes it worse that I really like her and John together. I love Timothy in general but I have a particular love for him pointing out that the people they'd end up shooting against would only have spears.
I also love the characters you're meant to hate because they're products of their time. My episode notes don't exactly say the most curtious things about the Headmaster, Baines and Hutchinson but you can't ignore how important those attitudes were to the time. I did have an urge to punch John Smith when he pulled out the ‘this is what we call a story’ route. I honestly don't know how Martha could stand living in that time.
The journal of impossible things is love but I want a watch like the Doctor's so bad. I know there’s the plastic kids one but I want a proper pocket watch engraved with the Gallifreyan text.
All the music in these episodes is pure love. They’re a completely different in tone to the rest of the songs on the s3 soundtrack but they’re all wonderful. ‘Mr Smith and Joan’ I think is the more general theme for the two parter. It’s a lovely, sweet and gentle piece that really fits a lot of the episode, especially the relationship between John and Joan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxt_U3T1Ubg
I love ‘Only Martha Knows’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr0fa_ETHLc It starts so whimsical, especially with the addition of the whistling on the soundtrack, and then there’s that build in tension and increasing drama towards the end.
I did have an urge to punch John Smith when he pulled out the ‘this is what we call a story’ route. I honestly don't know how Martha could stand living in that time.
That bit was so much more offensive to me than simply riffs on haha she has dark skin. Seriously, that was ridiculously cringe-worthy.
That part was really painful. I'm glad he got a slap.
Because it hasn't turned up here yet I had to make it.
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/29gex52.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
You are the best. 😀
A+! How many Doctor-getting-slapped gifs are we up to now?
Let's see…
Nine gets slapped by Jackie
Ten gets slapped by Donna (twice), then by Francine, then by Martha.
I feel like I'm missing at least one though. Hmmm.
urrgh, horrible. Worse, knowing they were based in actual attitudes of the era.
The stuff about firing on the tribesmen with spears earlier? The British Army did that, or similar a couple of famous times.
The Empire was pretty monstrous, and the colonial attitudes we had were worse.
As much as I love and adore history, it can be pretty rage inducing at times. Europe during the time period this two parter is set in is a prime example, extremely interesting but filled with imperialism and wars, treaties and mistrust.
Well the world is pretty rage inducing now, I love history because it helps me to understand why that is.
Not to be glib and obvious but I love how this episode so much for exploring all of that and being pretty brutal about it.
I totally agree. History became much more interesting when you start to be taught the intricacies and complexities of it and how it all connects and interacts. I think it's just that while modern day rage is pretty easy to spot, sometimes people looking at history can forget that actual people experienced things like this until faced with it on a more personal, humanised level as opposed to just the facts and dates that some think are the only things that make up history.
History is in no way all sunshine and daisies and wonderful people and I do love the episode for not shying away from the important issues of the time.
As you can probably tell from my screen name, I'm a librarian. Recently I've been working with one of our special collections, rare children's books. Most of them are from the early 1800's to the 1930's. Quite a lot of them are English. Because I am easily distracted, I've been leafing through a lot of them, and the racist attitudes, particularly the illustrations, simply bowled me over.
I mean, I knew that these attitudes were prevalent in that era, I've read about it a lot, but for some reason seeing it expressed in children's books really made it real. We're a long way from getting rid of racist attitudes altogether, but seeing these books does make me realize that, as a whole, we've come a good way. And that makes me hope that, in another hundred years, we will have come even farther.
my favourite is Agatha Christie. I actually have to mutter to myself 'Acceptable at the time! Acceptable at the time!' through some of it.
It hangs on in childrens rhymes though. Eenie Meeni Miny Mo, for example was originally
'Eenie Meenie Miny Mo
Catch a Nigger by the toe
If he hollers, let him go,
Eenie Meenie, Miny Mo'
Or at least that's the version my dad learned. When my parents taught it to me they replaced the offending word with 'Tiger'.
When I learned Eenie Meeni Miny Mo I never quite knew what the second line was and always said something along the lines of 'catchapiller by the toe' thinking it was some weird way of fitting caterpillar into the rhyme. Needless to say I was a bit shocked when I got older and learnt what it was supposed to be.
Jesus Christ! Never knew that that was how it went! I learnt 'piglet' and 'if he squeals'. Ack, I feel dirty knowing I used to say that rhyme and that was how it originally went!
Count me as another who had no idea. And the thing is, I hate making decisions, particularly at restaurants, so I'll often resort of 'Eenie Meenie Miny Mo' to narrow things down and make the choice for me.
This is… unsettling, to say the least.
If you'd like an alternative (not child friendly however) from when I was about 12, thego to decision making rhyme has been:
"ip dip, dog shit
fucking bastard
silly git
you are not it"
Repeat until one is left 🙂
Poetic, eh?
For me, it was "dirty git". Just a little bit riper!
If it makes you feel any better, there's a theory among some linguists that "Eenie meenie miny mo" is a a vestige of a counting system used in the British Isles in pre-Celtic times. These things apparently tend to survive in things like children's rhymes.
Wow, I never heard that version until now! We always said "tiger" when I was a kid.
On the other hand, I was cataloguing a book the other day charmingly entitled "The Nine Little N****rs", which was a picture book from 1910 (stomach-turning illustrations) that looked like it was probably for children under 10, so I'm not surprised.
I've read Heart of Darkness. Eeeeeh.
I did have an urge to punch John Smith when he pulled out the ‘this is what we call a story’ route.
And oh the IRONY, because he's the one living in a dream world and Martha knows the truth!
This is up there with the The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances as the best two parter in all of new who.
Up until this point, I'd been imagining the episodes if they'd had Rose in them instead of Martha. (Not because I don't like Martha. I was just still really upset that Rose was gone, and it was a fun mental exercise.) This was the first one I had trouble with. This is the first time where for plot reasons rather than character reasons I really felt like it HAD to be Martha instead of another companion. This was a Good Thing.
Even if the Doctor had Rose AND Martha, I think the story would have been different. I'm not sure the Doctor realized just how thoroughly his normal identity would be hidden, and he's still all emo over Rose so even if Martha said something about "What happens if you meet a pretty girl?" he'd have blown her off. He *might* have blown Rose off, too, but I think he might have taken it a little more seriously.
The scarecrows, like the gas mask children, are just human enough while being just off enough to be super-creepy.
For the racism, if this had been on American TV? I would love to see whether they did it in a racist time or if they made it some less-blatantly-racist time. It would be so awesome if they'd set it during the slavery era and actually dealt with it, but then again it would be yet another way to Make Martha's Life Suck (which is one reason why I think they really would do it).
I really like this episode, but I feel like I wouldn't if I didn't watch it first time around with my mum. Because it was just so different to pretty much every other episode I did a lot of wtf-ing and what-the-hell-is-going-on, mum picked it up a lot faster than I did though and explained it to me as we were watching, including the subtext about identity and how important it is to make us who we are. I'm glad she did, and I'm glad I didn't dismiss it outright because I didn't really understand the story they were getting at. It really is beautifully subtley written.
