Now, what's this? In short, a collection of notes on how Scara spends her weekend sparetime - "as opposed" to the rest of her, er, other spared time, which involves little difference. But still: have had the pleasure of enjoying yet another episode from the brand new and continuously promising series four of "Doctor Who" today. Entitled "Fires of Pompeii", and a genre-opportunity for BBC to do what they do best, and which usually leads to their excellening themselves: historic dramas. And they left none disappointed. First of all, though, I must say that it is an undescribably luxurious joy, being able to anticipate new episodes of Who every week - once again - and to write reviews of brand new seasons with brand new stories, not just rewatching old stuff and moaning about the old subjects. In addition, there's the constant building-up to what's to come; with the appropriate Rose-references and the promise of a return, a reunion, and more goodness - for many more weeks. Makes me a happy fangirl! Makes my heart leap with glee all the time, so much I can hardly breathe. Enthusiasm is blinding, healthy and gratifying. With regard to the quality of this weekend's much looked forward to event, I can only state that I have no complaints whatsoever, and that the show is impeccable as always. DW is, quite simply, confirming its top-notch position amongst television's classic dramas - and doing so every single week; it's amazing. Barely fathomable. As is the chemistry between David Tennant and Catherine Tate, also, and I cannot stress enough how delighted I am, and remain, at her retun. How absolutely brilliant the two of them are together - as an unlikely, but perfectly working team - saving the day (and the Universe) in a fashion hardly seen on this show before. No longer is The Doctor a teacher, father, mentor or even lover (however in secret) to his companion. Nor must he deal with unrequited infatuation or family puzzles. At least not yet, and Bernard Cribbins outshines the slapping mothers any day. Instead, he faces an opponent; in a mind challenging sense; with whom he is finally on an equal, and can enjoy heavy arguments. Donna doesn't follow, she takes her very own ways and follows her very own convictions, which leads to a massive amount of trouble - and refreshing alteration to the concept of the series on the whole. We did need a change from the basis of young woman rescued from a boring life to enjoy trip of a lifetime (with flirting), which eventually had started wearing thin, despite a good beginning. Indeed, it worked very well with Rose, thanks to the chemistry, humour and undertones of interpretable relationship status, whereas it somewhat poorly with Astrid, thanks to the Jesus-connotations and the stupid finale, and not at all with Martha, due to the her second-best-issues and the stupid reproachfulness, and with further thanks to same connotations and an equally ricidulous "ending". Donna, on the other hand, puts her foot down and shouts. She has already declared how she is so not "mating" with The Doctor ('cos he's a "long streak of nothin', alien nothin'!", and I'm still laughing) and she keeps strolling off, getting herself into loads of conflicts she most certainly shouldn't try to avoid. For, you've gotta love Donna. Love her guts, her fighting spirit, her mood swings, her crazy notions, her voice. Oh, she never shuts up, but no matter - because after ten seconds of punch-line exchanges with David Tennant you just want her to go an ranting forever. She is the best replacement for Rose we could ever have got; for the same reason that Paul Rodgers might prove the perfect stand-in for Freddie: there's no attempt to copy. There are no similarities whatsoever, except they're from the same town, they're very good-looking and they're both pretty awesome. As far as I'm concerned, DW is undergoing a vast improvement, and I hope this tendency continues. I realize I am biased as Hell, seeing that I adore Catherine (and David, and the two of them together in particular) and I do admit to the greatness of most Series 3 episodes. Most of them were fantastic stories and the guest stars were all a bliss. However, the new series is ever the more appealing to me, personally, and I think the more complex emotional depth and the re-introduced humour takes the show to a whole new level. I do appreciate a softer, more communicative and expressive Doctor too. And a companion who matches these characteristics with her wits and temper and sincere involvement. In a word, the acting skills here are superb. As for the storylines, they now manage to combine tragedy and jokes, in a suitable way too, and they manage to be epic without ending in fail. Less pompousness and more tempo. Terror, fun, tears, flirting and laughter - all in one. The way it used to be and should be, ideally speaking. I can only say I am impressed. The overall professional look, the extremely complete idea of combined music, action, production and acting - one's got to give oneself up. I do.
To be all honest, though, I did enjoy "Partners in Crime" even more than yesterday's tale - but this has (of course) nothing to do with same plot or quality. The former episode was more to my taste regarding dialogue and specific scenes; for instance, the miming sequence was so fabulous, it's hard to match, and especially to outdo. And I prefer the lighter, slightly futurstic style. Moreover, "Fires of Pompeii" was a much more dramatic and thoroughly different episode in a rather contrasting setting. This week, for her first official trip, Donna got to see the insides of Cinecitta Studis of Rome, Italy; the perfect location for a proper, historical visit. Ironically Rome, Italy, in the real world of fiction, is the exact same place where The Doctor believes he's taken them. On holiday. So much for hoping, for the dynamic duo ends up in a tangle of unforeseen tumults that sees their relationship challenged, and also developing severely. They're in Pompeii - on Vulcano Day - and you may then all guess which disaster is impending. Or looming in the dark corners, primarily underground, as it were. Main idea is, The Doctor needs to find out just why the infamous vulcan erupts, whilst Donna questions his personal morale the ethics of leaving thousands of people to die. There's the obvious, obligatory "this is my fate, this is my curse, I'm the Last of the Time Lords"-conversation and the "deal with this shit or go home"-conclusion, but it works a lot better here than it did on most previous occasions. David Tennant glitters, litterally, at his most troubled when he must make the impossible choices no-one else neither can nor will, which makes him the Time Lord he is, and which again makes him so special. Donna finally gets to witness the extent of his "job" and what immense, life-and-soul-affecting burdens lay on his shoulders and will come to be laid on hers. And, what more, she proves to be up for it. I had tears welling in my eyes during the final scenes, soppy fangirl as I've become, and I loved the various, small details of worthiness; like the water pistol-shooting, the "Pan's Labyrinth"-references, the soothsayers and the revelation-scene in particular, where the mythical darkness of The Doctor's kind emerges once again, and the use of the psychic paper and "The Shadow Proclamation". Naturally, I jumped in my seat at the "she is returning"-remark, and expecially because of the frustation-inducing tense that was used; she's persistently trying to come back, as it seems, and we don't know why and he doesn't know at all and it's tearing us fangirls apart! Also, some more dialogue excellence; "I am Spartacus", and so are we all, and The Doctor's comment on Donna's inability to be quiet. Well, The Doctor's and Donna's comments on each other in general. Priceless. Next, the final bonding scene, where every conflict was settled and a proper friendship was established once and for all. Lovely and heart-warming. Add some eye-brow trickery, some gadgetry, some cool CGI and classic who-scenery; like the outdoor confrontations - and you've secured immense fandom pleasure. For a whole week, till the next upcoming experience; which we hope, and suppose from what we've seen of the preview, may be an equally successful one. The Doctor has now explicitly welcomed Miss Noble onboard his beloved ship, and after watching yesterday's tale I can do nothing but concur. Heartfeltly. Go Donna!!
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