That being said, the cliffhanger ending at the dance is probably my favourite end to a two-parter. I just love it. And holy shit The Family are creepy as hell, and god I hate scarecrows so much *endless nightmares*
I adore this story, so so much. And god, all the shit that Martha has to go through.
The actor that plays Baines would have made an awesome Tom Riddle.
Oh the scene with the cricket ball was totally Five coming out to play.
"The actor that plays Baines would have made an awesome Tom Riddle."
I had this exact thought! It helps that he looks like CoS Riddle, sounds like HBP asking-Sluggy-about-Horcruxes Riddle when he talks, and is excellent at just being all kinds of creepy.
Alright Human Nature rates a 4 for scariness.
<img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/Buyn/scarecrowwace.gif">
BUMBUMBUM
A+ gif usage. Those scarecrows are so creepy.
….is it strange that I'm imagining that scarecrow dancing to 'If I Only Had a Brain'?
I will never be able to watch the Wizard of Oz again. Thank you.
I'm going to sit in the corner and shake now.
I love this two-parter so much! While it bothers me sometimes how infatuated Martha is with the Doctor, she really proves her loyalty to him by not letting him abandon her, just like he said. I love how she keeps going back to visit the TARDIS, as if it's an old friend, and because it reminds her of the Doctor. I have a lot more to say but it will have to wait until you do the second part tomorrow.
(Oh, and am I the only one who thinks Baines/Son of Mine is very Tom Riddle-y? He scares me.)
Also, YAY BLINK LIVEBLOG. At first I was all, "Boo, I have to choose between Glee and Mark" but then I realized that it's 8 Pacific time, and I'm in Eastern, so I can do everything I want to tomorrow night. Hooray!
I watched this one specially to remind myself of it before I read this (also I went back and rewatched 42 because you liked it so much!) and yet I somehow managed to forget that if you didn't know what was going on… you wouldn't know what was going on. He's not the Doctor! Martha's a servant! WHAT.
Awkward Town, Population: Martha.
Hahahaha. Yeah. Poor Martha. I love Nurse Redfern so much, though, and not entirely because of Spaced. 😛
This two-parter is really quite fantastic. I feel like rocking the lists today.
+Intriguing premise for a Doctor Who story.
+David Tennant actually acting! Great stuff, as I love the John Smith character he plays. He and Joan get along so well, it's adorable.
+Martha being resourceful, such as when she realizes something is wrong and receives confirmation after Mother of Mine agrees that sardines would go well in the tea.
-Martha being all weepy in the TARDIS over being spurned, lovewise. Blech.
Two-parters are always hard to comment on, when it's only the first half.
HARRY LLOYD YOU ARE THE GREATEST PERSON EVER.
Absolutely! What a performance! When it was first pointed out that he was the same guy as Will Scarlet in the Robin Hood series. I was like, what? What?! WHAT!?! He seems Completely Different! Superb acting talent and we should be seeing a lot more of him.
I rewatched this a couple of weeks ago, so I'll be careful in case of getting bits from part 2 involved in the comments, but basically, this two-parter is (currently) my favourite of all of Dr Who and I'm so glad you're here!
Reasons it's great:
Brilliant concept (actually based on a novel, which I haven't read yet)
Tennant on fantastic form
Jessica Stevenson/Hynes!
Daughter of mine is fantastically creepy
THAT journal (never realised you could buy it OMG)
Paul McGann in that journal (I think the TV Movie should be the next classic Mark Watches, Paul McGann rocks)
Yeah, unfortunately, Paul McGann is probably the only good thing about the TV Movie… He and Sylvester McCoy. And that's about it.
But it has Eric Roberts!
Oh wait.
I rest my case. 😛
Aw, I liked Grace in the end. The TVM is pretty awful otherwise, though.
Paul McGann is made of awesome. I've recently been listening to the Eighth Doctor's Adventures, its three series so far of audio plays, Paul McGann returns as the Doctor and Sheridan Smith is his companion. Its actually really good and makes me feel bad that Paul Mcgann didn't get a proper tv run as the Doctor, because he is bloody good. The Moff really needs to write a multi-doctor story, bring back McGann!!
Second that! I really, REALLY hope they'll do an amazing multi-Doctor thing for the 50th anniversary, which is only two years away!
also, if Blink liveblog is tommorow, when is the next episode getting reviewed? Double review tonight? Oh go on…
Can we talk for a minute about how marvelous it is whenever Jessica Hynes turns up in anything? I've seen her play so many different kinds of characters, and it's almost like people don't recognise her as Nurse Redfern.
I do love Jessica Hynes.
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/xmpufc.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I'be seen her in bits and pieces, a little bit of Spaced, but mostly I recognise her as Fran's yoga-loving friend from Black Books. She's wonderful in everything!
It took me watching Swing Kids about a dozen times before I realised she's the girl in their little musically-obsessed club. She was so young! And of course I love anytime she and Simon Pegg work together.
WHAT. WHAT. SWING KIDS.
<img src="http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/scoli727/Board/mindblown.gif">
I tried to find an image, and this is all I could come up with:
<img src="http://www.new-video.de/co/swingkids.m.jpg">
Baines & the scarecrows, how so creepy?
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/33yj8rt.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/34qs313.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I love this story, but the thought of what those boys are soon to go through with WWI really wrecks me. Watching Martha's frustration and pain is really difficult, but I love that she keeps her spirits up with her friendship with Jenny. Pretty much anything else I have to say has been said by others or must wait for the next episode. But BLINK LIVEBLOG AT A TIME I CAN PARTICIPATE= YAY!
I freaking LOVE this two-parter. It may actually be my favorite. This episode is what finally made me give Series 3 its Awesome Card. The first time I saw it, I watched both parts in a row with my hand glued over my mouth the entire time. SO MUCH LOVE.
It’s a frustrating story to watch unfold, and while I may have my own feelings about Martha’s desire for intimacy with the Doctor, it’s impossible to ignore the jealous and pain that she goes through here in “Human Nature.”
Mark, have you said what your feelings are on "Martha’s desire for intimacy" yet? Don't recall seeing that in any of your blogs, sorry if I've missed something. If not, I'm interested to hear your thoughts!
Only vaguely. We've only gotten pieces of it, so that's why I'm waiting to comment on it.
I LOVE THIS TWO-PARTER. SO MUCH. *flails*
Seriously, I love human-Dr and his relationship with Nurse Redfern, I love that they tackled the racism, I adore anything focusing on this period of English history and I FREAKING HEART BAINES AND THAT F*CKED UP SMILE. Haters to the LEFT, that actor is awesome and why is he not in more stuff. And I think setting this the year before WWI broke out is fairly genius as well, it actually hurts watching when you know what's coming for these kids… So much sad.
Oh and also, Thomas Sangster is just the cutest thing in Love Actually so there was a lot of *squee* over his role in this. He looks so grown up and angsty 😀
And well, YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
Yeah, the guy who plays Baines just nails the role. I cannot praise him enough. The creepy, vacant stare that's only subtly different from the initial vacancy of the character. The strange little smile. The speech patterns. He does an incredible job.
Favourite two parter ever. And the scarecrows scare the grilled cheesus out of me.
Glee reference FTW!
I HATED this two-parter the first time I saw it – but now it's one of my absolute favorites (how's that for whiplash?) If not for this story, "Blink" would be my favorite Series 3 episode.
As with other two-parters, I shall have more to say tomorrow (and more to link to as well).
One bit of trivia – originally, Martha's "home time" was supposed to be 1913, so this story would have been a "coming home" episode for her character.
If the show insisted on keeping these two episodes in the mix they should have kept Martha's home time in 1913 because presumably she would have had relatives and people she could have gone to instead of being alone there and being at the mercy of the townspeople, and John Smith who is both whiny and selfish. John Smith is no one for the Doctor to be proud of .
I love this two-parter because it is a POWERHOUSE of acting. David Tennant is so effing believable as John Smith, and it's completely different from his personality as the Doctor. All members of the family of blood are amazing, especially Jenny. And Baines is goddamn creepy. Props to Harry Lloyd for making the creepiest damn faces imaginable.
Forget everything else (so I don't give away spoilers); I could watch this two-parter just for the performances.
Baines creeps me the fuck out. It's the eyes. That actor deserves a lot of praise–the faces he makes and the manner of his speech could've come across as hokey and yet some how, I'm completely terrified.
Also, the kid from Love Actually! <3
Can you believe he's the same guy who played Will Scarlett in Robin Hood?
Inorite? I kept looking for it while rewatching last night and I honestly couldn't see it. He's an amazing actor.
I'm so surprised it took someone so long to point out it was the Kid from Love Actually. I <3 that movie. And that kid. If I could be promised a kid like that I would totally have kids.
Can I say how much I love this two parter? No, I can’t. It simply cannot be expressed in words.
I have to admit, that amnesia and identity crisis are my personal pet tropes. If a show/book/movie/fanfiction uses them, it’s immediately gotten my attention. I honestly don’t know why I have this reaction, but it’s attracted me to a lot of strange plots over the years.
And as far as those plots go, I think Human Nature executes it brilliantly. John Smith is so very different from Doctor- it’s strange. It takes the audience and messes with their expectations. It also highlights how wonderful Tennant is as an actor. In the same show, he can become a completely different character and have it be 100% believable.
But for me its how the episode is set up that makes it so wonderfully, believably suspenseful. We immediately begin mid-battle scene. When this first came up, I was afraid I’d accidently skipped an episode and landed in the second half of a two parter. But nope! This completely different cold open snaps to our attention immediately.
The Doctor’s panicking, and Martha’s confused, and then the Doctor is saying something completely nonsensical about watches- and then, BAM, mid-sentence scene change. That my friends, it mood whiplash done right.
We get a quick info dump; Martha is a maid. This is 1913. This ‘John Smith’ dreams that he’s the Doctor. And most importantly…he’s human. But for all we’re told, we know so little. How did they get there? Why did this happen? Is this a virtual reality construct? Has Martha forgotten too? So many questions! I wanted to watch just to find out about these things! And of course, the method it’s explained to us is so perfect. The flashbacks in the TARDIS are sharp and scary, and watching the battle scene and the Doctor screaming in pain with that light, twinkly background music is just wonderfully horrible.
The tone of the episode is simply beautiful. The English countryside gives it a melancholy air, and somehow the Scarecrow Zombies are simply terrifying. Not gas-mask zombie scary, but still up there. (Not to mention, I like the analogy. WW1 is coming and we have straw soldiers!) Of course, they’re nothing compared to the superb acting done by the Family of Blood. The guy who plays Son of Mine/Baines is amazing. Nothing else needs to be said.
Also, the rest of the cast really is amazing, too. Timothy is really convincing (is it just me, or does DW always find the best child actors?) and whoever plays Nurse Redfern really does get me invested in her character.
Also, major props to Martha in this episode. I don’t know why on Earth the Doctor chose 1913 to hide in, because it’s the most idiotic choice ever. But Martha certainly seems to be coping with all the racism and sexism, and I’ve got to say I that I cheered when she slapped John Smith!
So, in summary; I love, love, love this episode, and there’s more fun to be had tomorrow!
</Fangasm>
Oh- and someone's probably already posted it, but you can see the twenty three items on the list! Sort of. Don't worry, its not spoilery. XD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGG0RSgJT1I
I don't think the Doctor chose 1913; I think the TARDIS did that. Timothy is wonderful. Great potential companion material. Oh, and Nurse Redfern is played by Jessica Hynes, who often works with Simon Pegg. You've probably seen her in other things.
I don't even know if I can talk about this properly until part two goes up. But I re-watch these two episodes more than any others in this season…yup, even the episode that has earned itself a liveblog.
Baines is a horrible, horrible character, but I love the way the actor plays him. His accent and the way he talks is just….incredibly entertaining.
Human Nature got overlooked in the (well-deserved) Blink hype, but it is a fantastic episode, too.
It has been said yesterday, but since I don't think you reacted, Mark, I will say it again: You might regret doing a live blog of Blink because the first time you see this episode you should see it properly, with full attention and in a dark room ideally.
Agreed. I'm distressed that he'll be doing it, because I really think it might ruin his first viewing and I wanted that to be perfect. 🙁
BLINK
D:
I'm crying all ready.
Trying to blink back those tears?
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YES! I'm canon! Wheeeee.
Paul McGann deserves canonocity; that movie doesn't.
THIS x 1000000000.
Truth.
He's ridiculously adorable, it makes me sad that he didn't get a proper run as the Doctor.
I love Eight. Eight was the first Doctor I ever watched and will always be more special to me than ANY other incarnation.
I wish we could see moar eight. His brief stint in that TV movie was too short.
Multi-Doc episode plz?
Thumbs up for you and this GIF and Paul McGann. 🙂
Oh Eight, it's so unfortunate you got stuck with such a crummy movie. You were way too awesome for that mess.
He did get a pretty good run of books, though. And of course there are the Big Finish audio series, which I haven't listened to yet but I hear are awesome.
The guy who plays Baines is a descendant of Charles Dickens, just so you know.
I love the kid who plays Timothy- I always forget his name, but he's such a darling actor!
I was really looking forward to you reaching this episode and it's sequel- it's my favorite two parter of the whole series!!
Thomas Sangster! He's such a good actor and I think he has a really interesting face. Idk.
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Aside form the obvious awesomeness of the story/characters/action/philosophizing, I have to say that the Family are some of my favorite bad guys ever. I mean, they're just normal people from the outside, but the script and the way that the actors portray them is SO DAMN CREEPY that they just… welll… A whole new level
Proof that you dont need a boat-load of computer animation and fancy makeup to make something scary.
UM YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE.
When I saw this episode I was like "Y HELLO THERE TOM RIDDLE".
I know, right?! Especially with his hair all slicked back! Guh, TOTALLY TOM RIDDLE.
(It doesn't help that someone totally used Harry Lloyd in a fanvid for a Tom/Hermione fanfiction. I've never been able to unsee it. o__o)
I love love love love love love LOVE this episode!
I love the fuckery of it. When it starts your like 'oh cool, a good old alien space chase. Awesome.' Then John Smith wakes up and you change to 'why is the Doctor talking like that? why is Martha dressed as a servant? why are we in a school? why is the Doctor being so completely un-Doctory? WHAT THE HOLY LIVING FRICK IS GOING ON???????? I wish they kept the mystery of it going for a bit longer, because i love the fuckery!
This episode, for me, is less about the aliens and the threat, and more about the characters and the emotions. I love it so much. Oh Paul Cornel, how do you write things that are so epically beautiful?!
Martha/Freema is awesome in this episode.
And so is John/the Doctor/David.
I love that they haven't shyed away from the prejudice of that era. As much as i hate prejudice in any form, i think to ignore the fact that it happened is almost as bad as allowing it to continue. Almost.
I hate Scarecrows, there's just something so wrong about them. I really REALLY hate the scarecrows in this episode, the empty eye sockets and the mouth in a frown held together by blood red rope. The way they lollop about. URGH DO NOT WANT.
Am i the only one that actually likes Baines?
Love Actually is one of my favourite films, so i love that the little boy from that is in this episode. Squee.
I love Joan. I see her a mish mash of two people just like John/the Doctor:
She's very of her time. Okay with following traditions, not okay with people who seem to be trying to break from them, like the way she tells Martha to "remember your place". She allows John to kiss her, and doesn't move at all.
But at the same time she's very independent and modern:
Widowed at a young age. Matron of a school. She openly makes her feelings towards John known and suggests to him that he could ask her to go to the dance. And when John kisses her then pulls away, she kisses him.
I love John and Joan's kiss, it's so tender and gentle. David's lips look so soft and kissable, URGH so jealous!
I have the Journal of Impossible things and the fobwatch 🙂 The drawings are gorgeous but the writing makes absolutely no sense! I have pictures of all the pages on my Facebook, does anyone want to see it? (there's quite a lot of pages though)
Can't wait for tomorrows episode! Squee.
Oh god this episode is brilliant on so many levels, I miss Paul Cornell working on this show so bad.
I'm sure everything I would say has been covered by now but god the casting for Baines (that is the "son" in the family yes, I haven't rewatched this yet and I'm terrible with names if you haven't figured this out) IS SO PERFECT. He's spot on as a snot-nosed rich brat and is perfectly creepy after he gets possessed.
I love this two-parter. I love John Smith's innocence. I love Joan's kindness. I love Martha's dedication. I LOVE IT ALL SO MUCH.
One of Doctor Who's more mature stories and one of my joint favourites of the whole series. David Tennant, Jessica Hynes and Freema Agyeman are amazing in this. The Journal of Impossible Things and piano-fall are my favourite scenes in this episode. Oh, Martha, how my heart goes to you. She is so resilient and has so much dignity, I liked it when she finally loses control and slaps John Smith!
I get slightly annoyed by the fact that Martha's a maid in this episode when in the original novel, the companion pretended to be the Doctor's niece. Martha could at least have been the Doctor's ward or even a family friend (it is plausible though unlikely). We already know that Martha is graceful under pressure and patient. I do appreciate that after practically ignoring the issue of race in The Shakespeare Code, this episode doesn't flinch from exposing the racism inherent in the British Empire. Even the 'good' characters like Joan believe Martha is a lesser being and should be kept in her place. I do like Joan, though: it's a nice touch to make her more confident than John Smith, the one who almost seduces him.
Conversely, I love it when Martha slaps John. I can't help but think Martha puts all her frustration with the Doctor into that one moment: her frustration at his treatment of her, her frustration at the situation he's put her in, her frustration at being powerless to do anything. It's pretty awesome.
The English countryside is creepy, and just gets even creepier when populated by zombie scarecrows and possessed children. And in conclusion:
<img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/Starsea/HP%20Avatars/loafing_oaf-MYTomRiddle1.png">
<img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/Starsea/HP%20Avatars/loafing_oaf-MYTomRiddle2.png">
I would have liked to see race addressed in the Shakespeare ep, but I tend to think of this era as the most defined by this kind of racism: the golden age of the British empire, plus at this time eugenics was at the height of its popularity in the West especially in the US and UK. Yeah mercantilism and the slave trade were starting up in the Elizabethan era but I think by the turn of the 20th century their legacy was the most ingrained in the public consciousness. Either way, I love what this episode dealt with the subject in all its uglyness. (That said european history really isn't my strong point so I am prepared to be completely and totally wrong on this.)
/nerd reply
Yeah I agree on the slap, this episode is so epically tragic for Martha, especially after she was (finally) doing pretty well for herself in the last one 🙁
I think you are correct that racism sort of came to a head in the 19th and 20th centuries, whereas in the medieval and renaissance period, there tended to be more of an interested fascination with the exotic rather than hostility towards what was perceived as "different". Back then, the English were more likely to hate the French than anyone else.
Having looked some things up in wikipedia now I think it actually would have been really cool if they had touched on race in the Elizabethan era, but honestly everything that happened more than 300 years ago is kind of a blur for me so I'm pretty intrigued by that time. This show really isn't a place where I look for historical accuracy but damn, if it happens I'm not going to complain.
I believe eugenics reached its most popular in the late 1920's and early 1930's and lost steam in North America and the UK early in WWII, when it began to be associated with the Nazis. It was definitely in favor pre-WWI, but it really picked up after the war.
Also, I think that having Martha be the Doctor's ward or some such would have been well nigh impossible to pull off in 1913. A fairly posh white man as guardian to a young black woman? I suspect that would not have worked out.
You're definitely right about racism being ingraved in the publics consciousness around this time. Impearialism in Europe was at it's height in the late 19th and early 20th century with the 'scramble for Africa'. Which actually was also one of the contributing factors of WW1. I think it was so much worse than the first round of colonialism because that was based a bit more on discovery while this was all about the greed, power and racism.
Sometime in the 1880s Bismarck organised a conference where in the main European powers of the time basically carved up Africa for themselves, deciding who would get what without any input from the natives. There was a lot of talk about 'the white man's burden' and how it was their job to educate, covert, protect the people of Africa because they couldn't do it for themselves. Basically trying to moralise their own greed and give it a better spin. There was a lot of fighting between Africans and their colonisers, hence the references to war in Africa in this episode, and between the colonial powers themselves.
Actually it looks like wikipedia has a long article on it. There's a map under causes which shows how Africa was divided. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
I think a lot of Africa's problems can be traced back to the 'scramble for Africa' because those European countries basically colonised, fought, took all their resources and then years later left them completely devasted and high and dry with nothing.
Okay, so for anyone who is interested (or anyone who is a bit nosey), here are the pictures of every page of my copy of The Journal Of Impossible Things:
1. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336991&…
2. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336994&…
3. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336995&…
4. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336996&…
5. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336997&…
6. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336998&…
7. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1336999&…
8. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337000&…
9. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337001&…
10. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337002&…
11. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337003&…
12. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337004&…
13.
You are awesome! Thanks for posting those.
Hehe thanks! The rest of the pictures are a few comments down, it went all screwy for some reason.
Dear Vicki_Louise,
Today was one of those days. It 'monsooned' all day and it was freezing cold IN FLORIDA. I forgot an umbrella and destroyed my binder, three school books and my iPod. I was late to work and I was given a citation. When I got home at 8PM, I realized that I had left left my closet light on since I left. At 10AM.
I just want you to know that you have made my day. Despite it all, I have the biggest smile on my face right now. I have been looking for those FOR AGES.
As Mark would say, YOU DESERVE ALL THE HUGS!!!
This is one of my favorite two-parters, it's tied for first place with The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.
The beginning confused the hell out of me at first. For a minute I thought they'd dropped into another universe (again), and these were their alternate universe counterparts.
I'm going to save most of my squee for tomorrow, when we've seen the whole thing, but the one line in this episode that really gets me is "I hope one day you may have a just and proper war in which to prove yourself. " I'm a huge history nerd, and having read way too many accounts of WWI, that line makes me so, so sad. All those boys practicing in that field, the likelihood is that all of them would enlist, most would die in the trenches, and the few who survived would not be the same. That's true of a lot of wars, but there's a reason World War I was called "the Great War". I'm not expressing myself well today, so I'm just gonna shut it and let Wilfred Owen do the talking:
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,–
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of the boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
All the 1+ in world for using Wilfred Owen.
Excellent comment. I just left a similar one down below. Although I specialize in an earlier period of history, I still find this period of history to be fascinating and tragic.
And I think that part of the genius of this two parter is that Paul Cornell and RTD are using the audience's knowledge of the future that awaits these boys to create a horrible kind of dramatic irony.
This is such a lovely poem. I love that this episode is bringing out the poetry in several people.
A huge amount of amazing poetry came out of World War I. Possibly the only good thing, if you can call it that, to come out of that war.
Anything to do with WWI gets to me. It was sort of like the end of the Western world's innocence. Songs like "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and "Dancing at Whitsun" never fail to make me cry, and even that last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth leaves me a little teary-eyed.
Oh god Waltzing Matilda is epic sad, one of my favourite songs ever, though I grew up on the Pogues version. I honestly can't think of a lot of WW1 related material besides the poetry andthe movie Gallipoli which is great, it's really not as well documented as WW2.
The book Paris 1919, nonfiction, is one of my favourite things ever and did a lot to shape my opinions of the world as it is right now.
I was so proud of myself the day I realised that I could sing "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" off by heart. Sometimes it's nice to have a really long song to hum to yourself while waiting in line.
I grew up in the US, where I don't feel like WWI gets the press it should. I never understood the impact of its complete devastation until I lived in the UK for five years, where they remember it like we remember WWII. Those folks know exactly why they're wearing red poppies. Sort of the same way this two-parter is largely set during Nov 11. I've been back in the US now for almost eight years, but I'm still more likely to call Nov 11 Armistice day or Remembrance Day than Veterans Day.
Yeah, in Canada Nov 11th is our only real day where we commemorate wars and veterans, I think the US has a few. We remember WW1 more because we were a part of the British empire and thus more involved, but Canadians generally aren't as big on taking pride in stuff like that so I don't think it gets mythologized as much.
WW1 gets ignored because unlike WW2 it seems so bloody pointless. But of course that's exactly why we should be learning about it.
/Obvious point is obvious.
I love the poppies. I'm American, but have lived in Canada for some time, and it always makes me both sad and happy (that people remember) to see everyone with poppies on their lapels in November. Cultural memory seems to fade with astonishing speed in the US, but here (and in the UK, from what I understand), people make an effort to remember the past.
And on that note, I will subject everyone to another of my favorite WWI poems:
Aftermath, by Siegfried Sassoon
Have you forgotten yet?
For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the past is just the same–and War's a bloody game…
Have you forgotten yet?…
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.
Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz–
The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets?
Do you remember the rats; and the stench
Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench–
And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?
Do you ever stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?'
Do you remember that hour of din before the attack–
And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then
As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?
Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back
With dying eyes and lolling heads–those ashen-grey
Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?
Have you forgotten yet?…
Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you'll never forget.
This is one of my favourite photos from York Minster (if I can actually get the link to work). It's a WWI memorial to the women who died. They get remembered even less than the men.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=16717485&am…
Oh, and of course there's always
No Man's Land
Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
chorus
Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound The Last Post in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you always 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337005&…
14. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337006&…
15. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337007&…
16. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337008&…
17. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337009&…
18. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337010&…
19. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337011&…
20. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337012&…
21. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337013&…
22. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337014&…
23. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337015&…
24. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337016&…
25. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337017&…
26. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337018&…
27.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337019&…
28. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337020&…
29. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337021&…
30. (yep, there's more) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337022&…
31. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337023&…
32. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337024&…
33. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337025&…
34. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337026&…
35. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337027&…
36. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337028&…
37. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337029&…
38. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337030&…
39. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337031&…
40. (and the journal closed) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337032&…
Oooops the last one doesn't work.
40. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1337032&…
There you go. 🙂
And now you all have my full name. If you try to stalk me i will cry, hunt you down, kill you and cry some more. In that order.
Imma be honest, when I saw you were linking to facebook, I was a little worried for you and hoping it was maybe a fannish/gaming account.
I love this two parter, good acting all around. You want John to become the Doctor again so badly, but you know it'll only break Joan's heart.
As someone new to liveblog, where do I go to attend the liveblog? Do I have to register somewhere?
You don't have to do anything to attend a liveblog other than show up, no registration or anything required.
Mark said he'll make a page for it on here, so what'll happen is tomorrow when you come to the Mark Watches site, there'll be a new post that says something like "Mark Liveblogs Blink," basically the same format as any of his reviews, and you go to that and post in the comments as you and everybody else watch!
i'm not a fan of this episode. i really didn't like John Smith's personality. i might've handled it better if i knew how he changed his personality, and actually saw the process before he started acting like that, but i didn't so i treated it pretty harshly. Son of Mine = super creeper. he was good at that. i liked seeing the boy from Nanny McPhee in this episode.
This and its follow up are my FAVORITE episodes of New-Who. Sooo freakin' good.
So I purposefully kept my mouth shut when everyone was talking up the excitement for Blink, and I'm actually kind of afraid to say anything still, because I enjoy this two-parter so much that I'm going to have a hard time assessing it on the first half alone. It's one of my very favorite stories of NuWho- but I'm really afraid I can't explain it beyond that yet. I will say this for tomorrow, Mark– oh GOD are you not at ALL prepared.
I think Martha's unrequited love works really well in this episode- unfortunately it's not in a vacuum, and if you look at the series and the arc as a whole, it doesn't quite add up. You wonder why she continues to have so very deep an affection for someone who is sending mixed signals at best, and who for nearly the past three months has been an entirely different person that STILL treats her badly. Still, isolate the episode and the dynamic definitely works to the benefit of the story.
Okay, yeah, that's probably all I can discuss today without setting up expectations for tomorrow's episode. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Twice! I am excite. *zips lips*
You know, I just can't stop thinking about Martha's line in reponse to Jenny's statement that in a few years men like that will be running the country. "Nineteen thirteen. Maybe not." so I'm coming back to leave another comment. Yes, Baines and company aren't really stellar examples of humanity, but it's hard not to feel some pity for them. I grew up in the US and I think that in general Americans have a much more shallow comprehension of WWI than Europeans because it didn't affect us nearly as much. It wasn't until I spent time overseas and visited museums like the Imperial War Museum in London and a museum in Belgium known as In Flanders Fields (after the poem I've posted below) that I really gained an appreciation and understanding for how World War I ravaged Europe.
I know that in the UK, due to the buddy brigade system where a group of friends could enlist and serve together, some villages lost an entire generation of their young men. This was a war that absolutely devastated Europe. Even those who survived the war often suffered from what we would now recognize as PTSD. Life in the trenches was horrific. These men were made to live in absolute squalor and the new technologies that were developed during the war led to casualties on a scale that no one was expecting.
Anyway, I'm going to shut up now and finish with a poem written by a Canadian soldier in WWI. I think it's beautiful.
John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields"
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
That is beautiful.
It's also often forgotten that the devastation of WWI was just compounded by the Spanish Flu. It's mind boggling how many people perished during that time period.
Oh man, in Canada we hear this poem ALL THE TIME, but somehow I went through the first 16 years of my life only knowing the first half of it. It wasn't untill 10th grade when I got to the second half that I realized that it was actually pro-war propaganda:/
There's a lot of great poetry of this era, but I prefer the gory ones that show what a horrific thing the war was.
This made me go looking for these by Siegfried Sassoon, who was a British soldier:
Reconciliation
When you are standing at your hero's grave,
Or near some homeless village where he died,
Remember, through your heart's rekindling pride,
The German soldiers who were loyal and brave.
Men fought like brutes; and hideous things were done;
And you have nourished hatred harsh and blind.
But in that Golgotha perhaps you'll find
The mothers of the men who killed your son.
—
On Passing the new Menin Gate
Who will remember, passing through this Gate,
The unheroic Dead who fed the guns?
Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,—
Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones?
Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own.
Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp;
Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone,
The armies who endured that sullen swamp.
Here was the world’s worst wound. And here with pride
‘Their name liveth for ever,’ the Gateway claims.
Was ever an immolation so belied
As these intolerably nameless names?
Well might the Dead who struggled in the slime
Rise and deride this sepulchre of crime.
If you speak French at all, you might like Guillaume Apollinaire's WWI poetry, "Calligrammes: Poemes de la paix et de la guerre". They're arranged more or less chronologically, so you can see his views of war change over time. The early ones are fairly patriotic and express excitement as he enlists, and as the war goes on they get darker, but the imagery is beautiful (there's a whole poem in which it sounds like he's describing beautiful fireworks, but really he's writing about shells exploding over the trenches). I wrote my thesis on his WWI poetry, so I'm probably a little over enthusiastic, but it's really great.
Hmm I am a French major actually, I will look him up!
The Headmaster in the episode particularly reminded me of Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est (which was powerful stuff to learn all about at the age of 14/15 so it's always stuck with me)
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
I went through all of the comments hoping someone had posted Dulce et Decorum est. Thanks!
I was going to post this if no one else had. Thanks for doing it first!
Also, the global population is estimated to have finally reached 2 billion people in 1927, so the death toll is proportionally rather significant.
I have to say, as an American, I do not comprehend the affect of WWI on Europe or Britain. Actually, Doctor Who has made me understand it more than I think I ever did in school.
I don't think I understood just how many people died in Europe. The fact that entire school would be dead? That was completely news to me. I never realized it. So now, instead of thinking of it as 'just another war' I think of it is as something akin to a plague. You were lucky if you survived, and the people that are around today in those areas are lucky to exist.
So crazy I never understood this before.
I'm going to take this moment to recommend the Regeneration trilogy, an absolutely amazing set of books by the British author Pat Barker. They're all set in different parts of the British home front during the First World War, and they are really, really well worth reading.
I didn't have any grasp on it until I went to London this summer and saw all the monuments with the numbers on them. 49,000 just from the Royal Artillery Regiment alone. I have a lot more sympathy for Neville Chamberlain now.
In our (Americans) defense, they don't exactly go over WWI in history classes all that much. I remember maybe going over it once in one class but I remember several times going over WWII several times in several classes. I think (don't know for sure) that this probably has to do with the fact that US wasn't as involved in WWI as in WWII therefore in history teachers minds: not as important so we don't learn as much about it. Though I've been out of school for awhile, so maybe the material has changed since my day, I don't know for sure. I just think this may be why Americans don't know as much about the devastation WWI caused like we know about the devastation of WWII.
I WAS SO SICK OF WWII.
Yes, we go over and over WWII. Over and over and over and over and over and I think that may be why so many of us are obsessed with calling people Nazi's and Hitler. There is definitely an over-emphasis of WWII. And I even remember being taught they only called it The Great War 'cause they didn't know there was a WWII coming and of course WWII was so much greater and bigger (and somehow, better). I mean, WWII was bad. But. I really did get so sick of hearing about everything that happened that I'm really not interested in learning anything more about WWII for a long long time.
I really, barely learned anything about WWI. I can't remember much right now. I actually think I might know more about the time period in Britain before that than WWI because of the British Literature classes I took.
WW1 was when the face of war changed from 'men on horses and guns that did fuck all' to 'gas bombs and trenches and horrors beyond all imagining'.
It also caused WW2 because the heavy reperations that Germany were forced into left them in a financial position where the population were all but starving and a certain leader could rise.
I'm not surprised you don't learn much about either in America- for both you didn't really get involved funtil the end bits so it makes sense you wouldn't learn about it.
But here's a thing. In WW1 and 2 pretty much everywhere that sent it's young men to war lost someone. Many lost everyone. Even the smallest hamlets (300 people living there) have a war memorial. Then there are the lucky villages- places that didn't lose anyone in either war. The full list is here. http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/thankful.htm
Yeah. That few.
The thing I noticed is that my county doesn't have a single one. I know That the town I used to live in (which had less than 2000 people in the 90's) had a War Dead list in the hundreds.
Honestly I think WW1 needs to be studied a lot more just for people to realize
a) how stupid the justification of it was
b) its role in setting up WW2 and a ton of others
I read Paris 1919 a few years back, which is about the aftermath and the dudes running the show and not the war itself, it did so much to shape my opinions of the world as it is now.
I just wanted to share this. It's my favourite WWI song, about how when the men didn't come home, the women kept the traditional dances alive:
Dancing at Whitsun
It's fifty long springtimes since she was a bride
But still you may see her at each Whitsuntide
In a dress of white linen and ribbons of green
As green as her memories of loving
The feet that were nimble tread carefully now
As gentle a measure as age do allow
Through groves of white blossom by fields of young corn
Where once she was pledged to her true love
The fields they stand empty, the hedges grow free
No young men to tend them or pastures go see
They have gone where the forests of oak trees before
Have gone to be wasted in battle
Down from the green farmlands and from their loved ones
Marched husbands and brothers and fathers and sons
There's a fine roll of honour where the maypole once stood
And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun
There's a straight row of houses in these latter days
Are covering the downs where the sheep used to graze
There's a field of red poppies, a wreath from the Queen
But the ladies remember at Whitsun
And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun
http://www.mysongbook.de/msb/songs/d/dancing.html
I believe the Christmas Truce took place in 1914..
That story.. has touched me and has helped shaped my belief that Humanity is good and is capable of wonderful things, is capable of loving eachother, and is capable of genuinely good things.
YES, another thing I never learned about in my school history class. So sad how it ended.
I agree so much; Its hard to understand just how horrible WW1 was, even after studying it. However, seeing it on TV (sometimes in the most unlikely places- Blackadder and DW, for instance) brings its impact to the fore.
And to share a poem- Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et decorum est, prop patri mori', and old Latin saying meaning "it is a great and fitting thing to die for one's country."
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Yeah, I think I was fortunate that my history teachers actually did spend time on WWI, but I understand why it doesn't get as much play in the US. It was old empires bashing each other while we sat back and profited — yielding one of my favorite political cartoons —
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/k4h3q1.jpg">
Not only is it hard to mythologize our role, it's not like there was a clear cut good guy and bad guy in WWI: everyone was terrible, the war was awful, and it was pointless and only set the stage for more misery. I think hassibah already said it, but those are exactly the reasons that WWI should get more emphasis. You should be thankful you've never heard my rants about the sad little corner devoted to it in the National Museum of American History. It's shameful.
Mark, I'd just like to point out that ONCE AGAIN, you're set to finish the series on a Monday. Prepare for a weekend of suspense! Oh, wait, you CANNOT EVER BE PREPARED.
Oh Mark, no! Please please please rethink your plan to liveblog "Blink"! Like I said in reply to someone else's comment, I am so distressed that you're going through with it, because I think this will ruin your first ever viewing of the episode. And I so wanted that to be perfect. 🙁 I know I'm like… nobody, but I wanted to say something anyway. Because I love "Blink" and want you to properly experience it.
Indeed. While it would be really fun to watch it along with Mark, say, in the same room, I won't be disappointed if he decides to cancel the liveblog and just hug a pillow instead.
Now due to real life I'm late. But anyways trivia time.
A. When the Doctor is speaking to Joan he names his parents as Sydney and Verity. This is clearly a reference to Sydney Newman, the original creator of Doctor Who, and Verity Lambert, the first producer.
B. During the video instructions that The Doctor has recorded for Martha, a deleted scene for the episode reveals that instruction number five stated that The Doctor hated pears (before a number of improvised statements by Tennant that were intended to be "fast forwarded" when shown). The declaration of The Doctor's distaste for pears was removed, and the fast forward implemented just before this instruction was said, as the BBC felt that it may encourage children to stop eating pears. Logical. Also I assume someone linked to that blooper reel already.
C.The weapons used by The Family are sonic.
D.This double episode was originally written for the novel Human Nature (novel), also by Paul Cornell. It featured the Seventh Doctor.
Again any trivia I missed? Other than Tennant being both The Doctor and John Smith in the credits.
Part of why I love this is that pears are such a ridiculous thing to hate. I mean, they're just so nummy!
They've got nasty tough leathery skins and they're all mealy inside!
Or so I've been told by my father, the pear-hater. I think they're tasty.
I know! I love pears!
I also love cats.
Apparently I love unDoctor-y things.
Oh and, John Smith eats a pear right at the beginning of the episode. In defiance of the pear rule.
In the novel, we get an excerpt from the story John Smith is writing, which appears to feature Peter Cushing's "Doctor Who". This excerpt was written by fellow writer Steven Moffat.
This one & part 2 are likely my two favorite Who episodes. The entire war sub-sub-plot/theme is just heartbreaking.
ALSO, GUESS WHO NOW OWNS SERIES FIVE? 😀 😀 😀 I am so happy! And a little weirded out, because this was freakishly good service by Amazon. They've always been excellent to me, but this time was ABOVE AND BEYOND. I placed the order Thursday evening, the ETA was Tuesday. It then shipped on Friday, and the ETA was moved up to Monday.
… It got here on Saturday. WHAT. I chose Standard Shipping! Not that I'm complaining, just – WOW. *_* It is an amazing set, one of the best DVD purchases I've ever made (right up there with my Slayers, Daria, Pushing Daisies, and Cowboy Bebop sets).
That happened to me recently too! I ordered a DVD set (all 7 seasons of Buffy, been wanting that forever!) last Wednesday evening, and it came Friday morning, standard shipping. CRAZY.
Nice! Amazon, I am IMPRESS. 😀
YAY! Although I would have had to recommend you wait to get that until they have it on Deal of the Day. They do that once a year. Buffy and Angel. Buffy was $90 the last time it happened and Angel was $50. That's how I got mine.
I did get a really good deal on it though, not quite that cheap, but not much more expensive.
I've had that happen to me before too. I think I ordered it on a Friday morning and I got it on Monday. Very nice, Amazon!
Happens to me a lot. I've had free super saver delivery items turn up 24hours after ordering, many times. Who on earth pays for guaranteed next day with service like that?
Yay! I love this episode so much. <3 I also can't wait for the Blink liveblog!
I find that the two parters are either hit or miss with me – and this is another one that I truly love. One of the major things I really enjoy about this one is how vulnerable the Doctor is in it. I mean, we know he's lonely and quite melancholy a lot of the time, but this – it is so raw compared to his emotions when he's a Time Lord. I'm not sure what this says to me about humanity, but seeing him as human was just really … unsettling. And regardless of the fact that he has Jane, and that he has a job and a 'life' with this situation, the underlying sadness that he just exudes – oh, it tugs at my heart.
That said – I think the story is wonderfully constructed. I feel for Martha, and her situation, her loss, her frustration. I feel for the Doctor, and for the loss he doesn't realize he is dealing with. I feel for Jane, and for her being in the middle of this situation, and the confusion she must feel. Such an emotional episode.
I agree 100% with what you say about Baines. The second he showed up on the screen, I thought 'oh, he's not going to be good'. I shall cut myself off, as I just about said something about the second half. *grumbles about two parters*
You can't hear the squee noises I make as I watch this episode.
"Of course I can't, Jesso, because you are in Texas while I am in another state."
No! That is not the reason you can't hear. Even if you were in the same room as me, you would not hear the squee noises because they are pitched higher than the human ear can detect. My cats give me dirty looks when I watch this episode, for the high pitch of the squee noises offends their delicate sensibilities. Because I LOVE THIS EPISODE SO DANG MUCH, HOLY COW.
Tennant as John Smith is just about the most adorably awkward squishy to ever exist. When he and Joan are flirting, I can't even handle the adorableness. When the kiss, I flail around and squee so hard I have to remind myself to breathe.
Seeing Tennant in a role as an average sort of guy is amazing, especially after seeing Casanova, Blackpool, and Hamlet where Tennant also plays extraordinary characters. He's so GOOD at it. And compared to The Doctor, who is always running around saving the universe and all that, it's just… I don't even have words. This episode makes me squee too hard.
And Martha! Man, she gets the shortest end of the shortest stick to have ever existed, yet she stays a total BAMF. THIS is why I love Martha. YOU GO GIRL, WAY TO BE A MILLION TIMES MORE AWESOME THAN ROSE.
I want to go on about how AWESOME Martha is, but I can't without being spoilery, so instead I'll just keysmash for a bit: L;KJSDFKJH SDKJFHBS KLDJF LKJSDHF LKSJDF HSDFLUA;ORYHJDHBV,KSNVCUYHSEORIXDJV
Whew, okay. Yeah, I love this episode, just a bit. Both parts. Does it show much?
(And also, hooray liveblog of Blink. I WILL BE THERE, INSTEAD OF BEING A SQUARE)
Martha Jones: Most put-upon companion ever?
I don't remember precisely what happened in which episode of this two-parter, so I won't talk plot specifics right now, but I'll contribute a few inane generalities!
-The Journal of Impossible Things is the sort of fan-bait that the pause button was absolutely made for. I remember poring over my crappy screencaps for ages at the time. 🙂
-Is Harry Lloyd not FUCKING TERRIFYING? He looks so crazily different when he's himself, I just wanted to give him his own little round of applause for his amazing acting in this story.
-David Tennant was quite good, too! I'm not overly impressed by his acting most of the time, but he handles the Doctor/John Smith differences with some real skill.
-Ugh, Martha. I know I said it before, but I'll say it again: She puts up with way too much for the Doctor's sake, and the more the indignities pile up, the more I resent Ten for it, even when things aren't completely his fault. Which they kind of are, in this story. Again: Ugh.
in response to the "ugh, Matha" comment:
this bugged me to no end when i first watched this series, because martha is awesome, and capable, and level-headed, and brilliant and so many things i wish to be, and so much more equal to the doctor (in certain regards) than some of his other companions.
but then i think about all of the books, and movies, and poems and songs written about impossible, irrational, unrequited love…and i wonder if her relationship with the doctor isn't supposed to be paying lip service (or screen service) to that seemingly unkillable ideal that keeps rearing its ugly, uncomfortable head throughout human history.
and just when i get set to roll my eyes and shout next and do away with the whole season, i have to look at my own behavior with regard to people i'm interested in or attracted to and acknowledge that same shameful bit in myself, and it makes me sit down and appreciated this whole series a bit more…
because, no matter how much someone unjustly puts up with, and how much the other person might not be worth it, at some point, the object of affection is only up on a pedestal because it's being admired. and maybe the point isn't to judge the relationship between the doctor and martha, but to figure out when it's time to cut your losses and move on.
My complaint isn't Watsonian. It's (mostly) Doylist. I judge Martha and the Doctor's relationship as a story choice made by RTD and I find it disgustingly lacking, a giant tumor on the storytelling of Season 3. It perpetually undercuts Martha as a character, inserts an element of utterly loathsome romantic competition between Companions, and creates in the Doctor a "romantic" hero completely unsuited for the title.
Inserting Romantic Lurve into the Doctor/Companion dynamic is reductive on top of being annoying. Everything becomes about the Doctor's Lurve – who has it and who doesn't, who's "worthy" and who isn't. And I find all of that to be distinctly contrary to the open, inclusive, and yes, loving spirit of Doctor Who as a show.
And maybe the fact that so far we've had two non-white companions and they've both been in unrequited love with over-idealized white characters who treat them like dirt bugs the shit out of me just that little bit more.
I started this comment by quoting the bits I wanted to agree with, only to realize that I would need to copy THE WHOLE THING. The show's treatment of Martha is so problematic and frustrating and limiting, both of her and of the Doctor. That's the most frustrating part for me.
So, Mark. You're due to finish next Monday. Don't forget to put up the nomination/vote page for the Classic Serial!
OH OH OH OH OH AND AND AND. BAINES. HOLY COW. SO DANG CREEPY. LIKE, WHOA. I don't they could have possible ever found a more suitably creepy actor for him.
On the page that has a small TARDIS, it says "Maius intra qua extra" Wikipedia says it' Latin for "what is inside is greater than what is outside.
My inner Latin geek is all happy in the belly.
Oooh these are my absolute favorite episodes ever and I'm so glad YOU FINALLY GOT TO THEM. Yeesh it's been hard not to squee "just wait 'til Human Nature."
Also I'm sure that YouTube has the non-fast-forwarded "23 things" list. David Tennant is amazing. Fair warning: there are not, in fact, twenty three things. Sad. But you get to hear what he's saying during that middle part. EDIT: Ah, someone above already linked to it.
I love Joan and I ship those two so hard. John is just all kinds of adorable when he's so flush from saving the baby from the piano and invites her to the dance. I just want to squish him. David Tennant is so fantastic in this; John Smith is a completely different person, without the environment and experiences that make Ten the man he is today, and yet there are still recognizable bits peeking through here and there. John isn't just a completely different character, some brand new creation, he really is what the Doctor might have been if he were human instead of Time Lord.
It's so beautiful and tragic because you _know_ he's not going to be able to stay, that he's going to have to walk away from this lovely, peaceful little life, but it's worse this time because it's not just "it might have been," it IS. He has it, is living it. And will he even remember when it's all done? Killer. "I sometimes think how magical life would be if stories like this were true" applies both to the things in the Journal and to the life he's living: this sweet, simple love story that's so human and so common and yet so rare and precious, especially for someone like the Doctor. He deserves to have a happy ending.
Yeah, I'm a bit "meh" about this episode, but I'm a rabid anti-doctor-with-anyone shipper. Or at least, I was when I watched this. I don't watch Doctor Who for angsty romance, I play bioware games and read Jane Austen for that.
As almost everyone has said, this is one of the better two-parters out there. It's a rarity in Doctor Who in that the second part actually lives up to the excitement built up in the first. Can't wait for the Blink Liveblog. I'm off tomorrow so I can actually watch with you guys this time!
There's an outtake where they got Tennant to say random crap that's fast-forwarded in the list he makes, I don't know if you want to see it yet, but it's on YouTube!
And Baines is just creepy. His eyes. HIS EYES.
These episodes are good, and I absolutely ADORE the soundtrack, but Baines' facial expressions make me cringe every time and I'm too afraid to watch it again because of him….
Awesome that you love this ep, hoped you would! The journal is awesome, the scarecrows are terrifying, and there is an extra involving the 23 items that is very funny 🙂
Fantastic episode 😀
What time is the liveblog GMT?
Eight hours later, I believe, so 4:00 AM.
Actually, you can find the full version of the doctor's list of 23 things on youtube, it's actually quite funny. 🙂
I loved this two-part episode. This episode solidified my love for Martha even though the fandom seems to not care all that much about her.
Oh, but you CAN buy the Journal Of Impossible Things! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Journal-Imposs…
You're welcome 😉
This set of episodes (Human nature/fob) are some of my all time favorites. You mentioned how John Smith was so different from the doctor. But what I found interesting, is, despite the different veneer (and the doctor changes veneers every time he regenerates) there was an echo, a core, of the doctor still in there. That's enough for this ep… I was floored by it, and couldn't wait to see the next one.